I clung to anything for air. My body felt heavy, and my insides were being crushed. Darkness began to wrap my vision as I struggled for air.
A strong torrent rushed towards me, and the last thing I saw was a beautiful porcelain face. I thought it was a mask until a sadistic expression appeared on it.
“You lost all of your powers?” she said, followed by laughter.
A tentacle poked my body, pushing me back like a lifeless object in space.
“A shame. I could have used you until I regain my power.”
Just as I was about to lose my consciousness, lights flashed behind my eyelids.
[SYSTEM REBOOT SUCCESSFUL.]
[SYSTEM CORRUPTION ELIMINATED.]
[SYSTEM VARIABLES RESTORED.]
“You’re alive, good. Now...”
Then, layers of inaudible whispers hissed, burying everything else the Prince of Lust said.
s̨͇̮͕̻o̼̩͕ͪ́m͎ͤ̾͘͞e̶̜ͯ̂̚o̢̩̓̄ͬn̢̊͛͆͐e͋ greets you, Caesar, Viceroy of Chimera.
Skill [Soulweave] acquired.
The shifting lights vanished.
With my eyes still shut, numerous glowing blobs materialized out of nowhere. It grew heads, arms, and then the long tails of mermaids. It felt cold regardless of the distance, and smelled like a slightly-burnt rotisserie with extra lemon in the marinade.
I felt like I had control over those blobs.
“I’m hungry,” I said.
The appetizing smell of rotisserie overcame the damp, fishy, and salty scent of this place.
“Oh, you’re still alive?”
I formed a bubble around my head, and air was back. Without wasting any time I shot out tentacles from below. Agaphonet’s porcelain face contorted into anger as she swam back with her now eel-like lower half.
Clapping my hands, hundreds of icicles materialized from her sides. They all rushed to impale her. Agaphonet’s tentacles tried to block them, but several made it through. She screamed from the pain.
“Where did you get this power?” she yelled.
Before she could counter-attack, I increased the pressure of water around her. She growled through her gnashed fangs. Tentacles shot from below me, and I dodged every one of them.
“Let me get the fuck out of here and I’ll—”
Mermaids shot out of the caverns and rushed towards me. Thousands of them. My heart pounded at the sight of tens of thousands of icicles sparkling like little crystals from every direction.
“I forgot about the mermaids.”
I encased myself in thick layers of ice, then thickened the water around. An endless volley of icicles crashed against my shield. Hundreds passed through my layers of defense.
A painful pressure pressed against my flesh the longer I kept my shields up. Ascendant-level skills weren’t supposed to be used by mortals and it took an agonizing toll.
“Shit.”
I shut my eyes again. The purple blobs appeared, taking the shape of the mermaids and Agaphonet.
The blobs called out to me. The longer I focused on it, the finer it became. It turned from plump, squishy ectoplasm into smooth, wavy fluids.
They were the souls of those mermaids. I felt like they would listen to me regardless of their vessels’ will.
“Just help me get outta here,” I said.
Skill [Soulweave] activated.
The blobs trembled, and a collection of painful screams emanated from all directions. Icicles shattered into fine powder, and the mermaids writhed in pain.
It wouldn’t last long.
Agaphonet stood vulnerable before me. I thought she was gonna attack but she remained still, bewildered.
I rushed to her anyway. It didn’t matter if I kill her or not, these mermaids would come and get me anyway. So I thought I’d turn it into a hostage situation.
The mermaids recovered quick. Fuck! I was still way too far from Agaphonet!
“STOP!” Agaphonet yelled, producing a powerful shockwave enough to shatter every bones in my body.
I stopped from where I stood as my bones vibrated. I gnashed my teeth in an attempt to hold them from fragmenting.
“YOU!”
Agaphonet swam close and I was ready to defend myself, but she stood still. She was still shocked.
“How did you do that?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You can touch souls.”
“Yeah, I copied it from you.”
Her face relaxed. Then, she raised her chin. Although her hostility waned, I kept my guard up. The thousands of mermaids around me were prepared to rush me at any given time.
“You can steal skills. Who are you, really?”
“Like I told you earlier, I am the Champion of the Mother. The same person that gave you that tattoo.”
She scowled. “She didn’t give me the tattoo, her daughter did.”
“She has a daughter?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
I looked around. The army of mermaids got dangerously close.
“Okay so are we still fighting or do you wanna talk?”
She just looked at me quietly for a moment before speaking. “Daughters, return to your seats.”
No one protested, obediently returning to their caverns.
“So what’s so special about this touching soul? You sure changed your mind quickly from wanting to murder me.”
