I still couldn't quite get over the weirdness of what I was doing.
The bloated soul wasn't mine. I knew that. It was kind of… blank, for lack of a better word.
Yet it radiated the same soul signature as I did. It shared my soul's underlying qualities. Overall, it could fool the unwary into believing this was, in fact, an extremely weakened version of my soul.
At least I knew how to create a soul-decoy, if I ever wanted to fake my death.
Anyway, if 'soul-decoy' was as far as things had gone, I would've been okay. Mildly uncomfortable, sure, but not freaked out.
And I was on hovering right on the edge of 'freaked out.'
I had no idea when it had started, but the mindless body before me was slowly shifting in appearance. Traces of my physical features could be now be detected in the lines of the body's face, and even in the hair and eye colors.
Basically, I was growing an actual clone by altering some poor shmuck's soul. A very ineffective and useless clone, on account of the fact that a mind wasn't sparking behind those blank eyes at all, but a clone nonetheless.
Which meant I was about to feed myself to my sword.
There was probably some quip to be made there, like 'falling on your own sword' or whatever, but I wasn't in the mood.
I gave the soul in front of me one final examination. Not even a bit of the original host soul remained. My soul sliver had fully assimilated it.
Nodding in satisfaction, and perhaps just a hint of worry, I swept my eyes over Mia and our apprentices. I even spared a glance at the frightened warlocks, who were doing their best to stay as far away from us as possible. I hadn't bothered to have them restrained, because what would have been the point? They could hurt none of us, not even the apprentices.
And I wanted them to see this. To catch a glimpse of true power and control. It might motivate them suitably to pursue their own growth with a bit more dedication, so I actually had something to show for all my efforts.
"Observe carefully," I intoned, in my snootiest of snooty voices. Summoning my soul blade, I drew it from its scabbard. "You will not have the opportunity to see something like this any time soon. Ever, perhaps."
I smirked to bolster my own courage. Then I stabbed the sword right through the insensate ex-recruit's heart.
The reaction was instant.
A baleful red and black light erupted out of the sword. When I released its handle on some odd impulse that shot through our connection, the weapon actually floated and began to rise higher into the air, taking the body speared on its tip with it.
Demonic presence practically writhed off of the blade, lashing out at everything in the room. It made the mortals shout, scream or begin to sob helplessly, but neither Mia nor I moved a step. Mostly because the presence felt like it was rejoicing in our company.
The odd facsimile of my soul shuddered. It tried ineffectually to jerk away from the sword's tip. Then, rapidly, it… deflated. All of its essence and power were sucked down into the sword, until nothing was left.
Meanwhile, my soul blade began to thrum with an inner power. I watched, transfixed, as its own soul began to swell.
My sword's soul was growing.
The soul itself was somewhat odd. It was rigid, unbending, and altogether unlike the soul of a regular living being. It was, dare I say it, sword-like. Simplistic. Deadly. And, above all, loyal.
To me.
Our connection was torn wide open, flooding me with the blade's glee and happiness as its soul stabilized. The soul had risen in size and quality to around the level of an archdemon, which I found oddly amusing.
Then I blinked in surprise as the sword shuddered again… and began to change.
Its blade grew longer, the inscriptions becoming more luminous and numerous. The storage jewel shifted and began to grow, stretching up the spine of my sword until it resembled a teardrop buried in the hilt.
That was also when eight ethereal tentacles erupted out of the top portion of the teardrop, four on either side. They were longer than the blade itself. They waved powerfully through the air, lashing at nothing in a way that brought the words 'hungrily' and 'eerily' to mind.
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"Come. Claim me. Let us feast on our enemies together."
The words drifted into my mind from the blade through our soul bond, and I barely resisted the urge to laugh.
"I do think, Mia, that you will get along with my sword just fine," I commented.
Then I stepped forward and fulfilled the desire of my blade.
The second my hand closed around the pommel, the tentacles reacted, lashing down and burrowing into my arm.
I flinched at first. I might even have tried to drop the sword, if not for the fact that I felt no pain. Instead, the ethereal tentacles settled into me with incredible ease, fusing directly to my soul with no conflict whatsoever.
Squinting at them, I released a huff of amusement. It was no wonder they could do that. They consisted wholly of soul and mana, most of which had come from the strange, weak duplicate of my own soul.
I pulsed a desire for understanding to my soul blade. Immediately, I got a rush of impressions and ideas in return.
The tentacles were not meant to be used as weapons. Sure, I could make them release me and lash out at whomever I liked. They could deal some damage to the souls of my enemies, especially if I sank additional mana into them.
But their main purpose was connection.
