453 - Regressor of the Fallen Family

Chapter 453 "Move aside! I have to go!" Harmon kept shouting desperately. To those trying to stop him, it might seem like he was simply trying to push through. Yet, in Logan's eyes, even in his half-crazed state, Harmon was desperately trying not to take a life. 'Even in this situation...' Logan couldn't help but admire his character once again. Of course, he couldn't just stand by and watch. [Relics!] [Break them!] [Logan King!] This was not the voice of the divine sword but an echo of souls. These cries, scattered everywhere, resonated deeply within Logan's mind. Moreover, he vividly saw enormous souls of an unfathomable presence oppressing Harmon's soul. One from the pendant around his neck, and another from the fist-sized coin used as a shield in his left hand. 'Nine Gods.' Recognizing this, a tremor flickered at the corner of his eye. When Harmon had first told him about soul corruption, he had not been able to perceive it so distinctly. But now, he understood the situation Harmon's in so clearly that it sent shivers down his spine. The sight of monsters devouring human souls was more revolting than he had imagined. In the moment when Harmon couldn't resist and was consumed... – The gods have commanded to kill you. You will become the vessel for Gibrick Cassel's avatar. Just as he had warned, the apostle would descend again. In the body of the strongest holy knight who was on the brink of becoming an Aura Master. 'The god that possessed Ilia's body had powers comparable to a great sorcerer.' If that's the case, what kind of power would an apostle wield in Harmon's body? He didn't want to imagine it. Fortunately, as his thoughts reached that point, the holy knights began to retreat. "Clear the way!" "A pursuit team..." It was a scene that showed exactly how Harmon had been chased. To send a pursuit team after an enemy who had almost lost his reason and was fleeing in a straight line—those who seemed to be top-class knights, no less. That the temple placed so much importance on this matter was clear... 'This ends here.' Boom! Crash! Crash! Harmon pressed forward into the forest, smashing through the trees blocking his path. "Chase him!" Quickly but carefully, the knights followed, their pursuit punctuated by screams as death descended upon them from above. Swish. In a flash of red, the heads of two men trailing closely behind Harmon rolled to the ground. Thud. Thud. The bodies of the knights tumbled to the ground as they ran. "Ahhhh!" The scream came from someone who narrowly avoided instant death by twisting away swiftly. Though he barely clung to life, a deep gash ran from his right shoulder down to his midriff. It was a lethal wound, one that could cause death anytime, yet the attacker seemed displeased as he clicked his tongue. 'Of course, by forcibly lowering the level...' He had made a mistake. "An attacker!" "Oh, Aura!" The first scream set off a chain reaction among the knights as Logan moved even faster. "A superhuman...!" Slash. Logan effortlessly sliced through a knight blocking his path, cutting through both shield and armor. "It's a superhuman!" Swish. As a knight retreated, Logan caught up at an overwhelming speed and beheaded him instantly. In the blink of an eye, the five knights known as the pursuit team crumbled and fell, after which Stephan Loyer charged at Logan. Among the three vice-captains, he seemed to be in the best condition. "This is a temple ceremony! Anyone interrupting this will become a public enemy of the continent!" Even amidst the chaos, he knew how to leverage his position. However. "Identify yourself and...!" Boom! "Ugh!" Logan’s sword unleashed a lightning-like burst of red aura, showing no mercy. 'I wish I could just end him.' Killing the vice-captain of the sacred knight squad, especially one as reputed as the Holy Spirit’s knight, would likely draw even more temple forces. So, Logan contented himself with flinging him out of the forest. Then, turning his attention to the holy knights who followed later, he unleashed a wave of disastrous red radiance with an unremarkable iron sword. Bang! "Uwaaah!" "Evade, evading!" The oncoming path of the holy knights was entirely obliterated by the surge of red aura. Boom. As thick dust clouds rose, obscuring the knights' vision, the world around them cleared, revealing no one in sight. Crunch. "Reorganize and pursue! The target is moving in a straight line anyway!" Sitting heavy on the ground and coughing up a handful of blood, Stephan shouted for the knights to swiftly reform their ranks. 'Who on earth...' Stephan's twisted face reflected his attempt to rapidly piece together the assailant's identity from memory. While red aura was fairly commonplace, not many aura users were renowned. Of course, Stephan had no way of knowing that a guess based on the color of the aura would almost certainly lead him astray. * * * "I must..." "...go." Rumble. Though slightly reduced from the battle, the holy aura still radiated powerfully. That aura was razing the ground ahead of Harmon as he sped forward. Following quietly in Harmon's wake, Logan maintained just enough distance to avoid detection. He had tailed Harmon for hours, observing not just him but his very soul. From the signposts he saw during the pursuit to the lay of other holy knights’ camps, even at his maximum speed, it would take him at least half a day to reach the next stop. Harmon, charging forward like this with brute force, would take at least another day. Disturbing him rashly near the knights’ camp might cause unforeseen incidents. It was wiser to understand Harmon's condition fully before taking action. However, as time went on, Logan’s expression hardened. 