The illusion faded completely as Neo saw his true soul realm.
He opened his eyes and a look of absolute wonder could be seen as stars twinkled in his eyes.
Neo looked down at the miniscule yellow sun he was standing on, despite all laws of nature saying everything about this was impossible.
A number of planets big and small rotated around the star at the center, although big and small were relative terms. All in all, this realm was only around 3/4 the size of Zen's, but Zen's realm was already larger than an entire big city, so it was still massive, even though nowhere near the size of an actual star system.
Neo closed his eyes and took a deep relaxing breath. He felt like just by standing where he was,he was connected to every single bit of this place: every star, every planet, every meteor,he could see it all. It was the most liberating feeling in the world. In here,he doubted there was anything he couldn't do.
Having had enough of taking it in,Neo turned to face his visitor.
Jesse looked around, confused and terrified. He had no idea how he got here, and frankly,Neo hardly had an answer for that either.
The only explanation he had was that although this wasn't actually Jesse, it had become something more than it was before,more than just an illusion.
"You! What have you done?!" Jesse screamed in a rage.
"Your question should be what are you about to do, and my answer would be killing you. You are not welcome here"
Jesse snarled before laughing
"Do you even hear yourself? You look like an ant to me. I'll crush you just as easy as before you useless bitch, and this time I'll make sure to kill you"
After saying that, Jesse charged at Neo, looking like he wanted to grab him and rip him to pieces.
********
Zen opened his eyes and found himself standing on the ocean.
"You're really forcing me hand kid" Lilith said from above, getting a bit annoyed.
Zen ignored her and looked around at his world. The oceans were still blood red except for where he was standing which had regained its crystalline purity.
Zen took a step forward, and as he did, the water where he stepped on, cleared up as the blood disappeared.
The entire world suddenly started shaking, the oceans rose and fell and the earth quaked
Zen's eyes glowed. Something told him he knew what this was.
[Ding!]
[Evolution progression at ninety percen
[Unlocking some system features]
Zen suddenly felt like something had changed, not just in the soul realm, but inside him. In fact,he felt like the change had been there for a while but he hadn't noticed due to the trial.
Zen didn't have time to check the string of notifications as he was sure Lilith wouldn't just wait around. He had to make his move and make it quick.
Lilith was confused as she watched Zen sink to the bottom of the ocean like a stone.
She hadn't done that. Why had he done that?
Zen sank to the bottom at the speed of a torpedo, but it still took a few seconds before he got what he was looking for.
Zen sighed, somehow not taking in any water as he looked at the elaborately decorated golden box.
It wasn't very large, about five feet tall, and three feet wide.
Zen opened it and looked inside.
"I'll need your help for this one"
Zen said as he put his hand in the box.
A bright golden glow suddenly appeared at the bottom of the ocean where Zen was and started spreading to the rest of the soul realm, cleansing Lilith's blood corruption in the realm ,much to Lilith's displeasure. Seeing it, Lilith suddenly realized Zen was there for whatever was hidden there, but it was too late.
Zen burst out of the water, flying up to her eye level and charging directly at her.
Lilith threw a wave of blood energy directly at him and Zen dodged, flying past it, but suddenly realized that it was chasing him.
Zen increased his speed in the air, dodging before deciding to attack.
Lilith suddenly heard something behind her and immediately created a shield of blood energy around her. An obscene amount of water formed a tidal wave out of nowhere, crashing against here shield, disorienting her for a bit.
As soon as the water fell, Lilith looked around for Zen and managed to catch him walking into the castle.
"Do you really think I'm stupid enough to enter that place again?" She asked knowing Zen could hear he.
"No"
Zen walked out after a few seconds with something in his hands,it was a ring with an emerald on it. It was the same one immy had given him. Usually he wouldn't have thought anything of it being here, maybe a bit curious, but the notification he got from the system made sure that didn't happen.
[Ding!]
[Soul weapon detected!]
[Wind spirit (Sylph) ring]
Although the evolution wasn't even completely finished, it was clear the system was still doing its work in the background,it was finally showing its use.
************
Neo watched Jesse approach and tapped his staff onto the ground and what looked like a geyser of fire erupted from the ground, crashing into Jesse and sending him flying.
Jesse growled even more angry.
"Son of a bitch! Just because you've learned a few tricks,you think you're on top of the world huh?"
"I literally am" Neo said leisurely. He clearly wasn't taking this seriously.
"Coward! Fight me without using tricks if you're a man"
Neo thought for a while before answering
"Fine,i have a feeling I'll need to save some energy anyway. Come"
Jesse smiled savagely and suddenly teleported behind Neo, attempting to crush him.
"Idiot!"
The staff in Neo's hands suddenly extended absurdly and slammed into Jesse's face, forcing him back and giving him a nosebleed.
"Argh! Fuck you!"
Neo turned around and gestured for Jesse to get up.
"Come on,i don't have all day,"
Jesse held his bloody nose, cursing and spitting profanities.
"You cock sucking son of a bitch! You made me bleed, I'll fucking rip you to shreds. You're the size of my fingers you little shit, you should be bowing to me!"