No longer would I need to stab someone if I wanted to feed them soul essence my sword had stolen. Instead, with the weird tentacles (and I felt a twitch of disapproval from my sword for referring to them that way), I could link to chosen allies and feed them directly.
The tentacles were also useful to me. They vastly increased the sword's ability to purify and process soul essence, or whatever other form of power the sword stole from our enemies, and funnel it into me.
Obviously, they had to remain attached to me for that. The greater the number of tentacles I used, the better their speed and efficiency became. Using all of them, I could immediately gobble down any bits of my enemies the sword feasted on, adding that power to my own reserves in the moment.
Saying I was pleased was an understatement. The sword was perfect for the battlefield. If I used it well, I could face down a practically unlimited number of enemies all on my own.
So long as they lined up nicely, of course. And didn't hit me with any overwhelming attacks.
Okay, so I couldn't do that. But still…
I exchanged a grin with Mia. "I can't wait to show this to Glaustro."
I had to wonder what it would let me achieve in tandem with her, too. If we connected fully to each other, like we'd done during the conclusion of Desire's invasion, my sword might actually allow her to wield it.
An assassin armed with that kind of weapon? Well… I was looking forward to the first time someone decided to piss us off.
I had just turned my attention to the warlocks in the room with us, intent on providing even more extra 'motivation' for their growth, when I felt an odd mental sensation. It was like some unfamiliar presence had gently knocked on my mind.
Hesitantly reaching out with my mana, I 'answered' the call, then immediately broke into a pout.
"Do you like my new spell? I found a solid mental message construct spell recently. You won't be able to reply to this, but I can use it over much greater distances. Anyway, come in for a meeting. Imthala sent me a message. We've got an interesting opportunity if we act quickly."
I lifted my eyes and spotted Mia's own pouty expression, making me roll my eyes at our colonel. The jerk had even taken the trouble to conceal his own presence in the spell's delivery, just to make us think a stranger was using it.
"Let's go see what he wants, and maybe annoy him a little if we can?"
"Yes. Yes, let's do that," my kitty cat purred maliciously.
I never could resist pulling her in for a kiss when she got that murderous look.
I had issues, okay? Whatever. I was aware of them.
"So? This had better be good," I huffed, noting it was only me and Mia with Glaustro in his office. "You pulled us away from bullying some warlocks."
"Oh, it's good. Also, when are you going to get over your obsession with warlocks? They are cheap consumable servants. There's no reason to tinker with them, Hayden."
"I still think they could be more useful than that," I shot back, ignoring the look he sent me. "Anyway, Imthala's message?"
"Ah, yes… Well, we want her to get into Vallinach's good graces, do we not?" Glaustro grinned. "She recently figured out a way to start that process."
Of course, he instantly had Mia's full attention.
"Spill," the cat demoness demanded.
"She cannot give him credible information on us, because most of what she could share to earn enough favor would be too dangerous. However, she found a potential 'in' while scrutinizing our trade records for Breskwor."
Mia's eyes bored into him. "Go on…"
"You remember those tailed foxes? The ones the goddess used to try and slow us down? They weren't all killed, obviously. There were plenty left that weren't summoned to fight us. Most of them still live in the world's core, and their numbers recently started climbing. I separated a few to be sold as exotic pets, or as a source of rare materials." Glaustro shrugged. "Either or."
I nodded. Those foxes were rather unique, and also quite tricky to capture. I could easily see them being popular and valuable.
"How does this tie in with what Imthala wanted to do?" Mia urged.
Our colonel rolled his eyes fondly at her impatience.
"There is a family of demons, Kettunen, who are both decently powerful and among Vallinach's more trusted supporters. According to rumor, the family's ancestral founder was a kitsune before ascending. The Kettunens have snatched up every tailed fox we've put up for sale so far. At some remarkably high prices, too."
I nodded again, wondering what exactly the Kettunens were up to.
Ascended demons could draw all sorts of abilities from the race they used to belong to prior to ascension. I knew that. And those abilities did, admittedly, fade further down the bloodline…
Then it hit me.
I leaned back, wrinkling my nose. "You don't think they want to get the foxes to ascend, and then…?"
Glaustro just gave another shrug. "There are lots of things some families will do to 'refresh the bloodline' and such. Oh, don't look so disgusted! It's their business. Anyway, Imthala thinks she can get us in contact with them directly, and organize a meeting."
"Which would help because…?"
Glaustro's eyes were positively glittering with mischief.
"Because she can convince Vallinach we're 'meeting in secret', and that the Kettunens might be planning to betray him. In favor of the general's new favorite."