In the existence that Adam perceived, there only existed those three songs. Adam's own song was constantly at risk of being destroyed by the other two. Over time, Adam slowly became more aware, but not to the point where he was himself again. It was more his instincts kicking in to help Adam survive. Adam was huddling and holding his soul together with those threads of death essence. These threads were of course made from that eerie song of control and death, but were changed to suit Adam's needs. They were different from the eerie song that was trying to pervade through his soul. Slowly, as that song continued to try and pervade his soul, Adam turned that song into his own! He couldn't change the fundamental notes of the song, but he could change its desire to control him, into his own desire to control it! The death it wanted to bring to him, became death to all outsiders who tried to press in on his soul! Adam formed a cocoon of death essence threads around his soul that were made of this song that he took control of.

More time passed and the threads of Adam's cocoon eventually started to thread their way into that gruff song as well. The gruff song was based on the eerie song of death and control, but was vastly different. It had its own personality and could almost be likened to how Adam's cocoon differed from the the eerie song after Adam bent it to his needs. This gruff song couldn't put up too much of a defense as Adam strung his threads through it, however it could only be done at certain points of the gruff song.

Yet more time passed, before Adam could actually start to form coherent thought. Adam's soul gently stirred, until it became stronger and stronger. Finally, when Adam came to, his first thoughts were: “What's going on? Where am I?”

Adam felt groggy and it was hard to concentrate so he subconsciously let go of the soul technique he had been using to hold himself together the whole time. The feeling Adam got when he did so made him feel like he suddenly dropped into free fall! The feeling went away quickly as the cocoon of threads around him gently closed in on him. Shocked awake by the feeling of free fall, Adam desperately tried to grasp his situation. However, he found that he had lost all feeling in his body and his elemental sight would not currently function properly! Adam could sense the current state of his soul, though. He could discern the cocoon wrapping around his soul. Adam thought about unwrapping himself and maybe then he would get some feeling back in his body. However, he felt a subconscious fear that if he did so, the free fall would start again and there would be now way to stop it! It was like the cocoon was holding him fast against a cliff and if it loosened, Adam would fall all the way until his death! Adam didn't understand this fear, but he also didn't want to outright ignore it.

“I have to quickly figure out what is going on, wasn't I just fighting Jira? What happened?”

Adam believed that this cocoon was also probably responsible for his elemental sight not functioning properly. Adam could however get some feedback from the cocoon itself. From the threads of the cocoon, Adam could numbly feel what was going on outside, for lack of better terminology. Through the threads, Adam tried to investigate what was around him and to figure out the current state of things. Unfortunately, the threads did not give Adam enough feedback to make any type of clear picture. Adam, quite frankly, wasn't even sure where he was at this point.

Adam continued to spread more of his threads out, hoping to get a clearer understanding of everything. He spread the threads out in every direction, including wiggling them in deeper into that gruff song that Adam seemed to be hanging off of. Eventually, the gruff song seemed to stir in unease! Right after, Adam began to hear muffled sounds that he realized were voices!

“Captain, are you alright?”

“Why wouldn't I be alright! Now shut your trap!”

One of the voices belonged to Captain Jira! Adam was severely shocked and confused. “Did Jira decide to capture me instead of killing me? Just what is going on!?”

A little while later, Adam heard the muffled sound of a door closing before he once again heard the muffled voice of Captain Jira: “Kalliger, I told you not to ask me those questions unless we are in private! Why did you ask me if I was alright when we were right next to some watchmen!”

The first voice Adam had heard, who was this Kalliger, started speaking. “I'm sorry, sir. Your complexion suddenly changed and you almost started to wobble!”

“Tch, for a second it felt like that odd whelp of a commander was pointing his finger at me again! I have no idea what he did to me, but I haven't felt right since I killed him!” Jira said.

“But Captain, that happened so long ago...”

“It doesn't matter, I still haven't recovered from whatever it was he did! Go out and make sure those watchmen don't spread any rumors about me being unwell.”

