The monochrome world of black and white was still a great mystery for Adam if he had to be honest about it.
It was a world beyond the boundaries of life— a world where only death existed.
Everywhere he looked, red lines flashed with an eerie glow. He got the feeling that he only needed to touch those red lines to be able to deliver the concept of death on those objects and he would be able to destroy them completely.
Even though he often watched these red lines and thought up the destruction he could bring forth with his powers… this time, however, what took his interest was not the usual powers to bring death to any and all beings in existence.
Rather it was the power to bring the dead and those who left… back to life in the form of undead; beings who were neither dead nor alive, stuck in a constant state of limbo…
He remembered the sensations of using this power quite well.
When he tried to bring back the soul of Hae-Won, he felt his life force slowly strip away from him and vanish into nothingness as it broke away from his body.
It was the price that any and all needed to pay in order to cheat death and even then, all he could do was keep Hae-Won's soul for a very short time in this world before she disintegrated and went back to the land of the souls.
[While I do not have much knowledge about your power, I do know that all Necromancers, as few as they are, all end up becoming a lich. This is the only way for them to reliably grow their forces.]
The living should not meddle with the dead.
Thankfully for Adam, he could cheat Death in many ways and the price, as great as it may be for others, would only cost him just one life of his. One among the infinite was not much of a price to pay. It wasn't even a price, to be frank.
Looking at the immobile bodies of the two dead brothers, he was able to witness the link that bound their bodies and souls.
Unlike the case of Hae-Won, he did not even have to tug their souls back from the gate of beyond that passed over to the land of the souls.
They were still present in the current world, albeit in a different plane of existence than the one the living trod upon.
Bringing his hand forward, Adam touched the two souls and it was then that he saw something interesting transpire before his eyes.
"Hum…"
Adam stopped himself from doing anything further.
He could feel the price that was about to be paid if he tried to bring their soul into the plane of living.
The price seemed to be far far larger than what he had paid for Hae-Won.
'So the strength of the person affects the price, huh…'
It was hard to say if it was the physical strength or the strength of Prana that was within them during their moment of demise.
But it was safe to assume that the more powerful someone was when they were alive, the higher the price would be to bring their souls back from the gates beyond.
Still, that wasn't enough to garner Adam's intrigue.
The moment he touched the two souls, he could feel a certain connection between them, as if they wished to come to him of their own volition.
Something in his body was reacting to their souls, looking inwardly, he realized that it was none other than the chess piece that Eve, or rather the White Queen of Wonderland, had given to him back in the Dreamscape.
The piece was a connection to the Soul Star Chakra pathway.
'What is happening here?'
Adam felt hesitation in letting this process continue. But, taking a deep breath, he chased away all the uneasiness he felt and let everything happen naturally.
'Ohhh…'
The souls had been formless from the start and when he let go of the control he had over the souls, they slowly vanished until he could see them no more.
'???'
He tilted his head, confused at the sudden disappearance of their souls but at the same time, a feeling of heat started to pervade his body. Following the heat was a massive headache that made really him feel that the mother of all headaches had struck his mind right now.
"Ugh!"
Adam groaned out loud, feeling like his head was about to split apart or simply explode at any moment now.
Memories after memories flashed inside of his mind, some were blurry while others were vivid and immersive.
It didn't take long for him to understand what was transpiring right now.
He was witnessing the memories of the two brothers in real time.
"Fuck!"
Adam lost his balance and had no choice but to kneel on the ground. Even with the culmination of his four minds, processing nearly seventy years' worth of life combined in one go was basically impossible for him.
'I am about to faint at any moment now…'
He stood up with difficulty while shaking his head and immediately flew out of the mansion at full speed.
If he fainted right now, he would not be able to maintain his illusions and the guards would see him.
He had the option of simply killing them, but he judged that this was neither worth it nor necessary for the moment.
Whoosh~! Boom~!
A huge hole was created in the wall, and Adam immediately fled through it while trying to endure the brunt of the memories that were trying to make him faint.
It was only after leaving the vicinity of the city of Las Vegas that he stopped fighting back the onslaught and simply landed head-first on the ground.
The lack of food, mixed with the lack of blood after his earlier stunt, and now this— all of it was simply too much for him to take on. He was about to crash.
In the end— Adam simply blacked out.
.
.
.
"Ugh…"
Somewhere in the desert, with the illumination of the moon that gently shone in the night sky, a body fully covered in sand and grime twitched ever so slightly.
ραΠdαsΝοvεl.cοm Adam's eyelids fluttered for a while before his consciousness completely rose from its previous slumber and he came back to himself.
'How long was I out?'
[A little more than ten hours.]
Adam shook his head, still feeling quite dazed due to the previous phenomenon.
He looked up and could indeed see that it was past midnight right now.
"Lesson learned. Don't accept random souls in your body."
He grimaced as he could feel the sand in his hair, on his body, and even in places where sand should absolutely never be in the first place.
'Washing off all this will be a pain in the ass.'
He took a few steps, stumbled a little on each step, but was finally able to stand properly and advance after some adjustments. Even though he had fainted for over ten hours, he did not really feel rested.
It was as if his body had continued to work despite his own comatose state.
"What exactly happened?"
This was the thing he was the most curious about. Did he absorb those souls? Devour them or something completely else?
He opened his domain wide, but there was no difference in terms of the radius or in the perception of his surroundings. He also did not develop more minds and none of his other sensory skills evolved.
Then what?
What changed?
What happened?
[Adam…]
Genesis's voice pulled Adam back from his confused set of thoughts.
'Do you have any clue?'
[You should come and observe the nascent form of your inner world.]
Adam was a little surprised by what Genesis was saying but he did give it a try and what he found there was—
"Damn…"
This was— this was quite an interesting development, to say the least.
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