In the direction the thinned out horde was moving, there was an enormous fire that incinerated all the soulless in a wide radius to ash.

Noah saw a man breathing heavily with red light moving under his skin in the now smouldering area, most noticeably at his hands. An intricate illusory symbol floated above the man's head, which faded away as the light beneath his skin dimmed.

Standing beside the man among the falling ash was a woman holding a swaddled baby along with a dishevelled Rachel who seemed to be wearing the same clothes she was wearing when he saw her weeks ago, now covered in tears and ash.

While he was standing there, impressed by the man's display of power, the horde of soulless was quickly getting closer to them. Rachel glanced in Noah's direction. After a moment, a look of recognition appeared in her eyes. She then looked towards the young family beside her before charging towards the oncoming swarm.

Charging directly towards the horde of oncoming Soulless, Rachel seemed to have a death wish. As the horde of Soulless converged on her, a mysterious symbol appeared above her head and a quick wash of pink light spread out from her chest. Rachel activated her ability and disappeared just in time to avoid being overwhelmed.

The man spat out an exhausted curse in Rachel's direction as the symbol once more appeared above his head as a wave of red light rippled under his skin.

Noah was the only one who could see the symbols using his new ability as his newly enhanced vision also allowed him to see faint red light move from the man's origin crystal to gather at his hands.

A bright red light began to radiate from the man as lifeforce became visible to anyone else observing as the man raised his hands in the direction of the oncoming soulless rushing towards him.

Noah experienced an illusory wall of fire rushing out around him, predicting what was about to happen. He reacted not a moment too late as he quickly turned to slash out into the enraged horde behind him with a wind blade to clear a path before fleeing the man's ability range. He felt a heatwave crash against the back of his ethereal armour as it flared with cyan light while protecting him from the inferno. As he worried that the spirit armour was about to break, he felt the fire stop.

The soulless surrounding him had been burned to ash. He was the only one left standing. He turned back in the man's direction to observe the look of defeat in the man's eyes as he collapsed from exhaustion. The man fell into a seated position after seeing the still remaining soulless rushing in from the sides as the young woman still holding the baby hurried towards him.

As the woman attempted to drag the man to his feet, the man saw Noah garbed in his ethereal blue armour. Still standing in the aftermath of his destruction, causing his eyes to light up with hope. The man said something to the woman as he grabbed the back of her neck to give her one last deep, passionate kiss before pushing the pair towards Noah. The woman paused before moving as she took a long look at the man to remember his face. The woman then turned to run in Noah's direction.

The man watched them go with a sad smile on his face as a tear crept down his cheek. The man made firm eye contact with Noah with a look of mad determination on his face. Noah gave the man a short nod, which seemed to drain the man's remaining fighting spirit as he fell backward onto the ground in relief.

He was beginning to feel a creeping sense of exhaustion himself as he gathered his resolve to protect the woman and child. The only reason Noah had been able to continue fighting this long was because of the support of his [Omega Role] siphoning lifeforce from the soulless he killed.

He didn't hesitate to drop his [Spirit Armor] ability as he raced towards the oncoming woman and baby. Before the woman could move less than an arm's length from the man, she tripped and fell as the horde obscured his sight of them.

Noah's expressionless face finally showed emotion again. He let out a battle cry as he ran into the milling horde, madly swinging his sword without thought for his own safety in front of him. He couldn't risk the woman and child becoming collateral damage, making it impossible to unleash another wind blade. He could feel that he only had enough stamina to release one more wind blade anyway. Which he hoped would allow him to break free from entrapment once he rescued the pair.

The soulless temporarily stopped moving towards the duo after hearing Noah's roar as their attention became focused on him. His new ability was still in full effect. His agility seemed to advance to another level without the protection of the [Spirit Armor] ability. He steadily made his way closer to the woman and child as he danced between the attacking demons, cutting them down effortlessly.

No matter how many soulless Noah killed, two more would appear to take their place until he could no longer move any closer through the press of bodies.

He was entirely surrounded by a wall of soulless on all sides with no retreat. The horde seemed to pause for a moment as they evaluated him with their empty black eyes and drooling, twisted, hairless features. He had lost all sense of direction when he could see nothing past the wall of walking corpses and the growing pile of bodies at his feet.

All of a sudden, four soulless leapt at him from opposing directions. Noah felt his [Six Spirit Arms] ability activate of its own accord to catch each of the demonic creatures in the air by their throats with the [Spirit Armor] ability emerging to deflect their claws. He felt a strong sense of exhaustion. Hopelessness overcome him as he dropped to his knees and he lost the strength to support his weight.

The transparent, swirling-blue spirit armour began to grow fainter along with the purple ethereal spirit arms. As they flickered out of existence, Noah felt a tug in his mind from his new ability directing his consciousness towards the [Zero-space dimension ring]. The ability then abruptly stopped with a sense of satisfaction as if it had accomplished its goal.

He finally ran out of stamina to support his [Six Spirit Arms] ability and [Spirit Armour] ability to protect him. This mysterious new ability made Noah virtually invincible in close-quarters during the battle.

As the spectre hands disappeared from around the soulless throats, releasing their restraint. The four soulless leapt together towards Noah. This time no obstacles were preventing the two of them from sinking their fangs into him.

He could feel the hunger and hate inside them as the soulless bit into his flesh on the shoulder belonging to his sword arm. The second soulless bit into the forearm of his other arm, wearing the [Zero-space dimension ring] as his fist was clenched tightly closed. As the situation became increasingly desperate and hopeless. He could smell burnt flesh in the air that appeared to be getting stronger.

Noah stared at his approaching death at the hands of the horde. The mass of soulless pushed against each other to be the first to tear into his exposed flesh. He felt the bone-deep terror that had accompanied him since the first time he fended off the twisted features of the old woman attempting to maul him. Noah recalled the vivid memory of holding her slavering jaws at bay on the first day of this nightmare began to wash away. What replaced that terror was a burning righteous fury that seemed to be rising from somewhere deep within. Giving Noah the strength to tighten his loosened grip on his sword, driving it deep into the gut of the monster latched onto his arm.