14 Risking It All
When Prince Tricko first sensed this abnormal soul, he was still far away. What he found odd at first sight was that, unlike the rest of the infant souls, this soul was utterly stationary.
Immobile.
Or, at least, it WAS utterly immobile. Up until the day he finally moved past its location.
The moment Sylvester reached it, that infant soul immediately followed him in an orbital pattern. It was as if this soul had taken the prince as its sun, its everything. Every dozens of seconds, he would see lifeless husks where the infant soul's eyes should have been, as it kept passing the front of Sylvester's face.
The Skyfall flame, merged with the prince's soul, would occasionally erupt and devour all infant souls in an ever-increasing range. At first, it was merely three meters. It evolved to be a few kilometers. Then, it expanded to swallow a few dozen kilometers worth of souls. Finally, over 100 kilometers worth of souls were devoured and converted into pure energy.
The energy fed the nirvana flame and sublimated Sylvester's soul.
Sylvester had no idea how many poor souls he had exterminated, but he was unconcerned. Was their current enslaved fate much better than assimilation? At least this way, they would serve a more vital purpose as nourishment for his own soul.
His soul light turned from forest green to baby blue. Sylvester had no control over these Skyfall eruptions at first. It was involuntary. Perhaps it was the nirvana flame's survival instinct, or maybe it was his own. The line that separated his spiritual awareness and the fire was obscured. If, before this incident, the two could be considered close to merging, then they had now finally fused completely.
There was no difference between his soul and Skyfall.
However, despite the constant eruption of power, the soul baby who was treating him as the center of its universe remained unaffected. It was as if it could never be destroyed; rather, the Skyfall Flame had no effect on this divine soul. Sylvester felt a profound aura of dignity from the orbiting infant soul every time the blaze erupted.
The more the Skyfall flames erupted, the more this parasitic infant soul began to glow in golden soul light.
'Is this the so-called disaster that attracts a miracle? Shouldn't the miracle be something of use? What's the deal with this guy? My Skyfall flame can't even sense him, and it's like he doesn't exist. The only other existence this flame does not react to is my mother. Totally weird,' thought the wandering soul of Sylvester.
He had recently spent his days incinerating and devouring other souls, plundering all that remains of them. This was easy, as they were utterly defenseless. They were sealed so totally that they would never regain consciousness. Many fragmented memories and thoughts were burned away as he assimilated the purest soul force he had ever known into his soul.
Millions of formulation techniques, secrets, and even a few ethereal spaces existed. Ethereal spaces were something only high-level god beasts possessed, and they were similar to the primordial soul ring. It was how those creatures stored treasures and were bound to their soul. None of these ethereal spaces burned. They were mysteriously absorbed into his soul through some other method.
"Curious, curious…" said Sylvester, pondering deeply.
Eureka!
Hadn't he just said it?
Suddenly, he remembered his reward for being the champion of that year's Wild Wolf Tournament. The Primordial Soul Ring! Even though the ring was still sealed with most of his soul, it existed nonetheless. Seeing the golden orbiting soul for the umpteenth time, Sylvester smiled, saying, "Come on, little guy. Is it not a bit rude to just sleep and eat? At least wake up once for this prince. It's so boring here."
It felt like more and more eons had passed.
As the ninth prince couldn't always maintain his spiritual awareness, he would frequently have to rest. Doing so allowed his mental energy to recover enough to trigger the occasional eruption of flames. After which, he would have the power to spare.
To his delight, he noticed that his soul grew ever more powerful every time it bottomed out completely. However, whenever he cast his spiritual awareness to open his 'eyes,' the first thing he would always see was the pale gold baby directly in front of his face! It was as if every time he closed his eyes, the infant soul would secretly stare at him. Was the orbiting routine a ruse, or what?
What was with this guy?
Lately, instead of orbiting nonstop, this guy would only orbit if Sylvester's Spiritual Force was active. The moment it was withdrawn, the infant soul would stop moving. However, once it was active again, the damned thing would be right in his face!
