"Xutrin, do you know this na?"
Rean pondered a bit and nodded. Right after, he waved his hand, and Rifindio appeared. "He does."
"Eh?" Rifindio had just just not long ago, so he didn't know why he was called back. Of course, he soon noticed Foliana and the others there. "Oh! They are back. But... what do I know?"
"Xutrin," Rean spoke. "You have dealt with him, right? I only know his position in the Inquisition Hall, but nothing else."
Rifindio was a little lost in the conversation, but he confird nonetheless. "Well, obviously. Xutrin was one of the two vice-leaders of the Inquisition Hall four hundred years ago. At the sa ti, he was the head of the Formations Master Branch in the Inquisition Hall. When it ca to the main formations of the Inquisition Hall around the planet, he was usually involved with them. He also helped set that formation I used to trap you back then."
Rifindio then looked at Rean. "In any case, you know what happened. He was swallowed by that black hole and died with the Inquisition Hall's Leader of that ti and the other vice- leader. You were there, so you probably rember him."
"So... Xutrin died, uh?" Marev couldn't help but sigh. "No wonder he hasn't visited even once in the last four hundred years. My mind wasn't in a good state, and the constant anger only made think he had given up talking to ."
Marev quickly shook his head, putting those feelings away. "Since you know Xutrin, it makes things faster. I was one of the subordinates working with Xutrin back then, and I had quite a high position in the new project he was working on. It was a set of formations capable of transferring Spiritual Energy between planets. It was sothing crazy and of unprecedented scale for a planet like ours."
"Since I was under his direct command and my loyalty was unshakable due to the worm, I didn't question anything. He also told that the idea was to use it to balance the Spiritual Energy of the planets in our Solar System, nothing else."
"However, I'm not an idiot. The more I helped, the more suspicious I beca. But since Xutrin occupied a higher position in the Hall, my loyalty to the Hall made it impossible to question anything. I just worked and helped nonstop."
"At so point, I finally figured out the true use of that research. It was improved to the point where not only could it receive Spiritual Energy from other planets, but it could also rob all living beings of their Spiritual Energy and Life Forces. For the first ti, I wondered if that was truly for the sake of the Werdlem Empire and the Solar System."
"Yet, another feeling appeared in my mind, a feeling I hadn't felt for a long, long ti. I was afraid. Not because of , but my brother instead. I still thought of myself as nothing but collateral damage since I was working for the Werdlem Empire. In any case, I knew my brother lived on the sa planet, and the idea of this formation killing him kept growing in my head." Marev turned to Rean again. "Finally, one day, I felt like sothing clicked in my soul. You said that the Werdlem Soul Worm was damaged sohow, right? That it might have been my strong emotions. From what I experienced, I think you were right. I just couldn't accept the idea of letting my brother die."
"Once that click happened, a little bit, just a little bit of my own real mind seed to get free. However, the worm still held my soul tight, so I couldn't really go against it. So, I didn't do anything. Instead, I ca up with an excuse that my own loyal-to-the-Werdlem-Empire mind going to et my brother."
Rean and the others rember that part of the story. Karev ntioned that his brother seed completely fine until he asked to have a private conversation. Only at that point, he seed to have 'awakened.'
"When Karev and I got alone, I used that little bit of free will I had to fight against whatever was inside my mind. Of course, back then, I had no idea it was the Werdlem Soul Worm. I just knew that sothing was there, and I had to suppress it to the best of my abilities. I used all my strength and emotions and isolated that thing in my mind for a short mont. Finally, I told Karev to flee the planet."
"After that, the worm got free again, and my loyalty to the Werdlem Empire returned to normal. The good thing was that I was able to hide my conversation with Karev. But... once I returned to the Inquisition Hall, the thing in my mind seed to have got sowhat different. It couldn't keep my mind under perfect control as before."
"At so point, I started to feel angry, and then angrier and angrier. The Worm couldn't control anymore, and my hate for the Werdlem Empire began to swell. Yet, the anger also made it impossible to hide my true feelings, and the Hall, especially Xutrin, noticed that sothing went wrong with the Worm. It's just that I still didn't know about the worm back then."
"They locked , sealed my cultivation, and made several tests on my head. Truth be told, soone like was supposed to have been eliminated. There were so very rare cases where similar occurrences happened. Yet, because of my contribution to the formation and especially our connection to each other, Xutrin made it so I wouldn't be eliminated but kept in confinent instead."
Everyone was surprised that Xutrin, who was from the Divine Realm, would care about a cultivator of the Mortal World. Regardless, it was also thanks to this that Marey was alive.
"Well, the rest of the story you know already," Maved moved to the conclusion of his tale. "There I stayed until Karev and the others finally broke into the Detention Center and got out."
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