"Utilising it? Like doing those spells you've talked about?" Damien asked, to which Howrah responded with a nod before raising his staff and waving it around.
The veins in his arm began to bulge before shrinking, followed by the appearance of several dozen magic circles appearing all around them. Damien watched how they orbited around them in wonder.
"Are you curious?" Damien looked back and saw Howrah staring at him in amusement. In Howrah's eyes, Damien looked like some child wandering through a parade.
"Yes. How is this possible?"
"Thank the Killean Republic for this technique."
"Killean...? Technique?"
Howrah nodded before waving his staff around again. The magic circles around them suddenly shattered and turned into a colourful array of dust. They all then began to follow the movement of the staff and formed a replica of what seemed to be an entire nation and the surrounding landscape.
Houses numbering the thousands all surrounded one giant tower that had branches stretching out of it like a tree. It was so tall that Damien didn't doubt that it could even reach the clouds.
Around this nation were mountains as tall as the Eifel Tower—creating a sort of wall to protect them against outside forces. It surrounded every possible side except for one.
On that side was a gargantuan gate leading to the inside of this realm that Damien had come to be interested in. "Is this the Killean republic?" Damien asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, my boy! This is Killean—a nation ruled by none other than its people. Such a thing allowed them to create this wondrous technique that I use, you see."
"And what is the name of this technique?" Damien urged the old man.
"They named it Ethereal Weaving. A grand name for such a versatile technique, I might say."
After saying that, numerous magic circles with a diameter the size of a needle appeared across the entirety of the nation. They all then began to light up and shoot balls of light into the sky.
They all then began to explode—this scene brought a memory from Damien's mind—a scene he was used to seeing on special occasions. 'Fireworks...'
Damien held a soft expression on his face as he watched this scene in earnest. After the show had finished and the replica of Killean had disappeared, Damien opened his mouth.
"How do I learn this technique?" He asked, filled with determination. Howrah chuckled, the edges of his lips curving upwards, "Now, now... There will be time for you to learn it. Don't take things too hastily."
Howrah then wrapped his arm around his own back and began to hit it a few times—a pained expression appearing on his face. "This body is such a pain." He laughed.
He then shakily waved his staff to the side, causing a rift to appear in space. Damien watched with wide eyes as he saw Howrah reach into it and pull out...
"Is that a candle?"
What Howrah had pulled out of the rift before closing it was a white and slender candle made of wax that stood on a base made of gold-coloured brass metal with a looped handle to hold onto.
"Yes. But it is no ordinary candle..." Howrah said with a dramatic pause. The candle soon began to be enveloped in a colourless aura that wrapped around it like slime.
"For when this candle comes in contact with soul energy..."
The soul energy around it then began to get swallowed up by the braided wick at the tip of the candle. "It would suddenly ignite with a beautiful—"
The wick was suddenly lit with an alluring purple-coloured flame that drew Damien in.
"—coloured flame!" Howrah yelled with excitement before pushing it towards Damien, "This candle is made with a variety of different materials. The fibres of a White Soul Daisy—a flower that glows in the presence of the soul. The tallow of several flame beasts. Such an item is used for a prolonged time."
"...And what is its purpose?"
"Hm? Well..." Howrah then leaned the flames towards Damien, "It measures how much soul energy you have."
As soon as the purple flames neared Damien, it suddenly raged forth and expanded rapidly, shooting out from the wick and into the entire room. Damien quickly backed away but was unfortunately unable to dodge the flames.
"Shit! This burns!?" Damien yelled in shock as he felt the flames burning him. The flames clung to his body like a colony of bees stabbing him with their stingers.
PAT PAT PAT
Damien tried to pat himself down and only found them spreading across his entire body. That was when he suddenly felt his consciousness fading before collapsing to the ground.
THUD!
The flames spreading around the room suddenly turned around and dashed towards his body—sinking into him. Howrah stumbled over to him, using his staff as his cane and smiled.
He then sat down beside the unconscious Damien and placed a hand over his skull—just above where his core is.
"Well then, I didn't expect that would happen. Let's see the inside of your Soul Place, shall we?" He ominously said before pulling himself inside of Damien's soul...
***
Author Note:
I wasn't very satisfied with the previous version of this chapter, so I changed it. Hope you guys who had read the previous one don't dislike the changes made.