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Return of the Fallen Volume 11 Chapter 40

To Kazuki’s question, Arc simply buzzed with static.

(Who knows for certain? The owner of this soul mark does not necessarily need to still e among the living in order for the soul mark within to still be active. Just take this decaying world for example. The ancient being this eyeball belonged to has long since died out but his soul is still potent and both his will and consciousness remain intact. That is more than enough to utilize some of his former power, all without living flesh. The same could be said for the owner/creator of this tech. Alive, dead, it does not matter. If the soul is powerful enough, he or she may still remain in some shape or form.)

Kazuki understood but found it odd for someone to leave a seemingly random soul mark on a piece of junk.

(Well I guess this wasn’t just a piece of junk at some point. Arc, can you place this in my storage ring.)

(Of course I can put it in your ring but what would be the point? I just told you the power inside can not be absorbed by your unconscious friend without removing the soul mark.)

(I haven’t forgotten, I’ve simply had a thought. If this power can’t be used by Marty without removing the soul mark, maybe I can try and figure a way of removing said soul mark.)

(You have an idea?)

(Maybe. Glacious was able to remove the soul mark sapping his power by utilizing the sword forms. He severed its power and destroyed it completely. I might be able to do something similar.)

(So that was your thought. You minus well forget it now, that won’t work. That sword form you love so much is too weak to take care of a soul mark placed by a God. The gap is just far too wide.)

(Who says its a God’s soul mark, If its a Demigod’s

(Stop, if it were a mere Demigod’s soul mark do you think other Demigods would struggle with it? It’s clear it belongs to someone at the level of a God. Kazuki you are a lot of things. Your strength can outclass many Demigods and even your regenerative ability surpasses many but you lack far too much power in comparison. Your soul is still damaged and has not transformed because of what you are lacking, you would be considered second rate in a few ways. Compared to a God…Do I really need to go on? You removing that soul mark is basically impossible. At least for the current you. Maybe when you actually step into Godhood but for now, you’re better off focusing on the task at hand and being realistic.)

(I got it. No need to stretch it out. Still, I want to at least try some things. So do me this favor and store this away for me.)

(I thought we were going to take one another’s opinions more seriously before coming to decisions.)

(I’m not ignoring your opinion. I have already acknowledged that you are most likely right but if I am just taking a look at this during my downtime then it does not interfere with my task at hand now does it? Just call it you helping me to fulfill my curiosity.)

(Downtime, what downtime. You need no sleep nor food to eat or water to drink, your ki can replenish all of your vital energy, and even in this world, you can move indefinitely without rest.)

(Arc, just do me a favor!…please.)

Arc sighed inwardly before putting the strange object into Kazuki’s storage ring.

(Thanks.)

(Whatever. I’m not here to be your personal vault so hurry up and gather the other objects so I’m not opening and closing your ring all damn day.)

The time was ticking down minute by minute and yet Kazuki wanted to take some of that important time to pick up junk. Arc would be considerably upset if it weren’t for the fact that Kazuki could gather all of this junk in half a second. Kazuki wasn’t trying to sit around going through one pile of junk after another. Instead, he just asked Arc to store everything into his ring.

Arc was pleasantly surprised. Here it thought this would take a long time but putting a mountain’s worth of crap into Kazuki’s storage ring would take a fraction of a second.

With a thought, Arc activated Kazuki’s storage ring and everything disappeared into it all at once. Junk big and small, from things the size of buildings to things the size of a bead. All of it entered Kauzki’s ring in an instant.

Kazuki nodded,

(See, that wasn’t so difficult.)

If Arc had eyes right now it would be rolling them.

(Right, now that I did you a favor, can you do me the same courtesy and get back to hunting? The longer you take, the closer we come to the edge of destruction.)

(Last you spoke, the closest worms were in large groups and you mentioned you don’t have enough power to continue baiting them out a handful at a time.)

(Yes, what do you want to do? Either tunnel is going to be problematic. The choice really doesn’t matter all that much. It all just depends on how badly you want to get fucked up.)

Arc was right. Without being able to bait a few away here and there, Kazuki would be facing hundreds at once. After devouring many worms now, he was confident in his speed and agility but he knew that it would only take one bad hit to lose the advantage.

(Since the path doesn’t matter we minus well go for a record.)

With this, Arc led Kazuki down a certain tunnel. After traveling for several thousand feet, Kazuki came to a stop. He made sure to keep his ki circulating around him at all times as he slowly crept forward. The sword resting silently in his grip and the hammer tied to his waist, Kazuki came around a corner and was met with a nest of hundreds of worms.

He was surprised to find not only regular-sized worms and Giant sand worms but there were also small worms. Small in terms of scale to the other worms. In actuality, these smaller sand worms were still 5 to 10 feet long.

(Are these baby sandworms, the children?)

(What did you think these sandworms just appeared out of nowhere?)

Kazuki shook his head.

(No, of course, there are supposed to be children I just didn’t even put these things in that category. To me, they’ve just been monsters. It makes sense, I just never really thought about it.)

(So what now, are you going to leave just because there are offspring.)

Kazuki smiled.

(Why in the fuck would I turn away now?)

Kazuki gripped his mucus sword tighter.

(I thought so. Right, these things are vile creatures who will suck your soul dry without mercy. There’s no need to hold back when it comes to enemies, go wild.)

Kazuki didn’t need any prompts. Aura strengthening and ki flowed through him giving him a large boost to his strength and speed. With a single leap, he covered more than 50 feet in an instant and landed upon a small worms back. Bringing the sword down he divided both the wind as well as the small sandworm beneath him. The moment he did this, the attention of all the sandworms landed upon him in an instant and they attacked without hesitation.

A large sandworm smashed its tail downward where Kazuki stood. With another leap, Kazuki jumped away just before the small sandworm was completely crushed into a foul mass of stinking flat goopy flesh.

With a pivot, Kazuki hightailed it out of there at a quick pace. The worms gave chase without delay. While Kazuki ran through the winding path, several worms followed from behind while several more dove into the walls and tunneled their way around to try and cut him off.

Now that Kazuki was faster than the worms he could lead them at a certain pace. This way he was just out of reach but not far enough away that they would give up. This though caused its own set of problems. Since he was in a winding tunnel, the worms that dove into the walls could drill their way in a straight line directly toward him. In this way, every few minutes a worm or two would come breaking through the wall and landing directly in front of him.

Kazuki’s path was blocked so he had no choice but to fight right there and then.

As fast as possible, he would hold nothing back. The worm would try and smash him into a wall and Kazuki would slip past this attack and drive his sword as deep as possible into his enemy. Letting go of his embedded sword, he would switch to the hammer tied at his waist. Swinging it as hard as possible he drove his sword ever deeper into the ugly beasts. With another swing, the worm would erupt with a final roar before death arrived with a swiftness.

Kazuki would then devour the body, clearing the path before him just as the other worms caught up from behind. The tension building in his legs, he would launch himself forward like a spring and race ahead, leading the sandworms on a chase to their own doom.