Chapter 124: Verge of Losing Control

Jyorta sat cross-legged, occupying the space near Heima's legs. He closed his eyes and took in the view of his blue soul, watching his surroundings turn dark. The Caterpillar sat on his right palm, waiting in silence with its arms crossed, gazing at the rectangular box placed on his left palm.

His psychic arm gushed into the opening of the rectangular box, lifting a Brain Crystal, sending it to the Caterpillar, dropping it into its tiny arms. As the Caterpillar ate the Brain crystal in relish, the psychic arm returned to the rectangular box, intending to slowly lift another Brain Crystal, noticing the box filled with one hundred Brain Crystals once again.

Atika Light's voice trailed into his ears, "Don't distract yourself; I'll continuously replenish their contents."

Jyorta bowed in her direction once, almost prostrating himself. He then retracted his gaze, looking at the broiling fog before him, like a sea of clouds being stirred up by a jet stream.

The blue soul stacked another batch of soul tendrils on the Brain Crystal, stopping when their number reached 12, the limit based on his replenishment rate. Beyond that, he wouldn't be able to support the energy expenditure through the rate of the Caterpillar's devouring of the Brain Crystals.

A small segment of his brain's computational capacity was left to control his psychic arm and feed the Caterpillar. The rest was used to direct the Soul Cornea and plan its resulting actions.

The Soul Cornea appeared around the blue soul, slithering out of his body, heading towards the broiling fog, its actions lacklustre—discreet. The Soul Cornea arrived before the broiling fog, stopping a millimetre from it.

From such close-up, the broiling fog looked like boiling water, forming bubbles that popped, infusing steam into the air, being stirred up in inharmonious actions, creating splashes.

The blue face opened its mouth, allowing the ink-black substance to gush out and course through the Soul Cornea, turning it jet black. The image fragments and the inscriptions formed from condensed information shone in the jet black Soul Cornea, radiating a faint glimmer like the stars.

The Soul Cornea touched the broiling fog, melting into it without trouble, spreading the corrosion, weakening the defence mounted. A staggering amount of energy was consumed within a minute, equivalent to the entirety stored in his Brain Crystal.

The Soul Cornea compressed its width to its limits, concentrating its powers to a limited area, also to limit the energy expenditure, keeping up with the replenishment. It slowly penetrated through the broiling fog, swaying like a strand of hair in the wind, affected by the force of the broiling fog that crashed into it.

Despite getting corroded, the affected parts of the broiling fog transferred the momentum to the Soul Cornea before losing its constitutional makeup.

Despite getting tossed and turned, the Soul Cornea continued in its path, rectifying its direction every time it was affected by its surroundings. It was a battle on the level of the soul, the preliminary defence proving to be a tough foe, not to mention the actual soul.

By the end of the minute, the Soul Cornea arrived at the end of the broiling fog, making a final attack, drilling to the other side. The moment it peaked on the other side, the broiling fog acted like a living being injected with steroids. It rushed into the Soul Cornea, trying to pressure it until annihilation.

As a result, the energy expenditure increased, proceeding beyond the rate of replenishment.

The Soul Cornea had to stop for a moment to stabilise itself, trying to get a feel of the broiling fog that sought to rend it. The blue soul activated the corrosion to the full extent; the ink-black substance coursing through the Soul Cornea experienced a sharp increase in its essence, raising its functionality.

Ever since the Soul Cornea's tip emerged on the other side, the Caterpillar had already consumed two Brain crystals to fund the stabilisation process. Even though the Soul Cornea was still bombarded by the fog, it was able to make use of the unevenness in the attacks to reduce the energy expenditure, saving some for the next process.

Before it lay a soul, almost spherical in shape, beginning at the rear of its vision and extending beyond. Jyorta inched his body forward, sitting beside Heima's hips, allowing the entirety of Heima's soul to come into view.

Her soul was massive, clouded by a murky substance resembling a pond. The murky substance had become concentrated to the extent it resembled a feat of nature, turning into a pond. Swimming in its depths was a sturdier substance, emitting a murky hue, the luminance outlining its inherent shape. Specks of light, equivalent to the stars glimmering in the night sky coated the murky substance, mixed amid shades of white and blue.

'So, this is my sister's soul.' Jyorta thought, feeling an overbearing aura impact him, transferred through his Soul Cornea, affecting his blue soul. Based on quantity alone, just the sturdier part of Heima's soul was almost ten times the blue soul, excluding the quality resulted from the humongous memory fragments stored within it.

If Jyorta dared to convert Heima's soul into his subsoul, the moment he initiated the process, using the conversion link as the bridge, his soul would be invaded and overwhelmed, resulting in him assimilated into her soul. Just the sheer size and structural quality could result in such an overwhelming difference, despite his inherent advantages in the domain of the soul.

A bridge—a murky trail that coiled around one another, filled with the broiling fog—extended from her soul, connecting another soul existing in the area of her spine. It was the soul that belonged to her Wisdom Parasite.

The Soul Cornea began to experience tremors in its body, the effects resounding in the blue soul, rattling the memory fragments that made up its skeletal frame. Even the soul of Heima's Wisdom Parasite was bigger than the blue soul, broiling in a dense murky mass, beginning to affect the weaker invader.

