Duality of Shadows-Chapter 946: Find Happiness

First, they focused on the cauldron. They had to act with extreme caution, as they didn’t know the true power of the Primordial Chaos items or whether the Queen had left any additional defenses on the seal.

Ruri activated World Completeness, ensuring that if any kind of connection between the Queen and the items occurred, nothing would escape that space. Every bit of caution was necessary at that moment, and mistakes couldn’t be made.

With everything prepared, they removed the golden seal from the Cauldron of Chaos and Order.

*Buzz!*

The runes dissolved, but immediately after, a faint buzzing sound emerged, and a golden arrow tried to escape, failing to do so. Alm and Bruno calmly observed. It was exactly what they expected.

The Queen’s decision to order the heroes to slowly build a grand formation—the so-called "temple"—was a clear clue.

Because of that, they had prepared. She was absolutely certain that the two stolen items couldn’t be freed, and if they were, this mechanism would alert her to their location.

That arrow carried the power to connect with the heavenly laws and flee to reach the Queen, no matter where she was. However, even she didn’t know that Alm and Bruno had an effective method to isolate themselves from the laws.

’Perfect, she’s probably waiting patiently. This might buy us a little more time,’ Alm thought.

Meanwhile, Bruno didn’t waste time. He tried to connect with the cauldron using the full power of the array to send a message. The message didn’t go through—the space inside the cauldron was clearly sealed off from the outside world.

But… as if by instinct, a fluctuation was felt from within.

The cauldron trembled, and the spatial laws distorted until a person appeared.

"Almin!" Ruri shouted, tears in her eyes, running to embrace him.

He looked at the whale, surprised, then glanced around, unsure where he was, until another figure appeared a bit later.

Lyra emerged, and in that instant, Ruri turned to her, wide-eyed. "What… a Yang of life…"

Ruri immediately noticed a different energy flowing from Lyra and instinctively glanced at her abdomen.

Lyra smiled awkwardly. "We were living so peacefully… and alone… it just happened. I had to seal it and stop its growth indefinitely."

Alm and Bruno sighed. Liumi had previously made a prediction about their future, specifically regarding them. However, sealed inside the cauldron, far removed from the heavenly laws, that child would never receive a soul or live. Because of this, Lyra had to forcibly stop its growth.

It was a complicated situation. They hadn’t known when they’d be freed, and it probably would’ve been better to destroy everything outright instead of nurturing a baseless hope. Being trapped, wishing for something impossible, was unnecessary mental stress.

However, Lyra had refused to give up and waited. She then turned to the whale, a happy, grateful smile spreading across her face. That gave the two certainty… she had trusted, irrationally and completely, that it wouldn’t take long for them to save her.

"Perfect! This is amazing!" Ruri said, excited.

Everyone, except her, looked confused by her words. Ruri turned to the whale, her eyes glowing. "We need to reincarnate the God of Forging and Isla, right?"

"Isla?!" Almin quickly exclaimed, stunned.

The whale snorted and waved, pulling out the fragments of their souls. Almin saw them and immediately recognized Isla. His eyes trembled, filled with pain and emotion. He approached and held the trembling fragment. Lyra and Ruri were surprised by his reaction.

The whale snorted again. "You’re still blaming yourself for that? I’ve already told you, you had no choice—you were being mentally controlled."

"I know… but… I grew up with her. She always treated me like a younger brother. I’ll never forgive myself for mocking her and saying those things when she died…"

Ruri softly approached Almin. "It’s okay. You’ll get the chance to see her again. Now’s the perfect moment."

"Ruri… their damage isn’t simple to heal," Bruno commented in a calm tone.

Almin turned to the whale, serious. It was necessary to explain Isla’s previous situation and her current condition in detail. Unlike other souls that were broken and replaced by the Queen’s power, these two went through something far more brutal. The Queen extracted memories from deep within their souls and destroyed everything inside.

Afterward, she ensured they could never fully recover, turning them into permanent tools for her purposes.

