Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle

Shane stared at the Demon General’s Soul Fragment inside his System Inventory.

The black fragment floated silently within the inventory space, resembling a piece of dark glass with a faint red glow trapped inside it.

Every few seconds, a strange pulse of energy would travel across its surface, almost as if something was still alive inside.

Shane had already obtained several of them after killing the Demon Generals.

If he had received something like this from an ordinary Demon, he probably wouldn’t have paid much attention to it.

But this was different since it belonged to a Demon General.

That alone meant that the energy contained inside it was extraordinary.

He then took out this glass-like fragment from the Inventory and had his trustworthy assistant attempt to see through it.

”Cloud, can you analyze it?”

[ ... ]

[ I have already completed a preliminary analysis. ]

Shane raised an eyebrow.

”You have?”

[ Yes. The Soul Fragment contains a portion of the Demon General’s soul. However, it is not the complete soul. The majority of the Demon General’s consciousness was destroyed when you killed it. ]

”Then what’s left?”

[ Its power. Its memories. Its instincts. ]

Shane’s expression immediately changed.

”Memories?”

His eyes lit up as he recalled how he was able to absorb memory fragments before. Through those fragments, he was able to learn some Skills aside from the memories that could be useful or not.

He hadn’t been getting many of them anymore since he wasn’t really killing a lot of human survivors recently.

But it seemed that it would be a trend once again with these demons around.

’Right... It’s been quite a long time...’

[ However, I must warn you that the process of extracting the information from the Soul Fragment of Demon may expose you to the remaining consciousness of the Demon General. It is very different from the Memory Fragments you had absorbed before. ]

Shane stared at the fragment for several seconds.

”Can it possess me?”

[ The probability is extremely low. Your soul is considerably stronger than the remaining fragment. However, I cannot completely eliminate the possibility of mental interference. ]

Shane wasn’t particularly worried.

After all, he had already faced countless dangerous situations since the Apocalypse began. He had even completed both Fairy Realm Apocalypse and the A.I. Rebellion Apocalypse in his two past lives.

If he was afraid of every unknown item he encountered, he wouldn’t have survived until now.

”How do I use it?”

[ You can absorb it directly by crushing it. ]

Shane nodded.

’It’s a good thing I don’t have to eat it or something.’

Just like that, the moment he crushed it, a terrifying wave of energy suddenly erupted.

However, the dark energy contained within it instantly surged into his body. It was far more violent than any Memory Fragment he had absorbed before, and for a brief moment, Shane felt as though something was attempting to tear through his consciousness.

His vision blurred as countless images flashed through his mind.

’Ugh.. This is really different from the Memory Fragments.’

He saw a battlefield covered in blood, a massive army of Demons, the dark skies, and endless corpses...

Shane’s expression remained calm as he stood there and allowed the memories to flow through his consciousness.

Unlike ordinary Memory Fragments, the memories contained within the Demon General’s Soul Fragment were extremely fragmented. They weren’t arranged in any particular order, and most of them were completely useless.

Just like that, he saw countless battles, he saw the Demon General slaughtering its enemies. he saw the creature consuming Abyssal energy, and even other Demons kneeling before it.

He then saw saw brief images of the Abyss itself.

However, Shane didn’t try to remember everything. He simply allowed the memories to pass through his mind while focusing on anything that could be useful.

Then—

Ding!

A familiar notification suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[ You have successfully absorbed a Demon General’s Soul Fragment. ]

[ You have obtained a portion of the target’s memories. ]

[ You have acquired the Skill: Force Cleave. ]

Shane’s eyes immediately lit up.

”That’s more like it.”

The memories were useful, but a Skill was obviously much more valuable.

Shane immediately checked the newly acquired ability.

[ Force Cleave Lv0: A powerful offensive skill that condenses surrounding energy into a concentrated slash capable of cutting through physical defenses and spiritual barriers.

Effects:

Condenses surrounding energy into a single powerful slash.

Can cut through physical defenses and spiritual barriers.

The effectiveness of the skill depends on the user’s control over the surrounding energy and the strength of the target’s defenses.

Cost: 90 Spirit Points. ]

Shane’s expression became slightly surprised.

”It can cut through spiritual barriers? But it’s quite expensive to use considering how I’ll be using surrounding energy anyway.”

Ninety Spirit Points was not a small amount.

For an ordinary Survivor, using this Skill a couple of times could probably drain a significant portion of their available energy. However, Shane’s situation was completely different. His Spirit Points were already far greater than those of most Survivors, and he possessed several ways to recover his energy during battle.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel that the Skill was somewhat inefficient.

’Perhaps the cost will decrease as I level it up.’

That was usually how Skills worked.

As a Skill’s level increased, its effectiveness would improve while its energy consumption would often become more efficient. Even if they consumed higher cost, they’d still be a lot stronger and worth the price...

Shane believed that the Force Cleave was not designed to be used against ordinary enemies.

It was a Skill meant to break through defenses that other attacks couldn’t penetrate.

Shane couldn’t help but wonder how powerful it would become after reaching a higher level.

”Not bad.”

He closed the Skill description and looked at the remaining Demon General’s Soul Fragments inside his Inventory.

Since he had already gone through the trouble of obtaining them, there was no reason to leave them untouched. Furthermore, he’d also learn more about the Demons this way!

Shane immediately picked up another Soul Fragment.

”Let’s see what else you have.”