Jyorta gazed at its appearance, noticing the objectivity the murky substance shaped itself into. Numerous bangles pierced through its soul, producing ringing sounds in set intervals, the effects audible only to the senses of the soul.

A putrid stench circulated the region, enough to the extent making him want to puke. Moreover, the sensation was directly transferred to his soul, the effect registered in the depths of his memory.

A faint repulsion coursed through his being, instigating resistance to approach the murky souls. Thanks to the face mask overlaid on his blue face, Jyorta could ignore the effects and calmly steer the Soul Cornea towards the Wisdom Parasite's soul.

There was the act of resonance exhibited between the Wisdom Parasite's soul and Heima's soul, the resultant of which led to their external selves turning similar, creating the broiling fog that sought to shield and defend their souls from harm.

The Soul Cornea approached the Wisdom Parasite's soul—shaped into a muddy sphere drenched in a bowl of sewage. Sensing its approach, the muddy sphere began to shake in resistance, raising the memory fragments it had amassed to form layers of defences that protected its soul.

Jyorta had long since planned his course of action. The fastest way to convert the soul of the Wisdom Parasite into his subsoul was to erase its ego, a substance that coated its core. Thanks to the Soul Cornea, he could directly approach the core and wrestle with its ego there, unless it mounts any other forms of retaliation.

The method he had used against the previous Jyorta was too risky; it consumed long periods, spanning years. Moreover, it was done using the soul tendrils, lacking any filtering capabilities, allowing an exchange of memories without control.

After erasing its ego, Jyorta would need to imprint his ego into its core, thereby exerting a subtle influence that changes the soul, eventually creating his subsoul.

But, the moment he began to invade its soul, the same thing was also possible in the reverse. The soul of the Wisdom Parasite could also use the connection to invade Jyorta's soul, creating a two-pronged situation. It would then lead to a contest of time before a victor was decided.

Moreover, should he attempt any drastic measures, it would lead to their souls mixing up, the resulting egos fused into an alien self. The risks were great unless the blue soul possessed a staunch advantage in size and inherent structural quality, which wasn't the case here.

Thankfully, unlike before when he faced off against the previous Jyorta's soul, he currently possessed a trump card, a weapon useful in the realm of souls and beyond—corrosion.

The Soul Cornea made preliminary contact with the murky substance coagulated around the Wisdom Parasite's soul, corroding it, coursing the ink-black substance through it, spreading its effect. Only when it had been damaged to a certain extent would it be okay for the Soul Cornea to invade the soul.

The murky substance was filled with desires, pent up emotions, mental states, excess memories, etc. They converged around the soul and weighed it down, also acting as a barrier against external influences.

The Soul Cornea coursed with the ink-black substance, the essence of corrosion, acting as both a sword and a shield. As the Soul Cornea corroded the murky substance, a part of it was affected in reverse.

Despite the protective measures in the Soul Cornea, the murky substance swam through it, using the connection to arrive at the blue soul. Jyorta hurriedly diverted his focus, transferring the corrosion into the encroaching murkiness, filled with a multitude of desires, emotions, etc.

The energy expenditure increased beyond control, unable to support the corrosion process. Jyorta had to temporarily retract it, swerving his attention to the murkiness invading his blue soul, targeting it with the corrosion.

The spread of the murkiness was blocked by the corrosion, steadily vaporising it.

The blue soul exerted a certain influence through the Soul Cornea, the effects similar to the chant of the creepy-haired man, shaving off the murkiness, revealing the pure memory fragments hidden within.

The memory fragments were coated with a dense layer of white, conforming to the traces of the Wisdom Parasite's persona.

The moment Jyorta directly took them into his blue soul, accumulating a sufficient number, they would fuse to form a complete personality, becoming a time bomb that would endanger his blue soul. So, he had to prevent their influx, shaving off the white layer coating the memory fragments before intake.

This increased his burden, also straining the lacking energy replenishment. It also made the invasion process slow down to a crawl, the opponent stronger than his expectations. The moment he made a careless mistake, his blue soul would be infected by the murkiness, creating a chance to be invaded and devoured.

Sweat perforated the pores of Jyorta's forehead, condensing into droplets that rolled down his facial indentation, conforming to the lines of his eyebrows and nose bridge. His clothes were soaked with sweat, sticking to his body, outlining his lean figure.

Faint, white substances condensed, sporting a grainy texture, mixing into the sweat that had formed. A thin stream of white dripped down his nose; the same formed two streams of tears that leaked out his eyes—completely white.

Jyorta's body shuddered, convulsing like he had fits. The Caterpillar seated on his right palm looked listless, no longer able to consume Brain Crystals, its crimson shade having turned white, looking polluted, filled with waste remains that hindered its abilities.

As a result, his psychic arm flickered, turning unstable, disintegrating into psychic energy, dissipating into the air. Atika Light appeared behind Jyorta, directing a beam of light into his body, breaking his focus.

Only then did he realise his state, an Esper on the verge of losing control.