SOTBW - 137

Kieron, swallowing his pain, convulsed violently at the mention of Bersha’s name.

“Shut your mouth!”

Kieron’s white eyes slowly turned yellow as he lost his sanity. With all his might, he rushed toward Mahilen as though he was going to tear the black vines apart, but the vines stretched resiliently, tightening around his body even more.

Trapped within the vines, Kieron screamed like a child.

“Don’t talk as if you understand my master’s pain! If you hadn’t deceived me, he wouldn’t have had to suffer through all this! You’re the one who turned my master into that hideous thing! You and Emaydis are the ones who brought us to this point!”

Kieron couldn’t control his emotions and shouted in fury.

However, Mahilen ignored his cries and asked one final question.

“How did you know that Najane was Emaydis?”

“Ah, what? Are you that curious about how I, without a holy relic, pierced through the soul of a human?”

Kieron, surrounded by black vines to the point where his face was obscured, sneered. He wanted Mahilen to be as angry as he was. He wanted to see Mahilen’s distorted face.

“It’s all because of me that Najane’s life ended up this way! I desperately searched for Emaydis’ soul and deliberately... her parents...”

“You didn’t steal her fate.”

“...What?”

“That’s enough. I’ve solved my curiosity.”

Mahilen muttered softly, pulling the hand that had gripped his heart outward. A rising heat spread from his chest.

Flustered, Kieron struggled like a rabbit caught by a predator. Sticky black vines clung to his body, tightening his limbs. The pain choking him caused Kieron to cry out in agony.

“Wait, wait! You still haven’t figured out how I got here...!”

Kieron’s voice was cut off.

The vines, like snakes trying to strangle their prey, tightened around Kieron and intertwined, merging into one mass. It resembled a huge black egg.

Mahilen stared at the egg, flicking his blood-soaked fingers. Screams of agony echoed from within. Kieron was burning inside. The magical flame embedded in his heart ignited his body, fueling the fire.

Mahilen coldly turned his back, listening quietly to Kieron’s screams. However, at that moment, a chilling sensation ran down his spine.

With a bad premonition, Mahilen turned around. White smoke was rising from the egg containing Kieron, curling up to the ceiling. This wasn’t the smoke created by burning Kieron.

Instinctively, Mahilen felt he had to catch the smoke. The white smoke wasn’t a soul. A human soul shines like a crystal, round and sparkling. This smoke was something different...

Grinding his teeth, Mahilen activated the magic circles spread around the room. After all, the room was protected by a double barrier, and there was no way to escape.

Black thorns surged from all sides, threatening the white, thin smoke. But in an instant, the smoke evaded the thorns, disappearing beneath the bloodstained rug.

Mahilen quickly reached down to check the magic circles. The barrier he had set up was perfect. Whether it was a soul or a person, it was impossible to escape from this room. Cursing under his breath, Mahilen quickly teleported to the floor below.

Meanwhile, Kieron, having abandoned his body just moments ago, desperately fled.

The body, not fully merged with his consciousness, rattled like a puppet, ready to become a Serith at any moment, but for now, it didn’t matter.

“Damned, damned...!”

Cursing, Kieron barely managed to stand on the balcony. Below the balcony, a river flowed into the stream. Staggering, Kieron stood at the railing and looked back.

Mahilen burst into the room almost immediately, as though he were a fool following breadcrumbs left behind by Kieron.

But Kieron couldn’t use magic. His magic stone had been taken by Mahilen, and he had only one choice left.

“We’ll meet again soon, Mahilen. When that happens, I’ll tear Emaydis’ face apart right in front of you.”

“Kieron!”

With Mahilen’s shout, sharp black thorns pierced Kieron’s upper body. However, Kieron grinned like a clown as he fell beneath the balcony.

The sound of a splash echoed. Mahilen, rushing to the balcony, looked down but found no sign of Kieron. As Mahilen began to track Kieron along the stream, he noticed guards gathering at the sound and hastily closed the balcony door.

Hiding behind the curtains, Mahilen bit his lip. The guards, holding torches, searched the area and spread along the stream. It would be impossible to pursue Kieron now.

