Chapter 365

"Die... Bitch." Ragal’s voice was a low, jagged rasp as he swung his blades in a wide, lethal arc aimed directly at the Nine-Tails’ throat.

*SLASH.*

The blade whistled through the air, but there was no resistance. As soon as the blades touched her neck, they passed through her as if she were made of smoke. Her figure flickered, dissolving into the swirling white mist.

"You really think you can kill me? I am not something that can be killed." The voice drifted from behind him, cold and mocking. Ragal spun around, his eyes locking onto a jagged rock where she had already re-manifested, looking down at him with detached amusement.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Ragal launched himself across the distance, a blur of motion, but she vanished once more before his fingers could even graze her robe.

"What the hell?" Ragal muttered, his expression darkening into a mask of grim focus. He turned again, finding her standing on the exact same rock as before, as if she hadn’t moved at all.

From his throne on the mountain peak, Leon watched the cycle repeat. He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing.

’She is playing with him,’ he thought, noting the way the illusion shifted to frustrate Ragal’s directness.

"What happened? Couldn’t catch me?" the Nine-Tails taunted, her smile widening as she looked down at him.

Ragal didn’t respond with anger this time. He looked at her with a neutral, almost hollow expression, then slowly lowered his gaze to the ground beneath his feet.

"Hmm...? Are you disappointed that you couldn’t catch me?" she asked, her voice dripping with fake sympathy.

*STAB-STAB.*

Suddenly, Ragal drove both of his blades deep into the rock he stood upon. Before the mist could react, he vanished, reappearing nearly a hundred meters to the east.

"Hmm...?" The Nine-Tails tilted her head, her smile faltering.

Ragal didn’t attack. Instead, he raised his leg and brought his heel down with shattering force against the ground.

*THUMP.*

"Falir... The one who sees all," Ragal intoned.

His figure blurred again, reappearing a hundred meters to the north. Once more, his leg lashed out, his foot driving into the earth like a stake.

*THUMP*

"Ulgir... The one who knows no fear." Swish. He was gone again, re-emerging a hundred meters to the west.

*THUMP*

"Chyol... The one who has sun’s pride."

"What are you even doing?" the Nine-Tails demanded, her confusion evident. Around her, the endless horde of monsters stood unnervingly still, their mindless aggression dampened by the strange rhythm of Ragal’s movements.

*THUMP*

"Karon... The one who serves final justice."

Leon’s eyes widened in sudden realization. "Seals..." he whispered.

’Those are seals... I read about them in a book. In this technique, five seals are applied in order to make a pentagon around the target and cast the formation. But this technique is so old that no one uses it anymore except the demons.’

*THUMP.*

"Una-mura... The one who has hold over gods," Ragal declared as he planted the final seal. In a flash, he returned to the central rock, his hands gripping the hilts of the swords he had left behind. He ripped them from the stone with a shower of sparks.

"WAKE UP... THE FIVE DEMONIC GENERALS."

The atmosphere of the Soul Realm buckled. All five points where Ragal had struck the ground began to glow with a fierce, blinding radiance. Bright threads of light shot out from the seals, connecting with surgical precision to form a massive, shimmering pentagon that caged the area.

Every monster trapped within the geometry of the light was instantly incinerated, turning to fine gray ash. Only the Nine-Tails remained, her eyes wide with genuine shock as the trap snapped shut.

From the glowing seals, five towering figures rose. They were shapeless and formless, entities of pure, shifting shadow that seemed to swallow the light around them.

"You can’t stay in your soul realm for long, Leon Luster. I will be back!" the Nine-Tails shrieked. She tried to dissolve back into the mist, her form beginning to blur.

"Not so fast," Ragal growled, leveling a blade at her.

Instantly, one of the shadow figures raised a hand. A heavy, crimson chain erupted from its palm, lashing through the air with a metallic *Krrrrrr*.

The links wrapped tightly around her neck and waist, anchoring her to the physical plane and halting her escape.

"W-What the-!?" She struggled against the spectral iron, her eyes darting to Ragal as he began to walk toward her with slow, predatory steps.

"You thought you could do whatever you want, huh? You are just a mere illusion, and you thought you could trick me with those stupid tricks of yours?" Ragal’s grip on his swords was white-knuckled.

To the north of the Pentagon, another shadow raised its hand. Above its head, a massive black balance scale manifested in the air, tilting precariously.

"Karon... What does your libra say?" Ragal asked, his voice echoing in the sudden silence of the valley.

"EXECUTION." the word was not spoken so much as it was felt, a loud, authoritative roar that vibrated through the very foundations of the realm.

"Very fucking well then. Execution it is," Ragal said, an evil smile curling his lips as he closed the distance.

"S-STOP HIM!" the Nine-Tails screamed, her voice cracking as she commanded the remaining monsters outside the barrier to charge.

But as the horde threw themselves at the lines of light, a third shadow raised its hand.

"NO ONE SHALL PASS." The authoritative boom acted as a physical wall. Any monster that dared to cross the threshold of the pentagon was instantly reduced to ash, their bodies disintegrating before they could even touch the light.

Ragal stood before the Nine-Tails, looking into her frantic eyes. His smile was maniacal, the expression of a man who found joy in the destruction of his enemies.

"Woah..." Leon spoke with a shocked expression.

"I know you are just an illusion, but killing you will give me more satisfaction than killing a thousand living beings," he whispered.

With a blur of motion, he swung. His blade moved with the full weight of his arrogance and power, beheading her in a single, flawless strike.

*Thud.*

As her head hit the ground, the oppressive white mist that had choked the mountains vanished instantly, revealing the jagged peaks of the Soul Realm once more.

Outside the consciousness, the White Fox watched the shifting energies. "Very well then... It’s time I do my job," he murmured, a sharp smile appearing on his face.

The world around him changed in a heartbeat.

The sky bruised purple and black as heavy clouds swirled into a vortex. A massive bolt of lightning descended, striking the White Fox’s blade with a deafening crack. As the electricity surged through the blade, he performed a fluid 360-degree spin, discharging the lightning in every direction like a radial wave of cleansing fire.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Back in the Soul Realm, white Fox’s voice resonated inside Leon’s head. ’Kid, now’s your chance.’

"Yes," Leon answered as he pulled his consciousness back, retreating from the soul realm and returning back to the physical world.

*Blink-Blink.*

His eyes snapped open. The suffocating haze of the mist was cleared from inside his body.

"HUP... HUP." Without wasting a second, he leaped back two stairs, reaching the safety of the clear air where the remnants of the mist couldn’t reach.

"I have to confirm," he whispered, his voice steady.

Leon stared at the floating blue screen. "I really need to be more careful of what I do next," he muttered, looking down at the path ahead.