Chapter 231 - [A Mountain Of War And Death] 16/?: Healing The Rest Of The Innocent Souls
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Ervas glanced at a sleeping young bear-kin boy, seemingly in his mid-teens, who was peacefully sleeping over a simple bed made of leather.
??
Azra was the youngest son of Ragdaz, father of Gaius, who he and Veronica had found within Oggoth's dungeon, trapped, and used as a wicked tool.
After everything that he had gone through, Veronica and Ervas had felt incredibly bad when they knew that his father and even his younger brother had suffered this much as well, it was as if life was not missing on anyone and loved to make anyone suffer.
They simply hated how good people always had to suffer so much, especially those such as beastmen and demons, and worked their hardest to bring happiness to their lives.
They would not be able to feel at ease if they did not do their utmost best on this task. The feeling of guilt that they had within their hearts over having failed the people of their past lives still tormented them, and made them seek to never make anyone, especially the indoctrinated and hated tribes of beastmen and demons go through such suffering.
They were the governors of the beastmen and demons, within their whole mindsets, there was not any place where they would make these people suffer.
One could call them biased towards other races, but it was not as if they were worse than them, and it was not either as if they discriminated against them either, but their preferences were clearly towards those that were suffering the most, and those they considered their brethren.
Unless those people tried to kill them and clearly had bad intentions that could never be cleansed, it was when they finally would decide to kill them for good, such as the barbaric mercenaries that tried to assault the village where Ervas was in.
The villagers were rather hateful on Ervas mind, but he decided to not kill them because they were people with fear, not inherently evil people that feasted in the suffering of others, such as the hateful mercenaries.
So instead of that, their punishment was that their corps and some of their useful items were 'taken' by Ervas and Veronica. In their perspective, it was terrible and vile, but in fact, it was way better than simply have been wiped out by Ervas or Veronica's monsters.
Ervas and Veronica could be said to be a bit insane, but the insanity they had was an obsession with doing what they believed was the right thing to do. And well, there was also a bit of a revenge fuel there, as aside from bringing happiness to their people, they desired to kill Bestellen the most.
Azra, alongside the other kids that were with him, were victims in Ervas and Veronica's face, and even though their hordes of Undead killed people, they believed that it was the right thing to do to give them a second chance.
After all, the weight of the death of the people was lessened tremendously when they revived them as Live-Dead, and also after they got to know that the Necromancer didn't simply give them power and that was it but manipulated their souls and minds to the point where their own memories and emotions were being slowly drained and twisted.
Ervas realized this when he began to heal Azra's soul, as his memories had been sealed through a curse, and his emotions were also being suppressed, to only make emotions such as hate remain the most within his mind.
Although it was not complete brainwashing, it could still be considered that, as it made the kids' minds twist and become wicked not long after having acquired the Necromancer's 'Divine Protection'.
Ervas continuously poured his power into Azra's soul as he used his newly acquired skill 'Soul Repair' to heal back his wounds while separating the cursed areas away into a lump of blackness and dark blue colors of phantasmal nature.
The same occurred with many of the kids, as each of their souls was cleaned and repaired, leaving these lumps of darkness floating above the area, the lump grew bigger and bigger as the cleansing continued.
Veronica was not simply watching, as she joined in the healing by fusing her soul with Ervas and acquiring the ability to use Soul Repair.
She quickly discovered that she also had the innate ability to do the same, and after having cleansed a young harpy girl with black hair and chocolate skin, she acquired the Skill.
Ding!
[You acquired the [Soul Repair: Level 1] Skill!]
"I got the Skill too!" she said.
"That's good to know, now we can hasten our progress even more," said Ervas, continuing his healing.
Ervas and Veronica used their combined powers to dive within the minds of the younglings, using their consciousness to construct an 'area of resting' to the minds of the kids so they could feel at ease there, while they began to cleanse their minds from the curses within the souls.
Souls and Minds were unified as one.
