Dark wings lifted Sam into the sky, high above the Hafgufa. "now, which side is supposed to be your head," he let the demonic energy flow into his sword, changing its shape and color. "either way, you will scream!" he dove out of the sky blade forward.
From the boat, Natale watched the black speck that was his sun getting closer and closer to the massive creature. It was quite like the world was holding its breath; even the waves were still. then the speck hit the Hafgufa.
"AH!" Natale felt like he was going to explode; the Hafgufa's cry was beyond loud. The sperm whale in the past could kill people with its clicks, reaching 180 -200 decibels. The current sound was much worse, reaching 4,000 decibels. If Sam and Natale hadn't protected themselves with mana and runes, this fight would be over.
"Nice try! But I've fought louder!" Sam ripped his sword out of the moss and something that protected the Hafgufa back. It was thick enough to protect it from his initial attack mostly. "HA!" he stepped into the same spot, sending dangerous energy past the fax armor. His body vibrates from the bone-shattering cry, but he ignores it and stabs the Hafgufa again in a different spot at a different angle.
Sam sent out several dozen probing attackers before the Hafgufa raised its tail. "so I've been attacking your butt!" he laughed before racing to the head. He wasn't worried about the fact.
"There we go!" Natale said, setting down his brush and checking over the rune he painted to the air. They were looking good as always, " now freeze!" he slammed the butt of his weapon onto the boat, activating the runes. They shot towards the water surrounding the Hafgufa. They hit, draining all the energy from the water molecules; it reached absolute zero, becoming ice colder than anything on Earth.
The ice spread for miles, trapping the Hafgufa; impressive it was, but Natale couldn't hold it for long., not that he needed to.
"sweet gods, this thing is big," Sam had spent several minutes in a mana-enhanced sprint to the creature's head. But he did arrive with the shard of night overflowing with demonic energy when he reached a good spot behind the thing's necks. His legs' muscles burned with the mana he pumped into them; he pushed off the moss, sending several miles into the arm.
With a show of core strength, he spun, unleashing a horizontal demonic slash. It took less than two minutes before the beast was decapitated, "that must have hurt." he pitted the dying creature. His wings flapped weakly to keep him hovering. 'okay, time to prepare it for transport,' he wrapped the ribbon around the sword to shied it on his back before stretching out.
'Remember, my lord, to prepare it for transport, you have to mark it,'
"with the paint on the boat, then I have to apply the preserving device so that it doesn't go bad before they come to get it." it took him twenty minutes to do that, 'took more time than to kill it.' he found it kind of funny, maybe it was a form of revenge for killing it. Returning to the boat, he checked on his father, making sure the man was okay.
It took a half-hour for the delivery service to come to pick up the massive creature. The entire time, Sam let his bloodlust leak out, so nothing got the bright idea to try and nibble at the floating corpse. "oh man, what is that!" Natale mumbled, looking at the massive ship that faded into view before dropping cables to the floating corpse. He was more amazed at how easily they lifted it out of the water; he wasn't even sure how much it could possibly weigh. Or how much effort would be needed to lift it. "oh man, what is this?!" his view was smaller than he thought; how interesting.
'they've completed storing to your instructions,' Sam smiled. It wouldn't do if the Hafgufa blew up mid-transport. Even worse, if it killed someone, 'it should reach the lord of gluttony in a few earth days.'
"well, that one thing finished," he turned to his father, who had worked on restoring the temperature of the water to prevent any lasting effects on the waters. "should we go a bit more fishing, or do you wanna head back to the hotel?" sam has accomplished his gaol so he was fine with anything for the time being even though he wasn't too thrilled about the idea of school starting up again.
"let's head back; I've used more mana than I was expecting." Sam nodded before grabbing the wheel of the boat and turning back towards the land; it was a nice drive. 'so why is my gut upset?' he trusted his gut highly; his instincts were built from many life-and-death situations. If something was triggering them, then he was sure something was coming, and he would face it.
Too bad he didn't know the magnitude of what he was about to face; when they arrived at the port, an employee from the hotel was waiting for them." Mr. vegal! Sophie has arrived and would like to meet you," Sam linked for a moment before his face slipped into a massive grin before he jumped off the boat and raced toward the hotel, his father rushing after him.
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Sliding to a stop at the main entrance, Sam opened his senses, trying to pick out," Ha, you still don't wear shoes, do you!" Sam paused. That voice was familiar but strange; his stomach wasn't happy, but he turned around to face her. "you've aged well," Sophie still had her beauty even with gray hair, and sitting in a wheelchair, her skin taught around her bones.
" I should say that about you," Sam smiled, leaning down to hug her. he could smell death on her, a year at most. Maybe longer with the right treatment.' in the back of his mind, he realized he was lucky as Sophia led the way to the hotel restaurant, where she prepared a feast for their reunion. Sam forced himself to be all here, not letting him think about anything else. The helper said nothing as they prepared for after the dinner, 'should I request the help of Natale?'
The man didn't seem to fully realize the weight he had with Sam,' though observing the man and Sophia, they weren't sure if they needed to say anything.
'so I guess it's true then, they have always been faults in Sam's stories.' they hadn't been sure if they were the boy didn't know or was ignoring them. 'it's probably a mix of both,' he stealthy sent a message to his wife while Sophia said so stories of her life to sam, who listened to them happily—learning what he missed about his friend. The food was good and came attached with many memories to Sam; his stomach and his heart were getting filled, but that didn't change the truth.
