NOVPUBMeanwhile, in the Mistalore Kingdom, the one who caused the whole of Forgotten Shores to panic was coldly staring at the rapidly closing tear in space-time.
The Soul Eaters were no more. Everything they were had been erased — and it was much deserved; after all, they threatened to lock him up and torture him for the next million years!
The second part didn't sound so bad, but then they added, "You won't be able to cultivate during that entire time, muhahaha!"
That was Cassius's final straw. He flicked Mora their way, annihilating the entire army in an instant.
"No one threatens my endless cultivation journey," he stated with a click of his tongue, turning around and returning to the inside of the manor with a quick blink-step. "Ah, but I should still absorb them. Though they weren't very strong, some Godforce is better than none."
After spending hundreds of years accumulating Unity in the Originverse, it started to feel like his Godforce was lagging behind. And it was.
But increasing it in brief periods of time was no simple matter…
FWOOOSH!
Under the astonished eyes of Yuna and Opal, Cassius nonchalantly pulled in the remains of the Soul Eaters. This caused his Origin Progenitor Bloodline to have a positive reaction.
His Azura Bloodline Rank began to skyrocket!
Young Azura Devourer!
Adult Azura Devourer!
Elder Azura Devourer!
Lord Azura Devourer!
In a matter of seconds, Cassius advanced from the 2nd Rank to the 6th Rank of the Soul Eater Ranking System!
Ludicrous!
And most broken of all was that even if another Soul Eater absorbed as much as he did, they'd obtain nowhere near the same level of results.
Why?
Because they weren't an Azura Devourer amplified by the miraculous effects of an overpowered Progenitor Bloodline that surpassed all other Mortal Bloodlines!
"The Lord Azura Devourer," Cassius mused, clenching his fist and watching a dangerously blue flame engulf it. "Roughly equal to the Mid Godlike Rank, with an increase of a few thousand Godforce. And that's just from killing small fry like them. I wonder how much more powerful I'll become if I find and slaughter the stronger Soul Eaters…"
Netherworld, was it? He might just have to go and pay them a visit.
"Cass…" Yuna took ten steps back, the raging blue aura he emitted too much for either her or her little sister to handle.
"Oh, sorry about that," Cassius apologized as he dispersed his aura with a snap, returning his presence back to that of a mortal with extremely superb looks. "It would appear that I've gone overboard this time, huh?"
Overboard!?
That attack just now could've wiped out the Mistalore Kingdom and dozens of other Kingdoms if it wanted to!
"Just… Just what has happened to you in such a short period of time…?"
Yuna wasn't even able to believe her eyes anymore. She needed some sort of explanation for the insane shit she just witnessed.
"A short period of time?" Cassius repeated with a distant gaze. "If only you knew…"
"Knew what??"
"Nothing, nothing," he replied, turning around and walking out the manor's front door as if the end of the world hadn't just been effortlessly averted. "By the way, you were talking about your grandparents visiting the Mistalore Kingdom soon, weren't you?"
"...Well, yes, with me being put on reserves in the Mistalore Defense Kingdom, my grandparents figured they could take advantage and travel overseas. But that's all irrelevant to our discussion, Cass! What did you just do!? And how did you become so powerful!?"
Opal furiously nodded her head in agreement, though came out looking like an adorable chipmunk.
"I just did a little slice and that was the end," replied Cassius, shaking his head over the insistence of this girl. "Also, it's quite amusing to see you get so flustered over something. You should express yourself more often; it makes you more attractive."
*Poof!*
"Y-You…" Yuna's voice turned as soft as a whisper, her head lowered in embarrassment. "Who cares about what you think… dummy…"
Opal looked between her big sister and the receding Cassius, a bit of a pout forming as she felt like she was being excluded from something.
It was at times when no faces could be seen that she really wished she could hear!
Gah!
"Hmm?" Suddenly thinking of something, Cassius briefly turned to look at Opal in her cat yokai form. 'How odd… Even though I should be capable of diagnosing and treating almost every mortal disease in the world, for some reason, I can't figure out what the source of her deafness is.'
He wondered if a Tear of Yggdrasil might be able to help her, but weirdly enough, he knew that it wouldn't.
