After Dream left the battlefield, he shuttled all the way back to Tersa's planet with Melody.
He hadn't sustained much in the way of wounds, but he had actually expended most of his energy. Pulling out class 6 souls wasn't easy even when the enemy was near dead. So while the attacks didn't consume his energy, everything else did.
Dream was more than okay with this though. He had taken a single sword to the chest and was able to keep his soul from being injured too much. In the end, he came out with 11 class 6 souls. This was more than he could've imagined.
"I think I'm actually glad that barbarian called for some reinforcements. He's quite the con artist, isn't he? Tricking people into walking toward their doom."
Dream mumbled as he appeared next to his workbench at the top of a mountain. Letting out a long breath, Melody took a seat nearby. A few moments after, Tersa appeared.
"Master! How was your battle?"
"It went very well. Nothing too unexpected occurred, and I think I prepared just right. Anyway, I snatched 11 souls."
"Congratulations!"
"Thank you."
Dream smiled at Tersa's enthusiasm. After ruffling her hair, he took a seat in a conjured chair. For a second he pondered.
Melody glanced at him.
"So what now? Gonna do your advancement?"
"...I think so. I'll study the souls a bit first. Maybe I'll glean a bit from them before starting it."
"Alright. And me?"
"Stay here. We caused quite the ruckus, and there's still one person on that planet I can't touch or attract the attention of. I don't need you getting into any sticky situations."
"You mean the demigod?"
"Yes. If there really is one at that branch clan, then I still have to tread lightly. That's an existence I can't ensure my life around."
"...Right."
Melody wasn't sure what to say. Her brother was so powerful, capable of killing several class 6's alone. And yet, there was someone that could kill even him. Such a person would have to be an incomprehensible existence. Melody couldn't even imagine power like that.
"Anyway, just stick around and play in the flowers or something. I've got work to do."
"...But there's no flowers here."
Melody mumbled as Dream went to his workbench. The planet was still forming and it was so big. Where could she find flowers?
Tersa suddenly spoke at that moment.
"I know where flowers are."
"I don't actually want to play in the flowers. Actually, you should take me on a tour of your planet, Tersa. Maybe by the time I've seen everything, Dream will be done."
"Okay!"
Tersa readily agreed, taking Melody down the mountain. Like that, the two went sightseeing while Dream cracked open souls like they were eggs, spilling out their secrets.
.............
........
"Madam Luna, we're about to begin."
"Hm?"
In a distant star system, Luna was suddenly alerted. She was in a large tent, and a man spoke from outside.
Hearing this man, Luna sighed. Sometimes she found herself daydreaming, thinking about what Dream might be doing. For all she knew, he had gone and destroyed a few planets already. And her assumptions weren't far from the truth.
Taking a second, she glanced at a table nearby. The table held an enchanted map that displayed several markers and the nearby landscape. It was a military map loaded with intelligence.
With a flick of her hand, the map was put into her inventory. Then, she walked out of the tent.
What greeted her was the sight of an army. When she first arrived on this world, she had been placed into a company of soldiers numbering 200. Back then, she had come up with many plans and schemes in an attempt to climb the military ladder.
And now, she was in a much higher position than when she started. After exiting her tent, another man walked over. This was her initial captain. However, upon approach, he nodded respectfully.
"The army is ready to depart with your word. I've prepared your mount."
"Thank you."
"Of course, Captain Luna. Please, follow me."
With that, Luna was guided to her mount. In a shockingly short amount of time, she had not only gotten herself an official place in what was called the Angelic Legions, but was now a Captain. This was the same as her fellow captain, the one who had found her. However, despite them both being the same rank, Luna occupied the commanding position. This was due to her winning the loyalty of her company and eventually her fellow captain.
Of course, Alice was there the entire time. And more than ever, she was glad for her ability to drift in and out of existence. As Luna went on operations with her soldiers, many people had to be healed. And as she explained to Alice, Luna could influence people's minds with the power of her skill [Rule]. The influence could come in any shape or form, from her words to her healing powers. Thus, every time someone spoke to her or was healed by her, they became more subservient to Luna. Over time, the effects of her skill ingrained itself into the minds of her soldiers.
With so many people willing to follow her lead, she was quickly promoted. Now, she stood at the same level as her former captain. More than anything, she controlled 200 soldiers, all of them willing to follow her commands to the death. For some time, Alice was a little scared of Luna's power.
But she quickly got over it. Now, she was only glad that they were able to find a place in the universe. And through Luna's position, they had gathered tons of important information.
For example, the world they were on was a frontline battlefield against the demons. The entire planet was ravaged, and there wasn't any particular goal to the battles that occurred here other than to get the demons off the planet. This kind of thing happened across thousands of star systems and across millions of planets. There were endless battles between the demons and angels, and they constantly battled for control over planets and territories. This was just one of those many planets.
