Two and half months ago.
...
"How did you venture here?"
"Does it matter?"
"..."
"..."
"What are you offering then... stranger?"
"Time in the Aigas sun and sky. Surely, you'd want to stand on the bodies of the Deities you served for a change, would you not?"
"..."
"Even your soul, blessed by once playing host to Quintess against Fulgardt yearns to leave this place, doesn't it? I'm giving you the chance."
"...What do you get in return?"
There was a pause.
"Options."
***
Rayn remembered it clearly.
It hadn't taken a lot of convincing. There was no need. For a conscious soul like his, empowered when he was chosen as a host for the mighty Quintess back in the day, the lucidity he had, which allowed him to feel the passage of millennia unlike the other wandering souls...
A chance to inhabit a new body and walk on Aigas again was perfect, and being confident in his ability to resist whatever means that could be used against him, Rayn had agreed to what Actuass had offered.
Yet now...
As soon as the masked man (now not wearing the mask) touched him, he felt his powerful soul stagger weakly.
This feeling... he had felt something like this when he was clashing with Seramoro, specifically when a rip-ended soul had swam its way into him randomly.
"What are you doing?" Rayn asked, curious and surprised.
"I took many precautions before reviving you. Pulling back a soul that died millennia ago, and was trapped in a place 'outside' Aigas, required a lot of energy," Actuass said casually. "However, all that energy – the souls I used – were dipped in my own Undeath essence, and a large portion of them were used specifically to keep that body you inhabit under control. Any other soul after that... added to the effect."
Rayn narrowed his eyes.
Come to think of it...
He tried to move his hand against Actuass.
Nothing happened. His body refused to move, as if it was a taboo to willingly harm the one who catered for it.
"Hmm. I see. That's why you also gave me a weak vessel? In case I broke free of your control still?"
That would make a lot of sense. Even among Incandescent Stage experts, this body was as weak as they came.
"No." Actuass answered.
He expressed a lot of effort through the contours of his face, and Rayn felt his soul constrict terribly, which made him grunt and kneel.
A look of shock appeared on his face, and he glared at Actuass helplessly. The necromancer looked down at him with a condescending visage.
"Your understanding of the soul seems a bit too shallow for you to imagine something as simple that," Actuass said. "The soul and the body learn from each other, as well as the things they bear. The body learns the soul's information, and the soul learns the body's. You no longer play host to the Deities, but your soul is still as strong. There's a fragrance of Divine power on it that you seem to be unable to use. Let me guess, you relied on Quintess' guidance to use the deep power when you were alive, didn't you? And now, it's essentially sitting there within you, collecting ethereal dust."
A shuttle of rage burned in Rayn's eyes, but Actuass went on.
"This body I provided couldn't contain you, but it could learn. And your soul could learn to be less... expressive, as it would have been in your original body. Your soul ended up mindful of the fragile outline of this body, and became more tame."
Rayn frowned.
What the hell was this man talking about?
This body couldn't handle his power. That was why it was burning away in the first place!
"You're wrong. This vessel has been breaking since it held me," Rayn argued.
"Yes it has. It was prepared for this very situation. Belonged to a rather powerful Form User I killed long ago. He had a Hidden Class, that allowed him deflate and inflate his power as he saw fit. EVERY aspect of his power. You see, Classes, Stages and Mana cores all influence the soul in different ways. This man was able to influence his body and soul with the power of his class."
"Since getting preoccupied with fighting, you didn't notice that your soul was being guided by this vessel's instinct to contain large amounts power into fitting within it, even though realistically, the vessel should have broken apart the moment you used your Territory. You're burning and cracking, but you're still standing."
Another constricting crunch strained Rayn's soul and he emitted a growl.
His soul... Indeed it was less fierce than before. Had it truly been turning docile all this time? It could be. After all, Rayn had been born with an unusual body back then, so perhaps he could have never known how to pay attention to the behavior of his soul.
How could he compete with a necromancer like Actuass in that regard?
Undead were very adept at manipulating the soul. Liches, for instance, had the power to split souls and create loyal, powerful minions while creating phylacteries that held their souls separately from their bodies.
This was the path Actuass pursued, and it had led him to discover astounding things about the soul and body.
He had shared a sliver of this knowledge with Revia, and helped her attain her speed again even when she had lost her blessing.
And now...
"What is it then... that you seek with me?" Rayn asked exhaustedly. He felt himself grow wiry.
Actuass gave a short, hollow laugh.
"YOUR history can tell you. If you can think back, you'll realise it. After all, you did the same to Fulgardt's Chosen..." the answer came.
...!!!
Actuass' words struck Rayn like thunder.
What was done to the Chosen of Fulgardt...
But that... that was insane. That didn't make any sense. Why would someone desire such a fate?
