Sitting on his chair, slightly struggling with emotions that he had never grasped before, Cyrus decided to change how he viewed the new occurrence.
"Whatever that was, I am sure it would inspire a primal fear in anything that bore witness to it. That which rules over death? Another god besides Mundus, or one created by it to serve a certain purpose? No matter what, that is far beyond the power of the current me so there is no need to think upon it. Instead I should think of it like an exceedingly interesting find, to have the chance to witness something like that firsthand. Further proof that there is so much unknown about the world at large, knowledge just waiting to be taken and used to strengthen oneself. To crush ones enemies, to be free from all restrictions…I should be careful to not let obsession take over again" thought Cyrus, stabilizing himself completely.
Using some of his will to activate his Vita domain, he did a small rejuvenation spell on himself so that he could walk properly. Standing up, forcing his legs into doing his bidding, he looked at the two Legionaries who were watching him with curious eyes and finally addressed them.
"The experiment went well. It is just that it could be better, for the method I was using is extremely taxing if I am not quick. The results of being slow are as you see" explained Cyrus, before immediately disregarding the two once more.
"I need methods to speed it up, but sudden mastery of a technique from another life form is not exactly going to happen overnight. Things that I could change, in a short time at that, are few and far between. Such as I could put my full concentration into the soul tunneling technique instead of only devoting half. But I will not trust some random people, even if they are Legionaries who should be predisposed to at least have a favorable impression of me. If I can convince my other half to partake in the experiment, then I could just let him deal with the outside world while I stay in the world within and soul tunnel from there. Convincing him would not be easy though, seeing as what just happened not too long ago. That or perhaps I could have Minerva do it, as she is probably the only person besides myself that I could see being somewhat vulnerable around. I would need to pry open all of her secrets though and make sure that she knows if something were to happen to me that they would all be released, which should be enough to stop any type of aggressive action. Both of these methods require time though."
Not able to come to any conclusion, he decided that he would try them both but start with the one that had the least risk and stick with it if it worked out.
"I need to recover for a bit, prepare the next prisoner but know I may take an hour or two" ordered Cyrus.
After giving such an order he walked with long strides towards the dueling room, locking it from the inside and sitting down.
"Before I was unable to pull us both into the world within, but now I should have no trouble in doing so. Although my method may be a bit rough, heheh" chuckled Cyrus darkly, a black smog arising from his shadow. It wrapped around his legs like a snake, slowly making its way up along his torso and neck until finally it entered the head through his nostrils.
Establishing a connection to the world within, he pulled himself into it as well as a familiar fellow who was refusing to go in.
"Well, that wasn't so bad" declared the dark Cyrus, whose body was split into several parts that were slowly reattaching itself.
"Not so bad? Perhaps you should stop pursing the path of magic and enter the entertainment sector. With such jokes I am sure you would be showered in money day in and day out" spat the bright Cyrus.
"Hey, I was considerate. Only your hand got disconnected, just use your soul power to reconnect it like you would fit two puzzle pieces together. Simple" retorted the dark half.
"Is this not the core of our souls, the representations of me and you that we take when we are in here? What if we damaged ourselves beyond repair because of your actions" grumbled the now completely whole bright half.
"If you were correct in your guess, then perhaps we would be in mortal peril. Alas, it seems you were not paying much attention when I was in the soul world of that undead. It is clear that this entire area is our soul, as much as we are. Hmm, you can think of it like the how the brain controls the entire body. We are that which controls the entire soul, but unlike the brain if we are damaged all it does is temporarily disfigure us as we heal using the entire power of our soul…I think. If I am right we only suffered a small wound, like a paper cut. The question is whether this replenishes over time or is it a permanent thing. We know that undead's souls can grow rapidly over time, but how about a living person?" wondered the dark half aloud.
"Oh Mundus you are insane" whined the bright half.
"Haha, well maybe if you would participate in the experimentation I would not have to take such drastic measures in order to pursue my goals. You know for someone who likes Cato so much, you appear to be having trouble applying some of his lessons. What happened to: 'Do what is necessary for your survival', 'Misguided kindness kills', 'Do not be a damned idiot'?"
"That last one was made up by you" muttered the bright half as he sat in dejection.
The dark Cyrus simply looked at him coolly, waiting for a proper response.
"All right, all right. I know I went a little overboard and I heard you loud and clear after the fact, I just…I just do not feel comfortable doing that to people who are defenseless. It's one thing to kill someone who is trying to hurt yourself or someone close to you, but its another to end the life of one who is chained up with no hope of escape whatsoever" explained the bright half.
"So do they not deserve to be killed then? If you had any illusions that they were somehow innocent or maybe falsely accused, well, seeing is believing" said the dark half, expertly misquoting a Mundus devotee by leaving out the latter half.
He then recreated the same impressive soul technique as before, replaying memories as if they were happening once more right in front of the both of them.
The two watched on in silence, one having seen it all personally and the other who had neglected to witness it due to a mental breakdown.
"I see…" was all that the bright half said after watching the entire memory.
"Look I get the whole not wanting to kill people yourself thing, well I don't actually but I can somewhat imagine the convoluted thought process that got you there. You are afraid that if you start killing in situations that are not pure defense, then you will enter a downwards slope that leads towards having no apprehensions towards it. The thing is, someone has to punish these people right? They are on death row for a reason, what matters if it's us who does the deed."
"Not only that but imagine how much good you can do in the world if we are able to grasp this power for ourselves. Theoretically, one day we could become powerful enough to take on a Brutum stampede ourselves which would save many lives as all the casualties would be undead. All criminals would fear our name, not wanting to become apart of our undead legion and if we ever run out of materials we could always just use Brutum instead once we become adept enough" explained the dark half rather passionately, a glint of obsession rearing its head.
The bright Cyrus simply called forth his soul power, easily expelling the problem from his counterpart as always as he came up with a response:
"It makes sense, complete and utter logical sense. Yet my heart is not there, but I know I should do it anyways. A struggle between that which I know I should do, but I physically do not wish to. How about we start small, you turn them into an undead then I will take over?"
"You will not fully overcome this if you do it like that, which could become a problem later on…but oh well I need to start the experiments again. There is only so much time in the day hence we need to make as much progress as we can" concluded the dark half.
Seeing that there was no disagreement, the two rose from the depths of the world within ready to begin the experimentation once more.
Waking up in the real world, the still masked Cyrus returned to the laboratory once more where the two Legionaries were idly waiting alongside a pointlessly struggling prisoner.
"All right, let us begin the next experiment"