Soul Trigger

Chapter 641 Master
Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to lift herself up and leap towards the inverted cross, momentarily forgetting even her ability to fly.

The blackness escaping from the crack grew more and more abundant and denser.

Even as her own panicked, fervent voice pierced the air, she could still hear the cracking sound emanating from the cross—

"don't want!!!!"

A piercing shriek erupted into the sky, and a massive black mist instantly gushed forth, engulfing the two figures and completely enveloping all directions.

The next moment, Ji Li and Clementine's shrill figures appeared in the dark jungle. Clementine cried loudly, her screams causing the leaves to rustle in all directions, completely immersed in the endless outpouring of her emotions.

Amidst the surging spiritual energy, thick black smoke continuously erupted and swirled beneath her feet, quickly filling the entire forest, and Clementine's cries abruptly ceased.

The next moment, black smoke from all directions rapidly converged and instantly rushed back into the cross in Ji Li's hand, seeping into every crack in his shattered body and causing it to collapse layer by layer.

Watching the thick, viscous black smoke brush past his fingers and seep into the gaps of the inverted cross, Ji Li raised his thumb with a mocking smile—

With just a little force, the cross would shatter completely, and Clementine, who was completely lost in thought, was of course unaware of this.

As the cross-shaped storm of air rushed in, she let out a desperate gasp, her bones cracking and popping, her entire body violently arching backward in a distorted manner.

Cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck—

Screams, wailing, lamentations.

Various sounds repeatedly erupted and contracted within the rising, dark spiritual matter, finally being completely absorbed into the inverted cross.

As the strange phenomena around them completely disappeared, the shape of the inverted cross changed drastically.

The copper coating peels away, and a new shape emerges, like a new life emerging from a cocoon.

The pendant features intricate silver reliefs, and the cracks have not been repaired but rather preserved in their original shape.

But upon closer inspection, the crack was filled with rapidly moving black hair.

Ji Li stared at the moonlight for a while, his attention becoming increasingly focused, and he could even hear mutterings that sounded like crying and laughing.

Clementine's rolled-back eyes returned to normal, and her twisted spine suddenly rolled over. She gasped for breath like a drowning person being rescued, hugged Ji Li tightly, and tried to snatch the cross with intense fear still lingering in her eyes.

But this time she got it without any effort. She was stunned for a moment and realized that the shape of the cross was different from before.

The next moment, her nun's habit burst open, revealing her beautiful figure, which had turned from pale to moon white.

Startled from her daze, she was awakened by Ji Li's whistle, and hurriedly hugged her heavy chest.

But before that, the completely ripped clothes had transformed into jet-black hair that lifted the super-developed weight of her breasts, weaving them like threads and crossing them around her neck to form a leather choker.

The leather spread across her chest, eventually revealing a large area of ​​the side and transforming into a leather cutout above, imprinting a moon-white inverted cross, with a thin ravine in the middle filled with the weight.

Then two white cloths were draped over the heavy, leather-bound body, covering it from the left and right, and black hair gathered on them to form a black inverted cross, reflecting light.

The strands of hair flowed down her body, as if wrapped around a living body, transforming into the style of a dress that outlined the long, slender hem in all directions, and the inverted cross-shaped waistline completely hugged her skin from her ribs to her waist and abdomen.

Behind it, however, is a large openwork area, revealing the area from the tailbone up to the entire back.

The black stockings that hugged her soft flesh and ran down to her buttocks, and the white high-heeled boots that reached mid-thigh, both with an inverted cross pattern printed on the front.

Finally, the belt buckle extends from the middle of her upper arm, tightening the black gauze fabric that becomes a shawl, gently draping over her thighs without completely obscuring her moon-white back.

A long, jet-black, shiny hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, spreading outwards to cover the ground, with a four-cornered nun's hood gently draped over her head.

Finally, the magical girl, or rather, the magical ghost transformation is complete.

With her long black hair flowing down her shoulders and fully dressed, aside from the exposed shoulders, the high-slit dress, long boots, high stockings, and the double absolute territory formed by her thighs, her whole body was actually quite covered up.

It has holiness, it has ghosts, it has nuns.

Even though the large area of ​​her bare back was covered by the heavy shawl that extended from her arms, her endless long hair also concealed it.

But this outfit, those two flaps and the leather underneath, seem to suggest that a gentle tug from the side could easily reveal a bouncing scene.

Although her back was covered by her hair, it seemed as if you could reach out and touch it, not to mention the narrow hem of the dress.

If Shu's formal attire was meant to seduce you, were you so afraid of death that you revealed this outfit to tempt me out of spiritual intuition?
And you were wrapped up quite tightly before, so I didn't notice. You're really afraid of dying, but you're also really big.

She stared blankly at her brand-new clothes, completely unaware of their strangeness, only feeling a surge of power from the depths of her soul, and was plunged into astonishment:

"I……"

Congratulations on your promotion.

Ji Li clapped her hands gently.

From the perspective of the evil entity, she should be a fifth-tier overlord now, which sounds like a level that can be crushed with one foot.

