Infinity: Rising of the Soul Weavers

Chapter 136 - The Erem Tree Part 1

Feint - My Sunset

"Thank you for not killing them, Black," the girl said with a sincere smile.

"Why the sincere expression… Blue?" Red asked with a smile of his own, yet it was anything but kind. "You couldn't possibly be happy about seeing me now, are you? Kfufufu~" 

At the sound of his sadistic laugher, the girl found her body freezing in the spot, not being able to move an inch.

Suddenly, Red's figure flickered before reappearing just in front of her face. "Don't you ever try to play pretend in my face," he whispered into her ear while her whole body was shaking like a broken alarm clock. 

"Never act as if you're happy to see me when you are in fact not," he continued with a voice that was akin to the executioner's axe about to cut her throat open, "am I making myself clear, lowly servant?"

"Y- yes, master!" She said while standing up from her throne then kneeling on the ground in fear. 

"Kfufufu, I like your enthusiasm, but you have to make sure to lower your voice," he said with another sadistic smile, "you would not want me to cut down your strongest subordinates, now do you?"

"N-no, master." She answered in a low voice as cold sweat ran down her back.

"Good," he whispered with a smile that made her state even worse than before, "also, call me Red if you have to, Black will stay hidden for now."

"Yes, master!" She answered, making sure to prevent her stuttering this time.

"And lastly," Red said, "I want you to continue what your subordinates have started. Spread news about your return and inform me when you receive any new information from the others. Do you understand?"

"Yes, master!" 

"Good!" And with that, he disappeared from his spot, leaving only dark mist behind.

Moments after, the girl collapsed on the floor coughing blood, unable to withstand the fear in her heart. 'Why did you reawaken me, stupid subordinates!?' she cursed in her mind.

****

"Rave, are you alright?" Kayla asked in concern, remembering the cold look on Raven's face when she saw the unconscious girl.

"Oh, yea I'm good, hehe," Raven laughed. "I'm glad we were able to help her."

"Uhm," Kayla nodded. She understood as much as Tu that Raven was deeply hurt, from everything she has been through.

That was why she didn't want to push her any further. 'I wish I could do more for you, Rave…'

"Um, so... Kay?" Raven called.

"Aha?"

"What do we do next?" She asked. "This was a temporary solution, right? How do we ensure they don't end up having that condition again?"

"Hm, well, right now they're not in much danger. When I used the Blessing, I was pretty sure some energy was transferred to Zeru as well and not just his sister, meaning that both of them are more or less at the same stage now." Kayla answered after a pause.

"However," she continued. "It is true that their cores may weaken again in the future. Seeing how they didn't react in a negative way towards the soul orb, maybe you should give them more? Or teach them how to create it?"

Thinking about it for a moment, Raven shook her head. "The way I make the soul orbs is basically by using my special skill 'Soul Hunter'. It allows me to extract the souls from the victims and weave them into what could be defined as a condensed soul orb.

"The issue is that it requires killing people, I'm not even sure if it works with any living beings, such as animals. The reason I am able to make soul orbs is also related to the fact that I used to assassinate criminals as Wraith before. Maybe I should get back to it?" Raven questioned with a sad smile.

She didn't want to hurt people, even criminals. 'Funny I say that when, just a few days ago, I was ready to murder people because they looked at me the wrong way…' she thought to herself, refering back to the time Tu had to stop her from releasing her massive aura in Rachel's dad's office.

*Sigh*

Seeing the sad expression on her face, Kayla knew she had to interfere. 

"Um Rave, why don't we ask Joey?" She asked as it was indeed a viable option.

"True, he's a soul weaver too!" She said while punching her fist into her open palm.

"You're a genius, Kay!" Raven's mood suddenly made a 180 as she patted Kayla on the head and started mana gliding towards where Joey should be.

Just as she did, she stopped midair while looking back towards the siblings' house. "Did we forget about the mayor?" She asked while tilting her head.

