Requiem of souls

(Volume 5)

I shall preform your rites!

Chapter 46

To think that something as strong as this could exist…I feel like I am dreaming.

The man in black leather, or the herald as Haruna named it, was far more frightening than I originally thought. My very being shuddered the moment he looked at us, and as if he was hunting he spoke to have had found us…

The soul shard on my hand began to vibrate violently as if afraid of a terrorizing ghost.

The herald engaged in battle with the necromancer. Honestly, a small part of me truly wanted the necromancer to win…yet he was defeated, and gloriously at that too, not even the demon he summoned from hell, a demonic beast of a creature that sent shivers down my spine, was able to even stand in the herald’s way…he destroyed it with a touch and proceeded at consuming the very soul of the necromancer…as I saw it being projected out from his shriveling body.

The herald then soon turned to continue on with his task…I cannot imagine the sin we have committed to have brought about the wrath of such a thing…

The man that brought us, the man in red, the one that came into the arena flying on wings from his own back actually flinched for a moment, he probably thought that he was coming for him…

The herald walked forward appearing out of thin air right in front of us, grabbing Misaka by the collar he spoke to her, as if he was judging…as if she had committed a heinous act…I wanted to speak, yet couldn’t, I wanted to object yet my legs refused to budge, Haruna began to cry, as she thought that her end was nigh…we will die if I do nothing…

Asking the herald to stop he turned to face me, asking me if I should really be saying this, was it in my right to do so? We were responsible over the death of a comrade, one that did nothing wrong yet suffered for it…died at the hands of his own classmates…

This must be divine judgment, judgment that is overdue…

He asked Misaka a question, to which I would have found no answer, but she answered, thought it was the truth that she was forced to, that was not all of it…and the Herald refused to hear more.

He began doing what he did to the necromancer, I feared that I will lose once again another friend, one that was truly regretful of their own weakness. She was unable to do anything that day, nor was I, if we had done so, it was death…so it is unfair to judge us for things that were beyond our capabilities, so I grabbed at him, asking him, no, even begging him for mercy.

Yet for a single moment I saw, I saw things that shouldn’t be real…things that happened, things…too frightening to speak about, only fragments of old memories, shards of an incomplete picture, yet every piece told a story.

The memories of Daiki, back on earth, the days he was bullied, the memories of him back in this world defying the cardinal, even moments where he was alone in the sewers, again in the kitchen, then on the road to the accursed tomb, the moment he died…the pain he felt, and the looks of the people around him…yet the visions changed…he was somewhere else, an infernal place, I couldn’t see everything, the visions jumped from place to place, he went to a palace, before a great king of bones…then was sent to a dark place, filled with monsters and enormous monsters, fought…died And died and died too many times, felt the agony of death beyond count, yet still, he rose back…clinging to a fading hope that one day he would leave…the rest of the vision became blurred as my eyes began to water.

Losing the soul shard a notification rose

The soul shard had returned to its rightful owner.

You have lost the shard and the ability: safe passage.

Insight and soothsaying are still useable.

This just confirmed my suspicions

Looking at him I asked “You went through all that Daiki?”

He looked back at me, even under the veil, under that wretched look a sight of a sad person could be seen…it truly was him, he came back from death…

I went towards him, Haruka tried to stop me by grabbing on the hem of my clothes, her voice not leaving her, but her eyes are telling me to not go…

“It’s alright…everything is going to be alright” I said

Getting closer to the hooded man I said the same thing while I hugged him, to be honest I didn’t know what I was doing but I still acted.

Locking him with an embrace, the man kept on looking to the sky…

Comforting him while adding

“You no longer need to fight Daiki…you fought hard enough…”

It took few more moments before he spoke in a defeated tone he said

“You know nothing Haruka…I cannot escape this fate, if I don’t fight, the fight will come to me…’They’ will make sure it does…” he said

Thought I don’t know what he is speaking about I added.

“I can help.”

“You can’t, you are too weak, too feeble and too pathetic…thought there is no reason for me to think of you as an enemy, I cannot think of you as an ally…if I ever do, then they will come for you first...You are bound by death, where I live in it…”

He changed…though he feels warm and alive, his heart is ice frozen…he went to hell and that only served to make him heartless, yet can I blame him? I would have turned mad if I was in his steed…

“Then I will become stronger…well I will need to remove this choker first…”

He then unlocked my embrace, quite easily actually, the difference in strength is frightening. And looked at me

“What is that on your necks?”

Thankfully he grouped us three in this question meaning that he still thinks about the other two.

“Well, we ended up as slaves…we were running from the church the other day and we got into trouble, we were caught and now are treated as slaves…I truly regret not having civilian rights…” I said

Daiki then snorted, a thing close to a laugh. He brought his right hand closer to my neck, and touched the choker with his finger.

It took but two seconds before the thing turned to dust.

You are no longer bound to slavery

All stats bindings and limitation of the slave choker is removed.

Finally I am able to breath and freely act…

Sighing a sigh of relief I then looked back at Daiki inspecting him, I truly wanted to do this long ago but couldn’t. The choker stopped me from using any of my abilities…

Daiki Genkaku

(Ascendant)

The banished

Level???

God slayer

Beware of a being that shall shake the heavens…

How come he has no level? Ascendant what is that? Holy shit! A god slayer?!! He slayed a divine?!!

I looked at Daiki with newfound admiration and restored fright. This one is not to be trifled with…the things he must have done to gain this power…I cannot imagine the half of it…a frightening resolution and might he has.

Daiki then looked up towards the man in red. Yet surprisingly he was no longer there, there was a girl in his place…or are they the same thing?

