Divine Emperor of Death

Many thoughts revolved around Davis's mind as he witnessed the gravity of the situation. It was different than what he had previously encountered, causing him to voice out.

"Katherine, are you fine?"

"Master…" Katherine Hilltail's voice sounded weak. She opened her eyes, revealing her copper-colored pupils. However, they seemed to be trembling.

"I am fine. I… can endure."

"Is that so?"

"Is master worried for me…? That makes me happy..."

Katherine Hilltail's body continually shuddered, but her lion face produced a pained smile.

"…"

Davis didn't know what to say. A normal beast would be scared to death at this point. Perhaps, learning that she could become as strong as Nadia ultimately fueled her determination to the point of death?

After all, she must've realized that she could get to Emperor-Tier this way or, at least, the King-Tier.

"Nadia, was it like this for you?"

Davis asked, causing Nadia, who was also witnessing Katherine Hilltail's situation narrow her eyes.

"There was some uncomfortable feeling in the beginning, but not like this, master. I didn't experience pain, and neither did Everlight, from what I've seen. Shortly, it would turn comfortable, but Katherine Hilltail seems like she is in more and more pain. Clearly, something is wrong."

Davis also nodded.

From what he could see, the infusion of Fallen Heaven's influence was most likely a failure. However, he was unwilling to stop the process just like that. Perhaps, the incompatibility was only at the initial stages, and that's why Fallen Heaven's influence was forcefully making Katherine Hilltail adapt to its powers?

He felt that he had to monitor for some more time. Katherine Hilltail also said that she could endure, so he adopted a wait-and-see attitude.

However, the more time passed, the more he became worried.

"Roar!~~~"

Katherine Hilltail had started to moan in pain before she let out a wild roar. Her eyes turned bloodshot, causing Davis to sigh inwardly. His soul force churned and began to form a blockade around her shelter, disallowing the fog of life energy to intrude, or so he thought, but the foggy life essence still penetrated through his soul force and enveloped the shelter.

"What?"

Davis's eyes narrowed. Why couldn't he stop it? Wait, was he ever able to stop it?

Just as he brainstormed for a few ways to stop it, his vision bulged as he saw Katherine Hilltail's right head swell.

*Splat!~*

It burst, causing a tidal wave of blood to splash and stain the shelter.

"Rampant proliferation of cells!" Davis's scalp turned numb.

He quickly set up another layer of deathly soul force around the shelter and his soul essence. However, it seemed useless. Katherine Hilltail's abrupt change was unexpected. Her left leg also started to swell, followed by one of her tail segments and even her abdomen.

"Fuck, stop!"

Davis tried two more methods, but he was unable to stop the process.

"Fallen Heaven, help me stop it!"

"I can't. I thought you would be able to, but you also can't. I guess once the infusion process starts, it won't end. Quickly dissolve the beast-taming pact with her. That's probably the only way out of this situation."

Davis clenched his teeth. Of course, he knew of this method, but who knew what kind of result it would bring? However, running out of options, he had no choice but to use them.

*Bang!~*

He appeared outside the cave and let out Katherine Hilltail. Her huge body appeared outside, missing some parts. Even her tail seemed to have snapped while blood was dripping from all over her body. Just a look at it, and he could tell that this was the kind of mutation Evelynn went through from the story Isabella told him, intensely painful, yet the chances of survival were unreasonable.

However, Fallen Heaven's influence on mutation should've caused Katherine Hilltail to turn into a cocoon. But instead, she didn't and started swelling from the proliferation of cells as though she was going to explode from the over-absorption of life essence.

When he realized that this was definitely not a mutation but failing to mutate, how could he not stop it?

His soul force wrapped around Katherine Hilltail's body, lowering her effortlessly to the ground. He instantly checked her body and saw that the proliferation had come to a stop. However, every one of her cells had an influx of life essence. It was not an amount that they could hold, meaning that he couldn't heal her with his life energy.

Once the life energy receded, Davis assumed that Katherine Hilltail's body would automatically heal itself. However, his expression turned unsightly as his senses penetrated her soul sea.

Katherine Hilltail's soul had proliferated into becoming a vast expanse in her soul sea but unable to endure, it was collapsing upon itself.

Katherine Hilltail's copper-colored eyes were nowhere to be seen. One of the eyeballs was white while the other had simply exploded, blood dripping out of her right eye socket, but a soul transmission fell on Davis's ears in a weak yet self-aware tone.

