A single Celestial Stars had obliterated a massive section of the battlefield.


    At least hundreds of thousands of soldiers were annihted in an instant, their lives extinguished without a chance to resist. And the death toll continued to rise rapidly as the lingering effects of Starlight Spray spread, consuming everything in its path. The scale of destruction rivaled—if not exceeded—the catastrophic bacsh caused by the formation copse following the death of the War Demon Elephant at the hands of the Endless Void''s unknown entity.


    This was the terrifying power of Sterl in his ascend to godhood state. By using the Blood of the Holy Spirit, he had forcibly enhanced Celestial Stars to a higher tier. With the added amplification from Starry Battle Armor and other equipment, even his base attributes were nearly double what they had been before. Under such extreme boosts, the limits of Celestial Stars'' destructive range ceased to exist.


    Under the might of Celestial Stars, everything was reduced to nothingness. Even though the skill itself was merely a mid-tier golden ability, its forced elevation to a tinum skill made it fearsome enough to leave even gods pale with dread and inflict serious injuries.


    As for those below the divine tier? It was absolute annihtion. Celestial Stars was nothing less than a devastatingrge-scale AOE, the equivalent of a map-wide cannon strike. If you were caught in it, you died. If you merely grazed its edge, you were grievously injured.


    For a moment, silence fell across the battlefield.


    Apart from the crackling and roaring of the mes spreading through Starlight Spray, and the anguished screams and frantic scrambling of the cannon fodder beneath, no other sound could be heard.


    All the gods ceased theirbat. Both armies froze mid-battle. Every gaze turned toward the domineering and unyielding figure standing tall in midair. The fiery inferno beneath him painted a hellish scene, and yet he stood motionless, like an emperor presiding over the destruction of a world.


    The sight left everyone—soldiers and gods alike—speechless. Their throats bobbed as if attempting to speak, but no words came out.


    Sterl, having unleashed a barrage of Celestial Stars, did not immediately follow up with another attack. Instead, he remained still, unmoving in midair. Was he out of energy? Had he exhausted his strength?


    Far from it.


    With the enhancements of Starry Battle Armor, Sterl was continuously bathed in starlight, his recovery rate doubled from its original speed. Whenbined with his innate capabilities, his energy replenished at an incredible pace. What''s more, Celestial Stars, though devastating, was merely one of the more "ordinary" skills in his current arsenal. With the various amplifications in y, he could have continued casting it for hours without issue.


    So why had he stopped?


    The answer was simple: there were too many souls. Far too many.


    In his hand, Sterl held the Soul Devourer Sphere. At a level invisible even to the gods watching him, countless wailing and screaming souls rose from the sea of fire below. The mes burned away their mortal remains, leaving their very essence to ascend toward him, drawn inexorably into the sphere''s insatiable grasp.


    The sheer volume of souls was overwhelming. Even for Sterl, the influx of such immense spiritual energy pushed the boundaries of what the Soul Devourer Sphere could handle. The sphere pulsed and trembled in his grip, a testament to the terrifying power it was absorbing—and the potential for bacsh it carried.


    Normally, the souls of the deceased would dissipate moments after leaving their bodies, merging with the world to be part of its natural cycle, nurturing new life in the endless flow of creation. However, now, something terrifying was at work. These souls, instead of dispersing, were being drawn with uncontroble force toward Sterl''s location.


    No—not precisely toward Sterl himself, but rather toward the Soul Devourer Sphere in his hand. At this moment, the sphere was unleashing an overwhelming suction, like a ravenous beast that had been starved for countless years, greedily consuming every soul of the soldiers Sterl had in.


    In no time, Sterl was surrounded by a dense, endless swarm of souls, their numbers too vast to count. Yet despite the overwhelming presence, the souls posed no physical harm; after all, the souls of the deadcked any inherent destructive power. No matter how many gathered, they couldn''t harm him directly.


    But the Soul Devourer Sphere didn''t simply absorb and refine these souls. It required its wielder to endure the chaotic remnants of their consciousness and the violent spiritual bacsh they brought.


    For Sterl, the soul of an ordinary second-ss or third-ss being—or even that of a legendary warrior or demigod—was like a fragile bubble. Compared to his own soul, the difference was like that of a speck of dust to the vastness of the heavens. Not only could he ignore the faint echoes of their memories, but even direct soul-based attacks from such beings would be entirely ineffective against him, thanks to the immense power of his own soul.


    But now, when their numbers multiplied by the hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands—or even hundreds of thousands—Sterl began to feel the strain.


    The fragmented remnants of countless lives surged against his soul and willpower. His ears were filled with an unending cacophony of screams and wails:N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "No! I don''t want to die! Please, don''t let me die!"


    "You monster! Demon! I curse you to burn in hell!"


    "God, save us! Drag this cruel butcher into the abyss!"


    "I''ll fight you to the end!"


    These voices, raw with emotion and desperation, echoed through his mind. Perhaps it was due to the unique nature of the Soul Devourer Sphere, but these souls, which should have immediately lost all consciousness upon death, retained their memories and awareness. It was as if they knew they were about to be refined and erased entirely. Desperate, theyunched one final assault.


    The weight of their collective resistance bore down entirely on Sterl. It felt as if he were standing amidst a relentless hurricane, battered by the storm''s fury, struggling to maintain his footing. Should he falter and be submerged by the chaos of their fragmented consciousness and opposition, the consequences would be catastrophic.


