As soon as these words were spoken, Saul, Nick, and Wright all looked at Byron in shock.
Saul was surprised—how did Byron know about his relationship with the Tower Master? Although it had never been explicitly stated, Saul had always believed that the Tower Master was secretly guiding him. He just didn't understand why it had to be done in secrecy.
Was it because he was just a First Rank Apprentice and not worth acknowledging? But judging from the Tower Master’s actions, he didn’t seem like soone who cared about such trivialities.
For the other two, their shock was even more profound—especially Wright. When he realized what Byron was implying, his eyes were filled with despair.
Even if he managed to escape this place and return to the Wizard Tower, he probably wouldn’t live long.
After all, after Bill secretly hard Saul, Wright hadn’t chosen to help Saul; instead, he had sealed off his escape route.
He had actually treated the Tower Master’s student as a disposable pawn?
Wizards certainly valued power and ability, but that didn’t an they disregarded relationships entirely.
Now that he knew Saul was the Tower Master’s student, Wright suddenly felt that the terrifying wraith in front of him wasn’t so scary after all.
Maybe dying here would be the easiest way out.
Byron ignored their reactions and simply focused on waiting for the wraith’s response.
Unfortunately, a powerful background that might intimidate ordinary people had no effect on the wraith.
Perhaps due to its lingering attachnt to sunlight, the wraith was unwilling to give up possession of Saul’s body.
"He’s just an apprentice," the wraith finally responded, possibly taking into account the status of Golsa, a Second Rank Wizard. It even deigned to explain further, "When I possessed this body, his consciousness was already gone. Just a low-rank apprentice—why would you think he could still be alive? Hurry up! If the storm dissipates, I’ll devour your souls!"
"This is the end..."
Hearing the confirmation of Saul’s death, Wright's eyes beca vacant. His mind was already racing—if he returned, how many pieces would they cut him into? And for what experints?
Nick, on the other hand, imdiately looked at Byron, only to find that he remained relatively composed.
But Byron wasn’t as calm as Nick assud.
He had gone through so much effort to trick Morden into coming here; there was no way he was giving up at the final step.
Their first plan had failed. Byron’s eyes darkened, but he still nodded at Nick.
Nick imdiately said, "Lord Morden, please step into the center of the circle. I need to connect the induction device for you."
The wraith was already impatient. It strode into the circle without hesitation, allowing Nick to insert fine needles with attached wires into its head.
The other end of the wires was connected to an induction device Nick had just assembled.
After confirming that everything was properly linked, Nick secured the device beside the rift, as close as possible to the soul storm.
A massive speaker was attached to the other end of the device.
Nick adjusted the speaker's angle again and picked up a small control panel.
"Lord Morden, please relax your consciousness. The transfer of soul fragnts may cause so discomfort."
Morden snorted coldly and closed his eyes indifferently.
As the device was activated, a piercing sound erupted from the speaker.
Nick, Byron, and Wright all frowned, enduring the noise.
Nick gritted his teeth through the headache and adjusted the device to a specific frequency.
Instantly, the grayish-white storm within the rift began spinning faster, and small fragnts were flung out, vanishing into the surroundings.
A few minutes later, several larger white shadows slowly separated from the storm and were drawn into the speaker of the induction device.
At that mont, the magic circle beneath Morden’s feet erupted with a blinding glow.
"Now!" Byron shouted, seemingly directing Morden on how to rge with the soul fragnts.
But Saul knew that this shout was ant for him.
As soon as Nick adjusted the device, Saul had climbed back into his own mind. When Byron gave the signal, he imdiately rushed in.
The mont he entered, he realized that his ntal space had changed.
What was once a chaotic, indistinct void had transford into a small, tangible space!
The surroundings were pitch black, with only a massive circular stone platform beneath his feet. The circle drawn on the stone platform was identical to the one Byron had created in reality.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in the central ring of the platform—Morden, restored to his original appearance.
Just like when Saul first saw him, Morden had a bruised, purplish face, an aged appearance, and only half a body remaining.
"Has my ntal space been altered?" Saul crouched down and touched the ground.
The sensation under his fingertips was surprisingly real—completely different from when he had previously fought the wraith for control of his body.
It was as if soone had reconstructed his consciousness, turning it into a more comprehensible form.
Above him, white fragnts drifted down like snowflakes.
Saul imdiately recognized them as the physical manifestation of soul fragnts in this space.
These soul fragnts naturally gravitated toward Morden, but as they neared him, they were repelled by an invisible force.
The opposing forces of attraction and repulsion caused the snow-like fragnts to spiral around Morden, gradually forming a miniature vortex.
"Is this the principle behind soul storms?"
Saul stepped forward. Though he had never encountered this visual representation before, his mind instinctively understood—only by becoming the last survivor on the platform could he regain control of his body.
At that mont, ten more figures appeared around the stone platform.
So were intact, so were fragnted; so were lucid, while others were lost in confusion.
Saul recognized them—they were the remnants of the souls Morden had just absorbed.
All the figures, including Saul, were semi-transparent, except for Morden at the center. Despite only having half a body, Morden appeared solid and tangible.
The mont they erged, the other souls instinctively moved toward Morden, driven by their survival instincts.
anwhile, Morden was still greedily absorbing the swirling "snowflakes" of soul fragnts, smirking coldly at the approaching spirits.
He opened his mouth wide and inhaled deeply, sucking several soul fragnts into his body.
A sense of completeness filled him—but to fully integrate these fragnts, he needed ti.
But Morden was too impatient. Before the newly absorbed fragnts had fully rged, he greedily took another deep breath.
This ti, however, he felt discomfort.
Among the fragnts were souls that didn’t belong to him.
The foreign soul fragnts filled with impurities imdiately caused pain and chaotic mories to flood his mind.
"Why are there other souls mixed in? Are you playing tricks on ?!" Morden abruptly opened his eyes in reality, glaring at Byron and the others.
Byron calmly explained, "Lord Morden, our induction device has limited capabilities. We’ve done our best to filter out your soul fragnts, but so foreign pieces inevitably slipped through. You’ll need to sort them out yourself to avoid any negative effects."
"Hmph!" The wraith felt a flood of conflicting thoughts rising and falling in his mind.
So voices cursed in fury, believing he had been deceived. Others rationalized that Byron’s explanation made sense. Yet others anxiously urged him to hurry, not wanting to remain incomplete.
A violent, murderous impulse surged within him, threatening to overwhelm his sanity. But the young boy he had possessed was resilient, stabilizing his chaotic mind—for now.
Morden realized that if he truly lost these parts of his soul forever, he would never regain his full consciousness and would be forever trapped in this fragnted state.
"Don’t let catch you playing tricks," he warned, slowly closing his eyes again.
Wright snapped out of his terrifying visions of dismbernt and glanced at Byron, then at Morden standing inside the circle, montarily pacified.
anwhile, at the rift’s edge, Nick subtly adjusted the induction device’s paraters.
After secretly finishing his task, he slightly tilted his head.
Byron pressed his lips together.
"We’ll do our best to prevent foreign soul fragnts from entering you.
If so do…
That just ans we, as Rank Three Apprentices, are simply inadequate.
We’re terribly sorry for that."
(End of Chapter)
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