Chapter 27 “The Watchers Move”
As I shouted toward my two comrades, I could see the two of them run toward different direction. While Reiyes jumped right onto the beast’s face, Cyrielle positioned herself on the back. Although I couldn’t really get to see their face perfectly, both of their heartbeats showed that they have the same state of mind. They felt excited. Their heartbeats’ rate may differ slightly, but I could feel the same feeling of excitement from them. It might be strange for regular people to understand the fact that they are really excited instead of being scared when facing such an impossible monstrosity like the beast. But for me, I could understand them.
The reason for that is quite simple really. We, The Watchers, are very strong. We are quite strong to the extent that it is quite difficult to find an opponent or a situation where it is challenging. It might sound very arrogant to say that, but sadly that is the truth. It is especially true for Cyrielle who is a natural fighter. Her love for fighting is clearly more than your average person. Reiyes, although far from being a battle addict, actually crave for some challenge once in a while. Trust me, I know them long enough to understand that.
As the beast finally realized the existence of Reiyes in front of it, a menacing growl resounded in the air. It seemed that seeing Reiyes’ figure clearly reminded it of its still bleeding eye socket. Even without checking its heartbeats, I could tell straight away that it has become enraged. Thankfully, that made Cyrielle’s movement behind the beast gone unnoticed.
Reiyes then jumped from one side to another while dodging the beast’s desperate attack. From my position, I could see Cyrielle is also doing her best. She was checking the ground while looking for a good time to use her weapon. Although, I felt slightly worried that she will become reckless or impatient judging from the looks on her face and also her heartbeats that became faster with each passing second that is telling me that she couldn’t wait to use her weapon.
“Remember, don’t hurt the beast!”
“We know!” The two gave their reply with a shout after I said that.
While the two is busy, I stood and concentrate my magic sense on to the soul inside the beast. No. Make that I concentrated onto the souls inside the beast since I can detect multiple soul inside it. I need to make sure that the Marked Soul is still alive inside the beast. So far, it is still alive. Not that well and stable, but alive nonetheless. I could still feel the life force pulsing from it weakly. It seems we really need to finish this sooner than we expected.
It is frustrating, but I can’t do anything more at the moment. If I enter the battle between them, I will risk the beast getting too agitated and do something unpredicted. Furthermore, I could see that Reiyes is really getting a good control of the whole situation. The beast is really following him without being able to land a single hit to him. On its back, I could see that Cyrielle is clearly gathering her strength for one precise blow that will make a crater big enough to bury the beast. But…is she going to be all right? I mean, while Reiyes’ heartbeats sounded quite calm, she sounded excited. A bit too excited in my opinion. I fear that she will execute the plan faster than expected.
“Cyrielle Natine! Now!”
“Got it!!” A loud shout came from her as Reiyes gave out the instruction. “And just Cyrielle is fine!” She then jumped toward the beast with her hand raised. “HYAAHHH!!!”
A loud sound of explosion came from under the beast. It was too late to notice that and could only manage to turn its large body toward Cyrielle since it immediately fell toward the crater that was created by the powerful blow from Cyrielle’s hand.
The plan is executed as intended, but I am quite concern at the current situation. What’s the matter, you ask? The crater is made as plan, true. And it has also trapped the beast as planned, also true. But the thing that made it quite unexpected is that the beast managed to grab the edge of the crater. It is made possible due to the crater that is not wide enough although already deep enough. A slight miscalculation. And, I hope that I’m wrong, it is a slight miscalculation that might jeopardize the plan if not taken care of immediately.
“Reiyes! Cyrielle!”
“We know!” Once again the two gave a shout at the same time.
It seems that even before I call them, the two have already notice the problem. They have moved onto opposing sides and then put power in their hand and then executed a strong blow on the soil near the beast. The already unstable ground immediately started to move and then covered the beast on its side, putting weight on its body and also immobilizing it completely. I have to say that I am quite pleased at how fast they react to the situation.
After the soil stabilized, the beast was left with its head poking out of the ground while it is clearly trying to set itself free. But the sheer amount of debris and soil that was put on top of its body will surely keep the corrupted beast for quite some time. Unfortunately for me, that ‘some time’ is anything but long, forcing me to act fast.
