Win.

—

[Night. Raining. Two hours later.]

Seeing Tretogor in the distance with his Transparent World activated, Richard jumped off the boat and activated his Selfless State to the maximum calmness he could muster, especially after seeing Bella, Stella, and Cindy standing behind Radovid. Turning his head toward Ciri with tears flowing down his eyes, Richard said to her, "C-can. I mean. Can you employ your first breathing form?"

Not understanding why Richard was suddenly sad but then back to normal in an instant, Ciri looked at the many undead outside the castle and said, "Sure."

Taking a very deep breath to calm his heaving chest, Richard then walked slowly toward the distant castle, ignoring the many undead ranging from castle soldiers to pregnant women scattered around the area. Glancing at a lifeless newborn still attached by its umbilical cord that fell down from that pregnant woman, Richard turned his head to look at Ciri, who was remarkably calm in this situation.

Looking toward Moiraine in the back, weaving a spell in the air, and seeing her shake her head to indicate she was not ready, Richard finally understood how Ciri, without any abilities to affect minds, could stay calm. He kept walking, witnessing scenes crueler than the last: a flesh monster made up of a pickpocket gang of children, a noble lady's puppy becoming a snack to an undead lady, and a veteran soldier beggar with one leg being chewed on while still conscious as one of the last survivors.

He finally arrived at the pools of twisting souls that absorbed any soul who had died in the Conjunction of Spheres, or more accurately, anyone who was supposed to be alive at that moment. Seeing Ciri's wish to resurrect the dead being used in this way, Richard almost lost control and let himself become the raging sun. But… inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale… he finally calmed down.

Turning his gaze toward Radovid, currently talking with the elf necromancer named Mannimarco just four meters to the right, Richard's sight first turned toward Bella, Stella, and Cindy, the first girl he personally buried, already becoming some kind of spectral summons, before turning his head toward these two demons.

Boom!

Slash, slash, slash—their limbs cut off, poisoned, and tongueless, Richard instantly touched their bodies before letting himself be drawn into Huginn and Muninn. Phasing in front of Margarita and a group of stone people named Oreads, Richard threw the two to the ground before punching them directly on the chest where the heart should have been. Bang, bang, bang—he controlled his breathing to give them enough vitality to keep living while at the same time releasing the raging-burning solar flare that they needed to endure.

"Hehehe…"

Bang!

"I win…"

Bang!

"I win…"

Bang!

"I win…"

Bang!

"I win."

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"You lost… You're no… longer calm… Do you like… my gift… The three girls… are great… summons…"

Maximizing his Selfless State to the limit until even his ethereal atomic soul started evolving, Richard looked at Radovid, who was using a telepathic spell cast by Mannimarco, for a moment before sighing in defeat, saying, "You are right, you win."

Turning toward Margarita, who was still confused yet pale as a sheet, having an inkling something bad was happening, Richard told her, "Take care of these two, I still need to deal with their master." With that, he walked toward where Moiraine and Ciri were before they teleported toward the Tretogor castle again.

Noticing that Ciri did not follow them and seeing Moiraine still shaking her head—indicating that Ciri was not ready to see these kinds of things and that Moiraine wanted to focus on fighting other Mythic Path holders without being distracted—Richard finally looked at the bottom of the cyclone river of souls. Especially he gazed at the demon in another plane of existence, who was watching them with an amused smile.

Turning toward Moiraine, Richard then said, "You deal with the souls; I will deal with the projection."

"Sure."

Jumping into the river of souls, with his mind constantly being torn apart by the anguished wails of suffering, Richard finally arrived at the bottom of the river before falling into a vast cavern system where he saw the shadow of a gigantic bipedal hybrid of a bull and a reptile standing.

"Mortal, nusil moro ven. Do kalla soten nu sul. Ag sovngarde nagaal moro wahlaan Molag Bal."

Ignoring the demon's attempt to conquer and make him subordinate, Richard produced a small sun atop his palm, intending to launch an attack from a distance. Since he noticed the altar circle in front of him, which would surely drag his soul out of his body and into the Molag Bal demon's lair if he came too close while attempting to deliver a slash with his swords.

"Mortal, dir bal. Dii faal kinz ur tiir nau, Coldharbour. Drun vokun ko, ahrk Zu'u fen sizaan Planemeld."

Launching the sun from his palm, uninterested in the plan to make this world like that demon Cognitive Realm, Richard watched as the shadow was engulfed in ionized fire, its once mocking and proud smile replaced by an unsettling and uncomfortable expression. Seeing the destroyed part of the projection and knowing that with another two to three hits it would collapse completely, Richard frowned, scrutinizing the demon's face.

After a moment, he couldn't help but mutter, "Huh, you… fear me?"

Deciding against sending a fireball to erase the shadow completely and wanting to understand why the demon feared him, despite clearly understanding that the demon was superior to him in terms of pure strength, Richard watched as the demon instantly vaporized into the air, which then deactivated the soul-harvesting ritual machine and cut off the connection between the demon's plane and this world.

Sighing as he looked at the demon, which had instantly retreated upon realizing that someone could pose a threat, unlike Archimonde who continued to battle Richard even when heavily injured, Richard shook his head, thinking that maybe in the demon's universe, this being only toyed with mortals and never fought face-to-face with the gods of that universe.

Looking up at the river of souls, which slowly dissipated into the sky before scattering and falling with the rain to be reborn from the mud of the earth, Richard saw Moiraine in the corner of the pool. Flipping his watch to gather data and information about the area, he eventually launched himself out of the hole once the gathering process was complete.

Turning toward the three girls, who had become spectral beings resembling Nightwraiths from the Bestiary section mostly uploaded by Geralt, with the only difference being their smaller bodies, Richard finally found the courage to walk closer after standing in silence for several minutes.

—