Soulless Players

70  Sildoun

A loud crack resounded behind Gregorio, and he turned to see the statue shattering into fragments. The rock crumbled to the floor, and the child with the shape-shifting ability awoke as though his sleep was only an act. With a deft movement, Philip made the staff vanish, along with his traveler's ring brimming with purple luster.

When the ring dimmed, the other children in the formation began to wake up. They rushed toward the exit as though they were mentally cued.

Seeing this, Gregorio decided not to be passive anymore. He stood up and moved away from his position, his initial indifference giving way to anger.

With the ritual failing, Gregorio's body swayed for a moment, clearly suffering from a backlash. Half of his face darkened, and his right arm withered.

However, while his condition wasn't at its peak, he could still threaten nearby Philip!

Philip suddenly felt a force encasing him, as though numerous hands interlocked with him in between.

Feeling that intense danger, he immediately transformed into a new identity and used the process to escape. His fats and meat disintegrated, hopping down from the ritual table, and going far away from Gregorio's reach.

Gregorio was about to move and completely eliminate the cockroach, but he suddenly felt a strong force stopping him. In addition, he felt he couldn't breathe.

Gregorio then looked back and saw Gerald had somehow become older and more mature. It was as if he suddenly aged by ten years. His black hair reached to the ground and his black eyes were piercing yet filled with wisdom. Moreover, the previously naked Gerald had created clothes for himself.

Seeing that Gerald was not something to be overlooked, Gregorio focused all his attention on him.

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"My wish for the day is to revert my strength to my peak form!"

The moment he uttered these words, the charcoal part of his face disappeared, as did his withered hand. In addition, the surroundings became more tense as the pressure emanating from Gregorio suddenly erupted.

Then, Gregorio vanished from where he was standing and flew towards Gerald, his hands extending as if to deliver a powerful punch.

Yet, the moment it reached Gerald, Gregorio felt he hadn't hit anything. He looked at Gerald turning into an illusionary with transparent white bubbles forming from within, attacking by wrapping Gregorio.

However, the moment the bubbles touched Gregorio's face and body, they immediately darkened and lost their tranquility.

"Anything that touches me will be corrupted by the power of destruction!" Gregorio yelled, and Gerald's bubbles turned completely black.

Gerald, who appeared a couple of meters behind Gregorio, finally showed an expression. His eyes twitched slightly as he saw the bubbles he produced earlier were fiercely attacking him and detonating one by one.

Gregorio saw that Gerald's clothes had tattered and could not help but smirk. He then pressed his palms together and evoked,

"By the power of destruction, I plead, as a devotee of the Great Devil of Destruction, to eliminate all that touches me!"

Starting from the ground that touched his foot, a dark force crawled, grinding anything that touched its aura. From the floor to the wall, and even Gerald suddenly disintegrated into dust.

Gregorio looked at the pitch-black surroundings with ecstasy. He believed he had won the fight. Shortly, he turned his gaze to Philip, who had been affected by the fight and turned into dust. He took the child's purple ring with him and proceeded to leave the crumbling black room.

However, the moment he took another step, he suddenly felt severe pain in his right arm. He was momentarily stunned by it!

It was then the pitch-black room had a milky blue light with pinkish dust dancing around. They formed the black wall, the crumbling ground, and Philip's dust, resembling a pleasant dream.

Gregorio's eyes widened as he quickly uttered the words,

"My wish for today: Illusion must be ineffective on me!"

Suddenly, everything blue and pink vanished, as if everything were only a mirage. Gregorio then noticed that he had returned to his previous state, with half of his face dark and his withered right hand dropped to the floor. His earlier wish to return to his peak form wasn't real but an illusion!

Gregorio frowned. It was already 12:10 a.m. and could only make one wish per day. With this, he could no longer pray for his state to return to its peak form.