“I don’t want to kill you, only injure you enough to be enslaved.”
I snorted. “And you know I will keep fighting regardless. I want my freedom.”
“Then what called you to this island?”
Well, it was the blacksteel and nothing else. Maybe find a willing mermaid to have sex with so I could copy her trait and skills.
Unfortunately I had to acquire it in a desperate manner. It should’ve been an enjoyable moment.
“Blacksteel.”
“Stupid greedy lander, like any other in search for it.”
Agaphonet went back to her clam throne.
“Look, if you want my power you only need to pay for it. It’s a service, and I’ll take your payment in blacksteel chunks.”
“Your worth has increased much more than that.”
“Then I have more to bargain with.”
“Let’s see… how about I offer you a role no one among my daughters are capable of?”
I hoped eagerly for every single blacksteel in the island, but she said something else.
“Stay by my side. Assist me in managing the drowned souls of Bloodscale sea and help me regain my power.”
“I fought to death just so I can get away from this place. Look at me, I have no fish features. And I have no damn clue about managing these ‘drowned souls’ or whatever.”
Like [Legacy of the Mother], [Soulweave] didn’t have a mastery level so I had no clue to what extent I could use it. And weirdly enough it didn’t come with explanations, too. I just knew I could “vibrate” souls.
Regardless I wouldn’t want to manage anyone’s soul unless I was desperate. And this place sucked. Sure I could play with mermaids, but what else should I do for fun? Chase sharks?
Exploring the sunken ships seemed fun, though.
“You are capable of manipulating souls. I can teach you the ways of processing drowned souls into mermaids, or any other marine creatures you wish.”
“Hold on, you can do that?”
As she explained, any drowned souls could be transformed into marine creatures. That was how these mermaids came to be. They weren’t squeezed out of wombs or hatched in eggs. They were just souls that Agaphonet raised back to life.
Apparently it was a way for the souls to return peacefully into the Beyond. Probably their own version of heaven.
However, when she lost her godlike status after a hero “killed” her (as mentioned by Rulof before) she lost the ability to process souls en masse. That meant a huge number of souls remained on the seafloor.
“What’s wrong with that?” I asked.
She sighed. “These souls can grow impatient and cling to the nearest carcass that reminded them of their past life.”
They turned into zombies. Apparently zombies came from the sea in this world.
The best Agaphonet could do was order the mermaids to “kill” these swimmer zombies and let their souls settle back underwater. But it was an endless cycle until those souls were processed.
The idea of bringing souls back to life sounded very useful. It meant free labor! But I had no clue if my soulweave could do that. Maybe it was a different kind of skill? The kind that got better through usage. The normal human way of getting better at things, really.
Then, I remembered everything else that happened before I passed out. I swear to god my system prevented me from receiving something. It might be a skill or something else.
And then that “dream.” I thought it was heaven, but it didn’t feel like it. Was the six-pointed star related to whoever this Mother was?
I refrained from sharing my worries to Agaphonet. After all, I had no damn clue if anyone else in this world had a system like mine.
Regardless, I declined the responsibility of managing and processing souls… at least for now. I had something else to do first.
“I’ll have to say no, for now. I might change my mind in the future, though.”
It was worthy of keeping in mind. After all, my value to Agaphonet increased.
“But I can offer you my other service. You can regain your godlike status through me.”
After all, she transformed from a hideous Lovecraftian horror into a, well, different kind of horror. I thought her mask-like porcelain looked beautiful but the more I looked at it, the more uncanny I felt. Hopefully she looked more human on her next ascension.
Agaphonet thought for a bit. I had no clue whatever was going through her mind. She was goddess (or almost, maybe) and I had no experience in dealing with such creatures.
“What do you want in return?”
Yes! This was the cue for negotiation.
“Every blacksteel in the island. That’s a very generous offer, you know? Becoming a god requires much, much more resources.”
She snorted. "I will let you go home with a chunk. That's it and nothing else."
"How huge of a chunk are we talking about?"
“Big enough to fit in your human hands.”
"That's not enough. How about a hundred in advance, then a hundred for every session?"
She snorted. "Don't push your luck, lander.”
"Half of it, then."
"One."
"Fifty now, fifty afterwards. Can’t go any lower."
"One. I would’ve let you keep the island if you accepted my offer, but you did not.”
I sighed. Not like I expected much, to be honest. Just getting out of this place with better attributes and new skills was more than enough.
"Okay, I’ll accept your offer – the one about managing souls – in the future. But I want everything on the island."
"That fort has blacksteel. Don't fool me."
"You think I'd come to the cave if I found blacksteel there?"
