301 DEVOURING OF SOULS
Zorana understood immediately.
Suddenly, she extended her hand, and an ethereal form materialized. A soul, shimmering with spectral light. Not just any soul.
It was Sujira's soul.
"Sujira!" Leo gasped, his stoic demeanor cracking for the briefest moment.
"Yes, that is Sujira's soul", Yun-Yun cried.
Godmother's eyes gleamed with a cruel triumph. After guessing Leo's identity, she's found her key to winning this battle.
"Now that I hold the leverage, shall we renegotiate?" she asked Leo.
Ramses, still clutching his wounds, managed to smile a weak smile.
"Great mother, you always have a way. With the bitch's soul in our hands, he'll do whatever we say... like last time", Ramses praised.
Last time Ramses used Sujira and Petunia's lives as bargaining chips to cause Leo's shadow summon to surrender and kill himself.
The balance of power in the chess game had shifted. Or so it seemed.
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As Ramses and Godmother basked in their fleeting triumph, Leo's laughter echoed, low and menacing.
"What's so funny? We have the bitch's soul in our hands," Ramses demanded, his voice tinged with uncertainty.
Suddenly, Zorana felt something was awry. "Something is not right… why did he reveal his face when he knows we can bring Sujira's soul out as hostage? Surely, he's not a fool who won't understand we would use the girl to threaten him?" she asked.
"Maybe he's just stupid", Ramses said.
"Maybe…", Leo responded.
Before he could elaborate, a figure emerged from the shadows.
It was Petunia.
She was healed and rejuvenated by the Jade Throne, her wounds were gone, and her resolve was sharp. She stepped forward, holding a gleaming artifact, gifted to Leo by the Assassin Workshop.
"The Soul Vessel."
Without hesitation, she extended the vessel, and the shimmering soul of Sujira was drawn into it, like smoke into a vacuum.
"No…," Zorana screamed before adding with urgency, "They have an artifact that can capture souls."
This had been Leo's plan all along.
He knew from the beginning that Sujira was killed by Zorana, but her soul remained intact and bound by Ramses. However, there wasn't a way to recover her soul, until Ramses brought her out.
Zorana's arrogance was her flaw, and Leo exploited it masterfully.
He anticipated that in her bid to gain the upper hand in negotiating with him, she would reveal her leverage- Sujira's soul.
Leo's strategy hinged on that moment.
The moment Zorana released Sujira's soul, thinking it would tilt the scales in her favor and force Leo into submission but instead, it would be her undoing.
Petunia had been waiting all along together with Yun-Yun as they watched the battles in the chessboard realm progressed. They never entered the chess realm.
As soon as Sujira's soul materialized, Petunia struck, her Soul Vessel primed and ready. The artifact quickly absorbed Sujira's essence.
It was a critical victory.
"Once we obtain her soul, we'll release her into the jade throne. Then I'll be able to resurrect her", Yun-Yun said as Petunia absorbed Sujira's soul.
With Sujira's soul in their possession, Leo's next steps became clear. He would find a way to resurrect her. Whatever the cost, whatever the challenge, Sujira would return in time.
"No!" Ramses screamed, his cry tinged with despair.
But his anguish deepened when he saw Godmother's soul unraveling, its golden light splintering and flowing into the artifact as well.
"Mother… what's happening to you?" Ramses cried.
"The Soul Vessel is taking my soul too", Zorana screamed in desperation.
"It's over," Leo declared coldly.
Ramses crumbled to his knees, tears streaking his face. But then, a hand fell on his shoulder. It was Zorana's although her body was faint and fading.
Her voice, though weakened, carried conviction. "We have not lost yet," she said.
She leaned in, whispering something into his ear.
Ramses recoiled, his face contorted in horror. "No… I can't. I won't do that!"
"You have no choice," Zorana insisted. "If you don't, I'll be consumed by their artifact anyway, and you'll die here."
Trembling, Ramses clenched his fists, summoning the last reserves of his power. Ramses wasn't a powerful mage but the magic to manipulate souls… he was a grandmaster.
A spell began to form, and with it, Godmother's soul, no longer dispersed, surged back into his grasp.
"What is he doing, can he stop the Soul Vessel's pull?" Petunia asked, her brow furrowed.
"He's recalling Zorana's soul for a sacrifice," Yun-Yun replied grimly.
"He's going to eat his own mother's soul? What a wicked son," Petunia added.
"A sacrifice? Now? What good could it do?" Leo asked, though unease crept into his voice.
Yun-Yun shook her head, her expression dark. "I don't know what spell he'll create. But this is Zorana's last chance—it could be nothing or it could change everything."
"What can he do now? Even with Zorana's sacrifice, he couldn't cast a spell stronger than me," Leo speculated.
"Don't look down on the grandmaster of chess, Zorana's not a fool to ask his son to sacrifice her own soul", Yun-Yun replied.
"What can he do now?" Petunia murmured.
Soon, the demons fighting in the other chess pieces started to disappear. Their essence gravitated to Ramses who absorbed them.
"This is not good, he's using Zorana's soul as a catalyst to sacrifice all the demon souls in the chessboard. With so many demon souls, the spell that he creates cannot be underestimated," Yun-Yun explained.
"Fuck."
Suddenly, a bright and brilliant light engulfed Leo, a blinding radiance that emanated from his core.
"What's happening to you?" Petunia demanded, stepping back.
"What the hell?" Leo cried.
Yun-Yun understood now.
"The emperor is channeling Zorana's essence and all the souls she controlled into you," Yun-Yun growled, her voice strained.
"It's amplifying my magic," Leo noted as the magic in himself overflows.
"Why would the emperor empower you, giving you magic, and he sacrificed his mother and all his minions' souls for that? That's madness!" Petunia exclaimed.
Ramses collapsed to his knees, his laughter ringing out like a dirge across the blood-soaked battlefield.
"What are you laughing about?" Petunia asked him.