CHAPTER 47: ARACH-KOTH

“So then…” She thought for a moment before asking her question. “Then, does this mean I will be cursed to continue advancing down a path I know nothing of? What will happen if I don’t unlock the next node in my Soul Chain? Or what if I can’t find another Abstract Rune to merge with?! Didn’t you say they were rare?

“Will I be condemned to just struggle endlessly?”

Dr. Zerkin chuckled dryly. His parched lips curved into a maddening smile.

“That is the fate of us Phantasms. To chase after illusions, after things that shimmer in the distance, even as they crumble in your hands.

“We are all nothing but fools condemned to climb higher and higher–clawing our way toward the next rung, knowing full well the summit we reach promises nothing but more misery.”

He walked up to Julie who’s face had sunken lower than it has ever had. His smile twisted even further as he leaned in closer to her ear. "Would you like me to kill you? I can make it seem like an accident right now. Then, you won’t need to go through with this if you don’t want to. I'll take your Abstract Rune and study it for myself.”

Julie immediately pushed him away. “No.”

“Oho?” He crossed his arms. “Why? I thought you wanted to give up? What made you change your mind.”

“You did.” She glared at him. “There’s no way in hell I'm letting a bastard like you toy with my soul. That’s a fate worse than death.” She walked over toward the altar. “Let’s begin the forging process. I wanna get it over with.”

He tilted his head to the side, “so you are okay with the struggle? You are fine with knowing that there might be no salvation if you continue down this path?”

Julie closed her eyes and sighed. “Of course not. I hate uncertainty more than anything. But even so, life itself is full of uncertainty, regardless of my decision here.

“I can complain all I want about it, but the better choice is still the better choice…”

Zerkin nodded. “Very well then. Before you begin, however, we still need to gather the materials of influence associated with your ritual.”

She glanced back at the AGI status menu screen. “I did see that being mentioned… What are these listed items? And why is there a percentage associated with each one?”

Zerkin pondered for a moment before answering. “It’s a bit hard to explain if you aren’t familiar with ritual magecraft… But essentially, materials of influence act as a pointer or a pseudo concept within the beyond. Each item has an associated meaning, one with symbology that anima interacts with.

“As you know, anima is essentially willpower personified. And willpower is the driving force behind ideas, concepts, dreams, and…symbols. In the world of mysticism, these symbols act as conduits for different kinds of anima, and when combined in certain ways, can represent a concept or higher idea.”

Julie recalled the ritual Soren had done in his home. From what they investigated of that incident, the ritual he had conducted involved the usage of burning moth wings, as well as the usage of ink to form a sigil. She wondered if that too was a form of invoking pseudo concepts that point toward something…

Suddenly, a beeping sound coming from the door startled them. A special services agent carrying a cardboard box handed it to Dr Zerkin and left. “Speak of the devil…” He glanced back at Julie, “it seems your case is a lot more high profile than I thought. It would usually take a few more hours before the damn Department of Internal Affairs starts processing our request.”

“Is that a good or bad thing?” Julie asked.

“Who knows,” he shrugged. “But this does mean we can start immediately, just like you wanted.”

“Before that,” she interrupted him as he was pulling the items from the box. “That magecraft spell they cast on me inside Site A3… What exactly did it do to me? Is it really just to implant a mark on my soul so that I can be connected to the AGI network?”

She remembered Director 004 calling it the Soul Weapon Forge, but that confused her. Dr. Zerkin had clearly stated that they would be needing the Philosopher's Stone that was currently in the room with them to morph her anima into a Soul Chain. In fact, they were going to conduct the rest of the forging process in this room, according to him.

Dr. Zerkin smiled, “great question. But you don’t need to worry. AGI is the Soul Weapon Forge in of itself. That system is intrinsically tied with your soul now—the magecraft you conducted at Site A3 is what allowed this to happen. When we begin molding your Soul Chain, AGI will come very handy. Ah, Soul Chains need to be formed immediately before the rune merging process. The two forces oppose themselves so they'll create a balance that is most stable. How long that stability lasts though, is hard to say. But yes, AGI will be a key player in all of this.”

Julie didn’t trust his explanation. It wasn’t because she thought he was lying, but she felt like he was withholding information. Although she did understand that AGI had the capabilities of monitoring and obtaining crucial information about her soul, that information was most likely not something available to just her. She knew that the organization was most likely harvesting that data for themselves as well.

