Chapter 8: Chapter 8 – Reverse Shade Ritual

The preparations for the Reverse Shade Ritual were complete. According to Aries, it would be extraordinarily painful, and they had to maintain the Shade Summon skill the entire time for Theseus’s aura to be high enough to minimize his injuries.  

“Skill: Shade Summon,” Theseus used the skill. After being directed how to make the rune, Aries asked to take control over Theseus’s body. Although it was unpleasant, the Soul Contract made it so Aries couldn’t do anything suspicious.

Blinking, Theseus’s eyes turned from ghostly grey to red. The Shade aura scared Leo, who looked at Theseus cautiously.

“Don’t worry, and don’t interfere, animal.” Aries tried to sound friendly, but Leo watched vigilantly. This wasn’t the Theseus he knew.

Starting the Reverse Shade Ritual, Aries prepared the alter and runic inscriptions. Sitting down in the middle of the rune, the ritual began. Roaring with pain, Aries and Theseus felt intense pain. Their very souls were being torn apart. Leo howled and barked at the scene, but Aries put his hand out to wave the leopard off to show it was okay.

Theseus fought to stay awake.

“Don’t faint on me boy.” Aries growled at the weak Theseus.

“I’m fine.” Theseus grunted.

“This is the hard part. Prepare yourself for the Shade Illusion.”

Aries braced himself. Pulled into the illusion, the two were back in Heaven.

***

Heaven Floor Four.

The wilderness of Floor Four spread out before Aries and Theseus. During the Reverse Shade Ritual, an illusion between the Shade and its host would emerge. Unless the person performing the ritual was a Deity, the ritual had to be consensual and under the limitations of a shared illusion where their souls would be slowly taken apart. Because they were bounded by an incomplete ritual through the Shade Possession, the ritual was slightly more volatile.

“We’re back here then?” Aries looked around. Pain was on his face, but Theseus was in a far worse condition. Writhing in pain, Theseus couldn’t even stand.

“Kid, get up. The Reverse Ritual is trying to figure out who is who.” Aries looked around. His Shade Core was temporarily unstable, and this illusion was the result of his fluctuating Shade Core.

“The other Shades within me are going to try to vie for my spot as the dominating personality, and I’m sure they would love to take your body as well.” Aries explained. The other personalities that Aries consumed and taken now had an opportunity to ruin the ritual and kill Aries to take over his persona. Since Theseus was temporarily in Aries’s Shade Core, they could realistically take over his body as well. Theseus trembled and tried to stand.

From the forests, lesser Shades showed themselves.

“We meet again Aries.” A familiar face appeared.

“Justus, no hard feelings, right?” Aries looked at his former comrade awkwardly.

“Fuck you and your friend.” Justus spat. Other Shade personalities surrounded the duo.

“Stick to the plan Theseus. Get up.” Aries whispered. With great difficulty, Theseus stood up with his knees shaking. Even with the Shade Summon, the two were collectively still at the F Rank Royalty Realm.

Killing these lesser spirits would damage Aries’s Shade Core, so they had to be careful in dealing with them. Looking at the crowd, the greatest threat, by far, was the S Rank Sage, Justus. The rest of the souls Aries had consumed in the past were of the lower tier Sage Realm as well as a plethora of lesser mortals.

Forced into a corner, Aries fought off the sprits with Theseus. In this situation, it appeared like Theseus was more of a liability than a help. The only reason he wasn’t killed was because of the Summoner Skill. It really was the better decision to use the Shade Summon over whatever weird Authority Skill Theseus had concocted.

“It’s like the dream.” Theseus muttered. The pain made him speak gibberish. The greatest common ground between Theseus and Aries was the dream Theseus created, so it made sense for their shared illusion to be in Heaven.

“Stop talking nonsense brat. Focus on the fighting!” Aries clashed with Justus as Theseus wobbled around the weaker spirits. The brutal fight continued, and Aries single handedly fought off his Shade Core’s spirits.

***

Aries’s spirit awoke before Theseus. Now that his ghostly vessel was separated from Theseus, he felt free at last. If only he could’ve eaten that brat years ago before the dream, he wouldn’t have lost all this time.

At least he gained a new friend…

Theseus soon awoke. The perplexed Leo watched the whole ritual with blank eyes. One second, Theseus acted strangely, and the next moment, a random guy appeared next to him! At this point, Leo just wanted to walk away and come back in an hour or two. This was too confusing!

“It’s finished.” Aries spoke first. The exasperated Theseus was still catching his breath because of the pain. Even though Theseus’s aura realm was heightened because of the Shade Summon, the aftermath still took its toll on the duo.

Very clearly, both Theseus and Aries sustained mild to serious injuries. Losing about a sub-rank each, Theseus went from the A Rank Mortal Realm down to the B Rank. It would take about a month to recuperate. Aries was in the same boat, dropping from the F Rank King Realm down to the A Rank Sage Realm. They didn’t complain. It was to be expected from the risky Reverse Shade Ritual.

“Are you ready to go yet?” Aries asked.

“For what?” Theseus answered.

“We’re going to meet Lord Virgo of course.”

