Returning to the Kingdom

Soul and Orochi rose into the air as Soul took delight in watching everybody fall around in the box. He hadn't altered gravity at all, so if Orochi was to fly straight into the air, everyone would fall backwards. "Hey, Orochi! Let me show you where we have to go!" Soul yelled to Orochi, trying to accompany the wind that would push their words apart.

"No need to yell," Orochi responded, looking straight ahead, not at Soul. "There may be wind, but I'm a dragon. I have improved hearing." He explained as Soul nodded. Orochi's voice was loud enough as a dragon that it surpassed the force of the wind.

"Ah, I see," Soul said to himself before continuing with his original question. "Would you like me to guide the way? After all, I know how to get to my own Kingdom." Soul pointed out. "Yeah, if you wouldn't mind," Orochi responded as Soul flew ahead of him. "After all, I have no idea where the hell we're going." Orochi pointed out.

"Don't worry about it! Just follow me!" Soul replied, turning around to face Orochi as he flew. The pair continued to have small talk as they moved. Soul made sure that he didn't forget about the Telekinetic box.

They had been flying for a solid ten minutes at a speed of 120 kilometres, and Soul turned around, looking for the Kingdom that Aaron had set up. In the distance, he saw a decently-sized wall and a familiar building layout. "Orochi! It's time to slow down! We've almost reached our Kingdom!" Soul yelled at Orochi, grabbing his attention. "Alright! Remember, no need to yell!" Orochi responded, looking down towards the Kingdom. "Is it not quite small to be a Kingdom? Surely it's meant to have land of its own that you can call yours, right?" Orochi pointed out, causing Soul to chuckle as they began descending.

"We've made a deal with the human Kingdom. They're helping us set u a tournament, and the King was more than happy to let us use his land. Maybe it was out of fear." Soul explained. "Aaron Stone made a deal with him while he was in control. Definitely wasn't a fair deal, from what I could tell, but it was a deal made out of desperation on the King's side, so what could he do about it?" Soul continued, guiding Orochi's descent to the ground. The dragon landed around fifty metres outside of the city walls, but that didn't stop people from coming out to look at him. This included Sciat, Seph, None, Clair and Jude. Everyone except for Crystet.

"Ah, so you're finally back!" Sciat exclaimed, walking towards them. "After that fit of rage, and the fact that you were gone for more than a few hours, led me to believe that you weren't coming back. After all, it isn't like you or Aaron to not get a job done fast. I see you brought some guests with you as well?" Sciat jokingly continued, taking a look at the passengers. "Assorted Beastpeople, and...is that another version of you, Soul?" Sciat asked with an incredulous expression lining his face. "No, that isn't," Soul responded as he touched the ground. "It's a Corrupted Soldier. Some guy tried to invade my mind, and after being abandoned by his god, or master, whatever way you want to put it, he realised that he's much better off on my side and decided to become my first ever Corrupted Soldier." Soul explained, creating a set of black stairs identical to the ones he had made earlier so that everyone could get down. However, this time it had handrails, so they didn't fall off.

"Well, that's something. Any other information you want to tell me before I find out for myself? Besides the dragon?" Sciat asked, causing Soul to sigh. "Oki, mind getting over here?" Soul yelled to him as Oki landed on the ground beside the stairs. "I was already on my way," Oki told the pair before Soul pointed his finger up. "Mind lifting up your shirt to show Sciat the damage?" Soul asked, prompting Oki to use his left hand to lift up his shirt.

The Corruption had spread from his chest to the entire front and back of his shirt. A little bit of it was creeping up towards his neck. "Mind explaining this to me?" Sciat asked, taking this rather calmly. "Well, when we were travelling, I was blindsided by a monster, and it bit into my side, lifting me up. It was a centipede-like monster, so it still had a back half. It used its rear end to slam Oki into a tree. The tree's bark pierced straight through his heart. I tried to heal him, but the splinters couldn't be removed WITHOUT killing him, and I can't revive people. I thought Oki was going to die. So in a moment of emotion, a crack appeared on my arm. It was like the one from when I was arguing with Crystet. A small amount of the stuff inside my body fell out into his open wound, healing him."

Soul then followed this up with a demonstration of what he meant. "With this form, I have no blood. Just this." Soul stated, stabbing his finger into his palm, creating a decently-sized hole. He extended his palm to the side, letting Corrupted Essence fall out of the wound, making sure it didn't hit anyone. The cut almost immediately sealed back up under Soul's intentions, and the Corrupted Essence crawled up his leg. It entered his body by absorbing itself into his chest. "It's similar to how I created the Corrupted Soldier. Except with Noctar, the Corrupted Soldier, he ingested my Corruption, allowing him to truly become one with the Corruption. Oki will be able to toggle the Corruption on and off once he becomes Corrupt, but he won't follow any orders that I tell the Corrupted Soldiers. After all, he isn't one of them." Soul finished, leaving a somewhat concerned expression on Sciat's face.

"Alright, I believe you. I don't think you'd randomly Corrupt someone or something, so I won't blame you for keeping Oki alive. Thank you. Now, there's one problem." Sciat responded, causing Soul to look confused. "Hm? What's the issue?" Soul asked.

"What the hell are we going to do with the dragon?"