Chapter 16: Big Brother

“What do you mean by big brother?” Saigo looked at Marcus with a confused look.

“It means what it means. I want you to be Shiina’s big brother.” Marcus smiled as he said.

“Why?”

“Think about it. You two are born from the same parents. Even though you two share the same body, aren’t you two basically blood brothers?”

“That’s true but...”

“Or do you want me to kill you right now.” Marcus’s face darkened, a gigantic magic circle appeared under Marcus’s feet and tens of thunder dragons materialised.

“I would love to be Shiina’s big brother! Yay!” Cold sweat trickled down his back as Saigo forced out a bright smile.

“Good.” Marcus smiled as he extended his hand. “And now we have a deal.”

Saigo let out a sigh as he reached out to grab Marcus’s hand.

“By the way, what is your name?” Marcus asked as he pulled Saigo onto his feet.

“Saigo. Saigo Masamune.” Saigo said as he adjusted his position.

“So, what do I need to do?” He asked.

“Nothing much, I just need you to guide Shiina in his growth and help him when needed. Other than that, just treat him like your own younger brother. However, only one soul can control a body at one time, thus I guess you will be spending most of your time within Shiina’s body. You can see the outside world with Shiina’s eyes.” Marcus answered.

“Fine.” Saigo sigh as he said.

“Saigo, there are 2 steps in preventing your soul from fusing with Shiina’s completely while giving you some freedom.” Marcus said seriously.

“Firstly, I will form a seal on the intertwined part of your soul and Shiina’s. This shall prevent your soul from further fusing with Shiina’s for as long as I am alive. Do you understand?”

“Yes yes.” Saigo stretched as he answered nonchalantly. “But what if you die?” He asked.

“The seal will break and the fusion will continue. But as long as both of you have mature souls by the time that happens, I believe that both of you will no longer fuse. However...” Marcus raised his hand and chopped Saigo on his head.

“Ow!!!” Saigo rubbed his head in pain. “What’s that for!?!?”

“Do you really think that I will die so easily? You do not have to worry about your soul for a long time. This old sack of bones can still work for a hundred years!” Marcus laughed.

“Back to the main topic, the next step is extremely crucial.” Marcus said as he pointed at Saigo’s chest. “I believe that you are aware of Shiina’s [multi-persona] skill?”

Saigo nodded as he touched his own chest, sensing the asleep Shiina and {Shiina of emptiness} within him. “Although I can’t use [multi-persona] for some reason, can I certainly feel Shiina and his other personality within me.”

A hint of regret could be seen appearing within Marcus’s eyes before quickly fading away. He let out a cough as he said. “Although Shiina got the skill in a ... bad way, it is actually a silver lining.”

“What other use can it have beside being a way for Shiina to escape from reality?” Saigo asked, ignoring the grief Marcus was feeling.

“Actually, [multi-persona] is a sub-species type of skill which is derived from a skill called [parallel will] which allows you to create alternate wills to help you multitask. However, while [parallel will] creates emotionless additional wills to assist you, [multi-persona] actually creates...souls of emotion.” Marcus said with a small sigh.

“Souls of emotion?” Saigo looked blankly at Marcus.

“[multi-persona] creates souls filled with one emotion each. Each soul will awaken according to the user’s needs and will take over when the user needs it. Currently, Shiina has awaken the emotionless soul. When it takes over, Shiina’s emotion of being ‘emotionless’ is boosted to its peak. In a nutshell, it boosts one emotion of Shiina’s to its very peak.” Marcus explained.

“So, how is it useful?” Saigo asked.

“Not only can [multi-persona] perform the same function of [parallel will], it can also boost Shiina’s fighting spirit to an extreme degree.” Marcus answered.

“It’s that great? What’s the catch?” Saigo questioned.

“Shiina might kinda experience a great drop in other emotions when one of the souls of emotion is in use...” Marcus answered as he awkwardly scratched his beard.

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“I get it... what do I need to do...” Saigo let out a small sigh.

“After the creation of the first soul of emotion, a small room for the souls to rest in is created. I need you to enter that room while I awaken Shiina’s soul. This way, you can remain conscious while Shiina is in charge.” Marcus said.

Saigo squat down with his head looking down. He waved his hand in resignation as he sighed.

“With such a suicidal skill, will I be alright? Whatever. Living is the first priority.” He thought.

“Do what you need to do...” Saigo sighed as a small wrinkle appeared on his forehead.

“Alright.” Pretending not to notice Saigo’s new levels of stress, Marcus continued. “I will start the sealing now. Close your eyes and remember what I told you.”

Saigo straightened his body and closed his eyes.

“In the name of my lord,[soul seal].” A small, translucent white magic circle appeared before Marcus and flew straight into Saigo’s chest, landing on the intertwined section of Saigo’s soul.

“In the name of my lord,[soul awaken].” Saigo’s body shook as pain struck his body. Saigo’s eyes widened as he released a small scream out of pain. His eyes glowed and turned red. And Saigo collapsed. Shiina’s soul brightened and grew bigger while Saigo’s soul shrunk slightly, loosening it’s control of the body.

“Quick! Before you lose your consciousness!” Marcus roared as he poured some soul-attribute mana into Saigo’s soul. Saigo’s blurred consciousness was forcefully cleared and he charged straight into a small room in Shiina’s soul, visibly getting smaller and smaller.

