Chapter 373: Chapter 373 Step Forward.
The air feels heavy and suffocating at the same time. Everyone beside Soma grits their teeth to hold their feet, which are barely standing because of the roar. As the shock echoed through the place, it came crashing like waves. One by one, regular people who worked in Lin's Family blackened out. They felt their bodies swayed by the tremor beneath their feet, invoking deep fear.
Lin Huang, who just recovered, and Xiao Luan received much more severe backlash from the other. Their physicality was fine, but mentally, they were struggling to retain their almost slipped consciousness.
"Kuuh!, Mother…".
Lin Fan circulated his internal energy to cloak his skin, lessening the burden of the pressure that weighed him down. However, when he tried to protect his mother, the trembling around him died down, and the terror that reverberated in the place subsided, making the surrounding atmosphere eerily death-quiet.
Soma, who holds Xiao Luan in his hands, knit his brows as his instinct skill kept ringing an alarm that made his body tingle all over the place.
"Mother!?".
Xiao Lian hurriedly grasped her mother's hand. With a pale face, she circled Xiao Luan's hand on her neck and gave her a place to lean. Slowly, as if she were afraid of something precious, she circled her hand and let her mother sit down to catch her breath.
"Sister Luan, you okay?".
"Soma, What was that?".
"This feeling!?".
His other family sprung up forward, as Xiao Rui began to tend to Xiao Luan's condition. Meanwhile, the other two, Hina and Serafina, stood beside him, who had separated from Xiao Luan. He also still had no definite answer about the situation, but one thing came to his mind when it came to Lin Fan's Arc.
"No, that should not be possible…!?". Soma muttered the impossible route that had been set off for Lin Fan's path. He thought that because he interfered in saving his family, it would be the end of it, and Lin Fan would have his deserved ending.
In the original route, Lin Fan, who is restless about his own growth and anxious about his family's condition, chooses a last resort, which becomes his downfall when his family becomes demonized and gets purified by Leon.
However, all of those events will happen in the next year after the four families finish their annual gathering on December 31st. Lin Fan will contact Damian and eventually let his family be taken care of by them and become another guinea pig.
That event should not have happened right now, following Lin Fan's change and his interference, unless someone was aware of it or it was already predestined.
However, deep within his mind, a wicked and vengeful smile of the girl who was almost cornering him at that time cast her menacing glare at him from another dimension.
"Lin Fan, what is happening!? Hm, Soma!?".
A distressed voice comes from a young boy with blonde hair, carrying an unconscious Lucy on his back, followed by the other two, Tiara and Akane, running toward Soma's group while attracting an entity with red skin; it was a demonized person.
The demonized figure is a young girl with an average height of 158 cm and a slender figure. She wears a white, pristine cheongsam, and her long black hair is tied into a bun with fancy hair accessories.
However, her current appearance was horrendous. A pair of black bat wings and goat horn protruded from her side skull. Her finger, which should be delicate, is now encroached by sharp black talons that could slice through the boulder with ease.
There is no intellect in her sharp black eyes; she was blinded by an unfathomable rage and unsatiated destruction that gnawed at her heart, breaking her own conscience little by little.
"Lin Jia!?".
A soft and stiff voice came from behind, prompting Soma to look at the source. He found Lin Fan holding his mother safe in his arms, with a pale and despaired look on his face. From that alone, his gut screamed in protest: "Why did this happen?".
Furious at the unreasonable event in front of him, Soma turned his gaze to the front and saw Leon was already running past him in a hurry.
In a single breath, Lin Jia covered the distance while brandishing her black claws that gleamed ferociously under the glare of the Sun.
"Tch, Hina, Sera protect the other!".
Soma dashed forward, confronting LIn Jia head-on despite being in turmoil.
[Extra Skill Puppeteer activated]
However, he forced his own mind to cease unnecessary emotion and face the demon in front of him. When the two shrunk their distance, Lin Jia swung her claw downward with no technique, just pure brute force.