As for Luna's plans, she had already achieved her first set of goals that involved becoming a captain and earning a place in the legions. However, upon climbing that hill, she was a bit overwhelmed by what her next steps should be. She found herself in a massive universe without any clue as to where Dream could be. She had even tried to speak over their soul bond, but because of the distance, she never got a response. Being on some random wasteland of a planet didn't help with searching either because she didn't have much freedom, even as a captain. Only rising in rank would allow her to be moved into a position where she could jump between planets and command huge amounts of troops.
Only, rising in rank required her to show exemplary performance, form connections with the right people, and most important of all, rise in personal power. She was a class 4, and through her battles, showed that she could kill high level class 5's. But that wasn't enough. Luna had long ago maxed out her level, so her power growth was slow.
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But that also meant she was ripe for an advancement. It had been a long while since Luna started studying the methods to advance, and she had talked extensively with every class 5 in her company to garner insights. From this, she found out about the concept of soul seas and how 10 souls seas comprised of one's being was the best one could achieve. An average advancement garnered around 5 or 6 soul seas at best. Plus, she learned that while advancements could be done with nothing, when one had certain special and powerful materials, they could boost their power gain during the advancement itself. There were many materials people named out for her such as high level demon bones, powerful artifacts with souls, sentient plants, and more. However, there was one material that was especially useful. Souls.
Luna was told that one could use other class 5 souls as fuel during the advancement. Only, there were several difficulties with this method. The first problem was extracting and preserving the soul. Then, one had to know how to use the soul as fuel. Finally, acquiring the soul was probably the biggest problem.
The reason for this was the fact that demon souls couldn't be used. Luna found out that demon souls were opposite in nature to standard souls. The souls of normal people such as angels or humans and such were called golden souls. The souls of demons were called black souls. The reason for this was due to the kinds of powers demons wielded.
Demons were chaotic, while angels were orderly. Chaotic beings wielded what Luna heard be called Runa. It was basically the opposite of mana, and when the two collided, they sought to annihilate each other. Luna had first experienced this with her own sister who was filled with the energy. Only through Dream's mediation could the two be kept from annihilating each other.
Either way, demon souls were filled with the energy that Luna wanted the opposite of. Thus, she had to find golden souls that she could use. Only, who could she get a soul from? She never found any for sale, and there were none to be found on this battlefield. The only ones with golden souls here were angels.
This put Luna in a dilemma. However, after she did some conversing with people and had Alice do some eavesdropping, she was able to get an interesting tidbit of information.
Turns out, there were many angels who would be captured and then corrupted by the demons. It happened rather frequently, in fact. However, this was also when Luna learned of something called soul harvesting. Basically, captains and other officers who commanded armies would learn of captured angels, but instead of saving them, they would wait until they were corrupted by demons. Then, they would strike, killing the corrupted angels and stealing their souls. They would then sell these golden souls to those in the high ranks, earning large amounts of money and kiss-ass points with their superiors.
It was a dirty thing to do, but Luna saw this as her one hope. She knew how important advancements were, and she didn't have the money to buy souls. Thus, she needed to get in on this soul harvesting. Or, she at least needed to steal from those who engaged in it. And she had the perfect person for the job.
Luna was quick to tell Alice her plans, and not long after, she found out about an operation to save some angels. The operation was obviously kept a secret, but she was able to hear about it. And when she got the details, she formed her own plans, one of which involved an operation.
Luna had done a standard mission, a raid on a demon settlement. The location of her operation was far away from the rescue operation where the souls would be harvested. Like this, there would be absolutely no suspicion directed at her. As for how to get the souls, that was Alice's job. She had actually departed with the company in question, tailing them to their operation.
Then came the hard part. When all was said and done, Alice still didn't know how to preserve souls. Thus, she needed these other people to preserve them for her. In the process, she could watch and learn how to do it before stealing them for herself. As for how she would steal it, Luna gave her two options.
In the case that the commanding officer was the one handling the souls, Alice was ordered to try and snatch them from under his nose only after she learned enough. Since the officer would likely just put the souls into his inventory, she would literally have to take them from his hands, something that would obviously put them on high alert. Luna didn't worry about Alice's safety though since the strongest person was only a class 5. She also didn't worry about an alerted officer. Nothing could be traced to her.
But if it were one of the soldiers handling the souls, Alice was given the option to kill them. Alice and Luna both had learned from Dream how to steal from inventories, so combined with the death of the holder, she could steal all the harvested souls. As for alerting someone, Luna also didn't worry about it. A single death wouldn't amount to much, and the officer wouldn't want the situation to be investigated anyway. It would all be swept under the rug.
Thus, Luna had her plans. As she departed on her own operation, Alice was already enacting her own.
Far away from Luna, Alice wandered inside a demon stronghold. It had already been cleared out by the angelic soldiers, leaving no demons alive. There were also 8 corrupted class 5 angels that had taken into custody. There had been a few dozen class 4 corrupted angels, but those were killed. Their souls weren't of value.
