Back in the small forest inside the castle, Goddess Fey’s eyes trembled upon seeing Les’ soul. She had been her disciple, killed in battle at what is now known as Devil’s Mountain.
At the last mont, the goddess had managed to save her soul and seal it in an immortal sword, hoping that one day Les might be able to free herself.
After that, both Les and the Devil God were sure the goddess had been killed by the heroes. But it wasn’t hard to imagine the queen ordering her capture, then forcing her to serve her. A divine being couldn’t be wasted like that.
Les quickly explained that the missionary had invaded that place and, with the help of the Devil God, managed to free her. After that, she began accompanying Ruri, assuming the role of the katana’s spirit.
The Goddess Fey knew terrifying events had occurred in that place, but the heroes hadn’t managed to capture the fugitive. Now, she turned to the round golem, utterly stunned.
Before she could say anything, Bruno intervened seriously: "The domain inside you still exists. Don’t say anything or do anything that could trigger it. You must pretend nothing unusual has happened until the right mont."
She listened attentively, and her eyes trembled slightly. Only then did she focus on her body and soul, realizing that the only thing allowing her to think clearly was a small celestial blue dot in her ntal sea.
Taking a deep breath, she spoke carefully: "My na is Anizu... thank you very much..." Her voice sounded dry as she forced herself to control her emotions.
"We only helped in passing. Anyway, we need so information, but you shouldn’t answer directly; just stay quiet," Alm said, emotionless.
They hinted, as if talking to Ruri, about the possibility of soone trying to infiltrate the place, speculating about the defenses and if there was anything besides the heroes protecting it.
From Anizu’s subtle fluctuations, Alm and Bruno deduced there were nurous heroes. With Caipora destroying the defensive energies, the formation was temporarily focused on regenerating. Thus, it was likely the heroes were keeping watch while Isla recovered, and the formation reestablished itself.
"Great. Ruri, you’re curious about this place and want to learn from her, right?" they asked, and Ruri nodded affirmatively.
Ruri already knew the room contained a tablet connected to part of the castle’s formation. Her new mistress, Anizu, would simply let her analyze the place. Then, Ruri would "accidentally" find the tablet and infiltrate the formation.
Anizu understood the plan perfectly and nodded in agreent, though she tried not to think too much about it to avoid any problems. Ruri quickly moved through the small space that resembled a forest, heading directly to the location.
"You have to take us to the God of the Forge," Alm and Bruno reminded her, and Anizu nodded again.
The space distorted, and they were transported to an underground location in the castle. Anizu furrowed her brow when she saw the entire forge. That dwarf was completely focused on sothing inside a small area surrounded by lightning.
"It’s fine. Go ahead. I’ll handle him," Bruno said calmly to Fey. "You and Les probably have a lot to talk about. Ruri is probably very curious about everything and needs so ti."
Anizu nodded again. Talking to Les wouldn’t be interpreted as sothing against the queen or the heroes. After completing what was asked of her, she left, leaving the golem behind.
They entered the forge calmly, approaching a distorted space in a corner. They could perfectly feel the interior. It was a type of formation linked to God Gaia.
Inside the area, a much larger dinsion existed, completely filled with lightning similar to a tribulation. The dwarf was focused, manipulating tals and striking them with his hamr.
Alm and Bruno recognized the material: it was Agarthium, the tal used to create new runic seals. For this, the power of a tribulation was essential, and the dwarf was fully concentrated on this task.
They watched the dwarf’s work for almost twelve hours, until the lightning finally stopped within that space.
The dwarf held a strange rune, which seed to pulse with pure light. His eyes sparkled as if he had achieved what he sought. Without wasting ti, he hurried out, bumping into the round golem. His face imdiately contorted.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
The golem sighed. "They said you were already inford. I’m a forger, and I ca to learn your Dao."
"My Dao?" The dwarf spat dryly. "I’m just a forger. Everyone calls the God of the Forge because I’ve mastered the techniques. But that title belongs to soone else; I just studied what they left. If you want to learn, you’re free to try."
With complete impatience, the dwarf waved, making nurous Jade Slips appear in front of him. "Take them and get out of here. This is all I got too. Don’t bother or ask any questions. I didn’t have anyone to clear my doubts, and I got where I am. If you’re even remotely competent, you’ll develop on your own with just this."
