Forgot to mention it last chap, but this is the start of a new arc, although some would probably have already guessed.

Enjoy!

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Acedia POV:

Immediately as I entered the world, I could already feel a significant amount of change.

My influence over Energy had always been easy and only limited by my knowledge.

Now that… whatever its name was told me of what I’m supposedly meant to be, I can already feel more finely attuned the Energy around me.

Normally, I would need to use the Energy locked away in my Soul to establish a connection to the world’s Energy, whether it was passive or free Energy.

But now, as long as I consciously try to sense it, I could feel the Energy around me as if it were natural.

Not only that, it seems as if I could sense and control the finer threads with more ease than before.

It feels wonderful…

At least there seems to be some form of truth in what that thing said, although I do not dare to believe everything it told me.

Whenever I try and remember it, an image of a smiling devil seems to come to mind.

It was the way he talked, like I was a sheep he wanted to lead astray.

Of which he did a wonderful job by the way, no doubt about it.

Even though I think of it as selling my Soul, I cannot help but feel gratitude for everything it told me.

If the being’s only demand is some Energy now and then, I would gladly oblige after I’m done destroying this ‘Death’.

Although I heavily doubt some Energy is all it wants in return.

But first things first.

Beside me on the ground lay two heavily-damaged, human-shaped Souls.

Damien’s was such a deep shade of purple it could be almost be mistaken for black.

Anna’s Soul looked better in comparison, but it was still way over the beginning stages of purple-coloured scarring.

Thankfully, the ‘Devil’ had absorbed the Energy needed to feed the Blue Fire and the automatic healing spell had done its job and fixed the holes inside it.

There was, however, one big difference between the Damien and Anna before and after the event.

The Energy once contained in their Souls, which Emily had forced into it, had vanished and right now they looked, putting aside the heavy scarring, like the Souls of regular mortals.

For them, this was a good thing.

Previously, they had been something that shouldn’t exist in nature.

They were constantly teetering between life and death, with the Energy Emily had crammed in them slowly devouring their Souls… no, wait… that’s not it.

Their Souls weren’t being devoured by Energy.

They were being devoured by Death, with the Energy anchoring it to the world of the living, while the spell healed the devoured parts of the Soul.

Doesn’t this mean that Energy is able to tie the Soul down to the world?

Now that I think about it, if I don’t count the Gold-masks, Anna and Damien, no living Soul I met ever had Energy inside their Souls.

Not even those during the Era of Sloth had Energy inside their Souls.

After all, they didn’t use Energy to tap into the network of Energy, but rather, they used magic to forceful grab a chunk of Energy.

And, although they lived long, they could still be killed.

Among the living – seeing as Anna, Damien and the Gold-masks were officially ‘dead’ – there has never been anyone with Energy in their Souls aside from me, Emily and the two I met in the white plain.

Doesn’t this mean that those with Energy in their Souls are either undead or Immortal?

No rather, why do I only realise this now?

Isn’t it because I thought dying wasn’t the Soul being taken by Death, but simply the Soul being to damage to live?

Doesn’t this mean that, if a Soul contains Energy, it is an Immortal?

No, according to the Devil all normal Souls are Immortal, it’s just that the living had the condition of dying placed upon them, thus allowing Death to reap and devour them.

Then… there’s only one thing I could think of what Energy inside the Soul means.

Imitation.

If it was Death that forced Energy into the Souls, then it would mean he is trying to emulate my power here on this world.. my world.

The question is: did it work?

I know for a fact that Emily is able to tap into the world’s free Energy by using the Energy in her soul the same way I did before, instead of using magic to forcefully take a hold of it.

However, during the Black Star ordeal, she said she tried to tap into the omnipresent inactive Energy, but failed.

Is this because she isn’t able to, or is it simply a lack of knowledge?

A terrifying thought popped into my mind.

If it is simple a lack of knowledge, then Death is able to, in time, raise an entire army’s worth of people like me!

Oh God, if you ex- No, if what the Devil said is true, I am the God of this world...

I can only rely on myself.

No sense begging God for help.

I take a glance at the body of Emily lying at my feet.

I need to know!

It doesn’t matter if it is truly Emily or not inside the body, I’ll make sure I know what that Soul is capable of.

I look at the souls of Anna and Damien again.

The fact that they do not disappear, means they are now living for the first time, despite lacking a body to live in.

If I’m not quick and prepare a body, they might disappear, so I gathered Energy and try to recreate my body.

