Magical Soul Parade

Chapter 377: Grim Reaper

Back at the grand wall, minutes before Casmir’s move to attack the Errant’s believers...

The moments before the Errant and his forces descended from the sky had been very tense for Cade XV and every other Ossuarist standing on the fifty-storey grand wall, especially after that terrifying opening. But when the Errant’s army finally plunged from the sky in a sprawling arc, the dread vanished.

Seeing that the enemy army was made up mostly of Arcanists, not Ossuarists, a wave of renewed confidence swept through the defenders.

The Thorne family line moved into action immediately, using their signature fragment of Piercing — the transcendent authority passed down through the core lineage. Cade XV, his father, and his sister were the only ones who possessed it, while the rest of their regiment relied on high-tier Ossuarist talent and robust soul masses.

Cade pointed his hands toward the sky, sending out sharp, invisible thrusts of force that punctured clean through the incoming army. The Mechanus Arcanists who had allied with the Errant were fragile targets compared to Ossuarists, so it was no surprise that his piercing attacks mowed them down by the dozen.

Seeing them fall to the ground like flies filled him with a sudden surge of confidence. This was exactly the kind of prowess he had expected to display.

Far below, some of the ground infantry blocks were actively ripping the souls out of the freshly dead Arcanists, assimilating them on the spot to turn them into short-lived soul masses. The amount they could control right there was small, but it showed just how thoroughly the Ossuary was dominating the opening minutes.

After the bulk of the enemy force touched down on the plains, Cade’s father, Cade XIV, let out a rough shout and vaulted directly off the edge of the high ice wall, dropping straight into the bloodbath below to continue his own harvest.

Behind them, near the massive anchor point their family had been assigned to protect, Cade’s sister maintained a steady defense. She was shooting down at the battlefield below with her piercing strikes, but she preferred using her personal soul mass.

She had unsealed a small, malevolent avian creature that blurred through the air at blinding speeds, tormenting the Arcanists below before tearing them apart.

Cade paused for a brief breath, his gaze sweeping over her. He caught a sharp, eager gleam in her eyes, a silent desire to jump down and join their father in the thick of the fray. But she knew her limits. Their family had been assigned to take care of this anchor point, so she stayed in formation alongside the rest of their forces.

Overall, things were going well for everyone... But then a piercing whine tore through the clouds.

A mighty dragon descended in the far distance, and right behind it, the silhouette of the Error Bearer shot toward the central mountain peak.

The legendary Glory Bearer rose into the sky to meet him, roaring with an authority that sent a visible wave of confidence through every single Ossuarist on the wall. It was the passive effect of the Glory Bearer himself, a sudden, contagious certainty that the titans would handle the problem.

But that glee was short-lived.

Within minutes, the total battlefield had turned into something dominated by the Error Bearer. The Transcendent figures who had been shrouded in mystery atop the Grand Peak were suddenly separated, dragged into their own frantic, isolated struggles in the distance.

The Glory Bearer was occupied. The Space Transcendent was gone. All the great, ancient legends were failing to hold the line.

To make matters worse, the Error Bearer himself had descended onto the grand wall.

Cade heard the chaotic cries of neighboring families echoing across the wall, commanders shouting for their units to push forward and attack him all at once.

Because the Thorne battlement was situated a bit far from where the Error Bearer had landed, Cade couldn’t see the direct exchanges through the flashing spells and rising columns of smoke. But the progress was unmistakable.

Within the span of a minute, a deep, structural shudder ran through the ice wall beneath his feet as one of the distant battlements shattered into absolute non-existence... The first anchor point was gone, and along with it, an entire Sepulchre Ossuarist House...

Yet the Error bearer wasn’t stopping. The next target was the Vail family — the family of assassins. They were now the only force standing between the Thorne regiment and the advancing Error Bearer.

Cade had thought they would count for something with their lineage, yet the non-stop cries of dying only grew louder. The Error Bearer did not even slow down to register the change in opponents. Whether it was the Vail family or the common vanguard, it seemed that to him, all of them were the same.

From Cade’s view, he could finally make out the Error Bearer’s charging figure, and a shudder immediately went through his spine at the sight he beheld.

With only a black sword with glowing green edges in his hand, the Errant was moving like a blur, mowing down the ranks of Vail family Ossuarists running to meet him. Desperate Preceptors forged forward, unsealing powerful soul masses to stop him — creatures that would make any other Preceptor pause for a bit.

Most of these soul masses were S-grade, and some were even Calamity-grade abominations. Taming and controlling one of these chaotic Calamities was the ultimate requirement to be recognized as a Preceptor-rank Ossuarist.

Yet, the Error Bearer was taking care of them as if they were nothing. He purged them into nothingness with a few quick strikes, surging his soul energy into them and bombarding them until their essence shattered.

Whenever he seemed to be overwhelmed, those metallic wings of death would spring from his back, mowing down their numbers and creating heavy gusts of wind.

The guy was moving like he was not human. The level of strength his body surged with was beyond natural. Whatever soul mass he was using to enhance his strength was surely a Calamity-grade asset on its own. Yet the wings on his back were also powerful enough to end Calamity-grade creatures and seriously injure Preceptor-ranked Ossuarists — even powerful ones who were near the ancestor level of their families.

The Vail family surged forward to meet him, their ancestor moving ahead. But he was beaten back in a single strike before he could even summon his soul mass.

To the credit of the remaining Vail units, their expertise over shadows was prolific enough that they actually slowed the Error Bearer down for a very tiny bit.

They combined their efforts created a chain effect that turned the shadows under his feet inky black, threatening to sink his body. His legs sank slightly, and they used that moment to try to take advantage.

But yet again, the Error Bearer surprised everyone.

Flames and ice surged from his body at the same time, blinding hot and frigid cold. The sudden contrast was so extreme that even Cade, at this distance, felt the jarring force to the point that he had to use his soul energy to shield himself.

The Errant had used other soul masses for sure, elemental ones that were also at least of the Calamity grade.

All prior thoughts of heroism and achieving a great height in this battle disappeared from Cade’s mind entirely. He was now totally numbed beyond simple fear. All that colored his mind now was how he would get off this grand wall.

What kind of reserves does the Error Bearer have to be able to do all of this consecutively...? Cade couldn’t help the thought. It’s as if he has a bottomless well of soul energy...

But just as things were looking extremely grim for the Vail family and for Cade, who was starting to tremble where he stood, hoping for a miracle... the universe seemed to answer.

High above the battlefield, the atmosphere gave a strange, violent shudder, causing the Error Bearer’s relentless motion to come to an abrupt, jarring halt.

He paused, his glowing green eyes narrowing as his head whipped backward toward the sky, locking onto the coordinates in the upper atmosphere where the Space Transcendent floated.