Chapter 253: Void Truth – Soul Ash

“Just now, that move, what was it called?”

The Soul tilted its head painfully towards the White Fox Girl, who had appeared by its side unannounced. Seeing that she had no intention of responding, it pondered for a moment before saying.

“Thousand Souls, Ten Thousand Thoughts, An Eye Turns to Nothing… Let’s call it [Soul Ash].”

“[Soul Ash]… Good.”

Noticing that the Gray-clothed Swordsman didn’t reply, possibly due to a lack of time for leisurely conversation, the Blade Demon nodded seriously and continued.

“My name is Kasar, the Ninth Warlord under the Throne of Killing. You are worthy of a kill.”

“But, not right now.”

The Blade Demon, who called himself Kasar, turned his green eyes from under his helmet towards the White Fox Girl, gazing at her deeply, then returned to the struggling Soul.

“You are still immature; I cannot go all out, what a pity. Let’s fight another day.”

“…”

Seeing that the Gray-clothed Swordsman still didn’t respond, Kasar faced him as he continued to retreat, spreading his wings to soar into the wind.

“On the day the Blade of Killing descends, I will come for you—either you kill me, or I will kill you.”

With that proclamation, the demons flew off against the wind, quickly disappearing at the horizon.

“Soul!”

As the Gray-clothed Swordsman fell into the embrace of the recently arrived Dark Lotus, his breath had suddenly become extremely weak. He looked towards the group that included Miss White Fox, who had shown up by their side without notice.

“Miss Xī, are we just going to let them leave like this?”

“Well, since Slutut… that big boss dared to send these demons out, it means they are expendable, whether caught or slaughtered. Plus, that guy said he wants to see you one-on-one; I don’t really need to bully the weak by forcing him to stay, unless you lack confidence in beating him ~?”

“I’m ashamed… but this battle was indeed my…”

Vilyric raised a hand to cut him off.

“No need to belittle yourself; you didn’t win, but you didn’t lose either.”

It was clear that the Blade Demon known as Kasar didn’t choose to spare the Soul out of kindness or out of fear of Miss White Fox’s presence.

Void Truth.

At the moment the blade was about to decapitate the Gray-clothed Swordsman, Vilyric distinctly sensed a unique aura belonging to such power.

Of course, compared to the true Void power wielded by the Priestess, which could be described as world-ending, the Soul’s prowess was not only far younger and more immature but essentially just an imitation of that supreme level of force.

Void Truth is the pinnacle of laws, born from the highest essence of concepts. Mortals cannot even comprehend or use it—let alone witness its existence up close without becoming its target. The terrifying information flow contained within such power is enough to drive one insane or cause a mental breakdown.

So, what the Soul attempted to touch and manipulate earlier could only be called a simulacrum, known as [Void Truth]. Even expending all its energy would only create a trace of its aura.

After all, even with the assistance of the Mask of the God Fox’s accompanying skill [Yin-Yang Line], it developed the ability to use spiritual points (sp), but in the end, the Soul could only reach a standard below level 50. Even if it had a unique physique, its total sp would still be rather limited.

Forcefully invoking the power of Void Truth would only harm itself.

If it had truly unleashed the full extent of the [Void Truth] just now, it would have undoubtedly caused its own sp—its soul—to be utterly exhausted and result in immediate death.

However, correlating such a dreadful price with the instantaneous power unleashed would surely be formidable, potentially taking down that so-called Kasar, the Blade Demon, and even those demons in the sky, as well as anyone else aside from Miss White Fox who was merely spectating.

So ultimately, Kasar simply did not want to perish along with the Soul, and it was the presence of a certain Miss Xī that compelled the demons to retreat for now.

Perhaps it believed that when that so-called “Blade of Killing descends,” it would be able to exert its full strength and withstand the annihilating force of the Soul Ash.

The Soul wasn’t foolish; it quickly understood the reality from the look in Miss White Fox’s eyes.

“Is that so… well, good. The rest is likely to trouble you for a while; these people… they are from the Church of the Light.”

As the remaining thoughts gradually faded, the Gray-clothed Swordsman closed his eyes, his breath diminishing completely.

“The Church of the Light, huh… wh-what is that? The Church of the Light!?”

Wait, wait a minute; this group was actually from that odd organization?!

“Miss Xī?”

Seemingly surprised that the mysterious, noble White Fox Girl could utter such a panicked sound, the Dark Spirit, who was helping to support the unconscious captain, cast a concerned glance their way.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong with the Church of the Light?”

“Cough, cough.”

Instinctively, Miss White Fox touched her triangular, fluffy ears that had stood up in fright, trying to conceal her embarrassment.

“Nothing, just heard tales about that organization, I was a bit surprised.”

After a vague response, she hurriedly changed the subject.

“So what’s really going on over there? How could people from the Church of the Light appear here?”

From the current situation, it was clear that the Grim Reaper’s Scythe had likely formed some sort of cooperative relationship with the Church of the Light. Perhaps they had united against a common enemy, or maybe they had been in contact for a while.

After all, even on the side of the United Kingdom, the rapid growth of the Church was evident, and it was quite normal for legendary adventurers to collaborate with them. The Church of the Light itself was not a cult organization; it was just that Miss Vilyric couldn’t accept them unilaterally.

Not doubting her, the Dark Spirit nodded, quickly explaining as they waited for the Ferryman to check and treat the Soul.

“We only encountered these people a short while ago; the noise from our battle with that blood tree might have been too loud. Shortly after the fight, they came one by one from all directions and volunteered to help.”

“But for some reason, that tree suddenly quieted down at a certain moment, as if it fell into a sudden slumber and stopped attacking us.”

“So we were able to catch our breath and briefly communicate.”

“According to what their leader said, they all seem to come from the vicinity of this forest, where a community has formed from refugees of war and scattered holy practitioners, established with the help of the Church of the Light.”

“It appears that members from that nearby settlement have been disappearing mysteriously while foraging for herbs and hunting on the outskirts of this forest, gradually raising the local leaders’ concern, which is why several teams were organized to investigate.”

The gray-haired girl with bangs covering one eye gestured towards the direction where they had encountered the drained blood investigation team corpses.

“You saw the state of things; that pretty much sums it up.”

“…Alright.”

The Church of the Light…

Although she was not too keen on associating with this randomly gathered group, to be honest, with the so-called Church of the Light expanding globally, it was only a matter of time before Vilyric would come into contact with them.

Moreover, that Judging Saintess, Edwina’s sister, Fleidetrika, had reportedly already joined the Church of the Light. Searching for her in this direction would undoubtedly be the most convenient shortcut.

Besides, that girl named Sasha, a disciple of Fiery Blossom, whom the White Fox Girl had already planned to reach out to, was evidently aligned with this group as well.

Sigh, so be it.

After all, she was Xī right now, not some suspicious priestess, so there shouldn’t be any issues.

Yeah, that’s it.

“Let’s go meet their leader first.”

   

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