Since I never bothered to memorize the placement of every single cell in the human body, I took mine and Emily’s as template for Damien and Anna’s respectively, although slightly adjusting them to a more child-sized body.

Since I never had children, nor interacted with them prior to Damien and Anna, I do not know whether children are like small adults on the inside, although I knew the difference of outside appearance and adjusted accordingly.

I hope this works...

Compared to how hard it would be prior to my… Ascension(?), I noticed it was much more easier now.

It seems I’m able to will Energy now without the need of forcing myself to become so calm, I could be considered emotionally dead.

I simply thought it and it obeyed.

How amazing my power had become, simply by gaining some insight!

How frightening it would be if that bastard Death could summon hordes with this strength!

Within mere seconds, I had created two bodies similar to Damien and Anna’s previous bodies.

Naturally, they weren’t they exact same, since I had never closely inspected every inch of their body, but I filled in the blanks I didn’t know simply by imagination.

If they have any complaints, they should fix it themselves!

I already feel disgusting for imagining every body part of a child!

I won’t do it again!

But now comes the tricky part: revival.

Although by telling me the world obeys me and despite now having incredible insight in Energy and how my being fits in the picture of Godhood and Immortality, I didn’t get the same insights regarding Souls.

Naturally, it’s because I know very, very little about Souls to begin with, let alone that I could now theoretically control and, perhaps, even make them.

The only thing I’m able to is to control my own Soul by intertwining it with Energy, and that I could create a Soullink by shooting it towards someone.

Only then would I be able to influence another’s Soul, albeit just slightly and with a lot of effort.

Since I don’t want the two of them to end up like failed experiments, I decided to take the less risky route and do it like this.

Of course, it is still a gamble, but compared to trying to command it the same way I do Energy and then screwing it up, it is much safer.

I will try the other route of the real Emily isn’t inside that body, since I don’t really care if I mess up with her.

She’s just a lackey of that fucker anyway, so who cares.

Intertwining the Energy with my Soul, I slowly latch it onto the children’s Souls.

It seemed to shudder a bit and I began sweating, thinking it had gone wrong, but nothing else happened.

Slowly and carefully, I steered the Souls towards the bodies, with the somewhat lighter one towards the angelic and silently staring figure and the darker of the two towards the horned and hollow body.

Still with these appendages of my soul stuck onto them, they arrived at the body.

I was unsure of what to do.

I knew everything severing Souls from the body, but attaching?

It would sure be handy if Emily had been here…

She has a lot of experience with this things, although no doubt a lot of those ended in failure.

But, I pushed forward.

The Souls slowly entered their respective bodies, but aside from the overlap, nothing seemed to happen.

I was afraid to pull back the Soullink and see what happened, so instead, I slowly started spreading my soul through the bodies, almost like a parasite invading its host thoroughly.

Unfortunately, it didn’t help, but then, some sort of revelation came to me.

If I’m correct, its quiet simply really.

Emily did it by cramming Energy into their Souls and afterwards attaching this Energy to their bodies.

But that would result into something that was neither living nor dead, but now that it is clear that their Souls are living again I don’t want that.

So then, how does a normal mortal’s soul get attached to a living, breathing body?

Simple, by having their Souls attached to the passive Energy at the same location as the body, since the body is already linked to the grid of passive Energy, since it is matter and takes up space in reality.

So, I did.

I willed the passive Energy connected to the body to connect to the soul too, et voilà.

Gasping and gagging and retching and coughing, the two bodies sprang to live, no doubt waking up as if from a heart attack.

And that along with the memory of being consumed by the Blue Fire of the fake Emily.

Sure enough, they slowly collapsed to the ground, throwing up the stomach acid just moments ago created by me while they were on their hands and knees, shivering and sweating.

No scream escaped their lips though, even when they were done.

It reminded me very much of the nightmares they had when we first met, although that one was set up purposefully by Emily.

“Welcome back.” I said, smiling down on them with relief.

I was truly happy they came back unharmed, feeling as if a heavy burden had just been lifted from me.

Considering we have just met not long ago, it was surprising I've bonded so quickly with them.

Then again, I'd honestly been fine with everyone as long as they didn't hate me as everything does, thanks to that bastard Death.

The two faces looked up at me in surprise, afterwards looking just as shocked at Emily’s body lying near my feet.

For a long time, there was only silence.

Them, because they were trying to figure out what just happened.

Me, because I was afraid my voice would crack with relief.