12 The Man Who Left Us (Pt. 1)

It had been quite some time now that Morrigan had been away from the school. She couldn't help but release a small sigh.

Collecting souls was such a tiresome job.

Other than being mind-numbingly boring, the souls also constantly chatted amongst themselves. It was hardly what you would expect from souls.

At the start there were always the same reactions. Shock, disbelief, anger, despair, acceptance. Most of the time the reactions happened in that order. Though she likes to mess with them at the early stages they somehow always managed to overcome the reality of their deaths and surprisingly managed to make idle conversation that was, in all honesty, quite annoying.

Or maybe they didn't overcome it. Maybe they tried to escape it by pretending everything was well.

Whatever the case, the small orb-like souls soon bounced back and became talkative to the point where Morrigan wanted to pull out her ears. Not that it would have done anything. The souls didn't communicate through conventional means and transmitted their words directly to the minds of those around them.

She couldn't turn that off either. She had to suffer through it. She hated her job. It didn't even come with any benefits. And all that was only on good days.

Days like these were different.

It was different because right now she stood high over a large battlefield, looking down at the carnage below from the sky.

This was the type of scene she saw more often. She was heavily affiliated with battlefields. Taking care of souls who died of other causes was a side-job. In reality she was mainly responsible for deaths regarding wars, famine and other things that caused large-scale casualties.

She hated that fact because it meant she always had to deal with the stink of blood, sweat, piles of rotting corpses and all the other little disgusting details that happened when large amounts of dead bodies were found.

Also, the souls of the fallen warriors were even more annoying than others, constantly spouting curses at the enemy soldiers' souls and generally pissing her off with their perverted remarks toward her.

Well, she did punish them by burning their souls for a few seconds. But the fact remains that they brought down her mood.

She didn't really care about them. If it was up to her they would all be wandering about aimlessly until they became evil spirits or such. But making sure they entered the afterlife properly was an important duty.

Again, she didn't really care about the mortals but if her husband found out she wasn't doing her job properly then he would likely scold her if he knew she was being negligent in her duties. Well, that was only if he was here, which he wasn't. Still, she didn't like doing things that would make him disappointed in her if she could help it.

Of course she couldn't do all this alone. She did have help, the countless little crows who she sent to collect souls.

She was more of a supervisor. She herself didn't have the time to collect all the souls but she did have to make sure they got to the afterlife safely. Morrigan had just gotten done sending the last batch of souls away via a large portal when she heard a flutter of fabric arrive beside her.

"Mother, are you done yet? Let's finish quick and go back, I want a rematch with Fen." A young, childish voice called out to her. It was a soft, adorable voice that was pleasant to listen to.

Morrigan smiled warmly at the young girl who appeared beside her, her beautiful face suddenly seeming a lot kinder and happier than others would have thought possible of the woman.

The young girl, like Morrigan, wore a simple black dress that contrasted well with their snow-white hair and fair skin.

The girl's small, delicate face and luminous azure eyes alone was enough to capture the heart of anyone.

" I've just finished, actually," Morrigan told her. " We can leave anytime now, little one. You'll get your duel soon."

The little girl nodded impassively. Her voice and face did not match the maturity with which she composed herself. "Good. I would like to try out a new move against her and she's a great sparring partner." This did little to accurately describe the relationship between the two, which to Morrigan's dismay was actually quite good. The two were like sisters, but Fenris and Morrigan herself had never really gotten along.

Not that she got along well with most of her Godly colleagues.

Morrigan smiled faintly. " Better than mommy?" She asked

Her daughter, Grace, agreed without hesitation. "You hold back too much against me. I can't grow fighting you, not at all. Fen is much better." She declared. A pause. She then added, "But I obviously love Mother more. Okay?"

Morrigan grinned. " Little sweet talker. Mommy loves my little Grace, you know? You're the best daughter anyone could have. Now, let's head to the city. " She stroked her daughter on the head, causing her to frown indignantly. The past few days have been tiring and boring.

Or maybe not as boring as usual, come to think of it. Weren't there a few Immortals chasing some humans some time ago? Morrigan had sensed their oncoming deaths and was curious about what caused that sort of development but she couldn't investigate as she was preoccupied here.

Hopefully Loki listened to her and went to collect the souls of those four in her stead. The story would be an interesting one, to be sure.

Morrigan snapped her fingers.

After several seconds a streak of light flashed and a large boat could be seen sailing through the skies. An instant later the boat arrived in front of the two.

Obviously Morrigan and her daughter wouldn't be flying all the way back. It would take a few days to get back and only an idiot would choose to fly all that way instead of using some type of transportation. This wasn't because they couldn't, however. But if one could travel in luxury, why would they choose to instead endure the elements?

The two entered the boat, eating the fruits laid out on the table that rested by their seats.

***

After some time had passed, the sky suddenly darkened and became grey. There was a sudden chill in the air that had nothing to do with the temperature.

Bang!!

The flying boat swayed as if it bumped into something.

They heard a few of the windows to the rooms below deck crack and bursts of violent winds made the Morrigan and the little girls air flutter wildly.

Accompanied by the sound of wind there were countless red sparks of lightning spread throughout the sky, scattering in all directions

In the clouds that they rid upon, one could see a serpentine figure moving about. It was quite large, at least a few miles long.