I inspected her and was in awe finding out that she is the demon king…I could only shudder at the gravity of our situation…

“Lilith…” said Daiki “What are the restrictions and usages of this choker”

“That is a slave choker Daiki, it is quite hard to make, and requires really nothing to use, just put it on anyone and they can become your slave, thought for it to work one of two conditions must be met, either the user of the choker is 100 level higher than the one being restrained, or to have the slave submit to being enslaved in the first place.”

“So it cannot work if one refuses to be enslaved?”

“Right, only by accepting it, will it allow the restriction of one’s freedom”

What? That is wrong! We were caught against our will and were enslaved against our wishes…I wanted to say that out loud but I need to remain silent for the moment…how come Daiki know the demon king?

“Interesting, so what does it actually do?”

“It restricts one’s free will and will force them to do anything the master wishes to. Limiting the strength of the slave to but a tenth of the master then killing them instantly for trying to kill or harm the master intentionally”

“How do you activate such a thing, and how can one be the owner of the said slave?”

Why is Daiki asking such questions?

“You only need a drop of blood on the back of the choker. There is an imprint there which will register any that puts their blood there as the owner of said slave. If the blood ministration is not done by the master once every week the slave dies, if the choker is removed by external factors the slave will also die”

What?

To this information Daiki felt a bit shocked, even me…how come I didn’t die?

“Then how do you explain her surviving?”

“That is simple, they are still unbound to any master…once bonded only their master can free them, and if he dies, so will they.”

Daiki then approached the girls and squatted down, as they were both sitting on the ground he asked them a question

“I have a question to ask of you, and you only have one of two choices to make.”

Haruna huddled with Misaka, fear was clearly apparent on her face.

“You don’t seem to have an objection” said Daiki then he added “Your lives are now forfeit, you did horrible things to me back on earth, and some, did even worse things here in this world. I am not so cruel to treat bullying with death, so Haruna you will get off for free this time, as for you Misaka you get to choose one of two, death or slavery, perhaps you will atone for yourself in due time, but believe me if you dare choose death then an unholy sacrament awaits you”

It was only one choice from the beginning…Daiki couldn’t bring himself to kill them, so he offered them this solution…a smart discussion to make, better than killing his comrades. At least the ones that didn’t directly participate in his death…

Misaka, before she could speak, I went towards her and said

“Accept the offer…its better off being like this than dead…” I said fully knowing that that is a cruel thing to say, especially when I don’t share her suffering…well it doesn’t have to be that way.

“You, the woman in red” I said

To this the woman felt shocked, even the guards were whispering with each other, one laughing at the fact that I ‘mistook’ the gender of the ‘clearly’ looking man for a woman…

The girl then came down, and said

“You are able to see my true face, human. Keep it to yourself, I don’t want my identity to be revealed…”

She said with a frightening tone…

“How come I met two people that are able to see who I am in one day…strange…very strange”

It’s probably insight…it enables me to see unordinary things, yet who is the second one? Probably Daiki?

“Yes, eh your majesty? Right, are there more of those chokers here?”

He, or she answered by nodding, yes.

“There are some in the treasures near you, they are quite expensive so they fit as treasures.”

I then took one and locked it on my neck, feeling weakened again, and surprisingly the girl became once again a man…it seems that it was true, insight was letting me see the true face of the people around me.

“What are you doing?” said Daiki.

“I won’t let Misaka suffer this alone, I will stay in this state with her, until you forgive all of us…”

Daiki then face palmed swearing under his breath about women and their stupid sense of bond…

The man in red snorted, but decided to stay silent.

“As you wish, but believe me, it I can’t guarantee forgiveness” he then looked at the demon in red and said “Is it possible to modify the choker’s sealing of abilities?”

“Yes it is quite simple, you just need to will it not to activate that characteristic, it is quite useful too, many slave traders tend to turn this off so that their slaves could use their skills and abilities, too bad that only one tenth of the master’s stat can be used by any slave”

“What do you mean one tenth?” said Daiki.

“It’s a gimmick used by the slavers, ten percent of the master’s stats are available to the slave, while their basic stats are omitted. It is of course to prevent them from rebelling, a slave with but a tenth of the master’s power is truly not that strong, yet in some rare cases when the master is quite strong, it can help boost the basic stats of the slave.”

(Daiki POV)

I bit on my finger and poured droplets of blood on each of the girl’s collars, they all seemed to be silent for the moment, and they didn’t even want to object…I felt quite repulsed when I was doing this, but it had to be done, it is payment for past transgressions…they needed to pay.

Slave contract established.

Current slaves

Misaka Zamehada (Level 136)

Haruka Kusanagi (Level 266)

Haruna Skuya( Level 110)

Hmm interestingly enough they are not badly leveled up, especially Haruka, she became quite strong.

“What the hell?!!” screamed Haruka as if shocked.

“This! This is supposed to be just one tenth?!!! How strong are you?”

She seems to have seen the upgrades to her stats…they can prove to be quite useful right now with this item, quite interesting indeed. It is similar to the pet/master skill I got back in hell, only a bit more potent.

“Very well.” I said “Now I could really use that magic of yours Oh demon king”

“Indeed, but, it is sealed under the royal palace, and it will take a few days for it to be extracted. Will you wait until then?”

“I don’t really mind, I am not in a hurry.”

“What magic are you talking about Daiki?”

“The magic to take us back to our world, apparently under all my assumptions it actually exists…Yet before we use it, I still have some heroes to slay, and a kingdom to bring down to its knees…” I said with a grin that reached my ears. Fully knowing that with my newfound abilities, razing empires to the ground is not a problem, especially after having obtained three super soldiers, and already owning a literal army of hell, I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when they see the devastation that will be brought upon their heads…