Chapter 117

Pseudo Star Ring Wizard

"Wuwuwuwu, Mama, help!"

"Don't eat me!"

"Aaaahhh—"

"……"

Shrill wails echoed along the banks of the Styx, as fleeing souls cried out in despair.

However, Lucy ignored the souls that had already left a psychological shadow on her, completely immersed in a peculiar sensory experience.

Each time she devoured a soul, she could briefly access that person's most vivid memory fragment:

A farmer's joy at the harvest, a girl's heartbeat during her first love, a mother's warmth as she cradled her baby… A thousand kinds of emotions surged in the sea of her mind, only to be swiftly suppressed and digested by her immense mental strength.

This endless process of devouring was continuously tempering her soul and her mental sea.

When only one-fifth of the sacrificed souls remained, Lucy's mental strength had already reached 999 points—just one point short of the threshold for a quasi-deity, the minimum for a Star Ring Wizard.

But it was this final point that seemed as insurmountable as a heavenly chasm.

Even after devouring over a hundred thousand souls, her total mental strength remained completely unchanged.

"Stop wasting your strength."

At that moment, Fenrir, perched on her shoulder, stuck out his tongue and licked his damp nose. "Breaking through to quasi-deity requires a resonance with the laws. Just piling up quantity doesn't work anymore."

Lucy, already aware of this, not only didn’t stop “eating,” but even quickened her devouring pace.

"Told you it’s useless, and you’re still eating…" the pup muttered in confusion.

"Relax. I’ve already thought of a solution," she answered calmly.

Even if these souls could no longer increase her mental strength, she still had to bring them back to the Wizard Continent.

When the final soul that had given up resisting was tossed into Lucy’s mouth, the entire embankment—over ten million marked souls—was finally swept clean.

Lucy licked her red lips with lingering satisfaction. At that moment—

Boom!

A terrifying aura tore through the skies and crashed violently to the ground.

Amid the billowing dust, Chief Arbiter Zoe finally caught up, appearing atop a cliff wall a kilometer away.

The twelve Judgment Swords hovered in mid-air like a pair of metallic wings, yet His gaze landed on the now-empty River Styx.

This river, which had flowed for tens of millions of years, had actually ceased to flow today!

But now was not the time to dwell on that.

The Styx was under Icarus’ divine authority. Zoe's task was to seize the law power of the Gatekeeper, Fenrir. Even if something went wrong with the Styx, it had nothing to do with Her.

"Found you."

Zoe’s voice grated like sandpaper.

He eyed Lucy, who had clearly grown stronger, with shifting expressions.

Having not witnessed her devouring the souls, Zoe simply couldn’t understand how this silver-haired woman had become so powerful in such a short span of time.

But as Fenrir had said, unless one crossed the 1000-point law threshold, that final gap was still as vast as heaven and earth.

"Hand over Fenrir."

"He’s my pup now," Lucy said with a slight curl of her lips.

"What do you mean your pup?!" Fenrir bristled immediately on her shoulder. "Zoe, give it up! Even if the Sleeper Himself came in person, I still wouldn’t go with you!"

"If you think you can take the Gate of the Dead from me, dream on!"

The Chief Arbiter's gaze sharpened.

He raised His hand, and a Judgment Sword naturally floated down into His grip.

"In that case, I’ll just have to kill you again!"

Staring at the longsword that flashed with cold light, the pup finally remembered—it no longer had a physical body.

"If you've got the guts, you idiot, then come on! Nyeh nyeh nyeh..."

After provoking Zoe, Fenrir’s tone instantly shifted to a whimper, muttering softly,

"Didn’t you say you had a plan? Hurry up already, that guy’s completely lost it!"

Now without any means of survival, the pup was genuinely afraid. One more sword strike, and it would bid this world farewell forever.

"Eh? What are you doing?"

Fenrir looked utterly confused as it was lifted by the scruff of its neck.

Before it could react, it realized Lucy was bringing it toward her mouth.

"What the hell!"

In a flash of realization, Fenrir was horrified.

It finally understood why Lucy had looked so confident and fearless.

So the missing piece of law power… was actually itself!

Having lost its three-headed canine body, the pup was, strictly speaking, now a soul entity.

Naturally, it fell within the scope of “soul devouring.”

And Fenrir was to become the final puzzle piece for Lucy’s ascension to quasi-deity.

"Don’t eat me… I peed! Aaaaahhh—"

"Souls don’t pee."

Besides, while it appeared Lucy was “eating” souls, in truth, they were being absorbed into her soul sea as soon as they neared her lips.

"Damn it, you really went and ate me!"

Because it too wielded the power of law, Fenrir didn’t fall into slumber like the other souls. It remained fully conscious.

"I haven't even digested you," Lucy said, sensing the change in her mental strength. "Let's deal with the problem in front of us first."

After all, Zoe did have the means to put Fenrir into eternal slumber.

Once they reached a mutual understanding, the pup immediately stood united with Lucy.

"Zoe’s divine authority lies in judging the sins of all souls and drawing power from them. The Judgment Swords behind him each represent one of the Twelve Original Sins."

Unlike the commonly known Seven Deadly Sins, the Apocalypse defined the original sins as twelve, namely:

Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, lust, gluttony, prostitution, theft, lies, secret desire, and malicious jealousy.

Anyone who committed any of these twelve original sins in life would, upon entering this world, be subject to the punishment of the Courtyard of Judgment.

...

"You foolish mortal, how dare you..." For the first time, a look of shock appeared on Zoe's face. "Steal the divine authority!"

As He spoke, the kilometer between them vanished in an instant, and a Judgment Sword cleaved down from above.

Clang—!

The clash of blades was deafening, and the nearby River Styx roared with crashing waves.

A rusted, broken scythe blocked Zoe's magnificently ornate Judgment Sword.

Lucy’s silver hair danced despite the absence of wind. Her mental strength had finally broken through the critical threshold of 999 points.

She felt the presence of a higher-dimensional existence—that was the power of the Star Ring, suspended above the dome of the realm of death, casting its gaze upon her.

【Name: Lucy Felicia】

【Level: Pseudo Star Ring Wizard (Mental Strength: 1125)】

【Skills: ...Soul Devour, Malice Lure, Soul Scent】

【Equipment: ...Sickle of Harvest (Divine Artifact)】

Zoe’s expression twisted with fury as his blade was caught by the scythe.

This mortal had actually seized the Gatekeeper's divine authority right in front of him!

With the loss of control over the Gate of the Dead, this operation could now be declared a complete failure.

At the thought of punishment from the Sleeper, a wave of dread surged in the Chief Arbiter's heart—he even entertained thoughts of retreat...

"No...!"

Zoe suddenly snapped out of it, staring in disbelief at the silver-haired girl's azure eyes. "You used Malice Lure on me!"

It was precisely Fenrir’s soul law—a power that could infinitely amplify specific emotions.

Though the failure of his mission would indeed bring the Sleeper's punishment, it shouldn't have made him lose composure like this.