Akira

I was completely unconscious during the short lived flight to the cave. My mind was submerged in darkness this time, there was no dream or vision, simply... nothing. Not even being tossed over my friend's shoulder and then placed by the wall of a cave was enough to bring me back. Only time would be able to do that... however, Deadrin would soon have to deal with a unexpected situation. The ridiculous amount of demonic energy released by me and the Wrathful Blazerker during that fight was more than enough to get the attention of a few angels who were quietly scouting the area for any demons that could have sneaked their way into the human world. They reached the devastated battle field not long after Deadrin had left the place with me on his back. Thanks to their ability to track dark and demonic energy they were able to eventually reach the very same cave where Deadrin was. Usually, low level angels such as these don't have really notorious energy sensing capabilities, but since the amount of demonic power released during that fight was absurdly big, even they were capable of following the trail. Upon arriving at the area the cauitiously looked around the area, not wanting to risk getting cought by surprise by the demon who had cause so much destruction not long ago. They were in a group of three, all of them wearing basic light weight silver armor and wielding low level angelic spears. One of them took the lead and looked inside the cave first. He was surprised by the fact that the first thing that he saw was a human instead of a demonic creature. The othe two soon followed him and looked into the cave as well, taking notice of the horses in the back. They looked at each other a little bit with confused expressions on their faces that couldn't be seen due to their helmets. "Could it be possible that we are looking at the wrong place?" one of them asked to the others "No" one of the others replied looking my unconscious body before pointing at me "That is the demon were are looking for, it likely took a human form to make it harder to be found" he the directed his attention to Deadrin before speaking with serious and authoritarian tone "You, human... do you have any idea of who - or rather, what that... creature is? huh? Don't know just how powerful and dangerous it can be?"

After Deadrin woke me up I stretched a little bit before covering my mouth with one of my hands and letting out a soft yawn "Alright..." I said in a somewhat lazy tone and got up from my bedroll. I took that apportunity to roll my bed again a place it near Lucky without waking her up. Since I wasn't going to sleep again until the next night. My shift was pretty calm and quiet. Except by having to deal with a few birds that were trying to steal the remains of our fish stew, nothing really interesting happened during it, which was a bit surprising but also very appreciated. When sun showed up again, bringing its warm light to the forest once again. I woke Deadrin and we both ate what was left of out dinner last night as breakfast. Soon, we were on our horses once again and making our way towards the mountains. After some time travelling through the dense woods I began to notice that the trees were slowly but surely getting smaller in numbers as we steadly left the forest behind us and finally reached the mountains. Their majestic forms were covering the ground with shadows as the very sun was partially blocked out by them. We were now in a open field, mainly accupied by grass and a few bushes here and there. As I admired the new area we found ourselfs into Deadrin cought my attention by saying that we were almost at our destination, with nothing but a day's worth of travelling in separating us from said location. I simply nodded at his comment and kept going. Little did we know about the intense battle that would soon take place there. As we kept travelling through the open grassy fields we eventually reached an area with a single massive rock in the middle of the field, which seemed to be a bit out of place to say the least, but that was the least important part. Even though we were about 5 meters from the object we were still able to see that there was a person sitting at the top of it, with it's back pointed towards us and it's head pointed up as if looking at the sky. It seemed to be a woman, judging by the long dark purple hair and the the blue robes she was wearing. I pulled Lucky to a complete stop and asked Deadrin to do the same "Please stop for a moment" I said in my usual calm tone before getting down from my horse, handing her reings to my friend "I have a really bad feeling about this one, but I am too far to use my Soul Eye, so I am not sure about what she is. I'll go have a look, you just wait here for now ok?" With that said I began to approach the mystetious figure over the rock. Once I had reached the base of said rock I calmly took the sheated sword out of my back as a means of precaution "Hey, I hightly doubt you are simply someone who got lost around the area, so what are you doing here?" I asked in a clam and serious tone "My my, what do we have here?" She quickly shifted herself in my direction and got down from the stone "I could make you the very same question my dear~" her voice was soft and alluring, she was clearly trying to make feel confortable around her, probably hoping to make me put my guard down, but wasn't going to happen "I asked first, so cut the bullshit and answer me" I wasn't being friendly to her, mainly because I knew she had second intentions "Oh my, that is not how you should treat a pretty lady you know?" she was getting more serious now, noticing that her game wasn't working on me "Oh I know, fortunately you are not one of them" (sick burn!!!) That last comment made her lose all of her patience and quickly materialize and dagger made out of some sort of dark purple energy and try to stab me. Without even unsheating my sword I defected the attack and jumped back to get some dispance between me and her "Deadrin! Back off!" I shouted as I noticed the smoke, that was the same color as the dagger, beginning to surround her body. Knowing that my only choice was to fight her and that there was no point in holding back I activated my Soul Eye so I could understand what she was. My eyes widened when I saw that she had no soul at all, which could only mean one thing: a soulless. Upon acquiring that info I immediatly merged my body Odium's as much as I could without losing control. My right arm and leg were completly covered with the back energy once again, with the chaotic orange lines all over them."Keep your distance, she is a soulless!" I shouted one last time to my friend. In response, the soulless woman discarded the dagger and manifested to dark purple axes, one in each hand, in preparation for the combat. "Hell's Chain!" I manifested countles protals in the air and fired at my opponent, to my suprise, she maneged to dodge and deflect her way out of the affected area and rushed towards me with her axes ready to strike me. With the sword in my right hand and the sheath in the other, we clashed our weapons together, creating a small crater around our feet and a strong burst of air around us. With our faces being so close to each other she noticed something interesting. "Oh... you look a bit familiar" I pushed her back and coverd my right leg with Wrathful Flames before kicking her in the gut with enough strenght to make her collide with the boulder behind her and make it crack. However, at the very last second before my foot came in contact with her body she hardened the smoke around her, creating a shield that absorbed almost all the impact. Needless to say, it didn't do much on her. "I have never seen you in my whole life." I responded as I made the chains that had missed the target and the flames on my leg to dissapear. "You remind me of a man whose soul I absorbed a long time ago in a country very far from here" That information cought my attention, but I didn't have much time to think about it. She discarded her axes and made a bow with the same color as her previous weapons and began to fire energy arrows at me, which I was able to deflect with relative ease "If you are powerful enough to keep up with me in this form, then I am sure you already took countless innocent souls away" My response caused her to chuckle a little bit while still firing arrows at me "You are right, but that one was special. He tryed to resist me until the very end. I guess that is what war does, it can turn even a normal person into a resilient soldier" at that moment my mind was flodded with with the possibility of that soulless woman being the responsable for my father's death. I was barely able to react when my enemy rushed me once again and punched me in the chest with enough strength to push me a few meters away and forme me to drop my sword and sheath. Now that I had no weapon in my hands, she eas expecting me to give up the fight and beg for mercy, however... "What was his name?" I asked in a cold and calm tone as I regained my balance, a murderous aura already beginning to surround me "Come again?" she asked in a confused tone, since the man that was suppsoed to be beggin for his life was making a seemingly out of place question and looking more and more dangerous every moment "I asked. what. was. his. name?" "I don't remember correctly... it was something like Du... Dugum...?" "...Durum..." I said in a even more manecing tone "His name was Akihiko Durum, correct?" "Oh yeah! That is the one!" she responded in a surprisingly cheerful tone "Did you know him my dear?" "Father..." tears began to roll down my face as I recalled the very vague and few happy memories I still had with him and my mother "You.... killed... him..." my voice was failing me and the light sobs where making harder to speak "Awn don't worry my dear, I'll soon reunite both of you~" she replied once again in her cheerfull tone, her bow was quickly dispersed and another axe took it's place. The soulless woman began to make her way towards me, ready to take my life and soul, but that would never happen... (Alright. Sorry for interrupting the story, but I highly recommend hearing this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvSNYSzASww during the transformation sequence, you might want to skip to the 0:10 mark as well. Hope you enjoy it!) "YOU KILLED HIM YOU BITCH!!!" I shouted at her, creating a sudden and really powerful burst of very hot air that pushed her back a few meters. A 1,50 meter wide crater was created under my feet and a blood red demonic magic circle of the same size as well. The temperature around me skyrocketed and burned the grass within a 5 meter radious of my position. The soulless woman jumped back a few times to get some distance due to the unbearable heat and simply watched in horror as her dimise began to take form. I shouted once again in pure hate and anger at the culprint of my father's death. "rrrrAAAAAAAGHHHH" a sudden tornado of fire formed around me and envelloped my form. It was made out of a mix of my blood red Wrathful Flames and a mysterious pitch black flame as well. The tornado began to get even more intense and taller in a matter of seconds and the very ground bellow our feet began to shake while emiting a faint 'vrrrrrrr' like sound. The gentle sun light covering the fields was slowly but surely being blocked by the dark clouds taking over the sky. At the core of the inferno I was being transformed. My mind, body and soul were giving in to the pure rage racing through them. This time there was no laugh, no mantra, or anything of the sort. There was a but simple murder intent fuelled by wrath in it's purest form. The tornado suddenly evolved into a comple fire geyser that only lasted for a few brief moments before dissipating in the air, resulting in lit ashes falling from the sky as if it was snow. In the location where I was, a thick smoke cloud was keeping my new form a secret, the only thing that could be seen were my eyes, since they were emitting a strong blood red glow. From within the smoked area it was possible to hear the sound of a growling beast, ready to take it's prey down. And then suddenly... "ROOOOOOOOAAAAR!!!" the unleashed roar was so powerful it immediatly dissipated the smoke, revealing the creature within it. It had pitch black skin, a muscly body, a pair of horns in it's head that were the same color as it's skin, spikes on it's shoulders, legs and forearms and had it's whole body covered by the Wrathful Flame. The woman felt a shiver running through her spine as the Wrathful Blazerker finally revealed himself. It was at this moment that knew... she fucked up. (Transformation ends here and so should the music if it is still playing... unless you want to keep hearing it... I won't stop you...) With swift moves the Blazerker dashed towards the unfortunate target of it's fury, the woman tryed to dodge, but her moves were way to slow and she got hit by the demon's fist straight in the face. Her magic smoke shield proved to be almost useless now, as she was sent flying until she hit the big rock she was sitting on not long ago. The impact was more than strong enough to reduce the rock to a pile of rubble and still drag her body against the ground for a solid 7 meters leaving marks on where she had passed. With slow moves, she struggled to get back up on her feet, once she finally did, she coughed up a lot of blood on the ground and began to pant heavily. The area of her skin that had direct contact with the Blazerker's fist wasn't bleeding very much because it had been completely cauterized. The demon however, didn't follow up with another immediate attack, it wanted to take it's sweet time and enjoy the feeling of making the soulless woman suffer. On the other hand, she had her own plans "You are pretty impresive, I'll give you that, but I will not die like this" as if on cue, two white magic circles appeared in thin air in front of the Blazerker, and from them two big sets of chains in the same color as the portals were fired at the demon's direction, both pierced straight through his chest at the same spot, the impact was enough to actually force the chain's victim to take a step back. The woman wiped the blood from her chin and laughed a bit, thinking she now had the upper hand. "As much as I hate to copy someone else's attacks, those chains you used not long ago were pretty intersting. Hope you don't mind me using them in your place from now on" her voice was no longer the same from before, she was talking in a way serious and cocky tone. Her 'victory' would be short lived. The Blazerker simply grabbed the chains with both of it's hands and began to growl again, the part of the chains that was making direct contact with the demon's body quickly began to change color to red due to the insane heat. Soon, the Blazerker pulled the chains and broke them, unleashing another powerful roar in the process. The chains immediatly dispersed and the soulless found herself in disadvantage. "Fine, it seems I'll have to use my ace to take you down" her smile and cockyness were nowhere to be found this time, she was dead serious and clearly going for the kill. Suddenly, a very intense white glow began to emit from her body and she also began to grow in size. The Blazerker didn't bother to even try to interrupt, it wanted to chush it's victim while she used all of her power. By the time the glow had fadded away the woman had transformed herself in a 15 meters tall dragon with shinny purple scales, blue horns and green eyes. With the tranformation complete, she expanded her strong wings and took flight. At first it looked like she was trying to flee from the fight, but as she hit she same altitude as the dark clouds blocking the sun light she created a ball of white energy in front of her open mouth, she was clearly focusing as much power as possible on that attack. Down on the ground, the Blazerker didn't show any sign of trying to dodge the attack, it was planning on simply tanking it. After a few seconds, the white dragon roared and fired the condensed energy ball at her enemy. The sphere hit the target full on, an intense explosion of white energy was created as result, the radious of the blast was about 5 meters and a couple of seconds were necessary for the energy to disperse completely. Once it finally did however, the Blazerker simply emerged from the dust cloud without a sigle scratch and seemingly unfazed by the attack. The demon calmly lifted it's right arm with it's hand open and aimed at the still flying dragon. The Wrathful Flames dancing on his arm grew more intense and an orb made of the blood red flames quickly formed at the palm of it's hand. The orb itself was just a bit bigger than the palm of the hand of it's caster. Without any warning or delay, the demon fired it's attack at the dragon, who tried to fly out of the projectile's way, but her big body made impossible to move fast enough, plus, she had just spent most of her power on the last attack and was extremely tired. The red orb reached it's target and caused a massive blast of Wrathful Flames as result. The explosion was at least 20 meters in radious and powerful enough to completely obliterate it's victim. The sheer pressure created by it quickly wiped out the dark clouds in the sky, resulting in the sun light shinning over the battle field once again and leaving a thick ash cloud in the area of the explosion once the energy had dispersed. Against all odds the soulless woman actually survived the explosion, but she would soon wish that the opposite had happened. She was forced back into her human form and fell from the sky, hitting the ground at a location that was just a few meters away from the Wrathful Blazerker. Her clothes had been almost completely desintegrated and her body had blood and serious burns all over. She was already as good as dead, barely conscious and unable to move a single finger, but that wasn't enough for her enemy. It wouldn't stop as long as she was able to breathe. The demon slowly but surely made it's way towards her, only coming to a stop once it was right in front of her. With a cold look on it's fiery power filled-eyes and a horrifying murderous aura around it, the Blazerker grabbed the woman by the face with it's right hand and lifted her up until she was about the same height as her aggressor. The intense heat of the demon's skin was already burning it's defeated enemy even more, even though she wasn't even able to scream at that point, unfortunately for her, there was still more in stock for her. The flames on it's right arm began to grow more intense once again, the demon was ready to finish her off. After a few brief moments another blast was fired from the Blazerker's right hand, but this one was way smaller and weaker than the previous, but it was still more than enough to burn a hole on its victim's head. The soulless woman was already dead, but her body was still weakly twitching a little bit. Ready to put a definitive end to her, the demon punched the abdomen of the dead woman with enough strenght to impale her with it's left arm, then the Blazerker lifted her even more, positioning her horizontally above it's head, placed it's free hand at the edge of the hole and, with another powerful and furious roar, ripped the dead woman's body in half. The remais of her blood and guts were now spread all of over the crater that was created by the last attack. Finally, the demon felt some measure of satisfaction, but it wouldn't last very long. After a brief moment standing still and simply enjoying the feeling of gratification the Blazerker quickly jerked it's head to the side and locked it's eyes on Deadrin. Without a second though, the demon immediatly rushed towards it's new target, leaving behind nothing but a blazing trail of flames and death. Once Deadarin used the Null Rune, The Blazerker stoped dead on it's tracks, it wasn't moving a single muscle or even twiching anymore. The only thing comming from it now were slight growls that grew weaker by the second as the pitch black energy covering it's body began to fade away and reveal Izanagi's normal body from under the mass of demonic power. After a short while, the traces of the energy were gone and I simply fell to the ground unconscious, my body was still very hot and it would still take a short while for it cool down after all that action.

