Requiem of souls

(Volume 4)

Tierd, ancient, and half dead, still I come for you!

Chapter 31

Haruka POV

Four days of wandering about, heading north east of the cathedral, we met several new creatures, some were easy to take down, others were impossibly hard to even approach. We were on our toes the entire time, scared from being ambushed by either the members of the church or the wandering monsters. The greatest threat was the Werewolves. They moved at night, the time where we decided to travel, and they came in with great numbers. We almost died the first night. Yet our survival was thanks to the soul shard I got from the late Daiki. It always shimmered and pulsated whenever an enemy was close, notifying us from the imminent danger. I cannot be more thankful.

“Where to, now?” said Haruka who looked exhausted, dirty and weak.

“We keep moving forward, the day is about to rise, and we should find refuge from the monsters”

Misaka like always remained silent, she was a vicious fighter actually, using blood manipulation in order to bleed out any monster that is wounded. Even if it was a small scratch she would be able to force their very blood out from it, making it gush out like a broken dam.

Haruna however was the one with the least impact on the team however, she gained an interesting skill. Revitalize, was it, a skill that increases the regeneration ratio of the target, their hit point stamina and mana, at the cost of Haruna’s own mana. It was not as significant as a healer’s ability to men wounds, but it was more than enough to help us regain our fighting spirit.

Few more days separates us from the town we need to reach, few more days and we could start a new, few more days and we could be free…

Daiki POV

“Cursed one! How dare you bring this abomination to my kingdom?!” Said the enraged supreme devil.

I could easily lie my way out of this, and tell him that he came on his own, but in doing so I will lose whatever trust or relationship I have with Beelzebub. At least knowing that Asmodeus and Beelzebub are on bad terms, so if things go south, I can use Beel to help me against Asmodeus. Yet I have no guarantee that he will help, or if he is capable of fighting against him…too many variables and too little time to think of a solution…

“Well, it just happened. Though, can I ask of you something? Is there a way for me to leave this place? I intend on meeting someone in the seventh circle”

“Foolish undead, you think that I will let you pass just because you asked for it?!”

The red devil then swiped his hand and an almost transparent box of magic enclosed me.

I turned around and noticed that Beelzebub even though he was but a colocation of flies had the same box entrapping him.

I pressed my hand forward, but it didn’t budge

“What is the meaning of this?” I said

“Non that should concern you, at least not for now. I was on short supply of volunteers for my personal exercise, and it would seem that you are most suitable, you managed to get this far in this dungeon, this would mean that you are strong enough, right?”

I didn’t know what he was trying to say, but I played along, I just want to know what his objective in entrapping me is.

He then turned and faced Beelzebub saying,

“Damn abomination, it was finally due time for your miserable life to end, I dreamt about this day for long, now that I have you within my grasp I will make sure that your end will be a painful one!”

That guy sure does hate Beel

“Common Smody! We were good friends weren’t we?”

“Call me that one more time and I will make sure your will meet your maker right now!” roared the red devil

It is best for me that he remains concentrated on Beel, at least this way I could find a way to escape this place.

Another swipe of the red devil’s hand and the boxes began to sink in the sand, once we were fully submerged, the two boxes appeared within a dark hall. It was a room made of stone, a prison of sorts.

I looked around me and saw that Beel returned to his humanoid form, he then began knocking on the transparent box to no avail.

I pulled my chains and smacked it, punched it, used abyssal projection and shadow step, yet nothing.

The box was immobile and unmoving, not a single scratch was on it…an impregnable wall.

This could make a great protective barrier…

I sat down trying to think of a way out of this mess…

Beel then spoke

“You know cursed one, I think that Smody likes you.”

I didn’t try to reply to the guy, hoping that he would remain quiet.

But he didn’t

“Not anyone gets to live after they meet him actually, within hell he is considered one of the strongest, and he has an enormous amount of pride, which is why I like to make fun of him, the guy is easy to enrage.”

