Chương 696: The Infected Soul

Luke stood in the desert stretch between Main Island's shoreline and the citadel. It had only been a day since he'd advanced to Rank D, and the difference was absurd.

"Come on! That all you've got?" he shouted as the massive crab burst out of the sand and lunged for him. The creature came at him with its claws spread wide, dragging its heavy body across the dunes. Luke shot toward it at high speed, feeling the sand give way beneath his feet, and drove a punch straight into its shell. The impact sent the monster flying back. It rolled down the dune, throwing up a cloud of sand, while Luke leaped high and drew his kukri midair. The blade came down clean and split the shell open.

[You have slain a Dune Shell - Lvl 113] 801, 536 EP earned He collected the beast's core and absorbed it like it was nothing. [You absorbed a Rank D core] [Rank D Cores: 105/1000]"Now that I'm Rank D, Angie and Charlie won't hit that evolution wall anymore." Luke had cut his hair, trimmed his nails, and used magic to change their color. His teeth had needed adjusting too, until they looked normal again. More than vanity, it was training. He needed to control his new healing factor.

If he didn't keep it in check, his body would insist on returning to its original shape. The same went for his nails and hair.

"Meow!"

"Meow!" The two cats stared at him from the sand, freshly summoned. [Soul Infiltration] had grown stronger.

"I need to test this new skill." [Soul Infection (Rank E)]: Your disregard for the safety of your own soul and your refusal to accept the unknown half of your origin gave shape to this power. By denying a part of yourself, your soul learned to cross boundaries that once held it in place. When you use [Soul Infiltration] on a target, you may infect the host's soul with your own.

While the target remains infected, proximity to your body is no longer required: you continue to see and hear everything they see and hear, even if they move far away from you. In addition, if the infected body touches another being, your soul may pass into that new target, transferring the infection through physical contact. In this way, you may move from body to body like a silent plague.

But be warned: if your soul fragments move too far from your body without a remaining anchor, your consciousness will become trapped within them. You will be able to jump between fragments, but you will have no active physical form, while your abandoned body remains alive, empty, and unable to act until your soul returns and enters it again. You rejected a part of your own origin. Now, your soul has learned to reject its own body.

So basically, I can stick one of these cats into someone's soul and keep the link even if they go far away. But if I do it with both cats and they get too far from me, my body just shuts down. Testing the limits of that power was the dangerous part. What happens if my real body gets destroyed while I'm stuck out there? Do I die? Does the body regenerate?

"So it's basically a damn horcrux," Artemis said.

"Now that you mention it..." Luke narrowed his eyes.

"What happens if someone carrying a piece of my soul dies? And if this really is horcrux bullshit, can I rebuild my body if it gets destroyed while a piece of me is still out there?" Rank skills never fully explained what they could really do. The problem was that the tests required to find the answer were far too dangerous.

"More likely, I'd be stuck inside someone else's soul forever, watching their life like a movie. Or I'd die once the mana runs out." He dismissed the cats and started running through the desert again. It cost far less stamina to maintain his speed now, and when he poured vigor into his legs, he crossed the sand fast enough for the wind to bite at his face. Luke activated the [Cloak of the Arcane Witch] and began leaping over the dunes, gaining height with every push. The citadel couldn't be much farther now.

When he reached a ruined city half-buried in sand, he decided to explore it. If I could easily go a week without sleep before, what is it now? A month? He looked out over the desert ahead and activated [Horns of the Demon of Darkness]. In the same instant, his perception of the world changed. Breathing, concentration, presence. Everything seemed to lock into a logic that was far too cold. Then he activated the [Cloak of the Arcane Witch] again and began testing what he could do with both skills active at once.

The abandoned buildings never stood a chance. Walls collapsed, towers toppled, stone arches split apart. Luke pushed his body, mana, and mind to the limit, trying to understand how much he could pull out of that combination. When he was done, he stopped among the wreckage and looked at another skill that had evolved when he advanced to Rank D. [Deep Meditation (Rare)]: Enter a state of absolute focus, harmonizing body, mind, mana, and soul.

During meditation, your vigor and mana regeneration are doubled compared to Advanced Meditation, allowing for intense and continuous recovery. Thanks to greater mastery over your internal mana flow, you can now walk and perform simple, controlled movements without canceling the skill. It is also possible to run while maintaining the meditative state, but doing so significantly reduces the effectiveness of your regeneration, since the body is no longer in full harmony with your internal focus.

