Chapter 165: Phylactery

After our talks with the Emperor and his disgusting advisor, we made our way back to Vakra's lab...

Isabella hugged me and sighed.

"I'm so angry!! That man wants to do horrible things to me, Mizik..." Isabella said.

"I know, but he won't succeed. Once Vakra finishes helping us, they won't be able to stand against our might."

"I hope so..."

Truthfully, I could understand if she was skeptical.

Every time we had gained significant power, something always arrived to show us how weak we truly were...

Gaining legendary swords and level 150 was met with the shadow dragon... Who traumatized us and broke our spirit.

Becoming Enforcers was met by Difar himself.

The man who utterly decimated us and even managed to defeat two gods in battle at the same time.

Would this time be different?

If not...everything would have to be reset again.

As we talked, Vakra entered the room. He was in his human form and currently not wearing his mask.

"Now you can see the problem..." He said.

"That the Emperor is an idiot child and his Advisor is a manipulative degenerate?" I said.

"IDIOTS! BOTH OF THEM!!! If not for the oath I swore to their predecessors, I'd have killed them both. But even if he's nothing more than a foolish naive child who only listens to what others tell him instead of ruling for himself, he's still the Emperor. He believes that everyone is inherently good. Even the Advisor... Despite the fact that Jarbold is a wicked monster."

"Why don't you just kill the Advisor then?" Isabella asked.

"As I said, I have an oath to both of their predecessors. And believe it or not, the Emperor is aware of our feud. Neither of us can make advances against the other. Not that I am in any real danger. But he would likely exile me if I slew the Advisor and I would prefer to remain in his good graces. I quite enjoy the life I have here, so killing him is a last resort... One that seems more likely by the day, however..."

"The fate of the world is at stake, Vakra. If we aren't at full strength-"

"Don't you think I know that, Mizik!? Don't insult my intelligence! Jarbold is becoming an obstacle. Since this is the case, I will consider dealing with him! Unfortunately, the Emperor is also a problem in his current immature state..."

"How do you suggest we begin dealing with them, then?" Isabella asked.

"First, you two need to be repaired. The hearts need to be stabilized and you need a method of making full use of their power. Get to work, Mizik," Vakra said.

"Actually, I already have the spell made," I said.

"Wh...what!? Since when!?" Vakra said.

"Since last night. The spell to turn someone into a lich by removing their soul and placing it in a magical container. One linked to the body. A phylactery."

"You know about the specifics of it, too?" Vakra said.

"Yes. It's pretty simple when you get down to it. Although there's a catch... You can only become a lich by dying during the ritual. You have to kill yourself to forcibly break the soul tether. But if you have enough magical knowledge, this step can be skipped. You don't have to become undead and you don't have to commit suicide," I explained.

"Continue...I am very interested in this..." Vakra said.

"This is probably cursed and forbidden knowledge... But if you can break the soul tether and reform it into the phylactery, you become something much stronger than a lich. And still very much alive. Especially if that phylactery is, say, a legendary heart stone. But these things are still unstable and we need your help with that," I said.

Vakra paused for a moment, appearing to be deep in thought.

Then...

"Kekekekekekeke!!!!! MARVELOUS!!! EXCELLENT!!! SIMPLY BRILLIANT!!! YOU'LL BE GODS IN THE FLESH!!!! Or at least having power comparable to one... Yes...this is truly remarkable... I will request time to study you once the operations are complete. That way, we can also formulate a plan to deal with Jarbold."

"Okay..." Isabella said.

"Yeah..." I said.

Then Isabella looked curiously at me.

"So...you're not going to turn me into some gross skeleton thing like Aldaril, right? And what about yourself?" She asked.

"No one's turning into a...gross skeleton thing. Rest assured, you won't become undead from this," I said.

Cassandra switched in.

"Yaaay! I don't want to be undead... I got over and my fear thanks to Mizik, but I still don't like them. Although..."

"Hm?"

"Do I get a reward for helping deal with the Advisor and the Emperor?"

"Eh...sure. I guess..."

"I want Mizik to kiss me!" Cassandra said.

"Out of the question!" Isabella said angrily.

"You're so greedy, sister... An entire cult worships you like a goddess and I can't even have one kiss from my darling Mizik!?" Cassandra said.

"I don't want to be worshipped!!!" Isabella shouted.

Then Vakra looked at me.

"You have luck with the ladies, it seems," he said.

"Shut up! It's not on purpose!" I said angrily.

"Miziiiiik~! I want you to kiss me! Please~?" Cassandra said.

