Return of the Runebound Professor-Chapter 695: That’s an oopsie.

Garina did not panic easily. Calling this an undesirable situation was an understatement, but she had more mastery over herself than most mages would ever see. Even as deep as she was into Noah’s soul, she was not yet completely lost.

But if she didn’t remove herself soon, she would be. A soul was always most powerful in its home ground. She was an invader — and delving deep into the core of another person’s soul functionally turned her own into a needle.

That was quite useful when it came to piercing through the layers to see what laid at someone’s self. It was considerably less ideal when it came to putting up a good fight. Her powers were weaker here than they would be anywhere else. She was basically surrounded in a reality of Noah’s making.

The more time she spent here, the more the reality would try to absorb her into it. Even a few minutes could be long enough for a sliver of her consciousness this thin to be completely swallowed.

Garina narrowed her eyes. There were risks that came with this manner of soul shaping, but there were also fail safes. Soul shaping was just that. Shaping. It could not change the mass or size of a soul. All it did was modify the shape it took.

In order to form into a needle, Garina had pushed the rest of her soul back into a large orb and inserted her consciousness into the very tip of the thin line that protruded from within it. The amount of her soul that was actually this deep into Noah’s territory was nearly zero.

Tracing her steps back should have been a relatively simple procedure. Garina sent her mind back along the path that connected her to the greater portion of herself. She could still feel it in the distance, but every second that path seemed to pull her farther away.

With anyone else, this wouldn’t have even been more than a passing thought. The mere desire alone would have already accomplished what she sought. But, as Garina tried to retract herself, an immense pressure fought back against her.

The skin on the back of her neck prickled.

Noah’s soul was so dense that it actually had what could be only described as a gravitational pull to it. It didn’t want to release her. She’d already spent too long here.

Garina narrowed her eyes. She drew on more power and pushed back even harder against the endless expanse of darkness threatening to swallow her. This was far more than she ever could have expected, but now wasn’t the time to let her mind wander.

If I’m too aggressive, I might end up dealing severe damage to his soul. If I’m too careful, his soul is going to do severe damage to me.

Garina gritted her teeth and shoved her mind against the tightening web forming around her once more. She let a little more energy seep free, trying to keep it as concentrated as possible to avoid indiscriminately destroying anything.

There was a tiny lurch. The ground of the golden line beneath her bucked. Noah’s soul was somehow holding back against that of a Rank 7. Garina didn’t bother wasting time in disbelief at that.

She just yanked herself back again, harder this time. Her soul shuddered as she forced it to change shape and retract. Pressure drove in toward her chest in a vice grip. It pressed into her neck and tried to squeeze the air from her lungs.

Noah’s soul was not happy with her disruptions. It fought back even harder. Garina wound her power around herself like a protective cloak and shoved the intruding presence back once more.

Her eyes narrowed. If this didn’t work, then she was going to have to start cutting into things to escape. That would be bad. Even if it worked, she’d owe Noah a big apology. The damage to his soul would be enormous… which would put her into his debt.

And the more Garina saw of Noah, the less she wanted to owe him anything.

But that wasn’t all. One thought lingered at the back of her mind like dread made manifest and given physical form. The immensity of Noah’s soul, the sheer clarity of the Line carved into his very being by the blade of time itself… it really wasn’t possible for a mortal to have this much trauma.

Their mind wouldn’t be able to handle it. Not in a way that let them linger around other living beings. Noah should have been raving mad. Insanity, fear, or hatred should have been the only emotions that his mind still had the potential to form. ℝ𝓪𐌽ỗꞖÈṠ

He should have been a monster.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

But he wasn’t. He had control of himself. And, more than anything else, that scared Garina. Damage like this didn’t just disappear. It couldn’t just be ignored. It had to be somewhere. It should have been as clear as a jagged weeping wound carved across Noah’s face…

But Garina hadn’t been able to see so much as a scrap of it before she’d entered his soul. He’d seemed odd, but normal enough. He’d somehow managed to hide this. To contain what should have been impossible to contain.

I can’t let myself think about this. I need to get out of here, now.

With a snarl, Garina drove her will upward once more. She put every scrap of power she dared to use into it. A single spark extra of power had the risk of tearing deep gouges into the core of Noah’s being — but anything less would do nothing but waste time and energy.

