"Zarathos, I know you are here. I am not Mephisto. You are not afraid of me too, are you?"
"Even Mephisto, I have never been afraid of."
The hellfire in the consciousness space continued to rise and gathered together, transforming into a red skeleton with blue flames wrapped around its body. It was floating in the hellfire, looking down at Sebastian, and said, "Human wizard, you have crossed the line!"
"Crossing the line? I do not think so!" Sebastian's body also floated upward, level with Zarathos, and continued, "Since you have been eliminated by the times, do not keep hanging around. It is decent to leave as soon as possible."
"Being eliminated by the times... Today's humans really lack reverence."
As soon as these words fell, the hellfire in this consciousness space immediately surrounded Sebastian, but when those blue flames approached Sebastian, they suddenly seemed to have seen their owner, like obedient pets, and they stuck to Sebastian's body without causing him any harm at all!
Feeling the warmth of the hellfire instead of pain, Sebastian chuckled softly and said to Zarathos, "Zarathos, you absolutely should not have allowed me to absorb these fragments of consciousness for so long after you were absorbed by me. Perhaps for other mages, completely absorbing these fragments would be extremely difficult, but for me, absorbing them is no problem at all. After absorbing these fragments, I have become another master of this place."
Sebastian's Legilimency granted him incredibly fast and powerful abilities, allowing him to quickly absorb the beneficial portions of the fragments and discard the harmful and useless ones.
If Sebastian were just an ordinary mage, or even a powerful mage from another magical system, he would not be able to absorb these fragments so quickly, and his own mental awareness would be disturbed by them. This is why Zarathos allowed Sebastian to absorb so much.
However, he had greatly underestimated Sebastian and had little understanding of his unique magic, causing his once-safe plan to completely fail!
"How is this possible? How could you absorb it so quickly and without any negative effect?"
With a furious roar, Zarathos unleashed a torrent of hellfire. These fragments of hellfire were simply fragments of consciousness, not actual hellfire. Therefore, Sebastian's authority had no effect on them. Otherwise, Sebastian could simply use the power of hellfire to extinguish them.
The vast inferno transformed into a massive flaming skull, blazing with intense blue flames. It roared and ripped down towards Sebastian, biting down from above.
But at that moment, Sebastian snapped his fingers, and the flaming skull instantly disintegrated, transforming into countless flaming crows that swirled around Sebastian endlessly before vanishing into the space of his consciousness.
"Damn it! Impossible! This is impossible!"
With a furious roar, Zarathos frantically swirled more fragments of hellfire towards Sebastian. However, without exception, the inferno vanished into thin air around Sebastian.
At this moment, Zarathos swung his skeletal arms again, swirling streams of hellfire and shattered consciousness fragments towards Sebastian. Sebastian, just as before, extinguished the inferno easily.
But this time, by the time Sebastian had extinguished the inferno that obscured his vision, Zarathos had vanished from the spot.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes and prepared to move forward to locate Zarathos, but at that moment, a red bony hand blazing with blue flames grabbed Sebastian's head from behind. Then, reaching from his right shoulder, it grasped Sebastian's neck tightly. Meanwhile, Zarathos's entire skeletal body collapsed onto Sebastian's back, his skull resting on Sebastian's right shoulder. He looked sideways at Sebastian and sneered.
"Humans are humans, too humble and too arrogant. I admit that I am surprised that you can absorb the fragments of my consciousness so quickly, but if I want to deal with you, the erosion and devouring of your soul is the best choice. Once I devour your soul, the fragments of consciousness you absorbed will return to my body again!"
While Zarathos was speaking, Sebastian's body gradually began merging into Zarathos's skeletal form at a speed visible to the naked eye.
However, Sebastian at this moment did not panic or lose his composure. He said directly to Zarathos, "If you continued to hide in the depths of this consciousness space, I may not have been able to do anything to you for a while, but you just came to my door. Do you think I would come in without any preparation?"
"Of course I know you are prepared!" Zarathos's words were full of mockery and he continued, "In fact, I know all about your preparations outside this space.
I know about the secret room you prepared, the defensive arrays inside, and the magic school you built. I even know that you and the current Sorcerer Supreme are working together to prepare a plan to deal with the Vishanti Trinity, but your preparations are useless.
No matter how many things or arrays you prepare, they cannot help you in any way. Now you are facing my soul directly, and all you can fight against me with is your weak human soul!
Now you had better merge with me happily!
All your authority will belong to me!"
As soon as the words fell, Zarathos once again accelerated the absorption of Sebastian's soul.
But at this moment, Sebastian suddenly chuckled and said, "Zarathos, who told you that those external magic circles are meant to aid me in dealing with you? They only prevent my power from leaking out and causing damage to the school. As for dealing with you, I am more than capable of doing so myself!"
As soon as these words fell, the moment Zarathos sensed something was amiss, Sebastian's soul suddenly began absorbing Zarathos's soul instead. Sebastian's soul manifested a vastly different, more powerful essence than before, far surpassing that of a normal human!
Even at a certain point in strength, soul essence could not improve even slightly; at most, the difference would be in sheer pure power. But Sebastian's situation had completely surpassed that limitation.
Sebastian's soul essence had reached a level exceeding that of the now half-crippled Zarathos, powerful enough to absorb Zarathos's soul. Zarathos was completely powerless to resist, and could only watch helplessly as Sebastian absorbed him. No matter how he struggled or wailed, it was completely useless!
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