"Well, what did I miss?"
Revan's voice was not loud, but it carried clearly throughout the area. His eyes shone as he took in every single person currently there.
"W-What?!" Athyma's voice cut through the heavy atmosphere as she stared at him with wide eyes.
Revan's form was immaculate. The dark binds restraining him no longer existed. His hair was messy, yet it looked neat with his features. His ruby-red eyes brought a certain charm to his face. His features were spotless like white jade.
His clothes were still pristine as ever, the top button of his shirt's collar open as his tie hung loosely. His smile was more noticeable, and his hands were spread wide slightly before he lowered them to his sides.
He looked ethereal in every sense of the word.
He slowly turned to Athyma, tilting his head as his smile widened. "I must admit. That trap was almost flawless."
He laughed softly. "Its only flaw was that it was meant for the wrong person."
"You!" Athyma exclaimed. "How did you do it? How did you escape both layers at once?"
It would have been a miracle for Revan to have escaped the ninth layer alone, let alone both layers. Yet he escaped both at the same time.
"Hmm, I had to be careful, you know. Seeing that you could immediately tell when your traps and mechanisms were dealt with, I knew that dealing with them all one by one would alert you before I even paid attention to dealing with the ninth layer. Hence, I simply destroyed everything in one fell swoop. Pretty handy, huh."
He chuckled softly while Athyma was dealing with chaotic thoughts. Did he target the mechanisms she had placed all at once and dismantle them too? Doing it one by one should have been extremely difficult even for a spiritual being, yet all at once...
"Who... are you?" Her voice was low and hesitant, her brows furrowed as she forced her composure to return.
Revan laughed heartily. "I am merely a wanderer, though you could call me Revan."
Vekas's breath hitched at this. He had heard these exact words back when the wanderer had introduced himself to the general. Now, after hearing those words when Revan had just dismantled two spatial domains on the level of Realms, he couldn't help but think that these words fit well here.
He was merely a wanderer. He didn't care about sides.
Sierra and Augustus were frozen. Their knowledge about Realms was even more vast than Vekas's thanks to their longer lifespan, so the idea that he destroyed two Spatial Realms in one fell swoop was nothing less than preposterous.
Athyma's shock was obviously far greater, since she was the only one aside from Revan who knew that the ninth layer was actually a Spatial Dimension. She had designed it, after all.
However, she was also the first person there to regain her composure. She stepped forward, her gaze hardened.
"It seems I heavily underestimated you..." She muttered, her tone low and dangerous.
Just then, she snapped her fingers.
Vekas's eyes widened. He sharply turned around and blocked a blade from hitting him. His eyes widened after seeing who it was.
"Harmon?!" His eyes widened as he leapt backward. Hadn't he already killed the guy? Why the hell was he still alive?
The man in question laughed smugly. His black hair remained still in the subdued air, but his silver eyes still shone with a manic light.
"I believe we have a score to settle, General Vekas." He muttered before lunging at him.
Charlie then also felt a prickle behind his back. Turning sharply, he lunged with his blade, clashing with another sword that had aimed for his neck.
His eyes widened as he looked at the assailant.
"Missed me, Your Majesty?"
"You!"
It was Satim, the man whom Charlie himself had killed back in one of the rebels' layers.
"How are you alive?!"
It was no longer a coincidence. Not only was Harmon alive after being killed, but so was Satim.
"You filthy prince!"
Marcus widened his eyes as he also turned around and blocked an attack.
Vor?! That was the rebel he had once fought.
Vor's gaze drifted to Revan, clicking his tongue at how the guy kept his gaze only on Athyma rather than him; the person whom this smiling wanderer had killed himself.
"Believe me when I say that I am also surprised by the grandmaster's true identity. Even I only learned about it recently." Vor spoke with a smirk. "But so what? I don't plan on betraying her any time soon."
Marcus was pushed back. He gritted his teeth, feeling that this rebel was far stronger than before. Did he resurrect? Was his soul contained before it could wither away?
But wasn't his body mutilated? Revan's attack—or rather, the snap of his fingers—had clearly made his head explode. How the hell was he still alive in that body when his spiritual essence had clearly been destroyed?
The destruction of someone's spiritual essence meant that they could not be resurrected. The same issue was with Harmon. His spiritual essence had been destroyed, yet he was still alive.
Wait... Doubt began to rise in Marcus's mind.
One of the main reasons Cronos was suspected of being the traitor was that Harmon was still alive and well when he had attacked the Spirit Connection Tower. And now, the same was the case here. Did that mean Cronos actually had mutilated the body, but Harmon had been resurrected regardless?
"Don't lose focus, Prince!" Marcus's eyes widened as he turned his head to a massive ball of pure Vyr hurling at him.
Before he could act, a figure appeared before him and swatted the ball away. Lynera De Voldero stood with her back facing him.
"Miss Lynera..."
"Prince Marcus, allow me to hold this one off. He is dangerous," she said in a serious tone as she stepped forward.
Vor laughed. "Alright! Show me what you've got."
Meanwhile, Charlie was struggling against Satim, whose blows grew more and more ferocious by the minute.
"This..." He gritted his teeth as his sword shone. "[Holy Rush]!"
He rushed at him, but Satim was prepared, Dark Magic covering his body.
"[Demonic Embrace]!" As the two clashed, a blinding light appeared.
However, unlike before when the light covered the entire battlefield, it barely lasted a second this time. This was because Athyma, who had been merely observing Revan the entire time, snorted coldly and waved her hand, dispelling the attack before it could expand any further.
