Chapter 540: Rending of the Soul
In the west of Adus, above the wilderness outside the city of Karnak.
At this moment, smoke filled the air over the vast desert wasteland, where the forward positions that once belonged to the Savior Faction’s soldiers were now littered with numerous craters. Around these craters were interwoven trenches and scattered corpses of soldiers, mostly belonging to the Savior Faction. They had either perished from gunfire or had been blown apart beyond recognition, with flames still burning in many places, and the air was thick with the stench of charred flesh.
Large groups of Revolutionary Army soldiers were conducting a simple cleanup of the battlefield. Loot was being gathered and piled to one side, wounded and sick from both sides were being treated, and large numbers of surrendering prisoners were being herded together to disarm. Everything here indicated that the battle that had just taken place was now over, and the outcome was a sweeping victory for the Revolutionary Army, which had attacked with overwhelming numbers and firepower.
Under the overwhelming advantage of troops and firepower, the Revolutionary Army soldiers quickly cleared all peripheral positions outside Karnak. Without the aid of undead, the Soldiers of the Savior Faction could be said to have collapsed completely. The Revolutionary Army suffered almost no casualties as they rapidly cleared all of Karnak’s outer defenses. With their command system nearly nonfunctional, the Soldiers of the Savior Faction were incapable of putting up a proper fight and were captured in droves by advancing Revolutionary Army soldiers.
Dressed in the uniform of a high-ranking officer from the Main Continent, Shadi stood on the chaotic battlefield, using binoculars to gaze into the distance. From his position, he could already see the city of Karnak; he was merely a step away from achieving victory in this battle.
“General, all outer strongholds posing a threat to the siege have been eliminated. There are no obstacles left for our attack on Karnak. It is already ours. We can rest for half a day before launching the general assault,” one of Shadi’s officers, Aidan, approached him to report and suggested his plan. After hearing Aidan’s words, Shadi lowered his binoculars and replied.
“There’s no need for such a long rest. Our army’s morale is high; we need to maintain the momentum. At most, rest for half an hour and then continue the attack.”
“Isn’t half an hour too short for rest? The soldiers are bound to become fatigued after continuous combat,” Aidan expressed his concern upon hearing Shadi’s command, to which Shadi quickly explained.
“From the recent battle situation, the enemy was in utter disarray, each fighting without any coordination, collapsing much faster than we had anticipated. I believe this is due to their command system failing, leading to chaos below, which made it easy for us to win.
“So we cannot wait; we must take advantage of their confusion and end the conflict in one breath. If we wait too long and they regain command, it will be harder to fight. Next, we must engage in urban combat. If they are well organized, they can inflict significant casualties on us, so we must strike while they are still disorganized.”
Shadi explained his reasoning to Aidan, who silently nodded in agreement, seemingly accepting Shadi’s rationale. He immediately withdrew to relay Shadi’s orders.
After Aidan left, Shadi’s gaze returned to Karnak in the distant desert. As he watched, he focused his attention on the mountains behind Karnak. After staring at the mountains for a while, he set down his binoculars and spoke to the ancient soul that resided within him.
“Setute… what progress have the members of the Judge of Heaven Church made at the royal tomb? Is the sudden disarray at Karnak related to their actions?”
Shadi inquired of the ancient spirit that had been with him all along, but unlike in the past, the ancient spirit remained silent, leaving Shadi momentarily surprised.
“Setute? What’s wrong?”
Shadi immediately inquired about Setute’s state, and after a moment of silence, Setute slowly began to speak.
“A madman… that madman… how did he get here? He shouldn’t be here… there’s no reason for his power to extend this far…”
In Shadi’s heart, Setute whispered in disbelief. Hearing Setute’s words bewildered Shadi, and he solemnly asked the ancient spirit within him.
“A madman? What madman? Has a significant figure from the Savior Faction arrived?”
“No… not a new madman from the Savior Faction… but an old madman, a tragic and dreadful old madman twisted for thousands of years.
“He is a sinner, a prisoner, a madman, the greatest taboo among beings like us…”
……
North of Karnak, in Dead Eagle Valley, at the Rahmann Royal Tomb.
In the vast underground palace of the royal tomb, gloom spread, black handprints appeared, and coldness seeped… Decorated with countless gold ornaments, a massive, terrifying half-transparent mummified face loomed within the underground palace, fixating its scary gaze on the Sand Giant Lizard. At this moment, those black handprints that spread everywhere were rapidly encroaching upon the Sand Giant Lizard. Soon, these handprints began to cover its entire body, and under the suppression of the black marks, the enormous Sand Giant Lizard became completely immobile.
“What is this?!”
Inside the Sand Giant Lizard, Chabakunka was horrified to find that he could not control the body of the Sand Giant Lizard at all. Both his soul and the Wilderness Spirit he had summoned were now suppressed, feeling powerless, a great panic spread within Chabakunka and his subordinate Wilderness Spirit. He could even sense the Wilderness Spirit’s spirit body trembling under the oppressive gaze of the terrifying mummified face before him; he felt utterly incapable of generating any sense of resistance.
