"Doesn't seem to be working at all."
The bright moon hung high in the sky, and half the night had already passed. Much of the surrounding debris that had been struck had faded into nothing, yet the Oblivion Chain in my hands remained unbroken. Watching the Earthly Soul's blood-soaked hands, I muttered, then took out the food Entity 001 had found for me and handed it to him. He accepted it gladly and ate.
Triple Extremity—this was a technique of the Immortality Society. I couldn't possibly mistake it; I'd seen it many times before, even if the Earthly Soul wouldn't admit it. Yet the Oblivion Chain wrapped around my arm still hadn't been broken. Instead, it was the Earthly Soul's hand that had suffered severe damage.
"The recovery is far too slow." (Masked Men: If consistent with glossary, clarify as 'Black Mask Agents'.)
The Earthly Soul muttered. I stared at the exposed bone on his right hand. Although the wound was healing, it was agonizingly slow. The moon had already shifted position, and now the Earthly Soul stood where the Oblivion Chain pierced the ground, raising his fist.
"Let's try the strongest blow all at once."
I swallowed, and the Earthly Soul clenched his right fist, aiming it at the Oblivion Chain.
"Wait a second."
I called out, not quite sure why, but everything here reminded me a little of something I'd seen on Nine Yin Island. (Blue Wraiths: elite ghost entities, see glossary)
"We can't wait any longer. There's no time. Or do you want to stay another day?"
I thought for a moment, then shook my head.
"The Violet Heart Pendant is still in Entity 001's hands. Even if you help me escape, I'll have to get it back. We might as well try to find where she rests. If her true body exists in this world, then she must be sleeping now. It's possible that while her true body sleeps, she can't think or move at all."
I voiced my carefully considered plan. The Earthly Soul immediately stopped, looked at me in surprise, and nodded.
"This might be the only weakness these powerful Forsaken have."
The Earthly Soul glanced around. He'd told me about some of his past experiences, and he seemed to know something more, though he wasn't eager to share.
"Why did you suspect that the real bodies of the Forsaken exist in the present day? You mentioned that bringing this up angered Agent Two and nearly got you killed. So how did you know? It can't have been a coincidence."
With a loud crash, a large pile of debris dissolved into mist, revealing cracked, pale earth beneath.
"What are you doing?"
"This might have to do with what you just learned about changing the quality of a soul. Most people's souls are like diamonds—hard and resilient. You either destroy and consume them outright, or it's almost impossible to reshape them. One slip, and the diamond is ruined. But the souls of the weak are like clay—perfect material for altering soul quality."
"Since we need to find the Forsaken's hiding place, and in this environment, this is the best and fastest way."
The Earthly Soul kept swinging his fist, gradually clearing away the debris around us until a large stretch of land appeared.
"If you attack so recklessly, with this place being so huge, how are we supposed to find Entity 001?"
"She probably won't be too far from you."
The Earthly Soul said, pausing to catch his breath in heavy gasps. I stared at him blankly and asked.
"Back to my question."
"You're so annoying. Can't you just watch quietly?"
After looking at me for a while, the Earthly Soul sighed helplessly and began to speak.
A long time ago, just after he awakened his End Instinct and escaped from the Ghost Syndicate, the Earthly Soul wandered the living world alone. He was filled with rage towards the Ghost Syndicate and the Immortality Society, but knew he was far too weak. Still, the fire inside him drove him to begin a hunt for the Immortality Society.
Using everything he'd gained in the Ghost Syndicate, the Earthly Soul quickly found some members of the Immortality Society and managed to take them out. He even forced some information out of a few low-ranking White Mask Agents.
At this point, the Earthly Soul sneered, recalling those sordid memories. His eyes gleamed with cruelty. Heaven knows what methods he used to make the Immortality Society members talk. Before joining, they had to endure inhuman torture to train their willpower; only those who survived could join. Many died in the process.
Those who successfully joined the Immortality Society possessed willpower far beyond ordinary people. They no longer feared death, having been completely brainwashed into becoming death warriors under the banner of immortality.
"Do you remember the research facility you dreamed of?"
I nodded.
"It wasn't just a dream. At that time, we hadn't fully separated, so you could still sense my presence to some extent."
"You did it on purpose, didn't you? Just to show off your strength to me."
The Earthly Soul nodded.
It happened by chance—Earthly Soul discovered something unusual in a small company. It was just a pharmaceutical company, but they regularly recruited people for clinical trials, most of whom were desperately poor—beggars, mostly.
After noticing something suspicious, the Earthly Soul infiltrated the factory and found that most of those recruited were screened and sent away. They claimed it was to a larger pharmaceutical plant, but in reality, those people's souls were so weak, extracting them was effortless.
"This might have to do with what you just learned about changing the quality of a soul. Most people's souls are like diamonds—hard and resilient. You either destroy and consume them outright, or it's almost impossible to carve them into something else. One slip, and the diamond is ruined. But the souls of the weak are like clay—perfect material for altering soul quality."
Earthly Soul paused for a moment, then continued.
Back then, I saw a silver-haired woman—strikingly beautiful and incredibly powerful. Her strength far surpassed mine, even above many high-ranking Blue Wraiths.
I swallowed hard as the Earthly Soul continued his story.
After infiltrating the pharmaceutical factory, Earthly Soul originally planned to act, but the presence of three Blue-Faced Men made him abandon the idea. He had to keep pretending to be a low-ranking White Mask Agent. Having encountered Vengeful Ghosts before, Earthly Soul had greatly improved his control over baleful energy. He managed to use it to mimic the special aura of the implanted Vengeful Ghosts within the Immortality Society, allowing him to pass unnoticed.
Whether intentionally or not, Earthly Soul kept probing the factory for the whereabouts of those sent for experiments. Only Red Mask Agents or higher, like the Blue-Faced Men, knew the truth. The lower ranks, Masked Men and White Mask Agents, were kept in the dark.
To trace the source, Earthly Soul took a risk one night and snuck into a transport vehicle carrying test subjects. The plan quickly unraveled; as soon as the truck reached a remote countryside, he was ambushed by three Blue-Faced Men and over ten Red Mask Agents.
"That woman was on the truck, one of the test subjects. I almost wanted to take her with me, but she shook her head and refused. I had to escape alone."
After barely escaping to the wild, Earthly Soul was seriously wounded. He thought he'd shaken off the Blue-Faced Men, but a Masked Man came running after him. Earthly Soul fought desperately and defeated the Masked Man, who was terrified and babbling about a monster.
To be sure, Earthly Soul went back to check. To his shock, everyone in the three trucks was dead, surrounded by corpses of the Immortality Society—almost a hundred bodies. The three Blue-Faced Men and ten Red Mask Agents were all killed, each with a fatal wound to the heart—the lifeblood of the Immortality Society.
Amid the blood and corpses stood the silver-haired woman, her face blank and unaffected by the carnage—as if she had lost her soul. On her pale right arm, exposed beneath her black vest, was a string of numbers: 003.
"How is that possible?"