“Nerva, your turn,” said Reiyes as he looked at me. “We’ll stay in our position in case the beast managed to get out sooner than I expected. But you have to–”
“Just go already!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Ignoring the frown on Reiyes’ face, I wasted no time and jumped toward the area around its back. Thankfully, the soil around its back is not that thick, making me able to dig my way onto its back quite easily.
Not long after that digging, the hilt of the sword embedded onto the beast appeared in front of my eyes. Although I have my sight with me, the first thing I did is not examining its appearance, but activating my magic sense. And just as expected, the object in question possesses a very strong magic energy. Appearance wise, it is quite simple looking. There is no strange design on it and it certainly looks like any other sword hilt you might find on the market.
As I dig further, the complete appearance of the sword came to my view. Since part of the blade is embedded securely in to the beast’s back, I couldn’t really determine the full length of the sword. Fortunately, I have no need to do that since I know real well the most important part of the weapon in question.
“…A magic diamond, eh?” Yes. The most important part of the weapon in front of me is not the blade, but the stone that is encrusted into the base of the blade. It is a diamond that is not any larger than an adult’s thumb. The color it gave out is unusual, as like the feeling it gave when I feel it using my magic sense for the first time. Even without touching it or knowing its true identity, I have a very strong hunch that the diamond is the culprit of the whole situation. But that is just my hunch. To know the real story, I need to look closer.
“Nerva, you better hurry.” Reiyes’ voice reached my ear. “It is struggling harder by the second.”
“Well, if it does escape, we just have to bury it again, right?” And…I heard Cyrielle’s carefree voice in reply. She is right and I don’t have any word to correct her with. But for the sake of the Marked Soul, I don’t want to risk doing the previous plan again. We were able to do that since the beast didn’t realize that we will bury it on the soil. But doing it the second time will be much more difficult than the first and it might even lead to something unexpected. With the Marked Soul’ safety in the balance, I will not permit them to do the same thing again. I will not even let a condition where the two has to do that again appeared. I will have to do this correctly in the first try.
Not wanting to waste any more time, I ignored Cyrielle’s word and then touched the hilt of the sword. The moment the tip of my finger reached the hilt, I was immediately attacked by a surge of feeling. A lot of feeling is mixed in it. How…can I explain it? Disgusting? Unnerving? Nauseating? I guess… a bit of them. All that matter is that the feeling is very far from pleasant. They are enough to break one’s mind if not careful. I, on the other hand, am quite immune to that. Well…not to the extent of immune. I guess the more appropriate word for that is ‘quite accustomed’.
After that initial surge of unpleasant feeling, one might think that I will turned back and then try to look for another way. Sadly, I do not have the luxury to do that, thus leading me to continue the plan no matter what.
I gripped the handle firmly and closed my glowing eyes. Immediately after I closed my eyes, my vision changed.
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This is another ability of mine as on that can see soul. I could ‘enter’ an object or a person to see the soul that dwells inside it, entering into a domain called ‘soul plain’. In that place my body became a transparent looking ethereal body since it is not my real blood and flesh body, but the essence of my soul that came in contact with the plain. In the plain, a different law is in order here. And as one that can see and manipulate soul, I have understood the rule in this strange looking place.
As I looked around the place where my ethereal looking body is at the moment, I noticed that it resembles a vast and empty plain. Judging from how vast it is, I think that I have not only entered the sword, but also the corrupted beast that it has embedded onto. And…yes, I can positively confirm that as I saw some kind of invisible border around me. Although it is not that visible, I noticed that the area outside of the edge has a distinct darkish color to it, probably due to the corrupted state the beast is. As one might know after hearing my explanation, the state of the object or the person I enter determine the soul plain’s appearance. In this case, the area inside the border is the sword’s since the plain is relatively empty and barren looking, while the area outside of the border with its darkish color ground and atmosphere belongs to the corrupted beast. Even without stepping onto it, I could tell that doing that might endanger me in one way or another.