The Jade Slips were practically thrown at the golem, and the dwarf turned his attention back to a black anvil.
Alm and Bruno almost laughed coldly. That dwarf was exactly as they imagined: direct, rude, and with no concern for politeness.
Still, they didn’t mind. They took a few steps toward the dwarf and observed him silently. He was analyzing the newly created runic seal with extre care and concentration. Alm and Bruno could see in his eyes that he was almost desperate, having put everything he had into that creation.
After an hour, the dwarf smiled slightly and finally noticed the golem standing there, watching him. "What the hell? I already told you to get out of my face. What do you want?"
"What you gave ... I already know everything about it," said Bruno without hesitating. The dwarf squinted his eyes. "I’m a forger too. Like you said, this Dao existed before you. Where I ca from, I found a master who mastered this and had the chance to learn... anyway, it’s a long story. But I can help with your rune seal."
"A kid like you? Fuck off..."
Bruno replied calmly: "You’re trying to heal soone with destroyed ridians. You mixed the planet’s natural energy... you must’ve asked Gaia for that, right? Then you added pure Yang and laws of the earth to create balance. Looks like this wounded person can’t heal at all. Probably their internal energies are destabilized."
The dwarf’s eyes widened. Bruno had nailed it completely. "How the hell... do you know how to create rune seals too?"
"I told you, I studied everything. Anyway, let make a few adjustnts to your rune seal. I’m a golem, and my laws of the earth are way better than yours."
Without giving the dwarf a chance to retort, Bruno gestured. A pure yellow aura appeared around his fist, coming from the immortal-level earth laws.
The dwarf froze, shocked. Indeed, his biggest obstacle was the laws of the earth. He needed that law at the highest level possible to balance Yin and Yang.
Sighing, he stared into the golem’s eyes for a few seconds before stepping back, allowing Bruno to adjust the seal.
Bruno moved slightly, and in just a few minutes, under the dwarf’s watchful gaze, he modified only the earth laws in the seal, improving it.
He then turned to the dwarf, who remained silent. "Let’s go. The wounded person must be waiting, right?"
The dwarf snapped out of his shock and nodded seriously. After giving the rune seal one last look, he grabbed a tablet, glanced at the golem without saying a word, and then used spatial runes to cover them both, transporting them.
Alm and Bruno found themselves in a room sowhere inside the castle. As soon as they arrived, their gazes were drawn to the center of the room. There, sitting in a lotus position, was a woman surrounded by a pool of blood.
Her body seed cracked, with red lines dripping slowly. At that mont, Alm and Bruno forgot to breathe. An indescribable pain hit them, like a thousand knives stabbing their hearts. That was Isla, with a face contorted in pain, terribly wounded.
They turned to the dwarf and found him standing, staring intently at the woman. His fluctuations were in total disarray.
Alm and Bruno were speechless; the dwarf was clearly as shaken as they were. He knew her wounded state just as well as they did, but even so, just seeing her like this made them wish they could take her place and suffer a thousand tis more, rather than seeing her like this.
Both ntally sighed. From their last interaction with the dwarf’s will, when they found out everything about Isla, it was clear that sothing was unresolved between them.
There was frustration in the dwarf’s words, and seeing him now, in front of Isla, they were sure: he loved her.
That dwarf didn’t even rember being the God of the Forge. His earlier words hadn’t been ironic; he really believed in them. There was no need to check his soul. It was certain that the queen did the sa thing to him as she did to Isla: removed his Dao and mories, destroying his soul, then reconstructed it with other souls, filling him with her own power to prevent any chance of recovery and ensure absolute loyalty.
Even without mories when reincarnating, people were still influenced by their experiences; their mories didn’t disappear, they stayed within them, affecting them in smaller ways. In the case of the dwarf and Isla, everything was destroyed irreparably.
Still, even without knowing each other, when interacting, their connection was re-established. His desperation to heal her and his pain were genuine, as deep as Alm and Bruno’s feelings, though obviously, there was a huge difference.
