[You have destroyed a transcended echo.]
[You have slain a dormant beast.]
'Here it comes..'
Killing humans who had absorbed plenty of soul shards gave much more soul fragments than a usual nightmare creature would. And in this case, Gunlaug had absorbed much more soul shards than any person in this room.
[Your soul is overflowing with power...]
It was time to be a literal Devil..
I felt the same sensation I felt when I formed my other cores. The familiar heat igniting deep within my soul, growing stronger and stronger with each breath.
The hall was in chaos currently, and I would not be in a condition to protect myself when the pain started taking over me. I would be totally defenseless.
Or at least that was what I thought. In the corner of my eye, I saw Shashi and Sunny rushing towards me as I clutched my chest.
Shashi had formed her bloodred katana, with a graceful swing of her blade she cut a sleepers head clean off without meeting any resistance. The blood daggers that hovered above her flew at different sleepers, either injuring them or killing them on spot.
Soon they reached where I was, I was already on my knees and clutching my chest tightly. Sunny gave me a nod and immediately ran off whilst Shashi stayed by my side, her katana ready to strike.
"Great job, you looked sick." She looked at me with a smirk. "Sick as in literally with all those sickly veins."
I was going to answer but a message interrupted my thoughts.
[Your soul is taking shape..]
A blinding pain exploded in my chest. I gritted my teeth and remained silent, refusing to let out a shriek, a wail, or even a growl. This was not my first time experiencing this pain.. even though, this time, it was far more intense.
A human soul was not meant to contain many cores…
The pain grew stronger, and stronger, and then stronger still. Just like before, I felt as though my soul was being torn apart, something rising from its depths and cutting my very being with its sharp edges. However, I was used to this torment. I accepted it, allowed myself to dissipate into it, and endured.
[...Your soul is complete.]
I let out a sigh, finally free from the pain. I concentrated on the runes.
The familiar symbols shimmered in the air in front of me:
Name: Levi.
True Name: No Return.
Rank: Dreamer.
Class: Devil.
Soul Cores: [4/7]
Soul Fragments: [0/4000]
I let out a tired but satisfied smile. The bastard lord had given me thousand or so soul fragments. I got up to my foot, Shashi was looking at me with a slightly worried expression. However she masked it when I got up.
"So, which core?"
My eyes suddenly widened as I stared at her in shock. How did she know I could form cores? I had told her most of my secrets however I never shared that I had a divine aspect.
"Oh come on, don't act so surprised. I am on third core."
"You.." I sighed, forcing myself to calm down. It would make sense, her aspect was pretty powerful and versatile. It would make sense.
"Fourth." I said with a smug expression. "I have got you beat."
"Don't act so cocky, I will catch up to you in no time." She said as a few blood orbs hovered over to me and sticked to my open wounds to close them. "Are you able to continue fighting?"
I nodded. With that we turned our gazes to the chaos of the hall, and joined it ourselves.
***
In the end, almost two hundred people perished on that day. Despite all that death, the battle ended in a bitter draw.
And the main reason for this were only four people: Nephis, Shashi, Tessai, and Gemma.
Unfortunately I couldn't participate much in the fight due to the other faction continuously sending their men as fodder to keep me at bay. I had perhaps killed more then fifty of people that day.
No matter how powerful and skilled the rest of the Sleepers participating in the battle were, no one stood a chance in a fight against either one of these four. Not even Caster, who by then many had believed to be one of the strongest fighters in all of Dark City due to his incredible skill, powerful Aspect, and noble background.
When the proud Legacy clashed against the leader of the Hunters, his enchanted jian quickly found its way into Gemma's heart. However, to everyone's horror, the tall man did not even blink after receiving the mortal wound. And just a few short moments later, it magically closed, not leaving even a scar behind.
No matter how many times Caster had cut or pierced the body of the fearsome Hunter, Gemma's flesh simply restored itself. It was as though the proud Legacy was cutting water.
Gemma's Aspect Ability made him nearly immortal, while his incredible skill, cunning, and might made him a herald of death.
Tessai was equally as formidable. His powerful Aspect Ability was tied to cold and ice. It allowed him to both make his skin hard as stone and debilitate his enemies, turning their movements slow and stiff. What was worse, it countered Neph's flames to a large degree.
Eventually, when the death toll became too large, all three gave their followers a command to retreat.
By the end of the day, the new Lord of the Bright Castle was still not decided. The castle itself became divided between three warring factions, led by the three contenders to the throne.
The largest and strongest faction, one with the most fighters and most Memories to arm them, was formed by the alliance between Tessai and the leader of Handmaidens, Seishan. Together, the Guards and the Handmaidens became a force that the other two factions could not challenge openly. They held the northern and western parts of the Castle, where most of the strategic and easily defendable areas of it were situated.
The second faction was led by Gemma and Kido, the chief Artisan. While the two of them had fewer fighters than both other factions, each of these fighters was worth a dozen. They were the Hunters, the most experienced and formidable Sleepers in all of the Dark City. Although the territory this faction held was not large, it was of utmost importance, since they controlled the only reliable source of food and water in the Bright Castle.
The last faction belonged to Nephis alone. She controlled the southern part of the Castle, where its main gate was situated, as well as the outer settlement, to where many of the previous inhabitants of the ancient citadel had fled in hope of finding shelter.
