The silent, soul-tearing scream in Li Yu's mind was cut short by a new sound.

"How dare you attack us!"

The voice was also a dual-toned harmony of male and female but sounding much younger, sharper and incandescent with rage. It came from one of the two companions that had come with the supposed leader.

Its light-and-dark aura flaring from calm swirls to a raging inferno in an instant. It was a streak of intermingled light and shadow, abandoning the sky and diving directly at Li Yu. The killing intent coming from it was manifested in the air and was as thick as syrup. This was a being that had killed countless things.

Li Yu, his face completely ashen at the turn of events, threw his hands up in a gesture of panic and misunderstanding.

"I am not doing it on purpose!" he screamed, his voice cracking. "I can't stop it!" Fear from the possibility of causing the deaths of countless people due to his soul’s wanton actions overtook him.

The cultivators on the ground were utterly lost at what was going on. The rifts were closing and all seemed well and now one of the great beings in the sky was launching an attack.

'Attack?' Theron's mind reeled, his hand gripping his sword hilt so hard his knuckles creaked. ' What is happening?!'

'He... he did something?' Grand Elder Corvus's mind stuttered. 'How? The boy is a magnet for... for trouble!'

Only Jian Xuan acted. With a roar of protective instinct, his golden aura flared to life. He didn't hesitate one bit, he saw an attack coming and he reacted. He moved and was on an intercept course with the being attacking. "Stop, divine one!" he boomed, his voice slightly shaking but still one full of courage. "I don’t know what is going on but my brother would never harm others for no reason! It is surely a misunderstanding!"

The charging being didn't even slow down. It didn’t even seem to register Jian Xuan at all. Just as what seemed like a new apocalypse was about to begin, a new voice cut through the air.

"Stop."

It was the leader who had spoken up. The single word was not a shout but carried with it an absolute command that rippled through the surrounding area. The charging companion froze in the air, its form still radiating fury but held in place by an invisible and unassailable authority.

The leader's shrouded head tilted, its "gaze" fixed on the terrified but bowing-by-instinct with his hands in the air Li Yu. The two ethereal lines that came out of him were still connected to his own two souls.

The dual-toned voice was no longer a command. It was... musing. Curious.

"The young boy speaks the truth," the leader said, its voice echoing in every mind. "He is not controlling it. It... it is the soul itself. Acting on primal... instinct."

The leader's form seemed to drift closer, its gaze intensifying. Then it spoke directly only to Li Yu "But... your soul is surely greedy! Absorbing power from my two souls like this... what a strange... and odd... soul you have. Hmmm…. Interesting... indeed."

The leader paused and its gaze seemed to pierce through Li Yu's very flesh, into his Ocean of Qi.

"Interesting... I can feel the life-qi of the Qilin on you as well. You two have met... and you have even been blessed by it. What a strange boy indeed. So young... demonic as well?! What in realms are… yet..."

The leader's voice trailed off and a palpable wave of focused shock pulsed from it, an energy Li Yu felt in his very marrow. “...two as well...?”

Li Yu's mind was already a mess with what had just happened with his soul, the sudden attack and then stoppage. Hearing that the Being above could see right through him now stunned and terrified him even more. 'It knows! It knows I have two souls?!'

"First off," the leader said, "Let's stop this... non-sense."

The leader's two souls flared with a sudden, brilliant and angry light.

Snap!

Li Yu felt the connection break from the two fishing lines his Human Soul had casted out. He was relieved when the two ethereal lines were violently severed, snapping back into his Ocean of Qi. ‘Thankfully he was able to remove them.’ Li Yu thought to himself.

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But it was too late.

Li Yu then instantly registered a flood of unimaginably pure soul energy pouring into his Ocean of Qi. It was a torrent of power so refined and ancient feeling, that his Human Soul was now vibrating with pure ecstasy. It was crouching on the ground by the water and looked like it was laughing to itself.

It looked like a thief that had just secured a great score and was celebrating. Its form seemed more solidified now as the energy flowed through it. Its purple robes gained a tangible and shimmering texture and the fishing rod in its hand seemed more solid as well.

Before Li Yu could even tell it to not absorb any more of the energy, to his surprise the fisherman took half of the energy it had fished out from the two souls and threw it into the water. His Koi Soul thrashed in the water and quickly swallowed it up in one bite. Like two thieves that wanted to quickly eat their stolen food before it could be asked back.

