Inside the cave, a tense and chilling atmosphere lingered within a small central room. There was Malieka, who was carefully observing the two-headed Cerberus sitting in a chair, exuding an air of mystery. In front of him, leaning against the wall, was Rhug, looking at the other demonic beast frantically and angrily.
This situation persisted for minutes, and one head of the Cerberus only conveyed an even greater absurdity by looking at Rhug. The demoness was anxious, but both were waiting for her to make a mixture of black soil with a black liquid, which should co from the nearby river. Alm felt that it seed to be a strange and non-lethal poison for demons, so he was surprised to see her take a large amount.
Bruno, who let things flow, took this ti to read the few mories imprinted on the Cerberus’s body. He was still very young, and his intelligence was growing, leaving the mories confused and fragnted. But so important points were understood by Bruno, and after a few minutes, when Malieka sat next to them, Bruno woke up and spoke ntally.
’M... mom, we can finally talk,’ Bruno said a bit awkwardly, and Alm internally heard that with a mix of sha and anger.
Malieka stood up, approaching with serious eyes, and her heart beat uncontrollably; if she were human, there might be tears, but demons don’t have that tendency.
My brother is still a bit rough and dumb. And he can’t communicate because his violent instincts completely dominate him, making him a foolish savage who can’t even clean his own butt. But don’t worry, I can help him now.’ Bruno comnted lightly, with a cheerful air at the end, while Alm cursed internally.
’I understand, but what happened? Why did you run away?’ Malieka asked calmly.
Bruno then made up a story about having a dream about a colossal three-headed Cerberus, and after that dream, he woke up with his bloodline awakened and able to think correctly. Soon, as if guided by an instinctive call, he went out and ended up finding a shiny thing that he swallowed...
Those were random nonsense that he wouldn’t bother rembering later. But that demoness listened attentively and seed to doubt nothing. In summary, sothing mysterious awakened their bloodline, and they later swallowed a treasure that gave them power and more intelligence. It was ridiculous, but the proof of their power and intelligence had already been shown, and Malieka had no reason to doubt.
Rhug couldn’t hear the conversation, but he knew they were talking ntally; his frustration and anger seed endless. But shortly after, Malieka’s light smile and fluctuations of joy made him calr.
’The voice in my mind told many things, but I can’t quite comprehend it. But I feel like I can get us out of here and back ho,’ Bruno spoke extrely confidently. ’So, I want to know as much about this place as possible to try to connect the dots. How did you free yourself and save us?’
Malieka was in a chair facing her pet with a penetrating look. She then took another cup of that black liquid and spoke slowly.
’Do you rember our life in the infernal forest?’ she asked, and one head nodded a bit confused, which allowed her to understand. Everything happened when the Cerberus was a newborn, so how could he rember things clearly? Even she didn’t rember much when she had just been born.
’Well, Rhug and I have similar stories. The forest was invaded by a golden divine being, and our entire village was burned while the survivors were thrown into this place. When I awakened, I found myself inside a bone city surrounded by thousands of other demons. But I felt a little relieved and safe when I found the people from my village.’ A distant and painful look crossed Malieka as she spoke.
’No one explained anything to us, and everyone around was in the sa confused situation, so we decided to leave that place and explore together. It didn’t take long to find traces of vast war fields and death, so we finally found another group; they were all demonic beasts.’
She turned, looking at Rhug tenderly, and continued. ’That’s where we t. As soon as the demons spotted the beasts, golden runes appeared in everyone’s eyes, and both sides attacked without any rationality as if it were an obligation.’
’Fate is strange, and Rhug and I ended up in a bitter and balanced battle in the skies, drifting quite far from the center. No one had the upper hand, and when we were both injured and almost killing each other after hours of dueling, that’s when we felt the distant battlefield and stopped frozen.’ The demoness’s eyes trembled as she recalled that mory.
’All our families were dead, killing each other. Everyone from my village was gone, and at that mont, I rembered you, whom I had left in the Bone City safely. After that, I just felt the golden power co out of as if it had turned to dust, and when I looked to the side, I saw Rhug in the sa situation.’ Rhug nodded to her words. It was as she had said before; their situations were almost identical.