"No kissing. That's only for Isabella," I said.

"Awww... Can you hug me and stroke my hair, then? Perhaps...without clothes...?" Cassandra said as she leaned close to me.

"With clothes! And fine! Ugh..."

"Yaay! You're the best, darling!" Cassandra said happily. Then she hugged me tightly and leaned her head on me.

"Is she obsessed with you or something?" Vakra asked.

"That's a long story...and kind of an understatement..." I said.

"Mizik is all I think about every day. If someone tried to take him away from me, I don't think I could restrain myself... I would probably have to kill them by slowly torturing them to death. Their screams would be the only payment for their sins. No one hurts my darling Mizik..." Cassandra said as she pulled out her dagger and stared at it with cold lifeless eyes.

"Obsessively in love... And psychopathic tendencies... Looks like a mental illness, if you ask me. But that isn't my problem," Vakra said.

"I'm not mentally ill! I just...ehehe...I really love my Mizik... More than anything in the world... In all worlds! Ehehehehehehe..."

"Well...I'm going to go... Mizik, do you require anything for the spell?" Vakra asked.

"No. It's not like a typical ascension ritual. I can cast it without assistance or special materials," I said.

"Then I'll leave you to it," Vakra said.

After that, he left the room and I turned to Cassandra...

Actually, it was Isabella now.

"Sorry, she had a bit of an episode there. She's just rambling about her love for you or something at the moment," Isabella said.

"That's fine. I'm going go cast the spell on myself and then I'll do it to you."

She nodded and I began incanting.

This spell was complex, but not nearly as much as Ether Strike.

I had to use specialized magic circles because it was technically labeled as necromancy.

Even if it should've really been classified as soul magic, but apparently those were in similar categories.

Eventually, the incantation was complete and I cast the first part of the spell.

"Soul Extraction," I said.

I disconnected my soul from my body and grasped it.

Looking at your own soul is something I couldn't quite describe.

I saw both myself and my soul at the same time...somehow...

It looked normal except for a small engraving inside of it. It was a dark purple symbol. Like a dragon's head pointed down and having two horns in the shape of a V.

It resembled the heads of the Corrupted dragons I fought in the past. I tried to reach for it, but my hand seemed to move around it every time... I couldn't touch it...

This was it. The source of my curse.

After a few moments, I began to feel somewhat faint, so I gave up on trying to physically tear the source of my curse out of my body.

Then I managed to fire off the second part of the spell.

"Soul Tether."

At once, I anchored my soul into the heart stone and connected everything to my body.

It was a quick, yet complicated process, but once it had finished, I checked my status menu.

Things were still out of wack, but I felt much more powerful than before.

At the same time, more energy was flowing into me at a very quick and unsteady rate.

I figured I would have to get rid of the excess energy again soon... I could already feel the burning throughout my body.

I gritted my teeth in pain as I tried to get used to it.

"Mizik? Are you okay?" Isabella asked.

"I'm fine... It just hurt a lot more than I thought it would..." I said.

Everything felt different about this.

It was like I was still in my body, but wasn't at the same time.

But also, I felt like I could expend more of my own power...

My Aspects became more clear and it felt like I was closing in on something incredible.

Unfortunately, since the power source was so unstable, I was still technically degrading...

Now I would focus on Isabella.

"This feeling is amazing. I feel much stronger than before. I think you'll get used to this pretty quickly," I said.

"Alright then, Mizik. I trust you. Move us over," Isabella said.

I pressed my finger above her heart and focused.

"Soul Extraction."

At once, I had both Isabella's and Cassandra's souls in my grasp.

I was astounded by how intricately they were connected... There were numerous tiny threads connecting the two of them. I wondered to myself how Cassandra had done such a thing...or if it was even on purpose.

And another thing... They were both still so similar.

Even their souls were nearly identical.

Although Isabella's soul was heavily scarred and missing fragments. I saw no signs of the Corruption in it.

Cassandra's looked perfectly normal except for one thing.

There was an engraving. Just like mine.

This one didn't seem to block anything or emanate any sort of energy besides simply existing. Rather, it seemed dormant. But..

It was more like a mark of ownership.

I tried to touch it and Cassandra's soul opened her eyes.

"Ah...Mizik wants to touch me...? Please do!" She said.

I shook my head and decided against it.

Nope. She made it weird. Even her soul is way too freaky.

"Soul Tether!"

I placed both their souls inside of the Heart of the Sky.

Moments later, Isabella opened her eyes.

