Is this really a Game?!

Reign's heart skipped a beat as he realized what was happening. This wasn't just any ordinary spy; the thing that was hugging him was a phantom, a creature created from soul power and controlled by somebody.

"Soul Phantoms aren't easily made, they need quite some patience, as well as a lot of soul power for one to be created, but they can be saved up, after making one, you don't need to use any soul power or mana for them to continue existing."

"Placing this one on the spy, it seems whoever had sent him had also done their homework, they are blocking your attempts to manipulate him via the phantom and might have even gone as far as to change the poor bastard's memories, implanting fake ones ever since the phantom had been around him."

Aethion sighed as he spoke, allowing Reign to be aware of what the thing around the spy was.

The phantom screeched at Reign who stared down at it before utilizing his soul power and bringing down enormous pressure on the phantom that stopped screaming and was now staring intently at Reign as it was slowly being pushed down to the ground from the immense soul power coming from Reign.

'It's not as powerful as I thought it would be.'

"Well of course not, they're mostly made to spy on people, to protect the souls and minds of other people, and to also act as a failsafe at times, destroying the mind of the person they were placed around if there is a need for it."

The phantom was slowly being removed from the spy who now had an empty expression on his face, his eyes were completely unfocused and he didn't seem to be capable of anything right now.

It was just like what Aethion had told him, the phantom had destroyed the mind of the spy, scattered its soul, and made it into nothing else but a mindless fool that could do little more than just walk around and eat for sustenance.

"We've been played," Reign said, his voice low and filled with frustration as he continued removing the phantom that suddenly screamed at him before moving away, trying to escape him. "This guy might not have spoken the truth, whoever their leader is, he can utilize soul power like me, and he is capable of even shielding his men from the effects of soul power."

Reign suddenly moved, going after the phantom that had now gotten about 120 meters away from them.

It only took Reign 2 seconds to outrun the phantom before using his soul power again.

This time, he wasn't just using the immense aura and pressure the soul power contained, he also attacked the phantom, creating chains of soul power that quickly wrapped up around the phantom.

'Hey, what will happen if we try to take the phantom, can the enemy do any harm to us if the phantom is inside my consciousness?'

"Nothing really, a consciousness is a very complicated thing, but if a person wants to actually harm you there, it's much more difficult since you are the master of it, you have full control over it and are more powerful there."

"If one wanted to use a phantom to actually harm you inside, then that person needs to be quite stronger than you in terms of soul power and control over soul power, and even then, I don't see how a phantom could do anything, perhaps the only way is if the phantom is actually a fake, one that was made to act as a bomb of sorts."

"But even that wouldn't work on you, after all, you have me, Jared, and the copy inside of you, and neither one of us three wants to see you harmed, which means we will do our best to immediately remove anything that might be dangerous from the consciousness."

Reign nodded, understanding the risks involved. He focused on capturing the phantom, channeling his soul power to create stronger chains that ensnared it completely. With a final surge of power, he pulled the phantom towards him, drawing it into his consciousness.

As the phantom was pulled inside Reign's consciousness, Reign felt a surge of power appear in his consciousness for an instant, clashing against his own, but it was smothered as quickly as it appeared.

"That was the soul power that created the phantom, since you took it in, the soul power clashed against yours, but luckily, phantoms don't have that much soul power, so it wasn't hard to deal with it."

"Do remember that soul power, as faint as a trace it was, might allow you to recognize the owner of the phantom in the future."

Reign nodded at Aethion's words and stared at the phantom that was now doing nothing but standing in place.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Well, by placing it here, you have caused the soul power that made it to disperse, not to mention that this place is your consciousness, it is cut off from the outside world, and the phantom is no longer capable of getting orders and receiving any signals."

"I see, so as long as it's here, it can't do a single thing, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"In order for all of this to happen, however, the person doing so needs to have a powerful soul, a lot of soul power, decent control … but since you have me and the others, all the steps that a person would usually take can be done by us."

"Removing the remnant soul power from the phantom, completely checking it, scanning it, making sure it will not be a threat, and cutting it off from the outside world, not allowing it to even see what was going outside, all of those are things that you would usually need to do."

"Well, thanks, I guess?" Reign asked as he scratched the back of his head while Aethion sighed.

"No need to thank me, I'm just doing what I can to help," Aethion replied. "Now, let's focus on what we learned."

"This Malakai character is likely a fabrication, a front to keep us distracted, whoever is behind this is clever, using phantoms to manipulate and deceive."

Reign nodded, his mind racing with possibilities. "We need to stay vigilant, if the enemy is resorting to such tactics, they must have something significant to hide."

"Well yes, but it also shows that they are afraid of you, after all, you did just take down a spawn of corruption and have managed to see through the stealth powers of that spy, one that the enemy had seemed to really be certain were enough to spy on you."

"What happened?" Wolf and the others arrived behind Reign, looking at his back with confusion, and interest.

"Well, long story short, the spy was under control, the enemy fabricated the persona called 'Malakai', and the enemy has somebody that is very proficient at using soul power." Reign said as he smiled at the others before sighing, as they all did.

"Great, another dead end," Shadow said while Beast thought for a bit.

"Well, not necessarily, I mean, at least we know that the enemy is trying to spy on us, and since they failed at it, it might also mean that the enemy is indeed much weaker than we are and cannot afford to fight against us, thus doing such things," Beast said with a smile before sitting down.

"The only issue is the fact that we are still oblivious to their identities, while they might already know who we are, where our faction is, and more."

Reign nodded in agreement with Beast's assessment. "That's true, but it also means we have the upper hand in some ways, we know they're watching us, which means we can use that to our advantage."

"We just need to be more cautious and proactive in our approach."

He turned to the group, his expression determined. "We need to step up with destroying the corrupted areas, gather more intelligence, and be prepared for anything."

"Our goal remains the same: to find out who is behind the corruption and stop them."

The group nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. They had to be vigilant and stay one step ahead of their enemies.

"We should also focus on strengthening our defenses and preparing for potential attacks," Tanks suggested, earning nods of agreement from the others.

"If the enemy has found out who we are, that might very well be a possibility, they might try to attack us, or perhaps try and spread the corruption near us," Beast added from the side as Reign scowled.

"I forgot that they could indeed do that."

"So, do we tell the others of what is going on, or?" Shadow asked as Reign sighed before nodding his head.

"Gather around the top teams, in fact, gather all Tier V players, we will tell them what is going on."

"As for the others, they deserve to know, we just won't go too much into details when telling them."

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