Nature of the Soul..... Candy!

I woke up in the morning to a green head of hair nuzzling into my chest, and sighed.

How did this happen?

Well, it's quite simple. She snuck over to my room in the night and the rest is history.

I looked down at Snow, mumbling in her sleep and flicked her forehead, awakening her.

"Ow!" She got up with a start looking around jerkily.

"Why are you so mean? You were so nice to me last night~" She teased, draping herself over me.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't sexy. She certainly was. I could feel myself popping another semi, as her fingers traced my chest.

"A one time affair, I'm sure I mentioned." I said, pushing her off.

I pulled out a flask of mega seed juice and downed it all in one swig, as my logical side took over.

"And I meant it. Take a shower, and pack your things. You leave today."

"Why? You really liked it last night! Don't lie. I know you liked it."

"Attraction doesn't mean love, Snow." I simply replied, as a Sterilizer beam cleaned me up and administered a contraceptive to Snow.

"Don't get ahead of yourself."

"Asshole! It was my first time! You need to take responsibility!" She cried.

I gave her a deadpan look and snorted in amusement.

The gall of this bitch!

She's been alive for 800 years and she expects me to believe this was her first time.

Hah! Do I look like an idiot?!

"First, I highly doubt that. And second, there." A ray shot out from a portal by her nether regions as she felt something itch in her loins.

"I've restored your hymen. You're 'virgin' again." I scoffed, "Pull that scam with someone more gullible next time."

Getting dressed, I opened a portal to her world and ordered the computer to throw her out in an hour if she isn't gone already.

Gesturing to the portal I warned her of the same.

"You have an hour to get your affairs in order. Then you're out. So chop chop!" I gestured, as I left the room.

"Wait!" She insisted, "Please don't tell me to go! I can be useful."

"How? You gave up your immortality, you have no knowledge of science of craft. You can't fight or cook or clean or honestly anything. Makes me wonder what you did all those hundreds of years. Such a long life and you have nothing to show for it!" I said, and she was brough to tears.

"I know about psychic abilities! Geass! How that technolog-!" She replied.

"I already scanned your brain and body. I have a record of everything you know. Try again." I cut her off.

"My body, it's-"

"A novelty at best. Maybe you can bear me children, sure. But you are far from a good mother. Once again. Nothing."

"I will fight. I can learn. And ...and you can make me immortal again, can't you?! Besides, men like harems don't they?! Powerful men have powerful lusts! You can-"

"Just stop. Snow." I sighed, "Have a seat."

Her face lit up as hope bloomed in her eyes and she sat down on the bed.

I swiveled a chair over backwards and plopped down before her, looking her in the eyes.

"Do you know why I don't have a harem Snow? Because anyone else in my situation, any hot blooded young man? They'd have had a harem of beauties by now. But I don't. I have one wife. Just one. And while she has a massive chest and I find her cute, she is far from what the average guy would call a beauty. Nowhere near you, that's for certain.

And there's a reason for that." I pulled out the portal gun.

"This... it's a powerful tool. One I have booby trapped to all hell and back. I only trust my family with it. And even then only after they have earned it. No one else. Because as little as I care about lives...this tool, in the wrong hands could mean the death of all life on all worlds. Including my own. And that is something I can't stomach. Or allow.

I like to live after all. So much so that I risked getting this immortality at the cost of potentially becoming a puppet of Akasha.

Because I know a fate worse than that.

What can happen when this falls into the wrong hands.

Disaster is always just one mistake away. One. Mistake.

I could be wiped from existence by a higher being.

Call me paranoid, but that is it. Trust and loyalty is what I value most. And while it would be nice to have a harem, I care less about my pleasure than about the potential loss of my precious new life.

With just one misplaced instance of trust. One arrogant wife running off to do her own thing. Or just an airheaded one playing around.

One. Single. Mistake.

You, Snow, I don't trust. At all. I don't com even trust my own kids enough to give them their own portal gun yet. They use their voice recognition accessible, genetically encoded comm links to teleport around with the ship's stationary portal gun. Just so I can keep an eye on them. Make sure they don't mess it all up.

Because my life may be put in danger.

So don't take this the wrong way, but until I am beyond reproach, until I am an absolute god, I have no intentions of having multiple wives or a harem.

That's just how it is, the nature of the Omniverse and it's many, many dangers. And that's final." I said, getting up.

I slid the chair back into my desk and adjusted my collar as I walked to the door when she spoke up again.

"So once you're a god, if I can change into a better person....can I be with you?" She asked.

Sharp one isn't she?

Already caught a loophole in my words.

I smiled.

I like a sharp wit.

"Sure." I said, "If I still want it too. Though, I doubt it. Portal's right there. Get out in time." I warned one last time and walked away.

.

Getting to my workshop, I met Riley who handed me a box of candy.

"Pez?" I asked.

"Soul." She replied.

I nodded.

"And you couldn't get anything else?"

Riley looked at me like a shell shocked veteran.

"That man.....is the most annoying creature I have had the misfortune of meeting."

Oh boy, Urahara Kisuke really did a number on her huh?

He was always my favourite character because of exactly that.

