Chapter 17: CH18: Bound In Flesh

Another post splintered and liquid spiritual energy sprayed from the crack in the post like blood from a wound. Pops rang out from his formation as the amount it absorbed exceeded the limits of the materials, and chunks of wooden shrapnel sprayed everywhere. Plans upon plans to create better materials ran through his mind as he watched his hack job crumble under power beyond its scope.

 

With the hollow taking on a false body, its malignant nature was stronger than ever. It had to be close to evolving into a Menos Grande by the sheer multitude of different spiritual signatures feeding into it. All of them were malignant and absorbed into the hollow’s own, acting like a battery to its soul. It was no wonder they were often overcome by the other personalities within. How could the dominant personality even be sure it was the original? Hollows often had spotty memories of their past.

 

Silas pointed his musket and then heard the sound of static.

 

Metal shod hooves kicked behind him, diverting the blow to slice a chunk off his left shoulder. Blood oozed from the wound as malignant energy worked its way inside.

 

The staff in his hand buzzed as the formations within it used Silas’s own aura to drive out the infection. He swung with the staff and caught the chimera of bear and human with the end of his staff. A concussive blow blasted the creature back a step before its massive, clawed arm slashed down.

 

Silas could sense the drain on the monster’s strength weaken as his formation broke down. A hunk of wood hit him in the cheek while the last redundant post shattered. He saw a shiny piece of something out of the corner of his eye but blocked it out to focus on the fight.

 

He caught the claw with his staff and felt his aura move through the staff to act as a barrier against malignant forces. It kept the claws from cutting through his staff and gave him an opening. Silas brought his musket up and pointed it point blank at the child skull on the monster’s shoulders.

 

The hollow’s eyes widened when Silas pulled the trigger, and John intervened.

 

A barrier appeared in front of the child’s head, blocking the round and stopping Silas from ending the fight. Instead, Silas slammed the butt of his staff down and unleashed a concussive blast to get some room between himself and the monster.

 

“Bind,” John said, and chains of lightning wrapped around the hollow and held it in place.

 

“What in the world were thou doing? We agreed to try and redeem my blood, cousin.” John said.

 

“Thou art a fool if thou think it can be redeemed. I know thou sense its malignance and the souls trapped within. Spare it, or thy daughter will be its next victim.” Silas said.

 

“Methinks thy upbringing has poisoned thee. Thy orphanage’s matron was a Christianly woman and full of faults like her belief in the original sin and belief in demons. While some may say the blood of the covenant tis thicker than the water of the womb, I won’t give up on family, no matter their crimes as a hollow. He can be redeemed; I know it.” John said.

 

“Cousin, this is foolishness,” Silas said.

 

 He held a hand against the wound on his shoulder and felt the blood seep between his fingers before using his aura to apply pressure. Only a skin flap connected the sliced part of his shoulder to the other. It would take some time, but the wound was well on its way to healing. Already the cut pieces of flesh were knitting together.

 

“Watch thy tone, son; I will succeed given enough time,” John said.

 

It could only end badly, and it was definitely his problem. More cracks appeared in his formations as drops of pure spiritual energy leaked into the soil.

 

“Have thy guards purge the hollow’s den; we need no more monsters to appear,” Silas said.

 

“Jensen use a fire spell and cleanse the interior of that cave, leave nothing alive,” John said.

 

From what Silas could tell, the hollow was down to around 8% of its original spiritual energy and recovering. His formation removed the lion’s share of the monster’s power. Most of that power had been converted into pure spiritual energy. At the same time, the rest of the possessed lingered in the air or was quickly absorbed by the burgeoning demon beasts.

 

In a few decades, the land would be filled with undead abominations and something pure by the amount of liquid spirit energy on the ground. It would become something of a haven for spiritual herbalists. A few treasures might appear in a millennium if the place wasn’t picked clean.