’I managed to return to the city and tried to warn the thousands who stayed. So went to check the bodies, but even seeing them, they seed unable to comprehend what they were seeing. Only words of hatred against the demonic beasts ca out of their mouths. It seed that what ca out of dominated the mind and made us kill each other. It seed that it also prevented people from rebelling. I don’t understand why or how, but we were never controlled again. I gave up trying to convince others and just took you and isolated myself; it’s been a hundred years since then.’ She finished calmly.
’I understand... but what was that thing you were taking?’ Bruno asked ntally.
Her eyes beca serious, and she lightly placed her hand on her belly, speaking with a sigh. "Well, we’ve lived together for a long ti, and... I tried to have a child once before. But despite everything seeming normal, only sothing dead ca out of . After a few attempts, I realized that sothing was wrong in this place, and I decided to always take this poison to avoid frustrations in a few months."
Alm and Bruno nodded in understanding, and soon things beca clear. ’It was as I said, the hero only managed to trigger a part of the queen’s runes. This domain beca so fragile that strong emotions, like seeing everyone you know die, broke the chains on her and that guy.’ Alm comnted emotionlessly.
Bruno nodded thoughtfully. ’Seems to be the case, but how do we use this to our advantage? It doesn’t seem feasible to unite the races by awakening them with this thod. And we still don’t know how to create a divine soul.’
Alm looked at the demonic beast and the demoness exchanging affectionate glances and rembered sothing. ’The soul, when it attaches to the developing body, ends up rging slightly with the mother and the environnt, becoming a sponge multiplying the absorption of Yin and Yang and amplifying the future talent of the body and soul.’
Bruno nodded, that’s why parents with high cultivation give birth to babies with high potential from the cradle. In the divine realm, as soon as a woman discovers pregnancy, she generates the child by placing herself in environnts rich in laws and Qi to further enhance this.
’Yes, creating a divine soul must be much easier if it is ford still within the womb.’ Bruno spoke, recalling this fact, and quickly understood where Alm was getting at. ’But, the formation absorbs any soul. We won’t be able to use one to put it into a woman and take advantage of this ease.’
Malieka waited a few minutes in the midst of silence while her pet seed to be thinking deeply, then Bruno asked: ’Co on, on average, how often do battles happen?’
"Hm... usually, every month, new blood is brought to both sides. So, at most, they face each other every two months." Malieka answered lightly.
’Great, we have ti. We’ll think carefully and try to rember exactly what that voice told us, Mom. Don’t worry; soon, you’ll be able to go ho.’ Bruno replied confidently and moved calmly, returning to his dark room. He said he needed to rest and left the two there with incredulous and bewildered looks.
Inside the darkroom of the cave, Alm and Bruno sat down and focused on organizing all the information they had. The overall picture was clear, but the path seed cloudy. So, after getting nowhere, Bruno rembered when they almost died facing a copy of themselves a short ti ago.
’The system is guiding us all the ti, and nothing is just a coincidence. Clear signs to follow are always left; sothing must have escaped our senses.’ Bruno stated while Alm just scoffed in ridicule.
They then focused on the most obvious—the Cerberus’s body. Its bloodline was subtle and thin but could be expanded with a little effort, which wouldn’t make a big difference. So, they traversed the ridians; everything was dry and without Qi, obviously. They then searched for the bestial core; every demon beast should have one sowhere different. Nothing was found at first, but thinking about the type of body they had, they searched in the center of the head and found it; a Cerberus naturally has multiple cores, one for each head.
Feeling those two cores, sothing strange was noticed. They seed full...
So, they tried to penetrate inside and see what was there, but they couldn’t, even using their souls; it was as if there was a separate and closed world inside that would only open with a key.
Alm and Bruno thought a bit and rembered when they were unsure about the key to open the castle in the desert. If the system dropped hints, and nothing was by chance, the answer might have already been subtly left. At that ti, Ruri made them use both keys at the sa ti. Reminding that made them sigh, and simultaneously, Alm used his soul to invade Bruno’s head core while Bruno did the sa the other way around.
Crack!
Sothing breaking sounded, and the two cores opened. A unique law ca out from inside and gradually rged in the air between them. Soon, a single rune ford completely and fixed itself in the center of their bodies. The two were in complete disbelief; they knew this rune well, and imdiately, they put their minds into that rune.
Inside, an extrely familiar enclosed space appeared in their eyes. There were small shining mountains and various small objects; everything was known to them. That rune was their spatial rune, and that place was their spatial inventory.
Reviews
All reviews (0)