Soulless Players

71  Gerald's hope

Amidst this gruesome spectacle, Gerald's severed head and body inexplicably shifted to an illusory form.

In Gregorio's eyes, it appeared as if they had suddenly vanished. But in Philip's eyes, Gerald had somehow exchanged his physical body with his astral body.

Gerald appeared a couple of meters behind Gregorio, his arms raised, conjuring a ball of fire that burst forth with terrifying force. The fire emitted an ear-piercing screech as it struck Gregorio's back, producing violent orange sparks.

It did successfully touch Gregorio; however, it failed to harm him. Instead, they swirled around him, coalescing into numerous fireballs.

Simultaneously, Gregorio's right arm extended, revealing a spectral and spiritual crimson arm. Together with his left hand, they both danced and wiggled as if controlling marionette strings in a puppet show.

Witnessing this strange display, Philip couldn't believe his eyes. He was familiar with these monotonous finger movements and surmised that Gregorio was also a magician.

"Not only is his body stronger and faster," Philip pondered, "he can evoke wishes, summon creatures, and use magic. What is he exactly? Is he only a summoning master, as the system indicated?"

The intense battle continued, with Gregorio launching a relentless barrage of fire, utilizing his summoned hound, and the invisible forces. He had the upper hand, as Gerald was forced to rely on astral body substitutions to evade the relentless assault.

Moreover, Gregorio's successive attacks made it nearly impossible for Gerald to fight back, and he could only repeatedly defend.

Seeing the urgency of the situation, Philip felt compelled to intervene. He quickly scanned the rings he had stolen, seeking anything that could aid in Gerald's dire circumstances.

His gaze then landed on the staff with a red round crystal on top, which Gregorio had previously used to cast a sleeping spell around. Without hesitation, he removed the staff from his traveler's ring and raised it high, declaring, "Sleep!"

However, he didn't aim the staff at Gregorio; rather, he targeted the summoned hound. He believed it would be more effective, as Gregorio was already suffering from constant pain and bleeding and was unlikely to be affected by the sleeping spell.

To Philip's relief, the creature did fall asleep, providing Gerald with a momentary respite.

Yet, with Philip's intervention, he was no longer invisible in Gregorio's eyes. His gaze burned with fury as he darted back and forth between his summon and Philip standing in the corner.

Suddenly, Gregorio intensified the flames surrounding him. With his fingers moving at an astonishing pace, the flames transitioned from red to a sinister blue.

"Anything that touches me will be corrupted by the power of destruction!" Gregorio cried, and starting from his foot, the ground darkened and crumbled, moving at an alarming rate.

In addition, all the coalesced blue flames detonated, sending shockwaves through the dark room and causing debris to rain down. The ceiling began to break, and the moon above finally became visible.

Caught in the blazing explosion and the ensuing corruption, Philip had no time to react. He quickly transformed and used the brief interval during the transformation to shield himself from the destructive force.

Philip had discovered that when he was in the midst of transforming between bodies, he gained a brief immunity to attacks.

This newfound understanding had come from numerous observations throughout his use of his uniqueness, 'Mystic Identities.' He had formed a theory that the transformation process conferred an extremely regenerative healing and constructive effect, allowing him to regrow his limbs and increase his height.

Therefore, he surmised that this uniqueness not only enabled transformation but also provided short-term immunity. Thanks to this, Philip was able to evade Gregorio's onslaught and emerge unscathed.

However, this so-called immunity was exceedingly short, lasting only five seconds. Before the destructive force had extinguished, he had already finished his transformation.

With this, Philip had to suffer from extreme pain for another three seconds. After it stopped, he had already experienced a severe degree of burn, to the point it exposed his bones.

Luckily, Philip had a solution to his predicament. He hurriedly reached for a blue medicine bottle and quickly consumed its contents.

However, while he had solved the issue, its healing was agonizingly slow. Philip didn't know what would happen with him being in this vulnerable state.

With his body buried beneath piled of debris, Philip summoned his astral body to assess the situation.

It was then he noticed Gerald, who was partly astral and partly real, desperately searching through the wreckage below. The moon cast a gentle light on his weary face, and when he saw Philip's astral form emerging from the rubble, his face shifted to happiness.

However, while Gerald wanted to rush to Philip's aid, the battle with Gregorio was far from over.

Gregorio had seemingly disappeared, and both his summoned creature and physical body were nowhere to be found. Yet, a sensation of malevolence and oppressive force bore down on Gerald, almost immobilizing him.

Gerald's thought process slowed down, and he struggled to move his body. He felt as though he was tightly embraced from behind, then encased within a suffocating cocoon.

In his fatigued state, Gerald no longer wished to continue the fight. Thus, he decided to give his all to fight against the encasement.

Suddenly, a deep core memory within his space of consciousness began to resonate, forming a brilliant golden bridge.

The bridge connected his core memory island to the edge of the cliff, bathing his inner world in radiant gold. With this, the invisible wall that encased the core memory slowly vanished until its shards sprinkled over the land.

Everything, from the drought ground to the dark sky above, gleamed with a golden hue. Gerald's space of consciousness filled with hope, a hope that had once eluded him, a strong hope for a better future.

Gerald's eyes turned golden, and a luminous golden light radiated from his body, enveloping a vast 300-meter radius, covering like a huge dome.

Houses, buildings, roads, and people within this radius were bathed in the brilliant light, casting aside their despair and embracing newfound optimism.

All the mentalists on duty in the city, a small group of mentalists who were seemingly on the lookout for something, and other supernatural beings near Windfall 15 Street turned their attention to this radiant display. Their expressions shifted from grim to ecstatic, as the overwhelming brightness lessened their mental anguish, allowing them to envision a brighter tomorrow.

While the effect was good for others, for Gregorio, it was nothing but devastating. His attempt to possess Gerald was abruptly halted by the blinding golden radiance. The brilliance seemed to pierce through the very core of his malevolent intentions.

His mental state crumbled as he suddenly realized that the person before him radiated a profound sense of hope, a strong determination to survive and thrive.

He, who was in a specter state, was swiftly extinguished. His mind plunged into chaos, and his physical form that was buried underneath the rubble withered away, turning into clouds of dust.

The golden light persisted for a full five seconds before it receded, and Gerald's eyes returned to their brown natural color. He swiftly turned left, looking at the astral body of Philip who was also peeking at him in silence.

"Good Job, " Philip mouthed. He had a smile on his face.

Seeing this, Gerald finally was hit by exhaustion and collapsed, falling into a deep slumber. However, while he seemed lifeless, his lips curved upwards.

Philip was about to rush to his aid, but as he saw the slow approach of the mentalists, he quickly returned to his physical body and activated his traveler's ring to retrieve a magical empty bottle.

With haste, he placed both rings inside and scribbled a note on a piece of paper that read, "I'm fine. You can now go to sleep," before tossing it out of sight. After a few minutes, the bottle with a note and rings inside suddenly turned translucent and vanished.

Philip then used his fifth chance to transform for the day into the dead child he saw earlier. Shortly, he crawled up and over to Gerald's side and the mentalists gathering around him.

From now on, I will be releasing two chapters per day. While I mentioned in the previous chapter that I would be going premium today, I have decided to postpone that move. It might happen on the 20th, 25th, or next month, but it's definitely in the works. Thank you for your continued support of this novel.

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