Eventually, Saigo’s black flame-like soul formed a translucent humanoid form as it broke into the room.

Inside the room, a pure white girl sat at a corner in silence.

“Shiina?” Saigo unconsciously muttered. The ‘girl’ in front of him looks exactly like Shiina. Sitting at the corner of the room with ‘her hands around ‘her’ knees, ‘she’ looks like a pure white version of Shiina.

Saigo looked around. There is absolutely nothing in the room except for a small magic circle.

“So this is my new ‘house’. And you must be {Shiina of emptiness}...well...I will call you Emp I guess. Nice to meet you.” Saigo greeted {Shiina of emptiness}, Emp, but what answered him is complete silence.

“You were very welcoming, thank you very much.” Saigo sigh as he looked up. A stream of information appeared in his head as he chanted. “[Take over]”

... ...

Shiina’s body shook as his red eyes shone and his right eye turned blue.

Saigo slowly sat up and stared at the sky blankly.

“How are you feeling?” Marcus asked in concern.

Saigo tilted his head blankly. His eyes slowly cleared and a small smile appeared on his face.

“Pretty good.” Saigo got onto his feet and gave his hands a shake. “I guess the only difference is that rather than being my body, it feels as if I am using a game controller.”

“Game controller?” Marcus looked at Saigo in confusion.

“Just a random phrase. Anyways what’s next?” Saigo changed the subject smoothly as he asked.

As if he had taken the bait, Marcus entered deep thought for a moment before shrugging spins shoulders. “I don’t know.” He said.

The gentle wind turned cold, the birds stopped chirping and the forest is drowned in silence.

Cold killing intent gushed out of Saigo’s body as he glared at Marcus in anger.

“You are telling me...that you turned me like this....you did not have a plan!?!?!?” He roared as he he grabbed Marcus’s robe.

Marcus looked at Saigo without a change in expression. He slowly raised his hand and held Saigo’s wrist. With a slight pull, he forcefully removed Saigo’s hand from his robe.

He let out a sigh as he said calmly. “I do have a plan, but do not have one at the same time.”

“Haaa!?!?” Saigo looked at Marcus in doubt.

“What I want you to do now is merely to get stronger. You still have two and a half years before that man comes to bring you back.” Marcus looked at Saigo seriously. “I want you to bring Shiina outside the forest and gain experience while training.”

“By the end of the two and a half years time period, I need Shiina to be brought here and have at least the strength of a D-rank.” He continued.

“Are you telling me to throw Shiina back to that poor excuse of a Father!?!?” Saigo said with a slight chill in his voice.

“Yes.” Marcus said with a slight sigh.

“Why.”

“You...will know in the future.”

“Is it that important?”

“...Yes.”

“Fine.” Saigo withdrew his killing intent.

“So easily?” Marcus looked at Saigo in shock.

Saigo let out a small sigh. “You have control over my life, and I can’t beat you anyway. Listening to you is my best and only choice of action if I want to live. From what I seen, you seem to care about Shiina a lot. Therefore I don’t think that you will bring any harm to him.”

Saigo turned around and took a step towards the forest.

“Saigo!”

“?”

“Please take care of Shiina!” Marcus said as he lowered his head.

“...I will... I am his big Brother after all.” Saigo waved his hand and entered the forest.

... ...

After Saigo entered the forest, Marcus raised his head.

He heaved a sigh of relief as he smiled.

“Shiina should be safe with him for the next few years.” A small glint of grief could be seen in his eyes.

“At least I got Shiina a good bodyguard!” Marcus laughed as he stroke his beard.

“This shouldn’t mess with the prophecy right...” Marcus froze in his spot as he thought.

“I might have done something that I shouldn’t have done...” Cold sweat trickled down Marcus’s back.

“Hopefully the Demon Emperor would not get angry...” Marcus shuddered at the thought of the possible punishment.

“Well...at least Shiina will be safe...” Marcus sigh as his body started floating.

“Just in case, I should consult the Demon Emperor...” Marcus sigh as he flew towards the direction of the nearest major city.

... ...

In the forest...

Saigo took a deep breath. He placed his hand on his bountiful chest and let out a sigh.

“Time’s up I guess.” Saigo’s blue eye turned red and he collapsed.

In the room within Shiina’s soul, the small magic circle glowed and Saigo appeared within it.

He took a step out and looked around the room.

“Yo Emp!” He greeted as he took a sit beside ‘her’(?).

“It seems that I can only stay outside for thirty minutes a day huh...how inconvenient.” He complained as he leaned against the wall.

“Shiina should be waking up in a day or so... after the fight just now, there should not be any demonic beast outside...Yup, Shiina should be safe.” Saigo said something irresponsible as he waved his hand. A giant screen appeared in front of Emp and Saigo on the opposite side of the room. The screen revealed a scene filled with some greenery.

“I guess I will keep watch for Shiina for a while. If a demonic beast actually come, I should be able to go out for 5 minutes.” Saigo muttered.

10 minutes later...

“I’m bored.” Saigo complained.

He looked towards his right.

There sat Emp, as silent as ever.

“Wow... you seriously look like a girl. I look like that too but still...” Saigo sigh.

Another 10 minutes later...

A small grin appeared on Saigo’s face.

He raised his bare feet and slid it under Emp’s dress.

With a flip, Emp’s skirt flew upwards.

“Let’s see if it’s there~” Saigo laughed.

What appeared him left him speechless.