162 We Are.

The saying goes as follows, the higher things rise, the harder they fall. The proverb can go along several matters in this life. Yet, even if the cause was intentional and maybe out of pure goodwill, it will never change or reduce the outcome.

"Dad, dad!"

"Oh, Cass, did you come to watch me work? Hm? Do you want to show me something?" A man put down his paint-stained brush as his attention focused on his side.

With several brushes and color pallets near him, the man wore casual clothes under a white long coat to not stain his clothes. Although he appears to be in his thirties, the marks of age didn't leave much on him.

He smiled cheerfully at the sight of a small boy whose age is around seven or eight years old. With his hands behind his back, the boy's cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

The man could easily see it as a drawing of something, but seeing his son state, he couldn't help but tease him "If you have nothing, I'll continue my work. You can show me later if I'm free, but I don't know when I'll be free again."

"Eh?"

The man showed a troubled expression as the boy raised his head in surprise. As perplexion and anxiousness took over his face, the boy quickly acted and showed the drawing to his father.

"Let's see here…" Revealing a smile to the success of his little mischief, the man looked at his son's drawing and said "Oh, did you draw this, Cassian?"

Despite being nervous about his work getting evaluated for the first time by his father, the boy still blared "Y-yes!"

"Would you look at that, we have a little artist at home now"

The man's words were like a bright light that shone the boy's expression of nervousness and embarrassment into a mixture of excitement and happiness.

It seemed like the boy named Cassian cared a lot about the acknowledgment of his father.

"But when did you draw it?"

"After dad gave me some tips on the homework" The boy answered quickly as the man smiled and said "Ah, it was that… how did it go?"

The man couldn't help but smile too at the sight of the boy who is eager to share his experience with him.

Although the drawing wasn't anything good in particular, for children drawing, it was already good. He can even see he tried a lot and as a father, who doesn't want to compliment and encourage his son's efforts?

"Hmmm, you know what? Come here, Cass" The man seemed to make up his mind as he stood up from the wooden chair.

"How about you help me paint something?"

Under the confused stares of the boy, he took off the original painting and put a blank sheet of paper in its place and "What do you say? It'll be fun"

The man didn't need to say more before the boy hurried and agree. His happy and eager eyes made his father smile too, especially if his son is showing all this interest in his field of work.

He finished the preparation and adjustment quickly before he put Cassian on his lap and said "What would you like to paint?"

Even when given the choice, the boy didn't know what to choose as his father smiled wryly and said "How about we go with a simple nature scene? Here, pick the brush and choose…"

With his hand on his son's hand, the man guided him through the painting a bit by bit as the sun shone from an open large window.

Near them, a desk was pushed near the wall, carrying several brushes of different sizes and pallets. A lot of papers with various sketches could be seen on it.

In addition to the sketches, several paintings filled the room. They stood on display either on the walls or on free three easels in addition to the one in front of the father and son pair.

The room was without a doubt an art studio, which showed the man is very invested in the painting aspect.

But the more they paint, the more the man felt a bit weird before he couldn't help and say "Cassian, where did you learn this?"

Despite him helping, the man didn't put much force into the brush as he left the lead to his son, but looking at the result, he saw the painting reflecting his style a lot.

"I watched dad painting! But dad was too busy, so I didn't bother you" Cassian said quickly before he focused on painting again, but there was a frown on his face before his father's hand became slow.

"Woah, are you stalking me?" Looking at the simple painting that reflected his style even if it had many errors, the man blurted out unconsciously with his free hand on his chin.

"Stal-king…?"

"…."

Looking at his son's puzzled and innocent look, the man swallowed his words and became aware he stated something wrong. So, he cleared his throat and said "We'll talk about that later"

"Okay! It's a promise!" The boy answered without any doubt, but his father covered his face and squeezed these words "Y-yeah, it's a promise"

The man could only hope his son would forget about this later, but for now, he focused on helping him paint.

After several strokes, the trees and hills became more and more refined as the man said "This isn't half-bad. You might have some real talent in this"

"Really?!"