 

He would need to reach the fourth stage to hope to live that long. Nascent rebirth wasn’t something he had attempted before. A mere core cultivator after many long years was his limit. In some ways, the new world was easier to cultivate; in others, it was disastrous. All he had were formations to collect spiritual energy. 

 

Thanks to him, the world was changed. History could no longer move like it had unless he fenced in and sealed off the areas. While it would take a lot of work, that would be worth it. If he let the energy spread, he would be battling burgeoning cultivators before long. Soul Society might actively mitigate the future wars or wipe out all cultivators like they would do the Quincy. Fencing in and containing the spiritual energy would be best, but he didn’t have the manpower.

 

Silas could only control so much. Moving fast was important, and he needed more lumber and nails.

 

The spiritual energy would take six months to settle before it expanded by his on-the-fly calculations. He had until then to build a fence that would give him time to get some paper to plan out his formations. Really all he had to do was number them and write some instructions after he enchanted the posts and healed over the fractals. This wouldn’t take more trust than having a good foreman to ensure people followed instructions. Even the undead could do the job.

 

He felt a crack in the binding. John held a hand in front of the hollow, sweating bullets. Eleven guards joined him, but the hollow’s malignant energy recovered as it battled against the bindings. When Silas noticed, the hollow grinned and black spiritual energy pushed against its bindings. The many souls trapped within it fought with all their might powering up the beast. Unfortunately, a few of those souls were the Aztec Shinigami and powerful egos mixed in with the rest.

 

Silas walked up behind the monster and hit it in the side of the leg with his staff. A crunch and pop followed by a wet squelch knocked the hollow down to a knee. The monster squealed in pain, more like a pig than a bear. He cut open the bear's flesh and collected some of its blood in a bubble of spiritual pressure. His formations were far more accurate and less energy-intensive, with blood from the direct vessel of the hollow’s spirit.

 

He carved symbols around the monster in the dirt before filling them with the hollow’s blood. They flashed to life, draining the hollow’s strength to bind it further. Its arms and legs went limb dropping the monster on the ground. The formation was medical in nature and used for quick field surgeries. All it did was cut feeling to the patient’s body. It worked just as well to disarm enemies if their blood was present. However, no cultivator would allow an enemy formation’s specialist to get ahold of that.

 

Most would rather self-destruct than allow it to happen. If the bear had detonated, it would have likely killed its enemies, but it didn’t think like a cultivator. That was something Silas planned to take full advantage of in the future.

 

At that moment, three red-coat mounted soldiers burst into the clearing, muskets trained on them and then on the beast. “Hark thee what tis that abomination.” One soldier asked and fired.

 

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The round impacted the hollow’s flesh but bounced off.

 

“Still alive and dangerous. We managed to take out its arms and legs, but thou see it. God only knows what it can do?” Silas said.

 

One of the men pulled out a horn and blew on it. The loud sound was met with two more before the man blew on it twice more. More red coats galloped into the clearing, muddying up the ground.

 

John looked from his blood cousin and then back to the men filling up the clearing. Out of the woods riding a warhorse came William Penn without his charismatic smile or even a twinkle of good nature.

 

“Methinks, I told thee to let me handle this as the province's Representative. Mayhap this creature tis the reason man may not lay with animal lest an abomination is born.” William Penn said.

 

He refuted the man automatically. “No matter how often a man lays with an animal, nothing will be born. Human seed will never bear fruit in a beast. Tis possession by malignant spirits capable of stitching living flesh together like a seamstress might two different torn colored cotton hose.” Silas said.

 

“Thou have experience of the former, do thee. Such a crime holds the punishment of stoning.” William Penn said.

 

“Methinks, my future son-in-law, meant to correct a misconception about this incident. Accuse my family without proof, and we will have words. Silas, dear son, be silent men of station art conversing.” John said.

 

The soldiers saw the smoking ruin of the hollow’s cave, the strange glowing symbols in the dirt, and carved into posts. The corpse of the Red Indian lay within a border of formations along with the monster.

