Vlad grabbed the incapacitated body of the demon Champion and placed it next to the parchment with the runic formation before activating it.
Freya’s eyes narrowed as she focused on the parchment. Her knowledge about runes was limited, so she could only rely on her sight to understand what was happening, and what she saw shocked the viking princess.
Black, extremely slender tendrils emerged from the runic formation and pierced the body of the demon Champion. Immediately, a sense of utter agony appeared on the demon. Still, the power of the lightning kept it paralyzed, preventing it from moving a single muscle while the tendrils extended across its entire body.
The pain peaked once the tendrils entered the demon’s brain and reached its Soul Dimension. At that point, the pain was so intense that the demon Champion only wanted to die, but there was nothing it could do to stop it.
Vlad’s eyes were cold as he felt not a single iota of empathy toward the monster that butchered the entire town, ensuring the A.I. Chip monitored every step of the process. This runic formation was extremely important as it would be the key to a new enhancement for his troops.
After the black tendrils had fully reached the deepest part of the demon’s body and spirit, they began to retract into the parchment, making the monster shake as its life force and vitality rapidly faded.
Freya saw how the light in the demon Champion’s eyes faded, marking the end of its life, leaving behind a desiccated corpse that seemed to be only dry bones and shriveled skin.
No Origin Force emanated from the corpse, and it seemed that the Plane Will did not consider Vlad involved in the demon’s death, or maybe the method was unsuitable. However, all those thoughts faded as Freya’s eyes turned toward the parchment and saw how it began to change.
In the beginning, there was an empty space in the middle, yet as the black tendrils merged back, changes began to appear, and under Freya’s shock, she saw the appearance of a rune in the form of the three-headed demon Champion and her awe grew as she felt soul force emanating from it.
"You... you managed to seal the demon’s soul into the parchment!" The young woman’s eyes were full of awe. The realm of the soul was incredibly harsh to master, and sealing the soul of any life form, especially one with a Soul Dimension, was beyond amazing.
[Beep! Soul integrity: 36%]
On the other hand, Vlad frowned as he saw the state of the runic formation and softly shook his head when he heard the message from the A.I. Chip. "The state of the demon’s soul is too frail; it will not endure the next step."
"Maybe we could make things easier if you improve the type of parchment to be used," Jormungandr suggested as he analyzed the parchment. While his mastery over rune crafting was minimal, he obtained some insight thanks to the A.I. Chip and his alchemy.
"It would make things easier, yes, but I need this to be usable by anyone, to be widespread, and I cannot do that if I rely on high-ranking materials." Vlad shook his head, discarding Jormungandr’s idea before a cold light appeared in his eyes. "I need more data and practice."
More practice and data could only be attained by performing the soul seal on more demons, but luckily for Vlad, there was no shortage of those creatures in Terra.
"What was that?" Freya couldn’t help but wonder, deeply intrigued by the experiment the duo was working on.
Vlad turned toward the Viking princess and showed a small smile. He was trying to bring a very popular power in his Second past life to this universe. He had all the knowledge in the A.I. Chip, but since the Laws of this universe worked differently, he could only use the information as a guide and needed to start from the bottom.
"It is a type of rune, but there is still a long way to perfection. I will tell you more once I am closer to success." Vlad smiled at the young woman but did not say more. He was not trying to hide it but wanted to keep it as a surprise.
Freya saw Vlad’s intriguing smile and softly nodded. She was fascinated, but it seemed there was still a long way to success.
Vlad stored the parchment with the rune that contained the demon’s soul trapped before unleashing a demonic flame that spread across the town. There were thousands of demonic corpses, but storing them in his space ring would be a waste.
The Xaos Kingdom was no longer a weak force that required the collection of Mortal Tier demonic beasts. The warehouses were filled with carcasses thanks to the soldiers who brought them back from their missions. Unless corpses were above the Champion Tier, it was better to burn them.
The trio ran for a few more hours before resting next to a small forest. As night fell, they ate more Monster meat. Freya was the most tired, so she had to sleep, but Vlad focused on his runes, making new ones on parchment made from demonic skin.
Once the sun rose, the trio resumed their journey, and the next town came into sight less than an hour later. It was Juro Town, a little smaller than Snow Town but much more developed with large buildings. Yet Vlad and the others saw only ruins overflowing with demonic beasts.
Jormungandr cast his Silent Life Detection spell but shook his head. There were no signs of human life in Juro Town either, and it seemed that it suffered the same fate as Snow Town.
Vlad couldn’t help but sigh. The population of Terra before the apocalypse was roughly 7 billion, but Vlad would be surprised if more than twenty percent were still alive. Ultimately, he and the small yellow cat simply sat on the ground while Freya flashed forward.