Seeing this, Revan chuckled softly. "Did that attack annoy you that much?"
Athyma didn't answer, but she then turned around, her finger-claw blocking Sierra's blade from behind. "Tch, pest."
She pushed her back several steps with just a flick. Sierra didn't waver as she landed on the ground before rushing at her again, her sword coated with Vyr as the two clashed.
Shockwaves were sent as the two women exchanged blows constantly.
Meanwhile, Charlie and Satim were panting heavily. The attack was dismantled before they could fully damage themselves. However, since it backfired, the two felt a rush of pain in their souls.
Techniques and Authorities were connected to the soul, so when they were dismantled like this, the soul would suffer backlash. It's a good thing that this backlash wasn't that strong.
Charlie spat out blood, his body unable to handle the backlash. Due to the pain in his soul, his body was affected by it as well.
However, before he could regain his composure, Satim rushed at him, lunging his dagger straight at his head... only to be blocked by a butcher-like sword.
"Huh?!" Satim leapt back, his eyes wide in alarm.
"Your Majesty, leave it to me," Augustus remarked as he faced Satim with his sword.
"Tch! I remember you... You were one of us. To think you were actually a traitor." Satim spat as he rushed at him.
Augustus didn't respond, but as he rushed to meet the other blade, his mind raced. It was impossible for Athyma to not have detected him back when he was spying on the rebels, so why did she kill the other spies yet spare him?
Did she find it unnecessary to kill him? Entertaining to keep him alive? He couldn't tell. His brows furrowed as he clashed blades with Satim.
"So all semi-spiritual beings are now busy, eh?" Revan muttered to himself.
Looking at the resurrected executives—Satim, Vor, and Harmon—all three had evolved into semi-spiritual lifeforms. And the ones countering them were Augustus, Lynera, and Vekas, respectively.
Sierra, meanwhile, was busy with Athyma, though Revan could tell how her attention was mostly focused on him. The black-haired woman was not truly of her concern, after all. She was mainly watching out for when he'd move.
"Say, you didn't actually resurrect them, did you?" Revan laughed softly, his eyes shining brilliantly.
Athyma didn't freeze, but her eyes narrowed as she deflected another attack from Sierra. "So you figured it out, huh?"
"Indeed," he replied, "it seems that you created new souls entirely, gave them all the memories of the original, and had them take over the body. You also healed the body and made it inhabitable, allowing for 'resurrection' to take place even when the body has been mutilated."
Vekas, Charlie, Marcus, Augustus, and Sierra—all widened their eyes collectively. This didn't truly align with their theory.
According to the theory they had formed, the only explanation was that the souls of other dead people were inhabiting these bodies, on the pretext that these bodies were stronger. They didn't expect Athyma to have created entirely new souls with the memories of the original people all intact.
No one could really blame them. After all, soul creation was something almost no one could do. It's something rarely heard of in history. No technique or Authority involving soul creation was really known.
Athyma clicked her tongue. "Indeed. My [Appraisal] allowed me to save all their memories in my own mind, allowing me to then add these memories into the souls I create using [Soul Creation] and then place them into the bodies, which I heal to their perfect condition."
"And I'll assume you also have their Techniques and Authorities in your arsenal, which you then grant to them, alongside some additional ones. I wonder how you got those in the first place, though..."
At his words, Athyma felt her heart freeze for a moment. Her mind wavered, leading her to barely dodge a [Space Blade] from Sierra. The fabric of space that had turned into a lethal blade was barely deflected by her due to a loss of focus.
Charlie looked at Sierra once more. He had seen the power of semi-spiritual lifeforms, yet she seemed stronger than all. It's almost as if...
She might be closer to a spiritual being than all of us.
But then, Revan laughed, his eyes shining in joy and pure amusement.
"Of course, why am I even asking how you got it? You used your Attribute, didn't you? [Demonic Hunger], wasn't it?" He grinned, flashing his pure, white teeth.
Athyma froze, her eyes widening until her pupils and irises shrunk to pinpricks. Her mouth hung open slightly. But then—
SLASH!
"Ah—!" Athyma recoiled, leaping back as she turned to Sierra.
The woman had struck. She had actually damaged her. There was no pain thanks to Athyma's [Pain Cancellation], but Athyma could still feel the sensation of the damage in her body.
The attack was lethal, after all. Combining Space Magic and Dark Magic, the strike was also amplified by her Vyr and the ambient Vyr around them. Still, it shouldn't have hurt this badly. According to the assessment her Athyma had previously made, Sierra couldn't hope to hurt her like this.
Wait... is she getting stronger each minute?
How? Sierra had no such Techniques or Authorities to help her with this. Heck, she didn't even have an Attribute at all.
But then, she turned to Revan, the ultimate wildcard. He had learned of her Attribute, [Demonic Hunger]. It was the most lethal weapon against her.
"It is an interesting Attribute, I must say," the man continued, as not even a minute had passed since the recent course of events. "The ability to devour the power and souls of all you face and defeat, claiming their Vyr, their Magic, their memories, their Techniques, their Authorities, and, at your level, even their Attributes. No wonder you were able to become a spiritual being so early, and a strong one at that."
Nearly every person there froze. How could she have such a powerful Attribute? Having even a regular Attribute was too difficult to comprehend, yet one as strong as this? It was almost inconceivable.
"Tch!" Her oathweight flared at this moment. She turned fully to Revan. "Die!"
Her eyes shone coldly as she suddenly rushed at him, ignoring the still-charging Sierra.