"Yes, yes, our Cassian is a genius. How about you take over your old man's work? But I know your mother wouldn't accept it, which I do agree by the way. This field is just hard"

Aware of his son's confusion, the man shook his head not expecting a little kid to understand what he's talking about now, but he still said "However, no one said it is wrong to take it as a hobby, am I right?"

"Yeah!" The boy agreed without understanding much.

With the affirmation of his father, the boy became much more excited as he poured it into painting.

"If only Connor would also join us here" The man said with a troubled tone as the boy answered him "Brother said you kept insisting on him, so he doesn't want to. Also, the paint is annoying to clean from his hands"

"….." The man had nothing to say about his enthusiasm to share his work and hobby with his only two sons.

But looking at the eagerness of his son, his expression returned to a smile, and said "Cass, if you had your promise, how about you promise me something?"

"What?" Cassian seemed to get impatient after being interrupted from painting several times.

"You know, painting and art is a way to express yourself. You don't need words or complicated thoughts, just pour what you feel with these colors. So, how about you promise me to find something you truly want to paint? Then show it to me. Isn't it a great idea?"

"… Okay" The boy pondered for a moment before agreeing as the man smiled and said "Then it's settled. I look forward to your vision. After all, our Cassian is very talented"

Maybe this will keep him busy and forget about other stuff. The man hoped in silence.

With those words, the father and son duo continued painting in a harmonious atmosphere. The scene was too relaxed and joyful as if time would stop.

However, as if the colors were drained from the world, the scene lost all its lusters. The picture of the father and son, alongside the art studio, became blurry and hazy.

"As if…"

A faint, yet hoarse voice sounded from nowhere before everything melted like snow in the heat.

The location changed into a place lacking any form of light. The unchanging dark nothingness is the only theme and one person is the only thing that existed in the scene.

Leo looked at a dark void filling his vision in silence as the back of his right hand covered his face. His body seemed to be surrounded by some sort of thick mucky substance making each move much difficult.

Even so, the dark emptiness didn't seem to be a bother to him at all. In such form, Leo stayed still for a few moments before he whispered "The ritual alongside the ceremony have failed and… backfired"

Removing his hand, Leo began to inspect his condition. The ultimate result is that the ritual has failed and he suffered a backlash from it, unfortunately, he doesn't recall much from it.

"The backlash was strong, but these signs…" Looking at his current 'body', Leo muttered "Spiritual poisoning? I have been spiritually poisoned. Woah"

Despite his half-assed reaction, Leo is slightly surprised that he got spiritually poisoned.

Spiritual poisoning is a widely known concept in most occult and general mystic phenomena. For the most, the best example would be the madness that the Eldritch Gods inflict on anyone who comes in contact with them.

In most practices, magic requires studies and exploration of the unknown. Be it exploring dreams, spiritual planes, hidden realms, or higher phases, each of those places share the fact that they hold knowledge beyond human mind comprehension.

Forcibly digesting such a pure form of knowledge without any preparation and protection would lead the mind to deteriorate and ultimately be destroyed by the poison, which is the knowledge itself.

Leo's case wasn't much different. Although the starting point and destination didn't process anything of that quality, the path which he took via the Chat Room was the cause.

"Hmmm, but what caused the toxins to vanish? These things are a pain to deal with usually. So, it's either they were too kind and left me alone or a third party have been involved." Leo found nothing except a few signs after checking his spirit several times.

Whatever Leo has seen and brought from the path when he came back, it was just too strong and caused his spirit to be poisoned. But now, it's mostly fine. This needs further studies to be determined.

"No wonder the backlash was too severe and pushed my conscience to this degree… even making me dream again" Aware of the cause and effect, Leo shrugged as if it didn't matter.

The reason that he doesn't dream is that his spirit is always awake. Unlike human beings who require the cooperation of the physical body and rest, his spirit can recover much, much faster on its own, especially because his exitance doesn't truly require a physical body.

Therefore, in situations where quick recovery is needed, he can just switch it off and enter a slumber, which can be removed at any moment.

Such are the qualities of the perfect tools of God.