Adam was shocked! If he followed the conversation correctly, didn't Jira just say he had killed Adam!? “But... but I'm here! I can't be dead!”

Adam heard the muffled sound of a door opening and closing again. Adam then heard Jira's voice mumbling: “What did that little bastard do to me! He was just a little whelp of a commander that was supposed to just die! I am the great Captain Jira, so why can't I escape from his shadow!”

From the way Jira was talking, it seemed that he was now alone. From this, Adam learned that he was likely somehow connected with Jira. A disturbing thought came to Adam. To test it, Adam started moving the threads he had in the gruff song next to his soul in a violent manner. Shortly after, Adam heard a crash as Jira cursed: “Damn it, why is it getting worse?!”

This confirmed it, Adam's soul was tied to Jira's! “How did this happen!? Does this truly mean I am dead!?”

Adam could only generally guess as to what happened. Likely, during the tug of war with his soul, Jira's, and the spirit, Jira had managed to kill Adam before he could pull Jira's soul out! At that time, Adam was trying to hold his soul together with threads of death essence, so when his soul fled from his body it stayed together instread of dispersing! Then he somehow broke the hold that the spirit had over his soul and the soul technique he was using on Jira pulled his soul to Jira instead of the other way around! Then he somehow subconsciously latched onto Jiras soul! Adam couldn't actually remember any of this and really didn't care to find out the truth of the matter. No matter what had happened, it meant that Adam was now dead!

Adam stopped paying attention to everything that was going on around him. Finding out his death was a huge shock. “Just how am I supposed to get back to Helen now...”

For a long while, Adam could barely think. Just what was he supposed to do now? Eventually, Adam started to think again. There was nothing else to do and he couldn't mope around for an eternity. There were two courses of action Adam could think of. The first was to simply undo the cocoon of threads around his soul. He now understood why he felt like he would fall to his death if he did so. If the cocoon was undone there would not be anything to hold his soul together and he would truly and fully die at that point. The other option was for Adam to spread his threads further through Jira's soul and hope to find a way to kill him in revenge! Adam didn't want to simply have died for nothing, so he chose the second option. It would have been a simple matter if Adam could just use the soul technique again to kill Jira, but his body had previously acted as an anchor point as part of the technique. With it gone, there was no leverage Adam could use to pull out Jira's soul. Adam could only go the long way of trying to spread the threads of death essence through Jira's entire soul in hopes of finding a way to kill him.

Adam started to pay more attention to what was going on with his threads. He could hear Kalliger's voice again: “I hate to ask this, but are you sure you don't want to see Colonel Marilda? She might know of what is going on and might fix it for you.”

Jira's voice replied: “And let everyone know I have become weak to some illness the Colonel might not be able to fix? The answer is no, and if you bring this up again I might just kill you! Whatever it was that commander did to me receded a bit after the flare. As long as it stays silent, I won't seek the Colonel about this.”

Adam decided to pay attention to the world again at the most opportune time! Originally, he planned to aggressively attack Jira's soul. However, he had no guarantee of killing Jira in a short span of time. If Jira was able to get to this Colonel Marilda before Adam could kill him, she might have someway of removing Adam! The possibility was slim, but Adam wanted to assure his final victory. He would try to go so slow that Jira would not even notice that Adam was slipping further and further into his soul!

