Zeke road the Archmages Soul without a clear path, contemplating the most probable location of the Slave contracts. As with any Archmage, the man's Soul had assud a humanoid form, and the contracts had to be stored sowhere within.
Was there any further significance to the shape?
Zeke couldnt help but wonder if the vital spots of the human body corresponded to significant areas for the Soul. Of course, there wouldnt be an anatomical necessity for it, but he thought it possible nonetheless. After all, one's beliefs shaped the Soul in various ways.
Zeke wouldnt be surprised to learn that the head was made of mories revolving around strategy and planning. Even if he was wrong, it was as good a place to start as any. Following this line of thinking, where would sobody keep a prisoner?
The heart? The brain? The ribs?Well, they certainly looked like prison bars.
With a clear destination in mind, Zeke moved. He started with the head and continued to the heart without encountering anything like what he was looking for. From there, he made his way to the ribs and continued into the stomach. Despite the lack of tangible results in his search, the endeavor wasn't without rit. His ability to move within this realm of the Soul improved, and doing so granted him continuous insights into the intricate workings of a Soul.
One such lesson was to avoid the core of the Soul unless absolutely essential. While he navigated the outer layers with ease, his progress encountered significant impedints as he neared the core. Most importantly, his movent slowed to a crawl because he needed to proceed with extre caution.
Zeke abandoned his strategy after inspecting all the vital organs. Either his theory had been wrong, or the Archmage didnt value the Slaves enough to hold them in a special place. From what Zeke had seen of the mans mories, he believed that the second option was likely.
With a sigh, he began to wander aimlessly, circling the body without a clear destination in mind. Instead of searching directly, he focused on his senses, trying to detect the faint presence of different Souls. Even though they were only tiny pieces, there had to be hundreds of them. Sothing of this scale wasnt easily hidden from his senses.
In his Soul form, he didnt have eyes and couldnt actually see. Rather, he was instinctively able to perceive an area in a small radius around him. If he had to describe the sensation, Zeke would say it was a very precise sense of hearing in a world where everything emitted a sound just by existing. It was an imperfect analogy but the closest Zeke could think of.
He circled the legs and arms, the neck, and finally, the torso. It was here that he finally discovered sothing. While hovering near the spinal column, he was struck by a feeling of incongruousness. It was faint at first, but the more he focused on it, the stronger the sensation grew.
He ca to a halt, sensing the environnt attentively. This was it. There were strange growths along the spine. They almost appeared like cancerous tumors, but he picked up the alien presence of a foreign Soul from within each one of them.
Contrary to what Zeke had expected, the Soul Contract hadnt manifested in the shape of a leash. Instead, tiny sparks of the foreign Souls were trapped here, like imprisoned children yearning for their hos.
This this was not what he had expected, and the implications were horrifying.
If his guess was right, then a Soul fragnt could stay connected to the Soul it originated from. As proven by the Slave Contract, this connection could then be used to influence the main Soul if certain conditions were t even to destroy it.
Zeke remained frozen in place, contemplating what he had just learned. However, he soon had to stop this train of thought as his emotions grew turbulent. This wasnt the ti. He would be discovered in monts if he lost control here. To get his mind back on track, Zeke forced himself to focus on his main objective.
Traveling along the spine, Zeke examined all the fragnts. He sohow felt like he was back in his hotown, wandering the endless fields of Feldstadt, inspecting crops. It was a strange, weirdly reminiscent activity for him.
He had expected it to be difficult to differentiate the fragnts from one another, but it wasnt. They each gave off a very distinctsll, maybe? Or perhaps a taste? It was hard to describe, yet just as nobody would mistake a lemon for a potato, Zeke could easily tell the Souls apart. He wandered the fields, checking each spark until he finally found what he was looking for. He ca to a halt in front of a tiny mound.
From within, Zeke sensed a presence that was both foreign and familiar at the sa ti. He was absolutely certain that he had never felt, tasted, slled, or otherwise co across this sensation before. Yet, he also knew with absolute certainty that this was Soria.
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What a weird phenonon. It was almost as if Souls could recognize each other instinctively. Was this how slaves recognized their Master?
Zeke remained motionless, thinking about his next course of action. Now that he had actually managed to find her Soul fragnt. what should he do?
During his search, Zeke had closely inspected this setup, attempting to discern its operational chanism. From what he could tell, there werent any complex regulatory functions at work. Presumably, the Soul fragnts confined within would be left without shelter upon the Master's death. Unable to subsist without a body, they perished. This, in turn, must sohow activate a self-destruct chanism within the Slaves.