It scared her. Now, she was not only bound by contract to continue working for the Human Preservation Project, but her very soul is constantly being monitored as well. And there was no telling what they would do to her if AGI reported about her possible corruption by IRE A-1549 or if something more drastic happened to her soul. That also got her to think about something else…

“Say,” she interrupted him again as he was working on preparing the ritual. “Let’s say my Soul Chain does destabilize… What exactly happens after that? Do I instantly die?”

A slow chuckle rolled out, one that demonstrated his age. “No, a fate worse than death happens. Your Soul Weapon will take over your soul and puppeteer your flesh for you. You will become an IRE.”

“An… IRE?..” A chill ran down her spine. “Are all IRE’s…”

“No,” he cut her off. “Not all IREs are Phantasms that have lost control over their Soul Weapons. But a portion of them are.”

She remained silent as he continued his preparations for the ritual.

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Julie watched as Dr. Zerkin continued to tweak and change the stone altar that had the Philosopher’s stone embedded into it. Before he began working on it, he told her to finish asking him whatever else she needed to know and to stop bothering him while he worked on the process. Julie didn’t hold back with the questions.

Aside from wanting to know what plans the HPP department heads and Director 004 had in store for her, she was much more interested in finding out what her Soul Weapon will look like as well as the other information about the ritual AGI had listed for her.

The first thing that drew her attention was the mention of Soul Weapon classes. Dr. Zerkin explained that Soul Weapons came in five different flavors, and each one had different advantages and disadvantages. They were known as Object, Augment, Elemental, Abstract, and Summon. He didn’t have time to fully discuss each one, however, he did highlight the one class Julie needed to keep an eye for the most.

Summon.

Her Soul Weapon’s probability of becoming a Summon-type Soul Weapon was fairly high, according to AGI. Julie sat on the leather chair, watching as Dr. Zerkin continued to work on the stone altar. She sighed—she really hoped AGI’s calculations were wrong.

According to Dr. Zerkin, Summon-type Soul Weapons were the most dangerous class of Soul Weapons to wield. There was a fairly simple reason for it—Soul Weapons of this type manifested a personality of their own.

It shocked her at first, but the name made it pretty obvious. A Soul Weapon of this class needed to be commanded to battle, not utilized directly. While some Summon-type Soul Weapons manifested themselves in the form of tools, they almost always had nasty personalities that conflicted with the interests of their hosts.

And there came the problem. A normal Soul Weapon already had the inherent tendency to try and take over the souls of their hosts as their Soul Chain weakened. So a Soul Weapon with the capability to think on its own from the very beginning could accelerate this process as it worked against its own master.

Please be Abstract… Please be Abstract… She hoped with all her heart that her Soul Weapon wouldn’t manifest as a Summon-type. It was already a big enough hassle dealing with a regular Soul Weapon… Let alone one that could scheme behind her back. And Abstract-type Soul Weapons were very rare as well, so it could be very beneficial in determining her standing within the organization.

There’s a 50% chance of my Soul Weapon being a Summon type… But a 30% chance of it being Abstract as well… It's not completely far-fetched…

Even if her Soul Weapon didn’t turn out being an Abstract-type, she didn’t mind it being something else entirely. As long as it didn’t come out as a Summon class.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Whatever gods exist in this world, please grant me a sliver of pity and make my life a bit easier… Please…

She leaned back against the bookshelf. I hope I didn’t attract a chaos god with that prayer… Please be a benevolent god… According to the HPP databases, gods did exist, but she had no clue about their true nature at all. And she doubted anyone in her division, let alone the entire department knew. That information must be highly classified.

“Alright, we can finally begin!” Dr. Zerkin’s voice startled her.

“Already?” It hadn’t even been thirty minutes. She stood up and walked toward the altar. Glancing down, she noticed the markings had changed. Aside from the old runic symbols carved into the altar itself, a few new additions were there as well.

Across the edges of the altar, five dark black fangs were placed equidistant from each other. Wrapped around the fangs was a strange, dark red silk rope that connected to each of the five fangs, forming a distinct pentagram symbol covered the entire altar’s surface. At the center, the familiar Philosopher’s Stone stayed the same as it was before. The only difference she noticed was the strange, jet-black plant fibers placed above the crystal. It looked to be a bundle of uprooted roots of some kind.There was also some sort of dust or powder sprinkled all across the runic symbols and the rope pentagram formation.

“This is the formation AGI described to me for the Arachnid Web of Spirits ritual you will be conducting today. The materials of influence are laid out in this formation, which should give us the best chance of forming a pseudo concept similar to your Abstract rune’s concepts.”