It was Alm and Bruno who caused this to Isla intentionally. The fragnt of their souls inside her, after Ruri destroyed the ridians, was preventing her recovery. It created the illusion that her body was out of balance, keeping her in constant suffering.
She was wounded while ditating with the power of the tattoos, trying to master the mirror. Her current state seed perfectly understandable. The heroes probably judged that she would eventually recover; she would have to suffer and suffer until she stabilized. It could take years, months, or days. The dwarf, however, couldn’t bear it and sought a solution.
Alm agreed to do this to save her, even with the guilt eating at his heart. Bruno also felt bad, but both knew Isla was a strong woman, and this wasn’t anything for her.
After a bitter sigh, the dwarf finally approached Isla. Imdiately, she opened her eyes. At that mont, Alm and Bruno held their breath.
Her gaze was the sa as they rembered: deep and analytical. Old mories of the tis they spent together flooded their minds.
She looked at the dwarf and snorted. Soon after, almost as if drawn to him, her eyes turned to the golem. She stared at him seriously, a little surprised. They exchanged glances, and a confusion overtook her mind.
"Strange..." she murmured softly.
The dwarf spoke quickly: "Don’t say anything. Close your eyes. I’m going to use this to stabilize you. It should work."
She nodded and closed her eyes. The dwarf moved the rune seal with extre care, positioning it on her forehead. He focused, as if his life depended on it.
Alm and Bruno watched the scene, and an imnse relief washed over them. Isla had soone who genuinely loved her, as much as they loved Ruri.
What Alm and Bruno felt for Isla was like love for a very close relative, soone they would do anything to protect and help. Before, due to their past, there had been so worry about her future, but now they felt more at ease.
Without delay, they focused on manipulating the celestial soul they had left in her. Before, not knowing they only had a month, they had left Isla unable to heal indefinitely. Now, they began reversing the process, allowing her body to recover little by little. It should take about a month for her to be fully well again.
The dwarf manipulated the rune seal, connecting to her soul to investigate and adjust. Alm and Bruno took the opportunity, divided their celestial soul inside her, then invaded the dwarf’s body and mind as well.
When they arrived there, they could only sigh. As expected, it was almost identical to Isla’s, but it seed even worse.
’The queen didn’t even bother to use soul fragnts compatible with him. Unlike Isla, she mixed demon souls and various other creatures into him,’ Bruno murmured ntally.
Alm nodded. ’With Isla, she was extra careful because she needed her to complete her Dao. As for him... the queen took his complete Dao and didn’t care about his condition.’
Although technically the sa, there were subtle differences between the souls. Soone who lived as a demon for several lifetis would adapt to that race. Reincarnating as a human, for example, could cause major rejection problems. It was like a male soul inhabiting a female body: after living for a long ti in one type of body, even without mories, using another different one would be complicated.
A dwarf usually reincarnated as another dwarf. Even though humanoid races were very similar, there were internal differences. But the queen, she took the dwarf’s soul and mixed it with nurous other races.
Thankfully, there were many human soul fragnts. Probably because humans were so nurous, and she just used them randomly. Being closer, that allowed him to endure the condition.
When checking more closely, Alm and Bruno noticed that the human soul fragnts had adapted well to him now. Maybe if they removed all the other race fragnts and just put in humans, he might actually be okay.
But right now, he was just holding on. That dwarf must be, internally, in a complete state of chaos...
But... the answer to his current stability was right in front of them.
When Isla finally showed signs of improvent and healing, the dwarf opened his eyes and swallowed hard, trying to stop the tears from falling. He was so happy he couldn’t express it in words.
’He was probably very different before Isla appeared in front of him. That stabilized him... but, obviously, living like this must be extrely hard and torturous,’ Bruno murmured softly.
This dwarf had definitely been used by the queen for much longer. Because of his condition, it was like his mind and soul were always distorting and never at peace. ditating, sleeping, or even sothing simple like thinking in peace must’ve been a challenge. Hearing voices and having strange thoughts must’ve been the norm for him.
It was impressive how calm and focused on Isla he was now. It was like none of that mattered anymore.
Alm remained silent. His suffering was running out of ti. They obviously didn’t intend to leave both of them with their souls in that state. They would find a way to perfectly rebuild them. Though recovering lost mories and experiences would be impossible.
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