Inside Ash's soul, the Substitute Spell Spirit hurriedly dragged the other spell spirits to a safe place, not letting them touch the faded areas.
To spell spirits, the fading of a soul was basically the end of the world. Ash would have been better off dying outright.
To spell spirits, an arcanist was like a company. If the company went under, everyone at worst became unemployed; the flexible workers went back home to lie flat, and anyone who wanted a new job could head to the Void Creature talent market.
As for feelings, an arcanist loved spell spirits exactly as much as spell spirits loved an arcanist—but in the eyes of spell spirits, all arcanists were exploitative slave owners. An arcanist's fondness for spell spirits was purely because of their functionality. Who would be moved to tears just because they had done an outstanding job as beasts of burden?
The only reason they did not hang you from a streetlamp was that spell spirits were muddled and Innocent and did not know how to take revenge. Once spell spirits grew up into Divine Spirits, they would not be so easy to talk to.
If Ash were cut down and killed, the spell spirits absolutely would not interfere.
But now Ash's soul was fading. This was not a company going bankrupt and shutting its doors—this was the company building collapsing in an earthquake!
And yet spell spirits had no idea how to avoid danger. With their muddled spirituality, they would even take the initiative to crash into the faded areas.
Only the Substitute Spell Spirit, polluted by the Four-Color Pollution, knew to seek fortune and avoid disaster. Although it usually threw its weight around, at this moment it was very responsible. If not for it driving all the spell spirits to