Although this knowledge was not as widespread in Kritias, it was a known fact within all Gods. However, common people would often not know that it was possible to use one's soul to think aside from the brain, as they would never develop abilities like these.
The Soul was capable of harboring the mind, and in actuality, it did. The thing was, that the Brain was where the mind of the soul would often rest, growing and developing inside of it, instead of developing outside of it. However, any memory or emotions would be stored in the soul as well, while the brain would be where most of the thoughts would remain.
This is why curses, seals, and other things put into other people's souls directly affected their minds, memories, and emotions.
"Now… A little bit and… There…" said Veronica, as her abyssal soul enveloped the body of a young bear-kin girl as a giant lump of phantasmal blackness emerged, her abyssal soul quickly retrieved itself back inside of her phantom form and her beautiful dress, as she glanced at it and grabbed it with her thing and semi-transparent pale white arms.
"This must be the last… Phew, I used my mind a lot… Huh?"
Ding!
[You acquired the [Mental Encroachment: Level 1] Skill!]
Veronica was slightly startled as she glanced at the System window, alerting her of the acquisition of the new skill, one that Ervas was always using, and after having shared it with her for a long time, made her learn it.
Veronica walked towards the biggest lump of blackness in the room, which was what Ervas was glancing at at this moment, as she deposited the last piece inside.
"This thing is… a part of the power of that entity, these are all the curses accumulated," said Ervas.
"To think that we extracted them all so perfectly!" said Veronica.
"With my Telekinesis, I can maintain them in this place, but if I were to let them go, they would most likely run rampant and cause destruction, before going back to their creator…" said Ervas.
"These curses are very unique, it's obvious that they were made by that Necromancer's soul…" muttered Veronica.
"Surprisingly, the kids didn't know its true origin, so even to them he does not reveal its true powers, intentions, and origins… they only know that it is some kind of Lich with a power that can one day reach godhood, but that's it…" muttered Ervas.
"We have to honestly investigate more about this bastard…" muttered Veronica.
"What'll we do with this?" asked Ervas.
"We cannot let it go anywhere. So, let us simply eat it," said Veronica.
"Good idea," said Ervas, as both of their souls fused into a gigantic, gray-colored specter, grabbing the enormous lump with their claws, and quickly breaking it down through their soul, as if munching on it and then digesting it, assimilating the power within their fused souls.
"This… tastes awful…" muttered the combined soul of Ervas and Veronica, as they finished their quick meal, a giant lump of a monstrous curse made by the wicked soul of the Necromancer.
As they finished their 'meal', they received a few system notifications, alongside a slight new rush of power.
Ding!
[You gained +1.000.000 Mana and +1.000 Magic!]
[You acquired the [Curse Synthesis: Level 1], [Dead Spirit Fusion: Level 1], and [Phantasmagoric Aura: Level 1] Skills!]
"Three Skills in one go?! Are we becoming like that Goblin?" wondered the fusion of Ervas and Veronica, as it quickly split in half and went back to its vessels.
"Amazing, we should try to eat more curses…" said Ervas.
"I think that we got that because it was the Curse made by something almost as strong as a God… and because it was a large lump of it… But Still, these Skills… sound awesome" said Veronica.
"To think that we would powerup from all of this, well, as long as we can use this power to help our people, it is fine…" said Ervas.
"Indeed, let's put them to good use," said Veronica.
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<Skill Explanations>
[Dead Spirit Fusion]
The Skill produced from the insertion of knowledge and Death Attribute Mana into the soul of a talented mage, this Skill represents the Death Magic Spell of the same name, an advanced Spell only ever made by the strongest Death Mage that had ever existed.
This skill grants the ability to use Dead Spirits to strengthen one's soul by fusing them inside of the user's soul. Although, instead of complete fusion, the Dead Spirits are 'trapped' inside of the user's soul, as if it were an ethereal bag of sorts.
The Mana of the Dead Spirits is transferred to the user through his soul, giving him a large amount of Mana and Mana Regeneration.
However, its overuse might cause severe damage to the soul.