The Clock Tower.
It had been about an hour since my arrival in Zelretch's office. Polumna had had a nice chat with Death about something and left us. And now, me, Zelretch, and Death were just sitting and reviewing amongst ourselves. The vampire and I were doing it, and the embodied concept was staring at me without blinking, which looked creepy, to say the least.
There was no point in getting agitated over the concept's last words, so I had to just chock it up and deal with it. After a while, I calmed down and decided to distract Death from the conversation. After all, I wondered what had stirred her up to such an extent. And I think the presence of an interdimensional vampire would be helpful.
- You still haven't told me exactly what my magic did," I began, drawing Death's attention to me. "What was it that piqued your interest to the point where you wanted to dissect me?
- Hmm... Really? - She said thoughtfully, to which I nodded briefly, and Zelretch perked up his ears - Remember what I said about your soul?
- That it was like a black hole? - I began to remember.
- That's right. When you used your magic on that man, your soul touched him. That man's soul was, how shall I put it... infected by yours. Like a virus, to put it simply. I even looked at his soul, and found that a small part of it had changed. A tiny, almost imperceptible change, but a change nonetheless.
- And what does this change mean? - Zelretch asked with intrigue in his voice.
- Normally, I am the one who claims the soul of every living thing. That is the law of the universe. But the Heaven's Touch rewrites that law. That tiny altered part of the soul that my boyfriend influenced is no longer mine, but his.
I froze and scrutinized her face, looking for any sign of a lie, because the very idea of such consequences of altering someone else's soul is utter nonsense.
Back in DxD, when I was experimenting with 3rd magic, I'd learned that the soul was the purest bundle of energy that no one could change. No one at all, except herself. Well, under normal circumstances, I mean. Even the most evil and ruthless being still has a pure soul.
It can be compared to a man and his clothes. Any soul is pure, innocent and unchanging, as a person does not change, regardless of circumstances. And behavior, character, emotions, ambitions and the like are clothes.
And the only one who can accomplish this feat is the owner of the Heaven's Touch. I thought there were no serious consequences, but as it turns out, there are.
You'll say what's the big deal, but alas, there is a big deal.
Suppose I resurrect someone. Let's take this particular situation as an example, as this is the most common use of 3rd magic. Considering what the embodied concept of death said, the soul of the person I resurrect will no longer belong to the world and its Textures... but to me.
Again, the soul is the purest blob of energy. A tremendous energy that has many uses if you get it.
The question then becomes, why does the world allow a 3rd Magician to exist? The answer is, he has to deal with it. Every world has its own metaphorical "Well of Souls" where all souls in principle are stored, and the Magician is a leech stuck to the well itself. And any opposition to this is a risk of damaging the vault, leading to the destruction of the world.
In short, every True Magician is a parasite, clinging to some branch of the universe and drawing power from there.
Ophis is the embodiment of "infinity", or "nothingness", or "nothingness", and she considers me a kind of relative, since I draw my power for Negation of Nothingness from the same source as she does.
With Death, the analogy is the same. She is a pillar of the cycle of life and death, and Heaven's Touch clings to the Well of Souls, which she is, in fact, in charge of.
Going back to the implications of Heaven's Touch, every soul I affect empowers me, since the likes of it belong exclusively to me.
And that is... frightening... What is frightening is that the more I use 3rd magic, the stronger I will become and undergo changes. After all, the truth has long been known: "Great power corrupts." Due to the fact that I only used it on a very small number of living beings and not that much, I didn't notice any difference in myself.
Apparently, when Death mentioned 'fickle', she meant exactly that. Because with each use of the Heaven's Touch, I change. And the strength of the change depends on how much I use it.
Look at Zelretch. He's out of his mind, a little, but still. And at the expense of entertainment, he manages to retain a part of himself that he values. Humanity. Even if he is a Dead Apostle.
The 2nd magic hooked him on the concept of "infinity". An infinity of probabilities and parallels. He sees every possibility of every world where he exists, and I am truly amazed at his stamina, as not going insane under such circumstances is nearly impossible.
- Archer Emiya's words were right, eh? - Goetia's voice echoed in my head - Although he said them with the intention of insulting you, the accuracy is amazing.
I didn't answer, only sighed tiredly.
- How... interesting..." Zelretch murmured thoughtfully with a serious expression on his face, apparently coming to the same conclusions as me.
- Indeed," I nodded and asked a very interesting question, "Is there any way to undo this effect? Or will it dissipate with time?
- I doubt it," said Death thoughtfully, "When you play with the laws of the universe, the consequences can be unpredictable.
- And you don't resent that I have, in fact, broken those laws, because?
- I'm just an observer. No more, no less. And such a thing doesn't fall under my jurisdiction, since you're not even from this world. - she shrugged.
- I see.
There was silence in the office for a while, and everyone was thinking about something else. Until Death raised an eyebrow at something.
- Hmm? I think there's something that needs my intervention," she mumbled and stood up from her seat and kissed me on the cheek, "I'll see you later. I should get back to work. See you later.
And the next moment she was gone, as if she had never been here.
Well, she did mention being a busy person. Heh.
Speaking of which, I think I figured out why I have memory loss. Apparently one of the theories I wanted to test was changing my own soul.
Basically, a paradox occurred where my soul tried to process itself, subsequently, a stupor occurred within it. And it seems that the part that did manage to process either broke away or got blocked. It's more likely the latter, since I've just lost my memories and don't feel any other changes. And looking at my soul, I couldn't find any visible defects.
I rubbed my temples and took a sip of coffee from the cup that appeared in my hand to clear my thoughts a little.
I guess I'll have to file this one away in a drawer until the effects are visible.
-0-
Ministry of Magic.
The clacking of my shoe heels on the black marble floor echoed clearly in my ears. High ceilings, masonry bricks of the same color, and British-style buildings definitely didn't suit this place, which looked like a sewer without water. People were walking back and forth, and flashes of green fire from the portals in the arches appeared one after another.
Huge crowds of wizards from all over Britain were huddled together, discussing something, rushing somewhere or just looking at their surroundings. The whole place gave the impression not of a place of power, but of an ordinary marketplace.
But everyone who saw me, or rather whoever was walking beside me, stepped aside and gave me a surprised look filled with concern.
- So," I began, rubbing my temples, "Why are we here? And why do they look like this, looking at you?
- Usually, every visit I make here is accompanied by me having fun at their expense," Zelretch grinned, "And why are we here? Someone decided to make a fuss about you. And you know exactly who it is.
- Dumb as a Door, I presume?
- Indeed. Lately he's been pulling all his connections and trying to dig up on you, even though he knows it's useless. You want to tell me what that's about?
- Oh? I just told him that I'm a 3rd Magician, and shared information about True Magic," I said thoughtfully and smirked, "Heh. He charged me with something, didn't he?
- That's right. He stated that you might be a dark wizard, citing that there was no action on your part regarding confronting the dark side. And that you let Voldy go without a single wound.
- Is he stupid? - I raised an eyebrow - If the first is understandable, how did he know about the second? Isn't he giving away his spy by doing so?
- Emotions make people act impulsively and rashly," Zelretch shrugged, "We're here, by the way.
We stopped at the double doors leading to what I realized was the hearing room.
I grinned, already anticipating what would happen behind those doors.
I guess after all the heavy thoughts about True Magic, we could use a little fun, couldn't we? Zelretch didn't mind anyway, judging by the cheerful, fangy grin on his face.
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