Chapter 8: Demon Hypothesis

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[Survival Rank has leveled up]

Survival Rank: 4

Conversion Points: 1032

Would you like to receive your reward?

(Yes) (No)

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One thousand and thirty-two. Ridiculous! The amount of resources required to sustain that significant number will be colossal. Is Sarconia even capable of providing for their own population, especially with the nobles fleeing, leaving a gap in government and infrastructure?

Attendance at the banquet was roughly around fifty nobles. If we include lesser nobles, guards and commoners, my estimation barely adds up to two-hundred or so. Making a mental note to track each death in the future, my thoughts shifted to Mr. Purple Eyes.

That man, Viscount Jerome, must be responsible for the incredible amount of points. In the short time since arriving in the capital, hundreds of faces have appeared in front of me, and exploring them in my memory, none caught my attention. Yet, this man with suspicious purple eyes exploded people and… demolished my left arm.

Staring down at my disfigured arm, my curious eyes were inspecting the replicating cells, slowly repairing the damage. The bleeding and pain had subsided, making me forget about half a limb missing. All that remains is my phantom limb, still echoing the gesture to crush the ceiling.

Sitting myself down and plopping backwards with arms spread, my eyes closed before reaching the ground.

[...??? hours later…]

"Demon!" I shouted as my eyes flew open, and my back sprung upwards.

In folklore, religion, mythology, or fiction, demons created contracts for one's soul. What if my ability stole the collection of souls in this demon's possession?

Simulating this hypothesis for a moment, the demon, if limited to one contract, may reduce a person's lifespan from one to ten years to eagerly absorb their soul. Taking the median of five years per soul contract, and estimating the Viscount Demon having one thousand souls based on my conversion points, puts him at roughly five thousand years old.

My wisdom in this era is shallow, but Sarconia supposedly the smallest kingdom, only holds a population somewhere in the thousands. The king referenced a great war, causing millions of casualties a thousand years ago. Just how many years would repopulating the Earth require, if ten billion people were transplanted to the Sea of Feelings?

The first Soul Eater may have arrived isolated, with not a single human soul in the world, did he or she feed off demons who existed during my time in history? The probability to successfully find a demon, much less kill a demon, must be very low. My best guess is at least ten Soul Eaters have existed.

The Viscount Demon's dying last words said I have 'his scent'. This scent must be another more powerful and ancient demon, perhaps he is the voice I heard when awakening to this world? Is it he who controls this dimension and screen demanding I receive rewards?

If only humans were erased from Earth, then wildlife must have survived and evolved. The giant panther looking creature with elephant skin must have mutated over the years into that appearance. Ten thousand years may not be enough time for evolution to be so drastic, unless something else influenced it…

Magic! If magic did not exist in my past, but now does in this present, there must be a cause to this effect. Does the Sea of Feelings relate to why mana flows in the world? Few people of Sarconia have exerted auras, perhaps only by the nobles, but between Dean, Harry, and I, that is one-hundred percent of ancients showing considerable aptitude for controlling mana.

Sweat dripped down my neck, I did not want to imagine it.

Are the souls in the sea being used to create magic in reality? Ten billion souls on Earth from my era being transformed into mana and pervading the world. How much mana could an entire soul produce? Worse, how many souls have been lost through the millennia? If souls equate to mana, which leads to miracles of magic, does that mean this console is merely an advanced version of the magic stones and artifacts in reality?

But worse yet, as a Soul Eater, I too interact with souls.

Am I a demon? My spine went cold, goosebumps rising on my arms.

Slowly extending my arm and facing my palm towards the floor, my mind imagined the end of a water hose, as I twisted the faucet valve. A stream of water sprays out of my hand and begins pooling on the floor near the glowing screen. I move to position the shine of the screen to light up my reflection and slowly peek into the puddle.

Unfamiliar silver strands of hair are the first to greet me, my eyebrows flickered, but I continue inching my head further…

No, no, no!

