How to Control this Peculiar Energy? 

Arash released a soft contented sound unintentionally.

Now Arash understood.

The foreign intangible material hovering outside his body was a type of energy that had not been documented or discussed previously.

It was definitely not Spiritual Energy. This was evident since it had zero effect on his body as it migrated towards the mysterious 'node'. The node was absorbing them all and was becoming more vibrant and colorful. He found that absorbing the foreign energy affected him emotionally rather than physically.

He felt so good, as if he was on illegal contraband stuff. Not that he had ever tried any.

What was the function of this node and this energy? Can it be moved at will? Will it be possible to inject this energy into the spiritual energy-detecting fang-shaped pendant as a replacement for Spiritual Energy? Will it work to power up the pendant?

There were so many questions brewing in his mind. Hence, he took the easiest route to clarify his understanding about this new type of energy; just try it out through the trial-and-error method!

Arash attempted to enforce his will on the emitting energy in one direction instead of letting them scatter everywhere like a wave-like pulse. A few 'pulses' followed his will to disentangle themselves from the emitting wave.

[Come on! Little pulses! Follow! Follow!]

As he wasn't adept at doing this kind of thing, he just tried concentrating and 'talked' to them as if he was schooling his kids at home. Strict, but added a bit of coaxing in between.

A few more disentangled themselves from the primary wave to join this new group.

All in all, just a fraction followed his will and moved towards the outer part of his body. Once the group of pulses moved outside the body, the control got tougher! Some scattered, some reentered his body as if they were scared of the outside world, and some just remained levitating closely to his body without doing anything, leaving a few 'obedient ones'.

Arash sighed in his heart and controlled the few remaining ones to enter the pendant within his grasp over his chest.

Anticipation turned into disappointment.

Nothing happened.

[I cannot let it end this way! I must at least gain something! Maybe it's too little!]

More and more 'pulses' entered the pendant as Arash strongly willed them to move, but nothing changed. The exotic pendant stayed as cold as a chilled bone.

Arash felt indignant. He refused to believe this was the end of the road. He kept encouraging the pulses to move into the pendant as much as possible...

...

Unknown to Arash, the node started emitting a strong force, rapidly pulling the stray foreign pulse from outside. Unlike before, although the pulses weren't melded together with Arash's personal pulse, they were able to enter Arash's body without any restriction or rejection. The quick absorption completely removed any stray pulse generated from the recorded Soul Chant after a few minutes!

Nonetheless, the node kept on operating like a hungry suction monster, craving for more.

[What is happening?!]

Arash panicked once he noticed the anomaly. He 'talked' to the node like how he coaxed the pulses, but nothing seemed to work! The node wouldn't calm down and kept releasing intense pulling pressure!

Arash started to feel a searing pain around his heart area. He wasn't sure whether the pain inflicted was physical or he just imagined it since his heart was beating like usual. Hence, his vitals didn't show any abnormal signs, Tok Silihan wasn't called to action.

The pulling force was so strong it distorted the space around it.

From the distorted space, new foreign pulses appeared out of nowhere. It was the same kind of energy his 'node' hungered for. The mysterious node gobbled them all up to release a stronger pulse wave!

...

Shiro immediately entered Mom's Soul Hall Domain to check on her soul's status.

In the middle of the Hall where Mom's avatar was enshrined, she was glowing as bright as the sun! Shiro could only make out her silhouette faintly. The usual pastel-colored glow only tinged the blinding white light!

[Brother Shi, what is going on? I could feel everyone's distress!]

Shiro turned around to see the avatar of his brother, Kuro, communicating with him. Kuro was in his ruby-red star form while he was in his ice-blue star form. While they were interacting, the energy of the stars pulsated in a rhythm following their emotion.

[She just collapsed. We aren't sure what's the problem since there was no indication. Right now, we're waiting for Ara to bring the stinky pellet to help Mom, just in case she has some internal injuries that we aren't aware of.]

Kuro observed Hana's avatar for some time in contemplation. The energy fluctuating around him was wild, indicating his emotions were experiencing a roller coaster ride.

