The "Alice" standing before him didn't just look like her—
She moved like her.
Breathed like her.
Smiled like her.
Even the way her eyes softened when she said his na… exactly like in his mories.
"Max… we finally et again…"
Her voice was like a warm breeze after a long winter.
It tugged at sothing inside him.
For just a heartbeat—his soul slipped.
His mind swayed, balance teetering on the edge.
It was subtle. Barely noticeable.
But it happened.
And Max felt it.
His chest tightened—
Not from fear, but from a deep, unsettling awe.
'This Sinful Bone Fra… it can reach into my soul. It pulled Alice from my mories. Her smile. Her tone. Even her tiny habits...'
It was more than illusion.
It was extraction.
A perfect mimicry, drawn straight from his heart.
He clenched his fists.
'Even I… with my will… almost fell for it.'
He rembered the red-haired genius—how he clawed himself apart like a puppet.
Now he understood.
It wasn't just a soul attack.
It was temptation.
It didn't strike your soul with force.
It whispered to it.
It wrapped around your deepest desires.
Made you want to give in.
That was the true horror of this Bone Fra.
It didn't kill you.
You killed yourself.
—
Alice stepped closer. Her bare feet touched the soft grass.
"Why don't you stay with , Max?"
"You've worked so hard… suffered so much… Don't you want to rest?"
Her voice was a blade dipped in honey.
Max's expression darkened.
For a mont, his eyes trembled.
Just then—
"Max, I've found it," Blob's voice echoed sharply in his mind.
Urgent. Precise.
"Wait three more breaths of ti… and then strike with everything you have. With your Orange Soul… you have nothing to fear."
Max didn't nod.
Didn't move.
Just quietly exhaled—
and began the count.
Three.
His fingers slid over the edge of his black sword, tracing it with unnatural calm.
It shimred faintly, responding to the faint pulses of his soul force.
Like a beast waiting to be unleashed.
The illusion—Alice—watched him.
A flicker of hesitation passed through her gentle expression.
"Max, what are you doing?"
"I can feel it… you're radiating killing intent…"
She took a step forward.
Covered her mouth.
Her eyes shimred with sadness, deep and soft like moonlight.
"You wouldn't hurt … would you?"
Max didn't respond.
Two.
'Alice' took another step, hand reaching out.
Her voice shook—soft, trembling.
"You want to harm …?"
Her fingers trembled just inches from his chest.
So close, so intimate.
So deadly.
Max's expression didn't change.
But in his heart, the countdown roared like a war drum.
One.
He took a single step back.
Avoided the hand.
Didn't look into her eyes.
Just whispered under his breath—
"You almost got ."
Max's eyes flashed. Cold. Ruthless.
His voice was low. Each word carved from stone.
"You did what you should never have done."
"You took her face… to break ."
"How can I ever let you live?"
His sword slid free. Smooth. Inevitable.
Fusion State aura erupted from him.
It blazed like fire. Wrapped around his body. Fused with his blade.
He raised the sword. Took aim.
Then—
"Evil Wheel of Samsara."
The tip of his blade cracked the air.
Purple lightning surged out.
Wild. Violent. Alive.
It spiraled into a wheel.
Spinning.
Shrieking.
The ground quaked.
The fog trembled.
But Max didn't stop.
Not even for a second.
Black flas erupted around him.
Silent. Writhing. Hungry.
They devoured the infernal energy in the air—dragging it straight into his body.
The mont it entered—he staggered.
His veins scread.
His mind cracked.
It felt like his body would explode from the inside.
But he didn't stop.
Didn't hesitate.
He gritted his teeth.
And poured it all into the Evil Wheel of Samsara.
The instant the infernal energy fused with the lightning—the wheel changed.
Its vibrant purple glow turned dark red.
A deep, choking pressure spread out.
Thick. Suffocating. Like death itself had awoken.
That was when she changed.
'Alice's' perfect face twisted.
Her smile cracked open into sothing inhuman.
Skin peeled. Claws stretched.
Fur matted her arms, her jaw extended, and a low, raspy moan spilled from her throat.
It wasn't a woman anymore.
It was a beast.
A demon.
And it lunged.
"Humph…" Max sneered.
At that exact mont, his Orange Soul force flared—
And he laced it straight into the wheel.
The Evil Wheel of Samsara surged forward.
Dark red. Rotating. Shrieking.
KACHA!
The demon's claw was obliterated on contact.
Shattered like glass under a war hamr.
The wheel didn't stop.
It tore through her chest—
Ripping her open in one clean strike.
Her face—now hideous and twisted—
froze in panic.
Eyes wide. Mouth open.
She didn't even have ti to scream.
"Max, now is the ti—don't let it escape!"
Blob's voice echoed through his mind. Urgent. Sharp.
Max didn't hesitate.
He stopped his strike mid-motion.
Stepped forward.
And slamd his hand onto the demon's fading chest.
"Seal."
Purple lightning surged from his fingertips.
Black flas followed—silent and vicious.
The two forces twisted together mid-air.
Forming a cage.
A prison.
A trap.
It snapped shut—tight and unforgiving.
The demon shrieked.
But it was already too late.
In this place—inside the Soul Palace—Max reigned.
Here, soul was everything.
And his soul?
Unbreakable.
The Sinful Bone Fra wasn't even close.
It had no real soul. Just a fragnt.
A whisper of sothing that once lived.
It had no chance.
"One mile straight ahead," Blob said. "Three hundred feet underground."
"That's where its main body is."
He had used the window—the mont when the demon's attention was focused on Max to scan the real world.
And he found it.
Max's eyes lit up.
"I've got it."
Max's eyes lit up—sharp, bright, focused.
His soul had already returned to his body.
The demon's will was still locked in the Soul Palace.
Trapped. Helpless.
Max moved.
His grip tightened on the sword—
And with the full force of 58 Draconic Essences,
He stabbed downward.
No wind. No sound.
Just a blur of violent light.
A flaming rainbow streaked across the gray fog.
One mile vanished in an instant.
The earth exploded beneath him—
Rock, mud, ash flying in every direction.
Tens of thousands of jins worth of debris flipped upward as Max shot down like a divine nail—fast, brutal, unstoppable.
The impact cracked the world open.
Then he saw it.
Right where Blob had said.
A glowing crimson enchantnt, thirty feet wide,
humming with sealed energy.
And at its heart—
A small glass bead, crimson in color, barely the size of a pigeon's egg.
Still. Silent. Hiding.
Max didn't flinch.
He raised his sword—
slashed once.
The enchantnt shattered like old ice.
Then, without a word, he reached out—
And took the Sinful Bone Fra into his hand.
Done.
No hesitation.
No fear.
He sealed it into his spatial dinsion—
Like snapping a lock shut.
"Good, boy."
Blob's voice slithered into Max's mind—proud, amused.
"You should use this place to upgrade your rank. It's underground, and the aura of the Sinful Bone Fra still lingers. No infernal being's gonna dare co close."
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