 

“Be thankful I am a Sirrah of reason instead of a puritan. God does not discourage the use of muskets, and these markings seem to hold evil at bay instead of encouraging it. Methinks I will hear a tale; if thou art free of devilry and atheism, thy odd tactics against demons can be overlooked.” William Penn said.

 

William Penn was an egalitarian and fully believed in the freedom of religion within reason. He invited Red Indians to live among his people and fought for the better treatment of slaves. That didn’t change the fact the man was a politician, and their victory didn’t look very Christianly.

 

Still, Silas wondered why the hollow didn’t free itself from its fleshy host. Did the tactic slip the hollow’s mind? Well, horsehair packed in wounds causes scars, and he was an artist with his knife.

 

“The beast isn’t ready for transport. Allow me to make some adjustments.” Silas said.

 

He cut some hair from Dotty’s tail, much to Dotty’s displeasure, and made a series of quick cuts along the hollow’s mostly paralyzed body.

 

“What art thou doing, creator?” The hollow said as Silas started cutting into the beast.

 

“Art, thou suggesting I mated with thy heathen mother, thy mother was a bear, or that I fornicated with a bear whose cub thou used for parts. Thou art mistaken if thou thought thy maggot-filled mind could come up with a way to distract me. Did I not warn thou that I would defeat thee next we met? I will capture thee in my will and never let thou go.” Silas said in a deadpan voice.

 

 A circular group of fractals came to life on its chest, holding multiple purposes powered by the hollow’s malignant energy.

 

“White devil, rapist, I will have my vengeance even if it takes a hundred years.” It finally tried to escape from the body it possessed at that moment but couldn’t. “What has thou done?”

 

“Demon, thou art bound to the flesh thou inhabit forevermore. Thy own power will keep thy flesh alive. So thou will attack invisibly no longer and learn to fear the wrath of Sirrah.” Silas said.

 

The eternal bit was an outright lie more for theatre than anything else. If Oscar believed the formation couldn’t be overcome, he was less likely to defeat them. Any trained cultivator could overcome Silas’s current level of formations.

 

“For a demon, tis uncreative and slow on the uptake. Killing it would be a mercy to such a cur.” William Penn said. “Mayhap I will hold it in my wine cellar under lock and chains. We can sew a stuffed bear head over its own, and none will be the wiser. We can carry an empty cage and claim the invisible beast was slain. What will the puritan’s wise elder council say to refute my claims?” William Penn said.

 

“Methinks the body it possessed lowered its intelligence. Tis mostly bear from what my eyes see.” Silas said.

 

“Captain, clamp it in thy thickest irons and drag it behind thy horses with a team holding chains behind it lest it attack the front or back riders. Do not stop until it is out of the area and safely locked in my wine cellar under strong iron bars.” William Penn said.

 

“Kill me now lest I escape. Thou art mortal and I have all the time to wait for thy complacency.” Oscar said.

 

“Mayhap it would be better if I keep it. It is an evil on my lands. My family can keep watch for generations to ensure its evil never escapes to ravage the land.” John said in his bid to get the monster officially.

 

John was weak from binding the hollow, and none of his men seemed eager to make a move under the dozens of trained soldiers. He doubted John would give up, but the venture had shaken the man. Before John had been confident, perhaps knowing he would have to face the music empty-handed had finally set in.

 

“Methinks thy lands have suffered enough.” William Penn said.

 

Silas would have rather sunk the creature in concrete and placed it in the foundation of his home. But if it was out of his hair, then he wouldn’t care. Even if it managed to get free in a decade,,, Silas would be well beyond its power. Except he could sense its strength still increasing. Its body wasn’t ready when Silas struck. He would need to build a strong conversion formation to siphon its strength. Fortunately, the seal on its body worked like an open-ended addition to any formation Silas wanted. It was a back door for Silas to sodomize the monster’s spiritual energy like a proper Englishman.

 

 

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