Leo East was going to die!
Li Donggui's eyes widened at the sudden turn of events. The muscles of his face, unchanged for more than a decade, were rigid now. The corners of his mouth twitched uselessly, unable to form any expression at all.
The view of the heavens beyond the spire slowly darkened. The final image froze on Kozmo's face, twisted into a smug, vicious grin. His pale face was covered in beads of water. Cruelty filled his narrow eyes. The corners of his mouth had been pulled as wide as they could go, while a strange, wheezing laugh came from the bottomless darkness of his throat.
In the heavens, Kozmo held a parchment scroll, seemingly reciting something, or perhaps merely whispering excitedly to himself. The yellow fog of sound beneath the spire slowly fell silent. The roar of the rushing water gradually faded.
A powerful external force punched a hole through the heavens. Earthquake-like cracks spread around it, and the damaged heavens shed glittering, multicolored specks of light. More and more specks fell. The colors in the images across the heavens faded, drawing them closer and closer to black and white.
The falling specks became faint white vapor that drifted through the Soul Sea, making everything hazy and indistinct. The shattered heavens broke Kozmo's vicious grin into fragments as well, making it look even more hateful and terrifying. Kozmo's pupils, magnified by the heavens, held cruelty and smug delight.
Leo's two Soul Strings, one thick and one thin, were being torn by tremendous force. Like helpless earthworms dangling in the air, they struggled inch by inch, only to be drawn out inch by inch.
After the curtain of falling light vanished, the world of the Soul Sea turned completely black and white. Several seconds later, the ends of Leo's Soul Strings were pulled out of the yellow fog.
For seventeen years, the yellow fog had never been still, even when Leo slept. Now it solidified in an instant, like yellowed cotton covered in grime, without another ripple.
Sound vanished completely from this world of the Soul Sea. Silence reigned.
Li Donggui tried reaching his hand beyond the attic. The translucent barrier that had stopped him before was gone! He vaulted over the attic railing, escaping the attic for the first time.
Standing on the eave outside the attic with his back against the railing, Li Donggui looked at the shattered world of the Soul Sea. He wanted to do something, but he was at a loss. The spire floated in midair. Li Donggui had no idea what lay beneath the yellow fog. Was he really supposed to jump down?
He had once wanted desperately to leave the attic that imprisoned him. Now that he had truly stepped outside, all he could do was watch the Soul Sea break apart inch by inch like the end of the world.
The white vapor drifted around him, and Leo's field of vision grew smaller and smaller. After more than ten seconds, half the length of Leo's two Soul Strings had already been pulled away.
The remaining halves still hung outside the hole in the heavens. Like the lower halves of two long snakes that had been cut in half, they twisted uselessly, already nearing the end of their strength.
Li Donggui helplessly watched the severed halves of the Soul Strings writhe. Leo was a good kid, but unfortunately, he was too good. He had no defenses against others at all.
How was Li Donggui supposed to become this Final Entrustee?
Just as Leo's Soul Strings were about to be pulled away completely, the last little bit of their tails lashed violently once, like the explosive crack of a long whip at the instant its tip snapped through the air.
A violently powerful soul fluctuation came through the breach in the heavens. As if bidding farewell, it swept through every corner of the Soul Sea one final time.
This was the last struggle of Leo's soul…
The fluctuation was so intense that Li Donggui could barely remain standing. The cracked heavens, the thinning vapor, and the solidified yellow fog turned this place into a world of deathly silence.
Then! Li Donggui heard a sound!
It was a bell!
Li Donggui spun around and looked toward the Calamity Bell.
The Calamity Bell that death rang to bring calamity: the bell rang once, mourning the death of a soul!
The Calamity Bell gave off an even stronger fluctuation. It not only canceled out the final impact of Leo's Soul Strings, but also sent a wave from behind Li Donggui that abruptly shoved him into the distance.
Under the effects of the Cipher spell's fluctuations, Li Donggui was already unsteady on his feet. With the force pushing from behind, he was sent flying through the air in a headfirst dive.
Li Donggui twisted his waist and shoulders with all his strength in midair, turning his face upward toward the hole in the heavens.
Leo's two Soul Strings vanished completely. Leo East vanished completely as well.
Li Donggui looked back toward the spire and the Calamity Bell. Only then did he see that the spire had nine floors, with the attic on the very top floor.
After ringing once, the Calamity Bell released a long, melodious golden note.
Calamity Bell, what are you trying to do?
The spire and the Calamity Bell grew smaller and smaller in his field of vision. Veiled by the white vapor, they grew increasingly blurred as well.
Li Donggui fell rapidly, plunging into the yellow fog, which had completely solidified after Leo's death. The murky yellow fog obscured Li Donggui's vision. His consciousness gradually sank into silence. He could no longer see anything or feel his own body.
In the final instant before losing consciousness, he seemed to feel something break through his brow and emerge from the space between his eyebrows.
…
Li Donggui's fall struck the yellow fog and created a tiny ripple!
The yellow fog came alive again!
Amid the Calamity Bell's long, melodious echo, the tiny ripple continued to expand, like a stone striking a still lake as wave after wave spread endlessly into the distance. The Calamity Bell's echo gradually faded, and the ripples of vibration in the yellow fog vanished with it.
This world suddenly became terrifyingly silent.
The absolute silence lasted for a full three seconds.
The next moment, the center of the yellow fog churned as if it were boiling! The yellow fog erupted upward like a fountain. Something seemed to be a wild beast thrashing within it, wild and restless!
After a moment, a brand-new Soul String tore through the yellow fog's restraints like a black dragon and shot into the sky!
The new Soul String rushed straight toward the heavens and slammed into them. The huge hole left when Leo East's soul had been pulled away was violently plugged by the new Soul String.
As the new Soul String struck, countless fragments flaked off the old heavens, shattered like a broken mirror, revealing flawless new heavens behind them. The fragments of the old heavens crashed into the yellow fog. The churning fog covered them, and they vanished without a trace.
Darkness receded. Light and sound filled this world once more.
The new Soul String swung with an entirely different amplitude from Leo's. It was far more vigorous and powerful. The spire and the Calamity Bell suddenly grew enormous within the new Soul Sea, nearly reaching half the height of the new Soul String.
The spire also settled firmly on the yellow fog instead of floating in midair as it had before.
This world of the Soul Sea had been reborn.
Unlike the earth-shaking changes in the heavens and the yellow fog, the white vapor continued drifting through the air without changing. It seemed that this vapor alone could still prove that this place had once belonged to the innocent boy, Leo East.
…
In the outside world, the light had left Leo East's eyes with his death, and his body, which had been leaning against the rock, toppled to one side. His expression was downcast. Wet hair hung over his face, concealing all of Leo's expressions.
Where Kozmo was unable to notice, Leo's pupils had not dilated in death. Instead, they trembled constantly under the effect of some violent stimulus.
After several breaths, Leo's pupils steadied.
If Kozmo could have seen Leo's eyes, he would have discovered that their gaze had changed completely. The features were clearly the same. The physical signs were clearly the same. And yet he had become an entirely different person.
The body whose soul had been drawn out was filled once more with a living soul.
The new Leo slowly raised his head. Through his wet hair, he stared coldly at Kozmo's back.
Leo East, I will fulfill your final entrustment…
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