Ran could be said to be at about 10% of his total capacity; which he had originally recovered from devouring the Giant Snakehead. It had taken over 80% of his energy just to make the thing and after a day, it had consumed 10% of his energy plus whatever his soul had recovered throughout the day! In a single day, if he consumed all of his energy, he could also recover most if not all of his energy. But, he was stuck with such a measly amount of energy! "More! More energy! I NEED MORE!!!"
Ripple. His soul fluctuated due his intense emotions, though no one can see it of course. If they could however, they'd definitely be lovestruck! Yes that's right, lovestruck! That's definitely not a typo. Why lovestruck you may ask, lovely readers? It's simple really, I don't know how you guys can read at all. Look I'll explain it real slow so you can understand it alright?
If any of you remember those shimmering lights in the pond that ended up covering Ran and Fluffy, then you'd also know that they just up and disappeared! Well, where did they go then, you're probably asking sarcastically because you could probably guess where I'm going with this. That's right, they infiltrated his soul! The long story is basically that after so many reincarnations, Ollys soul had accumulated so much life force that it overflowed into her immediate surroundings. That's why the plants parted as he walked past them, they were following her will as they were created indirectly by her. Nonetheless, life force being its usual jittery self, it gave birth to life. More specifically a bacterial type lifeform. This bacteria made from life force is in a mutually beneficial relationship with Ran; being that they need a host to provide enough nutrients for them to survive and in return their waste would provide copious amounts of energy to their host. But the point is that they stuck to his soul, as if they were one, and gave off a shimmery light of all colors. It would be akin to looking directly into a milky white-pink galaxy with numerous stars of various colors sparkling about; EXTREMELY CHARMING! Just imagining it gives me a sense of accomplishment towards my imagination-not to toot my own horn of course.
Nonetheless, without Ran, the bacteria would die off, so realizing the crisis, they howled with their nonexistent existent faces as they sparkled with a radiant energy. Suddenly, although he felt extremely hungry, Ran felt his energy gradually rise. Soon, his energy recovered by a good 20%! However, it was quickly being drained by the soul heart construct and he was back to square one. Clearly, it wasn't enough to save him from this crisis.
"S**t. Fluffy, come and help me, and stop shivering over there. I don't bite… much." Fluffy, hearing his tone of voice, knew it was an emergency, though she couldn't help it as she slowly walked towards him with wobbly feet. "Come on, I don't have all day. In fact, you don't either." At this point, he wasn't playing anymore. Sending a cold gaze towards Fluffy, he blatantly threatened her. You know, he really liked this silly and mischievous feline, especially after being stuck together for this period of time; and he genuinely wished to stick with her, but if he died, would any of that happen? No.
Fluffy shivered, but ultimately ran faster to get to him. "Alright, Fluffy, I need you to transmit your juice to me okay?" He had no time for jokes, yet, that sentence sounded wrong on many levels. Fluffy didn't really understand much of what he said as well, but she did understand that he needs energy. Putting her paw on his back, she sent a few threads into his body; being the most she could do right now.
In humans, their soul, and juice, usually don't have any alignment. Meaning they're just plain; with a few exceptions. In beasts, however, they almost always have some kind of alignment or ability. Fluffy, being a black Cheetah was no exception, with hers being of the dark attribute. When one transmits energy into someone else, both powers will tend to enter a struggle, however that didn't happen here. This is because Fluffy herself allowed her energy to surrender to him, allowing for the destruction of her energy to fuel his. Slowly with the addition of both Fluffy and the bacteria (of which is inside her as well), Ran slowly reached an equilibrium with the soul heart-neither losing or gaining energy.
"Just great. Fan-f**king-tastic! Sigh… I have no choice anymore do I?" Yeah, he really doesn't have any choice now. He won't be in an equilibrium for long because as soon as Fluffy runs out of energy, he'll end up being sucked dry. So he has to break it first! How? It's simple really, he just has to strengthen his soul enough to withstand the consumption before Fluffy runs out of juice.
Bringing out 90% of his remaining energy, he made a singular ball of energy the size of a tennis ball. Cough cough. Ran could see his vision slowly darkening as the ball slowly sapped away the last bit of energy left in his body. Having only 1% of your total energy is already enough to knock someone out, but having that taken away as well is equivalent to death and is something that should never happen to someone. After all, forget about the initial construction, just sustaining it has already broken the equilibrium."Fluffy!!!" Having been jolted from the scare, Fluffy hissed as she concentrated more, allowing a couple more threads to surface at a time. She was also reaching her limit for how many threads of energy she could extrapolate. "Meor, meor meor meor!" You better give me fish when this is over or else… her other paw slid across her neck, not that Ran could see it.
