Chapter 4: Chapter 4 – Shade Possession

Planting both of his feet on the rocky undergrowth below the tree, Theseus left the crevice reborn. Leo danced around Theseus with glee; his new friend had left the coral tree. Although Leo acted like a pet, he was on high alert. As a Rank A Sage and untamed beast, Leo’s playful personality with Theseus was deceiving. With one slash of its claws, Leo could finish Theseus off. In fact, when Leo first tracked the monstrous fish and Theseus over a month ago, it often crossed Leo’s mind to put Theseus out of his misery.

Now, however, the two frolicked through the trees joyfully. Coral trees sprout high into the watery abyss, and different colored allege draped over the coral, giving the illusion of leaves. Theseus was also hiding his worry underneath his playfulness; if they ran into a strong spirit beast, he was still a liability to Leo.

The navigator in Theseus knew the best course of action would be to continue away from the mountains. At his current aura realm, it would be hard to transverse the mountains, and they were unlikely to find a friendly ghostly civilization in the mountains. By finding clear and open lands away from the coral forest, they were more likely to find civilization.

Heading southeast, the duo hiked away from the westmost mountain closest to their location. The sheer mass of the underwater continent they were on was astonishing. Who knew how vast the land would be like? Perhaps this place was entirely an ocean? Traveling for over a day, it felt like they were still in the shadow of the western mountain, as if they hadn’t made any progress at all.

Along their way, lesser beasts scurried away from the domineering Leo. As far as Theseus could tell, the battle he witnessed between Leo and the gigantic tuna was the epitome of the food chain in this forest. A feeling of self-assurance creeped into Theseus’s mind: If the strongest creatures of the coral forest were A or S Rank Sages, the power scaling of Theseus’s world to this after-world should be similar.

If the scaling was exact, there should be one or two beasts of the Royalty realm that ruled over the whole coral forest and about a dozen creatures like Leo in the higher end Sage Realm throughout the ecosystem. Wildlands like this are quite rare in Theseus’s world, but they are not unheard of. Especially in the unexplored oceans, maybe areas like this could be ruled by oceanic Royalty even in the land of the living. After three more days of trekking through the forest, the first semblance of civilization emerged.

Up ahead, a campfire was glowing. Two ghostly beings were chatting. Theseus signaled for Leo to be quiet, and the two companions listened to their discussion.

“What’d you think Aries?”

“I’m sure Lord Virgo could care less don’t you think?”

“Who cares what that idiot thinks?”

“Careful what you say, Aries. It wouldn’t be wise for Shades to speak up against a Greater Spirit like Lord Virgo.”

It appeared like the two served a higher up and were out in these woods for some reason. Theseus was perplexed though. What was a Greater Spirit? Was that the equivalent of a Sage?

“One of these days, I will become greater than Lord Virgo. He’s become too full of himself.”

The bulkier man, Aries stood up and looked down on the skinner man who had been rebuking him.

“What do you think you’re doing? How dare you speak of Lord Virgo so nonchalantly?” The skinner man also stood up in retaliation.

“Justus, it’s time for a change in management, don’t you think?” Aries smiled and struck out at Justus. Leo was about to pounce, but Theseus held his friend back; he wasn’t sure how powerful this duo was.

“Skill: Shade Slam!” Aries cried out. With a rush of blood red aura, Aries slammed down on the smaller Justus. Aries had a distinct Shade aura.

Shades were a classification of one of the seven magical paths. Aura progression could be obtained in one of seven ways, and the Shade Path was considered to be one of the more violent and volatile paths. In a yin and yang relationship with the Spirit Path, the Shade Path centered on utilizing another’s inherent soul energy for one’s own purpose. Shades usually became stronger by consuming other Spirits forcefully to strengthen one’s own soul. It was a nasty path of self-indulgence and self-centered abilities for the most part.

The Spirit Path in contradiction focuses on the consensual communion with Spirits, or the strengthening of one’s own soul through extreme tempering. Neither spiritually based paths were evil paths by nature, but both of these two paths could be abused for evil, the Shade path in particular. The result of becoming a Shade was a qualitative change in one’s own soul and the formation of a Shade Core. As the classification of monsters are associated with the presence of a Monster Core, Shades were technically considered humanoid monsters, but in this afterlife environment, it made sense that the rare and volatile Shade Path would be used more often since the deceased people all had ghostly vessels, as far as Theseus could tell.