I have no idea why he is telling me this but I decided to keep quiet, hoping that he will get bored and shut up.

“I mean what else can one do within this place, it’s boring and there are no women, well with the exception of some demonesses, but still I would rather have a human companion…”

“Could you please shut up?” I said “We are in this mess because of you, so please don’t speak to me”

The man didn’t speak for a moment then said

“Well technically, it’s your fault, you shouldn’t have pushed me down here, so yeah…”

Good god…this guy is annoying

Should I try to use soul eruption? It is quite strong but I have no idea if it would work or not in this box…yet if it fails I will be stuck here without soul essence…

“I have a way out of this place if you are interested, it’s just that I don’t want to go all by myself.”

He must be lying.

I didn’t answer him. There was nothing to do here, it was quite boring and suffocating so I sat back in a relaxed manner, with my back to the wall of the box and my eyes closed, I began diving within my subconscious, I needed to do something I was postponing a long time ago.

Once I was within the black space of the void, the torrent of souls soon erupted, this time with a size much bigger than the last time. It seems the more souls I absorb the bigger it gets, this time two ginormous entities were within it.

Mezu, and Ravana…they were both within it, floating, though their bodies were only soul masses they still kept their suffocating presence.

Other than them were the feeble and weaker souls that were washed away by the force of the torrent.

“What brought you here cursed one!” said some of the souls

“You betrayed us, we helped you, yet you didn’t set us free!”

“I didn’t say I was going to do that anyway, you were the ones that concluded that, and it is your own fault.”

“What do you want?” said another soul.

“Knowledge.”

Once the words were said

Most of the souls dissipated for a moment

And Ravana himself appeared, in a much smaller form, almost four meters tall yet compared to his original size he looks like an ant.

“Knowledge. That is a big word, for one such as you. What kind of knowledge do you wish to know? Yet know that knowledge has a price, so make sure that what you ask is within your budget”

“The knowledge I seek is not from just you, Ravana, it is from everyone here.”

The souls that were swimming then began to stop, they all surrounded me paying closer attention.

“I grew tired of being oppressed, always being on the receiving end, never knowing what my say in the matter, tell me about you. All of you, and teach me what you know, I have but time within this place.”

“Why should we?” Said one of them

“At the end of my journey. I promise to set you free. Yet I will need your help first”

“Your journey is not easy to take, or finish. Yet do you still promise to keep walking forward no matter how hard it may get?”

“I have no reason not too, I cannot die, so nothing can stop me.”

“You cannot die, but there are things that can kill you. Or make you yearn for It.” said another soul.

“Then I will make sure I overcome that, what choice do I have? I am bound to this place unable to leave or move, decreed to eternal torment, for things that I have no idea about. Would you stay your hand if you were plagued with my sentence?” I said

None spoke

“Well I am not you, I hate to bow down my head and accept what those that don’t know me had ruled upon me. So I will fight, if I cannot win, then I will get stronger, and the only way to get stronger is with knowledge, so teach me. Teach me everything you know and I swear upon my own soul that you shall be released once everything ends.”

“Then we accept”

Soul Vow

For having sworn upon your soul the promise must be kept

If you should ever falter or lose sight of your promise, your very soul will be consumed for having betrayed your oath

In exchange of your oath, the souls have promised to teach you what they know.

“What would you want to know cursed one?” said the sacrilegious king that just appeared from within all the souls.

Now this is where it gets complicated, knowledge is not something easy or simple to have, if I were to learn from these things then I need to be picky about what I choose or what I want to know.

Simply put, I need to avoid anything related to philosophy or their personal ideologies, if I don’t then I will lose my own personality by foreign ideas, especially if they could make it seem like if they are my own, then easily force my hand.

If by some chance one of them manages to change my idea about fighting the gods and simply have me give up, then this soul vow will activate destroying my soul and releasing all the other souls with it, it is actually the smart decision if I was in their steed, they have no need to fight my enemies, so they could just have me self-destruct.