Phew, they reached equilibrium again. Doing this is hard stuff you know.
Summoning his sword, he looked at it then focused back at the ball. Suddenly, his headache spiked, but he endured this time. With bloodshot eyes, he continued focusing on the ball until it started shifting. Boom! His headache spiked again and some blood, from God knows where, spewed from his head; soaking his luscious, ginger hair. No! Not the hair! Not… the… hair… please.
But he continued focusing! Thank God this is a fiction story, or else guy would have died of blood loss and internal bleeding by now (yeah let's all just assume he can survive without a heart. What does he think he is, a starfish?)! Soon, the ball started to elongate itself. Crash! Ran lost the feeling in his whole body as he fell from his cross legged position and laid flat on the ground. Aw s**t, he even lost control of his bowel movements! The pain has actually reached that godly level!? Well, Fluffys in for a rough time… oh wait, she's an animal.
Frustrated by his own situation, he focused even harder, but he quickly realized that any more would actually result in dire consequences. But he noticed something else. He could feel it. The rate of strengthening and adaptation has increased dramatically! However, that was when you compare it to itself before he had created the ball. The rate is still way, way, off from being able to break the stasis his energy is in. "This f**king soul heart. If I eat my own heart, is that considered cannibalism? Maybe it would go back to its place if I do?." He was tempted, but ultimately, decided not to. After all, after all this is over, his strength would have progressed to a whole new level!
***
2 Months After The Collapse:
When Ran had first left, Ann was originally worried and didn't want him to go, but she let him in the end; not that she could stop him anyway. However, although she would separate from him sometimes back then, and only for a short period of time, she was almost with him everywhere he went. In fact, after only a week of being "left behind" she decided to spy… I mean check up on him. She was just worried after all, not obsessed. She checked everywhere she could along the base of the nearest mountain, as this was the closest and the most probable place for Ran to be in. Needless to say, she spent an entire week checking the base and didn't find him. At this point she was worried he had continued climbing the mountain because only higher level beings live there. However, in the end, she left depressed with no clues of Rans whereabouts.
After the 2 months were up, she confronted his mentor, Philips Lanx, about him being missing.
"Okay okay, geez, with his power he should have been fine. If another week passes and he doesn't come, then I'll post a mission for it, alright?" Despite having his student missing he didn't seem the least bit fazed. He even yawned! Gosh, what did I do giving him such a fraudulent mentor!? "Hmph." Swaying her shoulder-length hair back, Ann didn't even spare him a second glance and Lanx's eyebrows shot upwards. No one had ever treated him in such a manner before! Especially from an 18 year old girl! Leaving, flames burned in her eyes as she went to Bob in the magician's division courtyard.
Entering the courtyard, she immediately gathered quite the amount of attention.
"Shush, don't look at her, she'll burn you with her eyes." "What's the Rage Queen doing here? Isn't she part of the Researchers division, I can't believe she's here." "Don't call her that! If she hears you, we're all going down." The students in the courtyard were murmuring to each other while shooting gazes filled with fear at her. Clearly, she had grown quite the reputation of being a miss grumpy pants within the Academy. Though all of this could be said to be Rans fault! Who told him to leave her behind!? He should have stayed! These were the thoughts of Ann for the past two months. Everytime she failed in an experiment, she would explode and enter a tantrum the likes the world has never seen. Thus, everyone pretty much avoids her, except Bob of course.
Hearing the commotion, Bob stopped his training of secretly controlling people's emotions and looked towards his back. "Kyaa! Sis-sister, please dont scare me like that! The sun already weakens me enough alright?" Bob, with his stuttering, was dressed in a dark robe that almost completely covered his body, except his piercing eyes were something he couldn't get rid of; also giving him a notable reputation of a delinquent. Without speaking a single word, she grabbed his robe and dragged him to a secluded corner.
"What's the matter? Oh, right, Ran should have come back by now. We should go and meet up with him." Giving a cold stare, Ann's eyes burst aflame from frustration as she clenched her teeth. "He-he's not here… or there. I-I don't know where he is." "Oh… oh! Well, we got to go and find him! Better yet, let's tell his mentor, he should be able to find him." However, after saying those words he immediately regretted them-because the sheer power emanating from Ann choked him. He had angered her with his words! Now this is truly worthy of the title Rage Queen! "That, that, b**ch wouldn't know anything even if a pole was stuck up his a*s!" "Oh-kay. So how do we find him then?" Asked Bob. He was very scared at the moment by the vibes Ann was giving out. He could almost see her aura… thrusting. "Simple. Let's just say I have-special-connections." She reminisced as she held a letter in her hands.