Before he could question how, or why to Actuass, Rayn found his vision going dark, and in the next instance, a large mass of bright light that was his soul, was extracted from his body!
Actuass hurried to clutch it with both hands, though, the large globe was hard to contain in his grasp. Now that it was free from the body, it was moments ago from growing fierce once again.
A furious green and black flame exploded around Actuass, and he drew his focus once more, drowning out anything that didn't help him focus right now.
If he messed up, Rayn's soul would burn his body and both of them could very well perish, as the Undeath energy Actuass was summoning for what came next, in its depth of volume that was almost as much as that which he had invested into resurrecting Rayn, would pulverise the former Royal Knight's soul without his control.
Actuass then pushed the large soul into his body without delay.
It was like pushing a large lump of heated coals into one's flesh, and it wasn't pleasant.
Actuass didn't react as much to the pain though.
He remained steadfast. The effect to his body paled in comparison to what his soul had to go through. After all, his soul had to assimilate Rayn's!
During the Second Grand War, the Capital Service and the Purity conjoined the souls of Fulgardt's Chosen to those of volunteered Incandescent Stagers, which drove both to madness.
With Actuass' extensive research, he knew that this was done using a certain powerful artefact. He didn't know its whereabouts and neither did he pursue the object.
Like Rayn, he too was confident that when it came to the soul, he would come up on top, nomatter what!
The large mass of a soul, still possessing traits of Divinity from the Deities, clashed against his own which was wreathed in Undeath.
It was as though two large marbles were bashing against each, to one who could look at what was occurring within Actuass' body.
The necromancer's soul was vastly smaller, and he could have easily been outmatched if not for the sea of Undeathly energy surrounding his and Rayn's soul.
His soul blanketed itself in Undeath before bumping heavily into Rayn's own, whizzing to another side, and doing it again, then to another and another. With each bash, Rayn's soul turned less and less vibrant.
To the struggling, large soul, this battle was akin to a common man trying to fight a shark underwater!
During this process though, Actuass' body had also started to crack, and burn. Flames burst from his chest, and arms and flared incessantly!
Revia had been watching from the beginning.
A part of her wanted to rush towards Actuass and behead right now, but she wasn't sure that would kill him.
She had boldly declared to Actuass, after he kept her, that she would kill him, that him helping her restore he speed was just him training his own assassin.
This felt like the moment to act on her words. It wouldn't change what she needed to do, but she wasn't a loyal underling of his.
She was much faster than him, and she could mince him up while he was distracted, and experiment with what would keep him down. It was extremely dangerous to attempt it, but a part of her urged strongly.
Yet..
"That rebellious light in your eyes. It's always amusing, you know."
Fulina by her side said.
Revia deflated.
The two of them looked to Actuass with different thoughts.
"Tell me. Do you think the world would be a better place with or without mana?" Fulina asked.
Revia originally intended to ignore, but after a while, seeing as Fulina didn't pursue the topic of what she had been about to do – what she had been thinking to do right now – she reluctantly answered.
"No. That wouldn't have made my father any less of an asshole, and it probably wouldn't have stopped my mother and brother from dying..." she said.
Fulina wore a shallow smile, and harrumphed.
"It just occurred to me. You don't know why Actuass is doing what he is doing, do you? You've only been focusing on the how," she said.
"Does knowing why make him any less of a monster?" Revia asked angrily. "Or any of us?"
"Yes," Fulina said firmly. "It was hard for me to accept too at first. But... I finally started to." She turned to Revia. "No one cares about your perspective, Revia. Only what you see, what you do, and why you do it, matters. This world of mana... that's how you brave it."
The former Paladin Champion heard these words ring over and over and over again as Actuass came to, and began walking towards them with his body smoking.
His robes had burned away, leaving some glimpses of torched clothes he had worn underneath. His skin which had been turning brittle from the flames erupting from the struggle within him, healed visibly to leave his skin perfect again.
Both Fulina and Revia couldn't tell what exactly changed from Actuass as nothing could be seen or felt from him. The cessation of the extended damage to his body meant that he had must been successful in subduing Rayn's soul though, at the very least.
Fulina gave him something to wear. It was a simple shirt and pants.
Actuass donned his mask again.
The hazel glow of his eyes seemed brighter, and more menacing when coated with the shadow of the white and green mask.
"It's finally done," he said, and his voice sounded crispier, a warm relief flowing with it.
"Can you sense them?" Fulina asked hopefully.
Actuass seemed to wear triumphant smile under his mask.
Before he could answer, Feinheath shook.
With his eye tracing a hazel line when he turned, Actuass set his sights to a distant direction. Revia, Fulina.... and the series of Cluster beasts who had hid from the monstrous powers when the Cluster broke also turned from their hiding spots.
It seemed Actuass wasn't the only one achieving what he set out to do.
Another 'tide', possibly wider than the one he would cause in the short term, rose from the distance.
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