“Why do we need to create a pseudo concept anyway? What’s the point of trying to create symbolism similar to my rune?”

Zerkin chuckled, “to trick the rune, of course.”

She tilted her neck, “trick?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “Why do you think Soul Chains are unstable? It’s because they are traps designed to lock the abstract rune in place, and use its concepts to influence the anima within the Beyond as you see fit. Obviously, the Abstract Rune will try to leave this ‘trap.’ It wants to dye you in its colors, just as it allows you to dye the world in its colors when you use your Soul Weapon.”

“So then… Does this mean the pseudo-concepts we create with these formations are meant to lure the Abstract Rune into the correct place?”

“Correct.” He patted her shoulder. “The Beyond, you see, is a dimension of concepts and information. Everything around us is represented with its own Runic Existence inside that reality. That includes inanimate objects. And when you configure these objects in certain ways and imbue meaning to them, they form symbolism that the Beyond recognizes. Since Abstract Runes are the origin of certain concepts, they will naturally be attracted to areas within the Beyond that are closely related to them, including ones that are artificially made with rituals like these.”

“I see…” She glanced back down at the altar. “So then, should we start?”

He nodded. “Like you did previously, lean your hands against the two designated areas on the altar. Make sure you don’t knock the Demon Spider Silk and the Obsidian Fangs out of position—any slight deviation in the formation and the ritual will fail. If that happens… I’ll have to put you out of your misery.”

She gulped. Julie slowly lowered her hands toward the altar, making sure not to touch the formation. The runic symbols immediately flared to life. She took a deep breath and focused her vision onto the Philosopher’s Stone at the center of the formation.

“Good, just like that,” he cheered. “Now just like before, you will need to use the Philosopher’s Stone to astral project into the Beyond. Imagine leaping into the crystal once more.”

Julie did just that. It was surprisingly easy this time—she had already gotten somewhat used to the process. But also, there was no need to calibrate the stone this time. She could immediately observe her soul and its fractal geometry perfectly.

However, there was a change to her soul. More specifically, the anima surrounding it.

“You can see it, right?” He asked. “That’s the anima that represents you in the Beyond. It’s different from before, isn’t it?”

She wanted to nod, but that would break her concentration. What she was currently seeing wasn’t just a field of anima surrounding her soul. No, it was much more complicated than that. There were strange markings etched into that anima that went all the way around her fractaled Runic Existence.

Dr. Zerkin pitched in, “those markings were created by AGI. More specifically, the magecraft spell that marked you inside the Soul Weapon Forge. You can think of them as a mold—they outline how you must shape your anima to form the shape of your Soul Chain as well as its connection to your Abstract Rune and your very soul.

“We are finally at the hard part now. You’re going to need to up your concentration, and with the help of the Philosopher’s Stone, morph your anima into the desired shape! Your anima will desire to resist this change so once the node is created, we have to immediately lock the abstract rune in place!”

But how? She wanted to ask. It was easier said than done—every time she tried to command her anima to change its shape, nothing would happen. The Philosopher's Stone, she remembered. She needed to use it somehow.

“Your soul is directly under the grasp of the Philosopher’s Stone! That is why we calibrated it in the first place! The stone altar is connected to you currently! So don't order your anima around, order the Philosopher’s Stone to do your bidding for you!”

Julie heard his muffled words. She remembered how she managed to see her soul to begin with—she needed to imagine herself leaping into the stone to astrally project her vision. What if I do the same thing and imagine the desired shape in my mind… She began testing her theory. She observed the outline being presented to her by AGI and tried to memorize it. Then, with a deep breath, she closed her eyes and imagined the ring-chain shape as shown to her. A small circular indentation was present in the ring, forming a large hole. She assumed that was supposed to be the first node.

Just as she finished imagining its shape in her mind’s eye and sending those thoughts toward the Philosopher’s Stone, a change occurred around her soul’s anima. It began to quiver faintly as it compressed in some areas and contracted in others, morphing its shape like clay. Slowly, it was beginning to solidify exactly as the outline AGI had envisioned. Even so, it was extremely unstable as Dr. Zerkin had warned. Every time the shape took form, different areas would slip out and she would need to restart her concentration.

One thing that did concern her a bit was the strange spider web that covered the ring-hole portion of the Soul Chain. The AGI markings denoted that it was normal for them to be there. She assumed it was probably the pseudo-concepts from the ritual, meant to lure the abstract rune into the node. Though, she wasn’t entirely certain.