'What is this abnormal feeling I get when I look at her? It's like she's a tree that has roots which endlessly spread out in every direction, covering all of reality…'
It was the strangest feeling!
'I'll have to look into it later. Maybe I'll discover something that'll assist me in improving my strength to the next level.'
Cassius was still far from reaching the state of being that the Yggdrasil Ancestors had reached. But if he wanted to one day achieve the impossible, he had to dig out every opportunity that came his way.
"You lasses are coming, are you not?" asked Cassius, his face illuminated beneath the blazing sun above. "We have some royals to meet, no?"
Yuna and Opal immediately snapped out of it. In mere moments, they were already right behind Cassius, happily accompanying him for the long journey that awaited them on their return trip home.
….
Elsewhere.
From atop a long-legged monster slowly traveling through a deep sea of fog that flowed eternally in all directions, Soul Emperor Salar suddenly opened his eyes. Extreme surprise dilated his pupils as he made unusual signs with his hands, seemingly calculating the Supreme Laws of Karma and Causality.
"How is this possible!?"
Nothing came up!
The Soul Eater Killer's actions could no longer be divined!
"Not that long ago, he wasn't even equal to an Elder Soul Eater! How could he have improved so much!? To the point that the Elder and Lord Soul Eaters that were instructed to stay out of the first siege were completely annihilated!"
Soul Emperor Salar had been roaming the endless expanse of sinisterness that was the Netherworld for millions of years. And yet even in all that time, nothing this unexplainable had occurred before now…
However, what would normally have one dreading the moment such a heavenly talent turned their blade in their direction had Soul Emperor instead celebrating!
"This speeds things up a whole bunch!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs while jumping up and down, causing the insurmountably large long-legged monster to struggle keeping its balance. "From here on out, I can just send wave after wave of Lord and even King Soul Eaters! Then before long, that Anomaly will be so stuffed that he'll slay me in a single blow! No pain, no nothing! Just sweet, sweet release from this perpetual suffering!! At long last, my dream is about to be realized!"
Without waiting for anything, Soul Emperor Salar made the call.
Within a few minutes, extraordinarily powerful Soul Eaters from all over his enormous territory flew toward the Divine Embassy of Salar. Their fighting spirits were at the grandest of heights, with their mouths salivating upon imagining all of the human souls they'd devour after dealing with the Special-class target their Liege ordered them to eliminate.
However, from this big influx of Soul Eater traffic in the Salar Empire, word was impossible to prevent from spreading around. The neighboring Empires quickly learned of these unusual movements, and the information ascended the hierarchical ladders extremely fast.
Eventually, other Soul Emperors found out about the abnormalities in the Salar Empire.
A secret meeting was soon convened between the lot of them.
The meeting was held from above the shell of an Ancient Turtle that had been traversing the sea of Nether Fog for millions of years, possessing both a size and strength that made no logical sense.
"What the hell is Salar up to??" Soul Emperor Megora asked, wearing a scowl that seemed permanently plastered on her face. "That lazy bastard never does anything but mope around, sputtering nonsense about ending it all. Why would he suddenly have a change of heart and start mobilizing so many of his forces!?"
"Perhaps he's thinking about inciting another Soul War."
A pale-skinned figure with a ghostly appearance gave an opinion that sent waves of shock coursing through the dozen-plus Soul Emperors gathered.
"Shut your useless mouth, Netherveil!" Soul Emperor Megora cursed. "Never in a billion years would Salar think of beginning another Soul War! It was him who became most bored during the first one, for shit's sake!"
"Alright, no need to be so feisty. It was just a passing thought."
"Keep your shitty thoughts to yourself from now on!"
In her annoyance, Soul Emperor Megora shot a beam of black light out of her left pointer finger. Everything within a radius of billions of miles was obliterated in an instant, causing the dense sea of endless fog to temporarily subside.
'She's as short-tempered as always…'
All of the Soul Emperors' thoughts aligned with that statement, but none were courageous enough to say it out loud.
"Wait, guys…"
A big spiked giant who went by the title Soul Emperor Soul Eraser attracted everyone's attention with his deep, gnarly voice. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
"What is it that Salar has been seeking since the start of the First Soul War?" he asked in a serious tone, puzzling many.
"Hmm?"