The leader's voice had a note of surprise. "In such a short time... to be able to take that much power from my souls... and then to be able to absorb it so quickly as well… even more interesting if not terrifying."

"Master!" the companion, still frozen in the air, shouted. "Are you going to let it go like that?! It stole from you! It's an abomination! It stole your essence!"

Li Yu's panic returned upon hearing those words. This was bad. He hadn't just accidentally hooked a god. He had stolen from it. He quickly bowed down, a full ninety-degree bow.

"I am truly sorry, sir!" He yelled. "I don't know how to give it back! It's... it's doing it on its own. I just advanced to Soul Formation and ever since I haven’t been able to control it. Please understand it was not on purpose! If you have a way of safely taking it back, please do so. I am truly, truly sorry!"

And he was. He was terrified and also mortified. His own soul had committed theft and from a being so powerful too. What a huge mistake!

The leader was silent for a long, agonizing moment. It was simply "staring" at the bowing Li Yu as though it was trying to judge the boy.

"It was indeed... greedy, young boy," the leader's voice was cold and Li Yu's heart sank. "You should pay for your meals..."

"...however..." The tone shifted. It became contemplative, ancient. "...no. Perhaps this is fate. Or karma. The line finds its hook... and the hook finds its catch."

The leader's shrouded arm raised. Then in a voice that everyone could hear, "Take this, boy. It is not harmful to you. It is... your 'payment' for the meal your soul took. When you are strong enough to activate it, you will understand more."

A small, metal plate, no bigger than his palm, flipped through the air. It was not thrown. It simply appeared before Li Yu, floating. It was made of two interlocking metals, one pitch-black that seemed to drink the light, and one shining-white that seemed to radiate it, forming a perfect circular token.

While trembling slightly, Li Yu reached out and took it. It was impossibly heavy for its size.

"As I've said, it isn't harmful to you," the leader's voice turned cold again. "If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead."

A slight pause.

"However... if I were to do that... I think some would interfere to stop me." Others couldn’t see it but the being looked over at the Qilin and the Crab beast floating in the air. It didn’t speak to them but simply looked their way. They didn’t respond to it in any way.

The statement hung in the air, cold, absolute and utterly mysterious. Theron, Zaltar and the other leaders tensed, wondering what unseen power the being was referring to. What else was in play that they couldn't see?

"We are done today," the leader's voice boomed, returning to its role of command. The furious companion was released and it shot back to the leader's side, its aura still simmering with resentment.

The three figures began to fade, the golden rift reopening behind them.

"Prepare for calamity. We will do what we can as well!"

The three Anti-Duplex figures vanished into their rift and it sealed after them, as if it had never been.

The ten divine beasts did the same, each opening an individual rift with their own respective colors. One by one they stepped through. The Qilin gave one last, long and unreadable look at Li Yu and then vanished. The Golden-Bronze Crab was the last to go, its forceful hum fading as its rift closed.

Silence.

The sky was now, after what seemed like an eternity, finally empty. Just... empty. No demonic rifts, no Xylarri rifts. Just a sky that looked so beautiful to those below. A clear empty and bright sky.

The world was suddenly deafeningly quiet. The only sound was the wind whistling over the entire area. Everyone simply stared at the beautiful sky and each was in their own thoughts for all the events that have happened recently.

The immediate, apocalyptic threat was over. The Xylarri were finally gone. But the cost was laid bare.

Eventually, Theron was the first to move. He turned his head and was not looking at the sky but at his own people. All of those that survived this conflict and as if he could see them, his gaze went to the countless people that were safe behind their defensive lines.

"Countless mortals and cultivators were lost," he said, his voice hoarse but carrying over the silent army. "Many powerful experts have lost their lives. Their sacrifice... bought us this."

He looked at the assembled and exhausted leaders. "The immediate threat is over. But a greater one is said to loom. That being's warning was clear. This is a reprieve, not a victory."

Li Yu looked down at the black-and-white metal plate in his hand. He closed his fist around it. The Human Soul and Koi Soul in his Ocean of Qi was silent, content and stronger. They were both already greedily digesting the soul energy that was stolen.