"In other words, the Isla we knew will never fully recover. Healing the two of them will be extremely complicated. It’s not just a matter of restoring soul power—there’s internal damage I don’t know how to rebuild. Even if we manage to heal her, it’ll be like starting from scratch, truly." They concluded, with a heavy tone.

Not even celestial miracles could fully heal these souls. The name was ’Miracle of Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Rebirth.’ The damage was to the deepest part of the soul, in the law of Origin—specifically, where the memories resided.

Everything was destroyed so the queen could read as much as possible. She probably didn’t destroy it with that specific intention, but rather because it was the only way she found to erase the memories. What she did afterward, though, was cruel—preventing recovery.

Ruri, however, stayed upbeat. "What matters is that they’ll be okay again. They won’t change who they are. You’ll be able to rebuild the bonds you had. Master isn’t alone; we’ll help him heal them."

"What are you planning?" Alm and Bruno asked, curious.

Ruri replied, "The God of Forge adapted to human souls. He can be reborn as a human, right?"

"Possibly," Bruno answered, turning to Lyra, realizing what Ruri was hinting at. "But for that, we need to heal his soul completely. As I said, it won’t be simple…"

Suddenly, Bruno paused mid-sentence. He caught the look in Ruri’s eyes and finally understood her reasoning. They remembered Mistie and Purimu, who had used the Miracle of Creation to give life to a new race. Ruri had observed the entire process and later had the steps explained to her in detail.

Bruno pondered the possibility, but Alm scoffed and explained:

"We’ve already considered that. If we take everything missing from their souls from divine ones and use the Miracle of Creation, it’s relatively simple to piece it all together. The advantage of having a divine soul is that it heals afterward. Meanwhile, they’d gain the internal parts of the soul we don’t understand, without any major issues."

"But... technically, this is similar to what the queen did—combining parts of different souls and implanting them into bodies. The difference is that we’d do it more gently. Even so, they wouldn’t be exactly the same and could reject it."

Ruri smiled. "Don’t worry about rejection. Just use from Almin what’s missing, but not everything. When he grows inside Lyra, she’ll gently complete him."

"That doesn’t make sense. The mother can complete a soul if it’s missing a little, but rejection will still happen," Alm sighed.

"It won’t happen, Master, trust me," Ruri said confidently. "A child is half the father and half the mother, right? If he grows gently inside her, receiving all her love, why would he reject parts of them both? Instinctively, feeling the connection to both from the very beginning, he’ll accept it naturally. The difference compared to others is that he won’t just be a body; even his soul will be part of them."

Alm listened, and although it still sounded illogical to him, he couldn’t refute her determined gaze. Bruno, on the other hand, nodded and spoke mentally:

’We’re not women, and we don’t fully understand the creation of life or this kind of parent-child connection. I think it’s worth trying. Maybe it’ll work; after all, the queen probably forced those souls into already mature bodies.’

Alm scoffed and answered Ruri, "There’s still another problem: Lyra only has one fetus…"

"They’re a couple, Master. I’d never make them be born as siblings. That child in Lyra clearly has a lot of Yang energy, which means it’ll be a boy. Let’s put him first," Ruri explained, turning to Almin and Lyra.

"The God of Forge… I’d be more than happy to give him life," Lyra said softly.

"He’s no longer the God of Forge, even if he still has the talent. Though he won’t be a dwarf anymore, I’m sure he’ll be happy to have you two as parents… he’s just a bit rude, but that’s easy to fix," Ruri said cheerfully.

Almin nodded, accepting the idea as well. A child is usually not something you choose, so he was willing to accept whatever fate sent their way.

Alm and Bruno saw no problem in trying. They approached Almin and focused. They knew exactly what was missing in the soul, though they had no idea how it worked or its purpose. It was like missing a heart and lungs in a body. So, they removed what was needed from another person and transplanted it.