Odium kept eye contact with Deadrin the whole time. Despite the fact that when it comes to understanding other people he was even worse than Izanagi himself, even he could tell by the look on Deadrin's eyes that the man was being completely honest. Odium was also paying close attention to every single word coming out of Deadrin's lips. They were all direct, clear and unyelding. The sort of thing that not even Odium himself could really question. Deadrin's question also got his attention "I can't tell for sure." he began to speak again "To be honest I hightly doubth any Divine would go out of their way to help a simple demon like me or Izanagi. Plus, I am the incarnation of one of the seven deadly sins. That puts us in a position that is not really advantageous." Odium the sighed and turned his attention towards the now extinguished camp fire "Forunelly, there is another option, even though I don't really like it" He calmly made his way to the pile of ashes, burned wood and rocks, picking up, with his right hand, a single stone from the area that was just a bit smaller than his hand and then proceeding back to his previous location. "Now... I want you to pay close attention to what I am about to say" At that moment Odium's hand began to emit a soft white glow as it began to heaten up a faint 'fssssst' like sound could be heard as the stone began to burn due to the high temperature in his hand. "There is one thing known among demons called Demonic Null Rune. It can only be made by high level demonic creatures such as me. Once used, it can completelly strip any demon within the area of effect of it's power for a limited amount of time. I am immune to most of said runes because there are very few who are both as strong as me, or stonger, and have the required knowledge to make one" Odium then opened his hand, revealing the stone that was now dark grey and a single white demonic rune covering most of it's surface "I made this one myself, so it will affect me." He then stretched his arm, handing over the stone to Deadrin "I don't like the idea of giving this to you, but my options are very limited and Izanagi trusts you, so... don't make me regret this" he then turned back to the direction of Izanagi's bedroll "To use it, all you have to do smash the rock, but be aware. It also has a very limited effect radious. It will only work if you are at most within two meters away from us" With that said Odium made his way back to my bed and layed back once again. The marks on my body dissapeared as I returned to my normal state. Soon, the one who was there was me once again, simply sleeping as if nothing had happened.

While I was in a deep sleep Odium had a different idea in mind. I was something he had never done before and he wasn't really sure if it would work, but he simply didn't have many options. Plus, now that he was sure that I was in the dream world he felt like it was the right opportunity. Slowly but surely the dark energy that appears on my skin when Odium takes over began to flow through me, however, instead of covering my entire right side like when we were attacked by the Hounds a couple of days ago it only covered my head and right arm. Odium, now in control of my body, slowly got up from the sleeping bag and began to scan the area around truing to find Deadrin. His eyes were emitting a soft orange glow as a sigh of his control over his vessel. Soon enough he grew tired of waiting and simply decided to call out for the one he was looking for. "Oi weir- I mean... Deadrin. Came out. I wish to speak to you." he said while trying to not be too loud, not wanting any unnecessary attention. Once Deadrin revealed himself Odium couldn't help but wonder where had he been, but he quickly shrugged it off since his time in control of the sleeping was limited. "I don't know how much time I can hold in this state, so I'll try to be as direct as possible." he began to speak in a direct and serious tone "Even though I fail to understand why, that numbskull vessel of mine trusts you. Maybe because you are one of the very few who don't despise him even after learning about his real self, but it's still not enough to convince me. Now... you do remember that fight against he Hounds a few days back correct? I told you this before, but I'll repeat myself. You have no idea of what Izanagi is capable of. You might not see him a anything special while he is in control, but I assure you. Should he lose said control and give in to his anger, both him and I will be converged into something different; something that not even I can control; something that would make even the most powerful dragons cower in fear. A creature known as the Wrathful Blazerker." Odium gave a quick pause at that point so deadrin could process every thing he had said "Now that you know this, human, I have two questions for you. First: what do you think of Izanagi? and Second: if he transforms in that monster what would you do?" His tone was still calm, but he was even more serious than before.

I simply sat by the campfire as Deadrin began to prepare the fishes, saying that it had been quite some time since he ate that type of white meat before. I smiled a him gantly and nodded a bit in response "That makes two of us then" I said with a slight chuckle "My homeland was located in an island and was quite well known in the region for having really good fishing seasons. Back when I was a kid I used to eat fish almost every day. Of couse, ever since I fled home I..." I sighed a little bit due to the bitter sweet memories of my time with my mother and father, back when I still had a complete and happy family "Well... anyway. Yeah, it has been quite some time since I ate fish too." Simply urned my gase to the fire, watching the flames dance over the burning pieces of wood, heating up the pot over it and cooking our dinner. *Hey Odium, do you think we can use the wrathful flame to cook something?* I began to wonder as my thoughts took flight due to boredom *Are you seriously planning to use one of deadliest powers in our arsenal to cook a stew?* The demon responded in a indignant tone *No... well, not to cook a stew anyway...* As we were waiting for dinner to be ready Deadrin began to speak his mind about how much he loved the mountains, which was something we shared even though he probably liked them even more than me. I simply kept mysefl where I was, closely listening to my friend talking about where he grew up, how beutiful that place was and that he was planning on going back there some day for a visit, even if it was a short lived one. By the time he was done the stew was ready, so I grabbed the two bowls and spoons nearby and served us both a generous amount. I handed Deadrin his meal and then sat again near the campfire "I have to agree you with you, the mountais sure are an incredible sight. I saw a lot of impressive things through my time travelling around, but these sure are special." I chuckled a before taking another spoon of stew "As for the visit... I think it is a very good idea. Everyone needs a break every now and then to relax a bit and keep his head in the right place. And hey, if said place can be same place you spent your childhood that is even better right?" I smiled softly and my friend and kept eating a bit more "Sometimes I think about going back to my homeland... to see what happened, if the war ended and... how my mother is..." I sighed a bit clearly a bit saddened by thinking about what happened to my mother and how left her "I often find myself wondering if what I did was right, but I guess it doens't really matter now anyway... it has been so long after all... I don't even know if can go back and face her... well, nevermind. I might have spoken a bit too much." I rubbed the back of my head a bit before finishing my meal and setting the bowl aside, placing it near the campfire. "So, if I recal correctly is your turn to watch the camp first right?" I stretched my arms a bit and made my way to the sleeping bags "Good night" I said as made myself confortable inside my bag and closed my eyes, quickly falling asleep.