'Something's not right.' [Relics!] [Break them!] [Logan King!] The voices conveying their messages only to his soul continued in real-time. Every time, harmon's soul seemed on the verge of being devoured by the souls of two gods, yet it was faintly resisting. It appeared that the cries were not only a means to find him but also a way to protect his own soul. ‘By focusing on a single purpose, he guards himself. Yes, that is indeed possible. But...’ The question wasn't fully answered. Why couldn't the gods dominate Harmon's soul, a mere human? Even the power he could sense from them was overwhelming enough that it would be difficult for him to handle alone. ‘Come to think of it, when Sir Harmon first felt the soul corruption, he said it wasn't that difficult to repel it. He even mentioned that if he hadn't willingly accepted it, he wouldn't have been corrupted at all.’ Considering even the current him could sever a person's soul using the power of the Soulblade, the situation was all the more perplexing. Was it because Harmon's soul was that strong? ‘No, that can't be it.’ Seeing a soul is akin to seeing its rank. In that sense, Harmon's soul was formidable enough to reach the level of an Aura Master, but the difference between him and the gods was so vast it was almost meaningless to compare. The more he observed, the more overwhelming the disparity felt. Yet why? Was it because dealing with soul power and being consumed by it were entirely different matters? This led to a fundamental question about both Harmon’s current state and Ilia's in the past. ‘Do the gods really need to corrupt another's soul?’ Couldn't they just kill the soul and take over the body? Even if it was a rather violent method, the gods would find it much more efficient, wouldn’t they? Why go through the effort? Contrary to his initial intent, Logan found himself observing Harmon more intently. He began to meticulously analyze the relationship between the souls of the gods and Harmon's soul, the souls seeking to devour and the soul being devoured. This was possible only because he believed that Harmon wouldn’t easily break. How much time passed like that? "I must, go." Boom. Logan's red eyes, which had been loosely following Harmon like a specter, suddenly flared. He hadn’t found an answer to his questions. Instead, he had witnessed something he hadn’t expected at all. ‘What?!’ The souls of the gods, more specifically, a very faint portion of the power those souls possessed, was using Harmon’s force to enhance his body. If he hadn’t been observing for hours, he would never have noticed such a subtle energy transition. Yet it was indeed a shocking sight. It wasn’t just using force to augment the body—it was literally supplying ‘nutrients.’ ‘Is that possible?’ Even complete mastery of soul power gained as an Aura Master couldn’t move one’s body. Force and soul power were amplifiers of human potential, tools to augment existing capabilities, not sources of life-sustaining energy. Of course, it was possible to dramatically enhance the efficiency of bodily processes. At Logan’s level, he could control his muscles, nerves, and blood flow using only force instead of depleting physical nutrients. He could sustain such control for about a month if he weren’t in combat or training scenarios that consumed excessive force. Of course, even that was merely substituting what was consumed, not generating fundamental energy. After all, force is a secondary energy based on the life force, and receiving life energy follows the natural order. Yet, the obvious rule was being shattered before his eyes. ‘Surely, Sir Harmon wasn’t taking the time to eat or drink in that state. And for at least a month, he’d been constantly pursued.’ Moreover, he had been continuously fighting, demolishing whatever blocked his path as seen earlier. ‘A month of such intense pursuit without eating, resting, or faltering?’ Harmon’s strength was dwindling slightly, but given what he had endured, it was miraculous. Logan strained to elevate his soul power further to scrutinize this extraordinary transformation. The very process was beyond human, beyond biological constraints. ‘Could force replace sustenance...?’ Could force, derived from life’s power, generate that very power of life? Such a paradox, indefinable even as an inversion of roles. Yet, the evidence was before his eyes. ‘It is possible.’ Logan’s eyes burned with intensity. He realized comprehending this process was a direct path to reaching the divine heights. And finally, as he grasped part of the secret— “...Impossible!” Logan exclaimed in disbelief. Simultaneously, golden force like flames erupted from his body, sparked by the paradox of energy shown by the gods' souls, offering a clearer hint than ever before on surmounting the barrier. But. The voice that inadvertently burst forth caused Harmon to halt. "I must, go, ah...?" Harmon, with a vacant gaze, turned back. The moment his blue eyes met Logan’s red ones, Harmon's sword pointed at him. [Logan King!] [Avatar of Gibrick?] [Right in front of us...!] At once, the three spiritual echoes tangled chaotically, dragging Logan's soul, which was on the brink of ascending, back to reality.