However, the situation might be different with pacificates.

Clementine looked at her slender fingers, now a pale moon white, the former pallor completely gone, her nails glossy like black pearls, and large strands of hair bursting forth when she raised her hand.

She looked at Ji Li, her complex expression mixed with a hint of hope:

"You knew I was going to be promoted all along... so you deliberately provoked me?"

That glimmer of hope was shattered in an instant by Ji Li's words:

"You're being too presumptuous."

He suddenly appeared in front of Clementine, the inverted cross already back in his hand.

Clementine's pupils twitched; even though she had advanced, she still couldn't see through Ji Li's spiritual essence at all.

But more than anything, she was heartbroken because of the hope that had just risen in her heart:
"You really are going to pinch it..."

"Am I not fulfilling your wish? But as I said..."

Ji Li tossed the inverted cross in his hand, watching it flutter in the moonlight in its new form:
"You're not that important, so crushing you isn't that important either."

Clementine's eyes dimmed instantly, but she knew it was over, so she spoke with difficulty:

"Thank you... thank you..."

"Thank me for not killing you?"

"Thank you for taking me in..."

Clementine buried her face in Ji Li's arms:
"I'm sorry... I didn't understand anything... I'm sorry... Please forgive me..."

"You should be more sincere."

"...Sincerity?"

"for example……"

Ji Li gently put his arm around her waist, and seeing her eyes tremble like a startled fawn, he chuckled softly—

If she were to actually lay a hand on the guy, she'd probably go crazy. But Ji Li doesn't need to be crazy, nor does she have the bad habit of tormenting little girls.

Therefore he said:
Hold me tighter.

Clementine knew what he was thinking, and she also knew that Ji Li had instantly abandoned that idea, obediently hugging Ji Li tightly:

"...So you really orchestrated my promotion?"

"No, it's just to make you see reality clearly. As for the promotion, I've been feeding you the spirit of despair all along, so it's just a natural progression."

However, if you truly fail to awaken, given your sincere and heart-wrenching longing, I would certainly be happy to utterly crush you and fulfill your wish.

Feeling Ji Li's hand touch her head, Clementine trembled violently, slowly burying her head in his chest and pursing her lips:

"Please don't. I may really only be able to rely on you..."

Ji Li stroked her head; her beautiful hair was comparable to Qin's incredibly smooth blonde hair, reminding him somewhat of a socialite.
"So, are you still afraid of dying?"

The image of Ji Li pretending to crush the inverted cross flashed through Clementine's mind, and she slowly closed her sorrowful eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, all the fear in them had sunk deep into his eyes:

"afraid."

She tightened her embrace around Ji Li, releasing all her elasticity onto his chest:
"Being killed seems to happen in an instant, but I understand now. The pain is not in the feeling of dying, but in the fearful imagination of what happens after death. So death itself brings pain to the soul and the body, but there is nothing to be afraid of."

"What I fear is the complete annihilation of 'myself,' the erasure of my traces, and being forgotten by the world..."

Her hands clenched, her teeth clenched:

"Just like in school... and just like in the cross."

"Last time it was three months, now I've become even stronger, and if I die again... it might be a year." As the number of deaths increased and Clementine grew stronger, the time she felt in the cross after each death also lengthened.

Now she has overcome the physical and spiritual pain of facing death and recognized what she truly feared: the long, lonely loneliness of being ignored, unknown, and unresponsive.

That's why she seemed not to fear death, but rather to be even more afraid of the space inside the cross.

"So... I'm still afraid of dying. Please don't make me go back to the cross..."

She paused, then gently bit her lip:
"Please... Master."

"Say it again."

"Owner."

Say it ten more times.

Clementine took a deep breath:

“Master, master, master, master…”

"That's enough, you don't need to finish calling me. You're such a good girl."

"How could I possibly refuse you...?"

Clementine looked at Ji Li with resentment and slowly released him.

She is the bound one among the resting objects, and the spiritual quality of this thing may be different from that of ordinary evil beings.

However, Clementine's current upgrades are quantifiable in a concrete way.

Her movement radius has been doubled, allowing her to move to farther places.

Secondly, her spiritual manifestation has changed from a gaseous state to a physical form:
Black hair.

Then her basic spiritual power increased, that's for sure.

Then some of their abilities were enhanced:
First, the Primordial Property [Undying Curse]: As long as the primordial property is not destroyed, Clementine will not truly die. A new effect has been added:

After Clementine dies, she can be resurrected on the spot by re-weaving her body with her hair. This can only be done once. If she dies again, she will return to the original resurrection mechanism.

After being reborn from the cross, the number of times the hair can be reborn is reset.

However, the negative effect of the long perceived time is no different from returning to the cross; it's just that, objectively speaking, there's an extra chance to be reborn on the spot.

The second is the Bound Person trait, [Bionic Ghost]: Clementine Caro's original spiritual core ability. She can mimic the spiritual essence and abilities of other souls, but can only mimic one individual per life.

Clementine can now mimic two types of spirituality.