As time passed we kept going towards our destination: the Kraerhil mine. Over time my wounds and bruises acquired during my battle against the Hierarch were healed, but I was still unable to activate or discover the power of the rune I got from the pod found inside the mansion before it collapsed down. It wasn't for lack of trying, though. Every day, while Deadrin was sleeping and I was changed with watching the camp both Odium and I would try to activate it, but neither of us was able to get any results. Still, we were making progress, after two days we found out that there half of the rune meant 'time'. Should we find what the other half means we might be able to use it or at least undertand it. On the third day after our ''little adventure'' in the mansion we were clearly approaching the mountains. They were an incredible sight so say the least. Throught all these years traveling around I had seen my fair share of breath taking sights, but that surely was something memorable. My attention was quickly taken by Deadrin who told me that our destination was somewhat close from our current position, but we should still be careful since the mountains wouldn't be any less dangerous than the forest. I gave him a quick nod in response to that. Then we proceeded to set up camp so we could spent the night. While Deadrin was setting up somethings things he asked me to go look for some meat for our dinner "Sure thing." I quickly answered in a calm tone and headed towards the deepts of the woods. I quickly activated my Soul Eye to amke my job of hunting an animal easier. After walking a little bit however, I found a small river. It wasn't very deep and it was located at a considerable distance from our camping site. Thanks to my Soul Eye I was able to quickly spot a few decent sized fishes swimming around in the water. With a mental command I opened three portals above the water, figuring that it would be enough, and waited for right moment to attack. In blink of an eye I fired all my chains and maneged to pierce through a total of three good sized fishes. They had light grey scales and were about 25 cm. Satisfied with my success, I commanded the chains once again and brought them all towards me. I calmly took all of the fishes in my hands, dispersed the chains and made my way back to the camp. When I arrived there I noticed that pretty much everything was in place, including the campfire. "Hey, look what I got." I said with a smile while approaching Deadrin and handing him the fishes "Should be enough for the both of us right?"

As we kept making our way to our horses I couldn't help but think about what Deadrin just told me. The building was aging super fast? that is why it suddenly crambled like that? *Oi Odium, you heard him right?* I began a quick conversation with Odium *Yeah, the mansion collapsed because it aged really fast... do you think this might have something to do with the rune's power?* I mentally nodded in response *Yes, I believe that if the relic was the thing keeping that enormous mansion in one piece, then that probably means that the rune can manipulate time in some way... or something of the sort at very least...* *That also means that the rune is really really powerful. Which is dangerous. Something with this much power will likely have some sort of negative effect when used as well. We can't afford to be careless with that rune. Whatever it does...* Before we could get any deeper on the subject however, we arrived at the gate. Which Deadrin wasted no time in opening it. Needless to say, I didn't protest. Being steathy was the least of our worries right now. We quickly got to Lucky and Deagrin after passing through the metal bars. While Lucky was understandably nervous and maybe a bit scared when we got there, as soon as she felt my hand patting her neck a little bit she quickly got a lot calmer. Deadrin and I both quickly mounted our respective horses and bagan to gain distance from the ever increasing pile of rubble that was a mansion not long ago. *Say... how much do you trust this weirdo friend of yours?* Odium asked once we were at a considerable distance, causing me to mentally sigh at him *Look, if you don't like him much that is fine, but at least call him by his name alright?* the demon simply grunted in response, which was his way of saying 'fine...' *Well... he knows both about my true self and you and didn't try to kill us. That alone is way more than damn near everyone we met so far. Plus, he is really honest and, even though we disagree in a few aspects, he understands me pretty well... I would trust him with my life. Why do you ask?* *Nothing, I was just... wondering about something...* That sort of behaviour isn't really common with Odium. He is usually more focused on acting instead of thinking, then again even the most basic levels of human relationships was something he couldn't understand at all, maybe he was trying to understand a bit more about it.

As Deadrin and I rushed through the corridors of the mansion we could hear the carking noises getting louder and louder by the second as the whole building around us trembled with bigger intensity by the second. Soon enough the walls began to fall to pieces along with the roof. Under normal circunstances evading debris wouldn't be a problem since my speed and agility allowed me to simply dodge them without much effort, however, due to tired and hurt I was at the moment I was actually having some difficulty with that task. Thankfully the adranaline curently flowing through my body was providing me the boost necessary to keep going. It was also a good thing that Deadrin seemed to have some idea of where we needed to go, because I was honestly lost like a blind man in a shootout. After what felt like forever we reached a window. I never tought I would ever feel so happy to see something so common, but those circunstances were anything but normal. Deadrin went though first and followed him shortly. We didn't stop however, after we had reached the outside of the mansion we still rushed a bit to get to the wall surrounding the buiding that now was nothing but a big pile of rubble and dead corpses. We were both panting really hard after we finally stopped near the wall to catch out breath. In the mean time I couldn't help but to think that maybe taking the relic away was the cause of the sudden collapse. They were taking energy from it after all. "You alright?" I asked my friend as we were both recovering from the recent mansion escape. Thankfully neither of us got really hurt during the rush. "Came on, let's get back to the horses" I said in a calm tone after we maneged to catch out breaths again. "Do you think that taking the relic away caused this?" I asked as we made our way to Deagrin and Lucky "The cultists were taking energy from it after all... I just don't know what for..."

Upon seeing my friend getting up I couldn't help but let out a soft sigh in relief, even though he clearly wasn't completely recovered yet since he had to use one of the walls as support to get up. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't at least a little woried about him. At this point I was pretty sure that there was something else to him, he obviously wasn't a normal person and he often demontrated that whenever we had to deal with monsters, but still, I don't want to stick my nose where I shouldn't. "Hey, a guy like me doesn't have many friends, so I might as well take care of the few ones I have right?" I said chuckling a bit in response to Deadrin's first comment and giving him a few moments to get a hold of himself. When I saw that cultist that I had dragged with me was still there I honestly thought on simply killing him with my sword, but Deadrin acted first. He told the scared men to leave with a warning: don't even let me catch you making those damn sacrifices or tortures again or I'll come for your neck. I immediatly understood his idea. Sending a message was a better way to keep those bastards in check, so I decided to play along. "Yes, let you brothers and sisters know that my wrath awaits anyone who tries to keep this fucking cult active, understood?" Soon, the terrified men ran as fast a he could and my attention shifted back to Deadrin when he asked about the relic. "Yeah, I got the relic, but I had to fight for it. The cult was using it for something, though... they even had a special ritual room for it. I had to kill some sort of elite cultist there and I couldn't use my magic powers for some reason. He maneged to throw me against one of the stone pillars with enough strenght to make it crumble over me. My body is still hurting a bit, but I will admit it was one of the most exciting fights I had in a while." I chuckled a bit "As for the relic itself... well, I was expecting to find a weapon of some sort but-" I was inrerrupted by the feeling of the very ground bellow your feet beginning to shake a little bit and by the noises of the walls and roof around us slowly craking "What the hell? what is going on?" I asked while looking around a bit.

After I took a few brief moments to calm down and catch my breath Odium decided to 'contact' me again *Well, that was... interesting to say the very least... its been quite a while since the last time I saw you enjoy yourself so much during a fight* I couldn't really deny it even if I wanted to, Odium surely knew me well enough to know that much. I simply chuckled a bit in response *Yeah, I was a good fight... I feel like shit, though* Odium simply chuckled back at me *You sure look like it right now. There is still blood dripping from your mouth and chin. Not to mention that you back will be bruised at the very fucking least.* There was another brief moment of silence between us before Odium contiued *Came on now, let's get that sin relic and get out of here* *You know I am not leaving this place without Deadrin right?* Odium simply sighed in a sort of annoyed way *Yeah yeah whatever* With that said I slowly got up from the ground, grunting a little bit due to the pain in my body. I calmly made my way to the relic and channeled my energy in my right arm, merging it with Odium and causing it to get covered in the pitch black energy that was all too familiar to me. Slowly but surely, I inserted my arm on the stone and began to look for anything solid inside, but to my surprise the stone itself began to melt and gather around my merged arm. It was like I was absorbing the entire stone. Soon, the stone was gone. - completely merged with me. Once the precess was done I felt a small amount of the energy I had spent on the fight return to me and I also noticed a small demonic rune with a light orange glow in the back of my right hand, right in the middle of the small part of my glove that had a rectangular hole. It shined gently, giving me a light burning sensation in the area, for a second before dissapearing. *Did that mark just... dissapear? Do you think you can bring it back so we can find out what it does?* Asked Odium *I am pretty sure I can, but that will have to wait. Now, to find Deadrin* It was at that point that I noticed that I had absolutely no idea of where my companion was. Best chance to find him was to use logic since, as far as I knew, I couldn't use any of my magic powers. Deducing that it would increase my chances of finding him since he wasn't at any of the rooms I had gone through before, I went through the door on the opposite side of the one I came in. I was also constantly trying to activate my Soul Eye, which would allow me to see any living souls through the walls - Deadrin's included. Plus, being stealthy wasn't an option anymore anyway. I was running through the corridors as fast as I could trying to find my friend, hoping that I was taking the right directions. Thankfully for me, I soon found a single cultist running - unkown to him - in my direction through the same corridor I was. He seemed to be really scared of something, but he was also my best chance of getting any information at the moment. I hid myself behind a bookshelf nearby and when my target passed by I quickly grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up. He didn't have time to scream, but I could notice the pure fear in his eyes "Ack... y-you..." These words cough my attention, did hw know me? maybe he was in the ritual room when I killed the Hierarch "Do you know who I am?" I questioned him in a manecing tone "Y-yes, y-you are... 'gasp' one of the intruders" *Other intruder? Does he know where Deadrin is?* "Where is the other one?" I questioned again, now with a more aggressive tone "J-just follow the corridors until you 'cough' reach a dead end" "Good" I simply replied before continuing to follow the corridors, but now I was also dragging the cultist with me by his legs "Why are you taking me with you?" he asked almost crying "Because if you lied to me you are dead meat!" After a short time running through the area and dragging that unfortunate soul with me I finally reached the dead end. I could see a lot of blood on the ground and walls, a dead men who was smelling like piss for some reason and finally my friend, who didn't look well at all. He was visibly weak and there was blood all over his clothes. Knowing him, he was likely fighting someone, probably the dead cultist on the ground not far from him. Feeling enraged, I quickly grabbed my cultist 'friend' and began to question him again "What. did you do. to him?" my voice was as manecing as it could get, sending chills down the spine of the already scared cultist "I-it wasn't me, it was-" "ANSEWER ME!" I interrupted him and shouted in anger while slamming his body on the nearby wall "AAAAARGH!! I-I-I don't know! I think the Disciple 'cough' shocked his heart or something" "His heart?" I said now in a worried tone and I quickly tossed the cultist asside and ran towards my friend, knealing right beside him. His breaths were weak and his chest was barely moving through the repeated respiration precesses "Came on, you'll be fine ok? Just hold on" I placed both my hands on the left side of his chest and began to apply a cardio massage, making sure to not apply too much pressure since my super strengh could harm him instead of helping. I was worried the whole time, but eventually I noticed the cardic massage beginning to take effect, his breathing was returning to normal standards, but it was still not totally normal so I removed my left hand from over his chest and began to focus a little bit of my energy on the hand that was still there "Alright, this might fell a bit... unpleasnt" I then proceeded to infuse his heart juuuuust enough energy to make his body begin to work normally again. I took a step back and waited for Deadrin to get a hold of himself.