Gregorio stopped thinking about this, as he had more pressing matters to attend to. He encased himself with his spirituality and looked at Gerald, who had returned to being a 13-year-old teenager. His previous adult form was only an illusion and wasn't real.

However, while the illusion had disappeared, Gregorio could still perceive the astral domain around him. The blue beam and pink dust on the ground materialized into spikes as they shot out toward Gregorio.

Gregorio then hopped away from where he was standing to evade the incoming spikes. Yet, the moment his foot touched the ground again, the blue beam suddenly shot out and strangled his foot. With this, he could not move from where he was standing.

Gregorio gritted his teeth. Fighting against a high-level mentalist was difficult in his domain. It was also difficult for him to escape, as Gerald's domain spanned a 300-meter radius. This meant that without a way to teleport 300 meters away, he would always be within the mentalist's grasp.

He quickly thought of a solution to his predicament and was about to raise his hand with his purple ring. But when he noticed that his right arm had been previously cut off, he quickly looked at the place where it had fallen earlier.

But when he saw the cockroach, the child who could shape-shift, possessed his withered arm with the purple ring on its finger. Seeing this, Gregorio realized that he had been fooled!

'These mentalists had planned to steal my traveler's ring from the beginning!' Gregorio gritted his teeth.

Philip then quickly took the traveler's ring from Gregorio's withered finger. And immediately, he skimmed inside to help Gerald defeat the enemy.

Earlier, while Gregorio was in a state of illusion and stood settled, he quickly glanced at Gerald on the other end. Gerald also looked at him and nodded.

Just as smart people can communicate with a glance, mentalists can do the same, especially Gerald, who seemed to suddenly have become a mentalist at a higher level than dreamwalkers and empaths.

Philip suspected that Gerald had unlocked one of his core memories related to borrowing power from his future self. This was also the reason why Gerald had an illusion of becoming 10 years older.

'Is this also the reason why Gregorio put the children and other men to sleep? This is to prevent them from forcibly unlocking their cores. Yes, this is highly possible. I should learn from this and make speculations that are not ordinary.'

But Philip was forced to stop his mulling as some changes occurred in Gregorio. The blood flowing in his right shoulder moved as though it were ink from a pen. It streamed and coursed through the ground, forming a complicated circular symbol.

In addition, Gregorio's eyes turned red and slowly, starting from his foot, formed a domain similar to Gerald's, but it was red in color and emanated a destructive and sinister feeling.

Seeing that his domain was slowly getting engulfed by Gregorio's, Gerald willed them to congeal near him. Instead of a 300-meter radius, it turned into 100. Furthermore, unlike earlier when only the ground was illuminated by the domain, the wall and the ceiling began to emit changes.

With this, Gregorio's red domain stopped at a 5-meter radius. But Gregorio felt it was more than enough as he put his hand on the ground where the new circular symbol made from blood was as he dictated.

"I summon thee, the eternal guardian of the shadowed realm, the keeper of all that hides within the mirrored abyss! Arise from the depths and answer my call, Sildoun!"

Suddenly, a grotesque, two-headed, ebony hound with jagged, spiky fur burst forth from the earth. Its menacing jaws revealed twin razor-sharp sabers, which gleamed ominously as it let out a bone-chilling, deafening roar.

Without waiting for Gerald to make another move, Gregorio cried out,

"I offer half of my strength to my summon, Sildoun!"

In response, the two-headed hound underwent a grotesque transformation, growing larger and taller than a fully grown man. Its teeth and claws extended at a menacing rate, now poised to strike with terrifying force.

However, just before the hound completed its transformation, it lunged at Gerald and viciously bit his head.

As Gerald's blood oozed from its beheaded neck, the hound let out a blood-curdling howl, echoing through the dark sealed room. Its eyes glowed with an eerie crimson light as it spat Gerald's head to the ground.

Seeing the decapitated head form a sinister pool of blood beneath the beast, Philip, standing in the shadowy corner, felt a shiver crawl down his spine.