"I'm going to die… Hehe~"

Hearing that feeble voice, all Davis could think was that she was experiencing her last moments, able to see clearly as though time was incredibly slow for her. However, his expression couldn't help but turn angered.

"Idiot! You could've destroyed the pact by yourself if you knew you were going to die. Why didn't you-?"

"Mas… ter… although I was… useless as ever… I was happy to have served-"

Katherine Hilltail's words stopped right there, never to be heard again, even though Davis waited a few seconds. His soul sense once again swooped over her body, and despite the remnant soul undulations he felt in her soul sea, he could tell that she was lifeless.

Katherine Hilltail was undoubtedly dead as of this moment.

Not saying anything, Davis turned around and flew towards the mountain.

*Brrk!~*

His death energy surged and carved out a humongous cave out of the mountain. Holding Katherine Hilltail's corpse with his soul force, he brought her inside. His chaotic energy churned, causing earth martial energy to surge out from his pores and directly caused them to turn into a mountain that blocked eyesight and senses.

The humongous cave became pitch black, but a wisp of flames lit up within the cave, causing the enclosure to illuminate.

At the same time, he made hand seals as reincarnation energy surged out from his ten fingers, swirling like ten dragons creating a massive vortex. That black and white vortex gained devoured the surrounding heaven and earth energy, but since the space was sealed, even the mountains and earth around him started to lose their heaven and earth energy.

*Rumble!~*

The skies above thundered. Even though it was clear as the day, the weather suddenly changed as dark clouds appeared.

*Bzzz!~*

Lightning bolts struck the mountain Davis was at. However, it failed to penetrate, and neither was it a heavenly tribulation.

As Davis formed the reincarnation vortex at the center, he tried to remember the familiarity of the technique he used on Glyn as much as possible before waving one of his hands. Katherine Hilltail's soul essence flew into that vortex, seeping into it like the last time.

Till this stage, Davis confirmed that nothing had gone wrong, causing him to open his mouth.

"Deceiving the reincarnation cycle, bring forth the cardinal essence of the fallen. Churn with the might of life and death and release the reincarnation locked within, threatening the balance of the cosmos as I give ordinance for the dead to rise: Fallen Soul Resurrection."

The iridescent vortex abruptly changed its spin, rotating in the opposite direction as it went against the balance of the world. The heaven and earth energy rumbled. The skies thundered. The illuminated space of the sealed cave was quickly overwhelmed by a blinding light.

The blinding light receded instantly, leaving behind a tiny sphere of iridescent black and white hue hovering in mid-air.

Davis's eyes were quite calm as he saw the tiny sphere blossom into a lotus.

Just as the lotus completed its formation, it abruptly shook and shattered.

"…!"

Davis became shocked.

The Fallen Soul Resurrection Technique was a failure.

But how!?"

Numerous thoughts swirled past his head before he found a plausible reason.

"I see. One of Katherine Hilltail's three spiritual souls is damaged..."

Mutation into another species also meant a profound change in the soul essence. Something like all seven physical souls would be affected, making it so that this life's spiritual soul would also be inflicted with a comprehensive shift in essence.

For example, Ancestor Cornelia's husband Klade had transformed into a Fire Phoenix Variant, but before he could fully transform and his soul integrated, he was killed by the heavenly tribulation. Fortunately, he had been revived by the momentary gain of nirvanic rebirth, but still, when he rebirthed, he was no longer a Fire Phoenix Variant.

That was because all of his physical souls hadn't experienced that change yet, and consequently, his spiritual soul hadn't recorded that information, causing him to return to his Burning Phoenix form.

In the same way, this forced mutation that he made Katherine Hilltail go through chipped her spiritual soul.

Therefore, his Fallen Soul Resurrection Technique that worked on Glyn was unable to revive her because her spiritual soul was incomplete. It must go back to the reincarnation cycle to be healed, or so he thought.

Coming to this point, Davis also felt that he had only one choice left. However, he had intended not to use it unless absolutely needed so that it may not create greater chaos along the lines of fate, but the thing he hated the most was letting an innocent person that he had interacted with die because of him, especially on his call, causing him to feel responsible for this matter, more than he thought he was.

Davis reached out his hand as a blinding light surged out from his palms, enveloping Katherine Hilltail's soul essence and swelled corpse.

'One of the spiritual souls may have been damaged, but to Fallen Heaven, the purest artifact of life and death that I have ever seen, reviving a simple Emperor Stage Beast is nothing...'

As he thought, the blinding light receded, leaving him with a glowing figure amidst the dimly lit cave.