As I kept following the two priests I began to ask myself how damn big could that place be. I was doing my best at trying to remember as many details of the areas we went through as possible, my intent was to create a mental map to help me get out of the mansion after I found the relic and Deadrin. Eventually the horrible smell of death by fire began to fill the air. In all honsty, I almost puked at first. It doesn't matter how many times I felt that smell, it was always horrifying. It took a lot of will power to keep me from vomiting my guts out, but I simply refused to let something like that to get the best of me. The smell wasn't the only problem either. At some point I also felt weird, as if my body had became a bit weaker and I also began to fell like I was forgetting something important, but I couldn't bring myself to think too much about it at the moment. I had reached a weird room and based on how intense the smell of burning flesh was I assumed that it was coming from there. After the cultists that I was following entered the chamber I hid myself behind the door and looked through the small gap between the door joint and the wall. I could see a bunch of cultists, two hounds, a pit with fire inside of it, an bloody altar and a symbol of a black dragon. I also noticed the pitch black stone near the latter. *The sin relic!* I though to myself. *Good, just get rid of these bastards so we can get our prise*. Said Odium. I quickly made a mental command, to fire my Hell Chains on my enemies inside the room, but nothing happened. *What the hell?!* I though to myself confused. *What happened?* *Nothing, and that is problem. I can't use my chains for some reason.* I immediatly related this to the weird feeling I began to felt not long ago. Since I couldn't find anything capable of explaining what was happening to me. I though for a few brief moments before speaking with Odium again *Do you think the Wrathful Flame will work?* *Only one way to find out* I mentally nodded and took a step back from my current position. I extended my arm while still keeping one of the cultists in my eye sight *Wrathful Flame: Ignition!* I commanded mentally and snapped my fingers, expecting my target to combust in flames, but it didn't have the desired effect. Not only did the cultist escape without a scratch, but the noise from my fingers snapping also cought the attention of both Hounds inside the room. "I heard strange noise, we should check it out" one of them stated, getting the attention of everyone in the room. The other Hound nodded and, with the others watching, both set off to go after the noise *Shit!* I though to myself as I took the sword from my back in preparation for the inevtable fight. Once the Hounds were in front of me I didn't even gave them time to say anything. "Quick Slash!" I shouted and quickly chopped off the heads of both my enemies. All the cultists heard were the short lived cries of pain coming from behind the door where I was hiding before a pool of blood formed under the now dead Hounds. "Show your self intruder! We know you are there!" Said the Hierarch, judging by his voice the surely was an old man and he seemed pretty full of himself too, considering his voice tone. *Well, since they now know about me I might as well have a little bit of fun...* I smirked a bit and picked up the head of one of the decapitated Hounds by it's jaw *Uhm... what are you going to do?* Odium asked in a confused tone *Oh you'll see.* I calmly walked out of my hiding spot, revealing myself to the cultists inside the room. "You know..." I started speaking in a sarcastic tone "You guys should really consider taking better care of your Hounds, I mean... just look at this" I pointed at the Hounds head with my free hand "This guy's fur is an absolute mess to say the very least." everyone was looking at me with mixture of surprise and confusion in their faces "And don't even get me started on the smell of these things! Well... this time around the bad smell might be coming out of the pit of burning bodies over there but still-" "SILENCE YOU INSOLENT FOOL!" the Hieranch shouted, interrupting my speach "Look old man, you should probably avoid getting this angry over some simple constructive criticism, is not good for your health and it will give you wrinkles" the old one simply pulled down his hood revealing his face. His skin was pale and he had scars and wrinkles all over it. "Oh... well, carry on then." The hierarch pulled his hood back before giving the fellow cultists an order "Brothers! Bring him to me! He shall make a fine sacrifice for Lord Torak." Two of the low tier cultists approached me with daggers in their hands and killing intent in their eyes. I simply waited for the right moment and... "Catch!" I said and trew the hound head at one of them, hitting his head and making him loose his balance. With a swift draw from my weapon I sliced the other one in half. I then rushed towards the one who was on the ground and grabbed his neck, quickly breaking it with one hand and kill him. The other low tier merbers of the cult seemed shocked at how easy it was for me to kill two Hounds and two of their brothers. "What are waiting for?! KILL HIM!!!" The Hierach ordered the remaining ones. I slowly turned my head in their direction while still holding my sword in one hand and the dead corpse in the other, upon noticing the lookon my eyes -the sheer, dark and pure killing intent- they simply couldn't move. They were paralysed due to the fear and the knowledge that getting near me would mean certain death for them. So instead they took a few steps back. "Useless idiots! Fine, I'll take care of you myself..." I quickly turned my attention back to the Hierarch, my gut was telling me that something was coming and it would be something bad. I could notice the way he was breathing, it was like he was calming himself and focusing on me "BURN!" At the very moment I heard that my insticts kicked in and I lifted the corpse in from of me so it would take the damage instead. My eyes went wide when the dead body combusted and began to burn. I quickly trew it on the ground since it was no use for me anymore. I knew my enemie would soon attack again so I immediatly rushed towards him in a attempt to kill him before he could do it. Even with my speed however... "REPEL!" he was able to use his power. An extremely strong burst of invisible energy shot me backwards, the push itself didn't hurt me much, but the collision sure as hell did. I clashed against one of the huge pillars in the room with enough strenght to break it completely. The impact made the grund shake a little while the debris from pillar was still falling over me. The Hierarch began to laugh maniacly, thinking that he had won, and to be fair if I was a normal person he would probably have won. I slowly got back up from under the pile of rocks, coughing a bit of blood in the process and causing the Hierarch to stop his laugh. Everyone in the room watched in amusement as the men who was supposed to be dead rise again. My body, mainly my back, was hurting like hell. I kept my head down for a quick moment, just to make sure that what I was seeing on the ground was in fact my blood. Once I was sure, I began laugh a bit, making everyone else even more surprised and confused. *My blood... hahahahaha ...this really is my own blood." I then turned my attention back to my enemy "Yare yare daze, looks like it will take me some actual effort to kill you." Even with the intense pain on my body I was ready to resume the fight and now I also had a plan. I rushed towards the Hierarch again while holding a small rock that I had yaken from the debris in one my hands. When I was sure that my enemy was about to use his power again I trew the rock at him. The sudden projectile suprised him and instead of trying to burn me or something like that again he used the same word from before "REPEL!" the rock was struck by his magic this time, not me. That gave me time to actually wound him, making cut in his chest, but wasn't deep enough to be considered lethal. After a quick scream of pain he maneged to attack me again "REPEL!" Once again I was pushed with immense towards one of the pillars, this time however, I maneged to position my body in a way that made my legs touch the hard surface first and bend while doing so, absorbing most of the impact and allowing me to almost immediatly jump back at my target afterwards. Every time I reached very close to him, but he would always repel me back *It doesn'y matter how many times he repels me, as long as I can make my legs absorb the shock of the impact I can attack again. I can't make any mistakes, tough... if I take another hit like the one from before...* I thought to myself during the fight *That wound on his chest plus the constant use of his magic is clearly taking a tool on him. I could simply wait for him to get too tired to keep going, but this is the first real fight I had in a long time. What I really want is the satisfaction of breakin that incredible defense of his* I smirked a little as I reached another pilar jumped right back at him again *Old soldier, I beg of you... don't lose your life before I succeed!* And just like that, the fight went on for minutes that felt like hours fot those who were involved in it. Until finally, my ever increasing speed allowed me to reach close enough to land my most powerful sword technique "Secret Art..." I shouted as I approched the front of the Hierarch and in a blink of an eye I dissapeared and re-appeared behind him with my sword half way inside it's sheath before I calmly bagan to insiert the blade back inside of it "...Act Zero." When my weapon was completely inside the sheath countless deep cuts appeared all over my victim's body, gushing blood everywhere. The Hierarch couldn't even scream in pain, he simply fell to the ground, cold dead already. Even though my body was numb, heavy and still hurting a little, I shot a manecing look at the ones remaining in the room. "So... who is next?" They we all trembling, not believing that the Hierarch had been killed. They all decided to do the right thing... run for their lives like cockroaches. One of them decided to seek the help of the Disciple. I coughed a bit of my own blood again after the physical stress of using my Secret Art began to catch up with me, leaving a little bit of my blood running through the corner of my mouth. I simply decided to take a seat on the ground and rest a bit. As much as I wanted to take the relic, I was really tired and the relic wasn't really going anywhere now. "Fucking cultists..." I said with a slight sigh.

Just as I expected, Deadrin quickly understood the brief yet accurate description I gave him about the object we were looking for and responded accordingly. He then proceeded to check on the only door in the room were we curently in. After a few moments he opened the door and said it was safe to proceed. We found ourselfs in an old study. The place wasn't really in good shape, but I wasn't really expecting anything different. My companion warned me to be careful and I simply nodded in response. It was pretty dark inside the new room we found ourselfs in, however, after a few moments my eyes adjusted themselfs to the lack of light allowing me to see considerably better. One thing cough my attention, more than anything else around. It was some sort of painting on the wall. I don't know why, but I could feel some sort of weird energy coming from it. It was very weak and I could barely feel it, but it was and it was unlike the things I had seen and felt so far. With careful steps I approced it so I could see it better while still keeping a safe distance from it just in case. Or so I thought. I was still about 1 meter away from the item while trying to understand what was drawn in it. It looked like some sort of black hole formed in the middle of a hallway of a castle with black tentacles coming out of it *Tentacles? what are these guys, some sort of hentai fanatics?* Upon further investigation I noticed what seemed to be a small rune in the middle of the black hole in the painting, it had a faint grey color and didn't seem to be demonic, but I could still remember seeing it somewhere. Probably one of the many books I've read over the years while studying demonic rituals *Oh yeah, I remember this one. It means... other side...?* As on cue a few tentacles suddenly emerged from the painting and grabbed me incredibly fast "WHA-" those were the only things I was able to say before one of them covered my mouth while also grabbing my arms, legs and torso and pulled me inside the painting in a blink of an eye. The image of "piece of art" on the wall changed as well after I was gone. Now displaying only the hallway of a castle. After a few brief moments of absolute darkness I found myself being spat out of a painting in a different area of the mansion. I landed on my feet, preventing m from making too much noise, and quickly began to look around trying to understand what just happened and where I was now. *Nice one Izanagi.* I said to myself while mentaly facepalming *You took the words out of my mouth* said Odium in a surprisingly sarcastic tone. I couldn't even complain about it this time, though. *I know, I know, my bad* I simply responded *Well, where do think we are?* I simply kept looking around noticing that there were a lot of stone pillars around. A few of them had lamps that were barely working, providing just a little bit of light *Seems to be some sort of hall...* I turned my attention back to the painting that I had came out of. It was completely blank now. I didn't have to think about it however, as I heard a few steps coming from a bit ahead of the hall. I quickly hid myself behind one of the pillars and saw two cultists passing by in noticeably fast paste "Came on! we have to hurry if we don't want to be late for the ritual." one of them said "What os the point of extracting energy from that weird stone anyway?" the one asked as they kept going. Eventually dissapearing in the darkness on the other side of the door on the end of the hall. Thinking that the "weird stone in question might be the one that I was looking for, I decided to quietly follow the from behind.

