Chapter 295: Marquess Tier Soul Essence

The radiance swallowed Regaleon’s silhouette, flooded the ruined temple, and transformed the surrounding shadows into fleeting outlines against a brilliance that grew brighter with every passing instant.

Its intensity surpassed even the silver illumination that had accompanied the Halberd’s ascension, engulfing the entire ruin beneath an overwhelming flood of golden light.

The ground shuddered as a tremendous wave of energy swept outward, scattering dust, loose stones, and fragments of shattered masonry across the chamber.

The shockwave struck his companions with sufficient force to send several of them staggering backwards, their clothes snapping in the turbulent air as spiralling bands of golden radiance surged around Regaleon.

The bands twisted upwards like enormous celestial serpents, coiling around his suspended figure before disappearing into the blinding brilliance above him.

Only Aelric managed to maintain his footing without difficulty.

Even the green-eyed youth, however, had to raise an arm to shield his eyes. His expression remained remarkably composed, but the narrowness of his gaze betrayed his inability to withstand the radiance directly...

At the centre of the spectacle, Regaleon’s feet suddenly left the ground.

The Forgotten Knight barely had time to register the sensation before his body began rising, slowly ascending until he hung suspended in the heart of the golden radiance.

His limbs remained steady, but his instincts struggled to make sense of the sudden loss of contact with the ground. Even his proprioception, the body’s ability to perceive its position and movement, offered little reassurance as the energy surrounding him seemed to distort his awareness of everything beyond his own skin.

His Armour, meanwhile, continued to transform.

The plates detached from one another without falling away, hovering around his limbs before gliding into entirely new arrangements. Sections that had protected his forearms elongated, while others folded inward, divided, and rejoined in configurations he had never imagined possible.

The structures around his shoulders broadened before narrowing again, and the overlapping plates across his chest shifted in intricate layers, each movement accompanied by a deep metallic resonance.

The transformation was unlike anything Regaleon had ever witnessed.

His Armour was not merely changing its appearance. It was reconfiguring itself from the foundation outward, as though an entirely new design were being inscribed upon its very existence.

Regaleon could scarcely see what was happening beyond the golden haze. His vision had become little more than a collection of indistinct shapes and shifting lights, yet the bond he shared with his Soul Essence provided him with another means of understanding the process.

Through that connection, he felt everything.

Every plate that separated, every segment that rotated, every hidden mechanism that unfolded and every new connection that formed within the Armour registered in his consciousness with astonishing clarity.

He could sense the shifting structures as though they were extensions of his own body, their movements unfolding within his awareness before his eyes could properly follow them.

The sensation was immense, overwhelming, and yet strangely intimate.

It reminded him of standing before a sealed door that had guarded its secrets for so long that he had eventually mistaken it for an ordinary wall, only for that door to open and reveal an entire world beyond it.

His Armour had always been a part of him, but he had never truly understood what it contained.

Now, it seemed determined to reveal a secret it had kept hidden even from its own wielder and Regaleon could only endure the experience as the transformation continued.

Several seemingly endless seconds passed before the golden radiance finally began to recede.

The spiralling bands contracted around him, drawing inward as the Armour’s scattered plates settled into their final positions. One after another, they locked together with resonant clicks, their movements gradually slowing until the last segment slid into place.

The brilliance diminished and then the light vanished after a few moments.

Regaleon descended gently, his boots touching the ground amid the settling dust. The chamber, which moments earlier had trembled beneath the force of his Armour’s transformation, fell utterly still.

Even the blood and gore that had stained the ruined temple with the remnants of their recent battle were nowhere to be found. The energy unleashed during the transformation had swept through the chamber with such overwhelming force that even those unsightly remains had seemingly been consumed or scattered beyond sight.

For several heartbeats, nobody spoke.

His companions stared at him, their expressions caught between disbelief and apprehension. They had witnessed Regaleon’s Halberd ascend only moments earlier, yet his Armour’s transformation made that previous spectacle seem almost modest by comparison.

Even Aelric, whose indifference had survived nearly every absurdity the Nether Lands could produce, regarded Regaleon with a sharpened gaze, further reassessing the Forgotten Knight in his mind...

As for the person in question, he was too busy examining his Armour.

After withdrawing his helmet, he looked down at his gauntlets, then slowly raised his arms to inspect the rest of his equipment. His golden eyes widened as he took in the transformation, and the first thing he noticed was the power emanating from the Armour.

It felt profoundly different.

The connection between them remained familiar, yet something fundamental had changed. The energy flowing through their bond possessed a greater depth and density, carrying an authority that had been absent before.

It was not simply an increase in strength; it felt as though his Armour had crossed a threshold beyond which its previous limitations no longer applied.

There was no mistaking it... His Armour had ascended from Count Tier to Marquess Tier.

For several moments, Regaleon could only stare.

Then he looked down again, and the sight of the transformed Armour left him almost as astonished as the realization of its advancement.

The chest plate remained imposing, preserving the broad, layered construction that had always given his Armour its formidable silhouette.

However, its overlapping sections now fitted together with remarkable precision, forming a streamlined arrangement that followed the contours of his torso without sacrificing its protective bulk.

Fine golden lines traced the edges of the plates, while intricate engravings spread across the breastplate like the remnants of an ancient royal insignia.

The pauldrons retained their substantial size, but their former awkwardness had diminished. Their layered ridges curved elegantly over his shoulders, with reinforced edges that suggested greater protection without restricting the movement of his arms.

Beneath them, the rerebraces and vambraces had become more articulated, their interlocking segments allowing smoother movement around his elbows and forearms.

His gauntlets were equally striking. Each finger was encased in individually articulated plates, while the reinforced knuckles bore subtle golden patterns that glimmered whenever Aether moved through the Armour. The wrist guards had also changed, forming a more secure connection between the gauntlets and forearm plates.

Below his waist, the faulds descended in overlapping sections that protected his hips without obstructing his movements. The cuisses fitted closely around his thighs, while the poleyns shielded his knees with curved, reinforced plates.

His greaves extended down his shins, and the sabatons encasing his feet possessed articulated joints that promised greater flexibility than their predecessors.

Most astonishingly, every damaged section sustained during the battle against the Netherytes had been restored. The cracks, dents, and weakened edges had disappeared entirely, leaving the Armour as though it had never suffered damage at all.

Its ancient appearance had also softened. A trace of antiquity remained in its engravings and dignified silhouette, but it now resembled a priceless relic preserved by generations of careful craftsmanship rather than an obsolete suit of armour dragged from a forgotten battlefield.

It was still bulky, certainly, yet no longer as cumbersome as before.

Its weight seemed better distributed, its joints more responsive, and its entire construction more harmonious.

Regaleon slowly clenched his fists, watching the golden patterns across his gauntlets shimmer.

The Armour had become something entirely different. And judging by the power humming through their connection, its transformation had only just begun to reveal what it was truly capable of...