My gaze then moved onto the next important objects around me. The souls themselves. In the soul plain, they manifested in many form. The usual form is a floating orb of fire. I have seen some stronger and more unique soul taken a humanoid form or maybe even animal form. It all depends on the characteristics of the soul itself. They all differs one from another. But one single characteristic can be recognized for all Marked Soul. That is the existence of an insignia at one part of the soul’s ethereal body. The insignia is a sign that a soul is marked by a greater being and the insignia in question is the symbol of the being that marked that particular soul. Even without hearing the full story, just knowing the insignia present in the soul’s ethereal body, I could know the identity of the one that marked that soul.
And, just as expected, one of the souls in front of me has that particular insignia. The soul in question has the appearance of a floating boy. But…the appearance is quite hard to discern due to its rather hazy appearance. And…is it going to disappear? The appearance of the soul is so vague that I have to concentrate hard to be able to see it. This is not good.
As I concentrated, I noticed that there is a rather thin thread attached to it. I went closer to the thread and touched it. Immediately I felt some surge of energy travelled on the thread. I fear that it is the process of the soul’s life force being drain by the corrupted beast’s soul.
And to confirm my fear, the other soul attached to the other end of the string is getting bigger and emitting a stronger feeling. It has the appearance of a cracked fang. It is so badly discolor that the only thing that still resembles a fang is just its shape. Darkish red and green spots could be seen here and there. There are also some cracks that run on the surface. I instinctively distanced myself from it as I felt such an unpleasant feeling just from gazing at it. The effect of being corrupted truly is horrible. It affects the soul’s appearance so much.
Should I cut it? I mean, if the connection between those two souls is severed, the marked soul can be saved. But, of course, that action alone is not without risk. And how dangerous the risk is? Sadly, I wouldn’t know. That forced me to be as careful as I could. With that, my next action is set.
I put my own energy onto the string. The reason I did that is so that I can determine how strong the connection between the two souls. This is not exactly a safe decision as the moment I put my strength into the link between the two it means that I have expose myself to the danger of being in contact with the corrupted soul. Although I have a lot of experience in dealing in these kinds of situation, the danger still remains. I still have to remain vigilance and be ready to react in case of anything.
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“…Ho?” I unconsciously let out a sound as I felt my energy travelled along the thin connecting thread. Even without doing it for long, I can confirm that the marked soul is getting drained faster than expected. This really forced me to push the plan much faster. “W-What the!?”
While still pouring energy into the thread, I felt a great vibration all around me. I look around me and noticed that the fang-shaped soul of the corrupted beast has turned darker than before. I could also start to hear a loud howl all around me. It seems that the soul is clearly rejecting me and has marked me as a dangerous existence. It tried to tell me to get away from its source of energy, eh? It seems that it is smarter than I thought. I guess the moment it became corrupted and have the marked soul as its energy source it also gains a bit more intelligence.
Now…with the state of the marked soul is getting more and more dangerous with each passing minute, should I attempt to cut its link right away? The link between them is strong, but it is not that strong that I can’t sever its connection. It will be difficult, but not impossible. With that in mind, I manipulated the energy that came out of my hand. It will not be strong enough to cut the whole thread, but will be enough to disturb the flow for a while. I then will isolate the marked soul and then destroy the other soul.
“…Huh?” As I tried to isolate the marked soul, I find some sort of barrier that prevented me from doing just that. This is strange. I have definitely not noticed something like that from before. Is it the corrupted soul’s doing? I looked toward the corrupted soul and it didn’t show any change. So…what just made that?
I tried doing the same thing again. But instead of the barrier, I felt something else. My instinct told me that something dangerous is going to happen. I immediately pulled back my ethereal hand from the thread and surveyed the soul plain. To my surprise, a drastic change happened. The ground around me cracked open and I saw some flames started to arise onto the air. Although I couldn’t feel any heat due being in the soul plain, I felt some pain assaulted me. As I tried my best to strengthen my ethereal body to avoid any damage, I saw some of the flame column moved toward me. In fear of being killed, I immediately stepped away. But as I stepped away, another one was already getting closer to me. In a short moment, I realized that I was trapped and had no way out. In the last minute before I was consumed by the terrible fire, I focused my mind and jumped out of the soul plan completely, returning to my real body.