As Deadrin and I kept going throught the dead area I kept my Soul Eye activated the whole time, wanting to make sure no one would try and ambush us. We were both very quiet as usual and the situation seemed to be under control and pretty calm all things considered. That place however, was giving me a weird vibe. It wasn't exactly fear, since I wasn't really a stranger to areas devastated by magic, but it still made me feel somewhat unconfortable. *Oi Odium, you are feeling this too aren't you? this weird vibe around the area?* I asked the demon, hoping that he would know something about it *Yes, I am not completely sure myself, but I believe that this feeling is comming from the sin relic in this area* *What? but when we found that other sin relic a few days ago I didn't feel anything like this* I responded in confusion *I know, but remember, that relic was very broken, which greatly reduces the power emanating from it. Plus, it is entirely possible that this new relic is more powerful that the other one* That honestly made me a bit nervous about it. If I was able to feel the vibrations from this relic from this distance then it would likely be something really powerful, and worst of all, it was at the hands of cult of lunatics *Then we have to take it from the cultists as soon as possible* My thoughts were soon cut by me noticing that my companion had stoped. We had reached a wall that surrounded the mansion. Deadrin then proceeded to tell me it would be a good idea to leave both horses in the alcove. I was quick to nod in agreement with him and dismount from Lucky. The alcove was located at a considerable distance from the main building. Plus, Deagin would be there to protect Lucky. At that point even I knew that Deagrin had a few tricks up it's sleeve. Deadrin was quick yet silent to open the grate so we could all go through. Once we were there my companion repeated the same process again so we could approach the mansion itself. I deactivated my Soul Eye since I didn't want to risk having it's soft glow draw attention. Both Deadrin and I moved throught the area in steps as silent as the night. I also noticed the lights on windowns after my companion had it pointed out "Let's try to aviod those people inside as much as possible" I said in a calm and low voice tone. We both kept going as quietly as possible before my companion found a open window. We got inside making sure to not make any noise. Once we were sure that the area as clear, for now at least, I took the opportunity to tell Deadrin about what we were looking for. "Well, I think I should let you know. We are looking for a pitch black stone with demonic runes on it's surface. It acts like a pod to contain the sin relic. Once we found it I can take the relic from the inside of it." I said keeping my low and calm voice tone, trying to keep ourselfs hidden from the enemies "Oh and I woudn't recommend touching it directly either. Since you are not a demon like me there might be some side effects caused by touching it."

Deadrin's reaction to Odium's messages couldn't have been any better since he didn't take any of them as a negative thing. His comment on how Odium is also a weirdo actually caused to laugh a bit "You can say that again, we are all a bit weird, I guess that is why we get along right?" I chuckled a bit again. Odium chose to not say anything. I recon that was his way of agreeing to something. I was glad when my companion informed me that we could make a quick stop at Torak's mansion, which was even better considering that we woudn't have to detour much from our main objective. Plus, Odium seemed to be sure that we would find another sin relic there, so it was worth checking out. Not only it would make me stronger, but we would also be taking a dangerous and powerful item from the cult's hands. The next few days went by surprisingly fast. There were a few inconvenient events along the way such as monster attacks, but it wasn't a big deal for us, especially now that I didn't have to hold back. We would spend the nights like always. Taking turns between sleeping and keeping the camp secure. During said events, while Deadrin was sleeping, Odium would train me and teach me how to use the Wrathful Flames without merging with him. It was a good way to keep myself awake during the time I had to watch for hostiles in the area. Even though I wasn't able to use the same techniques as Odium, I did create one of my own, which I named Ignition. The technique involved me snaping my fingers while extending my arm at the direction of the target. As the name sugests, it causes the victim to suddenly combust and burn for as long as I want. I had to use rocks and dead tree trunks as target practice, and even though I wasn't able to completely master the technique, I do have enough control about it to be able to use it safely most of the time. As we neared our destination it became impossible to not notice the change on the area around us. It became dark due to the cloud that kept the sun from shining above the ground, there was pretty much zero signs of life the smell was also awful. My attention was cought by Deadrin's explanation of the area *He placed that could there on purpose keep the sun away?! Geez, what is this guy? And edge lord?* I tought to myself before we stopped at a safe distance from the place. I nodded on Deadrin's suggestion to be careful, being sneaky was our best option at that situation "I agree, we would get too much unwanted attention if we simply charged there." I calmly said while looking around a bit more before turning my attention back to my companion "Well, since we are here, I suppose it would be fair to tell you why I asked to come here. There is a powerful artefact hidden somewhere inside that mansion, that artefact is a sin relic and it was designed to be used by an embodiment of sin, like me. However, its possible that the cultists are using a limited amount of it's powers somehow, which can't be good for anyone. Which is yet another good reason to take it from here don't you think?" I asked in a serious yet calm tone.

Hearing my companion telling me about Torak pissed me off. A man with so much pride that he tought himself as a God?! It wasn't the first I had heard something like that, but it still made me mad. Even worse, Torak's followers were making cruel and brutal sacrifices on his name which was just straight up horrible to say the very least. "People like him shouldn't exist..." I simply said once Deadrin was done speaking, I was clearly making some level of effort to keep my anger under control, I took a deep breath and calmed down shortly after. However, while I was focused on that part of the story, Odium was paying attention to a different set of details *So we will eventually reach this guy's mansion huh?* he said, probably thinking out loud *Oh, seems like someone is feeling talkative again* I simply replied *I heard the story that your companion just told you because now you are finally calm enough to talk to me again* surprisingly we didn't sound like he was lecturing me or anything, it was like he literally just... talking to me. I took the opportunity to say something I really should *So uhm... thank you ok? for not hurting Deadrin or the horses during the fight against the Hounds and Superbia* there was a brief silence before the demon responded *Its like I said, if you don't hate them, I have no reason to hurt them. Simple as that... Look, if you want to thank me, there are a few thing I want you to tell to your little friend here* I mentally sighed, Odium knew that was one my ways to agree with him *Good, now first of all: tell him he is a weirdo; second of all: tell him I didn't use even 15% of my full potential during that fight.* *What? why the hell do you want me to tell him that?* I asked in confusion, interrupting Odium *Because we got woulded during the battle and he didn't. I don't want him thinking that I am weak or something like that* That didn't make any sense from my point of view, but then again, even if Odium wasn't the incarnation of pride he is one of the most powerful demons in existence, which means he also has some level of pride *Geez, and here was I thinking that Superbia was the incarnation of pride* I responded in a joking tone *Just shut up and let me finish! Finally, I want you tell him that we will be making a quick stop at Torak's mansion* *And why is that?* I asked curious *I am pretty sure there is a sin relic to be found around that area* I took a deep breath once again before passing the word from Odium to Deadrin. "So... what I am about to say might be a bit weird but..." I began to say, rubbing the back of my head a little "Odium asked me to tell you a few things. Number one: he said that you are a weirdo; number two: he insistis for me to tell you that he didn't even use 15% of his power during the fight agains the Hounds. He doesn't want you to think that he is weak or something; and number three: once we reach Torak's mansion, can we make a quick stop?" Obviously I changed the last part because I didn't want to give Deadrin an order and sound like an ass in doing so.

"Yeah, sad but true..." I said nodding a bit at Deadrin's statement. My story clearly had an impact on him, I noticed how he was keeping his inner anger in check as he spoke. It got my attention when he said that he could became quite unpredictable should he go on a complete rage burst, that was certainly something I could relate to "I know that feeling pretty damn well... remember when I told you that anger is a negative feeling that is particularly hard for me to keep under control? Well, now you know why" I said simply before my companion shot me his next question. I wasn't exactly expecting him to became curious about Odium as well, but then again I couldn't really blame him. My case wasn't exactly something common after all. "Well, Odium never really gave me a clear response when I asked him about that but..." I said rubbing the back of head again for a little bit "Through all these years traveling around the world I was able to visit many libraries and read about demonic rituals and such." At that point my voice tone was back at it's normal calm self, mainly because I wasn't talking about my painful past anymore "There are many ways to summon a demon, even against it's will, but doing so has a cost. The stronger the demon, the bigger the cost. Odium however, is one of the incarnations of the seven deadly sins, so summoning him by force should be damn near impossible. Which is why the cultists had to sacrifice something like children. Even if the summoners thenselfs didn't care much about them, their families sure as hell did, which gives them high value on that matter. Plus, children are not really affected by the world around them, their hearts, minds and souls are almost completely pure. Paying such a high price made possible to bring Odium to our world agains his will." I now turned my attention back to the way we were heading before continuing "The same should be true for the other six sins. I am not sure if Superbia possessed that Hound by being summoned by someone else. He is the incarnation of pride after all and from what I noticed in our previous encouter with them,Hounds are pretty pround creatures by nature so it would make sense for him to be able to take over one with his own power, they are compatible after all." I thought for a second if I should tell Deadrin about why I am compatible with Odium, even though I was pretty sure he could deduce that by himself at this point. In the end I decided to do it since I felt like that was something he should hear from my own lips "...that is the reason why I alone survived the demonification ritual." I said keeping my eyes on the road "Odium himself said that we are compatible because I can... let's say... 'take' all that rage if you know what I mean. As the incarnation of wrath is pretty hard for him to find a suitable vessel, capable not only of generating wrath, but also to keep it under control so it doesn't destroy you from the inside."