These corrupted angels were angels that had their minds ruined by the demons. The demons would infect them with some kind of soul virus that turned them demonic. Most of the time, it resulted in the angels becoming mindless monsters not unlike most demons. Only, these were powerful monsters who still retained their abilities. In this way, the demons could add to their own forces. It was only in very few instances that an angel could preserve their mind, having their soul converted but their tendencies drastically altered. They would become an even greater threat than mindless corrupted angels.
The 8 angels encountered this time were of the mindless type. After restraining them, the captain of this company had them taken to a large tent that was equipped with concealing enchantments.
Alice snuck into this tent right beside the few others who went in. Two class 5 angels restrained the corrupted angels while the officer along with an assistant stood in front of them. Alice stood to the side, watching.
"Go ahead."
Suddenly, the captain pat his assistant on the shoulder. The assistant nodded before stepping forth. He placed his hand on one angel's chest.
Then, the angel started to scream. It thrashed around for several seconds. After these several seconds, the assistant pulled back his hand, in it a golden wisp. After fully pulling back this wisp, the angel dropped dead, melting away into dust moments later.
Alice watched the whole thing, seeing every detail about how the assistant would surround and extract the soul with his Will. Then, he would fill the soul with his mana, locking it down and thus preserving it. It didn't look like a difficult process, so Alice was able to quickly discern the technique.
Then, the assistant pulled out the other 7 souls. After that, he lined them all up on a table. The commanding officer took a close look at each one.
"...Good. Perfect condition. I'm glad to see you're not making any more mistakes."
"Thank you sir."
"Mm. Now take these to-"
*Woosh!*
Suddenly, as the captain was giving orders, a tiny wind was kicked up in the mana around him. He froze as all 8 of the souls instantly disappeared from the table.
"...What?!"
He shouted, releasing the fullest extent of his Will. When he found nothing though, he was livid.
"What happened?!"
"I-I didn't put them into my inventory."
"Then where did they go?! Thief! There's a thief in our midst! Lock this stronghold down! Find them!"
The captain roared at the top of his lungs, everyone for miles hearing his voice. His army of soldiers rapidly did as he said and locked down the stronghold.
As for Alice, she was already a distance away. She smirked as she looked back at the stronghold. Then, she shot off across the vast wasteland, returning to Luna.
Not even a day later, Alice appeared by Luna's side. Currently, Luna's company was raiding a settlement. With Luna's support, every demon was quickly and easily dispatched.
Luna sat in her tent, staring off into the distance. It was at this time that a figure manifested beside her. It was Alice, and she immediately raised her hand.
Luna looked over, seeing a golden wisp above Alice's palm. She took the soul into her own hand, infusing her Will into it and analyzing it.
"A class 5 soul. Mid level. Good."
"How many do you think you need?"
"...The cumulative power of the souls should at least surpass mine. I can kill a high level class 5 with everything I have. Thus, I would want at least 5 high level class 5 souls, preferably 20. If they're mid level, I would want at least 60, preferably 100."
"I have 8 here, all of them mid level."
"...Then it might take a while to gather enough."
Luna frowned. While angels were frequently corrupted, that was only class 4's. Class 5's weren't corrupted in nearly the same numbers. Luna might only find a rescue operation like that once every week at best, if not 2 or 3 every month. With these numbers, she might have to wait a year before gathering enough.
Luna didn't want to wait that long though. As she frowned, Alice thought for a second.
"...How far are you willing to go to save time?"
"Far enough. Why?"
"The captains and commanding officers. They aren't exactly the cleanest people. Most of them are high level class 5's. And well, I specialize in this kind of stuff."
Alice equipped one of her daggers, stroking it with her delicate fingers. She was an assassin, and her instantaneous power output was massive. She couldn't do much to a class 6. But a class 5? She wasn't worse than Luna who could kill one. With a bit of preparation, she could definitely kill them without leaving a trace.
And like Luna, she wanted to get back to Dream. On top of that, she needed to make her own advancement, so whatever Luna needed, she needed the same amount. If they wanted to do things in a timely manner, then maybe getting their hands a bit bloody wouldn't be so bad.
Luna thought about it for a second. Suddenly, she nodded.
"Alright. But you let me give the kill orders. We can't suddenly make every captain on this world disappear. We can kill a few before talking to some. After we get our hands on a few subordinates, we'll also find ourselves with a large supply of souls. With a combination of mid and high level class 5 souls, we should be able to take care of both our advancements. Expand large enough, and it shouldn't take a year to get what we need. Plus, that'll open me up for talks with the upper ranks. Yea, I think that'll work."
After planning it out some, Luna nodded to herself. She then stood up.
"Very well. I have my plans. Time to head back and do some scouting."
With that, Luna walked out of her tent. Alice smiled before disappearing from view.
After this, Luna went on to enact her plans across several months. It had only taken a few months after she arrived to become a captain and make these plans. Thus, around 5 months later, she was placed at the same point in time as Dream who had taken 6 months to prepare and harvest class 6 souls.