44. “You Can Do It, Can’t You?”
In any case.
Calysia could only be hers… Her happy ending could only be given by her.
Reina’s lips curled upwards.
Determining who the main body was was actually quite simple.
But every time Reina found the man in the suit’s main body, he would use his level 140 strength to push her away, continuing to hide among his countless clones.
Stalling for time wasn’t a bad thing.
The support from the [God Slaying Society] would arrive soon… If it were the old Reina, she would definitely have done that.
What she really needed to be concerned about was the man in the suit’s own power…
It was said that the highest realm of a necromancer was to be able to deal with souls.
If she had too many close encounters with a necromancer, she might be forced into a “soul contract” and become his puppet.
But Reina just smiled.
“[Gravity]!”
Reina quickly transferred the power she had obtained to her clone. The latter’s power rapidly expanded, and now, even the clone possessed a power close to level 110.
If it were an ordinary person, they would feel despair.
Reina had fought too many battles where she was out-leveled.
“Boom—!”
The ground beneath Reina’s feet cracked severely from the release of magic power, making the already devastated ground even more ruined.
This skill, which Calysia usually used for “brute force,” was clearly ineffective against the main members of the Shadow of God.
But there was also a gap between clones, and a chasm of strength between the main body and the clone. The moment gravity was applied, Reina clearly sensed the man in the suit’s main body, her eyes locking onto the figure hiding behind the wall, two or three people away.
“Whoosh—!”
Reina summoned the Judgment Blade, and in the blink of an eye, it was at the man in the suit’s chest, piercing deep inside.
Her main body also arrived in front of the man in the suit in the next second, giving him no time to breathe.
But the moment she got close, the man in the suit’s main body expanded as before. His chest suddenly bloomed into a fleshy, tumor-like flower from his torn suit, like an enemy from a biohazard game. Reina subconsciously sensed danger and quickly dodged.
“Boom—!”
When the giant fleshy tumor bloomed, a terrifying red death ray shot out, leaving a deep gash on the ground. And the moment Reina dodged, the man in the suit disappeared again.
“Hahahahaha—!”
The men in the suit all laughed in unison, their laughter echoing through the plaza.
Just then, Reina noticed a red, semi-transparent thread connected to her body. Following the thread to its end, she saw that it dissipated into the air, as if connected to another dimension.
“[Soul Balance]!”
The man in the suit said.
At the same time, Reina looked up and saw where the end of the thread was connected—in the sky, a skull-shaped balance had appeared.
And one end of the balance extended a red thread that was connected to her wrist.
Suddenly, all of the man in the suit’s clones burst into white flames, shooting up into the sky like meteors and converging at the other end of the balance, constantly expanding. In the distance, from Calysia’s battlefield, countless white flames also flew over and gathered with the fireball.
Reina’s guess was correct.
With just one or two contacts, he could form a “soul contract.”
The skull opened its mouth, its hollow eyes burning with pure white flames, and spoke in the same voice as the man in the suit:
“A fair judgment.”
“The one with the heavier soul wins!”
“The winner gets the opponent’s entire soul!”
“A bet’s a bet!”
Reina frowned slightly.
What kind of fairness was this?
…Her side aside, the man in the suit’s side was clearly not just one soul!
Could it be… that this person wasn’t a necromancer in the true sense of the word?
Logically, a necromancer could control the dead through magic, like controlling puppets. A high-ranking necromancer could collect the souls of the dead and lock them into suitable bodies for easier control.
But the former, like the Light Clone, required a large amount of extra mental energy.
The latter required immense magic power to continuously bind the souls.
But the man in the suit, in both the former and the latter, far surpassed the level of a true necromancer.
Now, Reina understood.
…He was piecing together the collected souls into his own, thus controlling all the bodies as if they were his own!
—He was a complete lunatic.
No wonder he could handle both her and Calysia at the same time.
She had originally thought Dragon Slayer was the most threatening enemy.
Now it seemed that everyone in the Shadow of God was not to be underestimated.
“The contract is formed!”
The skull laughed loudly, as if he had already declared victory.
At this moment, even the man in the suit’s main body melted with the white flames, adding more fuel to the left side of the balance.
But Reina also had a trick up her sleeve.
Just as the balance was about to tip, just as Reina’s soul was about to rise and be declared the loser by the Soul Balance, she calmly lowered her head, closed her eyes, clasped her hands together, and began to pray.
And then…
The world fell silent.
Then…
The sound of birdsong came.
Droplets of water from a small stream splashed onto Reina’s calf.
Reina opened her eyes and found herself sitting in a park in the real world.
She was in a pavilion near a green corridor, sitting on a public bench with her legs crossed. Under the bright sunlight, her silver-white dress was dotted with a few purple petals.
Behind her, a few old men were gathered around a stone chess table, sometimes whispering, sometimes plotting in low voices.
Two children in school uniforms ran past her, holding newly bought balloons, running towards the street in the distance, towards the middle-aged man who was happily selling cotton candy.
A businessman in a suit glanced at his watch and hurried past Reina, showing no intention of stopping.
—A peaceful, everyday scene.
But without exception, she couldn’t see any of their faces.
[Place of Prayer]
Here, the world and scenes were simulated based on Reina’s psychological changes.
“Reina…”
Calysia appeared beside Reina. At this moment, she was wearing a maid uniform. In this world, she looked like a beautiful girl with a slender figure, a top-tier cosplayer.
Her expression was worried, as if she was concerned about something.
She sat beside Reina, her two hands restlessly clenched and unclenched, then she opened her mouth as if to say something, but seemed to be held back by something.
“Little Cal~” Reina said with a sweet smile, like a long-lost friend.
This was her first time returning to the Place of Prayer since the wedding.
Not only did she not want to face Little Cal, but she was also afraid of reopening Little Cal’s old wounds.
But now that she thought about it, having a private meeting in this place was quite interesting.
“Hmm?”
Seeing Reina’s gentle attitude, Calysia returned a concerned smile… a little bitter.
“Little Cal, can I learn [All-Seeing Eye] now?”
“…”
“My level… isn’t high enough…”
The same answer as before.
In a daze, Reina almost treated Little Cal as the system she had seen before. [All-Seeing Eye] was almost one of the Goddess of Light’s strongest skills. Logically, it wouldn’t be so easy to learn.
But Reina just shook her head.
“Please, Little Cal, I have to learn [All-Seeing Eye].”
“You can do it, can’t you?”
