Rogue Villain-Chapter 287: Glass Statue

Ackster’s mind would have faded almost directly after Trana’s attack made contact with his skeleton if it weren’t for what had happened earlier. The moment of clarity he got from fighting with Mazar in a berserker’s rage that induced a soul-splitting headache had either toughened his soul when it recovered or ranked up his Clear Mind skill. Or maybe it was both.

Whatever the case, without it happening, Ackster would have fallen already at the first step.

But now, he was lucid and in enough control of himself and his soul to devour the miniature blue sun of lightning-empowered fire. Ackster drew out streams of liquid fire from the orb and into his soul, gradually forcing his Smelting Furnace to embrace and refine more and more of it using the old bluish-green fire that he had gained by combining Viztar’s and Trana’s ordinary flames.

Ackster heard the Smelting Furnace creak. He didn’t know how that worked. But it was a sign that the temperature was too high and that it had increased too quickly. Smelting Furnace hadn’t had time to adjust and fortify itself using the materials inside it.

Fortunately, the bright blue, almost white fire was powerful enough to smelt everything inside even before Smelting Furnace could refine it. It did lead to a slight loss in materials as it burned things too quickly without refining them properly. But at this point, Ackster was happy with anything that could begin saving him from certain death.

However, just a few small streams of the blue orb were enough to give Smelting Furnace pause. The rest, still outside Smelting Furnace, had already turned his skeleton into ashes.

Unlike when he was stuck with Bo’s seal, Ackster had turned into a purely soular being. His soul was the only thing that remained of him.

Usually, a human soul without a body to protect it would split up, fade, and dissipate, leading to complete death. But Ackster’s soul held together through sheer willpower despite the blue orb trying to burn that as well.

However, Ackster’s soul wasn’t the only part of him that was immaterial.

Ackster’s Will, mana, and even vitality, despite not having a body, remained and fought to keep his body intact. Since the source of Ackster’s vitality was his skills and, therefore, his soul, not his body, it wasn’t constrained to his body the same way vitality of beings with great innate vitality, such as dragons, were.

However, the blue orb, a condensation of the power Trana gained in exchange for suppressing herself for millennia, was powerful enough to touch and burn the immaterial manifestations of energy, such as Will, mana, and vitality.

Ackster’s water mana was as useful as pissing on a wildfire. Ackster’s Will only caused him even more pain when it burned away. And Ackster’s vitality wasn’t as offensively powerful as the other two, despite being superior in terms of quantity. But it couldn’t even hold the fire at bay.

Without the body to keep them safe and promote their growth, the three sources didn’t recover. Ackster’s skills were also focusing on keeping his soul intact despite the three sources fighting to keep the fire at bay.

Left without a choice, Ackster’s Will, mana, and vitality could only retreat to the only place where they might find solace and salvation despite the inherent dangers of the place. Their only hope was to fortify the Smelting Furnace and help it endure.

Ackster’s Will, mana, and vitality fled into his Smelting Furnace.

But with the three sources no longer fighting to keep the blue orb at bay, there was nothing stopping the blue orb from chasing after and entering Ackster’s last safe haven.

It was a perilous location. But now, Ackster’s main self and existence had gathered inside the Smelting Furnace.

If the rest of his soul or the Smelting Furnace broke down, so would he.

It was the site of Ackster’s last stand against the invincible power of a dragon that has transcended the limits of the world. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

But with Ackster having only refined a fraction of the blue fire to fight against the entire remainder of the blue orb, things weren’t looking good for Ackster.

The Smelting Furnace’s fire clashed against the blue orb, preventing it and containing it and its heat from eating and melting the Furnace, destroying any hope Ackster had left. But the temperature inside the Furnace rose beyond what Ackster’s fire could control. Even with the orb contained in the center of the furnace like a solitary sun, it burned, smelted, and destroyed the materials within the Furnace.

Even the broken trident began feeling the heat as it was contained in the Furnace. Unlike in the outside world, where the heat leaking from the blue orb spread through the valley and mountain range, all of it stayed inside the Smelting Furnace after the blue orb chased the three sources inside.

The three sources joined forces with Smelting Furnace and reinforced its defensive capabilities.

Ackster’s water mana tried to shield the furnace and keep it from breaking down. His vitality acted as a buffer to keep the orb’s temperatures contained while his Will helped the Smelting Furnace’s fire try to refine the orb’s flames that leaked out more and more.

However, even with all of Ackster’s skills, sources, instincts, and willpower fighting against it, he was unable to keep up with the rising temperature of his soul and Smelting Furnace brought by the blue orb.

It cracked. The heat exceeded the Smelting Furnace’s capacity, and it cracked.

Instantly, the temperature that had been mostly contained spread to the rest of Ackster’s soul and the outside world.

The Smelting Furnace didn’t give up, but it couldn’t compete with the foreign fire and heat, and it was unable to stop the blue orb’s fire from degrading Ackster’s soul. Ackster’s soul, despite his skills and willpower, was unable to hold out for any longer than a few moments as the heat continued to rise seemingly without end.

Eating a sun wasn’t smart.

Ackster’s soul shared in the Smelting Furnace’s fate and cracked. That single sprout of weakness was all it took for the entirety of his soul to crack, shatter, and collapse like a glass statue.