Chapter 304: Your Savior Is Here!

“Well, it’s better to save the best for last,” Osmund chuckled, casting a side-long glance at Finn, while Finn looked on with a somewhat thoughtful expression. The air between them seemed to vibrate with a new kind of tension now that the word ’faith’ had been uttered.

“Yeahhh,” Finn drawled. “Now that I think about it, I do remember you saying something about your ancestors and Gods and Transcendents…”

“Of course,” Osmund said with a hint of pride in his voice. He stood a little taller, his chest swelling as he prepared to recount the foundation of his people’s identity. “The story of how the Transcendents fell to our Great One. With every swing of His arm, twenty one Transcendent lives were reaped. The Transcendents could only flee with their tails between their legs. Only a few of them survived that massacre!”

Osmund’s eyes glittered as if he could see it himself. His gaze was distant, and he went silent for a beat, until Finn’s voice drew him out of his trance.

“Well… that’s not the history I know, though…” he said. And immediately, Osmund frowned.

“In fact,” Finn continued. “Throughout my time in the past, I never once saw any Anaelle, nor did I hear about…” his voice trailed off, and he paused as he remembered something.

Back in the temple, the God of Secrets had referred to Vara as a half breed Anaelle… or rather, her great-grandfather in particular, Hasteinn.

The God of secrets had called him an outcast of the Anaelle race. And apparently, there had been some bad blood between him and the Anaelle in the first place.

Finn frowned slightly. He even remembered that the God of secrets referred to the Anaelle as “natural-born distrustful schemers…”

He glanced at Osmund, who raised a brow slightly, self-conscious, after Finn continued to stare at him for longer than necessary.

There’s something with these guys for sure, though… Finn thought.

It wasn’t like he fully believed what the God of Secrets had said back then. For all he knew, it could’ve been yet another performance. Perhaps the God of Secrets was also in cahoots with Arros and that was simply part of the performative display meant to nudge him a certain way… to think a certain way…

Finn sighed, rubbing a palm across his face.

Or perhaps, and more likely, he was just being too paranoid.

He stepped forward and continued walking, Osmund falling into step with him again, though this time in silence. The Anaelle could see that Finn’s demeanor had changed all of a sudden.

Finn, on the other hand, simply thought to himself:

It doesn’t matter anyway. Performance or not, whether the Anaelle have a hidden secret or agenda, it’s just a matter of ending them all if things go awry.

The thought lifted his mood immediately. Power above all schemes.

Osmund noticed the change and was taken aback. Finn seemed approachable now, but because he was entirely closed off just seconds ago, he didn’t know whether or not to engage yet. The shift was so jarring it felt unnatural.

What is with this bipolar behavior? His expression seemed to say.

“By the way,” Finn said suddenly, “why are we walking all the way across the island when we can just fly or something? In fact, can’t you just cut through space?”

Osmund cleared his throat lightly before replying: “I can… but not with another person in tow. The strain of maintaining a spatial tunnel for two requires a level of focus that is difficult to sustain while we are moving through these unstable zones.”

“No matter,” Finn cracked a smile. “You can go ahead. It’s been a while since I used my soul masses anyway. Let me see how they’ve adjusted to the shift in my soul density in this world now…”

Wordlessly, Finn’s shadow on the ground shifted and twisted, stretching and elongating as a figure started to morph into existence.

At first, the temperature of the surroundings plummeted — not literally, though. It wasn’t a physical cold, but more like a cold in an evil kind of way. Wickedness made corporeal.

It permeated and suffused the surroundings, sending a shiver down Osmund’s spine as he watched. He had never felt this level of… evil in his life. Such pure wickedness and malevolence.

Instinctively, his space magic kicked into gear, distorting the space around him as a defensive layer. His stance was ready, his eyes serious and wary, as if he was faced with a life or death situation.

But Finn suddenly laughed, breaking the tension. His voice was playful, yet scolding as he said:

“No. Not you. Why are you the one coming out?” he waved a hand dismissively, intervening by himself and sending the malevolent soul mass back.

“What are you doing, Syf? Don’t you miss me?” he asked.

“Come out.”

Osmund’s shoulders had already relaxed after Finn sent that malevolent soul mass back into his soul, but that relief was short-lived.

This time, the aura was different, but it was much, much more terrifying.

Instead of evil, this was just pure predatory oppression.

Osmund watched, dumbstruck and rooted in shock, his instinct on vacation, as a massive figure like a demon from hell rose out of Finn’s shadow.

