Chapter 521: Chapter 515: Death grip

“How is that going to work? Sun basically just sent me hers and I barely felt the difference,” Sofia asked, keeping her eyes closed.

“I will be giving them to you one by one, it might feel strange but please try to stay still. Thanks to Cinthia I am able to observe how your real body reacts, so I can see whether you are capable of taking more.”

“Alright. Ready when you are. Just to make sure, is it really going to help you if I take them away? Sun told me it did not change much that I had hers…”

“It does help, not much but it does. That is, assuming you are able to contain them well. Let us see.”

The wooden floor creaked as Death came close, and Sofia felt a cold hand slowly coming to a rest atop her head.

“Let us begin,” Death said calmly, as a chilling sensation started to spread all over Sofia’s fake body of black light. It felt a bit like getting splashed by cold water, the freezing sensation of which seeped into one’s bones. “How do you feel?” Death asked.

“It’s… Not the most pleasant experience, but it is also not that bad,” Sofia answered.

“Much better than expected already. Everything looks fine on the outside too, so I should be able to safely transfer the first essence.”

“W- wait, that was not it?”

“No, I just brought the essence close, it would not end well to force an essence upon you if simple contact had already been too much. Unlike most divine essences, mine clashes directly with the recipient’s life, which is why finding a permanent host is such a difficult task.”

“Would that not work with undead people, then?” Sofia asked.

“No, the effects are even worse in one devoid of life. Without a host’s life to clash with the essence, there is nothing to stop the essence from leaking into the outside world. It is not my wish to create cursed children spreading death and decay everywhere their journey takes them.”

“What about Leverle? He contains it fine, does he not?”

“That he does,” Death approved in a lighthearted tone, “but my son is a special case. He was uniquely suited to host my essence, even before his path took him to me, much like you are now. You should stop talking and concentrate while I send the essence.”

Sofia wanted to nod but that was hard considering her current state, so she patiently waited. The cold sensation soon started to become stronger, and she could feel something hanging above her head. As it came closer, it was like her head of black light froze over and cracked, the feeling was not as much pain as it was extreme discomfort, like an unbearable itch, like one’s body and mind screaming that it needed to escape, to stay as far away from the thing as possible and never come close again.

Ignoring all that, Sofia sat as still as she could on the chair.

Cold… But I have lived through worse.

The freezing ball of death slowly made its way through her head and neck, which felt like getting slowly submerged into a glacial lake upside down, until it stopped at her heart, and the freezing started to recede. Slowly, in waves, it became weaker and weaker, until all that was left was the cold and uneasy sensation of having a frozen nail stuck in one’s chest, like a heart attack about to happen.

“How are you doing?” Death asked just as soon as the essence settled.

“It… It started really bad. But now it’s fine. I just hope what I’m feeling now won’t follow me into my real body…”

“Ah…” Death sighed, “It seems the weaker side effects cannot be bypassed no matter what… It should be like my son, then. From his own account, the sensation will become dulled while in the spirit plane, and only a faint cold sensation in the chest will remain in the physical plane, like someone’s slightly cold hand resting on you. It will get stronger the more essence you get.”

“I see… Is everything fine on the other side?” Sofia asked.

“There is no leaking into the outside world thus far,” Death confirmed, “judging from this, you should be able to safely keep at least three essences, but the choice is your, we can stop now, if you want.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“How many does Leverle have?”

“My son holds three,” Death answered.

“Then let’s do at least that. I feel like I can handle it,” Sofia announced confidently. Ideally she wanted to take five or six, but she had to make sure it wouldn’t become a bother in the real world first. That being said, she was someone who had lived for a good while as a stripe of flesh plastered onto a bone statue, so she was quite used to ‘minor physical annoyances’.

“As you wish. Let me know if it becomes too much, at any sign from you I will stop,” Death said with concern.

“Understood.”

“Then, let us begin anew.”

The second essence went like the first, and it settled in a similar manner, it now felt to Sofia like she had two frozen nails embedded inside her chest instead of one.

Seeing that she said nothing, Death proceeded with the third one, which went the same exact way again.

Death stopped, and Sofia felt his hand pull away from her ‘head’, “How is it now,” he asked.

“Like triple what it was before?” Sofia answered awkwardly, which made Death lightly laugh.

“Then all is well,” Death concluded, “the sensation in the physical plane should not strengthen quite as much, but it might be the right time to conclude our session this time, and let you judge by yourself. If you still feel like you can handle more after your next trip, you may come back for it.”

“That feels like a good idea,” Sofia confirmed, “I have a last question, if you do not mind, which recessed do you think I should go to for essences next?”

“Hmm… Let me see,” Death said as he walked back to the window. After about a minute, he spoke again, “If we are to be considerate to Sorrow, not to slow your upcoming trip too much, then there are two places you may go. First is to the closest of Taxes’ shrines, in the beast-continent’s dwarven isles, as Taxes’ asking price is quite cheap, a simple half of all the money and raw material you own at the current time. His offer is not time-limited, but should you spend your wealth, the price does not go down, it will however go up if you accumulate more wealth. And secondly, you may go release the soul of an unborn son of Rejection in exchange for the essence it is holding.”

Half of all the wealth I own? I wouldn’t call that ‘quite cheap’... But I guess it is, all things considered.

“Do I get more information on both of those?” Sofia asked.

“Cinthia can give you the details,” Death answered lightheartedly, “It is now time for us to part ways.”

Sofia stood up from the chair, surprisingly, she felt less burdened than before, being able to move easier than she remembered, she opened her eyes, witnessing a new form of Death, which looked like a cracked vaguely human-shaped clay pot oozing with dark liquid, “Thank you for everything,” she said, trying her best to bend her black light form into a proper bow.

The pot turned around, Sofia only being able to see the bottom of it scraping against the wooden floor, “You are welcome. Let it be known that Death enjoyed your company,” the deity’s deep voice concluded as Sofia felt like her soul was getting yanked away from her.

Before she knew it, she opened her eyes back in the underground chamber of Death’s cathedral, surrounded by two skeleton, a shy orc and a blank-masked demon.

“Sofia!” Bookie was first to react, grabbing her leg, while Pareth silently nodded and Cinthia looked back and forth at her and her chat, giving Sofia a hand sign.

“Welcome back,” Leverle greeted, “Are you feeling well?”

Sofia gave Bookie a head pat as she answered Leverle, “Better than I expected, my chest feels a bit cold,” she observed, “all good beyond that.”

“You will get used to it,” the demon reassured her, “You are now one of Death’s high priests,” he explained, while producing a white robe out of nowhere, “as such these garments are yours, and you may seek Death’s protection in this and His other places of worship.”

That was unexpected but it does make sense…

“Thank you,” Sofia awkwardly answered as she grabbed and unfolded the white robes, “Is that Death’s rune?” she asked, seeing the giant rune embroidered on the back.

“That is so. Should the power of the essences start to leak, this robe will temporarily hold them back,” Leverle explained, his white mask rotating in place like an owl’s face, “it also offers a decent protection against all other divine magic, only for the bearers of Death.”

“That… Will be incredibly useful, actually. Thank you very much,” Sofia thanked him with a bow.

“At ease, it is only Death you need to thank.”

[Venerable physique of the primeval void] ♢ - Peak of the Light forging realm :

Gather divine essence (30) to unlock the Boundless space realm.

Current divine essence (17) :

Scripture (1)

Aphenoreth (1)

Dread (1)

Sorrow (1)

Ormoncleth (1)

Victory (1)

Sun (5)

Creation (2)

Life (1)

Death (3)

Then with Taxes and Rejection, I can get two more. We’re getting there.