As Lori finished speaking, everyone stood up. Preparations have begun, there was no time to waste. They couldn't know when would they strike again to execute another member.
~Rune..
[ WOOSH ]
He got pulled back into Rune's world.
" Hey.. " Sion crossed his arms.
Rune was looking at him, he waited for Sion to continue.
" I... I absorbed too many souls with my Reapers touch, haven't I.. ". Indeed, when he was on the mountain he took hundreds of souls. He was in possession of 367 souls, excluding his own and Rune.
" I've told you Sion. You've already waisted 4 or even more Contracts. That means you're just few souls away from going nuts. " Rune explained.
Sion understood his situation very well. He then looked at Rune; " Hey.. I don't really get all this energy-power things completely yet. I have trained my energy control though.. what if... well... could I remove one ability, and increase the power of another? " he asked.
" Huh? " Rune was confused.
" Well.. if I would.. transfer the.. energy.. of one of my powers to another ability.. that would be okay? " Sion didn't really know what he himself was talking about.
" Let me guess.. you want to remove 'Life Cycle' and strengthen 'Reapers Touch' so you won't go insane? "
Sion nodded; " The cooldown time is too much, I need an ability I'll be able to use in each fight and rely on it. "
Rune was thinking; " Well.. I never heard of such thing before, but technically.. since you CAN upgrade each ability.. I guess it should be possible to 'sell' one ability and upgrade another... "
" Oh great! Well then... I'm selling my Life Cycle to upgrade Reapers Touch! "
[ WOOSH ]
Rune and Sion both stumbled. They felt a slight void in them, but it got filled moment later. What happened?
Rune looked at his hands; " It actually worked... Life Cycle is.. it's literally just locked.. "
" Does that mean.. "
" You managed to upgrade your Reapers Touch.. you won't go insane no matter how many souls you absorb. And since Life Cycle isn't completely 'deleted' but instead it's 'locked'... that means you can just unlock it back after some time.."
" Neat. " Sion said. He smiled at Rune and returned back.
[ WOOSH ]
Sion walked up to Lori; " So.. what now? "
" Now, we'll find Theo. In order to do that, we need to go over his minions. Well free some villages in Ibotha Heavenly Empire and hopefully their leaders will give us information on how to find Theo. " Lori explained.
" Okay okay, so.. how're we splitting up. I would like to go with Nem-.. "
" No. "
" Huh? "
" She ain't going. " Lori said.
Sion looked confused. He turned his head and saw Nemma sitting by the table, she looked sad. It appears she already knows that she isn't going. Sion turned his was back; " What are you talking about? Why not? "
" She's a
" Who the hell gave you the right to decide what's right and what's wrong? Maybe she could train it and- "
" I said no. That's my final answer Sion. There will always be two Sons in Greyre. She'll be safe here, no need to worry. In fact, we're leaving Lucas and Santiago here for the first time. Sion, two of our strongest members, both could be classification as 2nd Class.. they will stay here. "
Sion went from looking mad to being just slightly unnerved. He understood very well that if he goes against their word, they could just give up on them and kick them out. He had to be calm on this one.
" Listen, right now, we're sending 4 teams to liberate 4 different villages. You're going with Noire. Other team that's close to you consists of Yve and Marcus, they'll be taking on a little bit tougher town. You've been assigned a easier one to get into this. "
Sion said quietly; " I'm the one that freed Ravensborrow, if you forgot. "
Lori nodded and smiled; " Indeed, fair enough. Be safe out there, Noire is waiting for you outside. "
" Noire? He's the Monster Son right, you're really sending two monster-possessed in one team? "
Lori laughed again; " You have Rune, and he has a SS Class monster on his own. You two are the only team that Santiago decided to set up on his own, he said; 'We needed a Team Monsters in order to fight back that SS Class monster they have'.. "
" That asshole. "
Sion walked up to Nemma, she still looked sad. She took off her new glasses that Lori gave her when they first got here and seemed angry.
Sion didn't stop to talk for too long, he said one thing and continued walking; " Learn how to control it. I can't wait to work on a mission with you. ". Nemma smiled because to her, it was basically Sion saying 'prove them wrong'.
Sion exited the house. In the distance, Yve and Marcus were already leaving. Next to Lori's fence gate, Noire was standing. He was wearing the same purple shirt and same pants as he did when Sion first met him, but this time, he didn't have any wings. Small reddish horns were peaking through his hair, but Sion tried not to think too much about it.
