Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Demon Hypothesis

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[Survival Rank has leveled up]

Survival Rank: 4

Conversion Points: 1032 

Would you like to receive your reward?

(Yes) (No)

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One thousand and thirty-two.  This is ridiculous.  How am I supposed to bring that many people back, much less support them with food and shelter.  That is probably a large percentage compared to the people of Sarconia.

But wait, there were only about fifty nobles at the banquet.  If we include lesser nobles, guards and commoners, the estimation barely adds up to two-hundred or so.  I’ll have to keep track of each death to get a better census.  

In any case, that man, Viscount Jerome, must be responsible.  In the short time since arriving, hundreds of peoples faces have appeared in front of me, all with normal colored eyes.  Yet, this man with suspicious purple eyes begins exploding people and… my arm. 

Staring down at my mangled arm, my curious eyes were inspecting the replicating cells slowly repairing the damage.  The bleeding and pain had subsided, making me forget about half a limb missing. Sitting myself down and plopping backwards with limbs spread, my eyes closed before reaching the ground.

[...??? hours later…]

Eyes flipped open and I shot up, sitting straight.  

Demon!  In stories of folklore, biblical, and fiction, demons created contracts for one's soul.  What if my ability stole the collection of souls earned by this demon?

Let's simulate this theory a bit.  If the demon is limited to one contract per an individual's lifetime, but never allows them to reach old age, it provides roughly one to ten years of lifespan per individual.  Taking the median of five years per soul contract, and estimating one thousand souls from my conversion points, that would mean this Viscount Demon is at most five thousand years old.

I know nothing of this world, not a name, count or how the people came to exist. Sarconia is the smallest kingdom, with a population somewhere in the thousands.  The king mentioned the national archives described a great war causing millions of casualties over a thousand years ago.  How long would it take to repopulate the Earth if ten billion people were moved to the Sea of Feelings? 

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Demons must be connected to everything, that is the one truth of it all.

If the first Soul Eater arrived alone with not a single soul in all the Earth, did he feed off Demons who had?  How many Soul Eaters would it take to even successfully find a demon, much less kill a demon?  My best guess is at least ten Soul Eaters have existed.  If only humans were erased from Earth, the wildlife must have survived.   The giant panther looking creature with elephant skin must have mutated over the years into that appearance.  Ten thousand years is not enough time for evolution to be so drastic, unless something else influenced it…

Magic.  If magic did not exist in my era, but now does in this new era, then something must have caused it.  Does that mean the Sea of Feelings is related to why there is magic?  Few people of Sarconia have exerted auras, perhaps only by the nobles, but between Dean, Harry, and I, that is one-hundred percent of ancients showing considerable aptitude for controlling mana.

Sweat began dripping down my neck, I did not want to imagine it.  

Are the souls in the sea being used to create magic in reality?  How much mana would an entire soul produce?  Ten billion souls on Earth from my era being transformed into mana and pervading the world.  Just how many souls have been lost through the millennia?

The Viscount Demon mentioned I have ‘his scent’.   Was that the voice I heard when waking up in this world?  

Chills ran down my body.  

Is that who controls this void and the screen of miracles?  If they use the same power given by souls to generate this void and screen, perhaps I can create my own void and miracles.  

Wait, am I a demon? My spine went cold, goosebumps rising on my arms.

Extending my right arm and aiming at the floor, my mind imagined the end of a water hose, as I twisted the faucet valve on.   A stream of water exits my hand and begins pooling on the floor near the screen.  I move to position the pool of water between me and the screen and slowly peek over.  

Unfamiliar silver hair is the first to greet me, but unfazed, I continue inching my head further…

No, no, no!

Staring back at me are gray irises with a white sparkle in them.

Calming myself down by drawing up excuses, it is too soon to call myself a demon, perhaps I’m an angel or a God.  Soul Eater’s have an excuse, there must be one, I am a human, with a wife and daughter.  Demons are birthed from hell.  I was born in Texas.

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