Roughly sweeping his hair aside, Mahilen let out an irritated sigh. His original plan had been to burn Kieron’s body and seal his soul. Mahilen thought that Kieron had used forbidden magic to be resurrected.

It is the natural law that a dead person must return to the boundary of reincarnation, have their memories wiped, and be reborn as a new person.

Holy power users are those chosen by the boundary of reincarnation, or more precisely, ‘Sylin,’ who became one with the boundary of reincarnation and brought them back to life. They did not defy the laws of the universe, so when they die, they return to the boundary of reincarnation and gain a new life.

However, those resurrected by other forbidden magic lose their bodies upon death, leaving only their souls to wander the earth. The fact that they cannot enter the boundary of reincarnation means they will wander aimlessly until the world perishes, but conversely, it also means they live eternally.

Mahilen gazed outside, watching the flickering of the torches, lost in thought. The white smoke that emerged after Kieron’s body burned was certainly not a soul. Mahilen had seen something like it before.

When Sainth’s consciousness was transferred to an infant body...

Mahilen narrowed his eyes and looked around the room, where the shadows from the candles flickered. The familiar scent of death filled the room. Mahilen was certain that Kieron had not entered a living body but had possessed a corpse and fled.

Humans do not only possess souls. They also have willpower. The presence or absence of willpower is the defining characteristic that separates humans from beasts.

When people die, they enter the boundary of reincarnation, forget their memories and experiences, and are reborn. However, the will of those who clung to something special does not disappear and lingers in the present world like a mirage. It exists separately from the soul, like a ghost.

A person’s will can cling to objects or spaces or wander like dust. Kieron was a magician who had been more obsessed with the resurrection of his master than anyone else. If Kieron left his will behind after being consumed by Bersha, it was possible for him to commit such acts.

Mahilen pressed his palms against his eyes, closing his mouth tightly.

He had to find Kieron. Before he could do any more damage here, before he ruined Sylin’s plans further, Mahilen had to eliminate him by any means necessary.

With a darkened expression, Mahilen glared beyond the balcony. Only two people in the world knew that Najane was Sylin’s reincarnation. Then how had Kieron recognized Najane’s soul?

It was nearly impossible to verify a person’s soul. Souls exist in each individual’s deep, unbreachable abyss. Mahilen knew that Najane was Emaydis Bastronia’s reincarnation because he had stolen a glimpse of fate with a relic created by Aron.

That said, there were ways to confirm a soul’s identity, even if they weren’t common.

Mahilen’s eyes glowed golden again. His sharp pupils slowly scanned the vast room. He used his magic to look beyond what was visible.

The dimly lit room became transparent in an instant. All the brilliant colors disappeared, and everything transformed into straight lines and curves.

Mahilen was sure that ‘it’ was somewhere in this house—the object that could find the person he was searching for, even if their face, gender, and name had changed.

As he meticulously searched through the mansion, Mahilen spotted a gleaming light in the basement. He quickly moved toward the light.

No sooner had his eyes turned brown again than a horrible stench filled his nose. Wrinkling his nose, Mahilen looked at the more than twenty corpses piled in the corner of the basement. The corpses were mangled, as if something had eaten parts of them.

With a suspicious look, Mahilen glanced around the desk, which was piled with notebooks. Reaching into the storage drawer, he grabbed something round. Letting out a small sigh, Mahilen slowly pulled the object out of his hand.

Long ago, a mad magician, driven insane by the loneliness of immortality, created something called the “Soul Compass.” When holding the Soul Compass and thinking of the person they wanted to find, the needle would move.

The magician used it to search for his beloved. As an immortal, he was not afraid of time.

After a long, lonely journey, the magician was reunited with his beloved, but the beloved loved another. In an attempt to win back his love, the magician started a war. A once-beautiful kingdom fell, and many people died.

In despair over the tragedy, the beloved left the magician and ultimately married someone else. The Dragon Lord, believing the magician had killed innocent people with the Soul Compass, punished him.

The Soul Compass still works, but it no longer reacts to the name of the magician’s beloved. That was the punishment the Dragon Lord had given the magician.

“...Mackanon.”