F-Rank Soul Eater-Chapter 190: Final Show Down.

The Shade Stealer watched from the Cliff.

Alternatively, I would look at his own wristwatch.

Its pale simple, but sickly face carried a calculated look.

Just then, in the far distance below the cliff, they arrived.

Cynthia.

In her embrace was wrapped in Blanket Burial Leaves.

Behind her arrived Aegon and his Party members.

From the few scratches on her body, it was obvious she had been attacked on getting here.

"Hey... You big muscle brain clown, hand him over."

However, seeing the figure wrapped in the Blanket Burial Leaves, he could not help but smirk. "I heard he was injured. To think it was this bad, and he still dared to enter the hunting grounds!?"

Aegon crackled loudly.

Then he stepped forward.

However—

At such a time, the dagger spun mid air and landed exactly in between Cynthia and Aegon.

Li and the Lion Heart Party had shown themselves.

Soon after, the other parties showed up. As they did, so did Bloodshine.

Bloodshine saw the state Soren was in—wrapped in the Blanket Burial Leaves.

Her heart broke as she hurried to take him from cynthia.

Meanwhile, Aegon and Bambi had began their confrontation.

The Shade Stealer saw this, and smiled.

But then, a familiar voice—

"All according to plan, right?"

The Shade Stealer paused, head slowly turning about.

It’s eyes widened in shock.

"Waterfell?"

Soren stood a significant distance from the Shade Stealer. He leaned heavily on his walking stick.

Fingers vibrating. Not from fear. But from holding back much pain.

Pain that would have made a lesser man seek the comfort of death.

Unfortunately, Soren could not afford such luxury.

But the Shade Stealer did not know this.

Subconsciously, and slowly, it looked behind, staring at the figure of Cynthia below.

At the person she had wrapped in the Blanket Burial Leaves.

As if reading its thoughts, Soren spoke up.

"Oh, I had Cynthia kill one of the Triplex Rot Hounds you sent, and had it wear my wristwatch.

You were tracking me with it, weren’t you?" Siren raised his right hand, shaking it as evidence."

"Clever..." The Shade Stealer complimented. "But apparently not clever enough."

It’s gaze went up and down Soren’s body, as if staring at a confident fool.

"Oh, come on, don’t flatter me. You should see what I have in store for you next." Soren winked with his one good eye.

The Shade Stealer stared for a moment too long, and then gave a dry low chuckle. "You should see what I have in store for you, now."

All of a sudden, a few people arrived, Surrounding them.

Soren did not even need to look. He knew they were the other Shades that had taken over the bodies of their Soulbound warriors.

"See... not Clever enough, Waterfell."

Even though he was in the center of enemies that wanted to chew his bones and spit it out, he was calm—awfully calm.

Slowly, they drew closer—albeit cautiously.

But Soren suddenly raised a questioning finger. "Before you totally devour me, can I at least make a final request."

The Shade Stealer raised a brow.

But Soren asked anyways. "Since I dont have my wristwatch, could you tell me what the time is since my arrival here?"

"Time?"

"Yes, I’d like to know if its at least 5 minutes."

It turned to its wristwatch. "Its been 4 minutes, and 45 seconds."

"Oh..." Soren suddenly took a huge step back, sat on the ground, coiled into himself, activated Goldsworth ability.

Not so much that it would worsen his injury, but enough to cover this body, and then he covered his ears tight.

The Shade Stealer and the others looked at him confused.

However, the shade Stealer suddenly saw Soren’s smirk, as the remaining holden threads covered his face.

A dreaded feeling rose in its heart as it turned about...

But it was too late—

Boom...

The world did not simply explode.

It folded.

Sound came first—not as noise, but as a violent force. A crushing, invisible hammer that slammed into everything in existence. The cliff beneath them fractured instantly, cracks racing like lightning veins through the earth.

Then came the light.

Blinding.

White.

Hungry.

And then—

Impact.

The Shade Stealer’s body was thrown midair like discarded cloth, its glowing runes flickering violently as the shockwave tore through its control. The Shades inhabiting the surrounding bodies screamed—some in rage, others in something far more primal.

Fear.

Their forms distorted, flickering between human and something... wrong.

But Soren—

Soren felt it all. Even with his ears covered.

Even prepared.

