Swoosh!

    A translucent, sparkling reddish barrier stretched taunt in front of Rex and Linthia, resembling thin, veined flesh pulsating faintly with life—its surface glistening as if alive, shifting and rippling with eerie, sinewy elasticity.

    It was the filter barrier created through the Soul and Spirit Conversion method.

    Normally, a person could literally cross to the Spirit Realm.

    That person would remain exactly the same as in the mortal realm—retaining their full power.

    But the problem with that method was that the Spirit Realm, much like the world’s energy in the mortal realm recognized the invasion and would expel them—causing a heavy pressure on the soul. Unlike the world’s energy that destroys the flesh, the world’s energy in the Spirit Realm destroys the soul.

    Due to that, only those with a strong soul could last long in the Spirit Realm.

    And those—who have a strong enough soul to endure a full day in the Spirit Realm would need to be at the minimum, in the eighth-rank realm. Staying beyond a day requires even greater soul power, as the strain on one’s soul increases exponentially, with each passing moment in the Spirit Realm.

    On records, the longest one in the Dark Elf history was a month.

    It was the Dark Elf Origin who marked that record.

    Qonvale confirmed that as she was there to watch the Dark Elf Origin do that.

    Both Iris and Qonvale were sure that Rex had a strong soul to endure at least a month.

    However, the problem was that his soul was unclean and fractured—the damage caused by the world’s energy inside the Spirit Realm would be harsher on him. Being overwhelmed there would mean death to one’s soul.

    Rex wouldn’t come back if his soul gave up.

    Not to mention, with time as the soul deteriorates, Rex would slowly go insane.

    In hindsight, Amanir could open a portal and pull Rex out before his soul would be destroyed.

    But that would be impossible to do if Rex went insane.

    Amanir couldn’t possibly outmuscle him and bring him to safety so this method is not suitable.

    Fortunately, the Dark Elves had invented a method that could potentially help.

    Knowing that back then they needed to keep giving tribute to the Mother of Dark Nature, they needed to figure out a safer way to enter the Spirit Realm and linger there since initially, the Dark Elf Origin was weakened for a long time from that one trip month she did.

    Thus, the Soul and Spirit Conversion ritual was created.

    Unlike going into the Spirit Realm traditionally, through this ritual, one could bypass the world’s energy.

    The Soul and Spirit Conversion ritual created a replica of the physical body inside the Spirit Realm that the soul could reside in without being suppressed by the world’s energy. It wasn’t perfect, the soul will still deteriorate over time but way slower than the traditional way.

    However, to create this replica—one needs to suffer soul-quenching pain and risk their life.

    Several layers to ease the pain were made over time.

    But the layers weren’t good enough to lower the death toll thus the ritual became forbidden.

    Since the Mother of Dark Nature finally accepted their race—at one point, they didn’t need to go to the Spirit Realm anymore thus the ritual wasn’t developed further. Never did Iris and Qonvale think that the day would come for them to use this ritual again.

    Not to mention, Rex refused to let Qonvale make additional layers to lessen the pain.

    A raw Soul and Spirit Conversion ritual.

    Rex doesn’t have the time for that.

    Creating those layers would take at least an hour based on Qonvale, possibly longer—a commitment that equates to sacrificing a full day or more in the Spirit Realm, where one hour in the mortal realm is equivalent to ten hours in the Spirit Realm.

    He would rather have pain than that.

    Once the filter barrier was ready, Iris glanced over to Linthia.

    "Are you sure about this?" She asked. "Once the portal is opened, there’s no stopping it"

    Iris knew how tough Rex was based on his feats and also the battle she had seen between him and the Archangel of Knives but Linthia? Not so much. She didn’t know who Linthia was and for all she knew, she might buckle easily and die.

    Blood spurted out of Rex’s mouth as soon as the last notification appeared.

    Despite that, he remained unmoving, the dark wind embedding itself in his core.

    Veins blackened yet not a sound escaped him still.

    The same deathly force that had ravaged Linthia now tore into his soul with relentless fury, causing pain beyond measure but his expression was calm, almost detached. Pain capable of rendering even the most powerful Dark Elves of the ancient era into squealing pigs seemed irrelevant to him.

    Rex sat silently, gazing into the void of the Spirit Realm, unshaken.

    Even when the black wind writhed and churned within him, his focus never wavered.

    It was as though he were already elsewhere, calculating, structuring, and preparing for what was about to come. And soon enough, the strands of replica seeped out of their bodies and crossed over into the Spirit Realm where two new bodies were being made.

    Everything happened in no more than three minutes.

    By the end of that third minute, their new bodies were already waiting for them on the other side.

    "Go now, Your Majesty, Linthia!" Iris instructed.

    Not even forming a reply, the two let go of their souls.

    In an instant, their souls shot into the Spirit Realm—with the help of Iris.

    Once that happened, the portal shut down immediately.

    Boom!

    Iris and Qonvale were thrown back hard.

    Upon recovering, they sat up and looked at where the portal was earlier and saw nothing but Rex and Linthia’s bodies without a soul, still in a sitting position, "We did it..." Iris muttered breathlessly. "Both of them were able to cross over safely"

    Qonvale nodded, "Still, it’s a surprise the Emperor was able to sustain two people’s worth of pain..."

    It was inconceivable to see Rex do that, even Qonvale was completely taken aback.

    Just as she said that the door of the training chamber was pushed open.

    Stepping inside was a strict woman with a sharp gaze—it was Vivian.

    "Good work," She said, fixing her eyes to Iris and Qonvale. "Now that you’re done, please follow me"

    Iris wanted to ask the reason but Qonvale stopped her.

    Considering now that the Emperor’s body was without a soul and was defenseless, it was too dangerous to have anyone other than those from royalties here. Qonvale and Vivian did not recognize who Vivian was but considering there was Valthor standing behind her, she must be someone important.

    Heeding her command, Qonvale and Iris went out of the training chamber as instructed.

    Despite their wounds, Vivian insisted they step out first.

    As soon as both Dark Elves were outside of the training chamber, Vivian summoned a magical window, a holographic window, and pressed a couple of buttons on it. Being a member of the Silverstar Pack, she also gained access to the setting window of the castle.

    Rex already told her what to do through telepathy so she knew exactly what buttons to press.

    Once she was done, the entire castle hummed with power.

    All of them saw a massive amount of energy flowing through the walls, moonlight energy that was so dense that even Qonvale and Iris could feel it palpably. It gathered onto the training chamber’s door like a spell and slowly created a translucent, sparkling barrier.

    Surely, it was a protective barrier to prevent anyone from entering the training chamber.

    It took a full ten minutes until the barrier was completely and turned invisible.

    Vivian nodded to herself, as her task was completed before she focused back on the Dark Elves.

    "Escort them out," She commanded icily.

    Upon hearing this, Valthor and several other of the Dark Elven servants guided them outside.

    As of today, the castle will not accept any visitors until Rex comes back.

    Iris cast one last look at the training chamber’s door before turning away, ’Good luck, Your Majesty...’