Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

[This dragon is working very hard to maintain herself; she's cleverly keeping her soul in an 'embryo' form. This form is easy to maintain and allows her to exhibit some rationality in her infancy. Most importantly... in the embryonic stage, the soul's ability to perceive pain is very weak. She blocks out most of the pain she receives internally, which is why she has time to play house with you in the real world.]

How can we heal her soul?

The Soul Reaper sculpture stretches out its arm and strokes the giant bubbly surface.

"We'll go in. Soul repair is a delicate task; we must mend her flaws layer by layer until she awakens her self-awareness." Cracks appeared at the corner of the plaster statue's mouth, making her smile look rather eerie, though still sweet compared to the already ominous Lyle. "This is a lecture on soul studies, my beloved student."

A huge crescent moon appeared on the ominous face, meeting the smile of the Soul Reaper.

Please begin, teacher.

Encouraged, the Soul Reaper avatar became even more active around her body, and anything touched by the fragments gradually stiffened.

[Question: If you were to perform soul correction, what would your approach be, Mr. Lyle?]

[Eat her, assimilate her, and let the newborn dragon be reborn within me.]

The Soul Reaper clapped his hands.

[This is utterly mindless idiocy. But the applause is because the evil god can indeed solve problems without thinking. However, that brute-force approach is definitely not what the dragon priests want. Devouring an individual and then creating offspring resembling that individual—that's your instinct too. You must be struggling to suppress that appetite.]

As the ominous sign materialized on his body, a ring of small tentacles began to stir, only to be calmed down by [Lyle].

It wasn't too strenuous; I just had to control my body.

The Soul Reaper nodded.

That's alright then. If your humanity no longer restrains your madness, I will devour you and "give birth" to my Lyle.

Is this a test of me?

The Soul Reaper shook his head.

It was just playful banter.

Helena continued teaching.

Although the soul is a whole, it has many layers from the inside out, ranging from superficial consciousness to deep consciousness. The number of these layers is related to the soul owner's intelligence—just kidding—but also to their level of vigilance and the degree of darkness within them. We need to proceed step by step, from the shallow to the deep, to repair each layer of this dragon's consciousness.

Lyle, every soul is a world. Are you ready to enter? Just to clarify, the power of shadow has already eroded this soul beyond repair. When I open this gap, we will enter an ocean of shadow.

"What do you take me for?" Tentacles surged from Ominous's body. "Shadow power, to me, is nothing more than saline solution."

Yes, yes, Lyle is the best.

The Soul Reaper lightly touched the surface of the bubble, and the writhing liquid petrified, collapsing to reveal a gap the size of a fingernail. The Soul Reaper and the Omen entered it.

The ominous sign and Hill's soul were almost the same size in the spiritual world, but when they entered Hill's shallow consciousness, they didn't feel crowded at all. They entered Hill's soul and were thus bound by her.

Lyle looked around and saw many floating islands in the sea of ​​shadows. These were glowing memories, corroded into fragments by the power of shadow and floating in the air. In addition, a star-like band of light surrounded the center, emitting a brilliant light. These were newly born memories, far more resilient than those eroded and blurred fragments.

[Bad news: The power of shadow has eroded most of her memories; very little of her soul remains. Even if we repair her, a large portion of her past memories will be lost.]

[Good news?]

The good news is that the shadows have devoured almost all of her consciousness, so we don't need to spend time breaking through her psychological defenses; we can go directly to her deepest inner self.

The Soul Reaper reached out and grabbed the fragments, which were now blurred but still radiant.

These corrupted memories are beyond deciphering; memories are loosely structured and unreliable information that can be distorted and modified. Advanced researchers of soul science can, like us, enter the depths of the soul. We can plant psychological suggestions here, distorting and rewriting these memories to achieve methods of mind control and other forms of interference with the mind. A normal soul contains many layers of consciousness; you can only penetrate to the inner layers by deceiving the surface. Deception, concealment, confusion, and disguise—every master of the soul is a master con artist. Unfortunately, this soul doesn't offer you many opportunities to practice.

We'll go straight inwards.

Passing through the star ring, Lyle saw the memories etched upon it—the memories of a twilight dragon named Hill, a dragon, and a dragon priest. They were brand new, but would not last long under the erosion of shadows.

【Huh? This is really interesting.】

Lyle noticed Helena's astonishment. Deep within Hill's soul, at the core of her self-existence, was a blurry figure, but even in its blurriness, Lyle could discern it was a humanoid girl. Deep within the dragon's soul lay a humanoid version of itself.

[An unexpected surprise—she has preserved a complete personality, the core essence rescued from the shadow's corruption. But it's sealed away; deception, harm, escapism… Lyle, I think we've found the dragon's sanity. She wasn't shattered, just sealed away. Something is imprisoning her.]

In other words, awakening Hill's human form will restore the Twilight Dragon's sanity.

That's right, but you'd better be careful. Look at what's in her arms.

Lyle followed her gaze and looked at Sylvie, who was curled up like a baby in her arms. There was a tiny point of light in her arms, and a dangerous aura emanated from that point of light.

Soul Guardians. These are the self-created guardians of each soul, protecting its safety. Almost all living beings possess their own Soul Guardians, endowed with the highest level of power. As their souls grow to a certain stage, these Soul Guardians evolve, no longer merely protecting their souls, but growing into…

[Avatar.]

[That's right, so is my sculpture, and so is your omen. Our soul guardians are ourselves, and for this lady, her soul guardian might be someone she trusts and relies on.]

