"If the fortified soul conjunction allows you to manifest your soulbonds' body parts, why shouldn't a fusion be possible!?"

Jason was just blurting out things, while Betty looked at him in confusion.

"I...was just joking"

However, Jason couldn't even hear her anymore as his mind had already secluded itself, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

The sensation of the fusion had been unique and his entire aura had changed due to Artemis' influence.

Exactly the same could be said about his demeanor and combat style during the fight against the two God's Children.

'Why did I suddenly merge with Artemis? Did something change about our connection, or did an external factor allow this?'

Jason was not sure what exactly it was, but his strength had increased tremendously after merging with Artemis.

The fusion was definitely something special, and worth researching. He would have done it if he just had enough time.

Figuring it out right off the bat was not possible, and the only thing Jason knew was that both he and Artemis had wanted to become stronger, to defeat their opponents that had somehow culminated into the temporary fusion.

Because there was still some time left before the liberation tournament would start, he thought that it was best to continue practicing fighting techniques.

Artemis occupied his mana core, thereby increasing his strength and the sparrings began once again after everyone had calmed down.

Jason knew that the others wanted to hear an explanation from him, but he was unable to give them one.

As such, he told them the truth before a misunderstanding would occur.

Taking one last glance inside his soul world, he compared the three fortified soul conjunctions with each other. His attention returned back to the two God's Children who had decided to use all their strength instead of holding back.

Initially, they didn't want to harm Jason because they were already fighting two against one, but that was not something they could pay attention to anymore.

Otherwise, they would only embarrass themselves by showing how weak they were!

Seeing the determination in the two God's Children, Jason couldn't help but smile brightly.

It had been a long time since he had felt so free, without any burdens weighing him down.

The first spar had already allowed him to release his tension, however, it was only now that he decided to not bother about the new ability he and Artemis seemed to have obtained.

Rather, Jason wanted to focus on the fight in front of him.

Artemis' felt the same and with the exact same mindset, they were about to join the fight when without a prior warning, something inside the soul world changed.

Both Jason and Artemis didn't realize it, but Petri and Solaris felt that Artemis' soul connection that was by far the strongest, began to gleam lightly.

It was becoming firmer and slowly changed its color into that of Artemis' plumage, mixed with the stigma's colors.

Petri and Solaris immediately notified Jason about the same, momentarily distracting him from what was happening in front of him.

The God's Children appeared in front of him a moment later, while Artemis' soul connection was reverting back to its normal state.

This information was also immediately relayed to Jason, who could only lament about his soulbonds' impatience while trying to shift his focus back on facing two fully empowered attacks of his friends.

Gritting his teeth, Jason realised that they weren't holding back anymore.

Under normal circumstances, Jason would have been happy about this, but unfortunately, his distraction had caused him to miss the perfect timing, let alone unintentionally merge with Artemis once again!

Thus, he had to unleash his entire Celestia aura, his stigma, while exerting the Floating Sky movement technique to the highest proficiency he was currently able to execute.

At the same time, he slashed out with Byakur which he was holding with one hand while lifting his other hand that held a highly compressed, explosive black fireball.

His moves were lightning fast due to the Floating Sky movement technique that was further enhanced by the sheer mass of mana that circulated through his body, followed by the Celestia aura and stigma that were slowly merging with each other.

Nevertheless, the force he could release with one arm was not enough to fend off the God's Child called Tom!

Tom's cultivation base was at the 5th Lique stage but was physically enhanced to the 8th Lique stage. Additionally, the fortified soul conjunction boosted his strength that was comparable to an average Cultivator at the peak of the 9th Lique stage!

With Artemis occupying his mana core, Jason's physical strength had reached the mid of the 8th Lique stage, but even such a devastating strength was unable to overcome Tom's dominating physique.

Byakur collided with Tom's Warhammer but was pushed back without any resistance, only for Jason to resort to Petri's curses that he hadn't planned on using before.

By utilizing the race specific weakening curse that was immediately followed by the petrification curse, Jason regained the upper hand. He had been too focussed on Tom and only now was he forced to avert his attention to Xenia, his second opponent from the God's Children.

She focused on using her elemental affinities and a spear with a cultivation base that was also at the 5th Lique stage.

Her physical enhancement was weaker, but she was also at par with a normal Cultivator at the 8th Lique stage. Contrary to Tom, her mana core was further amplified by her soulbonds, which allowed her to unleash a devastating amount of mana at once.

Unfortunately, she had to fight Jason, who had just thrown the small, highly compressed ball of fire towards her.

Knowing that she had to evade it, her attack was forcefully halted.

Despite that, Xenia could continue to advance once the ball of fire brushed past her.

Jason saw this and a smile emerged on his face as the faint image of a black flame could be seen inside his bright golden-silverish eyes.

The highly compressed black ball of fire exploded, unleashing its might of a flame comparable to the peak of the 10th Lique stage.

Because of the explosion that occurred right behind her, she was pushed forward, missing Jason with her spear by a hair's breadth, and fell on the ground.

At that moment, Artemis circulated her mana towards Jason, only to utilize it in order to envelop Xenia in a tight ice-cage.

This gave Jason more than enough time to turn his head towards Tom, who had lifted one of his hands from his weapon in an attempt to punch Jason.

Unfortunately, he was a quarter of a second too slow because Jason was already moving.

Suddenly, he and Artemis sensed the same feeling as before overwhelming them as the desire to defeat both Xenia and Tom ignited within them.

As their wavelengths matched and they were consumed by a single goal, they slowly merged as a faint thread loosened itself from Jason's mana core.

Artemis accepted it willingly, and Jason received an image from both Solaris and Petri similar to what he had received before.

His soul connection with Artemis was transforming once again, but this time, he had expected it!

Jason was not astonished or distracted by it. Instead, his mind digested everything at once as a radiant smile appeared on his lips.

"So, that's how it works?"

__________________