Meanwhile, Justus fought back against the Shade Aries.

“Skill: Ultimate Defense!” Moving his hands into an X, Justus’s aura formed a barrier, deflecting the Shade Slam. Skills were essential elements in combat and aura use, and they were commonly formulated using complex aura manipulation. Chanting skills like these two were doing were commonplace. It was easier to formulate aural pathways in the mind through a chant or sentence while training. Aries’s attack bounced off of the Ultimate Defense Skill. At a standstill, both pulled out their swords from their sheathes, the two’s clash continued.

From the looks of the two ghosts, they were around the peak S Rank Sage Realm. Theseus was glad he didn’t allow Leo to interfere. If Leo had fought them, they both would’ve dispatched the leopard swiftly. By his world’s standards, and by this forest’s standards, these two were exceptional.

“Skill: Demonic Strike!” Aries blasted a red swipe, engulfed in Shade aura, from his sword.

“Skill: Reflection.” Justus used a strange skill to reflect the sword art back at Aries. Expertly moving out of the way, Aries dodged and used the same skill again. Over the course of five minutes, both were heavily wounded. In the end, Aries came out on top, barely.

“At last, with your soul, I will be strong enough to face Lord Virgo.” Aries laughed.

“Don’t do this Aries! What if Virgo finds out? We were just supposed to be on patrol!” Justus coughed.

“It’s too late. My plan all along was to claim you died to a spirit beast. Skill: Shade Consumption Ritual.”

Tearing off his shirt, a complicated runic ritual was inscribed onto Aries’s body. Sucking the lifeforce out of Justus, Justus’s soul dissipated, and Aries collapsed onto the ground. The damage Aries took during the fight was fatal. His greed would take his life.

“Now, Leo.” Theseus whispered. This dying Shade was the perfect source to find out information. From the looks of Aires, he couldn’t do anything lethal. Coming out of the shadows, the pair approached the malicious Shade.

“Ha, I was wondering when you’d show yourself.” Aries coughed on blood while on the ground. He had known all along that Theseus and Leo were there.

“How did you know we were here?” Theseus asked, stunned.

“At my level, noticing you two was so easy. In fact, that’s why I attacked the idiot Justus in the first place. You’ve fallen into my trap!

Skill: Shade Possession!” Instantly, Aries disappeared from where he lay.

“Where did he go?” Theseus looked around him, but the Shade was gone. Inside Theseus’s head, a voice responded.

“I’m in your head, you moron. I’ve possessed your body!” Aries’s voice was in Theseus’s head, and he was nowhere to be seen. Shade Possessions were exceptionally rare occurrences where a Shade possesses another vessel. It was an extreme measure used by Shades in dire situations to steal another person’s life. If the possession completed, the host would be consumed by the Shade, but the Shade would also be damaged to an extent because it wasn’t a legitimate Shade Ritual.

“I should’ve known.” Theseus cursed to himself. Falling to the ground, the Shade’s presence started to erode his consciousness. Theseus had one last trick up his sleeve.

“Authority Skill: Self-Soul Hypnosis.” Theseus decided to put himself to sleep and force the Shade into his dreams. By putting his soul to sleep, he forced the Shade, who was currently latched onto his soul, into the dream as well. He read about how a lucky person defeated a Shade Possession in their dreams once by accident.

Theseus was in a bind and couldn’t think of any other way. Self-Soul Hypnosis was dangerous because it could permanently put the spellcaster into a coma until the dream resolved itself naturally. It was a gamble he had to take. Learning miscellaneous spells came in handy in unpredictable situations! Before Aries could comprehend the situation, they both fell asleep.

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***

Third Floor of Heaven

“Where the Hell is this?” Aries looked around.

“Oh my gods! That’s a Shade!” Astrid, the elemental mage from Alvaro and Theseus’s party exclaimed. They expected a difficulty increase in the monsters as they climbed Heaven, but an S Ranked Sage as soon as they reached the Third Floor? This was too much!

