The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

For the briefest fraction of a second after Ravian detonated his soul core, nothing happened.

No sound reached the streets of the capital, and the ground did not shake.

Instead, everything at the center of the catastrophe contracted, as though the air, the light, and even space itself had been drawn toward a single point no larger than the head of a needle.

The pressure of Truth’s Descent suddenly vanished, and with it disappeared the echo that had continued shaking the souls of the capital’s inhabitants. But that silence did not announce the end of the catastrophe.

It was merely the moment preceding the birth of an even greater one.

Boooooom!

The point exploded.

An enormous sphere of crimson light and black shadows expanded from the tavern, streaked with a terrifying whiteness that resembled a void within the world more than genuine light.

Everything the sphere touched during its first moments simply vanished.

The tavern was erased first, along with the bodies of everyone who had died inside it.

Then the surrounding buildings disappeared—their stone, timber, and foundations vanishing without leaving behind so much as a fragment of rubble to prove they had ever existed.

The houses closest to the tavern had already become silent tombs beneath the pressure of Truth’s Descent, but the explosion did not stop at the boundaries of that death zone.

It continued expanding until it reached the homes whose inhabitants were still alive.

...

Inside one of those houses, the man who had stood before the window moments earlier had returned to his wife and child.

The two clung to each other in one corner of the room, while the man stood in front of them, attempting to shield them from something he could neither see nor understand.

When the pressure on his chest suddenly disappeared, he slowly raised his head.

”Is... is it over?” his wife asked in a trembling voice.

He didn’t answer immediately.

Crimson light appeared through the shattered window, transforming the night outside into a strange black-and-red day.

The man’s eyes widened.

”Get away from the window!” he shouted.

He spun toward them and threw himself over his wife and child, wrapping both of them in his arms.

”Dad...” the child murmured, burying his face against his mother’s chest. ”I’m scared.”

The man lowered his head until his forehead touched his son’s hair.

”Just close your eyes,” he said, though he didn’t know what else he could possibly tell him. ”You won’t feel a thing.”

The light reached the wall, and then...

The wall disappeared.

The room, the table, and the bed vanished with it. Then the man, his wife, and their child disappeared before any of them could make another sound.

In another house, an old woman sat on the floor beside her husband, each holding the other’s hand as they watched the light pass through the door.

In the building across from them, a young man had reached the stairs in an attempt to escape, only to stop when he saw the ground floor vanish before his eyes.

None of them had enough time to understand what was happening.

The crimson-black sphere continued expanding, swallowing the houses one after another and erasing everyone within them from the material and spiritual worlds at the same instant.

No bodies remained. No souls. Not even rubble.

Then the explosion’s outer shockwave arrived.

...

By the river, Isabelle sensed the pressure disappear before she saw the light.

She raised her head toward the center of the capital, her eyes widening when she saw the sphere growing between the buildings.

”Everyone, get down!” she screamed at the top of her voice as she pulled the bow from her back. ”Elias, get your shield in front of us!”

Elias didn’t hesitate.

He rushed to the front of the group and drove his shield into the ground, then braced his shoulder behind it and poured as much of his aura into it as he could.

Isabelle slammed her foot against the ground, circulating the mana within her body as quickly as possible.

The water running through the river froze, and several thick walls of ice rose from it one after another, separating them from the center of the explosion.

Lysandra stood beside Elias and poured her aura into his defense as well. Evelyne used her mana to stabilize the shield with her wind, while Kael braced his shoulder against it from behind alongside Elias.

”Brace yourselves!” Isabelle shouted.

The light arrived first.

Lysandra’s soul trembled.

What she felt was not the pressure of the previous Descent, but something entirely different—a soul exploding and releasing everything it contained at once, refusing to leave behind anything that could be possessed or torn away.

And for a reason she couldn’t understand...

’Ravian?’ Ravian was the first person to enter her mind.

She had no chance to wonder why.

In the next instant, the shockwave arrived.

Booooom!

The first wall of ice shattered immediately.

Then the second.

The third. And the fourth.

The fifth endured for barely a moment longer before exploding as well.

The masses of ice became countless shards that shot out in every direction before what remained of the shockwave reached Elias’s shield.

”Urghhh!” Elias screamed as he felt his arms nearly being torn from his shoulders.

His shield cracked, and both his and Kael’s feet sank into the stone beneath them. Isabelle pressed her palms together and released her soul energy, forming one final layer of ice around the group, while Evelyne reinforced the defense with her wind element, neutralizing part of the shockwave.

The wave struck the barrier and Evelyne’s wind.

Craaaack!

Cracks appeared across the surface of the ice, then spread in every direction.

The barrier and Evelyne’s wind managed to weaken the explosion’s physical force, but they could not stop the spiritual wave accompanying it.

The wave passed straight through the ice and their bodies.

Evelyne felt as though something had struck her soul from within. She coughed up blood and dropped to one knee.

Kael was forced several steps backward before driving his dagger into the ground to keep himself from being swept away, while Elias crouched behind his shield and clenched his teeth until his gums bled.

As for Lysandra, she felt her Mythic-Rank soul shudder violently within her body.

Even so, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the center of the explosion.

The barrier endured for several more seconds.

Then it shattered.

Every member of the team was hurled backward, tumbling across the stone ground until their bodies struck the low barrier running alongside the river.

Isabelle remained on one knee, one hand driven into the ground as steam rose from her arms due to the immense amount of mana and soul energy she had expended.

Several moments passed before any of them could move.

Kael was the first to raise his head, coughing out the dust that had entered his mouth.

”What... exploded?” Kael asked.

”That wasn’t magic.” Evelyne wiped the blood streaming from her nose, then looked toward the place where the buildings had stood only moments earlier.

”Nor did it feel like aura.” Elias slowly lowered his cracked shield.

Isabelle remained where she was without answering.

’We came far too close.’

She continued staring at the enormous section of the capital that had been erased.

The district no longer existed.

In its place lay a vast, irregular crater, crimson and black particles rising from its edges before quickly dissolving into the air.

”It was soul energy,” Isabelle finally said, some of the color having drained from her face. ”Something, somehow... detonated its own soul.”

Everyone turned toward her.

”One soul did all this? No—how did someone even detonate their own soul?” Kael asked, his voice carrying none of its usual mockery.

Isabelle didn’t answer him.

She knew of no soul capable of producing an explosion whose effects extended through both the material and spiritual worlds—and even erased the soul energy from the surrounding area.

Lysandra continued staring toward the center of the crater as the same thought returned to her.

’Why did I suddenly think of him?’ Her fist slowly tightened.

She had no answer.

”We’re moving away from the center of the explosion,” Isabelle ordered as she forced herself to stand. ”Elias, check everyone’s injuries. Kael, do not attempt to approach the crater. We’ll help whoever survived around the perimeter until the capital’s forces arrive.”

Kael looked toward the erased district once more.

This time, he didn’t argue.

...