" Well well! Sion, you finally decided to show up. Time to go man. ". These last few days Noire spent in Lori's house, he seemed pretty chill and cool. Unlike Lori, he was pretty untidy though. Like Santiago, he would put his legs on the table, didn't clean after he ate, his clothes were everywhere, his feathers as well...
" So, where are we heading? " Sion asked.
" First we gotta go in city of Yurttan to buy two TPs. "
" Yurttan? TPs? "
" Yeah. Yurttan is a larger town not far from here, we freed it years ago. Truth be said, this nation isn't really influenced by Heavenly Empires that much, tyranny levels here are low, thanks to us. Once we get to Yurttan we'll enter a certain shop where they sell forbidden equipment. One of them are 'teleportation pills' also known as TPs. You eat them and by merely thinking of a place you teleport there. "
" That's... but that sounds.. "
" Too powerful right? That's why they're forbidden, they're not even making them anymore, for years now. They usually cost nations worth of gold, but luckily the owner still owns us since we saved their town. He'll give us two for free. " he explained.
So that was the plan. Noire and Sion will teleport directly into the village in Ibotha Heavenly Empire.
Two of them walked through the streets of Greyre. Gate was in front of them.
Sion was looking at Noire strangely. Noire laughed; " Ask it. About my SS Class item. ".
Sion turned his head forward swiftly.
" Oh uhmm.. yeah. What bothers me the most is.. everyone is saying you ARE a monster, not just a guy with a SS Class item like me or Santiago. "
Noire waved his hand; " Let me get something straight. You and Santiago are nothing similar. There are indeed more types of item users, none of the names are official nor important to be honest. Most important thing you need to know is, there are items you use and items you can merge with. Santiago is just using the blades, almost anyone could wield them. You are merged with Rune but not completely.. it's hard to understand. But imagine it like this, you and Rune are like water and oil in a cup. Both of you share the same body, but you're not really merged. But in my case, me and my item are like salt and water, we are completely merged, most literally the same person. " he explained.
They left Greyre, they were walking towards Yurttan now. It wasn't cold outside the village anymore since Santiago slayed Murrloth.
" So when did you merge with the item? " Sion asked.
" 11 years ago, when I killed the SS Class monster. " he said. Sion looked at him. Noire looked young.
" How old are you now? "
" I'm 19 " Noire said
" YOU WERE 8? " he yelled.
Noire laughed; " Indeed. It's not what it seems though, it was a mix of good luck and mistakes. Here's a story: 12 years ago a SS Class monster appeared in a cave next to our village. My father and some villagers set up a expensive energy trap near the cave. The one that killed the monster would instantly get merged with it because of it's ability. So as monster prepared to exit it noticed the trap so it refused to just exit, but at the end of the day it did. Reason was I, a clumsy kid that's born with slightly more energy. I slipped and stepped into the trap, monster jumped at me, ignoring the trap. Trap went off and annihilated both of us, but since it's ability had no other way to merge with me but to revive me, so it happened. In the next moment I was standing next to my corpse with the power of high 3rd Class monster. I've literally resurrected as a monster, cool huh? "
He said everything so casually and quickly.
" Y-yeah.. pretty cool. What abilities does it give you? "
" By eating monsters my power increases, I also gain their abilities. "
Sion stopped walking; " Seriously?! ". Why was each member of Sons so powerful!? Noire just nodded and walked forward.
As they went on, they quickly found a intersection. A sign was located there. It pointed in three directions, and the one on the right said 'Yurttan'. They headed that way.
" So... how are you still a 3rd Class? You must've eaten thousands of monsters in your lifetime. You definitely posses many souls.. "
Noire looked at him with a confused expression.
[ Runes voice: No Sion. Eating monsters doesn't necessarily mean he stores souls. Storing a soul is a extremely difficult and powerful ability. There might be less than 10 beings alive that have such an about, including you and Santiago. Keep in mind, more souls, more power.. ]
" I don't have any soul beside my own! Such a thing is really rare, only person that I know that can d-.. "
" Is Santiago.. he can store souls just like me. That's why he was able to grow from 3rd Class to Erttem in only 4 years. "
" Yeah! "
Two men were now walking through a forest, another sign said that Yurttan is just few kilometres away.