"Heh yeah, I guess that really would be worse" I responded to my companions comment, watching as he poured the antiseptic on a little piece of fabic and warned me about a possible unpleasnt feeling before he began to clean up the wound. Just like he said, I did fell a little stinging sensation once the antiseptic made contact with my flesh causing me wince a little bit at first, but soon enough the sensation faded away. A few quick moments later Deadrin was done, he rolled a few bandages over the now clean wound and told me to put my clothes back on so we could get out of there as fast as possible. I didn't question him since I also didn't want to stay there any longer. I quickly put my shirt and jacket back on and climbed on Lucky's back once again and grabbed her reins before moving them a bit giving my horse the comand to begin moving again. Deadrin and I began by going a bit faster at first so we could get some distance of from the pile of dead bodies behind us. Once we had reached a considerable distance we slowed down so we could talk to each other again. Deadrin asked me about my story, admitting to be curous about it, I didn't blame him, though. "Alright, uhm... where do I begin?" I said calmly, placing a hand on my chin and closing my eyes for a bit, recollecting my memories before placing my hand back at Lucky's reins and opening my eyes and focusing them on my companion "Well, this might sound a bit surprising, but I was actually born human like any other normal person in country very far from here" my face expression went from its usual calm and collected to a more serious one "When I just a child a civil war broke there and my father was forced to became a soldier, not only because he was a healthy adult man, but also because he was a very well-known swordmaster and teacher. He tought me how to fight before he dissapeared during the war." It was possible to notice a slight bitter and painful tone in my voice as I kept going "I was about 11 years old when that happened and for two years it was only my mother and I. During that period of time I was forced to mature a lot quicker that most people and... well, when I was 13..." I stopped talking for a bit and sighed before continuing, the pain in my voice was a bit more noticeble now "When I was 13 years old I was kidnapped by a bunch of cultists that were working with the government to stop the rebels. I was kept in captivity inside a underground hideout with a few other kids, about 8 if I remember correctly. After a few days of preparation, they tied all of us to a wall and began to perform a ritual. I remember hearing one of the cultists telling us how happy we should be since we would became the weapon that would end the war once and for all or die trying. The cultists kneeled in front of us and began to speak in a weird language before the wall behind us began to glow red and got covered in demonic runes. I felt like my body was burning us from the inside. Not only me, but all the other kids began to scream due to the excruciating pain as the ritual kept going." I clenched my fists a bit and took a deep breath to calm myself before continuing "One by one, all the other victims ignited and burned to death until I was the only one left. I was sure my fate would be the same, but what I felt was anger, a hate unlike anything I had felt so far began to build up inside me, reaching the point where I didn't ever feel that much pain anymore, all I wanted was to make the cultists pay. My vision became blurry and red in a few instants, I felt like I was going to pass out and... well, when I came back to my senses I was surrounded by the corpses of the cultists, blood was everywhere including my hands and body." Reviving these memories wasn't exactly something fun to do, but actually telling the story to someone else felt surprisingly good, as if burden was being loft from my shoulders "Fortunately the hideout was in the same city I lived, but as I was making my way home Odium began to talk to me, it freaked me out a first, but he explained that I had survived the demonification ritual and now, not only I was a demon, but I had also become his vessal, the embodiment of the sin of wrath. I couldn't go back home now that I was a demon, I didn't want to risk hurting my mother, so I sneaked into a fishing ship and flead the country. I walked through the world, fighting all sorts of monsters and looking for a place to call home..." I took another deep breath and relaxed a bit "That's... basically it..."

I simply nodded at Deadrin comment, staying at the same place for so long, especially after all the noise generated by recent battle agains Superbia and the Hounds, was not a good idea. Lucky already seemed to be a bit calmer, her breathing was back at a normal thythm, so I was pretty sure she was good to go once again. I looked at my companion with slightly confused expression on my face, since I hadn't noticed the wound on my left shoulder, probably because of all the adrenaline that was still running through my body, but I could feel a slight tingle on the affected area. "Hm? Wound?" I said before turning my attention to the part of my jacket that was a bit bloody and torn, it wasn't bleeding much and the wound was not really deep, thanks to my super-human resistence, but it would still be a bad idea to leave it as it was considering that there was work to be done "Oh, I didn't even notice that" I laughed in a somewhat akward way "I guess that's why I was feeling a weird tingle over there" It was interesting to know that Deadrin's father was a doctor, after all, the man had never really mentioned anything about his family, even though that wasn't really important at the moment. "Yeah, I do have an accelerated healing factor, but it would still take about a day to completely heal this wound. I guess it is worth having a look at it" I said as Deadrin walked to his horse to get a few bandages and minor healing items. I nodded once again at the man's command and took off my jacket and shirt, placing over Lucky's back, she didn't seem to mind much and I would prefer to not place my clothes on the forest floor, since bugs and parasites could climb on them. Now having a better look at it, the wound didn't seem to be so bad, especially considering the how enormous Superbia was. Then again, being a demon does have a few perks, which were quite useful in situations like these. "So, what do you think? is not so bad is it? I mean... considering that I... well, Odium was facing a demon-possessed Hound and all..."

Even though my mind was still a bit blurry I was cought in a absolute storm of emotions when I felt Deadrin's touch. The man simply helped my to get up instead of calling me a monster or an abomination or anything of the sort, it was already way different from the average person's way of thinking and it surprised me despite the fact that he has told me earlier that he respects all life forms and stuff. It was the reaction that I was hoping for, but it sure as hell wasn't the one that I was expecting. Once I was on my feet again I dared to look at my companion again, noticing the way he was giving me back the sword that I have been using through our quest. It sure was display of trust from his part, specially after seeing in first hand what I really am and how ugly things can get when I lose control or simply throw said control out of the window. With a slow and hesitant move from my not injured arm I grabbed the blade, precessing what Deadrin had just said *Not the first time he heard that? what did Odium tell him?* Odium couldn't hear me since my mind was still a bit too agitated to speak with him, but it was a relief to hear that things weren't going to change, even thought I was pretty sure that wasn't completely true, after every thing that just happened I was sure that even Deadrin would look at me with different eyes, it was okay, though. At that point I was just happy for not being abandoned by him or worse. I akwardly moved my arm trying to place the sword back inside the sheath, only to find out that it was no longer on my back, after a quick look around my body I found it on my hip, I sighed a bit and finally placed the sword back where it should be, deciding to let the now sheathed blade where it was. I then turned my attention back a my companion once he began to make questions, it wasn't really surprising, though. Hell, after all of that, being curious was very least I could expect from him "Well, its a bit complicated but..." I began to rub the back of my head with my right hand"I guess you can say I am both a demon and a host" It was good thing that Deadrin undertood why I kept the secret, he seemed to know pretty damn well what the consequeces of letting other people know about my demonic nature would be. I also took the opportunity to have a quick look around the area, the amount of corpses and destruction not really different from what I expected to happen once I had allowed Odium to break loose, even if was usng just a bit of his full potential. "Huh, Odium sure did a number on these fuckers... oh well, serves them right" I turned my eyes back to the man in front of me "I know this is a bit... uncommon to say the least but-" My train of tought was interrupted when I saw Lucky near Deagrin, she was clearly scared and a bit agitated, but she didn't seem to be injured, which was a big relief for me "Lucky..." I simply said as I began to approach her, my moves were calm and slow since I didn't want to scare her. I then gave her a few pats the neck and caressed her back "Hey, its fine now ok? you can calm down" my voice was soft as I spoke with the horse, calming her a bit. As Lucky recovered from the recent action I looked back at Deadrin "Thank you for protecting her and..." I sighed a bit "Look, you already found out about my secret and every thing. If you want I can tell you the story of how I became what you saw a few moments back, but I should warn you that the story is a bit long and its not pretty"