Staring back at me were fierce eyes, with irises the shade of storm clouds and a flicker of lightning in their depths.

Stepping back, while shaking my shoulders and arms to release the thought. It is too soon to call myself a demon, perhaps I'm an angel or a God. Soul Eater's have an exception, there must be one. I am a human, with a wife and daughter.

Yes, demons are birthed from hell. I was born in Texas.

Shaking off the morbid thoughts, I was curious how the demon's ability managed to fracture and annihilate my surroundings. The magic seemed instantaneous and collided with the first physical objects in the line-of-sight of the demon's eyes.

Eerily similar to my crushing ability, however the explosion seemed to appear from the inside, while my skill compacts from the outside. If his eye color represents the aura, what exactly are the attributes of purple?

In physics, the dynamics of an explosion or implosion are related to energy and pressure. An excess of energy will expand molecules, similar to a balloon filling with air. Removal of energy will contract molecules, comparable to releasing air from the balloon shrinking it back down to size.

In order to verify this theory, I needed a prop. With my left hand back to normal, I removed my damp shirt and set it on the floor, reminding myself of the previous embarrassment.

Starting with the crushing ability, I aimed my right hand at the target, slowly compacting the shirt into a ball as water was squished out. Next, imagining my hand inside of the shirt, detecting it shake slightly, I calmly expanded and stretched my fingers out slowly, hoping not to destroy my only clothes.

The cotton inside expanded as threads caught in the center strained and rustled, and then a crunching noise was emitted. Immediately pausing and extracting my imaginary hand, I approached the shirt and unfurled it with my fingers.

Inspecting the shirt on both sides, I spotted damage in a square formation a few centimeters in width arranged in the middle of the shirt. Rips were visible in the threads which were forcefully expanded.

Feeling that was enough testing, I put the shirt back on. This appeared to match the demon's ability, but what would this attribute be considered?

If Harry were here, he would probably say, "Spatial ability!"

My interest piqued, am I in the first stage? What are the next stages? Flight? Teleportation?

From science fiction books, teleportation is the result of breaking down the molecules into energy and transmitting them to a new location, then putting the pieces back together like a puzzle. The process seems too scary to try with my limited knowledge.

Instead, let's try flying once again. I have been limiting myself to an imaginary hand, but this time I will imagine my body as a whole construct that moves in the direction of my will.

My eyes close and in the darkness a faint silhouette appears. Mana is flowing around my body, filling every cell as the tingling sensation builds up. The silhouette gradually comes into focus, growing sharper, as I command the shape to slowly rise up.

Feeling my balance tip forward and flinching slightly, my feet gently lift off the ground.

I'm floating! Weightless and hovering above the ground, my thoughts push to climb higher. The screen slowly shrinks below me, as I halt in mid air.

Next… let's see if I can move laterally. Concentrating on the silhouette to gently float forward while holding steady at this altitude, the light below slowly slides behind me. Stopping for a moment, I then attempt to reverse back to my starting position.

Oops! Too strong, I yanked backwards, almost losing control before regaining focus and floating in place.

Now, the final and most important step, landing! Too much force and the impact will shock my legs, or worse, break them. If failing to land properly in battle, it would easily be game over.

In a moment of clarity, I focused mana into my legs, ankles, and feet while simultaneously releasing control of my floating silhouette.

Like being released from a theme ride, I dropped from the air. I prepared my legs for landing by slightly bending to distribute the force, increasing the mana flowing towards my feet.

Boom! The echo permeated outward as my feet crashed into the ground, while simultaneously tensing my muscles.

Success! I take a step forward to see if there is any pain. Whew, no pain! My heart beats faster as excitement overwhelms me.

After calming down for just a moment, the buzzing in the air quickly continued around the void. Seeing the screen shrink to a tiny spec in the distance, my dark figure flickered in and around the endless room.

An hour must have passed, as I felt regret for putting reality aside for too long. It was time to rejoin my friends.

Moving towards the screen and taking a deep breath, I chant, "Not today!"