The First Law of Order Superstring Mages: The Principle of Mandatory Contact.
The body is the soul's shackle, but it is also the soul's armor.
A spell may target only matter that the body is touching.
An incorporeal soul will be torn apart by the great forces of nature, resulting in an incomplete soul, mental disorder, or even the loss of one's personality.
Remember this well: mandatory contact when casting protects a mage's soul.
...
Li Donggui's hand rested on Kozmo's shoulder. Kozmo had been too eager and now regretted not removing his round shield and longsword sooner. He could only feel the equipment behind him become impossibly heavy.
Cipher spell!
Leo's Cipher spell!
The density of the round shield and longsword had increased!
Leo was now an E-grade Cipher Mage. The signature spell of an E-grade Cipher Mage was the 2x Critical Strike spell, which could double a weapon's weight.
With a thud, Kozmo's legs, already weakened by fright, gave way beneath the equipment behind him, and he dropped heavily to his knees.
Did kneeling count as a form of atonement?
In Li Donggui's view, it did not.
Soon, Kozmo could not even maintain that kneeling position. His entire body slammed flat against the ground.
Li Donggui crouched beside him, keeping one hand firmly pressed against the round shield on Kozmo's back. With his other hand, he gently picked up the parchment scroll.
Once he had the parchment scroll, Li Donggui rose to his feet.
Kozmo remained sprawled on the ground. He turned his head and shouted angrily:
“Leo...”
Li Donggui kicked out, sending a large clump of dirt and sand straight into Kozmo's mouth.
Li Donggui did not want to speak with him.
In truth, Li Donggui wanted to kick Kozmo's lips and teeth to pieces and use them to plug his mouth. After hesitating briefly, however, he restrained himself.
The frail Kozmo was supposed to be swept away by the current and drowned. There could be no other injuries on his body.
Li Donggui did not spare Kozmo another glance. He stood, turned away with the parchment scroll, and walked to the riverbank, where he used the water to wash the mud from his boots.
Standing beside the river, Li Donggui opened the scroll and examined its contents.
...
The Third Principle of Fallen Superstring Mages: the Principle of Intimidating People.
The Disciples of Desire have mastered the means of intimidating souls.
Through the Intimidation ritual, they destroy whatever or whoever the dead person cherished most, shatter the dead person's soul, and thereby obtain the power of the departed soul.
The flavor of a soul is something no mage can refuse!
...
The scroll contained instructions for using an Intimidation Scroll.
Kozmo stared at Leo in astonishment. Then, trembling, he rose and removed the burdensome round shield and longsword from his back.
Trying to defeat a Cipher Mage with a longsword and round shield was simply absurd. A longsword made heavier by a Cipher Mage would teach anyone the meaning of an absolute difference in strength.
As Kozmo prepared to strike back, a sense of confusion came over him. He suddenly realized that something about the Leo before him was strange.
The Leo of the past would never have been this calm.
The Leo standing before him now was like someone who had just emerged from a dark, fathomless cave. He stood at its entrance, looking upon the world with murky, lightless eyes, a little slow to take everything in.
He seemed like an entirely new Leo. His build, voice, and features were clearly the same as before, yet together they formed a completely different expression and bearing.
The new Leo finished reading the parchment scroll, then turned to look at Kozmo.
Kozmo shouted:
“Leo, give me the parchment scroll!”
Kozmo had a handful of stones hidden in his hand, which he had just picked up from the ground.
Haste Magic!
The stones accelerated in Kozmo's hand, then shot toward the new Leo.
The signature spell of an E-grade Haste Mage: Shattering Stone and Flying Sand!
However, Kozmo's spell was truly pitifully weak.
Knowing the strength of an E-grade Haste Mage, the new Leo swung the parchment scroll like a short club, using it to block the stones flying toward him.
Seeing the precious parchment scroll used as a club, Kozmo's face instantly flushed an unnatural red. He roared furiously:
“Stop! Do you know how much my brother had to give to get this page of parchment?”
With his spell rendered useless, Kozmo charged at Leo in a rage. He wanted to shove Leo into the river again.
Li Donggui merely watched Kozmo's hideous, twisted face in silence.
When Kozmo came within a meter of the new Leo, his foot suddenly slipped.
Of course, he had not slipped by accident. It was the new Leo's Cipher spell.
As an E-grade Cipher Mage, he could make slight changes to the ground within a three-meter radius. Although the effect was weak, lowering the density of the mud and making it softer and more sodden was easy enough.
Kozmo fell beside the new Leo. In desperation, he waved his hands through the air, trying to reach the parchment scroll.
Li Donggui shifted gently to one side, allowing Kozmo to fall into the river with a splash.
It was not over yet.
Li Donggui's foot came down on Kozmo's back.
Kozmo tried to stand, only to discover that his clothes had become extremely heavy. They pressed down on his already weakened body, and combined with the force of Li Donggui's foot, left his torso unable to move.
The river grew gradually deeper along the bank. Kozmo's feet still thrashed in the air, while the water had already covered his torso. His head, meanwhile, was completely submerged beneath the surface.
Kozmo threw his head upward, trying to breathe, but no matter how hard he struggled, the river water kept rising over it.
He desperately raised his face. All he could see was the light filtered through the river water, dreamlike and strange.
He choked on the water, gulp after gulp.
Li Donggui forced himself to ignore Kozmo's struggles. Having a living person writhing beneath his foot left him deeply troubled.
But this was the only way.
Leo was already dead, and his murderer, Kozmo, had to die as well.
The one who survived in the end was neither Leo nor Kozmo.
Gradually, Kozmo stopped moving.
Li Donggui remained in position for several more minutes.
Kozmo's blood coagulated in the cold river water.
Suddenly, a soul fluctuation came from the point where the sole of Li Donggui's foot touched Kozmo.
It was Leo East. He had returned to the Soul Sea that had originally belonged to him.
The white vapor drifting through the Soul Sea began to stir, becoming extraordinarily cheerful.
Li Donggui wanted very much to say a proper farewell, but after waiting for a long time, he discovered that they still could not communicate.
Just as Leo had been unable to know what Li Donggui was thinking during the previous seventeen years, Li Donggui now had no way of knowing what Leo was thinking.
After waiting a long while, it was Li Donggui's turn to murmur within the Soul Sea:
I know you exist, Leo East.
I have avenged you.
I will regard your mother as my mother,
and your little sister as my little sister.
I will repay Uncle Steve Doug for his kindness to you.
From now on,
there will still be a Leo East in this world.
Let me be your Final Entrustee.
I will fulfill the final entrustment you left behind.
...
The Soul Sea trembled.
The Final Entrustment ritual was complete!
Death tolled the evening bell that brought calamity. The bell rang ten times, mourning the death of a soul!
The peals stirred a breeze that brushed through the white vapor.
The vapor suddenly changed, transforming into pure soul energy. It surged toward Li Donggui's Cipher Soul String, making Leo's Cipher Soul String even more powerful.
The white vapor dispersed. The last imprint belonging to the original Leo had vanished.
The Final Entrustment ritual was over. Li Donggui, or rather, the reborn Leo, stood where he was, feeling somewhat lost.
Was this what he had hoped for during his seventeen years?
It seemed so, and yet it also seemed not to be.
He had imagined crossing into another world. He had imagined being resurrected. But he had never imagined that it would come at the cost of the original Leo's life.
Only silence was the best farewell.
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