Well I was naturally there even if I did not want to be under her. Even if she had done what she promised, I still held animosity towards her. Forgiving her was not one of my plans any soon.
With Gunlaug gone, all order disappeared. No one went on hunts to bring back food, no one manned the walls to drive the Nightmare Creatures away, no one was there to stop the crime and violence that blossomed in darkness off anarchy.
And things weren't going to change until a new Lord usurped the white throne.
The bloody struggle for the crown had begun.
***
In the next couple of weeks, the Bright Castle had become a strange place.
Inside its magnificent halls, barricades were built and three makeshift fortresses appeared, each faction holding a specific territory. Beyond these protected areas, there was no man's land. Going outside of a faction's stronghold was often tantamount to death.
No one knew what they would encounter there. Corpses littered the floor, with an occasional marauder hiding in the darkness. With no more law, tyrannical as it had been, many people gave in to their darkest impulses. But these wretches were the least of the dangers that now populated the Castle.
A much worse fate was to stumble onto a patrol or a war party of another faction. The Guards especially were quick to slaughter anyone they met, sometimes in gruesome and inventive ways. The Hunters and the followers of Changing Star were equally as ruthless, but at least not without reason or provocation.
But the most terrifying change was that now, humans weren't the only ones populating the ancient citadel anymore.
After Gunlaug's death, too many people were killed, and the rest were too busy with their little war to keep defending the Castle. And just like that, after so many years, the Nightmare Creatures had returned under its roof.
Some were killed by the representatives of the factions, but some managed to hide themselves and create nests somewhere in the depths of the stronghold. No one knew how many there were, but the terror kept people awake at night.
There were also a lot of rumors going around, one more frightening than the other. The most persistent of them told of a horrible creature called Blood Lord, which apparently stalked the corridors of the Bright Castle and killed humans, tearing their throats open with sharp fangs and consuming all of their blood. Some even thought that it was Gunalug himself, who returned from the grave to bring vengeance to his killers. And some people even suspected that it was Shashi, but her flaw was not as dangerous as that to lead into her consuming all the blood from a body.
Which was impossible because I had turned his body to literal dust. There was no way that dude was going to resurrect himself out of dust.
Apart from the frequent but minor skirmishes between the factions, people kept dying in all manner of morbid ways. There was no safe place anywhere now, except for maybe the three strongholds.
The outer settlement had been completely abandoned. At first, Nephis had tried to create a safe haven there for those who did not wish to participate in the war, but she was quickly taught a bloody lesson by her enemies — spreading her forces too thin was simply an invitation for an attack. After that, all of her followers, willing or unwilling, had relocated to the southern part of the Castle and joined the ranks of her fighting force.
I did not expect anything more foolish than her. Who would try to create a safe haven in the middle of a war? She was still trying to play the angel even though she knew she was going to lead everyone to their deaths.
***
It was night time, I was currently moving through the dark streets. Moving deeper and deeper into the belly of the ancient citadel. The Bright Castle was enormous in size and had countless twisting corridors. Some were comparatively easy to navigate, while some followed no apparent logic. There were tall towers connected by aerial bridges and deep dungeons full of darkness and danger.
There were humans with murder in their hearts prowling these corridors, as well as much more terrifying things. Due to being able to sense killing intent more potently I could tell where they were coming from. But I was not out to save anyone, I wanted to see who this blood lord was, which I had a rough estimate.
I entered a peculiar street and walked into the shadows where I could not be seen. I had been analyzing the guard pathways and protecting points. Usually there would be two guards passing by this place. They were running a bit late though.
I had summoned my dark robes around me to keep my mind calm, just in case the blood lord could sense emotions.
After some waiting, someone finally showed up. One of the guards were running towards where I stood with a panicked expression on his face. He has a deep gash on his shoulder, and I could clearly sense a deep killing intent directed at the man.
As the guard was going to pass by me, the silhouette of the Blood Lord was finally seen by me when I focused the augmentation to grant myself night vision. I immediately lunged towards the guard from the shadows and grabbed a hold of his head. His body immediately started disintegrating and turning lifeless immediately.
[You have slain a dormant beast.]
The body broke down in pieces, what a gruesome sight I thought. I turned my attention to the chaser, just as I had figured out. The person was a familiar.
"Greetings, blood lord. Your name was Seishan, am I right? Should I introduce myself?" I gave her a smile, which had a mocking quality to it.
Seishan is a strikingly and exquisitely beautiful woman. Her most striking feature, however, was not her grace and not her beauty, but her skin. It was grey like stormy clouds, smooth like silk, and devoid of any imperfections. Her teeth were perfectly even, pearly, and spotlessly white.
Just like Nephis, she was one of those whose appearance had been changed by their Aspect. But in her case, that change was far more pronounced. It gave her an exotic and tantalizing, but outwardly inhuman look. Her beauty was of the kind that put both longing and fear in a person's heart.
"You are the ghost of Nephis's cohort. Everyone knows who you are, everyone is afraid of you."
Her tone was stoic and cold. Even though she told me that everyone feared me, I did not sense any fear emanating from her.
"Also, thank you for ruining my meal." Her tone came off rather cold.
"You are welcome. I would advise that you be more careful from now on. I do not specialize in stealth but I was still able to locate you."
The woman did not reply to me as she turned to leave, I could tell she was rather agitated. I was not here to kill her ,rather I was only here to satisfy my curiosity. With that out of the way I was ready to leave to our stronghold.