The Paladin in the Abyss-Chapter 354 - 368: The Power to Shape Planes
Chapter 354 -368: The Power to Shape Planes
“We simply aided a friend worthy of respect,” Lancelot shook his head, gazing at the purple crystals, a struggle evident on his face. “Elothysia, how are souls imprisoned within these crystals?”
“Usually, when a creature dies, its soul immediately separates from the flesh and travels to the Domain of the Vague in the Stellar Realm, which mortals refer to as the Netherworld, unless Fiends have tampered with the soul beforehand,” the Succubus Paladin shrugged her shoulders with a look of distaste. “However, if killed within a certain Magic Formation, the soul cannot leave and is instead captured by a soul container set up within the Array. Some weapons and magic items can also achieve the same effect, and transferring souls between two containers is much simpler.”
“What about this one?” Lancelot, reminded of something, pulled out an amulet from his Dimensional Bag. It was an item given to him by Fallen Paladin Enrique just before his death, it too bore a crystal, but this crystal was almost entirely black, only refracting a hint of purple when light struck it.
“This is used to capture the essence of Fiends,” the Succubus Paladin recognized the item as well. “It’s best not to use this on ordinary people; too weak a soul will be outright crushed by it. Only souls strong enough can withstand the pressure inside it.”
“Our Cult has always been intrigued by the connection between Fiends’ essence and souls,” Kalalin spoke with interest. “In many ways, they are very similar, except the soul of a mortal first travels to the Domain of the Vague after death, whereas the essence of Fiends returns to the plane of their birth—Bottomless Abyss, Nine Hells, or Scorched Flame Hell. Considering that almost all Fiends can be transformed from the souls of mortals, there’s a view that essence is essentially the soul, just infused with some… other elements.”
“I see, perhaps this amulet will be of great use at some time in the future,” Lancelot pocketed the amulet, his gaze returning to the soul prisms. “What would happen if I smashed these crystals?”
...
“The souls inside would be immediately released, heading to the Domain of the Vague, waiting for the Divine Envoy’s guidance or the King of the Dead’s judgment,” Kalalin shrugged her shoulders. “Why do you ask?”
“Then, what is the value of these soul prisms to the Fiends?” Without immediately answering the Scholar’s question, Lancelot turned to Elothysia. “Are they just used to cultivate new Fiends?”
“No, that would be too wasteful. The wilderness always has an endless supply of Prime Demons and Coward Devils; if there’s need to quickly replenish large numbers of troops, purchasing soul worms from the merchants of Hades is much more cost-effective,” the Succubus Paladin shook her head. “The souls confined within the prisms usually possess a certain strength, and merely tormenting the prisoners inside brings many pleasures to the Fiends. Moreover, through some methods, the Fiends can also extract power from them, using it to strengthen themselves or for other purposes.”
“Extracting power?” Lancelot’s expression grew more serious. “I’ve heard that Demons initially escaped the jurisdiction of the gods by stealing power from the souls of sinners, thus establishing Barto Hell. How exactly is this accomplished?”
“Torture,” Elothysia sighed. “In the Outer Layer, thoughts and beliefs have power, enough of which gathered together can even change the surrounding environment, which is why there are those landscapes to the south of Androlina. Likewise, intense emotions can be transformed into energy, and what better to elicit strong emotions from the soul than torture?”
“It’s said that Demons are masters in this regard, their exquisite tormenting skills maximizing the extraction of energy from the soul, while the methods of Demons are far cruder,” the Elf Priest added. “To some extent, beings of Divine Power also draw power from souls.”
The group was startled by this statement, which sounded somewhat blasphemous, and Alamir has always been very devout.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?” the Priest showed a helpless expression, “Only true believers who die can enter the Divine Kingdom and become a petitioner, living the life they originally dreamed of. The War God’s petitioners fight gloriously every day and are reborn at the dawn of the next day; the God of Knowledge’s petitioners are never idle but have endless knowledge awaiting their organization and study. Because their beliefs and views align with their respective gods, the Power of Faith will directly gather onto the corresponding deity, which is also the main source of power for many mighty divine forces.”
“Shuni is a mighty divine force, right?” Koula asked curiously, “Are you saying that love possesses such strong power because so many people believe in it?”
“This is a philosophical question, and to some extent, yes,” Alamir nodded, “but we believe in love because we have felt its beauty, and at some moments, every soul will be touched by love, bringing joy and color to our otherwise monotonous and dull lives.”
The words of Priest Shuni plunged everyone into silence, especially Elothysia, who, for the first time, seriously examined her own process of ‘transformation’. The Elf Priest had once proposed that she join Shuni’s cult, which she had refused, but if Alamir were to extend the invitation again, the Succubus would be eager to learn more about this fiery-haired lady.
“That means these souls trapped in the crystals are bound to endure terrible torment, am I right?”
Lancelot spoke again, but his words sent a chill through everyone’s hearts.
“That’s correct, although they are mainly used as currency circulation, the end is inevitably so,” Kalalin said hesitantly, “unless… someone releases them…”
“And that is exactly what I want to do,” Lancelot nodded solemnly and spoke the words worth three hundred thousand Gold Coins, “I believe trading these Soul Prisms is unethical. It’s like slave trading; even if we are not responsible for the ultimate torment, the suffering of the victims is our responsibility as well.”
Everyone looked at each other, and no one spoke up to object. They all knew Lancelot was right, but it was indeed a huge amount of money, and no one had the courage to just say no.
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“Damn it, you all know he’s right!”
Bruto was the first to break the silence. The Dwarf’s obsession with wealth was no less than any other race, but their sense of right and wrong was equally unambiguous. He raised his hammer and shouted:
“My old man always used to say that one day I’d screw up something very valuable. It’s time to prove him right!”
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