Acheron was fully unconscious, but some of her senses still lingered. She heard the air condense and felt the pressure building around her.
In the midst of the darkness of her unconsciousness, a translucent panel flickered through her gaze.
[S###ra B###mon asc###ing...]
The panel glitched violently, the text breaking and reforming in chaotic patterns.
[Inf###ing h##t's b###]
[Cann## han### Asc######!]
[WAR####: S####m ove#####!]
The glitch rate increased, pieces of the panel peeling away as they struggled to form meaningful language.
[1% of summ#### Shinra Bosh#### will asc###]
[Host b### cannot w#######d full po###]
The panel shattered completely, fragments dissolving into darkness. In the same motion, Acheron lost all connection to the living.
...
After waiting for the sphere to condense to the perfect size... he released it, throwing it directly at Acheron.
The sphere was three meters away from impact.
Two meters...
One meter...
At that moment, everything suddenly went black.
The sky above them turned pitch black like it was an eclipse. The ground beneath their feet lost all its color, becoming an endless void. Trees, broken columns were all consumed by the darkness.
The 〈Runic Eye〉 struggled to maintain visual connection, its lenses spinning frantically as runes flickered and exploded, the pieces falling randomly.
...
[Main Hall...]
The 〈Runic Plate〉 went dark immediately as the other half was shattered.
"Did it break?!"
"I can't see anything!"
"AHHHHHHHH!"
Students erupted into protest. The boys stood on top of their chairs, raging as they attempted to fix the connection.
...
The wind sphere dissolved and dispersed into thin air the closer it came to the being residing inside Acheron.
Dark mana flowed from the ground where Acheron's body lay. It rose slowly in stream-like form, twisting and changing.
Acheron's eyes opened with primordial finality, her pupils glowing red.
C-Crack...! Crack!
Her bones shifted and realigned themselves with grinding sounds. Her broken ribs mended, shattered joints reformed, torn flesh knit back together at unnatural speed. The hole in her stomach closed, the skin regenerating over the wound until no trace remained except dried blood on her clothes.
Alackster stumbled backwards, terrified by the scene he was witnessing. "Wh-What are you!"
More and more dark mana continued to swirl around her body in violent spirals. The tree behind her withered and faded to ashes. The air began to die. Every concept was changing and reforming.
The being stood up slowly, rising with a majestic presence. It looked down at Acheron's body, running her hands from her waist upward to her chest, examining the gender of the host.
A sinister voice spoke from her lips. It sounded...
✷ "I was summoned... into the body of a woman?!"
A new panel materialized in front of Shinra, glitching and crackling with the same distorted energy as before.
[T### ca## of ### boy]
The message flickered, reformed, became clearer for just a moment.
[Take care of the boy!]
This was a message from Acheron, her order to the summoned. It was to bind the spirit of the summoned to the order using the sealing spell.
.
.
.
Centuries ago, in a time when the kingdom of humans, currently known as Elycia, thrived at its best moment, maidens were married, men pursued honor and glory.
In that era lived a man named Shinra Boshamon. He was kin to a Nameless God who lived above the heavens. He had fallen deeply in love with a woman named Ophelia, a daughter of Duke Finn.
Their love was pure and beautiful. They would secretly go out at night to enjoy the moon together while pretending to be normal people during the day. This was because people feared Nameless Gods. They were destroyers. Nobody would want them going out with their daughter or son.
One summer, on a very crisp evening under the full moon, they lay down in the meadow field, far from the duke's watchful eyes. Soft grass beneath them, the stars shined bright above.
There, they made a vow to each other. They wanted to be together forever, and so they bound their souls to a spell and called it The Song of Ophelia.
However, the duke had already discovered their secret affairs and who Shinra truly was. A being connected to an enemy of humanity that threatened his family and hometown.
Immediately, he took action, gathering his best men and mages to attack Shinra in his bed while he slept.
The next morning, Ophelia found out what had happened to her lover, breaking down in tears.
Her father tried to comfort her, telling her he was killed by unknown people who had beef with his father.
Ophelia did not question it, as she knew it couldn't bring him back.
That night, she ordered her personal scout to bring a knight to her room. They thought it was to comfort her for losing her lover, mocking her in secret at how quickly she switched men.
As the knight entered, she cast a sleeping spell to make him lose consciousness. She then began to cast The Song of Ophelia, aiming to bring back her long-lost lover.
The spell would take hours to complete, so since the knight was summoned to her room, no one would question his whereabouts.
She began casting. Hours passed, and as it was time for Shinra to ascend, a Nameless God descended upon their island. He felt his son's energy, but it was low... He then realized he had died.
Enraged, the Nameless God slaughtered every living soul in the entire kingdom. Soldiers, servants, nobles, even children. None were spared from divine wrath.
Since that day, Shinra's soul remained sealed inside the incomplete spell, trapped for centuries, waiting for his lover to speak the words that would finally set him free.
.
.
.
✷ "Take care of the boy...?" Shinra repeated the message. Although he had Acheron's tone, it was still terrifying when heard.
Shinra's attention turned towards Alackster. His crimson eyes locked onto the trembling mage with a gaze so cold it paralyzed him instantly.
Although from Alackstor's perspective, Acheron just became stronger.