Chapter 53: The Legion of Souls

The entire Order of Tallin had become a blazing inferno.

They had begun moving in earnest.

Having already acquired information through the compromised leadership, they acted swiftly.

The knights possessed by villainous souls diligently tore the Order from within.

In a situation where allies were indistinguishable, the knights fought their own comrades.

Yet, amid the chaos, a group of knights gathered around Evan.

“Follow my orders without question!”

Evan was the only one able to identify the true allies.

Among the knights engaged in battle, he discerned those without Chaos Value.

As a result, he was able to gather around fifty men.

Still, this number was woefully insufficient compared to the enemy.

Moreover, the longer the delay, the more unfavorable the situation became.

“This can’t go on like this.”

Evan needed to devise a plan.

“Originally, we would have slowly taken control of the Order by sacrificing Andre as an offering at the Altar.”

Yurdan and a few others had already been defeated by him, their powers completely extinguished.

The compromised leadership had received this information.

Because of that, it seemed they chose such an extreme method now.

“No, thinking carefully, it makes sense. When a threatening presence discovers something that must not be revealed, this kind of reaction is expected.”

The contents on the scroll. Something had been done to the platform in the Training Hall, and Andre was to be sacrificed.

Based on that, Evan could reasonably deduce that the Altar was important to them.

Indeed, knights continuously blocked the path to the Training Hall.

That confirmed Evan’s suspicions.

“Break through quickly! If we delay any longer, we’re doomed!”

Evan shouted loudly to the knights.

They pushed forward against their foes, but progress was not easy.

Of course, this was still the best option at this moment.

They hadn’t yet revealed the full extent of their hidden power.

Remembering the Garhan incident made it clear—the souls hadn’t fully possessed their bodies yet.

There was still time.

“Push through as much as possible! Straight to the Training Hall!”

Evan led the charge from the front, while Andre, overwhelmed by despair, was in a daze behind him.

“…Because of me. How could I have missed this?”

Having lost all will, Andre kept blaming himself.

Evan frowned at him.

Not knowing the full story, he had no choice but to think that way.

‘Whatever. I’ll just leave him be.’

There was no time to worry about that.

Evan focused all his effort on charging the knights forward to the Training Hall.

The moment they arrived, everyone paused, and silence fell.

“Young master, I think we’ve come to the wrong place…”

Alan spoke to Evan, sweat beading on his forehead.

Reynold gripped his greatsword tightly, tension thick in the air.

There were many knights gathered at the Training Hall, though none had been summoned.

The number was roughly half of the entire Order—quite a significant force.

Evan scanned a few nearby with his spiritual sight.

As expected, every single one had a Chaos Value.

“No… we came exactly where we should. The fact they’re guarding it like this means something important is there.”

Evan responded to Alan’s casual remark.

Then he shifted his gaze back to the platform.

Someone stood on the platform, doing something.

‘They must be in quite a hurry over there.’

Evan opened his inventory and drew the Sacred Sword of Akkrat.

“Charge straight to that spot! They’re guarding it with their lives, so if we break that, we can turn the tide!”

As soon as Evan finished speaking, he activated the sword’s effect.

[-You have used Holy Blessing. (00:30:00)]

Whoosh!

A sacred power burst forth from the sword.

The potent holy energy spread out within a certain radius.

Light enveloped the knights, their bodies glowing with a faint radiance.

“W-What is this?”

“My whole body’s shining!”

Alan and Reynold marveled as they checked their own bodies.

Other knights reacted the same way.

Holy Blessing, a special effect of the Sacred Sword of Akkrat, grants holy power to allies for a limited time.

When facing those with Chaos Value, holy power is tremendously helpful.

Without delay, Evan issued orders.

“Reynold! You charge forward first and clear the path. Alan, support Reynold. If we lead the charge and break through the enemy lines, the knights behind us will follow more easily.”

“Understood! Leave it all to me.”

Reynold began manifesting his aura.

He was about to demonstrate the skills honed through training with Alan.

Watching this, Evan gave the signal.

With Evan’s signal, everyone charged toward the Training Hall.

***

Reynold swung his greatsword with all his might at the charging knights.

Whoosh!

The heavy blade swept across the front with a dull thud.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

The knights hit by the greatsword collapsed.

The area became devastated as if bombarded, opening the blocked path.

Reynold’s raw strength, exponentially enhanced by his aura, unleashed devastating force.

Combined with the Holy Blessing buff, the opponents were helpless against the onslaught.

“Good, push further!”

Larger swings naturally left openings.

Alan filled those gaps from the side.

By the time they reached halfway through the Training Hall, “Everyone, halt.”

A calm voice settled over the area.

All the knights turned their gaze toward the platform.

Even Evan and his group stopped momentarily as their opponents ceased attacking.

‘So, he’s finally here.’