But I suppose there's a difference between watching it and experiencing it first hand.

The same way tsunderes are cute in concept, but in real life they are just abusive assholes.

Yanderes are much better anyways!

I popped open the lid, pulled out an orange candy, the size of a fingernail and examined the surface with a scan.

It was interesting to say the least.

Almost no deformities on the surface. So much so that if the candy was the size of the sun, the biggest bump on it would be the size of an electron.

Supernaturally smooth.

I'm surprised more people don't choke on them with that friction burn.

It's structure was some sort of 4th dimensional semi-stable lattice, pulsing with a nigh imperceptible energy.

The only reason I found it was because it created the barest impression on the psychosphere.

"Hmm....so souls and minds do have some connection.

Souls impose some sort of function on psychic forces when they interact, but what that function is, I don't know." I muttered.

"Like dark matter and gravity?" Riley suggested.

"Kinda. But far more subtle. Three months ago, I wouldn't have spotted it.

But given that there's a soul stone and a separate mind stone maybe there is some fundamental difference in properties between the two that requires a distinction like that. I'm thinking more like waves in the ocean. The mind is the ocean, and the existence of the waves is proof of the soul but not a determinant of it's position or nature." I said, telekinetically pulling out a meat puppet and shoving the candy down it's throat as I connected to it's biochip.

Suddenly it jerked, bobbing up and down as if to say something.

Using the nano swarm I stitched ot a mouth and speaker system as it cried out.

"What the fuck?!"

"Language!" Riley scolded, pinching the jelly bean like creature.

It looked at her with a deadpan look and repeated.

"What the flim flam jimmy jam is this shit?!" I snorted in laughter and Riley just sighed.

What a funny little guy!

"I am supposed to be in a human host! Not some...what is this thing? Animal? Creature?" It continued, as Riley petted it's head gently, noting down the physiological data on it's condition using her power.

"A meat puppet. Used for testing purposes. What about you? What are you?"

"I am Jaku, a Modified Soul! I would say pleasure to meet you but not in this body!" The meat puppet huffed.

From what I know, these mod-souls are made from condensed reiryoku and exert a spiritual pressure on the psychosphere when they exist, the expression of the pressure depending on the vessel they inhabit.

If someone swallows them, they can eject the astral form of the person from their body.

But the question arises, is the astral form the soul or just a component of it? And if it is indeed just a component of the soul, how many components are there exactly?

Hmm..... important questions, for later. For the Vaykunth Lok System I just need bulk data, not the finer details.

Not with any urgency at least.

Because it doesn't matter how many components a soul has, as long as my system can just pull them all out wholesale to preserve them all.

I looked at the little jelly bean and poked him.

"Rude aren't you? After I gave you a body too. Or would you prefer to be in pill form for the rest of eternity?" I teased, opening the candy can lid threateningly.

It's proverbial face went aghast as it began to plead for mercy.

"No! Not a pill again! It's okay! This body is fantastic! I have no complaints at all!" It immediately changed it's tune.

"Well too late. Good bye~" I said, and nodded to Riley.

"Kill him."

She smiled, and poked him using her power, causing his body to contract and implode on itself, splattering everywhere. All the while my sensors were on him, scrying for any and all changes in the closed system.

A small strand of energy, reiatsu I believe, escaped the body and dissipated into nothingness as a small orange candy rolled out of the body's mess.

I picked it up and placed it in a petri dish.

"Riley, the data." I ordered.

Riley extended her hand and I grabbed it as our meshes intertwined, with her sending me data from her biochip.

Why the ritual? Why not just rip the data from my daughter's head?

Because she's my daughter and that's a violation of her privacy.

And I'm big on not doing that. Not since I saw her deal with aunt flo using her power when I ripped data from her biochip last time.

No dad wants to see their kid do that.

(A/N : This is a reference to a line MC said in an earlier chapter where he found out that Riley had used her surgery skills to stop her puberty and menstruation cycles aka periods. This is what MC saw. So get your heads outta the gutter. It's not what you think or anything perverted.)

It's like walking in on your son jacking it.

Except with guts spilling onto the floor and a whole lot more blood.

It's fucking scarring.

Teaches you to knock real fast.

It sure taught me to ask for permission before taking data off my kids' biochips.

Hence the handshake method.

Kids deserve some privacy and I deserve to preserve their innocence in my memories.

I looked it over and adjusted my sensors again.

"Alright. Test 1 over. So killing through physical trauma results in small emission of this new energy, called reiatsu or spiritual particle or soul particles." I said, reaching into a portal.

Pulling out an amulet, I put it on and clicked it open, revealing the Time Stone.

"Let's see if that was the mod-soul or the meat puppet's soul that just died."

With a flick of my wrist, a green enrgy flowed out from the stone, forming a ringlet around my finger as time flew backwards and the meat puppet's body reformed.

But it's soul didn't come back as it flopped dead in the chamber it was kept.

I picked up the candy from the petri dish and reinserted it into the dead meat puppet's mouth.

Let's see if it will revive the puppet too!

The body jerked back alive as a grating voice screamed.