It is difficult to describe exactly what Adam was doing as he began to ever so slowly spread his threads further into Jira's soul. As he went along, he even began to change the base song that composed Jira's soul! Adam did everything he could to weaken any defenses Jira subconsciously made to protect his soul. At first, Adam was only able to send his threads into Jira's soul at certain weak points along it. These would be the so called 'gaps' in the aura that protected one's soul. Eventually, though, Adam was able to pass his threads directly through Jira's aura when he had changed the song of Jira's soul enough! Adam felt that the time he had taken to spread his threads through Jira's soul was at least three years. Jira still had control of the vast majority of what was deep in his soul, but almost everything on the surface now belonged to Adam! Throughout this time, Adam was shocked to find that the cocoon surrounding his soul had begun to sink into Jira's soul! While Adam would only sink in as far as what he controlled, he had already passed through Jira's aura at this point! In comparison to Jira's soul, Adam's was very small so he was able to fit snugly inside the area of Jira's soul that he controlled. During the whole process, Jira would occasionally feel uncomfortable, but it was not unbearable. He would quickly get used to it and put it out of his mind so he had no idea just how much he had lost to Adam over the years. Adam had also been able to utilize the threads of death essence to gain more accurate details of what was going on around him. It was to the point where it was almost like he was using his elemental sight and could see anywhere around three meters of his soul.

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During this time, Adam also had plenty of time to think. While he would often think about how Helen, Silber, and the others were doing, he also thought a few questions he could not find the answer for and continually pondered over them. One of those questions was this: how exactly are spiritualists able to open a portal and summon ghouls from a plane? From what Adam had seen, a large portion of the plane was empty space. Even if a portal suddenly opened up, how often would it appear right next to a horde of ghouls? If the portal just appeared randomly, it could take a whole day before even a small horde found the portal. How had the hordes that could overrun a city come through the portals so fast? On a particular day, Adam discovered the answer to the question in a surprising manner.

On this day, Kalliger had come to Jira and said: “Captain Jira, sir. Private Callahan has returned from his post and is ready to report.”

“Send him in.” Jira replied.

Using his threads to watch the situation, Adam was shocked to see who came in. It was the commander who had captured him in Sagan Wall's city! Callahan saluted Jira and said: “Private Callahan reporting from outpost one-seven-one, sir.”

Adam quickly calmed himself. If his threads of death essence started acting wildly in Jira's soul due to his emotions, Jira would discover just how far Adam has gone! Jira started speaking: “Private, I heard that you had the pleasure of watching over the portal stele when someone sent a summons from the world of men.”

Callahan responded: “Yes sir. I had even captured a tenacious man that I believe was a low level spirit martial artist. Unfortunately, he managed to escape shortly after he was brought over! He was never found afterwords.”

“I heard the report. Such a pity. If that man was truly able to become a commander, he will surely join the ranks in time. If only he hadn't escaped, he could have bolstered our men... regardless, you have done good work. As a reward, I will be adding you to the attachment I will lead to watch over outpost two-five.” Jira said.

Callahan looked stunned, followed by glee. He then saluted as he said: “It will be an honor to help watch the portal stele under Colonel Marilda! I can only hope that the call to war will be given on our watch!”

Jira only waved a hand as he said: “Dismissed.”

This conversation gave Adam plenty of things to think about. This 'portal stele' was likely the answer to Adam's question of how spiritualists might summon a horde. Most likely, any portal a spiritualist makes would connect to a portal stele which had a horde of ghouls guarding it, ready to invade the world of men at any time. As a side note, Adam also did not realize that Callahan had assumed he was a spirit marital artist. Then again, that wave of wind he used to cut through so many people and ghouls could only have come from a spiritualist or spirit martial artist. Considering that he was holding a sword at the time, anyone could easily confuse him for a spirit martial artist. As for Jira planning to go to this outpost two-five that Marilda should be in control of, Adam felt some worry. He didn't believe that Jira was going there specifically for him since Jira had not voiced any complaints about the after effects of their battle recently. Still, he hoped that Jira would avoid direct contact with Marilda to reduce any chance of Adam being discovered.

There was another question Adam had that he was able to determine on his own. Just what was Jira? Adam thought any human who became corrupted would turn into a ghoul or a commander, but Jira was a humanoid demonic beast. Adam could not detect any spirit in Jira's soul, so this could not simply be the effect of becoming possessed by a spirit. After Adam was able to probe out further with his threads, he believed he found the answer. Jira was cycling death essence through his body like a spirit martial artist! Adam had not heard of any stories about spirit martial artists becoming corrupted, but Jira was likely one! Becoming a commander that could actually control spirit essence to start with, that would likely turn him into a demonic beast like Jira! As for the horns and Jira's humongous size, Adam could only liken it to how Silber's fur changed color when he became a guardian beast. It was a fundamental change to one of Silber's features, but he still retained his original form. Adam could only think: “For some reason, maybe humans gain extra characteristics when they become demonic beasts.”