Theseus looked back in shock. Aries hinted at his plan in the past, but he was nervous to meet the Suzerain Lord. From what Theseus had heard from Aries, the Seven Lords were merciless and cutthroat warlords.

“Are you sure we should meet him? He thinks you’re dead.” Theseus questioned logically. If this Lord Virgo found out Aries was fine all along, he could get angry.

“If we leave now with these injuries, we should be fine.” Aries shrugged.

“Wouldn’t it be harder to leave like this? We are both injured, and I have Leo. Will they even allow a beast like him to enter their territory?”

“Hmm,” wondered Aries. “Leo would draw some attention, but a beast tamer isn’t unheard of… I could say you saved me in the forest, and we were recovering but couldn’t move. Virgo may believe us.”

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“What if he uses a truth spell or makes you do a Soul Contract to tell the truth?” Theseus suggested. This whole situation was too easy to decipher if Lord Virgo wasn’t an idiot.

“Ah, you’re right.” Aries sighed. He hadn’t thought of the obvious.

“If we tamper with our memories temporarily, we could get around it. If we believe we were attacked by a strong beast, even a truth contract could be fooled!” Aries counter suggested.

“Do you think Virgo would be smart enough to see if we tampered with our memories?” Theseus was still cautious.

“For someone so reckless, how can you be so thorough and cowardly!” Aries inwardly exclaimed.

“I think if we create an Authority Skill, it could be untraceable by normal means.” Theseus grinned.

“Not again…” Aries had a look of fear on his face. Theseus was growing too comfortable creating Authority Path skills!

***

“Make way! Make way!” A small spirit pushed through a crowd. After almost a year, their elite scout, Aries, returned!

“Lord Virgo! Aries has returned!”

“Humph, he lives?” A tall, skinny, yet menacing figure stood up from his throne, which was made entirely of bones.

“Bring him here!”

“Sir, he’s injured. He barely made it here.” The short spirit squeaked out.

“Did I misspeak? Bring him here!” Lord Virgo yelled.

Minutes later, two medical professionals wheeled in Aries, while Theseus rode on the back of Leo.

“What is a beast doing in my throne room?” Lord Virgo boomed.

“Sir, I’ve returned safely thanks to this tamer.” Aries bowed from the wheel chair.

“Hmm, interesting…” Virgo pondered and calmed down.

“Tell me more.” Virgo wanted to hear this Shade’s excuse. Although Aires was one of his top officials, he was uncompromisingly unreliable. After all this time, Lord Virgo was convinced Aries had perished since he hadn’t defected to another Suzerain Lord. Lord Virgo didn’t think much of it; the top secret mission Aries was on was supposed to kill him in the first place.

“One year ago, Captain Justus and I were ambushed by a King Beast in Phaunus Forest! Justus was killed, and I was on death’s door. Swooping in, this kid, Theseus, and his friend, Leo, came in and finished off the beast!

Our injuries left us debilitated, and the beast, Leo, took us into a cavern while we recovered. Now that we can move, we have returned.”

“Intriguing story Aries. Now, let’s pick it apart.” Virgo smiled sinisterly. There was no way this far-fetched story was the truth. A Royalty Realm Beast randomly appearing was so farfetched, there might as well have been another Suzerain Lord ambushing them!

“Are you prepared to do a Truth Contract?” Virgo suggested.

“Of course, sir.” Aries responded. Swiftly, the soul contract was made by the runic specialists, and the duo was forced to truthfully answer Virgo’s questions for the conversation’s duration.

“The first plot hole in your little story is the beast Leo. You said he took you to a cave, but why didn’t you just come back to the Virgo territory?” Lord Virgo inquired.

“Sir, Leo didn’t know where the Virgo territory was, and Aries was unconscious at the time. When Aries awoke from his coma, we decided to recover where we were.” Theseus explained.

“Is that true, Aries?” Lord Virgo thought this whole story was too convenient to be true. It didn’t make logical sense. Why would a Royalty Realm Beast show up? There was in all likelihood one or two of them throughout the Phaunus Forest. Then, Aries ‘conveniently’ couldn’t move later due to the injuries.

“Yes, Lord Virgo, what the boy says is true.”

“I don’t believe you.” Virgo stated coldly.

“I assume you’ve tampered with your own memories to cover the truth. Bring in a specialist!” Lorde Virgo declared. A memory specialist came in. These specialists weren’t strong enough to be Virgo’s Captains, but they were low Sage Realm experts in their past lives.

“Wow, this Lord Virgo is so strong, he has his own memory specialist!” Theseus was impressed, but because of his planning, he didn’t realize he was lying. The specialist inspected the souls and minds of the duo.

“It looks like they are truly telling the truth!” The specialist exclaimed. He was just as surprised as Lord Virgo.

“Hmm, then I guess there’s nothing else I can do. Aries, welcome back! And you, kid, Theseus was it? I think a reward is in order.”

He frowned while saying kind words. This was not the outcome Virgo had anticipated.

“Thank you Lord Virgo!” The duo bowed in their weakened states.

“Tell me Theseus, what do you want?”

“I’ve been thinking about this since I’ve arrived in this place.” Theseus got the courage to ask.

“All I want to know is, what dungeon is this?”

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