NOVEL NEXT Chapter 301: The Sadist.
"You did not create him, master," Arla answered Sol as soon as he tried claiming responsibility for Umbra's malevolence.
"And before you jump to her defence, we're not saying Ikaris's fault either," Dina spoke after Arla. "Umbra was born of Atla; Atla made him into a monster the same it would have made you into a monster had you remained there for as long as he had, he is the part of you that was cured through Milady's love and devotion," She spoke formally.
"And yours," Sol added gesturing to her and Arla with a small smile, I don't mean it in that way, Dina, Arla; what I'm saying is that Umbra became the way he is because we did not consider that the clone of someone's soul could gain sentience and become a separate entity; it still puzzles me when I try making sense of it... how?"
"Milady has already explained that the reason he gained sentience was because his and your souls are the same; you are both the incarnation of the Godslayer who saved her when darkness attacked many aeons ago and she split her soul," Sara spoke up without sparing a glance at them.
"Master, you are strong, you have always been strong, I do not see why you were able to overcome everything you did yet he strayed to the dark and started plotting to take your happiness away..." She added, speaking slowly while the baby played with her cheeks.
"I was at my wit's end when the Atlan war came to a conclusion with the death of the demon-god, getting offered a second chance by Ikaris to me back then was a silver lining against black clouds poisoned and raining acid to the ground; I was so elated, so extremely happy that I had been taken away from that hell that I made a full recovery as soon as I realised I was no longer on Atla, at least."
"I made a full recovery on the surface, if Ikaris separated him and myself in the same moment that we left for earth then it meant that she went back on the whole deal that convinced me to work for her in the first place, just the thought of being abandoned like that is terrible beyond what I can bare."
"He was denied freedom, and she was drawing power from him while he was in a state of conscious paralysis, unable to speak or even think for himself, when I stopped drawing power from Ikaris the stockpile remaining within him became his and from there, he has only grown more powerful, if I were him, I'd be pretty mad too...
no I'd be furious; I'd want to burn everything and see those who used me brought to their knees and kowtowing while I take their heads; every last one, so I will say it again, even though his actions are his own, Umbra is my responsibility, I was the cause of his creation I'm the reason he was denied the freedom he deserved, even if he is just a clone, even if he wasn't supposed to exist, he does, so I have to do what is best for everyone and deal with him."
"Wow, I never even bothered to look at it from such a perspective before," Dina raised her brows in thought while Arla narrowed her eyes wondering and staring at the ground before them.
"Ah," The elf nodded and looked to Sol once more. "Master, I get it now!" She exclaimed drawing everyone's attention as she clapped her fist in her open palm ans shook it. "This is primarily the same reason everything got out of control, correct?" She asked him with a knowing glance ans Sol began watching Ikaris and Nine's fight and nodded.
"Yes," He replied with something of a solemn expression.
"I hadn't realised just how evil he was yet so I considered letting him go in an attempt to right our wrongs, like Ikaris did, I wanted to find some remaining good in him and help him grow into a god person, but he was already too far gone by then and it ended with me banishing him into the Khalla-Nova Collective with a declaration of my and my family's annihilation," Sol winced when he saw Ikaris turn Nine's right arm into spaghetti with one of the most brutal sword combinations she had ever used, not that she was known for any.
"That is quite the situation you ended up in," Cecelia commented with a strange expression as she tried to understand the concept of someone having two souls and the second soul having a grudge with the first; to her, it sounded like a fairy tale or some fantastical adventure cooked up by an imaginative writer for a book, and yet she knew that Umbra was real.
Over the last week she spent going to and from the Vestic estates with Keele and Jenifer she had learned that everything which happened within the Vestic household was an impossibility; from Talia a newborn being the most powerful being in the universe after her parents, to Sara, a maid with the powers to essentially live forever by sleeping in her literal shadows, and then topping the impossibility chart was Sol and Ikaris who were so incredibly powerful while using mana that they lived their lives as parodies of the worlds they interacted with.
"Quite the situation indeed, Cecelia,"
***
"I can sense him again; that horrible power of light which nearly killed me..." Umbra stared into the deep of space in Sol's direction.
"You are not yet ready, my King, you are far from it; facing Sol Vestic with your current power is the same as-"
"I know, Giza, I'm not an idiot, I need to have equal or greater power to his to stand even the slightest of chances against that monster, if we meet before I have achieved either of the two then I will die immediately, I know how he thinks so I know that he wants me dead after what I did, I know that I put him in a state of unrest where he no longer views me as human and simply wants my head; I know all that, I won't go near the bastard until my victory is guaranteed."
"Good, it would be a shame to lose the only Godslayer who exists within my realm of dark," Giza nodded and he slowly looked down at her with his brows raised and his lips spread into an unusually thin and eerie smile.
"What did you just call me?"
"I thought such a truth was obvious; I have already explained the descent of celestials into the mortal world, and you who are a direct and indistinguishable copy of the original soul of Sol Vestic are just as much of a Celestial as he is; he's the reincarnation of one of the most powerful Celestial beings to ever exist across all planes, a Godslayer, making you the same." Giza raised her eyes and looked at him when the last of the star they were corrupting turned to black.
"Like Sol Vestic, you have the limitless potential to become the strongest, amongst the heavens, across the mortal planes, he is honoured as a vessel of hope, of peace and an omen of good fortune..." Giza stopped speaking and held her jaw when black blood began dripping down her lips.
"You're not the best at taking instructions, are you?" Umbra's black hair menacingly fanned around his head and his void eyes locked on to her hands held out before her as her tongue slipped from her mouth and fell into her grasp.
"How many times are you going to make me repeat myself, Giza?" The man rested his hand on her head while she stared at her tongue in her grasp too shocked to move or even react.
She just stood there with her irises shrunken and her breath quivering.
"Heal yourself and let's move on to another system; you aren't actually hurt, are you?" He asked, and she very carefully glanced up at him and then smiled opening her mouth wide and regrowing her tongue with a breath of black miasma.
"My Lord, your cruelty is arousing; to steal my ability to speak without me even noticing, I pray the day comes where I find it impossible to resist you in any other way, I await that day eagerly, to have you force yourself upon me and take everything, such a chilling and terrifying dream, but I know if there is one who can, it shall be you, my King~!" Giza hugged herself and swooned while residual blood dripped from her purple lips.
"With such an attractive and wicked personality, I can only love you like the shadows do night."
"Keep on topic, you fucking sadist," Umbra glared at the woman, and she blushed again and smiled cordially at him.
"Certainly," Giza calmly took a seat next to him on emptiness and crossed her legs as they began waiting for the darkness to eat away at the sun.
"My Lord, you have a long way to go, but not even the Godslayer of Light backed by its emissaries grew this quickly, you as the Godslayer existing inverse of him have shown growth that not even he has."
"How long will it take then?" Umbra stared at her while he aimlessly floated upside down, copying Sol without even knowing it.
"With your power growing this quickly, I believe you will surpass him in the next two years' time."