Marching forward, a little girl was not feeling heat or cold in the dark environment . The clothes fabricated by Master Agnil were custom made after all and were not just pretty . Couple with the natural, or should some say modified, resistance of her body, it was hardly possible for her to catch a cold . Counting in her head the distance from the entrance and where she was, she felt that it will be soon that she will reach where her skeletons were destroyed .

KROK

Raising her foot, she saw a piece of bones under it . A bit further, more were laying on the ground, the last remnant of the undead that died . Grabbing what should probably be a finger, she inspected it but found no problem . If that was the case, the white silhouette she saw only wanted the mana necessary for the summons to be able to move . But if that was the case, it still returned to the same question . "Why doesn't he go to that cave above filled with mana?"

As she descended, she could see the concentration of mana gems getting lower and lower . The most probable explication was the monster monopolizing the flow, disrupting the natural appearance of those crystals . Even where she stood, the surface of the walls was as barren as the ones where her shadows absorbed everything . But shortly after thinking this, she felt the thin mana around her concentrating in one location .

Seeing the appearance of a mana gem under her very eyes, she was not in a hurry to grab it . At this point, only one was like a drop in an ocean for her . She was far more interested to see who or what will try to take it first . Like that, she concealed herself nearby, patiently waiting for prey to come . After what she felt was an hour or so, something a bit too noisy arrived . Without even needing to see it, she could feel its presence, lurking on the ceiling of the tunnel .

From afar, it looked like a spider hanging downward . With its completely black body, it could fool even some races capable of seeing in the dark . For some reason, she felt that she had heard about this creature .

(Davion and Meridiana met it in the cave we used to create the tunnel linking our base to Archet . They said it was scared of them and had one ma.s.sive eye in the middle of its body . But it only opened it after sensing light . )

The Viscount quickly brought the information she wanted . Now that it was close enough to be visible, it did seemed to be what the orodil and the succubus saw . Also, the moment he arrived so close to the mana gem that the blue light touched its body, an eye was slowly opening, barely visible . Soon, Leilade could appreciate the spectacle of the monster sucking dry the mana from the stone . When it had finished eating, the gem fell on the ground and break in many pieces .

Because of this, the eye of that creature fully opened itself, looking left and right . He turned in all directions, before stopping when he was looking where a little girl was hiding . She had barely concealed her presence, not even using a spell for that . But with her little body, the lack of light and the distance between the two, it was still hard to spot her . However, the monster seemed to have at least see something unusual .

Now silently planting its legs on the ceiling, the one-eyed monster closed its eye . Without that clue, its body was almost invisible as it was slowly approaching Leilade . When only 30 meters separated the two, a sound came from the left tunnel . It did not take long for the approaching predator to choose to flee, letting its prey for the moment . Whatever was coming was clearly a danger for it .

But when she saw what it was, it almost made her laugh . Even if it was extremely big, it was just a terrifying earthworm . Its skin was looking like metal, and even the sound produced between the ground and that was similar . But after thinking that, Leilade realized something else . The monster she just saw before the reports of the men from the Organization and finally this . Deformed monsters, but very close to commonly found animals .

(If a Hero had been killed her, and also a Dark G.o.d, it is possible that they were just normal insects in the first place . But, if they entered in contact with the blood of one of the two or even both, the result could be what we are seeing . Fascinating . )

Even if it was just a theory, it was not impossible . Even her own blood could provoke unforeseen consequences . Of course, since it will be immediately contaminated by the darkness inside her body, any living being in contact would die . But the blood of someone else, like the Akûl Ymir, would produce with almost certainty mutation to the one absorbing it . With that in mind, the monstrous earthworm became energy for Leilade . As for the spider, it had escaped her for the time being .

Creating some skeletons to scout every tunnel, the undead all ended up destroyed in a matter of minutes . It was not just one living being that was tainted by the power of whoever they sucked the blood, but a myriad of them . The entire underground maze was filled with annoying insects, reptiles and small mammals . All stranger than their original form . But then, two categories were quickly formed for Leilade . The dumbs and the cowards .

Half of the mutated monsters had sufficient strength and st.u.r.diness that they could fight head on, and that's what they did . But opposing flesh and matter to the shadows without shape that were surrounding Leilade was just suicide . As for the more agile monsters, those that relied on their instincts to escape danger, the moment they noticed her was the moment they fled in panic . But even as she slaughtered more and more, she was having a hard time finding the two corpses .