Some time after Callahan had returned, Jira prepared to leave. Adam hadn't learned the name of the current place Jira was staying, so he decided to call it Jira's outpost. Jira's outpost was a structure similar to outpost one-seven-one, the place Adam had first woken up in after he was captured. Adam believed that this place was larger than outpost one-seven-one and was certain that outpost two-five was going to be even larger than this place and perhaps even resplendent. If the ranks of the spirit army were in any way similar to what Adam knew, a Colonel was only lower than a general. Colonel Marilda's place would certainly have luxuries that could not be found anywhere else in the plane of death.

Jira left with a large horde following him. While there were many ghouls, there were plenty of high ranked commanders following Jira as well. With Callahan as an exception, it was doubtful any of the commanders following Jira were below the officer grade. Among the ranks, that would put them halfway to the top! The disparity of their position was large, though. While Jira was only two ranks under Colonel Marilda, there would be no way for him to put up any kind of fight against her. Rank was determined by strength, and while one's horde was included in that strength, personal strength was perhaps the largest deciding factor. In the same manner, it was unlikely for Marilda to match up to any of the generals. Adam found it hard to understand what the exact strength of these groups were, however. All he knew was that each rank was stronger than the last, but how does each rank compare to his own previous strength? What Adam did know was that Jira was bringing some of his highest quality troops. And these troops were all stronger than the hordes that had overrun Fort Erich and Sagan Wall's city! Just thinking about that made Adam shudder. What use did the spirit army have for such a devastating force?

After a long while of traveling, Jira's horde approached a large structure that Adam believed was outpost two-five. Its size was absolutely gigantic! Adam was unable to see the actual size of the structure, but knew Jira was able to comfortably lead his entire horde through various corridors of the structure! Adam was also sure that horde Jira was currently leading was at least as large as the horde he brought to hunt him when he killed Dullard! Adam could only fantasize about what possible use such a large structure would have. Eventually, Jira left all the ghouls and some of the lowest ranked commanders behind and entered a hall with just his strongest commanders. The size of this force was still over fifty strong as they organized themselves into a formation with Jira at the lead. Finally, they stopped in place and Jira saluted to somebody that was outside of Adam's current range of sight.

Jira respectfully said: “Captain Jira, reporting for duty!”

A cool female voice came over: “Captain Jira?”

Adam heard the sound of someone standing up from a chair and the clakcing sound of steps on stone coming closer. Jira also had a confused look as to why Colonel Marilda called his name in a question and was now approaching him. As she was getting closer, Marilda said: “I sense something wrong with you. Are you alright?”

Both Adam and Jira froze. Jira had thought he had finally escaped from most of whatever it was that Adam had done to him. He also didn't want any of his peers to know he had somehow fallen ill as they might look down on him and even try to steal his forces! Adam was terrified by the fact that this Marilda had discovered his influence right away! Adam had assumed that this Marilda would never discover him unless Jira specifically went to her for help. Even spiritualist had to physically touch a person to try and probe their soul, yet this Marilda was over three meters away!

Marilda started stepping into the range of Adam's threads, which Adam tried to make as lifeless as he could. If he actively probed her with them, it might make her even more suspicious of what was going on! Still, Adam was able to get a sense of Marilda as she walked through his threads and he was silently stunned. Marilda did not wear the black armor of a commander, but instead she wore a black ornate robe. Like Jira she had horns on her head, but instead of being larger than a normal human she had black wings sprouting from her back! Based on the robe, Adam thought: “A spiritualist turned into a demonic beast!”

[AN: Once again here to say thank you for reading and commenting =D]