Is this really a Game?!

As Reign released the myriad of souls he had captured from his consciousness, he gave them a command, only one command – attack.

No tactics, no turning the souls into weapons, nothing except for the release and command. That way, he would be able to command more souls and could do whatever he wanted after giving the command as they would follow it without him having to give them another one.

He was planning on overwhelming the Warden's Soul Power with the souls he had devoured over time, hoping it would be enough to break through, or at least weaken the oppressive aura the Warden had. He had never faced something like that before, nor had he ever done anything similar to this before, but it was the only thing he could think of right now.

The souls rushed to the Warden, forming what looked like a tidal wave, colliding with the aura the creature possessed. For a moment, the battlefield seemingly froze as they clashed, and then, the oppressive atmosphere thickened, the air becoming almost too heavy to breathe as the souls fought against the immense pressure.

One thing made Reign smile, however, and that was how the Warden reacted. For the first time since the battle began, the overwhelmingly powerful monster actually reacted, its red eyes that were present through the visor of its helmet narrowing slightly as it raised its head, emitting a low roar that reverberated through the arena.

The souls Reign released shimmered and pulsed, trying to somehow force their way through the Warden's roar, to break through the aura, but it wasn't enough. The overwhelming power of the roar, coupled with the powerful oppressive aura from the monster pushed them back with overwhelming force, dispersing the souls in every direction.

Reign stumbled back, as did the others, their heads spinning from the roar as the soul power of the Warden struck them, slightly harming their souls. Reign quickly realized that the Warden's soul power was like a wall, seemingly impossible to breach. He had hoped that he could brute-force it, but now it seemed that it was simply not enough.

"It responded to your souls, they work against him, and they can definitely harm him," Mia noted as her eyes narrowed while she studied the Warden. " We can definitely get through him, we just need to figure out how to do that."

"Yes, but unfortunately for us, we have no time for trial and error, don't forget that our marks won't last forever, we need to find a way to wound this thing in less than 2 minutes, or we lose," Wolf growled, his flames flickering anxiously around him.

Aethion, who had been silently observing the clash, suddenly spoke up, talking to Jared. "Seems like that won't work, brute-forcing isn't going to do it, he needs to disrupt the flow of its Soul Power, not just collide with it."

Jared glanced at him, still a bit surprised that the Warden was able to so easily disperse the souls. "Disrupt it how?"

Aethion's eyes gleamed with understanding. "Soul Power is like any energy—it has patterns, rhythms. If you flood it with random interference, it might weaken. But you need to be precise. The souls have to strike at the weak points of its defense."

"Alas, I cannot tell Reign that, the system still is not allowing me to do so," Aethion said as Jared sighed.

"Perhaps this will work." Jared suddenly took out a piece of paper, scribbled something on it, and then made it disappear.

"What did you do?"

"Master is connected to the base, thus anything that appears there will be known to him, he will be alerted."

"Technically, we are not speaking to him, and the system didn't stop me from sending that piece of paper, so, it is fine to tell him that way?" Jared asked Aethion who blinked twice in quick succession.

"The system is neigh omnipotent, do you really think we can find a loophole in it, one as dumb as that?!"

"But … since it did nothing to stop me, does that mean there is no loophole, the system just allows us to do us, we just never realized it?" Jared asked Aethion who blinked again before thinking of what the system had done.

It had made it so that Aethion and Jared could not converse with Reign and the others, but, it did just say converse, it never said a thing about giving them information any other way.

"Dammit, it was a trick, a sort of test from the system … to think I never realized it."

As Reign and his group fought against the oppressive power of the Warden, their marks flaring with desperate intensity, an unseen force worked to aid them—Jared's message, cleverly sent, contained the key to turning the tide.

Reign felt a faint tug at the back of his mind, a whisper that made him stop and take a deep breath. The oppressive aura was overwhelming, suffocating, and yet—there was a rhythm to it. The Warden's Soul Power wasn't just a static wall of energy, it pulsed, like a heartbeat or the ebb and flow of a tide.

He managed to read the message in an instant and then smiled.