"Understood" I replied simply at Deadrin's affirmation, making sure to keep my attention focused on any hostile soul nearby. I noticed when the deer near us moved through the bushes, it's soul was agitated, but not aggressive so I didn't take it as a threat and neither did my companion. When I heard the howl once again however, my instincts began to tell me that a conflict was about to begin and Deadrin clearly felt the same way. With that in mind I took my sheathed sword from my back, keeping it on my right hand and ready for use when necessary. When the last howl was heard I noticed a few weird souls moving through the plants in the area, the problem was that I couldn't tell exactly what kind souls they were, which was something that had never happened to me before, the souls themselfs were a bit blury, making it impossible for me to analyse them. That would be the last of my worries however, Deadrin shouted and before I could do anything I saw a Hound jump from the bushes and attacked Deadrin, the sudden move made Lucky get agitated, forcing me to give her reins a firm pull to keep her from freaking out. Deadrin took care of his enemy easily enough, before I could feel any relief however, more appeared and turned their attention to me and Lucky, both circled around us for a bit, looking at their preys with blood thirst in their eyes before jumping at us with their mouths open and sharp teeth ready to damage us. Unfortunely for them Deadrin already knew my secret, which means that I wouldn't have to hold back anymore "Hell's Chain!" with a quick command a total of six portals appeared above the Hounds and a equal number of bladed chains were fired, impaling the Hounds in mid-air and killing them almost immediatly before vanishing. I took a quick look at Deadrin and confirmed that he was alright, giving him a quick nod as a sign that I was okay as well. Feeling that our problems were just getting started, I got down from Lucky's back and took a few steps away from her, but still staying close enough to be able to stop any Hound that could try to attack her. I began to scan the area once again, but what I saw was terrible, making my eyes widen upon noticing that we were surrounded by countless blury souls just like the ones from the Hounds "Deadrin... we got a problem... a really fucking big problem" I said in a slightly scared and cautious tone while taking a step back. Soon, all the Hounds around us revealed themselfs from their hidding spots, closing a circle around us, but not attacking for some reason, it was like they were waiting for something to happen. Before I could even begin to think on what could it be I heard a voice that, even though it was unknown to me, it sure as hell wasn't for Odium, who couldn't speak to me at the moment because of how agitated my mind was. "Well well well, just look at what we got here" said the mysterious foe, still hiding behind all the other Hounds "It has been quite some time since the last time I saw another one like me" his tone was cocky and calm, I kept looking for the source of the voice, but with no luck "Who are you and what do you want?" I asked in a sort of irritated tone "Oh my apologies, I believe I should introduce myself properly" the owner of the mysterious voice calmly got out from his hiding spot and entered the circle of Hounds around us "My name is Superbia" he was a Hound as well, but a bit bigger than the others, instead of pitch black his fur was dark grey, his eyes were emerald green and there was a demonic rune on his forehead that emitted a soft glow in the same color of his eyes "Now then, what a curious little duo we got ourselves here eh?" he chuckled a bit, keeping his eyes fixed on me, since he knew the other Hounds would react to any blunt moves that Deadrin could make "Tell me, how did you convince a human to accompany you huh? specially in a journey through a dangerous place such as this forest" I chose to stay silent, a wrong word could cause the attack to begin "Did you persuade him? maybe you forced him somehow? or did you... lie to him?" "I didn't lie to him!" I quickly responded "Really now? if that's the case then... ohhhh now I got it" he said letting out a ominous chuckle "You simply didn't tell him did you?" I clenched my fists a bit in response and Superbia took it as confirmation, laughing loudly at emotional pain in my face "Oh you poor foolish human" he said turning his eyes to Deadrin "You didn't know did you? about what he really is?" Superbia said briefly tilting his head in my direction while still laughing, clearly enjoying himself "Your little friend here is a demon and not just any demon, oh no no no, he is one of the embodiments of sin, just like me, isn't that right, my dear sibling?" "I am not your sibling" I quickly responded in a angry tone "You might not be, but the other soul within you sure as hell is" once again, all I could do was to stay silent, it was true after all, and I couldn't deny it "Well, it makes no real difference for us, soon you will all die and me and my little friends here will have a feast, although... I wonder if you will taste any better than the humans, you know, being a demon and all..." once again my eyes widen after hearing Superbia's comment "You... ate innocent men?" I could feel my blood beginning to boil under my skin, the simple thought of those monsters eating people was already revolting enough, but it was about to get much worse "Innocent men?" he chuckled "You silly demon, every human is the same from my point of view, it doesn't matter if they are men, women or children, they are nothing but meat, ready to be eaten" that was the last straw, I was clenching my fists so hard that they were beginning to bleed, before I snapped however, I was able to make one last request to my companion "Deadrin... please protect Lucky" I said simply, my voice was cold and the murder intent behind it was crystal clear. Time stopped for a second for me, before my eyes I saw Odium in his original form "Tell me something Izanagi, do you hate these Hounds around you?" he was calm and direct, yet clearly knowing that was his chance to be able to fight his brother with his own power "I do" I simply replied "Do you want to make them pay the price of their actions? to make them feel the pain of all their victims? to make them suffer through the wrath of our soul?" "Yes I do" Odium smirked a bit after hearing my reply and extended his arm, offering me a handshake. I also extended my arm, but instead of immediatly accepting his handshake I grabbed his forearm and shot him a serious look "Do not hurt Deadrin or the horses understood?" I said firmly, causing the smirk on the demon's face to dissapear "Do you hate them?" he asked "No I don't" "Then I have no reason to hurt them" I didn't respond, still not thrusting him completely "Very well, if it makes you feel any better, I won't use my full power, just enough to kill Superbia and the Hounds" I kept my eyes focused on Odium's ones for a few moments, I could see that he was being honest with me and I decided to thrust him to keep his word, finally letting go of his forearm and grabbing his hand causing Odium to smile slightly in response "Now Izanagi, say my mantra". Time began to move once again for me and I found myself back in the terrible situation of being surrounded by dangerous enemies. I could feel the power beginning to surge through my body, a sudden and quick burst of very hot air came out of my body as a signal that the merging and take over process was already getting started, caughing the attention of all the Hounds, Superbia included, obviously, the words from Odium's mantra began to flow though my mind and I immediatly began to say them out loud "The gates of hell shall soon open and it's power be unleashed. My enemies will know that their lives are now finished." a small ring of blood red fire suddenly appeared aound my feet and as I kept saying the mantra the flames were growing more intense and began to cover my body "Death awaits those who ignited the fires of rage. My fury shall only end when there is no more blood to be tasted by my blade!" the fire was already covering all of me and it was possible to see the right half of my body merging with Odium "With my power I shall break all the fools who try to block my path! For I am Odium the demon who embodies wrath!" the flames quickly died down, leaving a burning mark on the ground and revealing my body. My right arm, leg and the right half of my torso and head were covered by the pitch black energy from Odium's body, with dark orange lines following a chaotic pattern and a few demonic runes breaking the dark color over my body. My right eye's iris, pupil and cornea were glowing in the same color as the runes and lines on my body "Superbia... the demon of pride..." the voice coming out of my lips was no longer the same, it was deeper and more ominous, it was Odium's voice "It has been quite some time huh? brother". Even after all of that Superbia's atittude didn't change in the slightest "Odium... so you have really found a vessel after all. Well, while I do wonder why you let him keep you under control, I also don't care enough to actually ask, but at least it will be even more satisfying to kill all of you now" he calmly walked out of the circle and ordered the attack "Kill them" The Hounds around us didn't think twice before charging at both Odium and Deadrin, choosing their targets at will. A total of six Hounds decided to attack Odium at the same time. Since only half of my body was merged with his own, he could also use some of my my abilities as well to a certain limit. "Hell's Chain!" he shouted and summoned a total of ten portals, shooting the bladed chains at the attacking foes from above, impaling and killing three of them, but there were still three left. Odium quickly magnetized a small area on the right side of his hip and placed the sword the before unsheathing it with his left hand, standing ready for action. At the last minute the Hounds changed their movement route to attack from different directions. One from the right, one from the left and one from the front. With a quick move he stabbed the skull of the Hound on the left with the sword, killing it immediatly. The one who attacked from the front jumped a little, opening his mouth full of sharp teeth, clearly trying to bite Odium's head, to the monster's surprise the demon head bumped it, hitting it's nose with his head with enough strenght to make him fall to the ground, Odium then proceeded to stomp on the Hound's head, smashing it to pieces and killing it. As for the one who attacked from the right, he grabbed it's nose, making sure to keep his fingers at a safe distance from the creature's teeth and also keeping his grip too tight for the creature to break free, the contact from my merged half was already burning the Hound due to how hot my skin was, but that wouldn't be all, once the other two were dead Odium grabbed it's jaw with his free hand and with a single yet firm pull, ripped it out of the monster's face, causing it to cry laudly in pain before dying of blood loss. Odium simply tossed the dead Hound's body to the side, caring little about it. Right after that, five other Hounds charged in my direction, they decided to go for a direct up front attack, it wouldn't do them any good though, Odium channeled a litle bit of energy on his right hand and quickly manifested The Evil One in it, he then got in combat position and unleashed one of his special techniques "Dual sword style: Flash Slash" in a blink of an eye Odium moved behind all of the attackers and slashem them multiple time, the Hounds fell to the floor, dead and with countless slash marks over their bodies. Irritated by the fact that Deadrin and Odium were killing all the Hounds, Superbia decided to take action. "Useless fools, it seems if you want something done right you have to do it yourself" he said stepping closer to Odium "Very well, I'll kill you myself then" Superbia charged at his brother, going for a straight attack, which Odium dodged easily enough. Superbia then charged a green-ish energy ball on his mouth and fired it in his opponent direction, Odium quickly slashed the orb in half before it could get too close, causing it to dissipate and leave a small dust cloud in the air which Superbia used as a distraction, he jumped in Odium's direction and, thanks to his speed, was actually able to bite my left shoulder, since he knew that bitting the merged half would burn him. Odium winced in pain as Superbia's heavy body pinned him to the ground. Even tough his teeth were still embed in my shoulder, the demon-possessed Hound smirked, thinking that his brother was defenselees now, big mistake. Odium dissipated The Evil One and placed his hand under Superbia's torax. Blood red flames covered his arm, quickly accumulating on the palm of his hand and shooting an explosive fire ball "Wrathful blast!" Odium shouted before the blast. The attack was so strong that it burned Superbia's fur and skin and also launched him backwards, making him collide with a tree. The impact broke his spine, paralysing him. Odium calmly got up, not seeming to mind much about the pain of his wound, and walked to his almost dead brother "Now then, how about some payback?" with his sword still in his left hand, Odium sliced one of the Hound's 'arms', the pain was so intense that Superbia couldn't even speak or react. With a mad laugh, the demon began to beat his brothers face with the dismembered body part "Ahahahaha why are you beating yourself huh? why?" he kept going until Superbia's face was nothing but a bloody pulp. Next, he grabbed the creature by the neck and lifted it up "For my next trick, I shall make your upper half dissapear" he said sarcastically, as he impaled the Hound with the sword in his hand, sticking both to the tree behind and then igniting the hand that was still on the monster's neck with the wrathful flames "Wrathful blast!" he fired another attack, but this one was intense enough to completely obliterate the uper half of Superbia's body and knock down the tree behind it. Upon seeing their leader die in such pathectic all the remaining Hounds flead to the depts of the forest, leaving the two adventurers and their horses alone. Odium slowly but surely turned around to face Deadrin, with calm yet imposing steps he walked towards him until he was about 1 meter away from the man. He lifted the sword in his hand to the air, as if he was preparing a strike, but all he did was to lay the blade on the ground, in a kind of respect sign "So, you are Deadrin eh?" he chuckled "To think that someone would actually be friends with tht numbskull Izanagi, you really are a weirdo you know that?" with that said, Odium released me, the black energy on my merged half immediatly dissipated, causing my body to get back to normal. I feel to my knees, not because I was physically tired, but because my mind was a bit blurry. I looked up for a second to check if Deadrin was really okay and once I was sure that he was fine I looked down again, afraid of his reaction.

I kept my eyes fixed on the 'road' ahead of us while Deadrin was speaking, but I was still paying attention to what he was saying. "Thank you, that is really nice of you to say" I responded to his first affirmation in a sort of shy way. True to be told that was the first time I had ever heard someone praising my Hell's Chain ability, mainly because I don't usually show this to people in the first place, but it was still a very good surprise. Even better, that meant that I wouldn't have to hesitate in using my chains again, as long as it is just the two of us again at least. I mindfully heard his explanation about his eyes going black for a few brief moments back when we were still arguing. While I wasn't exactly new to the whole 'psycological attack' part, since I had dealt with this sort of problem before, it still surprised me. I was sure that Deadrin wasn't a completely normal person, but sure as hell was not what I was expecting. Most important of all, that solidified even more my theory about him not being human, or not completely human at least. The part when talked about the few types of beings capable or resisting his psycological powers also cought my attention, while my knowledge regarding the Eldyrannth is pretty much null, the demon part... well, that was interesting to say the least *Heh, convenient exception is convenient* I joked to myself. Deadrin sure did ansewer my question, but I had even more questions now... they would have to wait, though. I didn't want to bombard him with questions after all. "I see... very interesting..." After a few more minutes riding our horses in silence, as usual, I head once again a howl coming from a deeper area in the forest. It didn't seem to be close enough to be considered a problem, but we've been hearing the for a while now and it was really starting to worry me, even if I didn't want to admit it. Fortunally, now that Deadrin knew about my Soul Eye, I didn't have to think twice before using it and so I did. As we kept going towards our destination I kept scanning the area, but nothing worth noticing showed up "I don't know about you, but these howls are really starting to bother me... its almost like... they are following us...? Hmmm" I said while still focusing on looking around the area "What do you think?"