Just as the final pieces of her anima moved into place to form the unstable Soul Chain, something from the corner of her eye caught her attention. She glanced back up at her fractal-like soul. A strange, black spider with a crimson eye attached to its back was crawling on her Runic Existence and nibbling on it.

What the fuck?! She wanted to scream.

“Web of Dominion!” Dr. Zerkin cheered. “We’ve finally seen what the abstract rune looks like! How remarkable! So this is how the Beyond represents its existence?”

He glanced away from the holographic projection. “Julie, continue what you are doing! It’s going to sense the presence of the pseudo-concepts soon! It should move toward them!”

Just as he said, she observed the strange spider moving toward the newly shaped Soul Chain. A few minutes later, it had managed to reach the periphery of the node. The pseudo-concepts within it began to quiver. Sensing the symbolism, the spider entered the Soul Chain node.

There was only one way to describe the process: pain. Immense pain. Her mind felt as if it would shatter at any moment. Every pang disrupted her focus, leading to the shape of the Soul Chain wavering, and every time it happened, she would need to reimagine the shape and mold it back into place.

“Hold on for just a bit longer!” Zerkin blurted. “This is Conceptual Resonance! Your anima is using the symbolism from this ritual to disguise itself with conceptual ideas similar to the abstract rune! But this is also causing your anima to be influenced by the Abstract Rune heavily! You are going to slowly be corrupted!

“But that is okay! Ignore the corruption and simply focus on trapping the Abstract Rune inside the node!”

Julie grit her teeth. She had to succeed. She needed to continue living. Who else would take care of her mother aside from her? Besides, she only just got her paycheck. There was no way in hell she was going to allow that money to just sit there after all the hard work she spent earning it.

Come on, Julie. Just focus for a bit longer…

It took a few more minutes of tussling around, waiting for the Abstract Rune to enter fully inside the node. Her headache was getting worse and worse—same with her focus. This continued on for what felt like hours. Some times, the abstract rune would wander away from the node, leaving her helpless. Other times, her Soul Chain would lose its shape. It was a constant back and forth that seemed to last forever. Even so, she knew she had to keep going. Success was just around the corner.

And that success finally came.

The moment the spider entered the node, Julie used her imagination and shrank the ring-hole around it. With the Philosopher’s Stone’s help, her anima morphed into the desired shape and closed in on the Abstract Rune.

Almost immediately, a change occurred. Her Soul Chain solidified completely and shifted into a dark black color with clouds of dark red shifting across it. The concepts governing the Web of Dominion rune now held influence over her anima in the Beyond. She observed the Soul Chain as it spun slowly in orbit around her fractal-like soul. A Sense of joy filled her heart—I did it, she thought.

Suddenly, she felt her senses shifting again—her astral projection had ended.

“You did it,” he exclaimed.

However, she was too busy with something else to pay attention to him—a pulsing pain was coming from her ring finger. Glancing down in her delirious state, her eyes widened in horror.

A strange black spider with a crimson eye on its back was wrapping around her finger like a ring. She was about to freak out when Zerkin interrupted her.

“Relax, that is your Soul Weapon.”

“That’s…. My Soul Weapon?” It creeped her out. She hated insects. It took her entire being to not scream when she witnessed the spider crawling around on her soul. But now… A similar spider was attaching itself to her ring finger. And even worse, it was hurting her—she could tell it was biting her or something—the pain was unmistakable.

“C-can I kill it?” She really wanted to slam her hand against a nearby wall.

“Stupid girl, you can’t kill your Soul Weapon… That’s not how it works.

“Anyway, stop being silly and activate AGI. It will show you some information about it.”

Julie took a deep breath to calm herself and did as she was told. It was taking her entire being to stand upright. A bright blue holographic screen appeared before her displaying her information.

Status

Name: Julie-Anne Kafka

Race: Human

Age: 21

Vocation: Ensnarer

Soul Weapon: Arach-Koth (Unique) (Tier 1)

Class Type: Summon

Skills:

[Ensnare] (Rank 1) - Create spirit webs that can trap spiritual entities.

[Arachnid Wisdom] (Rank 1) - Obtain the heightened senses and capabilities of a spider.

Rune Collection: Web of Dominion

Even though what she was reading felt very exciting, she still couldn’t help but frown. “Summon-type? Really?!”

The gods refused to pity her.