Reborn as an Extra Chapter 599: Soul Merge. Part-5.
Previously on Reborn as an Extra...
Sending an entity into the spirit realm wasn't merely about tossing it in and leaving it behind.
It involved integrating that entity directly into the fabric of the spirit realm!
King Allen compelled them all to enter into a life-and-death pact with the actual 'laws' of the 'spirit realm'!
While bound by those 'laws' of the 'spirit realm', they couldn't escape physically; the best they could hope for was being called forth as spirit beasts, just like the others.
This served as a primary cause for the shadow dragon king's anticipation of King Allen's return to liberate him and his kin from this tormenting pact of endless agony.
Unless that accursed pact got shattered, the 'laws' of the 'spirit realm' would never permit their release.
The identical principle holds for Elisia Mistilteinn’s soul shards; they've become part of the spirit realm and can't be extracted through ordinary methods.
However, should Rio manage to unite those shards successfully, he'd essentially form a 'new being,' a fresh existence unbound by the spirit realm.
In the eyes of the spirit realm, Elisia Mistilteinn has perished; anything born from her deceased soul shards would count as a 'New Life' forged from an ancient entity's remnants.
...
"Let’s commence..."
Wasting no further moments, Rio suspended his sword mid-air and allowed Ellie’s fragmented soul orb to orbit it.
Through this setup, the soul energy he'd gathered and kept within his sword over the previous week could be smoothly delivered into Ellie’s soul via Rio’s sword intent.
After the initial step had steadied and the soul shards had taken in sufficient soul energy to bolster themselves, Rio employed his soul manipulation with utmost accuracy and began tackling the 'Puzzle.'
Much like assembling a jigsaw puzzle piece by piece in the correct spots, Rio needed to proceed similarly.
With razor-sharp control over his sword intent and soul manipulation, Rio concentrated his whole mind on the job and gradually merged one soul shard with another.
The task at hand for Rio proved at least a thousandfold more intricate and hazardous than any brain or heart operation.
Success offered no guarantees, despite profound expertise and countless trials.
Odds of pulling off this feat hovered under 0.1%, and a lone error or minor shift in spatial or soul waves could destroy everything.
Rio ventured into this only because he had no alternatives remaining.
He'd vowed to restore Liam and Ellie no matter the price, yet Elisia had fallen, and Rio refused to let Ellie endure the fate that struck Zach in the past.
This represented the last opportunity to resurrect Ellie, and failure would leave no further options.
The meticulous operation drained Rio intensely, and it burdened the soul shards as well.
Rio had witnessed countless horrors in the spirit realm where beasts endured excruciating torment from crammed multiple souls in their forms.
Due to those souls clashing and pushing against one another, they inflicted ceaseless, devastating soul agony every instant!
Without the stabilizing miasma, they couldn't have held together; they'd have annihilated each other within days from the severe harm and rejection!
Even though Ellie’s soul shards showed strong compatibility, the tiniest error could lead to mutual harm and excruciating suffering upon Ellie’s lifeless soul.
As a close companion, Rio wished no such torment on Ellie, nor the dreadful soul wounds that plagued the spirit realm's monstrosities!
Hence, perfection and exactness became his imperative.
This demand for exactness explained why fusing the initial two shards properly consumed several hours for Rio!
Following the triumph of that initial 'perfect' merge, his skill level surged dramatically, rendering subsequent merges simpler and quicker with each try.
An entire day passed before Rio reconstructed a quarter of Ellie’s full soul into a unified whole!
Yet, post-initial victory, his growing proficiency sped up the remaining integrations.
Not everything went smoothly, of course; Rio botched a few attempts and teetered on failure over a dozen times, but the vast soul energy amassed in his sword compensated for the slip-ups.
Once, Rio even inflicted lasting harm on a soul shard, luckily an artificial filler one he'd crafted to bridge voids.
Thus, Rio halted the process, fashioned a replacement shard, and resumed the 'Soul Merging Operation' from the prior point.
In the end, after three days, Rio finished the task, solving the 'puzzle' completely.
Rio stood as the universe's pioneer in flawlessly merging and resurrecting a fragmented deceased soul!
Ellie’s soul hovered near Rio’s sword, radiating a lustrous grey-white sheen, as though pulsing with vigor and joy!
Rio verified that Ellie’s sea of consciousness was reviving, methodically handling soul pulses akin to a vital soul!
Confirming the 'Soul Merge Operation's' true success, Rio gently transferred Ellie’s 'revived' soul to its special vessel, then exhaled deeply in relief.
"Phewwwwwwwww~~~~~~~~ I WON!!!"
The instant Rio relaxed his strained body, an overwhelming fatigue unlike any before crashed over him!
His form nearly shut down from utter weariness right there, while his mind flooded with joy and solace!
"I could legit call myself a proper surgeon now after this win! Rio the modest wandering healer, hehe~"