I listened to my companion's comment and nodded slightly once he was done talking. It sure was a good think that both Deadrin and I were so calm about most things, specially each other's opinions, despite the fact that we didn't agree on everything, then again, this is to be expected, no one can have the exact same point of view on every single thing. I also took note when he mentioned the 'storm of emotions'. That is certainly something I can relate with. *Well would you look at that. Seems like you two a more alike than expected huh?* said Odium in slightly sarcastic way *Yeah, I was thinking about that myself* I replied while checking on my seddlebag to make sure I wasn't missing anything. When I was certain that everything was in place, I climbed over Lucky's back again, right before Deadrin approach me give me my breakfast "Thanks" I simply replied as I picked the pieces of dry meat from his hand and began to eat while waiting for my companion to ride Deagrin again so we could continue our quest. Soon, we were once again making our way towards our destination. After a few moments riding in silence like we usually do, Deadrin turned his attention to me and asked about the powers that I used not long ago. "Well, I uh... hmm, how can I explain...?" I said as I placed my right hand on my chin and closed my eyes, thinking about what to say next *So, what do you think? will you tell him about your powers?* *Well, I do thrust him, and he already saw me using them anyway, so...* I opened my eyes again and turned my gaze to Deadrin "I... honestly don't know how to explain that to you" I said chuckling a bit and rubbing the back of my head with my right hand "I sort of discovered them by accident a couple of years back and I don't know exactly how they work but..." I took my hand away from my head and grabbed Lucky's reins again with it "You might have heard me shout it during my fight against the troll, but I call them Hell's Chain..." I created a single small portal between both horses and made a single chain with a blade on the tip came out just enough so Deadrin could see it clearly "...I don't know how or why it happened, but they are bound to my very soul, hence why I can control them. I can make them in different sizes and fire them like projectiles if I want. You would be surprised by how versatile they can be, even though it took me a few years to learn how to control them properly and... well, while I can use them using only my mind, voice commands help me use them more efficiently, specially under tense circumstances." With a single mental command I made the chain dissipate "I actually used them to hunt the bunny we ate for dinner yesterday" I chuckled a bit "And as for my eye... well... you actually got it right. I might not know anything about Soul Seers, but that is exactly what my Soul Eye does. It allows me to see the soul of every living being within a certain distance from me" I decided not to tell Deadrin about how I could read a person's soul to tell their emotional state and if they were telling the truth or lying, since that would likely make things tense between us again, and I didn't want that. While I was feeling a bit bad for talking so much, since that wasn't something I would normally do, I also decided to take the opportunity that we were talking about that subject to as Deadrin about his eyes as well. I waited a few moments, so my companion could process everything and/or ask any other questions that he might have. A little later I took a deep breath and made my move "So uhm... you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want but... your eyes are special too aren't they? Back when we were uh... 'arguing', I could swear I saw them turn black for a few moments" I said in my usual calm tone, making extra sure to don't sound like I was accusing him or demanding anything.

I smiled and nodded slightly at Deadrin's response. "Alright, we think more about it after we get back yeah?" I was actually happy to hear my companion accepting my challenge, not only because I was curious about his power, but also because it would be my best chance to get more evidence that he is in fact not human, after all, no human would be able to keep up with for long, mainly due to my superhuman speed, strength, stamina and resistance, not to mention all my weapons training and years of experience fighting both people and monsters. Plus it is a lot easier for me to 'read' a person while in combat. "Looking forward to it" I simply replied with a small smile "I think it will also be nice to be able to cook without having to worry with monsters showing up and wanting us for dinner huh?" I said playfully. Truth to be told, I was a lot calmer already and that was pretty easy to notice, even without my Soul Eye, I could tell that the same was true for Deadrin. That little misunderstanding between us wasn't exactly fun, but we could surely understand each other a bit better now, as ironic as that might be. I paid close attention to Deadrin's explanation. Getting too excited while fighting enemies and even enjoy to make them suffer was certainly something I could relate with, but by the time he was done talking I had more questions than before. A elder race of living beings that lived here even before humans? Bill of Universal Rights? And more importantly, he had been with them before? I was suspicious about that specific part, not because I didn't believe in Deadrin, but because I began to wonder how did he meet them in the first place. That was however, something I could worry about later. "I... see..." I said, clearly confused. "Look, I think we should get back on track, we still have to find that mineral right?" I calmly turned to Lucky and walked in her direction, she was surprisingly calm, considering everything that happened. I gave her a few pats on the neck before letting out a soft sigh and speaking again, without turning back to Deadrin, since it would be easier for me say the next sentence that way "Look, I see where that logic of yours points to and I do agree with it to some extent, but I still think it is better to cut the roots of the problem when possible, if you know what I mean. And uh... you probably noticed, but rage is something that is particularly hard for me to keep under control... for reasons that I prefer to not talk about right now..." I turned my face in your direction slightly "I just... thought I should tell you that"

Just as I expected, Deadrin's soul did not show any sigh of unusual agitation during or conversation, he kept his self controll and that made happy, since I didn't really want to fight him, that said I did feel a little underestimated when said that he would probably break my neck in single punch, I mean came on man, I literally killed a enormous troll just a few minutes ago. While I knew that challenging him to a fight wouldn't do us any good it was still tempting after that blow against my warrior pride that probably went by unoticed by him. "Heh, that sounded like a challenge, if you ever want to try it out let me know" I said chuckling playfully "But I should also warn you that I am not as fragile as you may think due to my... let's say, not really muscly appearence" at that point I was mainly trying to improve our moods, I simply felt like I should at least try even though that wasn't my strong suit. It would take me a lot of time to process everything that Deadrin had just told me, it was almost the exact opposite of the way I thought, worst of all, he had som pretty damn good points there, even though I would never admit it in front of him. Despite not agreeing wit him at had to at the very least recognize and respect his point of view. One thing cought my attention however: the way he was talking. He was refering to humans as if he himself wasn't one of them and it was tempting to ask if he was in fact something different, but I decided against. I also noticed that he actually called me 'my friend', but I couldn't really tell if he actually meant that, time will tell I guess... I deactivated my Soul Eye since I didn't think it was necessary to keep my guard up anymore. "Heh, tempting, but I don't really the point in getting a medal. How about you cook for us again when the time comes? you are pretty good at it you know." I sighed a bit, thinking on what I should say next, I felt like my mind was going to explode from trying to process all that conversation, hell I don't even like talking this much with people. "Look, I know that there are a few friendly monster out there. I even met a friendly harpy once, but these monsters are rational and troll aren't, giving me no reason to belive that the child was going to be any different, plus... what makes you think that way? was it like... a specific event in your life or something of the sort?"

Deadrin's reaction was... surprising to say the very least. I had literally just killed a enormous troll and her child to protect us, but instead of a 'hey, nice job handling that problem' or something like that he simply got angry at me, and I had noticed that for a few brief moments his eyes had turned dark before returning to their normal color, solidifying my theory about him not being human. I didn't have much time to think about it however, because Deadrin was clearly not happy whit the fact that I had killed a child despite the fact that it was a monster child, not a human one. Seeing my companion's reaction made me feel a lot of things at the same time... confusion, sadness, but mostly, rage. Once again I found myself fighting to keep all that burning wrath to myself, after all, even if Deadrin and I were desagreeing with each other at the moment I didn't want to fight and/or hurt him. However, while I was capable of keeping my body to act as my feeling were telling me to, my mind was a whole different story, and even though the man was probably not even listening to what I was saying, I couldn't help but to talk back at him "Murder of a monster child in case you don't know the difference" the anger and revolt in my voice were clear as a crystal "What the fuck do wanted me to do? Bring the creature home? Call it Steve, put a damn collar on it's neck and rise it like a goddamn puppy? Eh mister 'child protector'?!" I was also beginning to huff at that point, I felt like my blood was beginning to boil under my skin when Deadrin left and told me to not run from him "Oh don't worry, I have no intention of running from you, trust me". Once he had dissapeared inside the woods I focused on how to let all that anger out without hurting any of the horses. After a few brief moments looking around I walked towards a considerably big tree that was near our camp and at the same time at a safe distance from our horses and items , stopping when I just a feet away from it. Once there, I allowed all the anger to flow through me, in mere instants it took over both my body and mind as I shouted angrily "AAAAARRGGHH!!!" I punched the tree in front of me with so much power that the sheer force broke the trunk completely and caused the tree to fall down, thankfully in the opposite direction of the camp. What I noticed only after I had taken a few breaths to calm down was that trunk was also slightly burned on the area of impact, apparently I was so mad at the moment that my arm momentarily merged with Odium and manifested the Wrathful Flames before the impact, not enought to set it ablaze, bit it still burned. After I had calmed down a bit I took a few steps away from the now destroyed tree to have a look at the damage *Well... shit* I tought to myself before I turned back to the camp area, noticing that the trunk that I had stopped with my Hell's Chain was still in the air, with a quick mental comand the chanis dissipated and the enormous object fell to the ground just a few feet away from the fire pit. As I took a seat near it I heard a snort coming Deagin, it was as if he was trying to tell me something, but at that moment I couldn't care less, I turned to him with a calmer yet still pretty angry look "Hey, mind your own business iron shoes" my voice tone was more serious than angry at that point. I then turned my head back to the direction that Deadrin had walked to and activated my Soul Eye, this time I was not giving a damn if he would notice or not, I just wanted to know when he was approaching. I also pulled the hoody from my jacket over my head, hiding my eyes and nose under it's shadow, apart from the slight glow from right eye due my active power. I already knew what I was going to tell him: the truth. I was going to explain my actions, despite how much I hated doing so, and would wait or his reaction. If he understands that it was necessary, good, if not... well, I really wanted him to understand. By the time the man came back I was patiently waiting for him, I probably looking a little scary or manecing at that state and the giant broken tree nearby probably wasn't going to help me much, but there was nothing to be done about it now, other than talk to him that is. "So, I take you maneged to cool down that pretty little head of yours huh?" I began before Deadrin could have said anything, my voice was a bit cold and calm, bit really firm and serious at the same time "As you can see, so did I, even though my methods were a bit more... well..." I pointed at the burned tree, as a sign that I meant business "But thats not important right now" I got up and walked towards Deadrin, stopping when we were about 1 meter away from each other, looking him straight in the eyes and paying attention to his soul as well, if it gets too agitated then it would be a signal that things were about to get ugly "If you are specting me to apologize you'll be really dissapointed. I will however, explain to you why I killed the troll child." I took a deep breath and then began to speak with considerably softer voice "You see, while trolls are by no means intelligent, they are also not completely irrational. Their actions are based around two things:" I lifted a hand and two fingers, one for each thing "Instict and emotion" I said putting down one finger for each thing named and then putting down my hand as well once they both had been mentioned "Was that troll afraid of me when I killed it? yes, but if I hadn't killed it, that fear would inevitably transform into anger, which would later became a never ending thirst for revenge on humans. I there aren't many trolls like that because there are not many humans capable of actually killing one, but the ones that do became like that begin to actively hunt down and kill people for fun and revenge. Sure, if a monster like that tryed to attack Selil it would likely be stopped, but how many people would have to die before that huh?" my voice was a lot calmer now, it was possible to note a certain sadness behind it I sighed and pulled of my hoody, showing my face once again "Now, if even after hearing that, you think I did the wrong thing..." I turned my face slightly to the side, exposing my cheeck and pointing at it with my finger "Go on then, hit me with your best punch"