“I want to learn about magic. Teach me what you know.” I said

The king smiled then got closer to me, slowly placing his hand over my head.

It took a moment before a notification appeared

You have learned

Mana manipulation

Level 1/100

Mana is the source of magic, the breath of the world and the essence of life itself.

Mana manipulation enables you to freely wield magic and forcing it to take elemental or none elemental shapes and aspects, depending on the wielder’s imagination and aptitude towards a certain element, mana can be changed to mimic the said element properties.

“This is all the magic you will ever need, the rest is up to you to learn.” Said the king and then disappeared

Looking around me I felt something had changed…the floating souls were…more

Not in term of numbers but, there was something new about them.

It seems that the new ability enables me to see more than what is apparent.

So this is mana?

I always wondered how I was able to use spells that cost mana, and only thought them the result of pronouncing the words, and now that I can actually feel this mana…I think I understand how this whole thing works...

Another man then appeared, it was the man with the saw cleaver and the pistol…the hunter.

He didn’t speak, he only smiled and pressed his hand on my forehead.

You have learned

Evade.

200 stamina

1/20

Enables you to dodge imminent attacks, by quickstepping into any direction.

(quickstep distance increases with the increase of the skill level)

“I hope it would come in handy”

Said the hunter then he disappeared.

A foot technique…

I felt my legs pumped up and my muscles tense up for a moment, I then instantly knew how to use this…if I had this ability before…I don’t think that I would have died that easy to any of the monsters…it may seem simple but it is truly fascinating just knowing the possibilities of this thing.

Another soul then came in, and thought me about a punching technique. Another one added gave me the skill that enables me to empower all my attacks for a short duration. Another one gave me a defensive skill that passively increases the strength of my skin, while actively turning it to one that is as tough as iron.

Many souls gave me nothing, while some gave me godlike abilities and skills, teaching me about all kind of weapons, weapon arts and martial skills…

The only magic related skill I got was that from the sacrilegious king, the rest were all physical abilities.

Mezu gave me an interesting ability.

Soul projection

Level 1/1

For a brief period you can summon one of the souls within you to help you in your challenge.

Spell duration

60 seconds

Cooldown

1 day

The last one to give me an ability was Ravana

“Knowledge has a price, and you have obtained a lot of it…are you willing to take one more, then pay your price?” said the giant

“Yes” I replied without hesitation

“So be it”

Shiva’s blessing

Cost

One’s life.

Summoning the power of Shiva to destroy those that oppose you.

An explosion erupts centered from the body of the user.

Cooldown

10 Days

This is similar to the soul eruption skill, while it costs no soul energy, and probably deals more damage…

The souls then began to swirl about leaving me all alone

“Payment” said Ravana and I awoke.

Once I was awakened I looked around me to see that Beelzebub was snoring.

He seems to have gotten tired of speaking alone then decided to take a nap

I pressed on the wall again but to no avail…

This is going to be problematic…I have no way to leave this place now, it seems that I will have to wait for Asmodeus’s exercise to begin so that I could then figure a way out.

My hands began to feel a bit hot, normally I am immune to heat but it seems that this is getting a bit too suffocating, not only my hands my entire body began to shimmer down in a red glow.

An unworldly scream escaped my mouth once the pain became unbearable forcing Beel to wake up startled from his slumber.

Payment

You have gained knowledge over many things that one should experience in a prolonged period of time. Your body will receive the same pain and excruciation that all those that gave you this knowledge have suffered in a condensed manner.

Pain will last for

100 Days

The fuck! Am I supposed to suffer this for a hundred days!

Yet the pain didn’t even let me complain. It increased bit by bit, forcing me to crumble and fall on my knees, the pain was too intense that I wanted it to stop, by any mean. Yet I had to resist.

If I were to fall here, if I were to crumble and fail, to wish for death instead of this suffering…then the soul vow will activate…and if it did I will perish…so I have struggle, and suffer in silence…if not, then I will be no more…