If one imitates a human spirit, one can not only imitate the other person's spiritual characteristics, but also their spiritual abilities.

If you only imitate the spirit, you can only imitate the characteristics of that spirit.

The overall effect has been broadened, no longer limited to human spirits, but also includes a weakened and convenient version that imitates spiritual matter.

In other words, if Clementine wants to continue imitating the Gravekeeper and causing trouble, she can draw upon the Gravekeeper's spirit energy from the spirit energy circuits she placed there, regaining the characteristics of the Gravekeeper's spirit energy, but she will no longer be able to imitate the inherent abilities.

Furthermore, this imitation will not be interrupted until the rebirth through the cross.

Third, the bound person's characteristic of "self-destructive tendency" transforms into "loneliness tendency." Clementine Caro no longer has suicidal tendencies, but she will intermittently exhibit depressive symptoms and crave comfort in her own way, unable to carry out other commands until she is comforted.

Fourth, the Bound Person trait, the "Traitor" trait, no longer exists; it has simply disappeared. This perhaps signifies the complete establishment of trust between Clementine and Ji Li.

Finally, two new abilities have been added:

1. [Evil Spirit Possession]: Can possess a person's spirit and control them for a certain period of time. Can actively enter a "near-death" state to release near-death possession.

A near-death possession can attach itself to any object and utilize all of its abilities. After a certain period of time, it will die completely and return directly to the cross.

2. [Black-haired Puppet]: Infuse the hair that forms the body into a person's soul at close range, turning them into a puppet to accompany Clementine Caro for a short period of time.

Then the opponent's movements will be exactly the same as Clementine Caro's, influencing each other.

But until the other party realizes this, the influence of the spirit doll on Clementine Caro will be very weak.

For the time being, Clementine Caro can only have one spirit doll.
-
The last ability, [Black-haired Puppet], is exactly what happened to Angelica.

From the perspective of spiritual psychology, Clementine's existing and future abilities all stem from her negative emotions.

As long as the negative emotions remain unchanged, being directly influenced by her spiritual nature will lead to all sorts of strange situations, the only difference being whether one can actively control them or be passively affected.

It seems that because Angelica "ate" Clementine, this ability manifested prematurely in her, and it does not take up the current number of Clementine's spirit dolls.

Because Ji Li had Clementine immediately catch a squirrel sleeping in a tree for an experiment, she successfully turned the squirrel into a spirit puppet.

From Jason's perspective, Ji Li observed that Angelica was still being affected by Clementine's active and intense fluctuations in spiritual energy.

As for the squirrel, it certainly wasn't aware that it could also influence Clementine.

So its slight effect on the nun was that the subconscious wagging of her tail caused Clementine to occasionally twitch her bottom—

Very tempting.

As for the other special abilities that would return Clementine to the cross, we'll leave that aside for now.

She definitely wouldn't want to use it now, let alone test it.

Aside from on-site testing, these capabilities were also viewed by Ji Li through the Ascension Protocol panel.

Half an hour later, Clementine spat out half a cigarette pack, her hair still tangled in her hand.

It was the half-box she had gotten from school before; she hadn't thrown it away.

After examining the cigarette case and confirming that the spiritual energy in her hair could store items anywhere on her body, she took out a cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and a hint of disappointment appeared in her eyes:
It still has no taste.

"Is it only by becoming a Dead Apostle that one can taste it again?"

"After becoming a Dead Apostle, your level of life will leap forward, just as the human spirit becomes immortal, and you will once again possess the five senses that are no different from those of the human spirit."

"Like you, an immortal... can I do it?"

"You can't do without me. With me here, you can."

“Master, you are so arrogant…” Clementine looked at him with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Of course I've said that. But suddenly having such lofty goals just for a cigarette?"

Clementine stared into the distance at the cigarette in his hand.

Behind the burning cigarette, the church school was dimly lit.

"Hmm, I want to take a puff of this cigarette..."

Just as Ji Li was about to shatter the inverted cross, she overcame the panic of her soul and body, saw what she truly feared, and realized what she wanted most:
Alive.

Nothing is more precious than being alive.

But since we're alive, we can't not even be able to smoke a cigarette, right?
"Then I congratulate you on finding the true meaning of life."

Clementine turned around and saw Ji Li leaving the woods.

The sudden surge of loneliness from the depths of her heart added a hint of panic to her voice:
Where are you going?

"You probably don't need me to stay with you anymore, right? Then I'll go back and live well with those two girls."

"..."

"You can smoke your cigarettes, I can enjoy my own pleasures, isn't that all part of life?"

Ji Li said, "Your outfit is great, but my 'greatness' can't be used on you wearing this outfit, so it's not great."

So, he went to block others with a stick.

You see, Lao Ji is always very gentle with his own people.

"But……"

Watching Ji Li's departing figure, Clementine, who had just calmed down, glanced at the burning cigarette in her hand and suddenly lost all interest.

Do you really have to be such a spoilsport, with your mind only focused on blocking people?

Couldn't you spend more time with me...?

(End of this chapter)