[Do you have any idea, Big Bro Ku?]

[I am unsure yet. Watch Mommy closely within this Hall. Never leave it even for a minute. Keep me updated, alright.]

[Alright.]

...

[Haa... Haa... Haa...]

Hana was panting heavily from withstanding the agonizing pain. The pain this time was so intense until she couldn't think straight. She stopped thinking and focused on persevering until this round of pain passed. However, to her dismay, the usual one to two seconds of searing pain had already been ongoing for as long as a minute.

As soon as she blacked out in the real world, she was forcefully pulled into her own Soul Hall Domain.

Her Soul Hall Domain was cracked!

The crack wasn't too clear, since the position was very far from the center of the Hall, and no other stars were near, thankfully. Hana immediately focused her attention on the crack to see what she could do and what this phenomenon would implicate.

The crack was minute, but it emitted a strong pulling force. Although no lingering half-souls were affected, Hana noticed that the illusory bridges formed from the Soul Chant waves were crumbling, leaving behind only solid ones. She had yet to form a proper Soul-link to all of her new Soul Sla, ehem, helpers due to the lack of time.

More than 50% of the Soul Chant waves had been redirected and were being pulled out from the crack forcefully! The crack was behaving like a black hole!

She was confused with what she was seeing and felt flustered at first. Then, afterwards, she calmed down and narrowed her eyes dangerously.

Hana started fighting back by chanting nonstop with determination. Hana chanted with extra vigor this time as she was determined to pull out whatever enemy that was destroying her Soul Hall Domain.

[Try me! You think this aunty can't pump in more?!]

[Let's see whether you have the guts to take them all!]

Kuro once told her that Soul Energy wasn't as gentle as one think. It carried subtle properties of the owner.

To others, Soul Energy with an owner was akin to poison that corrupts the soul. The only instances where a creature could absorb Soul Energy was when it was a Soul Slave to the said owner.

However, suppose the owner imbued negative attributes such as hatred, anger, or even killing intent in the energy, especially at high concentration; it could wound the other party's soul permanently, even when one was a Soul Slave. An injury to the soul was very hard to heal; it often led to detrimental effects on the recipient. A grave injury to the soul could lead to death, leaving the afflicted with a hollow body without a soul that would die off as their basic bodily needs shut down gradually.

Though it was rare, Kuro had warned Hana about Soul Predators, creatures that preyed upon spiritual beasts with unique soul energy like Q-chan and herself.

To be exact, it was his own kin.

Another Lightning Serpent with malicious intentions.

The attributeless Soul Energy runes were now laced with fighting spirit and anger, attacking the enemy in the shadows.

...

The searing sensation akin to being carved by a sharp fruit knife caused Arash to wince in pain. Although he was clueless about what was happening, he could make an intelligent guess that the mysterious node in his body had 'eaten' more than it could chew. This could be a sign of bloatedness. Usually, in wuxia books, this was a phenomenon prior to the dantian bursting as it wasn't strong enough to contain the energy absorbed. Although, obviously, this node was not a 'dantian', Arash's conjecture was already very close to the truth!

In books, the MC redirected the extra energy outside to stop his or her core from being damaged. Arash quickly willed the nearly uncontrollable node to spill out as much pulse as it could, as fast as it could!

[Go out, go out, move outside, little pulses!]

Arash hurried the newly born wave-like pulse to move outside his body as soon as possible. Thousands of them moved together like a flock of tiny birds migrating in one direction. Arash just noticed he was able to control the movement of so many pulses this time!

This was a chance!

He injected the pulses into the pendant!

NOTHING STILL HAPPENED!

[No, no, no! This must not be the way! What else can I do?!]

Arash shouted in frustration in his mind! He had never been so worked up like this for the longest time. He must've misunderstood something altogether! Since the energy was not Spiritual Energy, of course, it could not work!

He remembered a certain dark anime about a false third illusory arm! (1)

[Yes! There might be a way!]

