Their romance storyline only begins on the second playthrough

Yes, compared to the rage of Ivina's soul world, this spiritual world, now corrupted by the [Demon God Seed], appears unusually quiet—

But some threatening things appeared in front of Rhodes—

[Corroding body and soul... Countdown: 20 minutes.]

[Deep Sea God, the dark side of a fallen world, squeak.]

[Rhodes...]

[Rhodes...]

Eerie sounds kept coming from Rhodes' ears, as if a monster was perched on his shoulder and shouting into his earlobe.

The sound was so malevolent, the crackling of teeth grinding against each other echoing from the throat; in this quiet environment, every call was terrifying.

Damp heat... cold evil.

An extremely dangerous situation.

He even threatened Rhodes that he would eliminate the matter within twenty minutes.

The sharp aura emanating from it chilled even Rhodes's consciousness.

but--

"Get lost." Rhode reached out and swatted away the resentment clinging to him, saying calmly:

"Don't take on pressure."

After this strange sound appeared, the world fell silent once again.

Or rather, it was as if they were frozen in awkward silence, remaining motionless for several seconds.

It would be a miracle if they didn't feel awkward.

What does it mean?

Even a chaotic soul would want to raise such a question.

But this stagnation did not last long.

At least the resentment at realizing that they had been tricked erupted instantly within seconds.

At this moment, the deep sea began to churn.

The ocean was violently stirred up, and strange skeleton whales emerged one after another.

These whales are all tens of thousands of meters long, and each one is a terrifying existence that Rhodes has to look up to.

Even if these whales are actually less than one percent the size of the [Deep Sea God]'s main body, they are still terrifying enough.

The skull whale's eyes were now glowing with a red arc, staring at Rhodes while stirring up the entire ocean of souls, and a crisis erupted instantly!

Their mournful cries echoed far and wide.

"Buzz--"

At this moment, Rhodes felt as if he were facing an ancient god, his entire being torn apart, and his soul falling into the abyss.

but,

Rhodes, who was prepared for a desperate battle, was stunned for a moment.

He lowered his face and smiled inexplicably.

He's overthinking it.

Right.

To put it bluntly, the Deep Sea God's soul transformation has already encountered problems, so how could she possibly be only one-twentieth of her peak strength?

The power of a deity is essentially the strength of its spiritual body, and when the spiritual body becomes mentally deficient, the degree to which its power awakens is also limited.

At least Rhodes could sense that although this pressure was powerful, it was ultimately only at the level of a Saint who had been upgraded six times.

Rhodes closed his eyes and focused his mind.

"While it is indeed terrifying, it is still not enough to prevent me from even touching the sea of ​​souls."

The soul is constantly being cut and tempered by sharp blades, yet it constantly recovers and reassembles itself.

Finally, Rhodes stood safely at the very bottom of this abyss, on the surface of this crimson ocean.

The power to sever souls continues to be released, but Rhodes has already adapted.

He ignored all the pain, seemingly indifferently looking around, and began to analyze.

All of these things do look very dangerous, but they all seem to be protected by the overall order; they are simply meant to intimidate him.

In other words... this is not actually the depths of the soul.

One thing that shows this is that Clara's soul is not here.

Let's take Ivina's incident as an example.

As Rhodes delved into the soul, he instantly came into contact with the [mutated] Ivina's fleshy eyeball and confronted it.

But this time is clearly different. So far, not only is Charlotte's soul nowhere to be found, but even the merged Clara is nowhere to be seen.

Rod frowned slightly.

He is indeed lacking in the ability to penetrate the soul; at least, this is the only skill he possesses that allows him to do so.

He blinked, seemingly lost in thought.

Close your eyes.

Open your eyes again.

But something amazing happened at that moment.

In the blink of an eye, the world changes instantly.

It was no longer that crimson, pitch-black, chaotic world, but a bright, beautiful world filled with sunlight.

At this moment, Rhodes stood in the academy corridor, slightly regaining his senses and feeling somewhat lost.

"This is……?"

He looked out the window, somewhat unexpectedly.

Familiar figures came into view.

A towering clock tower stands in the center, its eaves adorned with gold, while a colossal dragon, devoid of any human symbolism, coils in mid-air.

Scattered buildings are located in various places, each marked with the college's name.

In an instant, Rhodes knew where this "environment" was.

Yes, this is a place familiar to Rhodes—Linlank Imperial Academy.

To be precise, this is the Imperial Capital Academy Junior College.

However, since the primary academy is located within the Imperial Capital Academy, this statement is not incorrect.

In short, this is where Rhodes, Natalie, Cecilia, and Felicity study together.

why?

Logically speaking, the illusions created in the soul world should reflect the other party's hatred. Why is it that instead, this world was created based on his memories?

The mystery first appeared for a fleeting moment, but then quickly disappeared.

Because at that moment, Clara's figure was jogging towards us from a distance.

It was Clara, the girl who was clueless and didn't understand anything.

"Rhodes...!"

She ran to Rod, her petite figure looking somewhat disheveled, her hair flying, and she was panting.

She quickly retreated behind Rhodes, as if hiding from some monster.

"Those people are bad people; they're trying to bully me."

Clara stretched out her hand and pointed to the end of the corridor.

At that moment, two girls dressed in junior college attire approached step by step.

Both girls had black hair, but apart from their school uniforms, everything about them emphasized their nobility.

The two women calmly observed Clara and Rod.

"Lord Rhodes."

The two of them still politely bowed as if to maintain appearances.

But this bow reveals nothing but hypocrisy.

It was this insincere bow that triggered Rod's past memories.

This is something that happened to him, or rather... something that happened between him and Cecilia.

Four or five years ago.

That is, when Rhodes was still young, only fourteen years old.

At that time, he was hardly a respected person; to be precise, he wasn't respected in the eyes of these fourteen- or fifteen-year-old, combative kids.

The power of the nobility and their noble bloodline made the nobles particularly hostile to Rhodes, who had inexplicably gained a more prestigious status than them.

After all, they didn't understand Rhodes' significance; they only thought of him as a coward who had fled his own country.

They've already been reduced to going to other countries, so what's so special about them?

It is natural that they would have an unusually strong xenophobic attitude towards Rhodes because their own interests were infringed upon and their status was inexplicably threatened.

This is why Cecilia did not have a good time when she first entered the academy, since she was the one Rhodes brought into the academy.

What's worse, Cecilia was an unstated commoner, so those fourteen or fifteen-year-old kids always dared to cause trouble for her for no reason.

At this point... the current situation is actually quite clear.

Clara is now playing the same role that Cecilia played back then.

In other words, this environment was created by Cecilia's demonic resentment.

If I'm not mistaken, it's because one of Cecilia's twelve bodies stayed next to the [Chrysalis] during the transformation process.