The moment the Spirit Ripper Formation was established, Nyx felt something prying into her, reaching past her clone, pulling at something far deeper—her very soul…her true body!
However, her true body was within the Infinite Space at this moment. Forget about pulling it into this space; this formation can't even lock on its exact location.
But Nyx wasn't thinking about this at all. In fact, ever since Long Nose had revealed this formation, Nyx wanted to come to this exact space because she had seen through this formation and its functions, for she was the Beast of Primordial Nightmare!
Nyx had been researching the Star Watch and then the Soul Star Watch for a long time now, and then with the help of Immortika, she devoured the whole Soul Farm of the Lesser Galaxies and got the memoirs of how it was created.
Furthermore, after becoming a Legendary King with Jacob, she awakened her Dream Law, and her Soul Totem was Jacob's dreamscape realm, which made her anything but ordinary.
The more Nyx researched the Virtual Star World, the more she found the involvement of Dream Law in it, and with those memories, she knew she couldn't be wrong.
This was all for a single purpose: to devour lifespan through Virtual Star World and even infect it with her own Dream Law. But it was easier said than done, and with a single mistake, the SAAI would be on her, so she was extremely careful, and the process became slow.
That was the case until Long Nose decided to target Nyx.
After failing to discover Nyx's traces in the Legendary Plains and then discovering her connection with the Faceless Ancient, Long Nose decided to use the Spirit Ripper Formation to capture Nyx's true soul.
Although using the Spirit Ripper Formation came with a huge cost, such as exposing her status to the SAAI and leaving behind her soul totem signature, she still did it.
Because as long as she could capture Faceless Ancient, she would earn unimaginable merits and might even evolve into the next higher rank of the ATLAS, which was nothing but an impossible dream until a strange mission was issued from the Upper Galaxies a few hundred years ago!
The mission was simple: 'Capture Faceless Ancient', and it was issued by a terrifying existence within the ATLAS. It shook the entire ATLAS and Long Nose because of her status in the Legendary Plain's ATLAS, which was the fastest to react.
Now, with Nyx under her control, she knew she was a step closer to winning that existence's favor and achieving her next evolution!
At this moment, in this infinitely black space, Long Nose appeared in an ethereal bronze silhouette. A black hourglass was now positioned where her heart should be, and like the web of veins, black threats were stretching from the hourglass, covering her entire body. This was her true soul!
Furthermore, underneath her feet was a neon runic circle with a nine-pointed star, and it was extremely eye-catching, just like Long Nose's true soul.
"Where is she?!" Long Nose's voice was no longer pleasant but gruff and distinctive.
However, she sounded surprised and even puzzled because, like her true soul, Nyx's true soul should also have appeared at that moment; it was the function of the Soul Ripper Formation.
The Soul Ripper Formation was very special, for it was a Soul Formation of Advanced Legendary King Rank. The term 'Soul Formation' was used for runic formations that were akin to Soul Artifacts because they could store within True Souls like Soul Artifacts, and they were extremely rare, as rare as Quasi-Myth Rank Soul Artifacts!
Furthermore, unlike other Soul Artifacts, a soul formation didn't need any acknowledgment because it didn't have its own spirituality until it exceeded the legendary rank.
Nonetheless, only Legendary Kings can activate Soul Formations because of the strict and massive Soul Force requirement. That's how Long Nose was able to activate it within the Virtual Star World after meeting certain conditions and with Nyx's excellent 'cooperation'.
However, Nyx was nowhere to be seen; there was nothing but blackness around Long Nose.
"Impossible! The Spirit Ripper Formation locked her! Where is her soul!? Did that crazy bitch commit soul suicide?!" Long Nose sounded fidgety.
Right at this moment, a powerful voice reverberated throughout the entire space, "Hehe, you little smelly bitch, I'm right here!" This voice belonged to Nyx, and it wasn't her womanly voice, but it was emotionless and filled with icy malice and killing intent.
Long Nose was shocked as she moved her head around. It was like the voice was directly whispering to her ears. She couldn't find Nyx anywhere, which suddenly made Long Nose's confidence shaky.
Nyx's voice rang again as she completely disregarded Long Nose, "What a marvelous piece of art this formation is. Every user in the Virtual Star World requires a Soul Star Watch, which acts as a bridge between their true soul and their virtual avatar.
"The watch converts soul force into magic signatures, allowing the user's consciousness to operate within the Virtual Star World, which makes it difficult for those with mastery over Illusionary Laws or the combination of Illusionary Laws…the Dream Law from affecting the Virtual Star World.
"But this connection is two-way, meaning that, while a user can project their will into the virtual clone, a sufficiently advanced technique can send something back through this link, including an invasive force targeting the soul itself.
"The Spirit Ripper Formation exploits a hidden loophole in this exact connection between the virtual clone and the real soul.
"When activated, it overwrites the spiritual feedback system of the Soul Star Watch, hijacking the synchronization link to reverse the flow of soul force.
"And then instead of sending signals from the soul to the clone, the formation forcefully pulls the soul towards the clone, tearing it out of its original body.
"But this process is not instantaneous—the stronger the soul, the greater the resistance. However, once a certain threshold is crossed, complete extraction is inevitable.
"However, the Dream Law is the key component that makes this formation more than just a lethal attack. By embedding Dream Law principles into the formation, it creates a pseudo-realm within the Virtual Star World—an artificial Dream Realm where the extracted soul is trapped.
"Once inside, the victim's perception of reality is completely rewritten, making escape almost impossible. The artificial Dream Realm prevents the soul from returning to its original body, effectively making it a prisoner of the formation.
"The final stage of the Spirit Ripper Formation is to fully absorb the victim's true soul into the artificial Dream Realm.
"Unlike a normal virtual death, where the soul remains intact in the real world, this formation ensures that the true soul never wakes up. The Artificial Dream Realm acts as an isolated cage, where the victim is subject to whatever manipulation, interrogation, or torture the caster of the formation desires.
"Even if the body in the real world is intact, without the soul, the person is effectively dead—or worse, permanently trapped in an artificial nightmare.
"This formation is terrifying because it turns the convenience of virtual existence into the ultimate vulnerability. Once caught, even the strongest legendary king can be reduced to a helpless prisoner in an artificial dream. It's clear all my doubts in an instant…" Nyx's voice was filled with praise as if she were an artist admiring the work of another artist.
But Long Nose had long lost her composure, as her entire body was trembling after hearing Nyx's 'appraisal'. Even Long Nose didn't know so much about the Spirit Ripper Formation; it was almost like Nyx was the creator of this formation!
A terrifying realization struck Long Nose at this moment, and Nyx's strange behavior flashed past her mind.
At this moment, Nyx's eerie voice rang again, "I guess you haven't tried this formation on a 'Nightmare' before, have you? Well, it's my honor to be your 'first', and you happen to ruin my mood as well, hehehe~!"