Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 637 - 590: Soul Ritual

"As the higher beings of arcane studies, giant dragons also possess a fundamentally different essence of soul from other creatures. Their souls are tenacious and powerful, capable of producing a special substance known as the ’Dragon Soul.’ It is through the combination with different species that the essence of life is transformed into ’Dragonfied,’ which is the principle of the Dragon Priest’s creation and the conclusion of my analysis on the Scholar Teacher’s soul."

A few Dragon Priests, upon understanding Helena’s explanation, suddenly saw the light. Prior to this, most of them had speculated about it, but now their speculations were confirmed.

"There’s another issue," raised the Black Dragon Priest, voicing his doubt, "Between the Dragon Soul and Dragon Blood, which one truly carries the power of the giant dragon? The way of the ’Dragon Roar’ was only mastered by me, but other Dragon Priests cannot grasp this ability, yet my people can, even though they don’t possess the Dragon Soul..."

"But they have bathed in Dragon Blood." The array engraved by Helena started taking effect, and the air above turned into a hazy mist. Some soul fragments flowed out from the statue, turning into a vague human-like figure in the center of the mist. "The Scholar Teacher once assisted me in studying the Dragon Soul. Deep within his soul, I discovered some impurities. Forgive my rhetoric, compared to the powerful magical soul of an ancient mage, those Dragon Souls gleaming with golden light, carrying knowledge, are, frankly, merely impurities, although the impurities also play a significant role. The Dragon Soul is more like a treasure transmitted through the soul, carrying knowledge and memories. As for the fresh blood bathed by the ancient humans... the Berserkers who bathed in Dragon Blood are probably no longer human. The blood of the giant dragon is steeped in magic power. It carries more obscure knowledge, teaching a young dragon how to fly, fight, breathe, and roar, to put it in a way that’s easier to understand. Inside the Dragon Blood, the instincts of the giant dragon are passed down."

"Instinct and knowledge—if we say other Dragon Priests are those utilizing the knowledge of the giant dragon, then you, Mr. Ohmhead, from the perspective of soul studies, you are a giant dragon locked within the body of a Dragon Priest."

"... That explains why Hill was so close to Ohmhead."

"Father!!!" Hill’s shout came from behind them, and the Dragon Priests saw Ohmhead being overshadowed by the silhouette of a giant dragon.

The Black Dragon Priest let out a roar. His hunched figure grew and morphed, and from the shadows, a strong and tall black dragon reached out a claw towards Hill’s head, sparking against the scales as the claw scratched them. The Twilight Dragon, under the caress, let out a laugh, rolling over as the Black Dragon Priest groomed it. Once the scales were clean, it got up and resumed playing in the water with the giant dragon and took Lyle, who had been temporarily left in the dragon’s care, back into its hands.

"Father?" Helena’s vague spiritual body made a confused expression, looking at Ohmhead, who had reverted to human form.

"Hill’s thoughts are quite in disarray. When we Dragon Priests first made contact with her, she made a generalization of us in a way she could understand. I became the father figure she perceived, and I guess for her lonely life, that was a kind of repair, so I accepted her designation."

Irason pouted, "The title of ’Big Brother’ is clearly the nicest among us! Please, don’t make that helpless face; it invites a smack!"

Helena observed the odd expressions on the Dragon Priests’ faces, sensing something amusing.

"May I know what titles the others have?"

"Flower," said Irason.

"Ice Cube," Princess said.

"Flame," Fleisheimer said.

"The Conjurer," said Morocoy, "Upon our first meeting, I drew Hill’s attention with a series of magic fireworks, which earned me this title."

"Mr. Ohmhead is ’Father,’ Lyle is ’Puppy,’ so what about the giant dragon?"

"’You.’"

Helena’s spiritual body floated in the array.

"I roughly understand the extent of Hill’s confusion. If there are no other questions, I will now begin the soul repair work."

"Alianna."

Gathering the Specter Herd, Alianna entered the center of the array at her sister’s call.