A man who appeared to be the mastermind of this whole ordeal, their leader, stood atop the platform.

His hair was a pale green, messy like a bandit’s.

His face was scarred, with sharp eyes.

Evan knew him well.

“Arzel.”

He was the most rebellious and murderous fool toward Evan.

But now, the atmosphere was completely different.

Calm, heavy, radiating immense pressure.

‘What is this?’

Evan watched him from afar with an intrigued expression.

Arzel then gestured.

“Pleasure to meet you. How about a private conversation, just the two of us? Let’s end this barbaric fighting and settle things through dialogue.”

As Arzel spoke to Evan, Alan shook his head.

“Young master, that’s a trap. Don’t go.”

Andre also tried to stop Evan.

“That’s right, sir. If you leave now, we’ll be annihilated. They’re definitely aiming for that.”

Despite their warnings, Evan answered firmly.

“No, they haven’t yet unleashed their full power. If this continues, we might be wiped out. This is our chance. I’ll cut his head off.”

“Y-Young master!”

“Sir, you can win! Take him down!”

Voices from behind, Alan, Andre, Reynold, but Evan ignored them.

He stepped forward, and the knights blocking the way parted like the sea.

With a dry expression, Evan calmly walked toward the platform.

When he reached it, Evan asked, “Arzel. What’s going on?”

“Arzel? You mean this man? He has become one with us. He volunteered and wanted our power. He sacrificed himself.”

Evan showed no particular reaction and repeated the question.

“Then, the one speaking now is Velled?”

He grinned, baring his teeth, and shook his head.

“Well, Arzel is resting now… I’m standing in as the representative. My name is Velled, but just call me that. To be exact, ‘we’ are a legion.”

“Legion.”

Evan frowned at the unfamiliar term.

Then Velled’s pupils vanished, leaving only the whites.

“We are immortal beings. This body is ours. But it won’t last long—it will rot and decay. We want a stronger body.”

He raised a hand and pointed to Andre below the platform.

“Originally, we wanted the commander’s exceptional body. But…”

His hand shifted to point at Evan.

“After seeing your extraordinary body, we changed our minds. We propose this: if you accept us, we will grant you immense power.”

Arzel—no, this mysterious entity who couldn’t truly be called Arzel—lightly released aura.

Unbelievably powerful aura gathered in the palm of his hand.

Anyone unaware of the truth would be tempted and covet that power.

But Evan furrowed his brows in disgust. It was a murky, unsettling black aura.

When Evan remained still, as if assuming he was considering it, Velled smirked.

“Come, join us. Power beyond your imagination. We will share with you the Dead’s Power. With that power, you could hold the entire world in your hands.”

Only then did Evan understand why Arzel had sacrificed his body.

And why the knights here cooperated with him.

The Dead’s Power.

Though it was packaged nicely, accepting their souls was not simply a matter of gaining strength.

Recalling what Garhan had said, the souls would eventually seize control of the body.

Evan pointed below the platform toward the knights and asked, “So, have those people also accepted the Dead’s Power?”

Velled nodded.

“All of them received it willingly. Because it grants immense strength. Of course, they only accepted part of us. Occasionally, a body can accept two or three of us.”

“And what happens to me if I accept the Dead’s Power?”

“No need to worry. Your daily life will remain unchanged. We only require a body that can sustain us. In return, we give you strength—no other purpose.”

“I see… That body looks rather desperate.”

“That’s right. Our plan went awry. You could say we’re temporarily using it to see you.”

Evan nodded.

“One last question. So, your group’s representative is Velled?”

“If you want to call us by name, fine. Velled. Because of him, we began in earnest.”

Evan chuckled at their answer.

“Thanks for the very useful hint.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I’m going to deal with the damn parasites like you.”

From the start, Evan had no intention of accepting this offer.

His goal was to isolate the situation to one-on-one.

Because if he judged this guy with Soul Judgment, the matter would be over immediately.

With that in mind, he attached a Soul Arbiter to the Sacred Sword of Akkrat.

Approaching him in that state, he began Soul Appraisal.

But an unexpected problem occurred.

The results of the Soul Appraisal appeared before his eyes.

[Currently, there are 22,287 souls present.]

[Arzel Valien is disqualified for judgment.]

[The remaining 22,286 are subject to judgment.]

[Please select a target for judgment.]

Now Evan understood why he called himself a legion and used “we” instead of “I.”

There was truly a whole legion inside Arzel’s body.

Facing so many was practically impossible.

So he chose to focus on the one who appeared to be the leader.

Evan thought of Velled and asked them, receiving the answer he wanted.

Without hesitation, Evan selected Velled.

[Judgment of Supreme Sinner Velled begins.]

At that moment, a powerful wave radiated from the jewel of the Soul Arbiter embedded in Evan’s sword.

Evan was then transported to the Soul Judgment arena along with Velled.