    However, if the souls'' resistance was a hurricane—a torrential storm of chaos—then Sterl''s soul was a towering, indomitable mountain.


    No matter how the winds roared or the rainshed, the mountain stood unmoved, its colossal presence defying the fury of the storm.


    Sterl''s soul, vast and immovable, remained firm against the onught. Though the storm raged, threatening to topple all in its path, the mountain''s unyielding strength was a testament to his unparalleled willpower and the might of his ascended state.


    Even as the storm continued to howl, Sterl stood tall, holding the Soul Devourer Sphere aloft, his gaze unwavering as he prepared to refine the countless souls he had imed.


    A hurricane capable of stripping sand from stone and uprooting trees was utterly powerless against the towering mountain that was Sterl. The relentless gale crashed against him with no effect, and the countless raindrops that apanied it were so insignificant that Sterl ignored them entirely.


    Apart from a brief moment of adjustment at the beginning, this level of impact posed no challenge to him. After all, Sterl''s soul was at an unparalleled level 62! Even the souls of gods were fragile before his might, let alone the insignificant, ant-like second-ss and third-ss souls swirling around him.


    Once he had fully limated to the bombardment of chaotic souls, Sterl''s thoughts flickered. With a singlemand, he directed the Soul Devourer Sphere to increase its absorption speed drastically.


    In an instant, a massive vortex rose around him, spiraling with furious energy. Souls that attempted to escape were caught in its pull and drawn inexorably into the sphere. The suction was so rapid that the Soul Devourer Sphere struggled momentarily to refine them all. But as one of the most treasured artifacts in Orichalcum''s history, the sphere''s refining speed scaled with its absorption, elerating to match the torrent of iing souls.


    The pressure on Sterl''s soul also increased correspondingly. What had once been a hurricane of rain had now transformed into a relentless hailstorm. Yet even the hail could do no more than leave faint ripples on the mountain''s surface, incapable of prating its core.


    With the Soul Devourer Sphere operating at full capacity, it took only a little over ten seconds for Sterl topletely absorb and devour the souls of nearly one million cannon fodder soldiers.


    "Phew…"


    Sterl exhaled slowly, expelling a faint breath of fatigue. Although his soul could easily withstand the chaotic assault of these disordered souls, the experience was still unpleasant. The soul represented the very essence of life, and every sensation it experienced was magnified a hundredfold in the physical realm. The difort was not surprising.


    "No wonder this artifact was left to gather dust in a corner," Sterl mused to himself. "In a way, there''s almost no difference in the quality of second-ss and third-ss souls. The same applies to souls of beings below the second ss. Which means that even when absorbing the soul of an ordinary creature, the wielder of the Soul Devourer Sphere would endure the same chaotic bacsh."


    He paused, his expression contemtive.


    "For gods with weak Divine Power, their soul levels generally don''t exceed five. Even at level five, the final resistance and struggle of these chaotic souls could still cause significant damage. Forget absorbing a hundred souls—absorbing even ten simultaneously could shatter their soul entirely, leading to instant death."


    The realization deepened Sterl''s appreciation for the artifact''s immense power—and its equally immense risks. It was not a tool for the unprepared or weak-willed, but for someone like him, it was the ultimate weapon.


    Sterl shook his head slightly. Soul strength and levels were among the hardest attributes to improve. Even for those born with inherently strong souls, the maximum natural level was usually no more than two or three. Take the example of the Nether Soul n member he had encountered before—despite cultivating soul techniques for countless years, their progress had been minimal.


    The key issue was that without the ability to restore their soul, even gods would require an extended period of rest after absorbing a single ordinary soul. Worse still, if luck wasn''t on their side, it could result in irreversible damage.


    "This thing really is a treasure tailor-made for me," Sterl mused, smirking.


    He had no idea what the founder of Orichalcum''s strength had been when they first obtained the Soul Devourer Sphere, but Sterl could say with absolute confidence that even that figure couldn''t have possessed the overwhelming soul strength needed to absorb a million ordinary souls at once as he had.


    Sterl then raised the Soul Devourer Sphere and examined the results of devouring and refining nearly a million ordinary souls.


    [Current Soul Power Reserve: 9,817]


    Close to 10,000 points of soul power. It seemed that for every 100 ordinary souls, approximately 1 point of soul power could be refined.


    "Let''s see what it can do."


    Gripping the Soul Devourer Sphere, Sterl willed the stored soul power to begin flowing into his body. To be cautious, he intentionally controlled the rate of transfer, limiting it to around 10 points per second.


    The next moment, Sterl''s entire body trembled slightly. A surge of immense energy, like a torrential flood, poured into him and struck his soul with incredible force!


    The impact was so powerful that even his mountain-like soul strength was visibly shaken. It was a sensation far greater than any hurricane or hailstorm—this was a level of force he hadn''t encountered before.


    Fortunately, the initial impact was the only jarring moment. Soon after, Sterl felt a soothing and mysterious energy begin to infuse into his soul. The chaotic damage from the earlier soul bacsh and the powerful surge was now being repaired at an astonishingly rapid pace.


    In less than a minute, even the most minor injuries werepletely healed. What''s more, hidden ws in his soul—so subtle that even Sterl hadn''t noticed them—were restored to a state of pristine perfection.


    ...