Neither of the two were worried at all. In fact, Grace looked interestedly at the serpent-like demon beast that surrounded them, her azure colored eyes flashing with excitement as if she had just discovered a new toy to play with.

A loud roar echoed throughout the sky, the clouds parting at the sheer force.

An instant later the demon beast revealed its face, its eyes glowing red with malice.

The beast was indeed quite large. it wasn't simply long, but its body was massive to the extent that it could possible coil around a mountain and crush it. It was a winged creature that probably dominated the skies in the area.

Morrigan wondered why they didn't notice it until now. Something that size was hard to miss.

The beast looked at them with evil intent, demonic energy radiating off of it like a dark miasma.

"Mother…." Grace began.

Morrigan laughed. " Go ahead, dear."

Instantly the girl jumped off the boat. Her tiny frame flew up at the beast until it arrived in front of his face.

"I suppose I'll have you test out my new move before Fen." Her posture was proud and straight with both hands at her back, calmly meeting the monster's gaze. "Don't worry, if you survive I will heal your injuries and take you as my mount. You won't come out of this with nothing." As always during battle Grace became arrogant yet serene. It was as if losing was an impossibility in her mind.

She was like her father that way. This confidence was a large part of her strength. To those she knew far outclassed her she would only consider them a stepping stone to greater heights. But those below or at her level, none would enter her eyes as a threat.

Morrigan called out to her. " Grace, dear, this is a demon beast. It cant understand you."

The girl raised a brow. "Indeed?" Having been sheltered for many years she didn't know much about the outside world. She had only ever know old and wise magical beasts and didn't understand how a creature of this level could be too stupid to even understand her words. She looked at the demon beast with an apologetic expression. " Sorry, but I don't want an unintelligent mount."

After saying so, the little girl raised her hand and an ethereal azure light bled up into the sky. She swung the hand down gently and after seveal seconds a line of blue smoke-like energy appeared that divided the sky in two.

The body of the massive beast was hit, split in half, and slowly turned into tiny fragments that scattered in the wind. Not a trace of it was left.

At its death the weather cleared up once again and it was as if nothing had ever occurred.

The battle was over before the beast could even begin to attack.

The entire thing was anti-climactic and any onlookers would be disappointed at the spectacle that was far less exciting than what would have been hoped for. As if nothing had happened, the girl returned to her seat beside her mother. She let out a small yawn.

Morrigan arched a brow at her. " What was that?" She asked, thinking of the power she felt from it. Although it looked simple, in reality, there must have been countless operations working in concert to create that effect.

Indeed, this little girl of hers was a genius when it came to combat. Suddenly displaying a new skill like the one from before was common for her. Though maybe not original, most of these moves she learned, they were all self-taught and this alone was amazing.

"Absolute dissolution," Grace replied. "Aunt Mercury, I hear, does something similar when creating meals, just in the opposite direction. She fuses matter. I simply thought about breaking it down." The girl hung her head with a sigh. " But it's imperfect. I'm not sure of the effect on beings above my own level of current existence and I can't seem to get it to work on anything but the physical realm for now. "

Morrigan looked the casual explanation with some bafflement. Total Dispersion was a very unique and difficult technique that not many beings were capable of, not even most Gods. Although this was not true absolute dissolution that she displayed, it was still a form of disintegration which would turn physical matter into particles that would be near-impossible to rejoin. Were a God on the same plane of transcendence as her to be hit by this, it would instantly destroy their bodies as there was almost no defense against it.

And if taken to the true extreme? Even their Divine Soul would be destroyed. Something like that she had only ever known her husband capable of.

Morrigan, with her level of transcendence, would not be affected by this. Gods were beings that escape attacks of this nature if they stood on a "higher level of existence". This is because such powers were messing with the very foundations of reality itself. It's not as simple as inciting a flame or slowing the movement of atoms to create cold. This broke matter, and only beings born of Chaos should possess this kind of ability.

For example, it took Mercury many, many years to achieve accomplishment in the manipulation of matter. Even then she could only do so on very small scales. Although she was not a Primordial, she was still close enough to Creation as a True God that she could learn how to manipulate matter in slight ways, like for creating items such as food. And it was an automated skill, too, somewhat. Taking her memory of its structure and taste and recreating it in reality.

Tearing matter apart was easier, certainly, but Grace, as young as she was, doing something like that with seemingly little effort still left Morrigan stunned. She was not a being of Chaos, her Grace. Nor was she born of Creation. Morrigan, in spite of being on a similar level to True Gods through the special methods used in her advancement to Godhood ages ago, was also not of Creation nor Chaos.

She understood this must not come from her.

Morrigan gave Grace a look of consideration. "Your father was capable of erasing even souls. You possess a lesser version of this, but you can likely grow to his level too someday."

The girl turned to face her mother. She smiled patiently. "I am not interested in hearing about that man." Her words were slow and sure. There was no love or hate at all in her tone one way or the other. Only an utter disregard.

Morrigan felt her smile stiffen. " Honey, we talked about this, haven't we? Your father-"

"Didn't want you," Grace cut her off. Or me, she added silently. Emotionlessly. "That's all that matters."