[Celestial Points: 720]

[Miracle of Creation] [90 Celestial Points]

[Use?] [Yes / No]

With the rewards from the main mission, they had enough points to use the miracle more than once, if necessary.

The queen had forcibly attached fragments of various souls to them, using her heroic power. But they used a large part of a divine soul, which would easily regenerate afterward. The celestial miracle performed the union more cleanly.

In the end, the processes were very different, although the resulting problems could be similar, as it wasn’t something originally part of the soul.

They formed a complete soul, which resembled a human soul, but left it at only 70% power. The crucial internal parts were placed, and the rest would be completed by the mother.

They turned to Lyra, who received the soul, but the fetus was still not developed enough to fully bind it.

"Let’s go back into the cauldron. Time passes differently there—nine months equals nine days outside. That place is beautiful and pure; it’ll be perfect for a pregnancy," Lyra said, holding Almin’s hand.

The whale and Ruri nodded, and the two returned to the cauldron. Meanwhile, they organized things in the inventory.

Nine days later, the two emerged. Ruri ran excitedly upon seeing a baby in Lyra’s arms. She approached and carefully examined the baby’s essence.

Alm and Bruno did the same, and within a minute, they were sure: Ruri was completely right.

That soul had adapted perfectly, as if it were naturally and originally part of the baby. There was no sign of rejection.

"See?" Ruri said, laughing. Then, she turned to Almin and Lyra, who seemed to understand the meaning perfectly.

Almin nodded and stored the cauldron. "Let’s introduce him to everyone first."

Then, Ruri opened the space of her technique, and the two left quickly, without looking back.

Alm and Bruno were a bit confused. Then, they turned to Ruri: "We can’t waste time. I’ve already found some pregnant human women on Planet Pristine. Let’s choose a good mother for Isla…"

Ruri heard that and her face twisted. Alm and Bruno were shocked to see genuine anger in her expression directed at them. It was an expression they had only seen before when she was still a child.

Ruri scoffed. "Master, don’t be rude. A good mother? Why would I let someone so important to Master and me be born far away? I want to see her grow and help her directly. Master and Almin always said Isla was like a lost sister to me. I’m sure she’ll accept me as her mother."

"What?" Alm and Bruno exclaimed in unison. "Wait, that would be really strange…"

"Why strange?" Ruri responded seriously, meeting their gaze. "Master loves her, and I know it’s not romantic. It’s already very similar to a family bond. She also seemed to feel the connection between you before. Master wants her close, right? She’ll never remember your past together, and it doesn’t really matter. A daughter is perfect."

"But… even if it seems acceptable…"

Ruri interrupted, her eyes filled with determination: "The fruit of our love is already here with me. I’m going to make this happen. If it doesn’t work, Master can find another mother. Is that okay?"

Alm and Bruno sighed heavily. They didn’t know exactly how to feel about it, but they knew the chances of the fertilized egg Ruri kept being viable were slim.

The problem was that this was cruel to her. If it failed, it would be difficult to cheer her up afterward. They didn’t want to see her fall into depression.

"One more thing: both of us have divine or beyond-divine souls. Let’s give half of each. She already absorbed your soul before, and she and I are very similar. It’ll be even more compatible. I’m sure it’ll work!" Ruri exclaimed, clenching her fists and showing all her determination.

[Celestial Points: 630]

[Miracle of Creation] [270 Celestial Points]

[Use?] [Yes / No]

They could only sigh heavily and proceed. They removed half of each soul and did exactly as Ruri wanted, already preparing themselves to comfort her if it didn’t work out.

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After completing the soul, Ruri took it and held it close to her. Then, she held their hands. "Let’s stay together, Master… it’ll work," she said, before pulling them into a tight hug.

At that moment, Alm and Bruno felt all her anguish, fear, and determination flow into them. They sighed and looked up, silently wishing this would be as painless as possible for her.

But she didn’t let go, holding onto them as if she wanted to merge with them. They stayed that way, feeling everything the other felt, both wishing with all their might that the other would find happiness in the result.