One should never underestimate an otaku's imagination! Although he looked like a prim and proper member of society, his heart was always an otaku and a hardcore c-novel fan! Only, he concealed his interest very well to others to avoid judgemental opinions. Hana was his soulmate who understood and shared the same passion as him. Like him, others had a hard time understanding how Hana's mind worked, especially when she was quite vocal about her interests compared to him.

If he couldn't move Spiritual Energy directly, why didn't he try using this mysterious energy to control the Spiritual Energy?! Tok Silihan already told him that he was within a Spiritual Energy node. Hence it should be so thick everywhere. He just needed to grab it at random!

Withstanding the pain, Arash moved thousands of energy pulses outside his body and made a grabbing motion in multiple corners. He couldn't feel anything, but that didn't mean the energy didn't exist! He pulled whatever he had in and stayed on his left index finger first. After that, he focused on the changes to his finger.

"!!!"

Although minute, something was changing!

The fibers of his finger muscles were vibrating!

...

[What is happening?!]

Although Hana had increased the Soul attack input and even laced it with negative attributes to hurt the enemy, the pulling force didn't reduce at all! The absorption continued for more than two minutes. It might not be long to some, but the amount of Soul Energy being siphoned off was equivalent to a full Soul-link to Kuro for a minute. This much could nourish all her dependents for two hours.

Hana was getting more annoyed as she felt the Soul Hall Domain shake slightly. This was the first sign indicating that the Soul Hall Domain was weakening and becoming unstable. If she didn't take any drastic actions to calm it down, the Hall could further break apart.

Soul Predators ate the Soul Core by first breaking the defensive space, Soul Hall Domain, and absorbing the lingering core's energy. Afterwards, they will directly devour the Soul Core to obtain every bit of the prey's Soul Energy. The prey's physical body will then deteriorate and die not long after, even when the Soul Predator didn't touch it.

Alarm bells were ringing in Hana's mind as she felt her situation rapidly turn south.

Should she send in killing intent this time? She wasn't planning to be a murderer without investigating the origin of the phenomenon. More information will always lead to a better outcome as she could make a sound judgment.

Her heart was moved.

Once the idea formed, she had to try it out. Maybe, by following the movement of the Soul Energy rune, she could reach the source and, depending on the situation, attack immediately.

She immediately moved towards the crack, ignoring the imploring pets within her telepathic connection, asking her not to jeopardize herself by going.

"!!!"

Once she was near, she finally noticed the outline of a transparent structure. It was just a few blocks-like unknown material jutting out from the crack. The structure was colorless; hence, one would not be able to notice its existence from afar. Only her, as the owner of the Soul Hall Domain could feel its existence.

She hesitated, but finally, she touched the structure.

"!!!"

[Arash!]

This feeling! This feeling! It was her beloved!

Hana immediately pounced forward! She wanted to move into the crack and see! Will her beloved be on the other side?

A fiery scarlet star wrapped itself around her.

[Mommy! Stop! Stop it! You can't go! If you move out of the Soul Hall Domain, it is akin to leaving your mortal body! You will die!]

[Don't go! Please!]

[But, but. Your Papa, Mommy can feel it! It's him on the other side! You need to let Mommy check!]

[Please, don't abandon us... We need you...]

Kuro was shedding tears of sorrow. Leaving the Soul Hall Domains meant true death.

Not just to the Master of the Hall but to all subsequent Soul Slaves. Either rise together or perish together. That was the strength and also the weakness of Soul-links.

Kuro's last sentence made Hana pause her steps. Her life was not her own anymore. She remembered the consequence her pets would have to bear once she died. She shouldn't casually toss them away, especially when she had promised her people that she would lead them to a higher stage in life. She couldn't be that irresponsible anymore.

She sighed.

The Soul Hall Domain was shaking harder, showing signs of collapsing, but this time, Hana was unperturbed. She faced it with a serene heart. She kept on chanting, but this time, instead of fighting spirit and anger, she gave away love, understanding, and care, hoping that it was truly her beloved on the other side, receiving her full support.

What will be, will be. The recording must have worked.

Hana shed tears of happiness.

...

Authors Note:

1) anime's title: Elfen Lied (caution the fainthearted, it's a bit gory & sad)