SKLIK

Hearing a spider approaching with great speed, she turned her head . The creature on the ceiling made a complete stop when it finally noticed the very small human under it, and in its panic, almost hit a stalact.i.te . But it quickly regained its spirit and escape in a nearby tunnel, dodging the threat from behind and from the front . Soon after, a pale mist appeared, spread inside the entire tunnel . "It was time . "

Creating a light, she saw it disappear soon after . Apparently, the thing in front of her did not even let off the mana of that spell . But it was enough to see something special on the nearly transparent ghost . A porcupine head, with more than three arms at least . Even now, the monster had not attacked her, proving that she was right all along . She wrote in the air a symbol, filled to the brink with mana . But unlike previously, the roaming soul did not make a move to absorb it .

(So, it really is an Akûl . )

"Indeed . Who are you?" Her question was left without an answer, as the soul wasn't moving anymore . It seemed to have been stunned by the appearance of the symbol in front of it . "The Empress of the Underworld, Leilade Octavius, order you to identify yourself!" Even after nearly shouting, the ghost was not even reacting . Left with no choice, she spread the darkness all around it, covering the tunnel with nothingness, like a black hole swallowing everything .

Only at that moment did the soul shook his head and looked at her like he was shocked . Immediately bowing, she awaited his words . Words that did not come . Slightly perplexed, she tried to establish communication between her and the ghostly Akûl . "HO'E! HO'E! E'PRESS! HO'E! DE'ON! HO'E!" The whirlpool of thoughts she expected was reduced to three words, repeated in a loop . Whether it was its memories or its instincts, but he had at least recognized her .

(It had been one thousand years . If it was you, how your soul would become?)

"Probably half of what it is . And that's only me . For a demon like him to be able to at least form words is a miracle . Even if it seems he has lost the letter m in the process . " Even if a soul had a constant supply of mana, only the strongest will could afford to suffer too much time all alone . But that was clearly not the case for the Akûl . Using her mana once more, she carefully searched its memories, to see where its body was .

The extremely empty s.p.a.ce only contained a very imprecise plan of the underground, with many parts confusing . If she searched more intensively, she knew the soul would disappear . Not wanting to kill it unless it was necessary, she began to walk toward the deepest part of the maze, followed by the white mist . On her way, she could see the terrifying states that the monsters were in when they spotted the soul floating behind her .

The moment she reached her destination, she was slightly in awe by the spectacle . A gigantic cave, filled with countless crystals everywhere . They were, however, only normal, as that was the first thing she checked . But, their varieties and their huge numbers were extremely impressive . But, after examining the bottom of those mineral formations, she noticed a lot of rusted weapons and broken armors . Like that, she ended up in front of the ma.s.sive pillar in the middle of the cave . Inside it, two tall skeletons could be seen .

The tallest that had four arms was still gripping the neck of the other with one hand, while the three other limbs were severed right at the elbow . On the ground, dozens of swords, spears, and axes could be seen near its bony feet . From what she could see, both the Hero and the demon died in a short interval . Most likely, the Akûl decided to take at least his enemy with him in his death, strangling the troll with his last breath .

As for the crystals surrounding them, they were formed from the corpses of all the creatures that had died in the battle . She had no idea about why, but seeing the ma.s.sive pillar that was formed around the two main protagonists of that battle, it was most likely true . Turning around to look at the ghost, she saw it getting closer and closer to its former body . "'E! 'E! 'E"

Without talking, its thoughts were all turned toward itself . She had already gained a lot from this little trip, but she was a bit reluctant at letting the ghost stay that way . "Akûl, do you know your name?" She tried one last time, but what she heard was not encouraging . "'E! AKUL! AKUL! AKUL! 'E! HO'E! AKUL!" Extending her hand toward the white mist, a large tentacle appeared and began to swallow it all .

However, the broken soul had no reaction to the loss of itself, still repeating the words he heard from Leilade . Even when it was on the brink of collapsing on itself, it still was not able to gain a true consciousness . Sighing at the blue dot that was even smaller than sand, she absorbed its entire memory . As she expected, there was nothing new in it . A third of it was filled with the image of Leilade and the symbol she drew . But right as she was losing hope, she saw a flash of green . It was all blurry, but it looked really small . However, it was still clearer than a lot of things .

"What small green thing could be so important that he remembered it more than the faces of his own companions?" The rest was a ma.s.s without shape or form . Sometimes, she could see a human without a face, or other demons and monsters . But, she couldn't tell with cert.i.tude if it was on this planet that he gained that memory or not .