***
"Halt. Who goes there?" A guard was cautiously looking at two suspicious individuals standing in front of him. No one had ever come here to cause trouble before! One of the individuals was practically on fire, while the other was wrapped in a dark robe with a menacing looking gaze.
The fiery one didn't say a word and just passed a letter to the guard. For one second she refused to let go and they entered a struggle for a second before she reluctantly let go. Glancing at the stamp, he suddenly shouted, "By the power of my beard! Dearest apologizes, my beard must have been covering my eyes, right this way."
Clearly, the two individuals were Ann and Bob. They followed the guard through a courtyard and proceeded to enter a palace about twice the size of the palace in the Holy City State. The palace was gold inlaid with blue undertones as it was built out of a smooth stone-like material. After they entered, they swiftly walked towards the throne room, at which point, a fragrant tea smell wafts through the air.
There, a throne, about three times the size of a human, is surrounded by a bunch of servants serving tea to what is presumably the king. They waited patently, though Ann was beside herself as she began fidgeting.
"Hmm. The white-tailed leaf tea is a minty tea that tingles the tongue for approximately 30 seconds. Perfect after a day's workout. This one on the other hand, the tiger's foot leaf tea, is a fiery and spicy tea that instead lingers around the top of mouth for about 20 seconds. Hmm, this is perfect for when I'm talking with those old geezers." After testing over 10 different teas, he finally noticed the trio of misfits.
After shooting away his servants, the guard immediately reported to the king. The king was a middle-aged man and had a relatively fit build. And by that I mean this guy is buff! Like really, really buff. What threw Ann and Bob off the most is that curly mustache. No wonder the city is called the Hair Comb. It was meant to worship this guy's mustache! Instantly, their impression of him dropped a couple of levels; already judging that he is a self centered prick that only dreams about himself at night.
After finding out about the letter, a letter with his stamp on it, the king immediately went into deep thought. He had given out many of these in his life so far and he can't recognize the two standing before him. Furrowing his brow, he spoke, "speak."
Ann and Bob kneeled in front of him while Ann spoke, "yes, your Majesty. My name is Ann and I serve Torian, representative of the Holy City State." After hearing the name Torian, the king immediately burst forth with a radiant smile. Unfortunately that didn't last long either as he remembered a certain set of events happening awhile back. Suddenly, a gloomy atmosphere permeated through the throne room as the king held his head down. Sighing, he looked straight into the eyes of Ann and found a similar, but a much more potent, gloominess in them.
"If he is asking to help him take revenge against the Kesh, I… can't. The powers backing them up surpasses even mine." Not a frown appeared on her face after he said those words. After all, she was here for Ran!
"Sire, rest assured, his Holiness has already arranged something for the Kesh." That was a blatant lie on her part here. She really didn't know whether or not Torian had planned something, yet she said he did with such confidence! She even smirked underneath her breath, though she stayed focused as she still grew worried by Rans continued absence. Adopting an extremely troubled expression she said, "I am here, instead, to beseech your Majesty for the search of our lost savior!" Almost crying, she looked straight at the king. She truly did feel this way, but she merely exaggerated them for more... direct results.
At this, the king went into deep thought. He knew the savior she was talking about was actually Torians son, and he had even gone to visit when he had been born.
"Sire, after entering the capital, we entered the Academy, at which point, Ran was given a mandate to train in the Thousand Mountain Range for two months. Over two months have passed and Ran has yet to return, sire. Hence, I plead for your Majesty's scout troops to scope the area in an effort to find him." Honestly, it was a bit much to ask the king himself to send his own troops to look for some nobody (meaning he wasn't exactly important to him) in the middle of a bunch of mountains. During this time, she had done a kowtow and balled her hands into fists of frustration.
Seeing this, his heart couldn't help but soften a little. After all, Torian and him were friends from way back in his hayday.
"Sigh… I'll lend one squadron to create a search party. In the meantime, feel free to stay in the guest house." The house he was talking about was actually a mansion with over 50 individual rooms! Nonetheless, Ann this time felt the utmost gratitude towards the man in front of her. Although a single squadron isn't much, with it actually being quite trash tier, it was still much better than nothing. The king sighed one more time as he and Ann left the room towards their own seperate ways.
"Um… what about me?" Bob just stood there, alone and acted stupid. Oh my gosh! I forgot Bob! Meh…
***
3 Months After The Collapse:
Well, after reading the line before this, I can say without the slightest doubt that they did not find him (smh)!
"Ah, smell that clean, fresh air! Much better than being in an enclosed space with you all the time. But more importantly, what do you think about the city, Fluffy?"
Entering the capital, a white robed, hooded, male and a big black cat could be seen curiously looking at the various stalls and food markets.