This was rather good news, as such a crude system was relatively easy to fool. However, the discovery left Zeke torn, unsure as to how to feel. On the one hand, this ant that he would most likely be able to save so of the slaves by sheltering them within his own Soul when the Archmage died. On the other hand
Zeke rembered the endless fields. How many were there? It wasnt only hundreds, was it? For once, he was glad that Akasha wasnt with him; otherwise, she might have told him the exact number. But even without her, he was certain that it had to be at least a thousand.
A Thousand Souls.
And he could save how many? A handful? Sohow, this made him feel a lot worse. In his mind, their deaths had transford from a necessary sacrifice to sothing else. Their deaths were no longer inevitable but would only occur because he wasnt strong or fast enough to save them. Even if the end result beca a bit better, his perception had changed for the worse.
No. Zeke shook off those distracting thoughts and refocused his mind.
Now that he had found the fragnt, he was certain he would be able to infiltrate Sorias Soul. However, he hesitated. Was this really the best way to go about this?
His original plan had been to infiltrate her Soul and consu her mories. Afterward, he was going to send her back to fight it out with the other Slaves.
It wasnt a great plan by any ans.
For one, she could rediscover his location using the sa thod she had used the first ti. Also, he felt rather guilty about sending her back now that he had gotten to know her. Even so, the plan had been his best option. But what about now? Now that Zeke knew how primitive the Slave contract was, he had another option.
The main reason he needed to destroy Sorias mories and send her away was because he couldnt trust her. As a Slave contracted to another Master, she couldnt keep his secrets, even if she wanted to. However, what if she wasnt contracted to another Master anymore?
Zekes attention returned to the fragnt buried in front of him. If his guess was right, her contract with the Archmage would end the mont he removed this fragnt. After all, this was the sa procedure that made the transfer Ritual possible. Afterward, all he needed to do was keep the Soul fragnt from dispersing while he retrieved it.
This course of action could lead to the best possible outco. However, it wasnt without risks. For one, he could not afford to be discovered. If he lost his tether while carrying Sorias Soul fragnt, she would die. Also, he couldnt yet be sure if he was even capable of doing it.
Even so, Zeke wanted to try. He couldnt let the fear of failure deter him at this critical juncture. Also, if he didnt dare to do anything, the girl was as good as dead. With a new sense of determination, Zeke got to work.
The first step was to envelop the Soul fragnt in a protective layer. It was of utmost importance that he kept it from dispersing after excavating it. His movents were slow but deliberate. He would not rush this, no matter how long it took. Sorias life depended on him.
After what felt like an eternity, Zeke finally managed to extract the Soul fragnt. With a tired sigh, he inspected his work. The end of his Soul tether had ford sothing that looked like a cacoon, fully encircling the tiny fragnt. This reminded him of the first ti he had practiced his [Teleportation], trying to form a shroud around his body.
Zeke smiled. He had actually managed it. Even though he still needed to escape this place, the most critical part was now behind him. All that remained was to leave without being detected. Still, Zeke didnt dare drop his focus for even a mont. It would be a real tragedy if he were discovered at the very last mont.
As it turned out, traversing the Soul with baggage was many tis harder than expected. His speed could not even be called a crawl. Often, Zeke was forced to take two steps back only to take a single one forward. Even so, he remained undeterred as he made his way back.
By the ti he left the Archmages Soul, a sense of profound tiredness assaulted him. Zeke couldnt tell how much ti had actually passed, but it felt like days. This was not a level of focus a human being should retain for such a long ti. Nonetheless, it had all been worth it.
Focusing on the bead at the end of his tether, Zekes tired mind rejoiced. He had done it! He had managed to liberate Soria from her contract with the Archmage! Now, all he needed to do was to store her Soul fragnt into his own
All of a sudden, his thoughts cut off.
Wait a mont. Was that really the best course of action? Should he really store her fragnt in his own Soul? As a result of that, she would beco his Slave. However, wouldnt it be better if he returned the Soul fragnt to her instead? After all, she had been tricked and had never agreed to beco his Slave. Hers was different from Ash's situation, who had willingly agreed to join the Lions Den in order to beco stronger.
On top of that, Zeke was incredibly curious to learn what would happen if a Slave regained control of their Soul fragnt. Would their contract disappear? Would they beco their own Master? There were so many potential outcos that it was impossible for Zeke to know for sure. However, he was eager to find out. With his mind made up, Zeke changed course. Instead of returning to his own Soul, he approached Soria.
Just as he was considering ways to return the fragnt, sothing magical happened. The unassailable fortress that was her Soul opened up. Or was it more accurate to say that it ca to greet him? It seed as if her Soul instinctively sensed the presence of the fragnt within his tether and eagerly awaited its return.
Under normal circumstances, Zeke would have been excited to study this phenonon. Now, however, he was too tired to do anything of the sort. Instead, he opened up the end of his tether and released the fragnt inside Sorias Soul.
This was the last thing he rembered before everything turned to black.
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