Chabakunka could perceive that this terrifying presence—allied to the spirit—was emanating an incredible resentment and hatred. For a moment, he thought that perhaps it was a form of enormously powerful vengeful spirit, so he rallied his energy and began to chant.
“Vengeful… vengeful spirit… this world is not your place to remain; let go of everything and heed the great guidance! Depart!”
Chabakunka attempted to use his ability to guide this existence to the underworld, hoping to banish it. However, his efforts proved unavailing; instead, the mummified figure mocked him in ancient Northern Ufeiga.
“I’m not going anywhere… not until the dynasty is reborn from d*ath; even gods cannot expel me!”
As it spoke, the mummified apparition emitted a burning soul fire from its suffering. Then, in the void, two emaciated, skeletal, long and thin semi-transparent claws appeared, seemingly from the charred remains of a corpse. They reached out from the air and grasped the spirit body in the Sand Giant Lizard, directly capturing its essence, forcing Chabakunka’s spirit to endure overwhelming pressure.
Subsequently, blackened skeletal hands that had penetrated the Sand Giant Lizard began to pull outward, and within moments they each tore two spirit bodies from it: the lizard-like Wilderness Spirit called Sand Tongue and the chicken-like Wilderness Spirit known as Beak Cry. After being drawn out by the blackened hands, the two Wilderness Spirits struggled desperately but were simply powerless against their fate. As the hands tightened, the two spirits were crushed, turning into wisps of fragments drifting into the air.
Once the Wilderness Spirits were crushed, the enormous Sand Giant Lizard suddenly collapsed, turning into sand that poured down to the ground. Once the sand settled, Chabakunka’s body became visible as he fell from midair, landing directly on the thick sand.
“You can’t hide, Boyle… no matter where you hide, you cannot escape…”
The skeletal hands reached down again, directly grasping the fallen Chabakunka, pulling two spirit bodies from him: one was Chabakunka’s own soul, and the other was the soul of Moen, the entity that Chabakunka relied upon. Both displayed expressions of panic.
The skeletal hands tossed Moen’s spirit aside and then reached for Chabakunka’s spirit, preparing to tear it apart. In the midst of this ripping, Chabakunka felt an excruciating sharp pain deep within his soul. He watched, helpless, as his spirit rapidly disintegrated, his consciousness spiraling into chaos. Experiencing this unbearable pain, Chabakunka finally understood what he was facing.
“Curse…”
What’s going on? Why did I suddenly experience such a powerful curse?!
Under the tearing of the cursed black hands, Chabakunka’s bright red “Silence” intensity soul began to crumble. His spirit arms were torn away, vanishing into the air, followed by his legs and torso. At that moment, he finally realized the reason behind his predicament.
It was that soul! The one he had just devoured! Chabakunka remembered that he had never been subjected to such a powerful curse before… The only explanation was that the curse transferred to him upon swallowing the other’s soul! By consuming it, his soul had covered that of the other, and until he refined this soul he absorbed, the curse it bore would shift to him! This powerful curse that could materialize was meant to tear apart his soul, releasing the truly cursed soul—and then cursing him!
Realizing this, Chabakunka immediately began to release the soul he had just swallowed. However, such a release required time, and the agony of the tearing process extended this time further. Finally, after enduring immense pain, Chabakunka expelled the swallowed soul in the form of Soul Flame, but at that point, most of his own spirit had been torn away, and his limbs and part of his torso were gone. His spirit was now too weak to maintain its form, and after ejecting the consumed soul, he rapidly began to collapse into a ball of soul fire.
“I found it…”
Seeing that Chabakunka had released the soul he sought, the immense mummified figure formed a twisted grin. Its enormous black cursed hands reached out toward the expelled soul.
At that moment, hiding inside the palace, Doro sensed through the information channel that Nephnis was rapidly being affected by the curse. She immediately conveyed a message to Gregor far away.
“Hunter, inject spirituality!”
In the basement of Boyle’s new mansion in Prith Tevian, thousands of kilometers away from Adus, Gregor, holding the golden scepter, immediately injected the spirituality of “Enlightenment” into the scepter upon hearing the voice in his mind. Instantly, a flicker of light flashed in the bird’s eye on the golden scepter.
Then, in the underground palace of Rahmann, the once menacing dark cursed hand that was about to touch Nephnis’ spirit suddenly froze, becoming completely rigid as if obstructed by some power, unable to advance an inch. The massive terrifying mummified visage grew hazy and distorted.
“What… What… No… No…”
Seemingly realizing something enraging, the mummified figure began to murmur in an agitated tone. It was visibly apparent that the countless handprints covering the entire palace were rapidly fading, and the enormous black cursed hands began to tear apart and scatter.
