Flas scoured the land.
The ground had been ripped apart by the aftermath of the blast, forming a vast crater that stretched for kilotres.
And at the very bottom, buried beneath layers of scorched and broken rocks, was the wounded one-eyed Evan. His body ached with every movent as he forced himself upright, blood dripping from his lips.
He extended his hand, calling for the Unforged, but the sword did not respond with its usual imdiacy since it was too far.
Left with no other choice, Evan staggered to his feet, nearly collapsing several tis.
Eventually, the Unforged arrived in a flash and Evan grabbed it, using the sword as a crutch to keep himself standing while breathing heavily.
Opening his inventory, he used his free hand to pull out vitality potions, dousing himself in their contents. He downed entire juice packs in seconds, feeling the potions take effect as he slowly regained his balance.
Then he lifted his gaze, locking his eye on the figure that had fallen not far from him.
'All that and the motherfucker isn't dead…!'
Yes, Azzonnin was still alive.
He was in an even worse state than Evan, but he was still very much alive.
Evan staggered toward him, lifting the Unforged despite his muscles screaming from exhaustion.
He brought the blade down, aiming to pierce the soul devil's chest and end it once and for all.
As the sword struck, Azzonnin jolted awake, screaming in agony and glaring at Evan with bloodshot eyes.
Of course, Evan couldn't care less. He shoved the blade deeper with all the strength he could muster, intent on ending Azzonnin's existence.
Still shrieking, Azzonnin reached up with his right hand, grabbing Evan's face and pouring all his remaining soul power into a single burst.
"?!"
The sudden burst of formless energy caught Evan off guard, and before he could back away, darkness swallowed his vision.
When Evan's eyes reopened, he found himself surrounded by seemingly infinite darkness.
'…what the hell?'
Just as he looked around cautiously, a voice filled with pure rage thundered through the darkness.
"YOU DAMNED BASTARD!!"
Imdiately spinning around, Evan saw Azzonnin, his outline glowing white … and looking almost completely fine?
Well, he was still a bloodied ss, but the arm Evan was sure he'd ripped off was intact. So were his horns.
Then, the ground rumbled, and the darkness around them began to transform, bringing with it, an instinctive understanding to Evan.
'…this…is my soul realm! This bastard invaded my soul!'
He rembered Azzonnin ntioning sothing about taking his body and instantly grasped the situation.
With his astral body utterly wrecked, Azzonnin's final desperate move was to try and force Evan out of his body by defeating him in his soul realm.
'No… it's not that simple. If he entered here so confidently, he must have another thod to secure victory.'
Evan was certain Azzonnin had soul-related abilities he didn't know of, which would give the devil an advantage even in soone else's soul realm.
However, those thoughts and assumptions were completely shattered as Azzonnin looked around, eyes wide in shock, and stamred,
"…w-wa-what?! This isn't my soul realm!!"
"…?"
Evan blinked in montary confusion, and then realisation dawned.
'He tried to pull into his own soul realm… but got dragged into mine instead?'
That was the only explanation that made sense in light of Azzonnin's stunned reaction.
The soul devil turned to Evan, trembling, eyes wide with panic as he staggered back and asked in a shaking voice,
"…h-how?!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a blinding light filled the world around them, and when it faded, the darkness was gone.
"…what sort of cursed place is this…"
Azzonnin fell backwards, his body shivering as he stared up at the towering mountain of corpses. All around him lay bloodied corpses, each frozen in an expression of agony that made it clear their deaths had been nothing short of horrific.
But that wasn't even the worst part.
"…WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SKY?!"
Azzonnin scread, eyes locked on the massive, broken moon looming far too close, and the distant brilliance of a collapsing star burning in the backdrop.
Evan glanced up at the familiar sight, a sigh leaving his lips as he spoke.
"You tried to pull into your Soul Realm?"
Shrugging, he added.
"Well, your funeral."
With that, Evan stepped forward, and Azzonnin instinctively began to crawl backwards in panic.
"you're just a re legendary…how can you—?!"
Azzonnin's hand sank through the pile of corpses beneath him and made direct contact with the ground, his eyes widening as the realisation dawned.
"…you're not a mortal…"
The soul devil finally understood.
He had been confident in his unmatched soul strength. After all, he had once been a Transcendent before becoming a soul devil.
Against a re Legendary Level's soul, he should have t no resistance.
But Evan was no re Legendary.
He was a Deity reincarnated into a mortal vessel.
