Chapter 130. Night of Doubts

I was back home with a frown on my face. Super-Demon had no contact information. He didn’t have a phone, he didn’t even have a place to live for me to visit. Apparently, he’d been homeless ever since he woke up from the graveyard, and all that he’s been doing every day and every night is wandering the streets, on the lookout for bandits and criminals, as well as for helping people in different small communities.

There was some temptation of helping him find a place to stay, but the more I heard him talk about how I had to be his sidekick and partner, the less I wanted to be around him, so after agreeing with a place to meet in a few days, I left as fast as I could, leaving him to his ‘Hero Job’ through the night.

I wondered if he was going to get in trouble for what he does, but just from the way that he talked to Reeta, I felt somewhat reassured that he wasn’t going to end up killing or hurting anyone badly, so for now, there was no need to either stop him or protect him, especially more so because of his Soul Magic.

As for Reeta… I was worried about her, more so because of the way that she looked rather than her being in actual danger. I knew that she had the strength to even fight back a small army of mages, but she wasn’t all-powerful, and eventually someone was going to be able to get to her. Not me, perhaps, but there were other powerful people out there, like Eletha, for example.

I walked over to the edge of my window and looked over at the night sky. The Holy Gods knew about this world, and that girl was the path for them to get here. How far They were, and how much They knew about this place was unknown to me, but the most important thing was to make sure that They didn’t get here… Or at least, if They did get here, that there was a way for me to stop Them. However, at the moment, there’s no way I can fight a God, let alone seven of them…

Turning my gaze towards the general direction of the Tainted Land, I once more considered Bo’guth’s offer to absorb the power contained in it fully… but with a shake of my head, I removed that notion. I would leave both him, and the people that make a living from that place without a job. Though… if the Holy Gods managed to get here, then they would be without a job or life regardless.

No, there was no need to do that to the people around here. If I really needed to do so, then it would be better to ask Bo’guth to give me the location of other Tainted Lands and absorb those instead. However… I wasn’t sure if I had the time to travel, fight in them, absorb their power, and come back out, before the people organizing to attack the final base of the Followers of Leyfall were ready…

With a look in the direction that I met Super-Demon this time, I considered that perhaps the best idea would be to use the time that I have to try to get some insight into Soul Magic, or at least get Super-Demon to come with me so he could do something about the connection that the Holy Gods have with Eletha.

But I sighed, closed my eyes, and dropped my head down. The memory from my fight with Eletha quickly flashed through my mind, and the voice of the Goddess kept resounding inside. I could even feel as if She was still talking to me; as if She was the one encouraging me to get rid of the Darkness; as if… She was the one calling me child.

Something wet streaked across my cheek and I checked to see if it started raining. But there were no clouds. The night sky was as clear as one could possibly want, so I turned to see if perhaps there was something dropping from the ceiling, but things were perfectly fine… I touched my face and realized that it was me. It was my tears. I hadn’t cried in a while. I wasn’t one to cry. The Hero of the Holy Gods couldn’t cry. And yet, I couldn’t help myself at the thought that everything I’d done for Them had been so easily forgotten.

Altheras didn’t even seem to recognize me back then. Her voice was no different to how it sounded when She pushed me further to fight; to when I brought myself to the limit and She would encourage me; to… when I finally defeated Salrak and She stabbed me.

I covered my face, and crouched down. Even if there was nobody else here, I didn’t want to feel like others could see me as I tried to suppress any sobs from coming out of me. But the thought that I had never been cared for by Them, and that I had just wasted both my life and the lives of everyone in my world kept repeating in my head.

No. I couldn’t allow myself to be broken like this. There was still life in me, and there was still another chance to make sure that things didn’t repeat themselves with Eletha like they did with me. So I wiped my face, and calmed myself. I had to work hard to ensure that everything went better this time.

I stood back up and walked over to where my phone was charging. It was past midnight, but there was someone that I could talk to that could know more about what I needed, or rather, what I wanted to do.

“Salrak,” I said with a low tone, and my voice raspy. There was no response, but I knew that He was watching. As long as there was some form of technology in this world, He could hear me, and He could answer me if He wanted, so I cleared my throat and spoke up once more. “I know that you’re listening.”

The phone turned on, and a call was started with the same set of random numbers that He used whenever He called. “I felt like you needed your time alone.”

I shook my head and sat down next to it, the room dark, and my eyes on the night view of the few buildings I could see. “There is no need to worry about that so much.”

“Is that so…?” Salrak replied with a low tone of His own. “Then, what is it that you want to talk about?”

I considered for a moment my words as I crossed my legs, and rested my chin on my palm. “You know I met a strange skeleton tonight, right?”

“Yes. It was quite… the interesting fellow, I must say,” He replied, “Do you want to know more about him?”

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“No. I think I know enough about him,” I said with a slight shake of my head. “What I do want to know more about is that magic that he uses; that Soul Magic. I want to know what you know about it as a God.”

“Hm…” Salrak considered for a moment. “It is quite a special kind of power indeed. Dangerous in most cases.”

“I could tell that from what I saw. Though, I wonder how he could get to use it like that,” I followed up.

Salrak chuckled, however, and I turned a questioning look to the phone. “It is dangerous because it consumes the soul when using it. Most beings that have any sort of knowledge on how to use Soul Magic quickly learn that they must consume other souls if they don’t want theirs to disappear into pure power.”

I frowned. “Then… that Super-Demon… he’s consuming his own soul or the souls of others?”

“That is most likely the case,” Salrak calmly replied.

“Isn’t that bad? Shouldn’t we force him to stop it?” I asked, since this meant that Super-Demon was either killing himself or others.