After the tenth time it happened, Prince Tricko urged the nirvana flame to attack to no avail. The prince was, nonetheless, excited that he was now able to move the fire with his will alone. He could even command it easily! Such prowess was a significant improvement. Before this, controlling the flame with origin power was impossible. Now, he could use his soul to galvanize more flame creation.
Due to this, he eventually calmed down.
He saw nothing but random souls all flowing forward into the darkness. Now and then, a white light would flash as another new soul appeared or disappeared.
'Where do they go? From where did they come? Why do they float so much faster than me? Why won't this one piss off!' Prince Tricko had no clue how to define his current circumstances. He never saw any new souls appearing, yet when his nirvana flame eradicated the surrounding souls, within a few breaths, the prince would find himself wholly surrounded as if he had never done anything.
He felt significant resistance whenever he attempted to move.
This feeling was like being held firmly in someone's hand. The most he could do was sit up with difficulty. Of course, his little buddy in orbit seemed oblivious and impervious to this rule. The prince had grown attached to this infuriating little guy. He was a real anomaly in this place, just like the prince.
It was his one and only companion in this timeless abyss.
After devouring countless souls and converting them instantly into pure soul power, Sylvester could feel some pressure weighing on him. This feeling was like the room getting smaller and the hand holding him previously tightening its grip. His soul light had now changed to pale blue, and he looked like an eight-year-old.
Though the prince didn't know much about the workings of the soul, he could infer that this was a good thing due to the circumstances.
As if the soul in orbit around him benefited from his effort, its golden glow was becoming ever brighter. Though he was mildly annoyed, the prince found this very intriguing.
What made this little fellow so different?
This soul was beginning to radiate an ancient feeling. This feeling was somehow familiar to the prince. The orbiting soul also seemed unaffected by the pressure Sylvester faced.
'Could it be that I've become too powerful for the laws of this plane to govern properly? What happens if I continue to disturb the natural order? Will I become golden as well?'
'Well, whatever, I'm willing to try anything, even if it means eternal damnation or even the realm's destruction! What could be worse than being one of those lifeless grey ghost babies again? Mindlessly waiting to be reincarnated as a hero. Oh wait, I know what would be worse! Drifting endlessly in this river of eternal boredom! '
Thinking like this, the prince didn't hesitate to make the Sky Fall Flame erupt into a massive explosion of emerald gaseous flames dancing intertwined. This time, he destroyed millions upon millions of souls as he pushed the enormous sea of fire to his absolute limits.
Sylvester was unsure how this would affect the karmic wheel of his fate, but could anything be worse than having your own and possibly even your baby brother's soul banished? At any rate, these were all victims' souls destroyed by fate's hands. Their futures had already been stolen from them!
However, how could he go down without a fight now that he had another chance? He would absorb their hope, dreams, and essence and use it to fight for survival! The only risk was recklessly burning his own brother's soul into nothingness.
Such a thing was, of course, impossible.
The prince wasn't worried about destroying Xavier's soul, for he believed the kid to be the embodiment of luck. Sylvester refused to believe that X was like the rest of these ghost babies, as he was likely the reason they had survived in some way. The prince was even less worried about his indestructible little buddy in orbit. It was as if his flame couldn't directly affect this little guy.
It even seemed to be benefitting him more than Sylvester!
"Fuck it. I'll burn this whole world down if I have to!" Sylvester's eyes briefly flashed with madness.
He chose to risk it all! With a thought, emerald flames raged endlessly in all directions. The space trembled slightly as a wild devouring force recklessly ravaged this realm. The prince's soul slowly changed from a pale blue to royal blue.
After a few breaths, he was pale gold.
After an hour, his soul glow became a deep golden color.
As the Skyfall Flames receded into the wayward soul, his soul form flickered before finally resting on a shining platinum-colored light.
The previously gold orbiter was now emitting a dense, bright, and exotic shine as if it were a pristine and refined diamond. A gust of ancient aura rushed out from the infant soul as its spirit form developed legs. It had evolved from ghost baby to ghost toddler but remained unchanged, and the ancient aura vanished as quickly as it came.
The toddler soul's glow returned to platinum, matching the ninth prince.
Sylvester sat in shock.
What in the world just happened?
Such powerful aura… and then nothing?
How anti-climatic was this?