(There is nothing left . Whatever that green thing is, I can a.s.sure you that it is on this planet . In the last decades, there had been no report of something of importance similar in the Demonic Empire . )

Nodding her head, she looked at the beautifully colored cavern one last time . "There is still one last thing I need to do . " Lifting her hand, she inscribed on the pillar near her the symbol of the Demonic Empire . That hardly made a difference in her vast reserve of mana, so little that even the Viscount did not complain . "Now, let us see how much those humans stole from them . "

Marching forward, a little girl was not feeling heat or cold in the dark environment . The clothes fabricated by Master Agnil were custom made after all and were not just pretty . Couple with the natural, or should some say modified, resistance of her body, it was hardly possible for her to catch a cold . Counting in her head the distance from the entrance and where she was, she felt that it will be soon that she will reach where her skeletons were destroyed . KROK Raising her foot, she saw a piece of bones under it . A bit further, more were laying on the ground, the last remnant of the undead that died . Grabbing what should probably be a finger, she inspected it but found no problem . If that was the case, the white silhouette she saw only wanted the mana necessary for the summons to be able to move . But if that was the case, it still returned to the same question . Why doesnt he go to that cave above filled with mana? As she descended, she could see the concentration of mana gems getting lower and lower . The most probable explication was the monster monopolizing the flow, disrupting the natural appearance of those crystals . Even where she stood, the surface of the walls was as barren as the ones where her shadows absorbed everything . But shortly after thinking this, she felt the thin mana around her concentrating in one location . Seeing the appearance of a mana gem under her very eyes, she was not in a hurry to grab it . At this point, only one was like a drop in an ocean for her . She was far more interested to see who or what will try to take it first . Like that, she concealed herself nearby, patiently waiting for prey to come . After what she felt was an hour or so, something a bit too noisy arrived . Without even needing to see it, she could feel its presence, lurking on the ceiling of the tunnel . From afar, it looked like a spider hanging downward . With its completely black body, it could fool even some races capable of seeing in the dark . For some reason, she felt that she had heard about this creature . (Davion and Meridiana met it in the cave we used to create the tunnel linking our base to Archet . They said it was scared of them and had one ma.s.sive eye in the middle of its body . But it only opened it after sensing light . ) The Viscount quickly brought the information she wanted . Now that it was close enough to be visible, it did seemed to be what the orodil and the succubus saw . Also, the moment he arrived so close to the mana gem that the blue light touched its body, an eye was slowly opening, barely visible . Soon, Leilade could appreciate the spectacle of the monster sucking dry the mana from the stone . When it had finished eating, the gem fell on the ground and break in many pieces . Because of this, the eye of that creature fully opened itself, looking left and right . He turned in all directions, before stopping when he was looking where a little girl was hiding . She had barely concealed her presence, not even using a spell for that . But with her little body, the lack of light and the distance between the two, it was still hard to spot her . However, the monster seemed to have at least see something unusual Now silently planting its legs on the ceiling, the one-eyed monster closed its eye . Without that clue, its body was almost invisible as it was slowly approaching Leilade . When only 30 meters separated the two, a sound came from the left tunnel . It did not take long for the approaching predator to choose to flee, letting its prey for the moment . Whatever was coming was clearly a danger for it . But when she saw what it was, it almost made her laugh . Even if it was extremely big, it was just a terrifying earthworm . Its skin was looking like metal, and even the sound produced between the ground and that was similar . But after thinking that, Leilade realized something else . The monster she just saw before the reports of the men from the Organization and finally this . Deformed monsters, but very close to commonly found animals . (If a Hero had been killed her, and also a Dark G.o.d, it is possible that they were just normal insects in the first place . But, if they entered in contact with the blood of one of the two or even both, the result could be what we are seeing . Fascinating . ) Even if it was just a theory, it was not impossible . Even her own blood could provoke unforeseen consequences . Of course, since it will be immediately contaminated by the darkness inside her body, any living being in contact would die . But the blood of someone else, like the Akûl Ymir, would produce with almost certainty mutation to the one absorbing it . With that in mind, the monstrous earthworm became energy for Leilade . As for the spider, it had escaped her for the time being . Creating some skeletons to scout every tunnel, the undead all ended up destroyed in a matter of minutes . It was not just one living being that was tainted by the power of whoever they sucked the blood, but a myriad of them . The entire underground maze was filled with annoying insects, reptiles and small mammals . All stranger than their original form . But then, two categories were quickly formed for Leilade . The dumbs and the cowards . Half of the mutated monsters had sufficient strength and st.u.r.diness that they could fight head on, and thats what they did . But opposing flesh and matter to the shadows without shape that were surrounding Leilade was just suicide . As for the more agile monsters, those that relied on their instincts to escape danger, the moment they noticed her was the moment they