"There's a pattern to it," Reign muttered, mostly to himself. His eyes narrowed as he tried to focus amidst the chaos. He had been thinking about overwhelming the Warden with brute force, but maybe that was the wrong approach. Maybe it was about finding the weak point in the flow of its power.

"What did you say?" Shadow asked, appearing beside Reign, his voice tense but steady.

"There's a pattern in its Soul Power," Reign said, louder this time. "We've been attacking randomly, trying to push through all at once, but that's not how we do this!"

"You continue attacking it, I will break through!"

Reign's eyes burned with determination as he formulated a new plan. "Keep the pressure on the Warden, but this time, don't just attack wildly. Time your strikes to create disruptions. I'll break through its Soul Power while it's defending."

The team nodded, their marks blazing with renewed vigor. Each of them understood the gravity of the situation, but Reign's leadership gave them hope. If there was a pattern to the Warden's immense soul power, then they had a chance.

"Go!" Reign shouted, and in an instant, the battlefield roared back to life.

Mia's ice spears shot forward, glinting like shards of frozen death. She focused on striking at precise intervals, aiming at the joints in the Warden's armor. Each impact seemed to create a faint ripple in the air, a slight weakening of the oppressive aura surrounding them.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Wolf followed suit, unleashing controlled bursts of his purple flames. Instead of a continuous assault, he sent them in timed waves, his chaotic energy flaring with deadly precision. The flames licked at the Warden's legs.

Tank and Greenie roared in unison as they attacked with brutal force, their movements synchronized with Reign's plan. Each time their blows connected with the Warden's arms and torso, there was a flicker of disturbance in the aura. It wasn't much, but it was noticeable.

Meanwhile, Shadow darted around the Warden's massive form, his daggers flicking in and out like viper strikes. He targeted the narrow gaps in the Warden's armor, striking at precise intervals that aligned with the fluctuations in its Soul Power. His darkness, now more controlled, seeped into those gaps, testing the Warden's defenses, looking for any signs of weakening.

Aelrinder's wind-infused spear struck with sharp, cutting gales, each attack carrying the force of a hurricane. His strikes weren't about raw power anymore; they were about precision. He aimed for moments when the Warden's Soul Power pulsed outward, trying to time his attacks to destabilize the flow.

Beast fired arrow after arrow, each one enchanted with different elemental properties. Some exploded on impact, while others caused lightning to arc across the Warden's armor, momentarily overloading the protective field of Soul Power. His tamed beasts—the wyvern and flood dragon—attacked from above, raining down destruction, and adding to the chaos.

Jin, however, stood back, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the battlefield. His fists glowed with energy, and instead of launching another barrage of attacks, he waited. He watched for the precise moment when the Warden's defenses would falter, his martial arts prowess ready to strike the instant Reign found the opening.

One thing that was different this time, without even the others aware of it, was that each of their attacks was fueled by soul power, by Reign's soul power. That way, they could disturb the Warden's aura, without it, it was simply impossible.

Reign, now hyper-focused, could feel the Warden's Soul Power more acutely. The massive creature still stood tall, barely reacting to the flurry of attacks being thrown at it, but Reign sensed the shifts in its power. Every time the Warden's Soul Power reinforced a part of its body to block an attack, there was a brief, almost imperceptible delay in the energy flow.

It was like a heartbeat—strong and steady, but with faint pauses between each pulse.

"There," Reign muttered to himself. He felt the rhythm. His soul sense, enhanced by the hundreds of souls he had absorbed, allowed him to tune into the Warden's energy patterns. He could see it now—the openings, the brief windows where its defenses weakened ever so slightly.

"I've got you," Reign whispered, his eyes flashing with determination.

Reign charged forward, his speed a blur as he closed in on the Warden. The massive creature sensed him coming, its red eyes narrowing as it prepared to reinforce its defenses. But Reign had already anticipated this. He wasn't going for the obvious strike.

At the last moment, Reign twisted in mid-air, using the momentum from his charge to propel him behind the Warden. With a roar, he swung both swords, aiming for the gap between the creature's helmet and its chest plate. His timing was perfect. He struck just as the Warden's Soul Power pulsed outward to defend against another attack from Wolf.

The swords hit.