“There are abnormalities in your soul. These abnormalities bring strange changes… Let me help you.”
Before they could finish speaking, the other person’s figure disappeared abruptly. At the moment when their figure vanished, Hochman suddenly felt a pain in his own head.
Ahh!!!
He raised his head suddenly and roared furiously.
The immense pain surged through his body and caught him off guard. It felt as if a giant hammer had been suddenly smashed against his head. His five senses were completely affected by the violent burning pain all at once.
A tearing noise could be heard.
Hochman could hear the faint sound of something ripping. Next, a strange sense of freedom filled his mind.
“You’re free now…” a voice echoed in the rain.
Hochman lowered his head in a trance. He noticed that his own body had been restored to its normal state again as if everything that happened earlier was just an illusion.
Meanwhile, the strange feeling of constantly being controlled by Garen that was always hidden in the depths of his heart had disappeared completely now.
“I’m free?” he asked himself quietly.
He felt as if he had robbed something from Master. This unknown feeling was truly strange and indescribable. He was currently filled with a type of unprecedented power while the endless amounts of energy that formed a cycle inside his body made it feel as if he could crack the earth with one punch and break through any obstacle that hindered his path.
He crouched his body downwards and took the still-perfect mask from Dahm’s body quickly before keeping it close against his bosom.
“I can’t return anymore…” he murmured to himself softly before taking a final look at Dahm’s corpse. His figure flashed before he disappeared into the heavy rain instantly.
*******************
Holy Fist Palace
Garen suddenly felt a sharp pain ripping through his brain.
Woo…
He buried his face in his hands suddenly and stood in the middle of the large dark hall while being unable to suppress his cold sweat for a while.
“This is…?!”
The searing pain had arrived at a strange moment and had been unusually sudden as well.
He raised his head abruptly and looked in a direction that led to the outside of the palace.
“It’s the Soul Primer… Someone has escaped from my control! They ripped out a part of my Soul Primer and stole it!! Who was it??!!” his mind jolted with shock.
He closed his eyes and carefully detected the Qi of the Soul Primer that had flowed out of him at once.
The clusters of Qi seemed like galaxies of stars that were distributed throughout the dark and empty spaces in his mind. At this moment, out of the two largest stars that represented the Soul Primers, one of them had dimmed quickly while the other was shining brighter and even turning transparent quickly! It transmitted an unavoidable sense of separation.
“It’s Dahm and Hochman!” Garen’s mind froze at once. “Dahm is dead… Hochman absorbed the other pole of the Waterbird Fist’s aura… But how was he able to break away from the control of my Soul Primer? How could he rip through the Qi of my soul??!!”
‘Apparently, it was just as I had anticipated. You have trouble, Garen,’ said Black Sethe quietly.
Garen remained silent and did not speak. However, the waves of pain from his headaches caused the veins in his face to become even more obvious, making him look ferocious as well.
According to the principle, even though Hochman had absorbed and killed Dahm, it was still impossible for him to break free of Garen’s control. Though in hindsight, he had truly stolen a part of the Soul Primer’s Qi that belonged to him. Once he had appropriated it to himself, he was even able to successfully escape from Garen’s control of his spirit.
There were definitely external forces that were helping him!
“Who is it? Who’s helping him? Who could be able to help him?!” asked Garen quietly.
Losing this Soul Primer and its Qi would spell major trouble for him. Soul Primers instinctively had perfect characteristics. However, once part of it was ripped away, life-threatening flaws would show up in the soul. If he was unable to make up for it quickly, when an enemy of the same level used direct soul attacks against him, it was very likely that Garen would collapse completely within a short span of time in his current state.
‘You need to restore the wounds in our soul quickly! Otherwise, when Nadia appears, just one gaze of hers will be enough to kill you!!’ Black Sethe said seriously. ‘You cannot have the slightest flaw or obvious deficiency between experts. One misstep will be your downfall! This is truly fatal!’
“How could this world have measures that can counter against souls?!” Garen could feel that his headache was easing itself gradually. However, his face was still slightly uncomfortable.
‘Since this world is so huge, it would be very normal for various mystical creatures to appear. The important thing right now is that you need to find Hochman as soon as possible to get back the soul Qi that was ripped from you! For most people, perhaps this would merely be insignificant shrouds of soul Qi that would not be a great hindrance even if they lost it. However, to experts and peak level experts especially, whenever little holes appear in their imperfections, these seemingly tiny holes will be expanded endlessly,’ reminded Black Sethe in a low voice.
“I was careless…” Garen’s expression turned slightly ashen as this was the first time he had tasted such bitter regret. In this world, everything was going smoothly and he did not have any enemies at all. Even the Death Apostles were not worthy opponents in his eyes as most of them were merely cockroaches that could not be killed easily. All of his energy was directed towards Nadia as Nadia was his only true adversary. However, someone had inflicted a heavy hit upon him now!
‘Souls are extremely important towards all life forms. Even the Qi of the Soul Primer that you released could produce a military influence that causes you and your subordinates to become strong together. Not to mention that there are many other mystical properties and effects that we have yet to discover. This is definitely not an aspect that we can overlook.’
