That only went to show just how fully assimilated Ryuga was as a soul mass. Despite having such a conscious and massive ego of his own, he was an extension of Finn’s will. He was a part of Finn’s soul, and he knew it.

He flew low to Finn, while all the surviving Ossuarists tried to catch their breath, gasping raggedly on the ground where they lay.

The only exceptions to this were Madoc, Osmund, and the three friends of Finn they had saved — Micah, Isis, and Yvonne. The three Ossuarists were fully unconscious at the moment, but even then, Ryuga had been so adept with his use of aura even in his angry state that he had known not to affect any of them.

Finn glanced in their direction as Ryuga came to settle behind him. The dragon swam in the air with his serpent-like draconic form, bringing his massive head close to Finn’s shoulder. He nudged Finn gently, as if asking if his master was okay.

"I’m alright," Finn chuckled. He reached out and patted the dragon’s snout, waving Ryuga away playfully as the dragon brought its nose closer to him. The heat radiating from Ryuga was still intense, a reminder of the black fire he had just unleashed.

"I’m alright," he repeated again, this time more loudly. He could feel the worry and anger from not just Ryuga alone, but all of his soul masses. They were all connected to him. He could feel the agitation of the ones he had not yet called out, their desires to manifest and destroy the source of his shock.

Most especially, Syf’s worry was very apparent to him, though she appeared much more demure and calm compared to the boisterous Ryuga. She simply stood guard with her towering form, her eyes scanning the horizons for any signs of the Harvester Cult’s return while the dragon swam around Finn frantically.

On the outside, she looked as though she was not truly fazed. This was simply because she understood Finn more than the others did. She had sensed through their soul bond that he was unharmed, and knew that the phenomenon that occurred had not caused him any lasting injury.

He had only been shocked, and that was all. To her, a little shock like that was something very petty to Finn. He didn’t need her fussing all over him.

Finn nodded at her too. He smiled softly as she turned her head and strode over to Madoc and Osmund at the other end of the battlefield with heavy, purposeful steps.

"Sigh... So much sass," Finn muttered with a chuckle. He watched her lower her body down so that Madoc and Osmund could bring Finn’s three Ossuarist friends onto her back. The smile on Finn’s face then faded a bit. His eyes went distant, losing their focus on the immediate surroundings as he thought about what had just happened seconds ago.

So that’s what she had up her sleeve...

Finn would have liked to say he was not bothered by the exchange, but in truth, he actually was. He had felt his Invalidation spell cease to function in an instant the moment he had touched that weird wave.

If it had been just that alone, he would not have been so bothered. Invalidation wasn’t the only spell in his arsenal. In fact, in most cases, he would not even see the need to use the Invalidation spell if he chose to rely on other methods. He had many ways to win a fight.

But that wave had also affected a whole lot of his other spells to the same extent. It was a systemic failure. The moment he had felt his Invalidation unravel, he had tried to use [Frame Skip] to move through the chaos.

When that did not work, he had tried [Desync], which was the lesser version of his temporal movement. He had even gone free form, simply using his error magic to find a flaw in that wave that he could exploit. But all he had seen was a jumble of raw chaos. It was a static that his mind could not decode.

That was what prompted his rapid retreat at that moment. It was not the initial impact of the wave that scared him. It was the realization that his tools were suddenly useless against a specific frequency of power. He had chosen to back away and reassess rather than risk himself against an unknown variable.

So the Chaos Bearer has a way to impede the core use of my error magic, Finn mused silently. He stood in the center of the devastation, his mind working through all that had happened carefully. His access to his soul masses had still functioned normally during the contact. That was an important distinction. His connection to his summons had not been affected by the wave.

In fact, Finn was sure that anything that had to do with his soul directly was not affected by that wave. His soul strength, his ability to purge or assimilate more soul masses, and his command over his summons were all intact.

The attack had only affected his error magic specifically.

How? Finn pondered the question with a growing sense of unease. Even if the Chaos Bearer’s chaos magic could counter his error magic, it should not be this absolute.

While it was hard to find flaws in a concept like Chaos which was already inherently flawed and random, without any sense of rhyme or rhythm, it was not absolutely impossible. There should have been a struggle between the two concepts at the very least.

And this was not a matter of a simple strength difference either. Finn was sure of his own strength. He was sure of the strength of the concept he wielded.

He could not be certain just how powerful the Chaos Transcendent was in this era, but there was no way he was so powerful that he could absolutely dominate Finn without a chance for a fight.