Chapter 252: Soul Phylactery

At the city's eastern dump, the battle between two superhumans had reached its end.

The muddy ground was soaked in blood of red, green, and yellow hues; severed limbs of various bio-creatures and broken wreckage covered the garbage mountains like a scene from hell.

Among these bio-creatures were elite units such as Refinement Demons, Bone Demons, and War-Frenzy Demons.

They wielded heavy battle axes and giant hammers, carried anti-tank rocket launchers on their shoulders, and wore thick metal armor enchanted with black magic.

This armor was immune to rifle bullets and could even refract, deflect, or weaken tank shells.

Even on a modern battlefield, such a demon army would be sufficient to alter the outcome of a local campaign.

But here, their fate uniformly led to death.

"Hiss..."

Frankenstein lay collapsed in the garbage pile, coughing up blood with every breath. His body was covered in deep sword scars, his belly sliced open to reveal elastic internal organs.

Seeing Gouchen stood with one foot on Frankenstein's leg, leaning forward to look down from above, observing the twitching muscles on the latter's face as he calmly stated, "How many times must I kill you before you are willing to die in peace?"

"Heh..."

Frankenstein did not know whether he was breathing or mocking Seeing Gouchen; he simply stared fixedly at the young man before him, the corners of his sliced mouth struggling to curl upward into a faint arc.

"Boring."

Seeing Gouchen reversed his grip on the short sword, thrusting it straight into Frankenstein's eye socket, twisting and grinding until he crushed the eyeball along with the brain beneath it.

Frankenstein fell into silence; a few seconds later, the destroyed brain gradually regenerated, and the eyeball grew back.

This ability was called "Soul Phylactery"; only powerful casters who possessed vast knowledge of mysticism and necromancy knew how to create one.

They would completely separate their souls from their bodies and store them within the Soul Phylactery, thereby becoming a lich—the Soul Phylactery could be any object, a brick, a doll, or a pen.

As long as the Soul Phylactery remained undestroyed, the lich would be immortal; even if killed, they could immediately resurrect.

"The prerequisite for becoming a lich is possessing a soul powerful enough to withstand the damage caused by the separation process. A player must be at least Level 30, with both Intelligence and Perception attributes above twenty points, to meet the conditions."

"A black mage of Voldemort's caliber, using a Soul Phylactery to resurrect, still had to sacrifice his hair and nose. You are far from qualified."

Seeing Gouchen narrowed his eyes and said, "Moreover, ordinary liches always resurrect near their Soul Phylactery, whereas you resurrect on the spot. This is also abnormal."

"You must have used some item with a tremendous cost to forcibly extend your life."

"Let me guess: excising part of your soul to permanently alter your personality, or sacrificing a blood relative? Truly pathetic."

As he spoke, Seeing Gouchen killed Frankenstein once more, slicing off his entire head and chopping it into a pulp.

Frankenstein's head regenerated with deceptive slowness yet actual speed; he weakly stretched the corners of his mouth and said, "At least, I am still myself, not some stray ghost snatched from who knows where."

"Seeking death!"

Seeing Gouchen's expression suddenly changed; he rotated the sword hilt, unleashing sword qi that tore Frankenstein into ten thousand pieces.

Such purely physical attacks naturally could not kill a lich; Frankenstein resurrected again, still impaled through the chest by the blade, yet continuing to mock on his lips:

"You should feel glad that your older brother is now a high-ranking official in the Global Occult Coalition, able to misuse public resources to save you—oh, not save you, but possess your body." Six years ago, Seeing Gouchen, then a high school student in the real world, suffered a car accident while drag racing abroad during his studies overseas, sustaining severe bodily injuries that were beyond medical repair.

Since his family was a wealthy conglomerate, they spent a huge sum to preserve him using the most advanced human cryonics technology of that era, hoping that future advanced medical technology could thaw and treat him.

It was not until the Killing Grounds descended that Seeing Gouchen's older brother, becoming both a player and a GOC executive, obtained a Life Potion to feed Seeing Gouchen.

The problem was that the cryonics technology of that time was fundamentally imperfect; Seeing Gouchen's original soul had already dissipated.

After more than three years of attempts, Seeing Gouchen's brother, now a Level 30 superhuman, tried numerous methods before finally choosing to excise a small fragment of their parents' souls, combining it with video footage of Seeing Gouchen from childhood, memories of those around him, and a soul obtained from who knows where,

to artificially "fabricate" a Seeing Gouchen out of thin air, stuffing him into the lifeless body to complete the reboot.

Such a resurrection could be described as explosively awesome, daring to think and act, deceiving the Reaper,

or alternatively, as self-deception merely to seek peace of mind.

The Demon Scientist Alliance specialized precisely in soul techniques; as a guild member, Frankenstein knew exactly how Seeing Gouchen's brother had accomplished this,

and immediately mocked: "Do you really think that with the aptitude of a rich second-generation high school dropout who only knows how to drag race and party, you could possess combat talent far beyond the ordinary? That you could level up so quickly in the Killing Grounds?"

"Don't be silly, idiot. Your brother used a strong soul plundered from a script world, shattered it, and stuffed it into this body."

"The only original thing about you from head to toe is merely this skill with the sword."

Hearing this, Seeing Gouchen's veins bulged in anger; energy radiating from his body stirred up gusts of wild wind, rippling the pools of blood.

Buzz—buzz—

The engine roar of flying vehicles approached from afar; several G81 Falcon gunships from the game "Halo" flew toward the dump.

These gunships possessed a highly sci-fi design, equipped with nonlinear cannons and a lightweight small-scale magnetic accelerator cannon.

The searchlights beneath the Falcon gunships locked onto Seeing Gouchen and Frankenstein in the dump,

"This is the Toy City Riot Mobile Squad; those below, immediately drop your weapons! Raise your hands and surrender!"

Following the loud announcement from the airborne broadcast, the rear cargo doors of the gunships slowly opened, and a group of fully armed Space Marines from "Warhammer 40K" jumped down.

Unlike the relatively cheerful and relaxed "Star Wars," the sci-fi IP "Warhammer 40K" pursues a grimdark tone (serious and dark);

every Space Marine must undergo a series of modification surgeries starting at age twelve, such as a secondary heart on the right, bone reinforcement, muscle reinforcement, pre-stomach, visual control organs, oolitic kidney... various technologies and harsh modifications.

If the subject luckily survives all modification surgeries, by the time they step off the assembly line, each has become a super-macho man over two meters tall, weighing over three hundred kilograms, with muscles knotted all over their body.

Even though these Space Marines were merely toy versions from Toy City (lacking even paint, all in raw white molds) with weakened stats,

when paired with their grey ceramite power armor, bolt guns, and Gao Chao's tactical proficiency, they were still far superior to Frankenstein's ragtag bio-modified troops.

"Drop your weapons!"

The leading grey Space Marine shouted angrily; his subordinates, wearing helmets, however, all seemed eager to act, as if hoping Seeing Gouchen would pick up his sword again so they could open fire freely and crush these two terrorists killing each other.

Seeing Gouchen glanced around, then looked down at Frankenstein and calmly stated, "I will find your lich Soul Phylactery; I will not destroy it, but instead exile it along with you to an alternate space where time flows extremely slowly, causing your consciousness to annihilate in eternal silence."

Having said this, he flipped his palm, took out a Teleportation Gold Coin from his backpack inventory, crushed it fiercely, and vanished into thin air.

The Space Marines swarmed forward; Frankenstein, lying on the garbage mountain with his spiritual energy exhausted and unable to escape, hastily raised both hands high, "I surrender! You Toy City folks should treat prisoners well, right?"