fled in panic . But even as she slaughtered more and more, she was having a hard time finding the two corpses . SKLIK Hearing a spider approaching with great speed, she turned her head . The creature on the ceiling made a complete stop when it finally noticed the very small human under it, and in its panic, almost hit a stalact.i.te . But it quickly regained its spirit and escape in a nearby tunnel, dodging the threat from behind and from the front . Soon after, a pale mist appeared, spread inside the entire tunnel . It was time . Creating a light, she saw it disappear soon after . Apparently, the thing in front of her did not even let off the mana of that spell . But it was enough to see something special on the nearly transparent ghost . A porcupine head, with more than three arms at least . Even now, the monster had not attacked her, proving that she was right all along . She wrote in the air a symbol, filled to the brink with mana . But unlike previously, the roaming soul did not make a move to absorb it . (So, it really is an Akûl . ) Indeed . Who are you? Her question was left without an answer, as the soul wasnt moving anymore . It seemed to have been stunned by the appearance of the symbol in front of it . The Empress of the Underworld, Leilade Octavius, order you to identify yourself! Even after nearly shouting, the ghost was not even reacting . Left with no choice, she spread the darkness all around it, covering the tunnel with nothingness, like a black hole swallowing everything . Only at that moment did the soul shook his head and looked at her like he was shocked . Immediately bowing, she awaited his words . Words that did not come . Slightly perplexed, she tried to establish communication between her and the ghostly Akûl . HOE! HOE! EPRESS! HOE! DEON! HOE! The whirlpool of thoughts she expected was reduced to three words, repeated in a loop . Whether it was its memories or its instincts, but he had at least recognized her . (It had been one thousand years . If it was you, how your soul would become?) Probably half of what it is . And thats only me . For a demon like him to be able to at least form words is a miracle . Even if it seems he has lost the letter m in the process . Even if a soul had a constant supply of mana, only the strongest will could afford to suffer too much time all alone . But that was clearly not the case for the Akûl . Using her mana once more, she carefully searched its memories, to see where its body was . The extremely empty s.p.a.ce only contained a very imprecise plan of the underground, with many parts confusing . If she searched more intensively, she knew the soul would disappear . Not wanting to kill it unless it was necessary, she began to walk toward the deepest part of the maze, followed by the white mist . On her way, she could see the terrifying states that the monsters were in when they spotted the soul floating behind her . The moment she reached her destination, she was slightly in awe by the spectacle . A gigantic cave, filled with countless crystals everywhere . They were, however, only normal, as that was the first thing she checked . But, their varieties and their huge numbers were extremely impressive . But, after examining the bottom of those mineral formations, she noticed a lot of rusted weapons and broken armors . Like that, she ended up in front of the ma.s.sive pillar in the middle of the cave . Inside it, two tall skeletons could be seen . The tallest that had four arms was still gripping the neck of the other with one hand, while the three other limbs were severed right at the elbow . On the ground, dozens of swords, spears, and axes could be seen near its bony feet . From what she could see, both the Hero and the demon died in a short interval . Most likely, the Akûl decided to take at least his enemy with him in his death, strangling the troll with his last breath . As for the crystals surrounding them, they were formed from the corpses of all the creatures that had died in the battle . She had no idea about why, but seeing the ma.s.sive pillar that was formed around the two main protagonists of that battle, it was most likely true . Turning around to look at the ghost, she saw it getting closer and closer to its former body . E! E! E Without talking, its thoughts were all turned toward itself . She had already gained a lot from this little trip, but she was a bit reluctant at letting the ghost stay that way . Akûl, do you know your name? She tried one last time, but what she heard was not encouraging . E! AKUL! AKUL! AKUL! E! HOE! AKUL! Extending her hand toward the white mist, a large tentacle appeared and began to swallow it all . However, the broken soul had no reaction to the loss of itself, still repeating the words he heard from Leilade . Even when it was on the brink of collapsing on itself, it still was not able to gain a true consciousness . Sighing at the blue dot that was even smaller than sand, she absorbed its entire memory . As she expected, there was nothing new in it . A third of it was filled with the image of Leilade and the symbol she drew . But right as she was losing hope, she saw a flash of green . It was all blurry, but it looked really small . However, it was still clearer than a lot of things . What small green thing could be so important that he remembered it more than the faces of his own companions? The rest was a ma.s.s without shape or form . Sometimes, she could see a human without a face, or other demons and monsters . But, she couldnt tell with cert.i.tude if it was on this planet that he gained that memory or not . (There is nothing left . Whatever that green thing is, I can a.s.sure you that it is on this planet . In the last decades, there had been no report of something of importance similar in the Demonic Empire . ) Nodding her head, she looked at the beautifully colored cavern one last time . There is still one last thing I need to do . Lifting her hand, she inscribed on the pillar near her the symbol of the Demonic Empire . That hardly made a difference in her vast reserve of mana, so little that even the Viscount did not complain . Now, let us see how much those humans stole from them .