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“Nerva! Get out of there!” The moment my sense came back to my real body, I heard Cyrielle’s shout toward me. Without being able to accustom myself to my own body again after exiting the soul plain, I forced my legs to jump out of the way. The moment I landed near a tree I noticed that the area where I was on moments ago has turned into a crater courtesy of the beast’s large limb that has apparently come free. Seeing that it has regained its freedom, I ran to the direction of my two comrades.
“You fail, huh?”
“It met some unexpected trouble there.” I said to Reiyes that has his attention glued toward the moving creature. “And…I can’t seem to do it as easily as I thought.”
“Great…Just great…” As expected, Cyrielle who stood next to Reiyes grumbled. “Now what? Any bright idea?”
“…Give me a minute.”
“I can’t promise you that, Nerva.” Reiyes glanced back at me. “The one in front of me is not going to wait that long.”
“…Just stall it or anything.”
“…Got it.” Reiyes then launched himself toward the beast. Seeing that, the beast started to attack him. But, just like before, he evaded all of the attack wonderfully.
“Then I’ll be going to.” Cyrielle went into a stance where she can immediately launched herself toward the beast.
“Just to remind you, don’t hurt it.”
“Sheesh…got it.” After that short grumbling, she joined Reiyes in creating a distraction.
With those two, I raked my brain for something else. I analyzed the situation and tried to remember the all I can about the soul plain. Then something important came to my mind. I finally realized why I can’t sever the connection between the souls. The key is the source of thing that attacked me while I was in the soul plain.
“Tch! Troublesome!” I couldn’t help but let out a shout as I just realized that. I then switched my mindset. If I can’t sever the connection, then the next thing that I can do to save the marked soul is to destroy the thing that endanger it. In short, I have to destroy the corrupted beast’s soul completely. That is the only way to do it. And the way to do it?...Ah…so troublesome…I hate to do this.
I then lowered my body and then jumped toward the beast. Clearly didn’t expect me, the beast was only able to spot me in the last second. The next second, it was left flying backward thanks to me hitting its head square between the eyes. It flew backward magnificently and landed with a loud thud on the ground, making a small crater.
“W-What the!?”
“Nerva, what is the meaning of your action?”
“Cyrielle, Reiyes.” I called their name as I looked back at my confused companions. “A change of plan. Listen closely.” I then quickly gave out the explanation of my plan. As I said each part in detail, I could see Cyrielle’s mouth was left open while her eyes widened. Reiyes, although didn’t show his surprise to that extent, raised one of his eyebrows and looked at me with a strange looks. I guess that is as expected.
“Y-Y-You’re crazy!!!” Cyrielle was the one that gave a response. “There’s no way I’ll do that!”
“She’s right, Nerva.” Reiyes added. “It is too reckless. Is there any other possible plan besides that?”
“For now, I don’t see any other possible plan except that.” I shook my head. “Sadly, I think that is the only possible plan we can use at the moment.”
“No! Absolutely not!” Cyrielle shouted again, clearly against the idea. “There’s no way I’m doing something that risky! And you!” She pointed at me. “Do you really think you can get away from it unscathed? Ha?”
“Unscathed? That will be impossible.” I said as I shake my head. “But alive, I can assure you. Don’t underestimate me, Cyrielle.”
“Ugh…” I could see her clenching her fist. Combined that with the fact that her heartbeats has risen significantly, it is pretty much clear for all how agitated she is. I know that she is just worried about me, but we have to make sacrifice to complete the mission. “…I…can’t…”
“Cyrielle Natine.” Reiyes’ voice was colder than usual. But I could sense a bit of warmth in his eyes as he looked at her. “Don’t let your emotion control you. Think about it clearly.”
“Easy for you!” She shouted again as she glared at him. “You’re not…not the one that might k–kill him! Ugh! Damn it!” She shook her head. “Is there no other way? Anything?”
“Not at the moment.” I answered her desperate question firmly. “And we have to act fast or we will risk the marked soul dying.”
