Arc of the Souls Chapter 18: Arc 2, Chapter 1 - Terror

Read chapter 18 of Arc of the Souls by Noyr on NovelPedia.

“Jumkou!” “Jumkou, where are you!?” He looked around and all he saw was a barren wasteland of snow. Outside the city, he only saw the silhouetted skyscrapers from the distance. He couldn't even feel Jumkou. He didn't even realize that the attack happened. In his perspective, everything happened in a single frame. The first millisecond interval of him trying to conjure up a Soul-Barrier to battle Kaioshun’s intense AOE attack to the second millisecond interval of him being in a desolate snowy wasteland. Looking at the ground and how the skyscrapers of Tristate City were silhouetted all the way from here, he knew that he was about 10 to 20 kilometers away from the outskirts. How far did Jumkou teleport him? It was crazy even for a fundamentally graded Soul to be able to pull that off. “Jumkou!” Sachiel’s yells fell onto deaf ears, his response strayed in the dark vastness of the wasteland, his hopes of Jumkou appearing proven to be naught. Did Jumkou Katatoria really die? Was this the end of her journey, and her annoying rambling about the fate of the galaxy? Was this all a ploy created by the terrorist to destroy Testharia? First, the civil war that brought Testharia to it’s knees, to the Zephite City incident in Dankasho, to an direct attack on Tristate City with Jumkou Katatoria as the finale. It was all too good to be true, Sachiel couldn’t even believe it. From any other person’s perspective, this would’ve been a perfect setup for the terrorist to destroy Testharia. This could’ve even been an attack planned by Lantisul Arbitrum, the perpetrator of the civil war 20 years ago. Such a thought brought Sachiel’s eyes down to the ground, shaking it off. “You sure got a lot weighing down on you by the actions of a clumsy, annoying girl. Is this how far your leadership goes, Sachiel?” Sachiel heard a voice. A familiar one, a voice that he had gotten used to. A voice that always talked in such a monotone yet had so much vigor in each sentence. It was a voice that never changed. The voice of his Soul. Before he could even respond to his own Soul, he felt reality collapse around him, teleporting him to another place. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that he was back at Tristate City. What was that sight of reality collapsing around him? He had so many questions. Did the Time-Step of Jumkou work in the sense that once teleported, there is a limit to where you would end up? Nothing made sense to him. Did reality collapse because he felt himself collapse, or did it collapse because he was in such a state of shock? Jumkou Katatoria's state is unknown. When a Soul dies, they leave Soul Residue for a substantial amount of time depending on their power and influence. The stronger the Soul is, the longer the residue will last. With the fact that Sachiel couldn't feel any traces of Jumkou's presence, it meant that Jumkou didn't die but was simply gone. It was a feeling akin to when someone was missing. Jumkou Katatoria had one of the largest Soul Reserve of any other Soul-Wielder, in Sachiel's perspective. So he would at the very least know that if Jumkou died, the residue left by the Soul would be strong and would last about a decade. While the world reformed itself from the blinding shade of white from Sachiel’s perspective, he realized that he was in the center of Tristate City. The center was dealt the most damage by Kaioshun’s terror. While some buildings stood upright, the more crooked and older ones collapsed, with a lot of tents of shops reduced to rubble. There were still people present in the streets, notably the ones who haven’t found shelter. Some people attested that the shelters were full, and they resorted to seeking shelter in tents and shops. Sachiel looked around. His city, shaken up by the terrorist’s actions. Just like how they were shaken up by the civil war 20 years ago. It looked the same, felt the same, and he felt anger building up inside him. He felt the need to destroy the terrorist, kill him, feed him to the cr