Chapter 268: Solution
" Our own bias made us miss him multiple times, all those times we arrived at a place where his authority seemed high, he was there.
However because we were already searching for a specific image, we missed him completely."
Annie raised her eyebrow, " So, you’re saying he might not be humanoid at all?" She asked.
He nodded, " So far, all the seals we’ve met were humanoid which might’ve influenced our expectations.
But we also ignored the reason they were humanoid to begin with. Bloody Mary is a death spirit born from a former human.
The sins, while they were spirits and physical manifestations of concept, they’re also demons.
Demons don’t necessarily have a humanoid form but a humanoid form is convenient so most have it.
However the horsemen are pure spirits, the purest of them, they are manifestations of concepts.
Why would they have a specific form, Famine is hunger, his form is hunger, look around us."
They followed his eyes looking around them, all they saw was dry land without a shrub of green.
Dried rivers, rotten corpses and people twisting with agony from hunger. " This is Famine’s true form."
Annie sighed, " Famine is his authority isn’t he? But how are we supposed to fight against something we can’t even touch?"
Adrian didn’t know how to answer that, he too was wondering how he was supposed to deal with Famine.
He used his eye searching for any ability of Famine hoping it might give him a clue then it dawned on him.
" There’s no ability." He whispered. Annie turned towards him, he had briefly explained his left eye’s ability to her.
" Famine isn’t using any ability because Famine has no intention, we were mistaken, we all were.
Famine doesn’t seem to destroy the world, I don’t think it even has any desires, it might just exist because it does.
It is hunger itself and why would hunger desire anything, it’s merely a state of being and nothing more."
Annie understood his explanation but it just made her frown. " Damnit, I’m going in." She flew to the city, he didn’t stop her.
He looked behind him at the others, " You might not have to do anything here." Melissa looked disappointed.
Sam just sat down, " You do you dude, if I’m not needed, I’m going to sleep." A second later he was drifting in sleep.
Adrian shook his head and followed after Annie, Melissa and Suki followed after him into the city.
Adrian felt the authority of Famine trying to infect him but he has consumed the potion making him immune.
However he knew this was temporary, he couldn’t stave hunger for ever but he can end Famine.
Hunger in itself was not Famine, extreme hunger without food, that is Famine and that is what he wanted to end.
Adrian watched as the people of the city fell one by one as if being consumed from within.
It wasn’t an instantaneous thing as he had expected, like real hunger, it took time to claim you.
Just by looking, he could tell this lot hasn’t eaten in days, even children looked as skinny as bones.
Annie went around trying to tend to them but what could she do when it was their own bodies killing them.
Through his left eye he could see Famine’s bacteria, it didn’t come from outside but was created in the body, by the body.
Their own digestive enzymes were turning into monsters that were slowly eating their bodies.
’ No wonder even the Sapienta couldn’t find a permanent solution, you can’t fix what is not broken.’
He shook his head and teleported to the highest building in the city. He looked around with his left eye trying to think of a solution.
Annie appeared next time him looking distraught, " Adrian I can’t save them." She whispered.
Her face was blank and her voice was flat but he could hear the pain beneath it, Adrian knew how kind she was.
Even after becoming a werewolf which should’ve increased her rage more than any other emotion.
She still maintained her kind heartedness, he admired that about her. Looking at others like Sam.
They’ve grown too indifferent to everything, they didn’t resemble who they were as humans at all.
" You said Famine is hunger? What if we need to use the potion on ourselves, if Famine is everywhere then maybe..."
She sounded a bit anxious now, Adrian thought about it. " I’m not sure that will work, we’ve already consumed a drop and it only affected us.
We only have a single choice in this, if we waste it, that’s it, we’re done." His words calmed her down.
" So, what should we do?" Adrian didn’t know then he focused his eyes below him, leaning on the building was a man.
He looked rough and skinny, the man was still alive but he was not far from death. Adrian flew down and landed in front of him.
Seeing this healthy and full person, the man’s eyes gained a spark of hope, " Food, I need food please." He begged in a weak voice.
Adrian crouched and focused his left eye on the man’s stomach, there he saw countless bacteria chewing through his intestines.
Adrian’s eye started burning and he felt like it was being stabbed by countless needles, a tear of blood trickled down his cheeks, then the world became more clearer.
MmHe touched the man’s stomach then pulled it back, on his hand laid thousands of bacteria but they were too small to see with a naked eye, even Annie struggled.
She could faintly see there was something there but she couldn’t make it out, not even the eyesight of a werewolf was enough for that.
But Adrian’s left eye couldn’t just see them, it could see everything about them and Adrian knew Annie’s idea was right.
And wrong at the same time, if he fed the potion to somebody infected by Famine’s authority.
The potion would end their hunger, probably forever because it would kill them, this potion was like a drug.
An overdose would kill anybody except those as strong as them except, they couldn’t use it.
Just like how Famine’s authority was not very effective on them because they were immortal and technically didn’t need food.
Their bodies would end up breaking down the potion thus wasting it but if fed to a normal human.
They would certainly die but like a flower spreading its pores, a new type of bacteria would spread out from them.
It would spread through Famine’s authority and cancel it out. Adrian somehow knew he was right.
On the potion, there was a pattern directly opposing that of Famine’s authority and just as complicated if not more.
Adrian’s left eye was basically giving him information he couldn’t explain, he knew how the potion worked now.
Without his left eye, seeing through this would’ve been impossible.
’ Did she? It couldn’t be right?’ Adrian started wondering.