“…Ugh…T-Then I ra–“
“If you are going to abandon the marked soul, I will cut my ties with you.” She flinched when she heard that from me. I know that is mean of me. But as a Watcher, leaving a mission is a forbidden act.
As she cast her eyes down, the sound of her gritting her teeth reached my ear. I then grabbed her tightly clenched fist.
“Trust me. I will come out alive.”
“…Damn you…” She then released my hand. She then pulled out her weapon and it immediately illuminated the area around her with bright red light. “…Don’t break your promise.” Hearing that, I let out a small smile. Really, she is such a difficult person. But that is her characteristic that made up the person named Cyrielle Natine.
“Of course. As long as you followed my instruction, everything will be fine.”
“…I hope.” She glanced at me for a second and then casted her sight toward her target. “Buy me some time.”
“Understood. Reiyes.” I looked toward my comrade.
“This is so troublesome.” He then jumped toward the beast after letting out a mutter under his breath. I am really pleased that my teammate could understand my instruction completely.
I then also jumped toward the beast, but I landed on the opposite location of him. Since the beast has managed to stand again, it let out a menacing growl. But for some reason, I felt that the growl didn’t carry the same proud feeling as before. Instead, it told me of how desperate the beast is. I guess being beaten several times by us really agitated the beast. Well, that is just as I like, you know? The more agitated the beast is, the easier the two of us could buy some time for Cyrielle.
For some reason, the beast’s movement has turned rather uncoordinated. I guess I can point out two reasons. The first is that the beast probably noticed that it is outpowered, confusing it further. Well, being hit by barehanded and then thrown backward so easily for a few times will make any stupid beast able to tell the difference in power. The second reason is that it realized that its power source is quickly depleting. Yes, the life force from the marked soul that it used continuously has been depleted dangerously that I fear that we will only be able to barely save the soul in question.
“Done!” A shout from Cyrielle reached my ear. And judging from Reiyes’ movement, he also realized that. Without reminding him again, he already moved on to his position while brandishing his weapon. Seeing that, I also moved on to my own position, which is on the back of the beast.
The moment the beast realized that I have climbed onto its back, it tried to shake me off. But before it could do more, the beast felled down onto the ground with a loud impact sound and also an agonized wail. I held onto its fur and kept my position. Then I could see Reiyes from the edge of my eyes running and jumping onto a tree nearby. That is also according to the plan. Following the plan, I put power onto my own soul and fortified my own body to its max after gripping onto the sword attached to the beast’s back. The reason? Well…
“Let out your mightiest roar! Igneous Hatchet!”
What followed after that shout from Cyrielle is a wave of fire that is big enough to cover the beast’s whole body. The wave moved closer in tremendous speed and finally swallowed the beast completely, myself included. I gritted my teeth as I felt the horrendous heat penetrated my whole body. Although I already applied chantless fortification spell onto my whole body, I could still feel the rising temperature around my body just like a terrifying thousands of ants biting onto my skin, ready to devour my whole being if they are able to.
The beast let out a mighty roar of agony and pain as its entire body is covered by the fire wave, scorching and roasting it alive. Smell of burnt flesh and fur invaded my nose as the fire kept doing its job. I also realized that it seemed that I could feel the tip of my clothes has also caught fire judging from the smell of burning fabric.
After a while, the roar quieted down. It kept getting less and less audible to the point that the roar subsided completely. The moment I noticed that, I pulled out the sword with all my might and jumped away from the scorching wave of flame. I landed not far from the beast and I immediately fell forward. But my body stopped just before my head hit the ground.
“The result?” I couldn’t help but let out a small smile as I heard Reiyes’ voice entered my ear as he stopped me from falling. I then weakly lifted up the sword that is on my hand. The sword glowed slightly.
“We…barely did it.” Yes, we finally managed to rescue the marked soul just in time. Cutting it close, but we really did save the troublesome soul.
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Author Note:
What really happened back then? Let's see it in the next one.
I'm sorry for disappearing for a month. Let's just say that I have some issues at the moment. I hope I can at least finish this arc in the next month and move onto the next one shortly.
Please give me comment and opinion for this story, or even critique so that I can improve my writing. Do tell me if you find something strange or wrong with the chapter. Thank you for reading!