Time slowly passed as Reign continued dispelling the seals. The first one, just like he had thought, took him the longest. Reign had to struggle for about 15 minutes before finally being able to dispel and finally destroy the seal.
After that, he, of course, continued and started working on the next seal. Each of the seals was different, the first one being the most complicated for which Reign had to use multiple methods in order to dispel it.
Without Aethion, Reign probably wouldn't have been able to dispel the seal, no matter how many times he would have tried. There were simply far too many tricks that had been used for the creation of the first seal, some that even Aethion had been surprised by.
"It's alright, it's only the first seal that was like that, still, I am surprised that he had managed to make such a seal," Aethion commented as he instructed Reign in dispelling more of the seals.
"The second one was not like it at all, while the third was yet again wildly different compared to the previous two, this one, as well, differentiates a lot from the rest of the seals."
"Hmmm, for one person to place so many seals and each one to be created differently, I don't know if that was truly our 'old friend' that created them."
'You mean that the leader wasn't the one to create the seals, but merely used them?'
"Correct, there is also the possibility of him finding some ancient documents that had instructions on how to create seals, but it is highly unlikely as a person would focus on one or two types of seals, knowing so many are just not useful."
"It is better to learn and improve two types of seals than two learn 4 or more, but without being able to improve them."
Reign nodded his head in agreement while continuing to dispel the fourth seal. With the instructions that Aethion was giving him, Reign was able to not only slowly dispel the seals, but he was also getting better at it.
With every passing minute, the familiarity that Reign had with manipulating his soul was getting higher while the intricacies of the seals started showing themselves to him.
'He's only been at it for a bit over half an hour, and yet he can already notice some things by himself when it comes to the seals, incredible.' Aethion thought to himself as he nodded his head at Reign's actions.
Of course, as Reign was a Nephilim, Aethion had expected that much from him. Soul Manipulation was an Innate Ability that Reign had, which meant that even without having a lot of experience with it, Reign should be able to quickly improve it.
One thing that Aethion was a bit surprised by was the disappearance of Reign's dark copy, however.
Ever since Reign had found out about what he was, the dark copy spoke to him before suddenly disappearing. Aethion could sense the copy so he knew it was still there, and it was as powerful as ever, but it just wasn't showing itself.
Aethion had almost fully forgotten about the dark copy thanks to all the souls that had been coming over to him. He had been so busy that he completely forgot about the existence of the copy that would frequently show up for a bit before disappearing from this space.
'Just what are you planning, to actually disappear for so long?' Aethion thought before shaking his head and continuing to help Reign with dispelling the seal. As for the dark copy, it was currently sitting down in darkness while Jared, the AI of the base Reign had taken over, was staring at him.
"Leave." The copy said calmly while Jared stared at him with great interest.
"This is the first time something like this has ever been recorded, a soul within a soul, a second existence, oh my, how interesting," Jared said with enthusiasm as the dark copy stared at him before sighing.
"I said out, so out you go." The copy simply waved his hand at Jared and the latter was gone.
As Reign had signed the contract and taken over the base, Jared was able to talk to him, but he was also able to get inside his consciousness. Reign was certain that Jared would not try anything that would be detrimental to him, so he didn't put any rules for Jared, as even if he was to have any negative thoughts, Reign was certain that Aethion and the copy would be more than enough to stop it from doing anything detrimental to him, and if he did try doing something like that, then Reign was confident that the three of them together would be able to deal with the AI.
As Reign was breaking the seals, the young man stopped screaming and closed his eyes. He started thinking of the past. He remembered how he was living with his family in the village, all of them living in happiness and peace.
The village was one that had isolated itself from the rest of the world and the people there were not normal people. They knew how to utilize mana, but were not that powerful, still, they were stronger than an average person and some of them were quite powerful beings.
It all happened one night, he was sleeping when his mother barged into his room with a terrified expression on her face.
"Tord, you have to get away, quickly, get up, we have to leave!" Tord's mother said in a panicked voice as Tord stared at her with a confused expression on his face. He was sleepy, after all, it was the middle of the night and he was exhausted from going around and helping out all day.
That was the last memory he had of his mother, as mere seconds after that, the roof of their house collapsed, as well as a wall. The ceiling and roof fell down on his mother, and all that he was able to see was her index and middle finger that was sticking out of the rubble a bit.
He the remembered how his master arrived. The village had been attacked by monsters, and thanks to their terrifying might, the monsters were much more powerful than the villagers and started decimating them.
They were nothing more than food and toys. Had the organization and its leader stumbled upon the sight, they would have all died without a shred of doubt. Tord and his friends were all saved by them, and they were given free accommodation and food for a couple of days on the base.
Those that wished to join the organization were allowed to do so, while those that wanted to leave could leave.
Tord smiled a bit as he remembered the many things that happened during his training and how his teacher had taken care of him. Suddenly, however, his memories started changing.
He still remembered the village. His mother coming into his room was also there, as well as the roof collapsing down, but he could not see any monsters, however.
He was certain that there were a couple of tiger-looking monsters that had attacked the village and decimated the people. He knew that it was his master that had arrived at that moment with some of the elders and saved those that had managed to survive until that moment.
The tiger-looking monsters were strong, their claws were incredibly sharp and their bodies powerful, and yet, when faced against the leader, they were slaughtered without any resistance.
That was what happened.
But why can't he remember that?
All that Tord suddenly remembered was the leader, alone, in front of his house.
As Reign continued breaking more seals, the memory became clearer.
There were no monsters.
But screams and shouts could be heard everywhere in the village.
His house had caught on fire, and his mother was buried underneath the rubble, while he was staring at the person that had suddenly appeared in front of him.
The figure seemed calm and even crouched down to stare at Tord with a smile on his face.
"Hmmm, let me see, solid body type, the soul is relatively strong, hmm, the mana pool large, yeah, you will do." The leader said as he inspected Tord after grabbing his arm and pouring some of his mana into it.
"Not to mention that our souls are quite similar, hehe, I found the perfect reserve." The leader said before smirking at Tord who suddenly tried to punch him. His fist was easily caught by the leader who then twisted it before breaking it and causing Tord to cry out in pain and roll on the ground.
He had only been a kid back then, and such pain was something he couldn't go against.
"Take him, the others as well, take all the kids with us." The leader said before leaving the area.
The next memory Tord had was off the base, he now remembered how he was locked inside a place which only the leader and some elders had access. He remembered how the leader started doing some things, some very painful things.
He only later learned that the leader was placing seals inside of them, especially their soul. With a smirk on his face, the leader told him that he was going to change his memory so that he would grow to be a good lapdog, and unfortunately for him, the leader told him that mere moments before finishing the seals and sealing his memories.
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