Chapter 23: Demonus Temple

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[Survival Rank has leveled up]

Survival Rank: 8

Conversion Points: 52,111.08

Oversoul: 2.5

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Oversoul… The severed head must have been responsible for this change. What kind of being was it, a Soul Eater, or perhaps an angel? It was emanating a mysterious magic that even I could not detect. The pain from its mist ravaged my cells, twisting and restructuring them. I felt death reaching out for me, but the next moment, everything felt normal, as if it was only a dream.

I put away the pod after memorizing my numbers, ignoring the death screeches of the demons lying on the ground, and I shot up into the air. The wound on my head was throbbing. I circulated mana around the damaged tissue, pleading for it to repair the skin. A slight tickle reached my forehead, with the pain slowly dissipating. Healing, at last, was now added to my skill set.

That succubus was fairly powerful, confusing me with the appearance of my wife. Just thinking about it boils my blood. The pain that thing induced, engulfed my head, but I could distinctly feel it attempting to enter my skull, instead a ravaging force struck the top of my forehead.

Holding my head, still feeling the echo of the pain, I noticed the sun's light was barely reaching out from beyond the horizon. I continued scouting, as night took over, yielding no signs of enemy demons in the area.

I pulled out the telepathy stone, "Harry, no enemy units in the southeast quadrant. I am heading back to the villa's dungeon to investigate a secret chamber. Over."

"Ten-four," he confirmed receiving my message.

After heading back inside the dungeon, I stared at the altar, searching for inscriptions or any clues to its purpose.

There was nothing.

I tapped on the stone, feeling the vibrations of a cold dense rock. I swirled mana around my fist and raised it above my head. Swinging down, aiming for the corner, my fist smashed into the stone. The cold slab absorbed the impact and reflected it back towards my fist. Springing my hand back into the air, forcing my arm to stretch behind my shoulder.

First a kid. Now, defeated by stone. I rubbed the throbbing in my shoulder, while staring at my new enemy. I hopped onto the altar and stood in front of the pike. Bending my knees, I secured both hands on the metal. One. Two. Three. I pulled up with all my might and magic, feeling sweat drip down my forehead. It didn't budge a hair.

I tried sending mana into it, but the aura would simply bounce away. Gliding my hand towards the top, I slid my thumb over the sharp point.

Rising smoke filled my vision and dispersed, bringing darkness to my eyes. My mind sensed a disconnect from reality, paralyzing me in place, forcing me to watch an illusion.

A boiling bubble of white aura, shaped like an egg, appeared in the middle of this dark void. A radiance ferociously struggled to escape outward, but the shell's membrane dragged it back inward, eternally locked in a struggle.

Gradually, the egg began expanding, reaching past the tipping point where balance was maintained, and a new life was born in a silent grand explosion. Particles rained free, dancing their way to freedom. Streaks shot out in all directions, racing to be the first to explore the frontier.

Gaining strength over time, the specks formed their first emotion. Self.

Half were twisting to the left, the others spinning to the right. Attraction to something different guided them to find each other. Courting a path towards each other, they avoided their own reflections on the journey. Colliding and becoming partners, they were locked in a ceremony stretching out to eternity. A new emotion was born. Family.

Groups of varying selves bonded growing more complex, but some became unstable breaking apart, feeling the pain of loss.

Communities sprouted from the families joining hands, growing larger in quantity, becoming disorganized and flailing through the emptiness. They lived on, gliding through the void, bouncing against one another, clumping together into everlasting festivals of celebration for their unity.

Consciousness awoke from within, shining a brilliance across the vast distance, sweeping away the darkness, and filling it with life.

The pristine mind found they were not alone, but were part of a grand community. Newborns continuously sprang up, building mega cultures of influence. The elders sat at the frontier watching inward at the young. Many have perished through time, but a few have persisted since the moment time ticked forward.

The darkness, existing before all, grew envious of the emotions emitted by the light. Their tentacles slowly invaded the communities, etching dark paths towards the heart of all emotion. It drew closer to the singularity. Its journey filled with the experience and history of time, began mimicking the emotions, spawning its own. Jealousy. However, unable to flourish, existing only as a single self, it molded and cultivated its jealousy into multiple parts, forming descendant emotions. A new era was born, spawning its crowning achievement.

Sin.

Spreading its seductiveness through the boundaries of the light, influencing all relatives of emotion.

The communities gradually became infected, a few minds falling deep from grace, expanding the rituals of darkness and casting a shadow on the light. The eldest fallen, bereaved by its brethren, arose protesting the right to darkness' existence. But they were ignored by the light, no, feared by the light. The darkness raged against their apartheid, and set out seeking feverishly for the heart of life in hopes of clemency for its kin.

The response was met with resolute disgust. An uninvited guest trampling its heart. The bringer of light exiled all the infected children of the darkness, as punishment for the voids' intrusion into its domain.

The illusion faded away as I felt my leg shake, flinging my hands away from the pike, jolting me back into reality. Someone called out, but I ignored it.

This vision I was shown, it was the origin of both light and dark, showing the history of angels and demons, and their creators... I tried grabbing hold again, but nothing was happening. I stabbed my thumb into the tip, until blood was spilling out. But, there was no response.

"JOE!" Someone yelled directly into my ear, snapping me out of my stupor. I flinched to the side, noticing Dean's gaze poking holes at me.

"You were missing for four hours," Dean calmly stated, blood dripping from his right arm.

"Were you hurt by Beasts?" I asked. He simply nodded his head. I guided mana towards my right hand and hovered it over his arm. Finding the damaged tissue, I noticed the gash was especially deep. I called on the mana to begin repairing the muscle and skin. His eyes slightly widened, but quickly calmed down again. Moving his wrists around and stressing his forearm, he nodded again.

"This is a Demonus Temple. I want to move it to the castle for study," I stared at him, ignoring the beast topic.

He turned his gaze towards the stone altar, walking around it one time, then pausing in thought.

Kneeling down, he jabbed into the concrete next to the altars foundation. Sliding forward and jabbing, forward, jab, forward jab. He continued the onslaught as rocky fragments and dust exploded into the air.

A cutout was dug deep around the altar. I reached down from the opposite side and together we lifted, drawing all the remnants of mana remaining in this narrow space. Grunting, we grabbed at the concrete, forcefully breaking the altar out of the dirt below. Thankfully the foundation was shallow, as we slowly carried the heavy mass of stone outside.

Placing it down outside the villa's entrance. I closed my eyes and focused on the silhouette of the concrete and myself. Touching the altar with mana was dangerous, so taking precautions was necessary.

Gently, I lifted up, watching the altar rise into the air.

"Get on the altar, I will fly us to the castle," I looked at Dean. His eyebrows shrunk down. Was he afraid of heights or my flying? After waiting a moment, he jumped on and we headed out.

We landed and carried the altar into the castle, coordinating with Harry to make space in the grand hall.

Curious minds quickly gathered around us, wondering what new surprises this object would bring.

I cleared my throat, and spoke, "Listen up, I have reason to believe this is a Demonus Temple. A severed head, emanating an undetectable white aura, was stuck on that pike," I pointed to the tip, then continued, "I do not know if it was a Soul Eater or angel, but it vanished when I removed it."

I left out some details on purpose, feeling it would distract from what I wanted researched.

"Please research the anti-magic properties in the altar," I pleaded.