"Haha no, I mean we did, but not really," Kayla scratched her cheek, "he had actually left shortly after we were able to deal with Zeru. I guess he figured that he can't help and left." 

"Hm, I see." And with that, the two made their way back to the festival site.

***

"Soul orbs?" Joey asked confused after hearing what Raven had to say. "I'm sorry but I'm not sure what that is…"

"What?" Raven blinked a couple of times, questioning whether he was joking or genuinely didn't know. 

"You've never seen something like this?" Raven asked while creating a small purple orb that rested in her open palm.

"Oh you mean the Erembourcian fruit? Joey asked with a smile, "to be honest I forgot what it's called in our tongue, but it's a rare fruit that was only present in some places in Erembourc… before it was destroyed that is. How did you get one?"

"Wait, you've only seen this on the soul weavers' planet- oh…" suddenly, an image of a purple orb that resembled the one in her hand flashed in her mind.

"I know the trees you're talking about…" Raven muttered while recalling the crystal like tree she saw in her trial, back when she was in the cave, during the first portal incident.

At that time, she was exposed to her feminine or rather true self for the first time. In addition, she had gained the blessing that is currently preventing her from becoming a mindless beast: Avavia's Affection.

Forcing herself to remember more, she could tell that the tree itself looked like a tree that's been under so much pressure that it was enough to turn it into fossilised diamond. In addition, it had no leaves, only purple fruits. The fruits looked more or less like purple plums, or the orb in her hand now.

"So, Joey," she looked at him with a serious expression. "When was the last time you consumed one of these?" She asked curiously.

"Um, probably back when I was young, on planet Erembourc," he said thinking back to his childhood. "The thing about this fruit is that it's reserved for the royal family, meaning that even nobles won't get a chance of tasting it." Joey scratched the back of his head.

"I remember that you once let me share one with you," he thought back. "But usually, if someone is caught eating them without permission from the king or one of his subordinates, there would be some terrible consequences."

"But this doesn't make any sense…" Raven was puzzled. 'So only some soul weavers require it while others don't? Why does my body require souls?'

"Joey, what makes me, or any of the royal family members, more special than other soul weavers?" She asked.

"Well, you're from the Shadow Clan, or the Royals. If I remember correctly, your clan had the ability to manipulate mana and auras through shadows.

"This may seem boring, but I've heard that the king or your dad, lord Marlock, had the ability to summon a dragon from his shadow. Needless to say, he was the most powerful soul weaver on the planet, that's why-"

"Let me take it from here, young soul weaver," Tu interrupted as crimson mana started to condense itself near Raven, forming his body.

"Oh Tu, you've fought against my dad, correct?" Raven asked while clenching her fists. She had some very mixed feelings about her parents and she didn't want to make any judgements before meeting them in person, if they were still alive that is.

"That is correct indeed," he nodded. "It's been a long time ago, but the memory is still fresh in my mind…" he said with a sigh. 

For someone as strong as he was to lose a fight was pretty rare if not near impossible, yet he did lose against her father. So it was only natural he'd still remember.

"At the time, your father was clad in a heavy dark armour with no helmet on. If I was to differentiate between different armours, I'd say his own resembled that of a hybrid between a demon and a dragon slayer armour.

"Just the sadistic look on his face, paired with red crimson eyes looking down on me, made my instincts scream at me to run away. 

"To be fair, I did consider the possibility of just running, but I wanted to believe that a soul weaver had no chance of winning against me, one of the monarchs.

"What is still really fresh in my mind from that encounter, is the dark energy that radiated from him. It was as if my soul was being kidnapped before the fight had even begun…

"Anyhow, I don't want to go into details," he said while shaking his head, noticing Raven's expression. "But what I can tell you with a hundred percent certainty, is that you and him both use mana control as your main skill.

"In addition, do you remember the way Zeru fought against the giants?" He asked.

"He used mana control to condense his energy into spears!" Raven's eyes widened in realization.