But because of the spiritual poisoning, the spirit has been unable to recover and entered its lowest possible state, allowing such irregularity to happen.

"… It's much more vivid than I recall" Unaware of the fact he's talking to himself much longer than usual, Leo whispered while trying to find something.

Those dreams, it been a while if he may say so.

Back then, they frequently appeared when he recovered his memories, or awakened in a sense, in this world. His unawakened self had an amusing reaction to those memories when it was unaware.

"By the way, this place is truly dark. Perfect for some dark humor, am I right…?" Shrugging like throwing all the thoughts behind his back, Leo did a spin around to see the boundless void.

His body, which was the only faint illumination in this dark space, was slightly distorted and lost its shape here and there. It's still weak after handling the toxins.

"Hmmm, I'm talking to myself again. Not good, dark humor need other people to question their moral and conscience"

It seems as if everything that happened isn't important anymore. The process was so natural it would have left anyone watching perplexed.

"Well, now that my spirit is awake from the lowest state, my body wouldn't be in bad shape, no? I can still feel the Annihilation Maker, so my body should start at any moment"

Focusing on the faint feeling of his Longinus, the dark space began to retreat as dizziness stroked Leo's head. However, it didn't matter as his senses continued to levitate before something clicked in his mind.

{Ugh…}

Out of the ethereal spirit state, several senses belonging to the physical body came rushing. The hot sun, the mild breeze, the coldness of the floor, and most importantly, the head-splitting headache.

It felt like someone cracked his skull open and jammed a stun gun inside. In short, it was irritating and painful. In addition to the annoying soul injury, this must be the worst morning ever.

After adjusting to the terrible state of his body, Leo found it much harder to move here. It's like all strength left him. A much worst state than the weakened spiritual form.

It took him a moment, but he eventually opened his eyes despite everything only to see a rather interesting scene. He found himself resting on a wall of the temple as the withering sun shone brightly on his body from the clear sky.

The cold wind left a whistling sound through the temple's walls and pillars while the clouds crossed around it like a soft pillow. The previously specially made temple to host the ritual and ceremony, filled with runes and magic circles crafted and engraved by hand, was nowhere to be seen.

Traces of burns and cracks crossed the entirety of the temple. One of the five pillars was completely missing as the rest four were damaged beyond recognition. As if it got bombarded, flames and electric sparks still flash here and there, showing how severe the damage is.

The runes were crossed at some points and burned as weird marks were inscribed over them using some sort of sharp tool. Although he didn't design it to be luxurious, Leo still frowned at the state of the temple.

{Just… how severe was this backlash?} Leo could see the inner spells and rituals like the levitation is still working by looking at the clouds.

The direction of the sun and moon, alongside the angle of the stars, and followed by the low pressure, made him assume the temple is at least 3km above the ground.

*Crackling sound!!*

"Do it"

While figuring his location using astrology, Leo heard a snapping sound. On his lap, a black yellow small creature with large blue horns flickering with electric spark faced him.

This is the mini form of the Bull of Heaven, Gugalanna, and unlike what Leo remembers, its horns are larger now as the zapping blue electricity jumped between them.

"Don't you dare, you damn piece of good for nothing divine beef! I don't care if your body is just a golden skeleton! If you dare to touch my lord, I'll cook you and eat your bone marrow!!"

From underneath, the corners of Leo's robe turned into several limbs and acted violently against Gugalanna. Venom is very angry for some reason, but he was cut off by a flash from the necklace on Leo's neck.

"Then, how long are we supposed to wait? You know it has to be done. Charge"

"Hisssssss!!!"

From the green orb, Ddraig's calm voice sounded as he gave the order to Gugalanna without hesitation. Because of Venom's reaction and his cold voice, one might think that 'charge' sounded like 'execute him'.

Gugalanna didn't seem to care about Ddraig's words as its eyes were fixed on Leo. They were filled with the determination to give him a 'shocking hug' mixed with heaven's lightning!

"Ahhhhhh!!!"

Meanwhile, Leo stared at them down without blinking while the three were too busy with their small civil war to remark.

So… Could he count this as a morning greeting?