The shockwave hit him like divine punishment.

CRACK.

His ribs screamed, adding to his previous injuries.

His shoulder twisted unnaturally.The ground beneath him vanished as the cliffside gave way completely.

And then—

He was falling. Wind roared past his ears, and debris followed.

"Shit, if I survive this, I will have to tell Cynthia to never let me be in line of her fire ever again."

However, he suddenly felt a figure grab him by the arm.

Slowly and steadily, Soren raised his head. It was Aegon.

He hung from the side of the cliff by a dagger. He looked down at Soren. "I can’t let my employer fall to his death can I now?"

Soren raised his head. He could mot help but smirk.

"Does that mean that...?" Soren asked.

"Yes... I accept your deal." Aegon responded.

The moment he said this, Soren’s body suddenly began to glow as a Neuralink rune appeared at his neck.

Meanwhile—

The Shade Stealer slammed into what remained of the cliffside, rolling across jagged stone before finally stopping.

For a moment, It did not move.

Then—

A twitch.

A breath.

A slow, dragging inhale that sounded wet... wrong.

It forced itself up.

Unsteady.

Broken.

But still alive.

Its left arm was gone. This did not mean that it had been torn cleanly.

No—

It had been ripped away violently, as if the sound waves travelled through flesh to shred it rather than sever it.

The shoulder was a ruin of exposed bone, torn muscle, and something darker—something that did not quite behave like blood.

What spilled from it came in thick, blackish chunks.

Not liquid, and not fully solid.

Clotted pieces that dropped heavily to the ground with sickening, wet taps.

The wound pulsed.

Alive. Wrong.

No doubt, the Shade Stealer enjoyed the pain it brought. But still, this had not been the plan.

The Shade Stealer steadied itself.

Its breathing was uneven now.

It was shocked.

It looked around.

And for the first time since its arrival into this plan—

There was no control in its gaze.

Only chaos.

The cliff...

Was gone.

What remained was a shattered slope of broken stone and torn earth, jagged edges jutting out like broken teeth from a rotting jaw.

Smoke drifted everywhere.

Thick.

Grey.

Mixed with something darker.

Something that smelled like burnt flesh and gone souls.

Bodies—

No.

What remained of bodies—

Were scattered everywhere.

Some had been completely obliterated.

Reduced to nothing but smeared stains across the stone.

Others...

Were worse.

One figure lay a few meters away.

Or rather—

Half of one.

Its upper body still twitched faintly, fingers spasming against the ground as if trying to crawl.

Below the waist—

Nothing.

Just a trail of torn organs dragged across the stone like something had tried—and failed—to put itself back together.

Its mouth opened.

Closed.

No sound came out.

Only bubbles of dark blood rising and bursting at its lips.

Another lay nearby.

Split down the middle.

Perfectly.

As if something had drawn a line through its body and decided it no longer deserved to be whole.

One half still moved.

The other did not.

A Shade tried to rise—

Its human vessel missing an entire side of its face.

Bone exposed. Teeth visible through torn flesh.

One eye gone.

The other rolling wildly in its socket as it struggled to understand a world it could no longer properly perceive.

It took one step—

Then collapsed.

And finally, from above—

Something fell.

A wet sound.

Then another.

And another. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Chunks of flesh.

Pieces of bone.

Fragments of what used to be people.

They rained down slowly now.

Like the aftermath of a storm.

One piece landed near the Shade Stealer’s foot.

It did not look down immediately.

But when it did—

It saw a hand.

Most of the Shades that had been under its command had died.

Then again, unlike Soren that had coiled himself into a ball on the ground, these ones had been standing, and closer to the blast.

And then several figures landed around.

These were the party members of the Tea party, the Lion Heart Party, and the Tiger Claws Party.

All of them led by their leaders.

The Shade Stealer subconsciously backed off.

And then Cynthia landed.

Then Bloodshine. And then, they made way for a figure to pass.

As he stepped forward, his figure carried confidence, and a kind of charisma that made even Kiva lick her lips a bit.

Soren.

He was not resting on his Walking stick. His previously shut eye was opened clearly and the red corruption marks on his neck were gone.

His left hand massaged his neck as he stopped about five meters from the Shade Stealer.

Soren sighed. "I am never doing that again..."