“Get into positions everyone!” Alvaro called out.

“What the…” Aries evaluated the party in front of him. Theseus was hiding at the back as a support, unaware this was actually a dream.

“Hmm, a party of Sages, how troublesome.” Aries instantly understood his predicament; he was in Theseus’s head. Forming a sword from his Shade aura, Aries attacked.

“Skill: Demonic Strike!” In less than a millisecond, Aries tore through Astrid’s body.

“Impossible!” Berringer muttered.

“Astrid no!” Alvaro screamed.

“Skill: Party Speed Enhancement,” Lydia, the healer chanted.

“Skill: Party Strength Enchantment,” Theseus followed Lydia’s lead.

“Fuck, I need to make this quick. They know party buffs.” Aries thought. He had to use his trump card and strongest skill.

“Demonic Pressure!” A gravitational skill forced Theseus and his party to the ground. Aries grinned and killed the party members one by one. This skill worked on anyone below his realm.

“Stop… Stop this!” Alvaro cried out, but he too was snuffed out by the red aura sword. One by one, the party members fell.

“Some Sages you are.” Aries snorted. At last, it was just him and Theseus.

“Alright brat, how do we leave this weird place?” Aries picked up the sniveling Theseus from the ground.

“Who.. Who are you?” Theseus couldn’t comprehend why he was spared.

“Come on, don’t play dumb. I killed your little dream crew, and I’m taking your body next. Give it up clown.”

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Theseus cried out. One second, he and his party were climbing Heaven, and the next, a vile Shade slaughtered his party and questioned him mercilessly.

“Hmm, okay then. Can you tell me, what does the Skill: Self-Soul Hypnosis do? You cast it and now we’re here.” Aries inquired. If dream Theseus truly didn’t know he was in a dream, maybe Aries could figure out what the skill did and find a way out of Theseus’s head himself.

“What?” Theseus was perplexed. The Shade was implying that this could all be a dream.

“Oh, come on! Spit it out. You definitely weren’t this useless when I met you before…” Aries looked at the wimp he captured and wondered about where he was.

“I really don’t know, but I read about the skill being used to stop a Shade Poss-“ Theseus stopped mid-sentence. He could actually be in a dream! It didn’t really make logical sense for a Shade this strong to appear randomly anyways.

“Ahh, you get the picture now. Come on get us out of this place.” Aries yelled.

“Why should I help you? You’re trying to possess my body!” Theseus yelled back.

“Sigh, come on, I just wanted to use it as a crutch while my soul recovers from my last fight. I won’t be here long. When I’m done with you, I could just leave you be.”

“You’re a bad liar. Why in the world wouldn’t you take my soul aura when you recover? A Shade Reversal Ritual will tear my soul apart and make it useless, regardless! The longer you’re here, the more likely you are to become a true part of my soul.” Theseus growled, frustrated as he stared at his fallen comrades.

“I guess I could just kill you and get out of the dream that way.” Aries suggested. He formed his aura sword.

“No, if I die before the dream’s plot naturally finishes, you will be stuck here forever, and I will never wake up.” Theseus countered.

“Really? Let’s come to a deal then. Let’s get out of this place and end the dream. When I’m healed, I promise I will do a Reverse Shade Ritual and compensate you for your bodily damages.”

Theseus knew he couldn’t trust this Shade. “I will make that deal on one condition: we make a Soul Contract.” Aries cursed in his mind. He couldn’t fool this coward.

Soul Contracts were unbreakable contracts that had to be consensual between two parties. An advanced runic spell, Soul Contracts took a lot of time to prepare, and unless substantial change fundamentally happened in the soul or contract, the contract was binding until death.

“Fine. I agree.” Aries wanted the extra soul aura from this sucker, but he was smarter than he appeared. If this brat was telling the truth, he needed him to get out of this strange place. Making the rune, Theseus watched the Shade look around.

“Just where in the world are we?” Aries asked.

“We’re in Heaven. I’m assuming the only way to exit the dream is to continue climbing.”

Flabbergasted, Aries cursed his bad luck.

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