When Zitra and Nero heard the Lich's words, their eyes widened. They put their full focus on the small rune that was forming in front of the Neo-Demon, and that already had more than one hundred thousand runic lines made. They could not hide the shock when they realized the incredible feat that Zatiel was performing.
Unlike the other two, Ezequiel and Tyrus did not show surprise. The Abomination Gorilla was confused since he did not understand how impressive a Soul Rune was. Tyrus' magic knowledge had grown over the years, but he never truly cared about things that did not directly help him to grow stronger.
The Supreme Neo-Demon, on the other hand, displayed calmness. For him, Zatiel creating a Soul Rune was not a reason for surprise. In his mind, he and his Master performing what others think impossible was normal.
When Ezequiel saw the confusion in the Abomination Gorilla, he shook his head lightly before speaking.
"You need to learn about this kind of thing, they may not enhance your strength, but it will allow you to react to them when an opponent is using them. You should not always depend on the Sun Tadpole to give you information about everything."
Tyrus was very unruly, but although Ezequiel was weaker than him, the Abomination Gorilla admired him from the bottom of his heart. He gave a respectful bow and made sure to remember his words before using the Sun Tadpole to gain knowledge about Soul Runes.
Immediately the Sun Tadpole used its connection with the Elder Brain to share the information with the Abomination Gorilla.
Rune crafting is considered the hardest profession that exists. Rank 4 Runes, and above, use Soul Origin to be made and have the power of the laws in them. Those capable of making them earn the title Origin Runemaster.
The uses that runes have is uncountable. They can be put in territories to give them special defensive and offensive abilities like the golden flames that fill the Daybreak Magic Tower. Runes can also be engraved in someone's body to allow them to use the power of elements and schools of magic from which they have no knowledge.
Runic sets are a higher level of rune crafting, in which you engrave runes with different properties before fusing them into a sole entity, whose power is much greater than the mere sum of their parts. This is one of the greatest levels of mastery a Runemaster can achieve, but they are not the peak.
That position belongs to Soul Runes. They are the absolutely highest boundary and the pinnacle of rune crafting.
Soul Runes are the runes that can interact with the soul of life forms, and they are the ones who display the greatest of powers. Each of them is in itself a runic set, but the difficulty to make them is more than ten times than a Runic Set of the same Rank.
A Rank 4 Runemaster would need at least the dexterity and expertise of a Rank 6 Runemaster to create a Rank 4 Soul Rune, meaning that the only reason he could not advance in Rank in the profession was his energy pool. They would also need to be able to craft runes with their True Soul and body at the same time and in perfect synchrony.
The reason for Totto's shock was that although there were Rank 6 Runemasters in the Aeternum Empire, there was not a single one who could create Soul Runes. If Zatiel succeeded, he would be the only Soul Runemaster of the empire!.
The Neo-Demon did not care about the shock of the people looking at him and just kept working. His Eye of Life and Creation, Eye of Death and Destruction, and Rebirth Eye were pushing his perception to a higher level, but that was not all. His True Will was also enhancing his discerning skills allowing him to drive his rune crafting abilities to the limits.
Zatiel kept moving his right hand in the air, creating runic lines faster and faster. He raised his left hand, and he dragged Kolo's unconscious True Soul to his side.
The True Soul had been floating in the sky all this time after the dragon body's destruction. There was nothing it could do to resist the Neo-Demon even if it wasn't in a comatose state.
Once the True Soul was in front of him, Zatiel made a purple aura cover his left hand before clenching his fist. The next moment the blue humanoid was crushed until the only thing that was left was pure soul force.
With unbelievable dexterity and with hand moves that were almost too fast for a Rank 4 life form to see, Zatiel began to fuse the soul force into the runic lines.
The Neo-Demon kept working for several hours, but all those around him remained quiet and kept watching the Soul Rune forming in the sky. It was the size of a fist, but it already had more than a million runic lines, and they were all connected in a way that it was impossible to decipher.
Out of nowhere, an explosion of blue and purple fire appeared in the distance, and the light it generated was so powerful that it appeared as if a new sun was rising from the ground.
The blast was so potent that although it occurred very far away, even a Rank 0 life form in the City of the Sun could see it at plain sight. Totto and the rest were surprised when they saw the explosion and felt they contained Zatiel's power.
Less than five seconds after the first one appeared, a new purple and blue explosion hundreds of kilometers away from the last one occurred.
Ezequiel's eyes narrowed for a moment as he figured out the exact location of those explosions. Soon he matched them with the cities of those Soul Forging existences that demanded Sophia and other Neo-Demon women be handed to them for punishment.
The Supreme Neo-Demon planned to visit all of them after he advanced to Rank 4. However, it did not really make a difference to him if Zatiel annihilated them. He understood the nature of his Master and knew that bloodshed would happen.
Zatiel kept his full focus on the Soul Rune and completely ignored the explosion that befell in the distance.
More explosions of blue and purple fire occurred while Zatiel advanced in the Soul Rune. It was only after the fifteenth explosion occurred that they stopped.
Totto and Zitra understood what was happening after a moment, and they looked at Zatiel with worry. Such a wild and unrestrained massacre of clans headed by Rank 4 life forms would certainly have consequences. However, although this carnage could involve the powerhouses inside the Magi World, they felt everything would be fine as long as they followed him.
The Ancestor of the Neo-Demon race felt his eyes burning and trails of blood leaked from them, but he kept pushing forward, and right before the day ended, he finished the last runic line.
The moment the Soul Rune was completed, a wave of pure and relaxing soul force filled the entire City of the Sun. Every single person felt that they entered a magical state in which the doubts and questions that plagued their minds about the natural energy were solved.
The wisdom of the magic creatures grew that moment, and all those Sunlight Champions that were stuck at the peak of Rank 0 and 1 advanced immediately.
The effect of the soul force released from the Soul Rune had little effect on Rank 3 life forms and was negligible in Rank 4 life forms that focused on the laws. However, that did not stop Nero and the rest from staring with shock at the purple and golden rune in front of Zatiel.
They clearly felt pulses of energy coming from the rune and the fact that it not only was alive, but it also had its own soul!.
...........
Moments before the Soul Rune was completed, in a great room inside a glorious castle, a family was eating a feast.
Every piece of food on the table was packed with so much energy that a single bite would make a Rank 3 life form explode.
In the walls of the room, there were bones, broken armor, and all kinds of weapons. They appeared to be extremely old, and no energy was left in them, but if anyone with a powerful consciousness examined them, they would notice that all of them had the aura of a Peak Soul Law Domain existence.
A group of young men and women were eating at the table. Each of them had an extraordinary aura, and their temperaments were the ones you would only find in the heroes of a world. The purity and density of their Soul Origin made clear they had a solid foundation born out of great talent and hard work.
At one end of the table, there was a refined middle-aged woman with golden hair and green eyes. She appeared to be in her thirties, but her maturity only added to her beauty and charm.
The youngsters and the mature woman had excellent table manners. They did not force that behavior, and it was clear that it came naturally for them.
However, at the other end of the table, in front of the mature woman, there was a man who ate his meal like a beast and had a smile on his face the entire time. He had black hair, blue eyes, broad shoulder, and a muscular body full of immense physical might.
The energy inside him was immensely dense and powerful. Releasing it without any form of restriction would kill every life form beneath Rank 4 in an entire continent.
All of a sudden, he stopped eating and looked to the distance. His sight appeared to be able to reach every corner of the Magi World and saw with perfect clarity the purple and golden rune that just came to life.
