Awakening：The Infinite Evolution of My Talent as a Low-Level Awakener - Chapter 588

Chapter 588: Chapter 588: The Troublesome Nature of the Soul Devourer Sphere!
As the Soul Devourer Sphere’s gravitational pull grew stronger, no matter how fiercely the Silver Moon Wolf God’s soul struggled, it gradually lost the ability to resist. The soul was pulled directly into the interior of the Soul Devourer Sphere.

Without pause, the Soul Devourer Sphere immediately began to refine the Silver Moon Wolf God’s soul. An intangible Fire of Purgatory quickly enveloped the entire soul.

The Silver Moon Wolf God let out a horrific, despairing scream. In that moment, he felt as though his very soul was dissolving. The terrifying Fire of Purgatory directly affected his soul, and he had no means to resist.

At that instant, his entire divine soul writhed and struggled like a fish thrown into a hot pan, instinctively thrashing and convulsing. The Soul Devourer Sphere trembled as his soul continued to batter against it, wracked with pain.

In comparison to merely absorbing a soul, the backlash from refining a soul was far more intense. Sterl felt wave after wave of impact, like crashing ocean waves, relentlessly slamming into his soul, trying to shatter and tear it apart!

“Pfft…”

Sterl’s body shuddered, and he couldn’t help but cough up a mouthful of blood. A sharp pain shot through his mind, as though a hand had plunged into his brain and was stirring it violently.

“This Soul Devourer Sphere couldn’t have been created by some powerful entity specifically to screw people over, right?”

Sterl began to seriously question the intention behind the creation of the Soul Devourer Sphere. This thing wasn’t meant for use by anyone, was it?

He even suspected that, even for someone with powerful Divine Power or an even stronger being, if they were to absorb and refine the soul of a high-tier god without preparation, they would still suffer significant damage. It might even lead to catastrophic injury on the spot.

By this logic, the costs involved in using this device far outweighed any potential rewards.

As he thought about it, he began to understand why the creator of Orichalcum—the legendary, great god—had left this artifact behind.

Perhaps it wasn’t that the Soul Devourer Sphere was useless to the creator, but that the price of using it was simply too steep for anyone to bear!

Even with Sterl’s soul strength, resisting this refining process was proving so difficult that he couldn’t help but imagine how any high-tier god would be instantly destroyed by the backlash. Their soul would likely be eradicated in an instant, unable to be reborn.

Sterl took a deep breath, his teeth grinding, as he bore the pain of the backlash from refining the Silver Moon Wolf God’s soul.

He also realized another problem: during the process of absorbing and refining the soul, he couldn’t use his soul power to heal or recover.

He had already attempted it before. The moment he began absorbing soul power, he would endure an overwhelming shockwave of backlash. Though it only lasted an instant, the force was almost several times stronger than the backlash from refining a soul.

If one blindly absorbed soul power, the resulting backlash would instantly tear apart a soul already battered and damaged, reducing it to dust!

In other words, unless your soul strength was near invincible, you could not rely on any soul power to recover during the process of absorbing and refining a soul. You would have to endure it by sheer force of will.

And if your soul was already strong enough to easily bear the backlash, then you wouldn’t need to recover using soul power.

Upon realizing this, Sterl couldn’t help but feel somewhat speechless, and a bit of lingering fear crept over him. Fortunately, he had tested this beforehand, or he could have easily suffered a massive, possibly irreparable setback.

With that thought in mind, he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to endure the pain while his mental focus sharpened, striving to stabilize his own soul as much as possible.

In stark contrast, the Silver Moon Wolf God was suffering a fate far worse than Sterl’s.

The same amount of harm caused to the soul translated into a pain a hundred times worse than that inflicted on the body. Now, the Silver Moon Wolf God’s entire being was being slowly refined, and the agony nearly drove him to the brink of madness.

It was like throwing his soul into a cauldron of hellfire, constantly boiling and burning. Over and over again, he felt every inch of his flesh, blood, and bones being cooked, softened, and melted away!

If at first, the Silver Moon Wolf God had resisted being refined out of sheer unwillingness, now, he would have gladly passed out, or even welcomed death.

But he couldn’t. He was only a soul now, and the possibility of unconsciousness didn’t exist. As for dying… refining a soul wasn’t a simple process. Every inch of the soul had to be completely refined. Only then could the extracted soul power be as pure as possible, without leaving behind any hidden dangers or remnants of consciousness.

After about ten seconds, the Silver Moon Wolf God’s struggles began to weaken. Sterl let out a quiet sigh of relief, checking his own soul’s condition.

If his soul were a towering mountain, it now resembled one that had endured multiple earthquakes, constantly battered by rain over decades. The surface of the entire mountain was now covered in cracks and fractures.

