"Live to the point of tears."
― Albert Camus
Ven sat, suspended within his aura, as the great slime approached. Thick bands of power coiled under his skin, silver lines of faith that continued to grow. His speech had far greater impact than expected. It unified the prayers within him into a single note, a choir that sang for victory over the enemy.
"If this isn't enough to win, it will be enough to escape," Even in an inactive state, the faith within him created an illusion of unstoppable force. His instincts were drowned in a heady rush of unlimited might. "Let's see this slime up close and find out what makes it tick…"
The runes across his body lit up like a beacon, a flare of the purest white that earned a reaction from the enormous slime. Dozens of massive tendrils reached out from its chaotic surface, extended toward Ven's light. A grin edged its way onto his lips, one that opened to a full blown laugh.
"It's been too long since I actually enjoyed a fight…" Ven bounded forward, carried by the fusion of faith and the power of his body. His battle with the Titan had an unfortunate edge, with a multiverse at stake. "Time to let loose and test my new limits!"
Driven on a flare of white, Ven spiralled past the grasp of the slime's tentacles, closer to the expansive beast's surface. The creature reeked of the same half-dead odour that infused the waters, concentrated to new levels of foul. At this rage, the cries of individual souls filtered free of the press. Wails of terror and madness, nails on the skin.
A toothed maw formed from the slime's surface, a tidal wave that reached out and tried to swallow him whole. Ven clapped his hands and a wall of runes expanded, a barrier that clashed with the hungry monstrosity. A twist of his wrists and another formation was born, an electric ring that sucked power from the waters and launched a cascade of violet lightning.
"So much for a real test," Ven frowned. The slime's blows were weaker than the Titans, despite its insane power. "It's too stupid to effectively apply its full strength…"
Lightning divided the slime into vast tides, separated in its rush to surround and consume him. A turn of his thumb and the runic barrier became a sphere, another flick and the lightning formation rearranged into a small orb of light.
Ven sent his creation into the deaths of the slime, then reeled it back like a fish on a line. A sample of the compressed souls was trimmed from the creature's structure. Ven shrunk it down and placed it within his storage pouch, even as his aura spilled out from under his skin.
"It's convenient that I can use the faith from my realm and my aura at the same time," Ven sank shadowed spikes into the slime's semi-solid flesh. The bizarre construct of forlorn spirits melted like butter, a smooth ambrosia that trickled into his hungry cores. "Not so great for you though…"
A storm of ink black fog poured from his body and replaced the slime, converted it into fuel for his cultivation. This creature, this melange of twisted souls, was a rich source. Almost as rich as his system's fire, but far less delicious. The slime refused to give up, wrapped around his shield in a tight press.
The density of the liquid gel grew higher and higher, a weight that only served to feed more to his cores. Ven licked his lips and propelled himself forward with the power of his runes. He settled into an easy pace, an orb of luminous scripture that ferried against the current.
"Now, to study this thing a bit more closely…" Ven left just enough focus with his true body to maintain his efforts and sank into his realm. The ocean of slime transformed to the space between stars, a rest stop on his and Huan's tour. A flick of his wrist brought the orb of captured gel before him, a bundle of compressed souls too dense for his eyes to fully peirce.
"What is that thing?" Huan drifted closer in the void, eyes narrowed. "It feels awful… crazed…"
"This is what's outside the realm right now, a very small piece of a larger creature," Ven compressed the orb, flattened it out until it became a vast, hair-thin sheet. Spread thin, the individual spirits gained definition. "Some kind of forced hive mind of countless spirits…"
The sheet continued to expand, a great sail that sparkled in the starlight. On and on, until finally, the souls no longer touched. Most continued their dirge of misery, lost to madness. A small number fell silent and still, locked up in the trauma of their bizarre existence. A handful pressed themselves to the runic film, as if they wished for even more distance from the others.
A gentle wave of his hand separated these active spirits, twenty souls from trillions that still held both sanity and the will to continue on. Ven stored the huge sheet away and squinted at the remainder, one by one. Some were once Gods, powerful beings in their own right that fell to the melange. Others were mortals, individuals with exceptional wills. They had maintained their sense of self, despite their fragile existence.
"Let's see…" Ven frowned, hands occupied as they carved runes onto the air. A twitch of the finger withdrew a hundred fruits from the tree of life and divided them into twenty parcels. "I'm not sure if this will even work, but…" Ever since his eyes of truth had come into existence, the limits of his runecraft had loosened to an absurd level. "There's only one way to find out!"
Hands set in a fluid spiral, Ven set down twenty dense formations. Wrapped around the fruit of life, they carried the true words of Creation and Restoration. Huan floated to his side, eyes wide as twenty newborn beings appeared in the void.
"They're all so cute…" the dragon-kin paused as a light flashed in her eyes. "They're our first children! Created from our love and devotion!"
Ven rolled his eyes, hands still occupied with the final runes. These 'children' had come into this world as Earth Deities, tiny little powerhouses with the memories of their tragic past. The runes he inserted into their bodies would limit their abilities until they grew to physical maturity. It would save on trouble if one or more of these rescued souls had a dark nature.
"You can call them our children, if you like," Ven patted Huan on the head. "But if you do, you'd better be ready to take care of them!"