To achieve the skill's maximum effect, you must remain still. Sudden actions, attacks, violent dodges, or complex spellcasting may still destabilize the meditative state and cancel the skill. While the skill is active, your awareness of the environment is still reduced, but not as severely as before. You can now sense faint mana disturbances, nearby presences, or hostile intent, though vaguely and imprecisely. The deeper the meditative state, the greater your recovery.

Luke stayed in meditation for an hour, letting his mana and stamina refill. It really does recover mana and stamina way faster. When he stood, he walked through the destroyed place, feeling his body respond with far greater stability. The cloak and the horns are way too powerful together. But the horns affect my personality. I understand it better now. They shut off my empathy. They make me think in pure logic, with no feeling behind it. Useful. Dangerous as hell.

Maybe it was similar to Charlie's Beast skills, at least in the way it affected the emotional side.

"So are you using your cute little horns or not?" Artemis asked.

"Carefully. Until I understand them better." Luke kicked a loose stone as he walked.

"I do feel smarter. Or maybe I was always this smart, and the horns just cut through whatever was in the way. Like empathy. I wouldn't wipe out an enemy by blowing up a sealed room if there were other people inside who weren't my enemies. With the horns, that hesitation just isn't there. And because of that, I think of strategies I normally wouldn't use."

"Like when you tricked those guys in the battle royale?"

"Like that." There was another test Luke had been trying to run for the past few hours. It kept failing. [Sariel]: A name is given at birth, but it can also be earned. Names are words of power; they define a being's existence. You slew an angel completely and inherited his name. Once called Luke, now you are also known as Sariel. You were born once, and now you are born again. Speak this name, and it will respond with power. Accept being Sariel, and the power becomes yours.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it [??? (Divine)]: A Divine-tier skill can only be accessed by beings above Rank D. Every time he used the title and tried to focus on the skill, the answer came back the same. [Error: You must possess both Eyes of Sariel to unlock this ability]"I can't believe I waited all this time to use this skill, and it just spits an error in my face. I'm never unlocking this thing, am I?"

At least he had unlocked a new slot in the eye's ability to steal a Rank Skill. But the new servant slot was what really stuck in his head.

"I only got Charlie and Angie as servants through sheer luck, because of very specific circumstances. I don't know if I can find another one." He would have to find someone willing to serve him. And that alone wasn't enough. It needed to be someone he trusted deeply, and someone willing to follow him wherever he went. It wasn't simple.

"Don't worry, Luke," Artemis said.

"Somewhere out there, there's gotta be a hot woman desperate enough to join this disaster."

"And yet I keep listening to you..."

"I'm serious, man. We'll find a candidate. I'll help you with this."

When Luke reached the citadel, it looked nothing like it had last time. Now it was packed to the walls. There were so many people that stalls, tents, and makeshift houses had been built along the city's edges, like the citadel had swollen overnight. So this is where everyone from the event ended up, apparently. Most of them weren't doing the Stage Phases. They just wanted to go back to Earth as soon as possible.

The city was enormous, but Luke couldn't afford to run through the streets or cross long distances by leaping between buildings. There were rules in this place. Kingdoms and countries controlled the citadel to keep it as peaceful as possible.

"So they actually have prisons here?" Luke asked over his meal at a tavern. The man across from him shrugged.

"Don't ask me how the punishments work. But I've seen plenty of idiots get arrested because they thought they could start gangs in here." The Night Eyes Organization served as the citadel's police force. Luke had already run into a few of them the last time he had been there, during the vote. If I remember right, they didn't serve any god. Law and Order. A police organization.

"Mr. W is the judge who carries out sentences here?"

"Him, and the other blue-cloaks." When he finished eating, Luke walked through the city. There weren't that many guards in sight, but at strategic points, there was always a soldier in a blue cloak watching the flow of people. And there are people from other factions too, plus plainclothes agents. This place is heavily monitored. So... safe, probably. His group's plan B was to return to the citadel if they failed to finish the beacon before the Phase deadline.

If that happened, they would go to the old hideout they had there.

"You're moving away from the route," Cadmus said.

"I'm staying in the citadel a little longer. There's someone I need to see." Luke watched a massive military base for a while. Once he confirmed Serena was there, he gave his name to one of the guards and left. Then he slipped into an alley and waited. He was biting into an apple when a woman approached.

"You actually came. I thought they wouldn't pass along the message."

"You used Eleanor's name. She's on my VIP list," Serena replied.

"Our last conversation didn't exactly end well, hero." Luke tossed her an apple.

"I need to talk to you for a bit about the future."

"Okay, but I've got about twenty minutes. I'm heading out on a mission." The two left the alley and climbed onto the roof of one of the buildings. Up there, away from the noise of the streets, Luke decided to talk about Charlie, about the information surrounding him, and about the future.