“There’s no need for that. Like I said, if he’s consuming other souls to turn them into power, then he should be fine; and even if he wasn’t doing that, then at the pace that he’s using his soul, he’ll likely live for another twenty to thirty years.”

“That’s… not a long time. He sounds like a young man… He could live much longer if he didn’t use his soul…” I said, turning my eyes back to the window.

“It is his choice,” Salrak said, “The best you could do is let him know about it. But I have the feeling that he’s not going to listen in his desire to be a ‘superhero’.”

I paused for a moment to think about it. Salrak was right about his assessment of the young skeleton, but that didn’t mean that he should go around unknowingly using his soul like that. It was better that I let him know. But there was still something else I wanted to know.

“Could I use that sort of Soul Magic to cut the connection of the Holy Gods away from Eletha?” I asked with a low tone, unsure if my idea had any chance of giving any results.

“Hm… I’m not sure. The realm of the Soul is not mine to rule. I only knew how to turn my own soul into power, but the small details of soul manipulation is something that only Maalphina, as the Goddess of Souls and Mana, knows.”

I looked down and pondered on it… “If that was the case… then She could counter whatever I try to do with Eletha to ensure that the connection is not lost…”

Which meant that the best way to go about this was still to kill Eletha and force a connection to be cut simply from death.

Salrak laughed, and I couldn't help but look at the phone with a frown. “What is so funny?”

“That is assuming that those Seven are working together at all,” He said with a rather joyous tone.

“What do you mean? Aren’t the Holy Gods supposed to be together all the time in their pantheon? Wasn’t it supposed to be that it was through Their unity and love that the world was given shape and sustained its essence?” I asked, lifting my head out of my palm as I looked down at the phone.

“You should know by now, after everything that happened, that most of the things that you know about Them is nothing more than an illusion. The reality is that They don’t always work together, and to be honest, working with Maalphina is rather annoying,” He said, followed by a sigh.

“Isn’t she supposed to be a loving motherly figure that cradles all souls in her bosom when going to Their side?” I asked.

“Yes, She’s got a very kind appearance, that’s true, but She doesn’t care about anything or anyone. What She desires the most is to consume souls, so when believers give themselves to Them… well… She simply gorges on them…” He said, followed by a chuckle. “I can only imagine the kind of frustration She must’ve felt when I burned my soul completely. She must’ve been salivating at the idea of taking the soul of a God for Herself.”

“That is not—!” I stopped myself in a hurry. I was about to deny it—a habit of my old ways—but if there was someone who knew Them better than me, it would be Salrak, so I simply shook my head. “Then… there is a possibility that They’re not working together…”

“Maybe. Did you hear the voices of any other Gods when you fought with Eletha?” He asked, but I just turned with raised eyebrows to the phone.

“You didn’t hear Her?”

“No. It must be because despite using my old powers to exist in the form that I have, I’m no longer a God; just a construct of the being that I was, spread through many machines and powered by what was mine, which is now yours,” He said with a rather calm tone of voice.

“I see… then to answer your question, there was only the voice of Altheras,” I said and turned to look back outside the window. “She and Ouzus were the ones that spoke the most to me, but I still can’t know from that short amount of time spent fighting Eletha if there were other Gods or not.”

“They are fickle beings, most of Them. There’s a high possibility that the only one here is Altheras. Though, that doesn't mean that all the others aren’t going to jump here as soon as She finds a way to come. So let me remind you of what I said in the past: Be ready to face Them… or be ready to die.”

I tightened my lips and looked down at my lap. He was right. I had been reminding myself that I had to fix the things that I caused in the past, and that includes the path that I created for Them to our old world. If I can break that path; if I can break the connection that They have with this girl, then I might be able to get closer to what I wanted all along… Peace for the world.

With my eyes turned to the phone that had the timer of the conversion counting on it, I also thought about Nicole, Bo’guth and his family, and all the people that I’ve met in my time here. I had to make sure that they weren’t lost to those Gods.

“I guess then that I should work on what I had been doing all along. I’ll see with Super-Demon if we can find a way to cut off Altheras from Eletha with Soul Magic. Hopefully… I won’t have to forcefully do it,” I said, standing up from the chair with my eyes still on the phone.

“We’ll see about that,” Salrak said with some uncertainty.

“You don’t believe in me?” I asked with a frown. It was rare for Him to say such a thing.

“The grip of those Seven is quite strong, after all, so I recommend that you don’t create a fantasy in your mind about this whole thing. Even with Me and my full power, the best solution I always found for the Holy Heroes was to simply exterminate them,” He said with a firm tone. “You shall be ready to do the same if you must.”

“But…” I trailed off momentarily, “What if… What if doing so…”

Salrak chuckled after the moment of silence of me trying to repeat yet again my same worries. “Then, I guess you should be ready to cradle this world in your arms to another world.”

“How could I ever do that?” I asked. Such a thing sounded way beyond what I could currently do; I might not even be able to do such a thing even if I was at my old power levels.

“I’m sure that if it comes to that… you’ll figure it out,” He said, “So, what’s it going to be?”

I considered it for a moment. If it was doing what He said He did with our world, then I’d have to burn my soul in order to do it, but… again, it would just be another repetition of the past, even if I found another world for the people of this one. In the end… I’ll still have to learn about Soul Magic.

With a sigh, I picked up the phone. “For now, I guess I should just do what I can. Thank you for listening to me, Salrak.”

He chuckled. “Quite the thing to hear from you. But yes, you’re welcome.”

I softly smiled and ended the call, placing the phone back down on the table as I walked over to the window, where the cold air of the night was entering. A gust of wind caused my hair to fly back slightly, and after refreshing myself, I finally turned to my bed, allowing myself to rest.