Speaking of Soul Artifacts, Voldemort naturally came to mind.
Of course.
He was a relic from a twenty-first-century novel, and had little to do with this Soul Artifact.
But the two worked on much the same principle.
Each Soul Artifact essentially gave its owner an extra life.
Using one was far more complicated, though. William certainly couldn't just follow Voldemort's example and chop his soul into pieces to stuff into different Soul Artifacts.
To make full use of this Soul Artifact, William would have to pour soul power into it day and night, tending it for a very long time. Only when it held as much soul power as he did could he use it.
Scratch that.
Nobody wanted to use a Soul Artifact.
Using one meant coming back from the dead.
Just as its user's soul was about to dissipate, the soul power stored inside the artifact would appear in their body, restoring them to full strength on the spot. The effect was absurdly powerful.
But the drawbacks were substantial. A person could possess at most two Soul Artifacts. Any more would severely damage their Soul Origin and hinder future breakthroughs.
This mattered especially to Saints.
As long as a Saint's soul survived, their body could never truly die, no matter how badly it was battered. William had smashed Agares's head apart, yet he had still slowly recovered with time.
Under those circumstances, the importance of the soul went without saying.
But Soul Artifacts were extremely difficult to make, and the necessary materials were exceedingly rare.
In the entire world, only Saints of the Soul Branch or Mental Branch could make them. No one else had a chance.
Even so.
Without the resources of other Saints or major powers, a Soul or Mental Saint could scrape together at most