And while only a fragnt of that Deity Soul's power was accessible to him, it didn't change the type of the soul itself.
Even without his unique circumstances, Evan's soul would have rivalled Azzonnin's in strength due to the sheer number of skills and powers it carried.
Long story short, the soul devil could NEVER defeat the current Evan in a battle of souls.
Understanding this, Evan charged at Azzonnin, tackling him to the ground and pumlling him with fla-wreathed fists.
He punched with furious intensity, as if he wanted to crush the soul devil's head.
Azzonnin struggled, but the corpses scattered across the ground suddenly ca alive, their hands reaching out to grab his limbs and immobilize him.
Evan grabbed one of Azzonnin's horns, tore it out of his spiritual body, and stabbed it straight into his face.
The soul devil scread in agony, but Evan, currently in a near-berserker state, didn't care.
He continued brutalizing Azzonnin's body, only snapping back to normal when the soul devil went completely still.
'…he's still not dead…'
Evan, breathing heavily, looked down at the bloodied wreck that was Azzonnin, eyes lingering on the broken horn still lodged in his face.
'This bastard tried to drag into his soul realm, but got pulled into mine. That ans there's a channel between our souls, and it works both ways.'
With that understanding, Evan's eyes glead as he stared at the half-dead soul devil, reached down, and tore the scales from his neck.
'Considering his draconic form had white scales, and he tried to steal my body… then he must have been after my dragon powers.
If the channel between our souls works both ways… doesn't that an I can do to his soul what he tried to do to mine?'
Suppress. Subjugate.
Crushing the scale in his palm, Evan muttered one word.
"Absorb…"
'Yeah. Absorbing my soul would've been the best way for him to take my powers since they aren't just physical.
He would've needed the dragon factors in my soul… to add to his own.'
Slowly rising to his feet, Evan muttered,
"Then… I can do the reverse… can't I?"
The problem was: HOW?
Evan didn't have much knowledge when it ca to the soul. Up to now, he'd mostly relied on the instincts granted by his Deity Soul and Prisma's residual knowledge.
He had no clue how to actually absorb Azzonnin's soul.
At that mont, Evan realised sothing that made him look around.
"This is my soul realm, isn't it? Then where's the core of my soul?"
Evan had been here many tis before. From when Agnes tried to seize control of his soul to when he'd spoken with 'Prisma'.
Yet he couldn't recall ever seeing anything that looked like the core of his soul.
But the mont that thought crossed his mind, the light saturating his Soul Realm drew his attention, and Evan's eyes widened as he recalled sothing vital to his existence.
He rembered the root of his strongest power.
The origin of the power that earned him the na Prisma.
Imdiately, Evan turned around, eyes locking on the collapsing star in the distance.
As his gaze locked onto it, his vision glitched, and the image of the pale, yellow star distorted, its light shifting into prismatic hues.
"There you are," Evan muttered under his breath.
Without hesitation, he seized Azzonnin's body and, with all his might, launched himself into the air.
He flew toward the star, and the instant it glitched into its prismatic hue, Evan hurled Azzonnin's spiritual body straight into it.
And just like the singularity he was, Azzonnin's spiritual body was devoured by the star.
Suddenly, Evan's Soul Realm trembled, and a massive rift split open in the sky.
From that rift, sothing white shrieked as it was pulled from the darkness beyond, dragged into the Soul Realm and toward the Singularity.
To this, the Reincarnated Hero System reacted.
|Detected Abundance of Spiritual Material|
|Host Soul Health is at 85%|
|Permit use of detected Spiritual Material to repair Host's Soul?|
|5|
|4|
'?'
Since it seed like he might not be able to use the material to repair his soul if it was devoured by his soul core, Evan quickly gave his answer.
"Repair my soul."
|2—Response Received|
|Beginning Soul Restoration|
Imdiately, Evan was hit by a wave of searing pain, and he dropped to his knees. Blood stread from his left eye as his spiritual body began mirroring the condition of his physical one.
|Adaptive Evolution has detected Class 1 Evolutionary Catalyst|
'Class 1?!'
Evan's eyes widened.
Even the heart of the White Dragon Faldo had only been a Class 2 Catalyst, yet it granted him a second heart with energy generation efficiency on par with a nuclear reactor.
|Class Category: 1.
Catalyst Type: Soul Core.
Catalyst Potential: Dragon Factor Increase. Improved Draconic Transformation. Enhanced Draconic Passives. Boosted Dragon Heart Efficiency.
Catalyst Classification: White Arch Dragon's Soul. |
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