Then she began rapidly switching between both herself and Cassandra. Eventually, she stopped switching and clutched her head in pain.

"Ah...that feels weird... Like we just...combined again... For some reason, I feel a bit more obsessed with you than normal, Mizik..." Isabella said.

"Than...normal?" I said.

"Wait...that came out wrong... Sorry! I mean, my apologies!" Isabella said. Then she smiled.

After that, Cassandra switched over and jumped at me.

I caught her and she smiled.

"Mizik! If you wanted to touch me, you could have asked! Since you placed us both in the heart together, I feel much closer to you! Is this your way of confessing to me...?" Cassandra said joyfully.

"Eh...you had an engraving on your soul. I was curious. Nothing else..." I said.

"Awww... Oh well! Also, the engraving is probably Difar's mark of ownership. If my soul was ever lost, it would naturally return to him instead of anywhere else. But the divine power Isabella had nullified it. Now it's just a useless mark. Although it might still hold some significance..." Cassandra said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... I feel like there's a piece of his power in me. Even if it isn't doing anything, I still don't like it... The only man I want in me is Miz-"

"Alright! Thank you! Let's move on! How is your body feeling?" I asked.

"Haah...I feel hot! I'm so warm and happy because of you~!" Cassandra said.

This isn't going anywhere. You're making this far more difficult than it needs to be...

"Isabella, how does your body feel?" I asked.

"Far more aroused than I was a moment ago... Also, I'm in pain again... But I feel like my Aspects are better able to manifest. My strength feels overwhelmingly powerful, too. Like my limits have disappeared. Although I'm still degrading, sadly..." Isabella said.

"Good. Not the degrading part, but everything else seems normal. Just like my own situation."

"I don't think it's normal to be so aroused from just hearing your voice or standing near you, actually."

"Not for you, no. But for Cassandra, it's perfectly normal...ish..."

"Haah? You called?" Cassandra said.

She began breathing heavily.

"You are just...so damn weird..." I said.

"Only for my darling Miz-"

"Please keep a lid on the lewd behavior for five minutes, sister," Isabella said calmly.

"Ahem...can we change the subject? I might need to dispose of some of this excess power soon," I said.

"I'll go with you."

* * *

After hooking the apparatus to the back of my neck, I noticed something else odd...

When I removed the excess energy from my body I felt weaker than normal. As if my entire body was more in tune with the stone.

Isabella and Cassandra felt the same thing.

Two hours later, we had to dispose of the energy again.

It seemed to be building much faster now...

Soon, Vakra came to check on us and we gave him a full report.

He was amazed and interested, but also gave us a progress report on his new invention.

Experiments with the Heart of the Deep were going well.

He and Leiso had managed to make progress towards the creation of a very unique type of metal to be used as a housing compartment for the heart stones.

Vakra was still working on the systems for regulating the hearts flow of energy.

He had a theory of how the stone fit into our chests.

That it replaced the heart directly.

In other words, my heart had actually been consumed by the stone and it was merely acting in its place. Automatically pumping blood throughout my body as the old one did but also filling me with magic power.

Specifically my blood.

Which was proven by the harness we both wear as it cuts into our flesh.

It didn't hurt, but it extracted the magic directly from our blood.

Although he assured us he would remove the harnesses before the operation took place... Seeing as it might cause problems if we began to have feeling in our nerves again.

He also mentioned his plans about the operation itself.

Since we didn't feel pain from outside sources, he planned to cut into our bodies and remove the flesh and bone in place of where the device was supposed to be... And we would likely be conscious during it as well...

He would cut into me from the front and Isabella from the side.

He also promised that she would be covered on her chest area.

This was good, because Vakra had mildly perverted tendencies towards cute girls... And both of us would be uncomfortable if he could see her boobs.

We saw blueprints as well of the prototypes.

The front plating would be of an especially sturdy and dense metal designed by Leiso. It would be combined with condensed, normal heart stones to make a nearly impenetrable shield from the front of the unit.

Because Vakra already had come to a sound conclusion about exactly what would happen if some one actually managed to break the heart stone in my chest.

He called it: 'rapid super-nuclear energy dispersal'.

Basically an explosion wide enough to level an entire country.

What's more, is that as my power increased, so would the radius and intensity of the explosion.

The same went for Isabella.

Although with her defense, it was highly unlikely that someone would actually manage to kill her.

He had narrowed it down to potentially a week or two until he had finished preparations.

I was very much hoping to get this over with as soon as possible...

Because experience told me that the longer Corruption was allowed to roam free, the more dangerous it became.