17 The Girls Adventures (Part II)

West of the plateau can be described as the most desolate area of the Silent Desert, purely because it is where the bulk of the Great War was fought. The further West you go the more death energy you can find in the air, which makes it toxic for any living creature to inhabit, even a ghost unless they are made up of pure death Mana.

It is said that the remains of those who fall in this place don't even have the chance to come back as a ghost, the only thing that awaits you is the constant erosion of your body and soul until you cease to exist.

Due to this finding troops would be impossible for any other of the group, luckily or unluckily however, Mori was a little different. She immersed herself in the joy of torturing her victims and often found herself isolated and alone, this has caused her to seek out affection constantly yet she always kills those who get close, all but her lord Azazel, the one she couldn't kill.

While Ventura and Bell each had their own relatively normal way of gathering troops, Mori's obsession with death and torture allowed her to create her own special way. Ever since she evolved into a wraith she gained some sort of control over death, she has experimented with various Minor Ghosts she came across as she travelled further and further west, until today, where she finally achieved a breakthrough.

'If my toys break so easily then I should just make them stronger' she thought, ghosts are largely intangible and have no set form, and so are easy to destroy, however what if she were to take a soul from a ghost, and force it into another container?

The answer... A Boneman, a skeletal being created from combining the fine arts of death magic with soul magic. Mori had a literal sea of bones buried beneath the sands around her, and likewise a sea of souls found in the ghosts, so she began her task of assembling an army, an army of Bonemen.

Currently she has only managed to create 12 of such beings as finding all the pieces of a skeleton scattered in the sands is near impossible if not for her affinity to death, also the chance of successfully forcing a soul into another body is pitifully low, however it was a problem she was happy to have, as when it is successful, the result is a being far stronger than a mere ghost.

Mori is determined to have the strongest army of the four, all to win the favour of her lord, her everything, Azazel. There have been many times when she was close to snapping and murdering everyone else just to have Azazel's attention all to herself, to be his special one. However she held herself back, for nothing other than not wanting to ruin his goals and ambitions.

She doesn't know why but ever since she was born she has enjoyed causing pain to others, she quivers in excitement hearing their screams of pain, however she discovered another side of herself when she met Azazel, a side she never knew existed up until that point.

When he glared at her with his cold look it sent shivers down her spine and she couldn't help but feel a burst of ecstasy run through her body. For the first time ever she wanted to please someone else, not to hurt them but to please them, she would do anything for him, even sacrifice her own life just to gain his recognition.

'Oh crap I got off track again, haaaah, my lord, how could you hold such power over me?' she wondered while looking towards the next set of skeletal remains her 12 soldiers had managed to gather.

"Step back or you might die." She ordered coldly, receiving the clattering of jaws in response before they move far back, possibly learned from prior experience.

Raising one hand over a Minor Ghost she had caught earlier, she slowly inserts her hand into its body, causing intense pain to the ghost and the very essence of it was grabbed by Mori's thin and sickly fingers.

*Pop*

And just like that, she tore the soul out of it's body, causing the Mana making it up to dissipate and hence leaving no evidence of there ever having been a ghost other than a small white marble like object pinched between Mori's thumb and index finger. Slowly she brought it to her mouth giving it a lick with her ridiculously long tongue, a trait often found in wraiths. "Mmm I can't get enough of that taste." She moaned out in pleasure, her tongue swaying below her chin as if she had lost control of it.

"Mistress... The soul.." Spoke out one of the Bonemen, reminding Mori of her goal in raising an army and not to eat.

"Aaah yeah, good call I almost ate another one... although I hate it when I get interrupted you vermin!" She shrilly screamed at the Boneman, if not for her orders from her Lord she would love to have tortured it until it begged to be killed.

'What the hell is wrong with her?' The Bonemen all thought while looking at each other blankly, however as a side effect of being created by Mori they are all deathly loyal to her and couldn't betray her even if they wanted to.

"It's about time we continue west, I want to know what's at the end of this desert and to see if there is a source to this intense death energy. if so then we will claim it for our lord, I'm sure he will favour me over the others if I find something good!" Mori screeched out in glee and she imagined the scene of Azazel accepting her present.

...

"Thank you Mori" Azazel said while staring deeply into Mori's eyes.

"Y..You..You're Welcome Lor" Mori spoke out shyly before being interupted.

"Azazel, call me Azazel" Azazel said leaning in closer Mori.

...

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! I WANT THAT SO MUCH!" She shouted with her cheeks taking on an unnatural shade of red for a predominantly green wraith.

Turning to look back towards the direction of the Plateau she swore to return to his side soon, before turning to the skeletal remains on the floor and shoving the soul she grasped straight towards where the heart would have been.

*THUMP*

*THUMP THUMP*

Suddenly there was the sound of a heartbeat and Mori began injecting as much death Mana into the skeletal remains as she could handle. Slowly over time the bones turned darker, from a bleached white to a grey reminiscent of the sands around them, eventually settling on a deep obsidian black, gaining some sheen as if they were made of metal and not bone.

*Fwish* Suddenly the remains sat up and looked around in confusion, noticing the 12 creatures that looked similar to it's own body and taking them to be friendly, eventually though it's gaze settled onto a maniacal wraith dancing around singing the name Azazel repeatedly. Looking back at a fellow Boneman he asked "Enemy?"

"Mistress..." The Boneman replied slapping it's forehead with it's bony fingers, the sound similar to a door knock.

"Mis..tress" The newly created Boneman stuttered in shock before noticing it felt an unusual attachment to the Wraith and felt like it would die for her.

"Okay boys, that makes 13 of you, we need to pick up the pace so I can return back to Az.. Our lord faster, bring me more skeletal remains and Minor Ghosts, once we reach a high enough number we will continue westwards to get our lord a present" Mori commanded, losing all signs of her previous lunacy and regaining the image of a strong commander.

"Yes Mistress!" The Bonemen shouted before running off in search of more prey and bones.