Children of the Holy Emperor

CH 44

With a squeak, his sons soul instantly disappeared towards Delcross.
Watching the direction in which his son had flown for a moment, Nate soon drew a Nutcracker1 in his right hand and waited quietly. One by one, the intense gazes coming from afar were increasing, with one moving at high speed towards the border.

The pressure coming against his soul was growing stronger.
In no time, something akin to black smoke began to seep around Nates soul. Or rather, given its sticky and heavy texture, it was closer to mud. It gradually increased in volume on its own, soon starting to fill the empty border as if pouring out in bursts.

Grrrrrrrrr.
A bizarre moan, or perhaps a sigh, shook the boundary. For some unfathomable reason, the fiend was in the process of marching here, having even dragged a part of the hell in which he dwelled.

Nate pushed back the surrounding sludge by spreading the light enveloping his soul a little further. A gurgling laugh, as if in mockery, echoed in response. Guhahahahaha.
The landscape before his eyes changed in an instant.
The surroundings had turned into a vast and deep pit, encircled by black walls. In that endless colossal space, Nates soul appeared merely as a single point of light.

The black walls were twitching with minuscule, hair-like figures. Upon closer inspection, each one was a soul desperately famished, shriveled up to the point of horror. They were a part of the hell that hed dragged along.
The fiend was a vassal of [Starvation].

Soon, a part of the wall in front of Nate split open, revealing a grotesque entity akin to a black octopus laden with countless protrusions. It writhed its deformities of a thousand legs, the sight of which was so hideously repugnant that just looking at it was enough to strike the soul.N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on No'v3l--B1n.
Guhahahahaha.

The deformed octopus let out another round of laughter, causing the growths covering his body to shudder.
[Are you the king of this place? Ive always been curious, as youve been particularly noticed by Him. But arent you still not quite human, despite having the status of a king?]
Indeed, it seemed like he was worth a look after all. The boundary of dimensions was ambiguous even in its application of causality, making it easy to drag the true body here. Thats why he gleefully raced over here, not as an ethereal spirit, but in his true form.

He was a bit worn out from aligning his soul with the rules of the macrocosm for the past few days and then breaking free from them again. But its not like hes weakened to the point of being looked down upon by a creature like this.
Nate smirked, holding his Nutcracker. However, his face hardened instantly at the fiends continued words.

[What was that soul just now? Its a shame that you scared it away so hurriedly. Wasnt it a young soul that looked quite delicious?]
Slurp. The sound of the fiend savoring his anticipation was relayed without any filtering.
Nates eyes grew cold. It reminded him of Kaien, whom he had left on the Western mountain range.

He had been thinking of extending some casual courtesy to this guest who intruded into someone elses home, but now, he no longer wanted to send him off nicely.
When he pointed his sword straight at him, the fiend let out a light chuckle, as if finding it absurd. Of course, that light laughter caused the walls of hell to shake and the bound souls to let out a blood-curdling scream. Guhhhhhhh.
[You dare to challenge me with merely an ethereal form, not your true body! And on top of that, your spirit hasnt even discarded the petty habits of humans, swinging around a piece of iron! How hilariously pathetic!]

The octopus-like fiend stretched hundreds of his thousand legs toward the wall, dragging his bulky body outward while sneering.
Without his true body, as the fiend said, it was challenging to use aura, which could be considered Nates strongest weapon.
Of course, it wasnt entirely impossible to pull the aura here if he set his mind to it, but he was currently too far from Delcross. If he drew power from there, the entire continent would rapidly fall into a state of aura depletion.
However, without his body, there were other options available to Nate.