Chapter 33: Your Soul Is Mine
Within the village walls, the female Elite Guard stood in stunned silence, watching as the two undying monsters who had pressed her to exhaustion died within seconds. One collapsed into an empty shell, the other bursting into searing blue flames that consumed it utterly, leaving not even ash behind.
She had heard rumours about the Moon Princess from five years ago—powerful, ruthless, even said to be vice captain of the 1st Elite Squad. The truth was, the members of the 1st Squad had never been disclosed, even to the other squads. Few knew their identities, but it was said they were made up of the Spatial Fortress's greatest monsters, with May at the top.
All of that had been rumors in her opinion—until now. After witnessing the Moon Princess in action, she could no longer deny that this little girl before her was truly a monster.
"What are you doing spacing out?" Luna said, glancing at the kneeling guard whose eyes shone with worship and admiration. "Go regroup with the others and take care of the one atop the wall. If Tor is done before you all, then just wait and see your punishment."
The guard stood, glancing at Tor on a building not far away. That esteemed name—Tor—had been given to someone rumoured to be useless. But when she'd arrived with her comrades, they'd heard tales of Jin and Tor defeating monsters outside the village and handling those who'd assaulted it. The story had seemed too good to be true.
Yet after seeing how he spoke to the Moon Princess as equals, one would even perceive him as arrogant when he claimed he'd deal with the leader of this group. Surely he couldn't be stupid—even she could feel the nightmare brewing outside the city, a cold pressure that clawed at the edges of her senses.
"Do not worry, Princess," she said, bowing her head. "Surely we'll finish him off before Young Lord Tor is done outside the city."
The confidence and almost disregard for Tor was evident in her voice.
In truth, all the Elite Squad members had been absent from the village recently. There'd been buzz about something big brewing—monsters being controlled, massacres occurring. They'd been investigating. This meant they had no news of what happened to Mak, one of the Elders the squads kept cautious attention on due to high rebellion risk. The villagers had mostly seen Jin's battle but stayed indoors despite being powerful mages, lacking even the courage to watch Tor's fights.
"Your confidence spawned from ignorance is really inspiring," Luna said, smiling faintly under her mask. "Since you're so sure, I'll keep a very harsh punishment in mind for you. Your time is wasting. Hurry and try your best."
When the Elite Guard looked into Luna's eyes, a shiver ran down her spine like icy fingers. She had never been afraid facing those undying animals, but now she was scared of someone who didn't even try to threaten her. Shameful.
She wasted no time, heading for the wall where the others battled the vice captain of the cloaked figures.
Tor wasn't bothered with these small issues, letting Luna do as she pleased. She wasn't killing anyone she shouldn't.
"Time for your battle, hubby," Luna said, acting cute and giggling. "Kill them all."
She vanished without sound.
Outside the walls, the old man finished tying the sack to his back, but the bodies risen by the Soul Clan leader were many—some from previous battles on these very grounds, their flesh still carrying the metallic tang of old blood.
The old man knew this skill well. After ascending to the return origin level, the Soul Clan could grant absorbed souls individuality, letting them inhabit corpses. The animated dead were entirely loyal to whoever consumed their souls.
"Kid, don't look down on them because they're moving corpses," the old man called to the guard captain as they dodged attacks from all sides. With each wave of his hand, he sliced two or three corpses into pieces, the severed limbs twitching briefly before going still. "They have the abilities of the warriors whose souls were trapped. Also, you have to cut them up entirely so they don't keep moving. Since they can't regenerate, the soul has to leave."
The guard captain sliced his way through the encirclement, irritation clear in his movements.
"God, do you ever just shut up?" the captain snapped. "The problems we're having are just beginning."
And why wouldn't he be irritated? This cloaked figure was like a predator playing with food in its mouth. It wasn't that they couldn't break through the encirclement easily—but if they did, what next? They didn't believe they could defeat that monster alone. But the auras of the other cloaked figures had vanished. Only the one he'd attacked on the wall remained.
He hoped his team would end it quickly and re-join him to handle this leader with the blue coiling dragon.
"Huh, I never knew the Spatial Fortress made cowards Elite Guards, talk less of captains," Luna said, appearing between the captain and the old man. Her words dripped with sarcasm, and the captain couldn't refute her.
"Princess, I am scared—but not for me," he said seriously, sword never stopping as he blocked and sliced rushing corpses. "I fear I won't be able to complete my mission to bring Lady Jin home for the Madam to stabilize her condition."
"Hahaha, if only your skills were as good as your excuses," Luna replied, finding it amusing. "Don't worry. I don't expect too much from you. Just go as far as you can."
The captain, who'd been hesitant, realized that with Luna—the Moon Princess, youngest person named to the Elite Squads and the First Squad no less—present, he wouldn't die here today.
He stepped up his pace. Each slash mowed down tens of corpses. With that opening, he charged directly toward the cloaked figure—but noticed the stronger corpses he'd been wary of running in the opposite direction, leaving the figure exposed. The dragon coiled around the leader abruptly took flight, following the fleeing corpses.
"It seems I'll have to get even stronger for the foe on his way," the cloaked figure said excitedly. "If I eat that soul, that aura, I'm sure I'll become more powerful than the inquisitors of the gods from the upper realm."
The guard captain appeared behind him, slashing. A ray of blacklight sword aura shot out, extending far, cutting into the city wall and leaving a huge gash in ground and stone that smoked faintly.
"Where was all this power when we started?" the cloaked figure taunted, appearing at the captain's left flank. His bone sword erupted with blue soul-consuming fire that hissed like hungry flames.
The captain blinked, appearing above the figure's head. He slashed multiple times, releasing more blacklight sword aura—a combination of his spatial mantle and sword will that could cut through space itself.
The cloaked figure didn't dodge. "Soul Shield."
The shield absorbed the damage, souls destroyed utterly by the strikes with faint, distant screams echoing in the air. But this greatly diminished the attacks' power—they only cut through parts of the cloak. The figure grabbed the captain's leg and with a thunderous crash, threw him into the ground, cratering it.
"Is this what the elite guards have become?" the figure goaded. "Pathetic."
Luna made no attempt to move. The old man remained distant, contemplating whether to help or escape now that he'd rescued who he came for.
In the distance, at the spot where Tor had fought the Blood Ape and Ice Elder, a roar echoed—deep, guttural, shaking loose pebbles on the ground even by the distant guard captain.
As if Tor had anticipated this, he was already near the region. That's where all the corpses had been sent.
The Blood Ape walked toward Tor, body crystallized and blue, fur cracking like frozen glass with each heavy step, eyes releasing pale blue soul-consuming flames identical to what the cloaked figure used.
At the same time, the three strongest corpses appeared on the opposite side.
Both the ape and corpses looked at Tor with such bloodlust it affected the atmosphere itself, the air growing thick and oppressive.