“No… no! Boyle, how dare you… return the holy scepter…”
Amidst furious howls of unwillingness, the mummified figure gradually twisted and faded, ultimately dissolving into nothingness. Finally, as the black handprints within the underground palace were erased, the figure along with the dark cursed hands completely vanished, leaving the vast underground space significantly emptier, with only a few wisps of soul fire drifting within.
Among these soul fires, the one that flickered the most intensely belonged to Chabakunka. At this moment, Chabakunka’s soul, still retaining a trace of awareness amidst the fierce torment, sighed in relief upon seeing the terrifying cursed entity disappear. He then desperately began to consolidate his spirit to avoid dispersing, preparing to escape at once.
Must… must leave immediately!
Chabakunka thought this to himself, and then he began preparing to perform a reverse communication ceremony with his soul state, intending to summon his spirit and the divine blessing object back to safety, to report everything that had occurred back to the church. Although he couldn’t acquire the soul of Rahmann, he could at least bring back a divine blessing object!
With this in mind, Chabakunka began to release his powers in a purely soul state without relying on any medium; such an act would inflict great harm to his own spirit, constituting a form of self-harm. However, he could no longer afford to care about that!
Just as Chabakunka was about to commence the ceremony, a loud thunder suddenly echoed throughout the underground palace, and a streak of lightning shot out from the palace, directly striking Chabakunka’s soul fire. The soul fire trembled violently, shrinking significantly.
Struck by the lightning, Chabakunka’s heart trembled, causing chaos in the cohesion of his soul fire. He fearfully sensed the entrance to the palace and saw a hooded figure, obscured, flying out towards him.
It was him! That hidden member of the Judge of Heaven Church!
Upon seeing that figure, imbued with electric lightning approaching, Chabakunka felt despair wash over him. He could no longer return his soul; with nothing but a thin remnant of his spirit, he could not compete against a fully intact Extraordinary Being at the White Chalk Tier. The conclusion awaiting him was soul scattering, followed by easy capture and imminent slaughter at the hands of the enemy.
No, it can’t end like this!
Thinking of such an ending, Chabakunka’s spirit rebelled vehemently; he could not accept such a result. In this moment of despair, he wished to make a desperate last-ditch effort, willing to stake his life on a final gamble.
Currently, in the state of residual spirit, Chabakunka could burn the last remaining bits of his soul to forcefully perform a high-speed communication to summon a powerful soul to defend himself.
Souls are difficult to obliterate completely. After this act, Chabakunka’s spirit would be reduced to almost nothing, with only a wisp remaining. This last bit of soul would be unable to maintain his divine status and would wander aimlessly across the earth. It would take over a hundred years to restore to its original form, and he would remain an unconscious soul wisp for at least a century—essentially akin to being dead in the eyes of others. Yet even taking this path, he did not wish for his soul to fall into the hands of the enemy. If they refined his soul, he would be doomed!
With these considerations, Chabakunka also refrained from using the burning soul technique to instantly communicate back; he knew that even answering the location of the underworld’s tomb with the last essence of his spirit could lead to his former colleagues taking advantage of him, possibly treating his soul worse than mere capture by the Judge of Heaven Church.
This decision was made in the blink of an eye. Facing the incoming threat once more, he ignited the remaining trace of his spirit and performed a rapid communication in an unanchored state.
The communication ritual was completed in an instant. Accompanied by complex magical arrays appearing on the ground, Chabakunka’s weak soul fire dwindled down to a mere wisp; he could no longer bear the weight of the Phantom Pulling Lamp, resembling a classical oil lamp. The illusionary wine cup dropped from the air as Doro’s eyes fixated intently on the falling vessel.
At that moment, a soul rose from the magical array that Chabakunka had just activated, catching the illusionary wine cup falling from the air.
This spirit was a middle-aged man with a thick beard, wearing a helmet and dressed in luxurious armor of Northern Ufeiga style, distinctly infused with the essence of Adus. The face beneath the helmet was unsettlingly familiar to Doro, and she quickly realized from where that familiarity derived.
This spirit’s face bore a striking resemblance to Mazale; they were undoubtedly related by bl**d!
This soul was Diadin Baruch—the last king of Baruch, killed by Shadi and Muhetar! Mazale’s father!
“Go, last king of Baruch… go do whatever you wish! Buy me time… as I, the most successful test subject of the Witchcraft Sect… let’s show them how complete your transformation is…”
Facing Diadin’s spirit, Chabakunka murmured with his final consciousness, then a thin wisp of his soul drifted out of the underground palace, completely losing awareness.
As a soul at the Red Tier, he, in a conventional sense, had already died; at least in this era, he would have no capacity for activity. Perhaps after a hundred years, he might have the chance to endure as a wise old man guiding some youth or maiden while seeking an opportunity for resurrection…
