As soon as the chains broke through the edge barrier, Eldrian sent out the halo of ice surrounding the sr system to the edges of his newly created world. Forming a barrier of ice around half his mind, he would have to sacrifice the other half. He could only hope the damage to his consciousness would not be too great.


    ''To control tranquility, I have to stay levelheaded. A tall task, considering the pain I''m under. But remaining levelheaded does not mean I can''t have emotions. I simply cannot allow them to rule me.''


    It was easy to consider, but difficult to manage. Sadly, he had no time to perfect this—and having shied away from using his auras, his connection felt clunky at first. But he had to make it work as the chains were flying through his soul and aimed directly towards his consciousness.


    ''Somehow it can target the me inside my mind. I guess that much is to be expected... Luckily I have more than enough anger thanks to all this pain, I just need to direct it.'' Altering the frequency at which he was thinking, Eldrian included Two into his thoughts, ''Are you safe?''


    ''I retreated when the cracks became toorge. I''m inside the ice barrier, but what now?''


    Banging started again, this time the chains smashing against the ice halo which had taken on the form of a truly massive ice barrier. Like an frozen atmosphere covering Eldrian''s creation, forming what one could consider a perfect world sized snow glove.


    Massive shards of ice splintered and flew throughout the outer world, but to destroy the ice barrier would take some time. After all, it was kilometers thick.


    ''I need you to focus on channeling mana into our soul. Simply throwing it into the sun will be enough, but if you can spare some focus, then please connect thes with the world.''


    ''What will that do?''


    ''Give it substance!'' Eldrian replied with heft as he started channeling the mes of the sun. The sight truly was magnificent, endless mes pouring forth and over the world as it flew towards the invading chains. Like a cosmic god was controlling the gxy itself.


    ''Mana phases, it can phase,'' Eldrian mumbled to himself as he sent the streams of sma onward. Envisioning it passing through the ice atmosphere barrier without obstruction. And this was just what happened.


    The sma passed through the ice without even heating it. shing with the chains with massive force and heat, within seconds, the chains turned bright red and melted. If this was all the lich had in her arsenal, then she would never be able to defeat Eldrian.


    ***


    Eldrian''s fierce defense and even fiercer counterattack had truly shocked the lich. After an eternity of waiting to invade his soul, to find it capable of blocking her chains and even destroying them so quickly, stunned her. It went beyond anything she would have ever predicted.


    Not even the souls of her Tier 7 targets had put up such fierce resistance, and she realized if she didn''t do something drastic, then this unique specimen would be able to rid itself of the chains. The only things binding it to this ne, allowing it to escape off to the afterlife.


    She couldn''t allow that. He was hers!


    She no longer held anger towards Eldrian; she sought no more vengeance. But she couldn''t allow him to escape. He was an utterly fascinating subject. She had to figure out how a little Tier 5 elf was capable of having such a sturdy soul. And why it was not weakening despite the body being a corpse. Logically, the soul should have started to dissipate.


    Her chains could keep souls from dissipating, but only once she had control over them and willed for it to be sustained—allowing it to tap into the surrounding death mana she had under her control.


    ''I can''t let this opportunity escape!'' Turning to the revenants, she ordered them to protect her as she summoned all her focus and dived into Eldrian''s soul directly. She had no fear that he would be able to repulse a direct invasion. After all, a lich was a master of the soul. How would a Tier 5 weakling be able topare to her and all she had experienced through her undead life?


    As soon as she jumped from her skeletal body and dived into Eldrian''s, she found the surprise of her undead and past living life.


    Her target had clearly discarded half his soul, determining to fight to keep the remaining half safe. A massive shield of ice stretching endlessly, covering a world of wonders. Far above this world floated aary system with elementarys and a zing sun, from which massive streams of fire covered the air above the world and assaulted her chains.


    "This was a mistake!" Liuva turned to retreat, but it was toote.


    ***


    Fighting the chains was easy, they had no mind of their own. It was even easier than the waves of darkness that the revenant heart had sent at him endlessly. Perhaps it was better to say he was stronger, but this assault was far less than Eldrian had expected and his mood improved greatly because of this realization.


    For now, at least, he would not be the liches puppet.


    The only sad part was he could mount no true counter attack, for he could only dominate the battle so fiercely inside his own soul. He would forever be forced into the defensive, and if the lich kept assaulting his soul for days, weeks, months, perhaps even years... He would eventually fall.


    But there was hope. Eldrian still had friends on the outside. If they realized what was going on and came to save him, things should be fine. However, Eldrian realized this might take some time.


    This hope, however, allowed him to fight the despair attempting to assault his will. He shrugged it off and refocused.


    As long as this battle was in his mind and his sanity remained, he would have the advantage. For inside one''s own mind, you are the god. To invade someone''s mind is to take on this god. To attempt something so reckless without due preparation was tantamount to suicide.


    But this actually was not true. The ordinary person was no god in their own mind, they were not the ruler of their thoughts. Their thoughts ruled them. Those capable of using magic had more control over their minds, but their advantage only extended to how well they had mastered mageia.


    The greater the talent for its use, the greater the abilities within their own mind. As Eldrian had shown, even creating an entire world was easy for him. But this certainly wasn''t normal.


    Most people would be incapable of altering the form of their soul. It would take on the form of their inner beliefs, their inner spirit.


    Mages had to learn by necessity to control their mind more than the other sses, but even then, their ability to alter their soul would be extremely limited—if they ever dared. Few would, for even using the magic abyss to alter a spell''s module was an extremely dangerous task often requiring months of preparation.


    Liches were creatures with the most experience in soul rted tasks; next to the gods, devils, and legends. To bepetent in soul magic was a requirement to be a lich. But even to them, it took years of preparation to prepare their soul and mind. Butpared to the average person, they could be considered gods at soul maniption.


    But upon having seen Eldrian''s soul, and the world he had created in it, Liuva had realized her mistake. His soul was even more developed than her own. A shocking revtion that shook her to her phctery.


    AN: Remember to vote andment if you are enjoying the story.