When dinner came to an end, they headed up to their hotel with a promise to meet Sophia for breakfast, "How old am I?" no, that wasn't the question; age was relative in this kind of day and age," how long have I been alive?" when did he become like this, "how many people have grown old without me knowing? how many have died?" has he grown old and died.
"I don't wanna know what you are going to do with that," Natale's voice broke Sam out of his trace; he was surprised to find the man holding his black wrist. His hand was in demonic mode. Nails aimed at his skull. "huh?!" he was confused; what was he about to do? Why did it feel familiar?
'my lord, when I scanned your memories, I found several holes and blanks. Based on your unconscious action right now, I believe you've erased them.' it didn't improve how the lord was feeling, but it forced him to think and lower his hand, forcing his demonic core to draw back its energy before he used his mana to temporary seal it. 'i don't want to forget her! Sophia is my friend.'
Stepping out of the elevator, Natale didn't let go of Sam's hand; the teen didn't fight it, though he might not have noticed as he was led back to the room. The closing of the door seemed to shock Sam, and he blinked slowly before taking back his hand and stepping out onto the balcony. Natale wasn't worried about him jumping. The height wouldn't kill Sam. "I'm going to get some tea going! What do you want?"
"I don't really care, but prepare your ears. I'm going to scream," Natal nodded and headed into the kitchen before he realized what Sam had fully said. "shit!" not a second after he covered his ears, primal screams shocked the upper floors of the hotel. It was Sam screaming, screaming full of rage and tears. They lasted for more than several minutes, growing in power until his throat couldn't take it anymore.
Only after a bit longer did Natale uncover his ringing ears, "I'm gonna need a big batch of tea." he started several things of water before peaking out onto the balcony to find Sam just sitting there looking towards the sky with tears running down his pale cheeks. His eyes should have been red from his tears, but the ghostly power flowed through him in response to his emotions.
His ability did react to his emotions; out of all of them, Sam felt that the ghost would do the less damage. Though he couldn't control it too well at the moment, he couldn't find the energy to care as it altered his aura. His white hair danced in the chilling winds, and deep and soul-harming sorrow spread out from around him, reaching into the hearts of those who didn't know how to shield themselves.
Natale left Sam crying only long enough to put the teabags in hot water and grab the covers; being both outside, he wrapped a blanket around Sam. The white-haired teen didn't say anything for a long time. Even as the tea turned cold and the stars shone, he didn't move much besides blinking tears out of his eyes. Natale was fully prepared to wait out the entire night with him.
"I've met many people," you could feel the weight of the sorrow on his tongue," so many people who became friends. Who I've helped and helped me! But now I'm not even sure if they are still alive, if they've grown old or died young. If they've had families. worst of all, I don't know what's become of him!" Natale pulled his son closer to him, who pushed his head into the man's neck, taking in the warmth of life and the pulse of his heart.
"Sam, I think you're forgetting who you are! I'm sure if you put your mind and power to it, I'm sure that you can find out what happened." Sam blinked some tears out of his eyes; his dad was right. He could find out who he knew was dead or not. Standing up, he kept the blanket close to him before drawing on more ghosty power. Not enough to go full ghost but enough that parts of him were less solid.
Natal sipped his tea, watching; he didn't know what Sam was about to do, but it was still out of left field that he started singing. It wasn't his usual singing voice, and this one sounded like it belonged to the dead. Hundreds of dead putting together an inviting chorus or one of calling. Natale watched, trying to be ready for anything, but still, his breath was stolen from him by the numerous lights falling from the sky and rising from the earth to surround them.
"wow, so many of you answered me." Sam was crying full force again at the number of souls that came. He looked through them, brief flashes of memories about their faces. Some memories glitched. Some he put towards his own actions. But he found some joy at this moment, seeing so many old friends, some hope that a few were still alive. Not to mention, his soul wasn't here. He was still alive. he would figure it out later. He would figure a lot out so much later. But for right now, at the moment, he was going to listen to all the stories of souls.
The night passed quickly, and Sam didn't pay it any mind; he barely reacted when Natale carried him back inside and into the living room, where he continued to converse with the souls. So many of them had such filling lives, but they kept trying to tell him what impact he had on their lives, but he didn't care. He wanted to hear about who they grew into. That was much more fun for him. They were having fun at the same time.
The sun was starting to rise, and he knew soon he was going to have to say goodbye to them; it wasn't a problem. Death came for all of them. It wasn't unexpected to have to say goodbye. 'my lord, you may not have to say goodbye, at least not permanently.' Sam perked up and listened to the helper as they explained the ability of a cosmic lord. It sounded great to him, but there was one thing he had to make sure of first.
'how many of you would like to work for me? I have to mark your soul and give you a semi-corporal form." The first part was something he could already do, and the second was something of a cosmic lord's ability. Sam expected one or two of them to say yes. Not all of the two hundred-something souls he summoned. "why?" he didn't get it. They were dead, and even hell was a rest from life.
They answered all at once, talking over each other, but in the end, it boiled down to one matter: they helped them. The impact he had on them lasted their entire lives. One voice stood out to Sam so much, "As you said, I never let them win and lived so long because of it. I saw so many things I would have missed if it wasn't for you." Sam was amazed. He still had tears in him.