"Oh so that's why you're still so arrogant"
Jesse suddenly started to shrink back to his normal size,much to his horror as his strength left him gradually.
Jesse, panicked, tried to shoot for fireball at Neo, but suddenly realized nothing was happening.
"M-my power"
"You have no power here"
Neo brandished his staff and charged towards Jesse to finish this.
A small explosion suddenly happened beneath Jesse's feet, disorienting him.
Neo didn't waste any more time and swung his staff straight at Jesse, slamming its tough exterior into his face and knocking him to the ground.
Before Jesse could even think about getting up, another pillar of fire rose from under him, launching him into the air.
Neo watched as Jesse was launched into the sky, and once he was high enough, disappeared and reappeared right next to Jesse in the sky. He touched Jesse's back with his staff and it suddenly began to extend towards the ground, carrying Jesse with it and crashing him into the star.
"Well, time to say goodbye"
The star suddenly started glowing and heating up all over as most of the light concentrated on where Jesse was lying on the ground.
"Please"
Neo suddenly heard something and stopped.
"Please,have mercy. I'll do anything"
Jesse begged, groveling on the ground.
*****************
Zen put on the ring and instantly felt different. It was a similar feeling to when he had used Freya's sword against sand elemental beasts.
As of why he chose to use the ring here when he could just create wind whenever he wished,it was simple: He wanted to save as much energy as possible. Whenever Zen did something in this world,it was taxing on his mental fortitude, He guessed that it must be related to his intelligence or wisdom stat.
He hadn't yet forgotten about the beast situation on the outside,so he figured he had to be in top shape when he was finished and got out of here.
Zen flew up into the air. He was planning on mixing his normal control over this place with the ring to defeat Lilith, after all,he didn't have any experience with soul weapons other than with Freya's sword, and something told him he'd need it soon,so he might as well get used to it.
Lilith took the initiative, throwing a punch infused with blood aura at him, but Zen dodged at the last second and threw a punch of his own which was accompanied with a strong gust of wind and a faint green aura.
[Passive effect: Wind spirits' blessing]
Zen was suprised. Even now, the system was working in real time.
He quickly ignored the message and threw a kick which also had the wind effect.
He managed to land a solid hit on her abdomen before following up with another.
Lilith managed to dodge the other kick before firing a barrage of blood energy attacks at Zen at point blank range, knocking him crashing down into one of the islands.
Zen quickly got up and took a deep breath. He still wasn't used to fighting with a soul weapon, but he felt like he shouldn't be too hard.
Lilith was coming for him,so Zen didn't have much time. He closed his eyes and focused his will into the ring the same way he would a storage ring. They couldn't be too different....right?
Almost instantly, Zen felt something click inside his mind and immediately took off from the ground, this time without using his control and relying solely on the ring.
It was hard to explain how, similar to how he could do so many fantastic things here, but all Zen knew was that it was working.
He instantly released multiple blades of wind towards Lilith, each and every single one hitting their mark.
"Time to finish this"
Zen blasted off towards Lilith and started throwing punch after punch straight for her, landing multiple hits. Lilith suddenly tried to counterattack, but Zen ducked and dodged almost too easily before grabbing her face and sending her crashing down with a gust of wind.
Zen flew after her, continuing his unrelenting assault, throwing punches and wind blades even as she fell.
Zen and Lilith both crashed into one of the small islands, creating a small boom as they descended.
At the last minute.
Zen disengaged at the last moment taking off into the sky before slowly hovering down to the crash sight.
Lilith slowly got out of the crash site, bruised and bleeding slightly. Zen noticed that her body was actually flickering in and out like a ghost ,or a candle that was about to go out.
[Soul has been considerably weakened]
[Would host like to commence capture?]
Zen didn't think much and quickly replied yes .
A huge pillar of light suddenly burst out from the castle and towards Lilith, enveloping her in the light.
Although Zen wasn't doing anything, and the light didn't seem deadly, Lilith looked like she was in pain as she shrieked and yelled, struggling to escape.
Zen suddenly saw a bit of Lilith's body turn into a red energy and get pulled into the light and into the castle.
[Capture rate: 5%]
[Host can actively participate in capturing to increase chances of capture, capture speed and efficiency]
"Hmmm? Okay, how do I do that?" Zen asked, expecting the system to ignore him, but was surprised when it answered.
[Use your willpower to force the soul under your control, similar to how you bend this world to your will]
Zen was stunned for two seconds before he stretched his hand towards Lilith and did as the system said.
There was an immediate effect as another half of Lilith's body turned into red energy and was consumed by the castle.
[Capture rate: 65%]
Zen was surprised at the speed but felt like he could go even faster.
Watching as her body was getting absorbed. Lilith initially struggled and shook, but as it progressed and only her head was left,an accepting smile appeared on her face.
"Oh well" was all she managed to say before she was completely absorbed into the castle.
[Soul capture at 100%]
[Legendary soul Lilith Valeria (Weakened significantly) has been captured]
"Well done Azzy"
Zen suddenly turned to where the voice came from and saw a girl with dark and dark purple hair sitting on the edge of a cliff on the island.