"You goddamn psychopaths! Absolute nutters! Why would you kill me? Why the actual fu-"

I connected to it's brain chip and instantly killed it again.

Once more, the candy slid out via some mechanism straight fromt he puppet's mouth.

Enchantment? Magic? Or as they call it seals and kido?

To be determined.

The candy itself looked unblemished as always. Not a spot on it.

Weird.

Checking the data again, I found no emission of reiatsu this time.

"No reiatsu emission here. Test 2 over.

So the pill can't revive someone and neither can the Time Stone. The pill can only substitute the soul in the candy for the soul in the body. Of there is no soul in the body, the candy soul can take over that body while the candy is inside, creating a facsimile of life but not truly.

Interesting..." I muttered, flicking my wrist again as the Time Stone worked it's wonders and the meat puppet's body stitched back together.

"Maybe we should destroy the pill and see what happens?" Riley suggested.

I patted her head lovingly, and she chirped happily, making a cute noise.

"You read my mind champ." I said, picking up the pill candy again and this time using telekinetic force, I stuffed the candy into the meat puppet's mouth. As soon as it was swallowed, some sort of force expelled from the candy, and I could feel it seep through my telekinetic hold on the pill and into the body as it came back alive.

I wonder what mechanism it uses to hijack bodies?

Was it another spell?

Maybe I should start with magic too, so I can learn about it.

I looked at the meat puppet and smiled encouragingly.

I waited and watched for it to say something but it had grown wise now.

It didn't speak a word.

I didn't speak a word.

A pregnant silence hung in the air for a solid minute.

"Please do-"

I crushed him, with a big smile on my face, relishing his broken shriek.

Ah! How pleasant!

Is this why people watch r/perfectlycutscreams?

I think I get it now. It's fun!

Under my telekinetic grip, the pill crumbled to dust and a jet of reiatsu emission blew out from the body slamming into the forcefield before sieving through it as it dissipated.

"Hmmm...so the forcefield does have the ability to hinder it's movements, it just needs a touch up for it to work. Alright. I think I have enough data on the pill.

But just in case lets do a couple more?" I suggested.

"Sure!" Riley agreed.

.

Later that day, as I finished the final update on the now perfected Vaykunth Lok System, I wiped the sweat off my forehead, and put down my tools plopping into a chair for some well-deserved rest.

Looking at the system now, I had a hard choice to make.

Better forcefield to protect the respawn point at the cost of hindering souls or leaving a vulnerability in the system via one singular port for recovering souls.

On the one hand a better forcefield would be greater protection from most things in general, even soul attacks with my knowledge.

On the other hand, it would slow down the recovery process in case of a respawn if the recovered soul had to be rerouted through proper secure channels.

A fatal delay against some particularly nasty kinds of dangers, especially where we're headed.

Magicians had travelers and elder gods that could snuff us out with a thought.

But a more direct approach to respawning would mean a weaker forcefield.

Maybe like a hole to recover dead souls quicker.

It inevitably boiled down to this.

Defense or regeneration?

And I had to min-max this stat distribution.

Choices....choices.....

Maybe a Forcefield Partition System for an array of modular forcefields?

That might just wo-

Just then, a portal opened up before me and Saraswati dropped out from within, one arm short and bruised all over.

She looked like she had taken quite a beating.

And the energy signature on her....it was the power cosmic.

A lot of it too. Too much for a mere Thanos to wield, especially in his weakened state.

No. This was the work of a Celestial.

A celestial. Related to Thanos?

No one but Arishem could have done this.

Arishem The Judge, the strongest Celestial in the MCU.

That can only mean one thing.

I immediately checked on Earth for the Eternals, and found none.

Heh!

It's as I thought then.

Thanos got his ass kicked and ran home crying to mommy.

And now his big brother is back on the block, prowling for the one who beat his little Thanos down!

But he made one big mistake.

He put his hands on my daughter instead of dying quietly like the insect he was.

I cracked my knuckles.

Now it's payback time.

And...Well, today was a beautiful day for a Titan hunt.

"Papa....." Saraswati croaked weakly, extending her one hand to me.

"Papa is here." I kissed her forehead, "Don't worry. Papa is here. Everything is gping to be a-okay. Just tell me where he is and Papa will go and kick his ass!"

"Papa....he wasn't alone.....he...." her voice buzzed and crackled, "He had friends....brother....I killed two, three maybe. Then the weak lady.....with the shiny weapons. She called a big man. Celestial.... I'm sorry Papa.... I'm sorry."

"Shush... it's okay. You found him and that's already a great thing. Papa is very proud of you." I praised.

"Now tell me, where is he?" I asked.

She giggled eerily with her voicebox malfunctioning, and said one last word before she fainted.

"....Vormir."

Fuck!

___________________

The extra chapter for 200 powerstones as promised.

And it clocks in at a hefty 3k words!

Next extra chapter at 400 powerstones!

MC finds out how souls work and perfects his respawn machine.

Saraswati finds Thanos and like Genos, gets her ass handed to her on a silver platter.

Some things never change huh?

Next time, the soul stone and Pietro's choice.

Which is really just MC's choice.

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