Soul Training

Dah sat cross legged in the empty room he had been using for soul training. His brain was hurting from the constant strain he was putting on himself but he knew had to continue. Soul training, a secret method of strengthening ones souls, secrets were closely guarded by demon kind. As they were the only race known that could absorb souls many nations had taken an interest and attempted to figure out ways they could do it themselves but had ultimately all failed.

"Soul training, more like soul breaking' Dah thought rather grimly.

Raphael had explained it like this, "Essentially when a demon kills someone they receive their soul, but this is just the first step in the process. After receiving the soul the new master will receive some small portion of its power but to truly receive its full power you must make the soul submit to you. This is different from souls that were freely given such as Sora's. Her soul has already willfully submitted to you which means you have received its full power."

Dah having heard this questioned, "Since I can force a soul to submit and receive its power then why does a given soul have more power then a soul that I can take?"

"An excellent question.", Raphael had said, "One that I do not have an answer for. At best all we can do is speculate, however we believe that a soul that has been forced to submit will lose some of its power due to the pressure it will receive to make it crack. Forcing a soul to submit isn't always a simple task. Therefore souls that are not forced to submit have their full power that can be utilized."

Dah had nodded that explanation having satisfied him. His first soul had been one of the most difficult. Looking into his realm, the place within his mind where his soul power was stored, he was able to see the souls of all of the villagers that had opposed him.

Not only was he able to recognize the original owners but he found himself intrigued at the way they moved and behaved. The souls were shaped like little glowing orbs, and the stronger the soul was the brighter it appeared. The realm within his mind was shaped like a globe made of a one way mirror. He could see in, however the souls he had taken within him could not see out. The souls initially had begun trying to break out of his globe but finding they could not they seemed to just huddle together.

'I wonder if they know whats going on, and if they're scared', Dah mentally shrugged. It wasn't his problem. His only problem was forcing them to submit. To break a soul he initially began with one, using his realm he isolated one of the dimmer and therefore weaker ones and began probing it with his consciousness. The other souls seeing one of their comrades taken and isolated began moving frantically in a fruitless effort to help. Satisfied that the other souls would be unable to assist Dah began the next step towards submitting the soul a process known as the battle of the souls.

Breaking a soul was done by probing attacks, these attacks were done by searching the surface of a soul for weak spots or cracks, and mental attacks. A mental attack could be completed by tempting or hurting the soul. An example Raphael had used in his explanation was if Dah had killed a brother and sister together, he could describe to the older brother in detail the way he had killed his sister. This type of attack would further weaken his souls defenses leaving him vulnerable to the probe. Once the probe had done enough damage the soul would shatter and then be absorbed into Dah's realm

It was a time intensive process as he slowly probed his way into the soul, looking for cracks and fissures. If there were none he would have to create them. Mentally restraining the soul he kept probing until he found his first crack. Cracks and fissures appeared on a souls surface due to a variety of reasons. Things such as sins from their past life, undealt with bitterness or anger, and previous traumas all could play a part for why a soul was cracked and therefore weakened.

This soul used to belong to a man named Tsuyoshi, it seemed that in life he had been greedy and was a petty thief. Dah managed to enter this crack by making empty promises of gold, livestock, and land if he were permitted to enter his soul. Tsuyoshi a harsh negotiator eventually had agreed.

Using the crack as a first step he kept applying pressure and negative energy until the crack started growing larger and then began spiderwebbing. The Tsuyoshi soul now desperate to escape this onslaught started wriggling but Dah managed to keep it restrained while still continuing his probing and mental attacks. After continuing his efforts for nearly an hour the soul finally shattered and its power was absorbed into Dah's realm strengthening it.

After shattering his first soul the rest became gradually easier and he began spending less and less time on them, eventually even moving up to submitting two then even three souls at a time. This change in speed was due to the souls he had managed to submit as well as the fact that Dah was getting better at the art of temptation and deceit. The more souls that he had made submit the stronger his realm was and the stronger his realm was the stronger and faster his probing and mental attacks would be. However this last soul and the one he was working on today was proving to be difficult.

When he had initially begun singling the souls out he was working his way up weaker to stronger. The strongest one in the group was a brilliant light that shined as a star would in the night sky. This soul he knew matter of factly before he had even touched it must have been the priest.

The priest, a man by the name of Mikkel, soul was the smoothest he had yet encountered and was holding strong against the probes and mental attacks that Dah was emitting. The first day he had attempted to break his soul for over two hours while constantly being resisted, the soul even seeming to emit mirth at his efforts frustrated Dah to no end.

However after four days straight of the onslaught Dah had sensed a shift in the mood of the soul. It was no longer resisting as well as it used to and its energy levels seemed to be fluctuating.

Conversing with Mikkel through his previous soul, Dah had finally discovered what was making his soul so resilient and therefore the best way to break his defenses.

His unwavering faith in the Gods.

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