Chapter 692: The Way Home (1)
Soul Crystals and The Survivors
No wonder the hostile twin's soul was nearly immortal—it was due to the Soul Crystal. Anyone else truly would have been helpless against you.
Too bad you ran into me.
Luke was utterly ruthless. He opened his mouth and sucked the faint phantom (the twin's essence) into his abdomen.
The phantom came from the crystal; it was the purest primal will and the best tonic. Consuming it allowed Luke's soul to take a massive step forward, leaving him just one threshold away from achieving true godhood.
With that, the battle was completely over.
The eighteen Underworld Death Gods were all slain. The tentacle monster vanished from the human realm, and the peaceful, desolate Boneyard Plain was reduced to ruins.
Luke sighed deeply, withdrawing the green flame into his body and closing the vortex over his heart. He then returned to the hiding place, carrying the Soul Crystal and the hostile twin's body.
Clark had a missing leg and still hadn't woken up. J'onn's body was fine, but his mind and soul were in trouble. Diana was no better, having barely avoided being sliced in half and was now so weak she was barely breathing.
"I dragged you all into this," Luke said with a wry smile.
He gripped Diana's arm, pouring a continuous stream of life force into her body. He then took out the Soul Crystal, broke off three fragments, and placed one on the brow of each of the three heroes.
The Soul Crystal was a rare treasure. In addition to bolstering the soul's basic attributes, it could facilitate resurrection and held the potential for the user to acquire soul-related superpowers.
The three heroes' bodies were mostly intact, but their souls were the issue. Soul trauma is incredibly difficult to heal, usually requiring months of rest. The crystal perfectly compensated for this weakness while strengthening their souls, turning the misfortune into a blessing.
Once he was certain their soul signatures were stable, Luke took the three of them, flew up along the wall of the cave, and returned to the plain.
The plain had changed dramatically from before. The bone flowers that covered the landscape were gone, and the bones themselves had lost their pearly white luster, turning a dull, deathly gray.
Perhaps this is what they truly look like.
Luke built a makeshift camp, settled them in, and then merged with the hostile twin's body. He began to process the information stored in the twin's memory cells while observing the changes in the body itself.
The key to getting home was this body. Regardless of the risks, he had to find a way back.
Ready to Go Home
Time slowly passed. After an unknown duration, Diana finally woke up. Her limbs were still tired, but her spirit was surprisingly good. She looked around, seeing J'onn nearby and Clark across from her.
She let out a long sigh of relief. Leaving the shelter, she asked tentatively,
"Luke?"
Luke answered, "Rest for now. I have some things to deal with. It'll only be a moment."
Hearing his voice, Diana completely relaxed. The tension that had squeezed her for days vanished, and her body and mind felt clear.
With Luke here, everything will be alright. She had believed this from the start.
Before long, Clark also opened his eyes. The Soul Crystal was indeed extraordinary. Not only did it heal his trauma, but it also elevated his soul. Clark was no longer the "Spirit Pit Superman" from before.
His body was recovering. Only his left leg was missing, but that was a minor issue. Once back on Earth, the Justice League's medical technology could grow him a new leg in three days at most.
Clark dragged his injured leg out of the shelter. His body tensed when he saw the hostile twin, then he realized what was happening and asked uncertainly,
"Luke?"
Diana shushed him. "He's trying to find the way back."
Clark understood. He sat down nearby, reflecting on the last few days—the Underworld, Death Gods, the Gods, the sky-covering tentacles, and the endless Mother Entity.
Due to his upbringing, he was always reverent toward God. After this battle, all that reverence was gone. Gods were just normal creatures; they felt anger, rage, despair, and fear. They possessed no omnipotent power or immortal bodies. Aside from living extremely long lives, they were practically the same as humans.
Gods are nothing more than this.
Unbeknownst to them, three hours passed. Luke was still deep in thought, but one more person had arrived at the camp: Akorn.
Akorn, the confidante of the Underworld Dragon Avogadro and the former City Lord of Dragon's Keep, had somehow survived the War of the Gods and was still carrying the Dragon Heart.
Diana and Clark exchanged glances, feeling a bit speechless. That guy certainly had good luck.
Akorn himself felt it was incredible. He was at the edge of the blast when the explosion occurred, avoiding the most lethal shockwaves. He initially thought Luke was dead, but something felt off. Betting on a slim chance, he ventured toward the center of the explosion. He arrived just in time to find the small group camping.
Thud!
Akorn prostrated himself on the ground, holding out the Dragon Heart.
"Young Master, I brought the heart back."
Luke glanced at him. "Well done."
He then closed his eyes and continued his contemplation.
Akorn let out a long breath and went to the perimeter of the camp, taking up guard duty.
As night quietly descended, Luke finally emerged from his deep thoughts. Diana, who had been waiting, quickly asked,
"Well?"
Luke hesitated. "I have a way to return to Earth, but it's a bit dangerous."
Diana immediately smiled. "At this point, who cares about danger?"
"Alright then. Get ready. We're going home in half an hour."
With that, he detached from the body, turning into a stream of light, and sped away into the distance.
The Final Rescue
On the outskirts of the Boneyard Plain, in a secluded valley, a sphere made of stacked bone fragments was slowly rolling outward. Judging by the grooves in the ground, it had traveled at least twenty miles, if not more.
Inside the sphere was a ball of fluorescence. The light flickered, threatening to extinguish at any moment.
When Luke arrived in the valley, the fluorescence immediately dimmed, seemingly trying to hide. However, the moment the sphere was sliced open, it reacted like an enraged porcupine, exposing its sharpest quills.
Luke looked at the light cluster, which was constantly launching soul attacks at him, with an incredibly complex expression. He spread his five fingers and sucked the light cluster into his hand.
"You can leave now. I will preserve her True Spirit."
As he spoke, the fluorescence vanished into thin air like a candle burning out its last flicker of light. A faint, almost transparent phantom emerged—it was Hanyue, the Moon Goddess.
In the battle earlier, Hanyue had unleashed a final, desperate attack. Afterward, her soul body dissipated, leaving only her True Spirit, which was protected by a Celestial Court deity. Doom did not make trouble for them, letting them leave.
Without the Mother Entity's body, there was no energy. Knowing death was inevitable, that Celestial deity had used his own True Spirit to shield Hanyue's True Spirit, helping her flee the battlefield bit by bit. The scene was reminiscent of the original War of the Gods. If Luke hadn't sensed their presence, he never would have found them.
"I hope you survive."
Luke broke off a piece of the Soul Crystal and placed Hanyue's True Spirit inside.
Legend says the Soul Crystal possesses the miraculous ability to reforge a divine soul. He would see if that was true.
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