Arriving at the scene, Shiro was greeted with the image of Silvia holding a bloodied figure up by the back of their neck.
The 37 healers and alchemists stared at her in a mixture of shock, awe and just overall disbelief that someone so calm and happy would turn into a berserker the moment combat started.
“I… Should I ask what happened?” Shiro raised her eyebrow as Silvia glanced over.
“Just found someone trying to ambush me while I was thinking about what happened. I’ve already given him some treatment but he’s going to be paralysed.” Silvia replied with a sigh.
Throwing the body in front of Shiro, the man laid on the ground with the whites of his eyes showing.
Realising that he must have passed out, Shiro massaged her eyes.
“Did anyone get injured?” She asked as Silvia shook her head.
“Alright, I’ll ask this guy’s soul then. No point waking him up since his soul is dark grey.” Shiro shrugged as she drank a potion before closing her eyes.
Suddenly, black mist gathered around the corners of the city as it merged into a black dress for Shiro.
Opening her eyes, she was about to drag the man’s soul out when she widened her eyes and took a step back out of shock.
“What the…” Shiro muttered in disbelief.
“What happened?” Nan Tian asked as he immediately understood that this was abnormal.
Without saying anything else, Shiro snapped her finger as black mist wrapped around everyone here. A green glow appeared on their eyes as they could now see souls like her.
The moment they did, they all understood why Shiro was in complete disbelief.
Floating in the sky, were the shattered souls of the past residents. Each of them had a face of complete agony as there wasn’t a single intact soul. Even with her power, she would not be able to resurrect them properly without the person becoming a puppet.
The sheer density of the souls blocked out the sky as no one could take their eyes off them.
“The souls were shattered fairly recently. If not they would have dispersed by now. Judging by their state, I’d say it’s been half a week since they’ve died.” Shiro muttered after a short pause.
“Half a week? Isn’t that when we got the notification for the event?” Nan Tian frowned.
“Mn, seems like someone has already been here. But this seems… weird. Normally, when a person kills someone, their entire soul would disperse. All of this here is a deliberate attack to the soul. Whoever did this targeted their souls specifically.” Shiro narrowed her eyes.
“However, this is what I’m confused about. It’s like when a kid leaves behind food. Someone has targeted specific parts of their soul while leaving the rest behind as garbage. If a Queen had done this, I do have a candidate in mind but I doubt they’d leave behind left overs like this.”
Hearing this, they all fell silent as Shiro eventually shook her head.
“I… I can try to piece together what has happened but to do so, I would be using all of the souls here as fuel. Right now, if we leave them be, there’s still a chance they could reincarnate but it’ll take a while. But if I was to use them as fuel to find out what happened, I’ll be taking them out of reincarnation.” Shiro admitted.
“Let’s think about that later. For now, let’s ask him about what he knows.” Silvia suggested as she gestured towards the man in front of Shiro.
“Mn.” Nodding her head, Shiro summoned a chain into her hands before whipping it towards the unconscious man.
Tugging on the whip, an illusionary figure appeared with chains wrapped around his body.
Without saying anything, Shiro reached out with her spare hand and grabbed his head. A tier 6 magic circle appeared around her wrist as runes spread from her arm to his body.
“Alright, he should be in a state of forced obedience. Silvia, if you have any questions for him yourself you can ask away. Otherwise I’ll be asking some stuff myself.” Shiro said as she glanced towards Silvia.
“I do have a question or two. First, what were you doing here?”
Hearing this question, the man spasmed for a moment before opening his mouth.
“To monitor the trials and send news back the moment more people arrive.”
“Send news back to wh-“
“You might not want to ask that just yet. There’s a binding vow on his soul. The moment he mentions a specific keyword, he’ll self-destruct.” Shiro cut in as Silvia furrowed her brows before nodding.
“Alright. In that case then why are you monitoring the trials? What’s the person’s goal in asking you to monitor the trials?”
“To prevent the discovery of a secondary trial. The initial trial is to pass down knowledge while the secondary trial is a treasure trove. This place has been influenced by a tier 8 being.”
“Why is the secondary trial a treasure trove?” Shiro asked with a frown.
“We don’t know. But we could sense an incredible amount of mana from the secondary trial and there were theories about how the rewards must be incredible.”
“Have you tried to enter the secondary trials?”
“We weren’t able to open it. However, h-“
“I think that’s about enough questioning. My dear subject can’t be spilling too many secrets now can he? He’s already told you about the secondary trials so let’s count that as a freebie. A small meeting gift I suppose.” A voice rang out as Shiro immediately frowned. The voice was heavily distorted so Shiro couldn’t tell who it was.
Before she could say anything, she felt the soul strain as it was about to break apart but she only scoffed before drawing a rune on his chest.
The moment she finished the rune, his soul stabilised.
“On? You used the runes belonging to the realm of gods. That certainly changes things a little. Thankfully, I have more ways than one when it comes to killing my subordinates. I wouldn’t call this a first meeting but it was a pleasure to meet you. I can’t see your title but I certainly sense the aura belonging to an Empress rather than Queen albeit a little… injured. I await your performance in the event to come but don’t worry, I won’t be there. I am merely… a spectator of the events. Farewell. I hope we can do business properly next time rather than extracting information like this.” The voice laughed before disappearing.
Furrowing her brows, Shiro glanced back at the soul in her hands before clicking her tongue.
“The soul’s useless now. It’s been wiped clean,” Shiro frowned. Right now, the soul in her hands was completely white, untainted like a new-born’s soul. If she returned it to the body now, he wouldn’t know any languages nor would he know how to walk.
Clicking her tongue, she removed the runes before allowing the soul to disperse so that it could reincarnate.
Snapping her finger, she disposed of the body with her flames before sighing. Just as she was about to deactivate her true spirit nature, she saw a floating crest that was hiding amongst the dispersing light of the man’s soul.
Seeing the crest, her eyes widened since it was the same raven crest she had seen on the older brother.
‘Was that the god involved with the triplets? The one who gave the nun a second chance. He’s a spectator but unlike other gods he is able to talk without any trouble… Why is he allowed here before the second half?’ Shiro thought to herself as that was probably a projection of his voice.
But the fact that he seemed completely unphased was strange since there should be limitations to a god revealing themselves.
“What should we do now?” Silvia asked as Shiro glanced towards the temple.
“I think we should have a look at what this secondary trial is.” Shiro replied as Silvia nodded his head.
“What about these souls then? It seems like they’re stuck in a stasis of sorts.” Silvia gestured towards the fragmented souls.
Biting her lips, Shiro sighed.
“There’s nothing we can do other than hope that they reincarnate properly I suppose. The most I can do is give them a proper send off rather than keep them around like this.”
Turning around, Shiro drank another mana potion before glancing up as a tier 6 magic circle appeared in the sky. Expanding itself to encompass the entire city, the souls started to disintegrate into motes of light while Shiro gave them a silent prayer.
###
“What a waste. Even if it was left overs it would still be good to use as fuel rather than the reincarnation cycle.” A figure smirked as flames flickered within the room.
Its purple eyes stared at a portal before narrowing with an ominous glint.
“Well, I say this is the perfect time for some bargains. Who knows what I might find this time? Perhaps… in a few days, I might even get my hands on a Queen who suffers defeat.” The figure grinned before stepping through the portal.
