novelhk Chapter 471 Magical Reform
Chapter 471 Magical Reform
Chapter 471 Magical Reform (Fifteen)
Generally speaking, neither mages nor superheroes who lack magic have many ways to protect their souls. The former are somewhat better off, as they possess alchemical artifacts capable of protecting their souls, but the latter—
They could only rely on their own willpower to withstand the soul attacks.
As for ways to improve soul defense—that's even more of a pipe dream.
Faust's eyes were sinister. He raised his withered finger, aimed it at Rune, and began chanting a blasphemous incantation. Invisible forces surged forth, ignoring the limitations of space, and instantly pierced into the core of Rune's soul.
Rune immediately sensed this terrifying power. It was cold and filthy, like a yellow puddle next to a garbage can in winter, covered in oil and stench.
Allowing such power to invade was an act that required considerable courage. But Rune still mustered the courage to let Faust act upon his soul—
He wanted to verify something, something very important.
Faust's face beamed with a smile; he felt no resistance to his spells. What so-called reformers of magic? Even with such powerful magic, what good were they? He'd still been easily struck where it hurt.
But then, this terrifying dark mage "saw" something—something unspeakable.
As he exerted all his strength to directly destroy Rune's soul and then take over his body, Faust saw his soul changing.
This is a transformation that transcends all of Faust's cognitive frameworks, carrying a unique beauty. The only description he could barely think of was an infinite corridor formed by two mirrors facing each other.
No, that's not right!
It is not changing, but unfolding, like a strange star that exists simultaneously in countless coordinates, in which time loses its meaning and space is arbitrarily folded and distorted.
"My God—my God!" Faust muttered to himself, his eyes fixed on the object. He knew that it contained something that could make him incredibly powerful—that was the meaning he was searching for!
He tried to see the thing clearly, but no matter what he did, he couldn't. Faust increased his magical output, but the surface of the thing remained as if covered by a layer of cloth, making it impossible to see clearly.
Faust was surrounded by a large number of mages whose magic was at his disposal. Such a soul attack spell, if it hit, could have severely injured a god-king. However, when it crashed into this twisted structure, it did not even cause the slightest ripple.
Faust couldn't even fully comprehend this structure; it didn't resemble the soul of a human or other being, but rather—more like—an unconscious shadow cast by a higher-dimensional entity in a lower world!
It turns out that his soul contained the secret of dimensional ascension!
This terrifying dark mage finally realized the truth, but—he realized it too late.
Attacking someone's soul is a terrible thing in itself. In Harry Potter, the magic that can directly shatter the soul is the Avada Kedavra curse, but studying this spell will first corrupt the caster's own soul.
This was also why Rune was unwilling to study this spell in the first place; there were too many ways to kill, and he didn't need a spell with such strong side effects.
This characteristic is also reflected in the DC and Marvel universes.
The lingering pain, anger, and fear of a soul shattered by the spellcaster will not easily dissipate; they will cling to the spellcaster's soul like a malignant tumor, often leading to auditory and visual hallucinations and even schizophrenia.
For example, Thanos, the Mad Titan, had to endure the constant wails of all the destroyed souls when he used the Soul Stone to collect them, which was still an eternal torment for him.
After all, to attack a person's soul, one must first establish a connection with them. Therefore, when shattering a soul, the caster's soul is closest to the soul fragment.
And this is only part of the side effects. If a spellcaster dares to obliterate souls on a large scale, the ghosts in the DC Universe...
In the inverted world, powerful beings such as the Lord of Hell and Death from the Marvel universe will intervene.
Faust is currently in a state where he fails to shatter the soul and is instead countered by the magic and the soul of the rune itself.
Soul retaliation is not an act of revenge driven by one's own will, but a natural phenomenon.
Thus, an incomprehensible and unobservable torrent of information surged backward along the connection established during Faust's attack.
Faust's cognitive barriers, built over thousands of years—defenses woven from dark magic, demonic contracts, and other means—were as thin as a sheet of paper in the face of Rune's soul counterattack.
Faust's eyes widened to their maximum. The reflection in his pupils was no longer this intricate mirror dimension, but rather pages of a book being turned, and he seemed to see the figures of Superman, Captain America, and others in them.
Faust's mind is being affected by this unbearable reality.
He collapsed to his knees uncontrollably, clutching his head tightly with both hands, his fingernails digging deep into his skin, from which blood flowed.
Seeing Faust in such a pathetic state, Rune scoffed, his suspicions confirmed.
Sure enough, his soul was incredibly powerful. Perhaps this was because he was once a higher-dimensional being? Rune guessed that this was why he initially possessed a talent called "A Dream of Yellow Millet"—because Rune's soul was powerful enough to ignore the Wall of Origin.
Even if Faust could actually harm Rune's soul, it wouldn't matter; it would only make his soul stronger. Doomsday's talent is not just about being able to adapt to physical attacks.
Otherwise, Rune wouldn't have used such a gentle magic as Astral Projection when facing Doomsday.
Faust chose to reveal his final trump card. With all his might, he finally used magic to remove the spear of fate, and then chanted an ancient and blasphemous incantation with all his might.
As he chanted, the corpses of the dead mages on the battlefield, their souls and blood, all transformed into a thick red mist that converged towards Faust.
At this point, the other surviving conservative mages realized something was wrong.
Faust would certainly use spells from demons, and coincidentally, the mages who knew the most about demonic power were afraid of the side effects of using it, so they joined the rune's camp.
However, this does not mean that these conservative mages were completely ignorant of this spellcasting system.
These mages could tell that Faust was summoning something, although they didn't know who would respond to the summoning, but the large amount of magic power consumed left them exhausted.
Keep in mind that they still had to deal with Rune's magical attacks, so the group of mages cautiously retreated, trying to withdraw their magic and prevent Faust from continuing the spell.
But they failed.
The poor mages were astonished to find that they had been betrayed by Faust.
As the magic dissipated, a massive black vortex, exuding an aura of death and cold, formed above Faust's head, its center a dimension filled with flames and wails.
"It's hell!"
One of the monks screamed loudly.
Faust showed no sympathy for the monks; he simply cried out, "Save me, you newly fallen, save me!"