Its head came out first. Calm glowing green eyes that were filled with a silent, confident viciousness glanced his way, and instantly, he felt his sphincter clench hard in instinctive fear. As if he was a prey being locked onto by a predator.

Just that gaze alone assured Osmund that he wasn’t coming away cleanly in a fight with this thing. In fact, he may not come away with his life at all, despite his spatial prowess!

Osmund didn’t even realize when that thought crossed his mind. But when he did, he felt a bit of embarrassment. A fragment bearer like him having such weak thoughts just from the gaze of a soul mass?

He grounded himself firmly and put up a confident front, forcing his trembling legs to hold still.

But even that became shaky as he continued to watch the rest of the creature rise from Finn’s shadow.

Just how large is this thing??! His expression screamed as he watched with wide eyes. The shadow seemed to be a doorway to an endless abyss, as more and more of the creature’s bulk manifested into reality.

Osmund’s mouth hung open as his head leaned further and further back as more of the creature came out.

And it wasn’t only him.

Even Finn was evidently surprised. Though, his surprise was more in excitement rather than trepidation and unease.

“You’ve grown so big, Syf!” He laughed out loud, spreading his arms wide as he leaned his head way back just to take in Syf’s whole view. The joy in his voice was genuine, like the pride of a father seeing his child reach maturity.

This was essentially the size of the Storm Prowler Wolf he had seen in that memory he’d pried out of Syf’s soul. The one where Syf had fought with that terrifying rhinoceros creature, wrecking the terrain like titans with their battle.

“You’ve reached your true form!” He yelled, as Syf’s summoning finally came to a stop. She towered over Finn domineeringly, dwarfing his roughly six-foot height with a size comparable to the height of a five-story building. Finn wasn’t even as tall as the curve of her lowest toe-claw.

To anyone else, being this close to something as large and as terrifyingly dangerous as this would’ve rooted them to the spot. The visage of the scale alone would send their brains spiraling trying to process the anomaly.

But Finn wasn’t bothered at all. There wasn’t the slightest trace of fear in his face.

Instead, he stared straight into Syf’s eyes, which were looking directly at him too.

Their eyes were locked in an intense stare-down for a few silent seconds, making Osmund, who was watching with bated breath, even more agitated. It was a no-brainer. How could Finn fully control a soul mass this powerful? With the kind of terrifying might it bore, its ego alone would prove difficult to assimilate without heavily debilitating soul debts!

Even with how powerful he knew Finn had gotten, this was still a crazy feat. The sheer soul power required to keep such a titan in check would be mind boggling!

But to his surprise, a low whine resounded through the air, deep and primal, as the massive wolf slowly lowered its head to the ground, directly in front of Finn’s feet.

Calmly, Finn climbed its head, walking for quite a few silent seconds before reaching the top, simply due to Syf’s massive size. He strolled all the way to the top casually as if he was strolling in his garden.

And it was only when he settled that Syf finally moved.

She raised her head, then turned in the direction of the Anaelle settlement, before taking a large, surprisingly nimble limb towards it. The ground beneath her paws shattered as she propelled herself forward, leaving massive craters in her wake.

As she dashed forward, Osmund heard Finn call out a “See you there!” before his voice became too distant to hear.

Immediately after Syf left, Osmund released a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. His body calmed, and he felt surprisingly exhausted, as if that constant state of vigilance in Syf’s presence had taxed him more than he realized.

“Bollocks! This isn’t the time to be dazed!” He yelled in distress. If Syf could cause him so much discomfort and unease, how much more trouble would the other Anaelle be in when Finn arrived at the settlement?!

Without wasting time, he activated his teleportation spell, which took a few seconds before fully activating, then he was out of sight. The space swallowed him with a sharp pop, leaving only a faint ripple in the air.

But it turned out that he was still too late.

“What in the hells?! Just how fast is that thing?!!” Osmund yelled the moment he reappeared at the gates of the settlement… or rather, what used to be the gates.

Now it was simply nothing but smithereens under the massive paw of Syf as she stood right on the outskirts of the settlement, staring straight down at the frantic, fear-stricken crowd of Anaelle who were running helter skelter below.

It was utter pandemonium. Anaelle of all ages and sex were rooted at a spot, with shaky legs that wouldn’t move from fear. The extreme few that could move were running like their lives depended on it — not to say they were wrong…

Finn looked down at the chaos, a playful glint in his eyes as he casually noted those who could still move.

Then with a calm gusto, he cleared his throat and stood to his full height atop Syf’s head, spread his arms wide, and yelled, grinning widely:

“My faithful Anaelle!!”

“Your savior is here!!!”

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