Although Priest Augustus opened the fissure to absorb souls, faced with such an enormous tide of evil spirits, he could only barely help himself and the Doctor hold their ground at the edge of the island.
"Doctor, stay here and help Shade. I'll draw these souls away."
The old man's expression was resolute as he made his decision without hesitation. Doctor Schneider gritted his teeth, holding back the attacks of the blood-red branches around them.
"Can you handle it?"
"Don't underestimate me. Keep yourself safe too."
As he spoke, he fitted the two one-sixth skull fragments together and raised the completed skull above his head. The charred black wings behind him flashed beneath the moonlight before vanishing, but then everyone atop the tree canopy heard the clear tolling of a bell.
That was absolutely not a bell that marked the time. Its sound directly shook the soul, filling it with bone-deep cold. It felt like plunging into an icy pond during the harshest winter. Even living people, whose souls were protected by their bodies, stiffened for a second at the sound of that bell. The souls controlled by the Soul Story Book were frozen in place outright.
Cradling the skull in his arms, the Old Priest leaped from the edge of the banquet hall ruins toward the ground beneath the tree amid the bell tolls. The immobilized souls seemed drawn to him, breaking free of the relic's control and transforming into a tide that followed the Priest down to the ground. Even the Soul Story Book itself was carried along by the countless souls, flying toward the ground below the tree.
With the evil spirits gone, everyone on the ruins finally withdrew their shields and retaliatory thaumaturgies in disarray. Shade had naturally seen the Doctor and Priest appear just now.