Fortunately, even though the backlash from the Silver Moon Wolf God was strong, it didn’t harm the very core of his soul. Otherwise, Sterl doubted he could have remained fully conscious at this point.

Although the remaining backlash still constantly impacted his soul, the intensity had lessened to the point where he no longer needed to concentrate all his energy to resist it.

“I was too careless. While the soul level and strength of an Upper God may not surpass mine, the essence of their soul has undergone a fundamental transformation. If I were facing an Upper God who focused on soul enhancement, the consequences would be unimaginable…”

He self-reflected, warning himself. After all, he was just a third-class player. The gap between him and the Upper Gods was no longer one of mere power—it was as if they were no longer even the same species.

After this brief period of introspection, Sterl turned his attention back to the Silver Moon Wolf God. Though only ten seconds had passed, for the one enduring the relentless refining of the Soul Devourer Sphere, it felt like an eternity.

At this point, the Silver Moon Wolf God had lost the frenzied vigor from earlier. His entire soul had shrunk considerably, but the pain he was enduring had not abated—it was only intensifying!

Noticing Sterl’s gaze, the Silver Moon Wolf God suddenly lifted his head, staring at him with near-madness in his eyes, then began cursing him furiously.

“Hades! You wicked demon! Sooner or later, you’ll meet a fate worse than mine!”

“Ahhh! If you have the guts, kill me! Just kill me completely!”

“You bastard executioner! You should be dragged down to hell! Just wait, the Ashen Temple will never forgive you. You’ll live the rest of your life in endless suffering and pursuit!”

“Kill me! Just kill me!!!”

He let out a roar like a wild beast, desperately trying to ease the agony of his soul being refined, but it was in vain. The pain, originating from his very soul, could not be alleviated by mere screams.

Sterl remained silent, merely watching him calmly. A flicker of pity appeared in his eyes.

The pain the Silver Moon Wolf God was enduring was at least several dozen times more intense than his own. Yet, despite the extreme suffering, he had not yet shattered mentally. His willpower was formidable.

However, pity and mercy for the enemy are cruelty to oneself. Sterl did not stop the refining process of the Soul Devourer Sphere.

Moreover, once the Soul Devourer Sphere began absorbing and refining a soul, it could not be halted—not for the souls being refined, and not even for him.

If the bearer cannot withstand it, then there is only one path left: death.

That’s why he had speculated that the creator of the Soul Devourer Sphere might not be exactly as described. Perhaps the Creator of the Orichalcum Kingdom had altered it somehow. As for the creator’s true intentions… that remained unknown.

More than ten seconds passed, and the cursing gradually faded, replaced by desperate cries and pleas for mercy.

“Hades, kill me! Just kill me!

I was wrong. I shouldn’t have made a move against you, I shouldn’t have opposed you. It was all my fault, all of it! Please, have mercy on me, give me a quick death!”

“I can’t take it anymore! I beg you, great Hades, please spare me!”

“I swear on my soul, if you spare me, I will serve you for the rest of my life! I’ll be your dog, I’ll do whatever you ask, just please let me go!

No, wait—I’ll be your watch dog! Isn’t that what you wanted? I’ll do it! I’ll do it! Just let me go, I swear, I’ll be loyal!”

The Silver Moon Wolf God’s soul had dwindled to about one-tenth of its original size. Now, it curled up, struggling to rise, tears streaming down its face as it sobbed and grovelled before Sterl, its appearance so pitiful it could scarcely be believed.

Sterl gazed at him, his expression complex. He knew that the Silver Moon Wolf God’s mental will had completely shattered. The once powerful, cruel, noble, and mighty Silver Moon Wolf God was now gone. All that remained was a dog that only had instinct left to cling to.

Seeing the once lofty Upper God, now kneeling in front of him, stripped of all dignity and reduced to the level of a dog, Sterl felt no satisfaction or joy. Instead, he was filled with a certain melancholy.

However, the process of the Soul Devourer Sphere was irreversible, and the speed of its soul refinement was beyond Sterl’s control.

If, at the beginning, the Silver Moon Wolf God had willingly submitted to him, Sterl would have gladly accepted. But now… only a fragment of a soul remained, with no further value except for being refined into soul power.

As the saying goes, It’s only when you see the coffin that you’ll cry. The Silver Moon Wolf God, before this moment, had never endured the agony of his soul being refined. Even with a knife at his throat, he would never have bowed to Sterl.

It’s simply the unpredictability of fate. Silver Moon Wolf God would have never imagined that his end would come in this way.

A few more seconds passed, and the Silver Moon Wolf God’s cries became faint, his soul’s essence now reduced to a mere wisp. Even if he somehow escaped, there would be no chance of revival.

In the next instant, the last trace of his soul was refined, and the Silver Moon Wolf God completely vanished from this world, leaving no trace behind.