Little Care

Achilles' mind stopped working once he felt the familiar soft and sweet sensation inside his mouth.

Sia held onto his cheeks and forcefully put her tongue inside his mouth, making him swallow the pill.

After that, she slowly parted her lips from his but not before licking them a little. The two took a while to calm down their breaths, Sia then directed her gaze at him with the same smile as before.

"Would you please stop doing that?" Achilles grumbled in annoyance while touching his lips.

"...You said so but you always look so content whenever we kiss. If you be an honest boy then this big sister would let you do this more often you know." Sia licked her lips while eyeing Achilles in a seductive manner, she seemed like she wanted to eat him whole.

"I-" Achilles wanted to respond to her remarks but suddenly felt his essences pool get replenished completely. He also felt a tranquil feeling inside his mind that made him calm down considerably.

"What did you make me swallow?"

"It's a pill that helps restore essences and the other helps cure the soul's damages." Sia explained calmly.

"...How did you know?" Achilles asked after a short moment of pondering.

"Once you're proficient in essences manipulation and strong enough it'd be easier to know about this stuff."

"Why are you helping me?" Achilles had no idea what drove this woman to help him to such an extent.

"Just consider it a little care for my favorite toy."

'...I don't like that creepy smile.' Achilles silently thought with half wariness half...excitement?

"...I appreciate your help and I'm fine now so you should leave."

"Shouldn't you be telling me what made you end up like that first?" Sia clearly had no intention of leaving until he tells her what happened.

'To all the men out there...I advise you to never get involved with an obsessive woman...'

Achilles' memories started coming back to a few moments ago, when he was on the verge of eternal damnation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Just a little more...' Achilles mustered all of his remaining strength to walk to the soul that seemed to be so faraway.

His body was badly injured and he couldn't see anything at all. He felt like he was about to crumble into dust, the only way he was able to walk to the right direction was by relying on the worms' vague senses.

After pushing his soul to work beyond what was humanly possible, he had finally reached where he needed to be.

...But just Achilles was about to claim his reward.

Crack!

[No!]

His right hand was mere inched away from the orb when the last of the Mindscape crumbled...and he fell into the white abyss.

...And something was left on the soul.

Achilles felt his mind start getting blank as the orb got further and further away from him.

The fall had lasted for a mere split second...or perhaps an entire lifetime had passed as he fell through the empty white abyss.

Whatever the case it was, Achilles had failed miserably...and just as he thought this was the peaceful ending...

...The worst had yet to come.

[AAARRGGHHH!!!] A nerve-wracking brain assaulted Achilles, snapping him out of his trance.

He sensed that his body was slowly disintegrating, like how a paper was gradually being burned by a flame.

His screams resounded throughout the white void for what seemed like an eternity...or maybe an instant.

Until Achilles felt that most of himself had been burned off completely and that he was about to die horribly.

...He suddenly sensed something.

A part of himself that was near the boar's soul — a dirt worm was there...and it was dying like Achilles.

Even though the pain he experienced had clouded most of his thoughts, he instinctively knew that this was his one and only chance!

[Devour!] Achilles muttered with a weak voice and like a response to his call, the worm shrieked madly and then began eating the dissipating soul.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Blergh!] Achilles woke up with a terrified scream and he vomited out some blood, then he started calming down as his eyes returned to their usual black color.

He clutched his chest and head while trying to recall his memory. After a while, he breathed out a sigh of relief while muttering:

"Somehow I'm still alive...feels like a dream."

Achilles then examined his body as he tried to look for any changes and realized he had grown much stronger than before. But due to his empty essences pool he could not test out any of his newly increased strength.

Although it was great news that he had become much stronger, what worried him was the matter regarding his soul.

Achilles could feel that it was critically damaged as his mind felt at the end of its tether, almost like he had overloaded his own brain's capacity and it was fried out.

Just as he was attempting to check his Mindscape, a sound of knocking appeared behind the door which drew his attention to it.

'Guest? I don't know anybody in this city.'

He was planning to ignore the call but soon realized that the person behind the door was not going away any time soon. He reluctantly collected the corpse on the floor, put something to cover the bloodstain up, and sprayed some deodorant in the air. Finally, he wiped away the blood on his mouth thoroughly.

After that he put on his hoodie while walking to the door and opened it up, the individual behind it made him taken aback a little.

"...Sia?"

And the rest was history.