"Now, Lyle, we need to find a way to defeat Hill's Soul Guardian. But be careful, it's Hill's soul, which means we need to follow her rules. The Soul Guardian is the strongest. We need to deceive it, bewitch it."

Let me demonstrate for you first.

The Soul Reaper forged a small fragment of memory—a Twilight Dragon memory modified from reality. Such half-true, half-false memories are usually highly deceptive; they can easily fool the Soul Guardians if they are even slightly lax. Helena fanned the fake memory, sending it drifting towards the dormant girl.

Closer and closer.

With a flash of light, Hill's soul guards moved.

[Kneel down]

Chains sprang from the void, piercing the memory; the fake was torn to shreds by the power of the Soul Guardian. A chilling gaze fell upon the two; the Soul Guardian had spotted them, but made no move.

This is a bad example.

Helena clicked her tongue in amazement. [Tsk, how can a soul with an unstable mind have such a cautious soul guardian? This is troublesome, Lyle.]

Lyle was stunned.

Helena, I think I know that... Soul Guardian.

[You know this dragon? What's your relationship with it?!]

It's not related, but I might know that soul guardian...

Lyle noticed something. When the Soul Guardian moved, he raised an arm, which caused his trench coat to flutter. Lyle recognized the style of that trench coat all too well, because he had seen it countless times on a certain man.

That is……

Sheriff Cassandale's uniform.

Chapter 597 Awakening of Reason

Hill's Soul Guardian, wearing a Cassandra Sheriff's uniform?

Lyle felt a little... confused. It was a pure black sheriff's coat, the standard trench coat of the Kingdom of Zwei, with Cassandel's signature jet-black base and spire embroidery, a small band around the shoulder joint. The reason Lyle felt so familiar was because he had seen Ralph's back like that many times.

Even now, he still feels that it is Ralf's back.

Is that possible? Is the Twilight Dragon Hill's Soul Guardian Ralph?

"I might know that Soul Guardian; he might be someone I know." Lyle wasn't entirely sure, but he was already 60% convinced. Cassandra was a large area, but because of someone, the demand for sheriffs was not high, and there were very few staff members. Lyle had met most of them.

Helena didn't dwell on Lyle's relationship with the Soul Guardian.

Are you sure? You see, the Soul Guardian is like the person Hill remembers. If you know exactly what the Soul Guardian looks like, then you can fabricate a disguise for the Soul Guardian, which is actually better. Blindly worshipping the Soul Guardian will affect the Soul's own judgment.

I need to get closer and take a better look at the spirit guardian.

Helena's legs transformed into a snake tail, wrapping around Lyle's waist.

【Then you should test the guard's perimeter, just in case. If anything happens, I'll pull you back. The guard's attack method is chains, and he probably has the ability to restrain the body, but it's only targeting you.】

Please.

The ominous giant Lyle slowly floated towards Hill's humanoid form, towards the Soul Guardian. As the distance closed, the Soul Guardian's outline became clearer: limbs, torso, standard trench coat, leather boots, black gloves... Lyle had a strange feeling that this Soul Guardian was gradually resembling the image of Ralf in his mind.

But he was only seen from behind, his face was not visible, and Lyle could not make a decision.

Turn around... turn around... turn around.

Perhaps Lyle's desires really worked, because the soul guardian actually started to slowly turn its head.

Yes, yes, similar feeling, the same movements.

He is...he is...my...

The tall sheriff turned his head, and on his neck was...

A dog's head, baring its teeth and glaring fiercely.

Its fur color is similar to that of an Alaskan Malamute.

Who is this?

[Pull me back, Helena.]

The snake's tail pulled Lyle's soul back, and as the distance increased, Lyle watched as the kobold glared at him with its ferocious dog head.

[Have you discovered the Soul Guardian's identity? Someone you know.]

The ominous figure covered its face.

[It must be my imagination, but that spirit guardian has a dog's head. I don't know any strange creature like that.]

[That was, after all, a character created by the dragon's subconscious, and perhaps there are some subtle differences between it and those that exist in reality.]

What does that mean? There's a guy in the real world wearing a Cassandra sheriff's uniform who looks like a dog? That's terrifying. I'll ask Uncle Ralph if he knows anyone like that next time. Lyle looked at the increasingly ferocious dog head and felt a little uneasy.

[Helena, why is this spirit guardian staring at me?]

He has marked you. The perception of the soul is two-way; the soul guardian has marked you as an outsider, so your series of deceptive acts will be exposed. Only I can break down Hill's defenses.

Helena then made a series of attempts. She fabricated lies, used those floating memory copies to distort new memories, filled memories with knowledge of the dragon race, and even disguised herself as a real Hill Core in an attempt to make Hill doubt herself.

However, none of it worked.

The kobold sheriff had a pair of gloomy, deep eyes that could not only glare at Lyle but also see through Helena's disguises. All her schemes were exposed and thwarted. As the kobold continued to unravel her lies, the gaze from those sinister eyes on Lyle grew increasingly dangerous.

Helena, his eyes are getting more and more dangerous.

[Tsk, this soul's hostility towards us is intensifying. If we fail again, we might have to leave before the soul guardians settle accounts with us.]

Lyle found a sense of familiarity in that sinister gaze. Ralph would lock onto him with an even more gloomy stare, but without any murderous intent. Under this terrifying pressure, Lyle began to think in his usual way.

Helena, do we always have to resort to deception to break down someone's defenses?

What else?

Why don't we just tell her who we are and the truth?