Hopefully she wasn’t aware of the blacksteel chunks and wouldn’t call my bluff out.
"What do you want in that fort?"
Well, she didn’t know.
"The jewelries and scrap metal left behind. Just think of it as a form of courtesy for, you know, almost killing me?”
She nodded. “Fine.”
I smiled, preventing myself from laughing. I reached an arm out for a shake. She just stared at it.
“What now?”
“Shake hands. You know, to seal the deal?”
"It is already done. What more do you want?"
I retracted my arm.
"Alright, you said that.”
Then, a tentacle shot from below. It gently wrapped my arm before rolling a silver pearl on my palm. The pearl had weird engravings all over it.
"A bonus?"
"It’s a one pearl."
"Yeah I can see that.”
She sighed. "It is called a one pearl. If one of those gets shattered, the rest glows bright regardless of wherever you are in the world."
Oh, so quantum-entangled pearls. Neat. I already knew what the purpose of it was.
"So if this glows it means you want me?"
"You are quick to catch on."
"Cause I'm not a fish."
She just glared at me.
"So are we gonna have a session now? How do we do it? I no longer see the tentacle.”
She laid down on her clam. “I am tired. And in my current form, I have a much weaker ethereal network. I will call upon you once I recovered enough of my strength.”
Then I just had to trust the one pearl.
“So that’s it? How do I get back?”
Agaphonet summoned a tentacle beside her and whipped it. Ten mermaids shot into the center, surrounding me.
“My daughters will lead you back to the island. But the route must be kept a secret.”
“Please don’t knock me out.”
I was prepared to fight back. Instead, they wrapped me in a dark bubble. I couldn’t see anything else past the bubble.
“Now go.”
The journey was boring as hell. So I just shut my eyes and gave in to my exhaustion. After all that battle all I wanna do was sleep for days. The mental toll was massive.
When I came to, I was lying on the beach. The waves washed over my face and I shot up coughing the salty water that entered my throat.
The mist still shrouded the island. But it was much brighter than when I first arrived. It must be morning at least.
The boat also miraculously returned in one piece. It sat not far from me, next to the big rock where I left it last night.
Why would they keep my boat, though? Did they have plans of letting me go home eventually?
Although hungry, the first thing that came to mind was the blacksteel. Excitement swelled in my chest as I rushed back into the fort.
I spent the next few hours hauling everything I could back into the boat until it was half full. I ended up having a shit ton of blacksteel, some jewelry, and salvaged metals.
There were still a lot of scrap metals back there but it would weigh too much on this boat. I would have to come back for it later.
"You lied to the queen."
It came from a mermaid who emerged from the ocean. For a minute I thought she was that same mermaid I fought and fucked, but she looked younger. And her eyes were just as blue as the ice trident she held. Her golden hair was shorter, her carmine scales were a bit shinier, and she had smaller, pointy tits.
"Oh but your queen told me I can have everything in the fort."
She shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. Not like I care.”
"Then what are you doing here? I have no more business with any of you underwaterlings until this pearl glows.”
She sighed. "She wants me to come with you. To keep you safe and stuff."
I stared. "I’m sure she’s aware I can protect myself."
"I know, right? We all saw you fight! But here I am.”
“Then just go back?”
“I would, but they'd put me on patrol duty to the east. It's real creepy out there.”
I sighed. I didn't have any energy left to argue.
"So can you turn human or what?"
“What for?”
“You’re coming with me, and you have no clue how much humans— landers fear your kind.”
She sighed. After snapping her fingers, she glowed for a bit until her form changed. It was nothing fancy. Her fins vanished and her scales’ ruby luster faded into a boring, glossy gray. Like a shinier serpentine, but less thicker than Suruina.
“That should do. Now tell me your name.”
"Phorysae, and you are?"
"Caesar. Your name is too long so I'll just call you Sae."
She was visibly offended. "That’s super stupid! And my name ain’t that long!"
"Now, now, Sae, help me carry these," I said as I hauled back the rest of the metal into the boat.
"I’m a guard, not a servant! Call me Phorysae, for freak’s sake!"
"Sae, just help me."
"It's—"
"Arghhh! I'm done dealing with any of you sea people! Just shut up and be a good Sae, okay?"
She just glared at me and whispered along the lines of, "what does oh-kay even mean?"
Well, I really did lose it there. But what could I do? I just wanna lay down and sleep all day after all those underwater shenanigans.
Nonetheless, I acquired the metal of myth! I’d keep some to sell after forging them into Atala’s weapons.
With blacksteel and spices, I should have more than enough to trade with for my future company!