Soma could feel tremendous power accumulating from the attack, so instead of dodging it to the side, he summoned his gauntlets and circulated his internal energy to coat his body in an instant.
A menacing Black claw and a crackling crimson lightning met, creating huge shockwaves that blew away everyone's perception.
Lin Jia was furious as someone blocked her attack, and she began to shift her attention to another attack, but because of her mindless action and slow decision, she had. Soma pushed away her claws, making her stance crumble, and she thought in disarray.
Soma began to grab her right wrist and ducked down as he pushed away Lin Jia's body forward, and he stood behind her before twisting her hand and bringing her down to the ground, apprehending her freedom.
Thanks to his effort for all this time, even though the demon in front of him had enough power to rival an A-rank awakener. in front of him, it was nothing but a subtle attempt of an ant trying to move a mountain.
"Grrr, gyaaa!?".
Lin Jia began to retaliate and let out another pressure roar that blocked every other person's freedom. Feeling bothersome that she kept retaliating, Soma put his palm on the back of her skull and began to concentrate his Soul Power to unleash his Magic.
"This should be enough!".
[Lightning magic level 1 activated]
"Thunder Shock!?".
A brilliant crackle of roaring thunder drowned Lin Jia's angry shout, who tried to refuse to be submitted. However, with the difference in strength and when Soma put more of his Soul Power within his magic, Lin Jia slowly drifted through a dreamland.
After making sure that his enemy went limp but still retained its breath, Soma released his hand on her head and stood up while his thoughts were clouded by dark mist. He began to consider an option to kill the girl in sight, but another reason suddenly blocked him from doing so.
While the others saw the battle that ended abruptly fast, they soon turned pale, seeing Soma's fists crackle with crimson energy that sent blood disappearing from their bodies.
"Wait!?".
Lin Fan, whose mind was alerted, sent a signal through his nerves that made his own body move without him knowing. He pushed Soma away aside from his little sister and put her below him, while for the second time, he prostrated at someone.
"Lin Fan!? You!".
Soma asked; his tone was cold like a sharpened blade, too shocked for the appearance of Lin Fan, who, despite knowing his sister had been demonized, still chose to protect her.
"...Soma, don't kill her please! I Beg of you!".
"What the hell are you doing? She was already demonized. There is no way for her to return to being Human again!".
Crimson lightning crackled wildly around them, sending an electric shock that cut Lin Fan's shoulder and charred the ground around him. Even so, Lin Fan refuses to leave his position, still protecting his sister beneath him while Grovel.
"...Please!".
"Tch, you!".
Then, the moment came when Soma lost his patience and was determined to walk the path of being branded as Evil. Crimson lightning surged through all his veins, giving him an overlord feeling to decimate everything in his path.
From behind, another crimson shade mixed in stood in front of Soma, whose eyes gleamed with dangerous intent. A crisp and dry 'pak!' resounded within the place, shocking the people who witnessed the scene.
"Get a hold of yourself, Soma! This isn't like you at all".
The heat that stung his cheek dismissed the crimson lightning in the surroundings. Her raw anger and clear determination in her voice brought a bit of sanity to Soma's eyes, and finally, he could see the figure who had stopped him.
"...Hina!?".
Another pain stung his eyes awake as Hina pinched Soma's hot cheek, the place where she had landed her palm earlier. Hina stretched his cheek while spreading her warm smile, showing her white teeth. He didn't know why, but his body trembled in fright.
"Um, Hina, I am sorry for my outburst".
"Why? Why are you apologize to me?".
She released her finger from his cheek, which was still throbbing.
"...Eh, because, I was".
"You should apologize to him, not to me!".
"!?".
Lin Fan and the others who saw Hina's brave front tremble in awe as she could stop Soma, who was in the middle of transforming into a demon that brought fear.
Soma turned to Lin Fan, who absentmindedly looked alternating between him and Hina. Then, under the pressure of Hina by his side, Soma straightened his posture, bowed his torso ninety degrees, and opened his mouth.
"I am sorry, Lin Fan!".