The fog started to dissipate, and Helena’s soul embraced Alianna from behind, their overlapping silhouettes slowly merging until only Alianna, with her eyes closed, remained. Her charm escalated further, and her speech was imbued with enchanting magic power. Helena had possessed her sister.

"Adjusting the soul of a giant dragon requires a vast and precise ’instrument,’ and the Specter Herd is the best soul scalpel there is. They obey my sister even better than me, and Alianna’s affability is undoubtedly the best among us; she has a good relationship with all the Resentful Spirits."

Perhaps it was because Alianna’s straightforward spiritual nature resembled that of the Resentful Spirits more than the other two daughters of Naslan, who were full of cunning.

With a mix of coaxing and deceiving, the giant dragon and Black Dragon Priest finally managed to have Hill quietly squat in the center of the array. She looked a bit afraid, alone without the giant dragon or ’Father’ near her, having to stay inside that rather ugly-looking circle.

Hill was distressed, so she held her "puppy" tightly in her arms.

"Ease up, ease up, ease up!" Lyle struggled to keep the Twilight Dragon’s large face away from him. The exoskeleton fibers formed by Nia supported the Giant Dragon’s grip, and Hill was completely unaware of her own incredible strength, especially since she had been growing stronger under the care of the Dragon Priest recently.

"I’ll go get Lyle out." The soul ritual could only have one target, and it was a quite intricate and tight process. If the ritual accidentally included two souls, their souls would become entangled, resulting in a chaotic fusion of Spiritual Bodies, making the ritual practitioner’s job even more difficult.

"Alianna" spoke up.

"Let’s start as is. I understand the essence of Lyle’s soul. The Evil God in its juvenile form will not be assimilated by the soul ritual, and Hill’s soul is already chaotic. Perhaps the distortion and aberration born from the power of the Evil God might even help in the healing process."

"Alright then, it saves me a bit of effort. Getting Hill to let go of Lyle is harder than getting her to sleep by ten."

"Alianna" stood outside the Array, placed her hands tightly against her abdomen, lifted her head, and faced Hill and Lyle, beginning to sing. Her voice was incredibly beautiful and clear. Lyle, mentally prepared, didn’t feel the pain of physical separation. His vision began to blur and distort, and his senses became chaotic amidst the singing. Before his senses completely shut down, he saw waves of phantoms rushing towards him.

...

Lyle awoke in the embrace of a statue. It was Helena’s Soul Reaver sculpture, and this place was the spiritual world.

[You could actually have slept a bit longer. I quite enjoy this moment.] The giant sculpture was speaking, and the plaster-like Helena was still captivating.

She kept shrinking—no, Lyle was gradually "recovering."

Malignant intent surged from the hollow of the heart, arms turned into withered branches, flesh tendrils formed the body, and the black omen giant stood next to Helena’s sculpture.

[I really want to kill off that "omen" part of you.]

[You can’t, because there’s no such thing as an ’omen’ part—there’s only ’Lyle.’ Better start working soon, don’t keep them waiting.]

The sculpture extended its hands, cradling the face of the black omen, as petrification and decay set in at the same time, eroding each other.

[There’s no concept of time here. The time we spend together could last but a moment or be eternal.]

The omen glanced around.

[Then being intimate with you here loses its meaning. I want to spend our "time" together.]

[With Alianna, or with me?]

The omen turned back, its hollow eyes directly facing the sculpture.

[Why do you all like to set traps for me? You are Helena, yet you are also Alianna.]

The Helena sculpture transformed; her face became a fusion of the two sisters, a more beautiful being. She smiled, a brilliance that transcended light, freezing time, a beauty that shook the soul.

[Because I like you, and I want you to have more interesting reactions.]

[...Let’s get to work.]

The black omen scanned the surroundings, quickly locating its target.

[What’s that?]

[That’s madness. Yes, very much like you, because the Evil God is the epitome of madness.]