And finally, something gave. The world around Garina faltered. It pulled back from her soul for the briefest of moments. And in that flicker of time, Garina yanked her soul back into its proper form.

Her consciousness tore out of the core of Noah’s soul like a bat from hell. The darkness collapsed all around her and the line evaporated, shattering to pieces as light pierced through her surroundings.

Ground formed beneath Garina’s feet and her stomach lurched. She staggered a step back, her vision snapping back into focus, as she found herself standing in yet another expanse of darkness.

But this one was different than the first. Cracks of white light burned at her feet, sending up a pale glow to illuminate the area around her in a harsh light. Garina didn’t have any time to situate herself. Even as the relief from her escape tried to set in, pressure bore down on her back like a hammer.

Garina stumbled. It was Runic pressure, but far more powerful than anything that should have been able to manifest in a Rank 5’s mind. This was comparable to the power of a Rank 6 in sheer force, even if it lacked in total capacity. Garina’s gaze shot up.

Her eyes widened and the breath caught in her chest. She couldn’t help herself. It might have been beneath her station, but her lips parted in awe all the same.

Floating above her was the fragment of a god.

But not just one. There were two of them.

She recognized the first instantly. The presence it bore was familiar. It would have been to any Apostle. It was a Fragment of Decras, and a rather sizable one. Beside it floated what could have only been from one of the goddesses of life.

The two Master Runes were immensely powerful. Even one of them would have been enough to let the average mage punch an entire level above their weight class, but Noah had two. And he didn’t just have the runes.

They’d accepted him. There were changes to the Master Runes’ composition. They were small enough that the average mage would be entirely unable to locate the differences, but it was clear as day to Garina that they had adapted to fit into Noah’s soul properly.

These runes may have come from gods, but they only had one master now — and it was the owner of the soul she stood in.

Noah actually completely stole Decras’ magic from him, not to mention that of the goddess of rebirth. There’s no way either of them can still take these runes back. They have no claim on them now. They’re Noah’s.

Garina swallowed. She was still badly shaken from what she’d seen moments ago. That had been far too close.

If she’d been even a little bit slower, Noah’s soul might have consumed her consciousness. Even if it hadn’t killed her and she’d escaped later, the damage to both her and Noah would have been astronomical.

She resisted the urge to press a hand to her chest as her heart raced. It had been years since she’d felt like this. Even the fight against Father hadn’t put her so badly off guard. Thoughts swirled through her head in a turbulent maelstrom.

I need a moment.

Garina blew out a slow breath. She was still on the inner layers of Noah’s soul. His Master Runes were powerful enough to manifest themselves here, but the rest of them — along with his consciousness — were still a few layers up.

She could safely pause here and get her mind back in order before heading farther up and speaking directly with Noah. This part of his soul was too deep for him to reach at the stage he was at.

And thank any god that’s listening for that. I wasn’t ready for this at all. Rank 5 my ass. How the fuck does Noah even manage any coherent thoughts after what he’s seen? How is he anything more than a wretched abomination hellbent on destruction because of what he’s gone through? The fact that his soul hasn’t shredded itself to smithereens is unbelievable.

Does he even know what he is?

Does anyone?

The back of Garina’s neck still prickled as if someone were watching her. A part of her mind still felt like she was standing on the Line… and something told her it would be a while before that stopped. A strong urge to glance over her shoulder to make sure nothing lurked in the shadows pulled at her thoughts.

She couldn’t keep herself from obliging it. Garina glanced back.

Her heart bucked into her throat.

She wasn’t alone.

Standing a few feet behind her, as silent as a dead night, was Noah.

But this didn’t look like the Noah that Garina remembered.

His body was pitch black, made up of the same material that formed the rest of his soul. Streaks of brilliant golden energy just like that of the Line wove through his form. They wound all the way up from his legs to his neck and rose around his jaw to frame his face.

Noah’s eyes — if they could even still be called that — were two inky pools of pure void. They seemed to absorb all the dim light his soul possessed, swallowing every scrap of it like the maw of a starving eldritch god.

“You,” Noah said, his voice trembling like he was only an inch away from snapping and diving to rip her throat out with his teeth, “Should not be here.”