Garen remained silent. He thought of the years that he’d spent continuously separating shrouds of soul Qi. If all of this Qi was ripped by others violently… His once powerful soul would probably be suppressed into a state of everlasting weakness…
When he thought of this, Garen turned around suddenly and walked out of the main door.
He had to bring all of the parts of his Soul Primer that had been separated as soon as possible. Although this would cause a great loss throughout the strength of his subordinates, he was unable to be preoccupied with so many things now!
Dahm had died in battle while Hochman deserted him and fled! The repercussions that were caused by this incident would be very severe!
‘Are you thinking of retrieving all of your Primers back? You don’t need to do that,’ said Black Sethe. ‘Army level Primers like yours cannot simply be torn at any moment as they require specific timings. Among your subordinates, only Dahm and Hochman had the power to alter time while the others could not. Moreover, the consumption that is caused when one rips it is extremely great! This is something that was done on the soul level and could not be completed easily. Furthermore, the effects of the soul and Qi towards the physical body cannot overlap with one another. Losing one of them is equivalent to losing a hundred. Losses like these are negligible against the total strength of the soul itself. Only gaps and splits that are formed within perfect states and realms are the most troublesome.’
‘However, although it will not be affected, or perhaps the probability of the effects will be very low, I still suggest that you remove everyone from the inside of the palace and check them once over. You need to pay close attention to those who display unusual states!’ Black Sethe suggested.
“Right now, the most important thing is to capture Hochman and bring him back,” Garen pushed the main door open and walked out of the stone hall briskly. The disciples who were standing guard outside the door bowed their heads and looked at him with respectful gazes while he walked towards the student’s practice hall.
Dahm’s death and Hochman’s betrayal meant that Holy Fist Palace had lost two of its main Upper-level members at the same time. This affected Holy Fist Palace greatly, forcing him to make the necessary arrangements quickly before solving the problem of the torn souls later.
He would only be able to fully restore his lost soul and Qi by killing Hochman and remedying the flaws in his soul.
***************
Raffaele stood quietly in the doorway of the hidden room inside the palace. There was no one else in her surroundings and the sole patrol guard had just passed by to survey the cracks and gaps. There were a total of fifteen hidden rooms like this within Holy Fist Palace. She had already examined ten separate ones as her goal was to find the Sleepless Faces masks that were kept in Holy Fist Palace. There were about six of these masks that were collected in Holy Fist Palace and were definitely concealed in specific hidden places. Once she found it, she could quickly create a fake mask using the Witchcraft that Witch King Mother had prepared. This would allow her to take the real mask away quietly.
After pushing open the stone door that led to the hidden room gently, Raffaele walked inside silently and scanned the area quickly. Other than the necessary items such as the bright candlesticks, tables, chairs, and other furniture, the room was devoid of other objects.
She removed a little white ornament that was used a decoration from her own skirt quickly and shook it gently before a faint white light was released from the ornament suddenly, passing through the insides of the hidden room at once.
“The same thing again…” Raffaele’s gaze darkened slightly while she prepared herself to leave dejectedly.
Suddenly, the white ornament lit up again suddenly before shining directly on the wall on the opposite side of the door to the hidden room.
“This is?!!” Raffaele’s eyes narrowed when she realized that the magical probing tool that had been given to her by the Witch King Mother would not react for no reason.
She walked over quickly while the white light from the ornament in her hand reflected against the wall in a translucent state like glass. She could see the situation on the other side of the wall through it.
She could see a cylindrical, average-sized cavity inside the wall where a book seemed to be placed there. The book was thick and had a hard black cover.
For an unknown reason, this book gave Raffaele a strange and indescribable feeling. It felt as if she was not looking at a book but a sentient living creature instead.
“This thing… It’s definitely Garen’s most prized possession!” Raffaele gritted her teeth and turned her hand before removing a piece of thin red cardboard from the side pocket of her skirt. Clusters of strange symbols that seemed to be handwritten in blood covered its surface.
There were a total of three pieces of cardboard that were similar to this one. They were specialized magical tools that were equipped with short-term transmission functions. One of these precious magical tools could only be created with the heavy price of a sacrifice. Currently, the raw materials to create this item had depleted earlier on. They were only five pieces of this left which were all in the Lion Mother’s hands. In order to counter Garen now, the Witch King Mother, Lion Mother was willing to give her three of these items at once so that Raffaele could deliver these treasures to her from Holy Fist Palace.
“To be able to conceal it in such a hidden place…” she reached her hand out and pressed it against the wall before beginning to check for a switch there carefully. She just needed to remove the object and place it on the cardboard. Next, she would need to activate it gently so that it could be delivered instantly.
After probing for some time, she soon discovered a section of the wall that was slightly smoother and cleaner than the other areas. She outstretched her hand and dug it out gently before a little ring was removed from the wall suddenly.
She pulled it with all of her strength.
A faint buzzing noise could be heard before a large rectangular shaped stone block immediately protruded from the wall automatically. A cylindrical metallic pillar was embedded in the middle of the stone block. There was a ring that could be pulled on the pillar.