"Do I have your word you won't come after me or my wife?" Serena raised an eyebrow.

"So young, and already talking like a married man."

"She's my girlfriend. But I was planning to buy a ring when I got back to Earth." Luke glanced aside.

"Except I'm probably broke now, and I doubt the stores survived the apocalypse."

"Yeah, I doubt the post-apocalypse has a thriving wedding-ring market."

"It'll be like Mad Max..."

"Maybe The Walking Dead?"

"You watched that show, hero?"

"Of course I did. What, did you think I spent my free time locked in a room rehearsing speeches?"

"Rescuing cats from trees and other hero bullshit."

"I had a life." Luke stared at Serena for a few seconds, then forced himself back on topic.

"And about what I told you?"

"Relax. I'm not hunting you or your family down just because my sword lit up." She drew the weapon from its sheath. The blade gave off a golden light.

"But if you become a threat to humanity—""And what she is?"

"I'll pretend I don't know anything." Serena kept some of the tension in her eyes, but not the sword.

"And you're not exactly the center of the universe. I mean that in a good way. Once we're back in the States, we'll have bigger problems. Other nations. Other worlds. New enemies. You're American, so you're under my protection too." She held out her hand. Luke shook it.

"So it's Zelda rules, right? Sword glows near Ganondorf, that kind of thing."

"Zelda?" Serena frowned.

"Don't know it."

"What?! You don't know Zelda?"

"Is that where your big-titty elf obsession came from?" Artemis asked. Quiet. Don't disrespect the princess. She's sacred.

"I don't know Zelda," Serena said, ignoring Luke's strange silence, "but my skill turns my main weapon into a sensor. That's the glow. It also makes my strikes hit harder."

"Yeah... that's like Zelda."

"If you say so, I'll take your word for it." She finally sheathed the sword and looked toward the horizon.

"Sorry to cut this short, but I need to go."

"Secret hero business?"

"I'm handling security for this giant island. I'm going after a dangerous group."

"Good luck. To you and whoever's going with you."

"Thanks. But I'm going alone."

"Alone?" Luke tilted his head.

"Good luck." Serena prepared to jump, but he turned before she left.

"Which direction?"

"North. Why?" Luke looked at Cadmus.

"I'm heading that way. Why not let me help you with this mission?"

"I'm hunting powerful individuals. Rank D. I can't afford to babysit anyone, so I'm going alone." Serena watched him steadily.

"Sorry. It's not personal."

"I can take care of myself." Luke smiled sideways.

"And if being near me makes you stronger... aren't you at least a little curious how powerful that sword of yours can get?"

Jonathan was still irritated with Scarllet. The vampire had cost him his chance to keep talking to Angelica, and then, just to make it worse, her organization's meeting got canceled anyway.

"That face isn't helping, Jonathan. It's just making you uglier." He clicked his tongue.

"You dragged me out of there, and then your stupid meeting got canceled."

"How was I supposed to know that would happen? I had a schedule to keep." After complaining to Scarllet a little more, Jonathan followed her through the City of Waves to the location of the new Looking Glass meeting. He still needed to keep working with them, especially if he wanted to track down his Beacon, since Tobias was busy. When the meeting began, Jonathan finally got a good look at the participants. Figures wearing animal masks filled the place. It was bizarre.

Even more bizarre was the fact that they let him attend some of these meetings at all. Not that Jonathan had any interest in the fairy tales and children's stories those lunatics seemed to worship. Sometimes he even mocked them for it. They were obsessed with things like Little Red Riding Hood, and Scarllet in particular hated that story for reasons that felt almost personal. Of all the strange figures in that organization, only one intrigued Jonathan more than the rest. The Narrator.

The man wore a mask made of mirrors.

"It has been confirmed through multiple channels that we truly have three Apocrypha in the event," the Narrator said during the meeting. There was no easy way to understand how insane their obsession with Apocrypha was. All Jonathan had managed to grasp was that they were individuals. They weren't chosen by Looking Glass. They just were. The closest comparison he could make was zodiac signs. Anyone could be any sign, none of it had to mean anything, and people could force any detail to fit.

But to the people of Looking Glass, there was logic behind the Apocrypha. The Narrator placed three playing cards on the table. When he revealed them, some of the masked figures seemed impressed. A bunch of idiots.

"The Apocrypha are as follows," the Narrator said, pointing to the cards. On one card was a wooden puppet. On another, a black cat. On the last, a blond girl.

"The Apocrypha of Pinocchio, the Apocrypha of the Cheshire Cat, and the Apocrypha of Alice."