A meeting of wills

Seth returned to his room and dressed before looking at his second task. He somehow hoped that the first task would bring him more information, but with it not affecting his lust source, he had to move on to the second one.

“Unmarked, huh..” He muttered before asking the system. ‘Who do you think it’s best?’

<If host is hesitant about host’s former students, there’s also the possibility of enchanting one of the new students of Asteria.>

Seth shook his head and said: ‘I got a feeling that won’t do anything… It will probably happen the same way it did with the brothel in New Hope.’

<Then host only has three real options. Leora, Caitlin, or Rebecca. Rebecca is temporarily occupied, and intercourse with Caitlin involves risks due to the incompatibility between lust and life energy. Host’s best option would be Leora.>

Seth sighed; he had reached the same conclusion, but that didn’t make things any easier due to Leora’s past.

‘Where is she?’

<Academy office. Cultivating.>

With a nod, Seth opened a portal towards Leora’s office and waited patiently. A few seconds later, Leora walked out of the portal and gave Seth an inquisitive look.

Seth sighed and closed the portal, indicating her to sit on the bed. Leora looked even more confused at Seth’s reaction but sat down as he told her to.

“Beating around the bush won’t make this any easier to say, so I’m just going to come out and say it.” Said Seth before taking a deep breath and beginning to explain his issues with his lust source.

After telling her the plan he cooked up with Hollie, Leora’s hands shook, and she lowered her head.

Seeing her reaction, Seth sighed and said: “When I took you as my follower, I promised I won’t ever ask you to do something you don’t want to, and I intend to keep my promise. If you say no, I’ll move to the next task and wait for Rebecca to be done with her responsibilities before asking her.”

Leora kept her head lowered, and Seth could see her nails digging deep into her thighs. Shaking his head, he knew he was too rash to ask her and stood up, grabbing her hand softly and pulling it away from her thigh.

“It’s fine. I’ll take you back. Sorry for this, and forget I said anything.”

Just as he was about to teleport her away, Leora finally lifted her head, her expression stunning Seth in place.

Her face was contorted in fear and completely drenched in tears. Her bright silver eyes were shaking in their sockets, and even her nose was starting to turn red.

“Seth… I…”

Moving his hand to softly rub her ashen hair, Seth smiled and said: “Hey. I already told you I’m not forcing you to do anything. Don’t cry.”

“It’s not that… I’m scared, Seth. I’m terrified.” Said Leora through her sobs, her hands shaking while holding onto Seth’s.

“What are you scared of? I already told you no one will ever force you to do anything you don’t want to again.”

“It’s not that…” repeated Leora, staring straight into Seth’s eyes. “No matter how strong I get, the simple thought of doing it with a man again fills me with disgust and fear… I’m a third shell light ascended, almost fourth shell, but the moment I heard what you said, I felt just as weak as I did when I was trapped in that place….”

Sighing, Seth shook his head and said: “I don’t know what to tell you, Leora… if there’s any way I can help you, just tell me, and I’ll do it, but we both know this is a battle you must fight yourself….”

Leora’s hands clenched onto Seth’s harder, the tears in her eyes never stopping as she asked: “Can you take them away? Can you remove my memories of those times? You used to be a god. There must be something you can do to make me forget….”

“It’s not that I can’t, but doing so it’s too risky… the soul is a complex concept and removing only select parts of it is almost impossible… It’s true that once I break through again, I can do it, but the risk is too high. Even so -“

Leora’s face turned even more desperate as she said: “Then what am I supposed to do? I’ve tried living up and growing stronger as you told me to. I tried to be strong and not let it bother me anymore as I gathered more and more energy, but no matter how strong I got, it still hurt. I feel that the more time passes, the harder it is to live with those memories… I don’t want it anymore… Seth.”

Once her words ended, Leora broke into a loud wail.

Seth could say with certainty that Leora had shown more expressions in the last ten minutes than in the previous few years.

Pulling her close into his arms, Seth sighed and started massaging her back as she cried. She could feel her body shaking up in his arms, and he figured it must be her fear of being touched by a man.

“I wish there was something I could do for you, Leora…” muttered Seth, a trace of deep anger appearing deep in his eyes. Even now, he felt he went too easy on those bastards all those years ago.

<System shutting down…>

A notification appeared in his vision, but before he could ask the system what was going on, a weightless feeling took over his body, and his vision turned blank.

‘What the fuck is going on?’ muttered Seth as he looked around, but there was nothing but white space.

He tried to close his eyes and use his energies, but none worked anymore besides his destruction divinity, which followed him into this strange place for some reason.

As he was getting increasingly confused, a small path appeared under his feet, leading forward into the endless space.

‘Since the system shut down, it must be that idiotic source…" muttered Seth, starting to walk down the path. He felt that he could use his divinity to break out, but at the same time, he knew that it came with its own issues and that this might be his chance to learn more.

He didn’t know how long he walked, sometimes feeling like maybe even eons had passed, but there appeared to be no end to the simple path.

Still, after having lived for so long, he didn’t panic and continued walking forward.

‘I’m a soul construct, so my perception of time must be distorted.’ he said to himself to keep the uneasiness inside his soul under control.

An eon passed. And there another one did...

Just as he was also considering breaking out, a change finally happened. The path finally seemed to be leading somewhere. A pure dark area appeared before him, forming a strong contrast with the white one he had spent who knows how long in

‘At last…’ he muttered, walking into the dark area without fear.

Inside the pitch-black area, devoid of any light, even the path he walked on was impossible to follow anymore, but Seth just focused on going forward.

A long time passed again, and he reached a small white dome. The done was exceptionally bright and noticeable in the absolute darkness surrounding it, and it felt that it was somewhat calling to him.

Seth approached the dome, lifting his semi-transparent hand to place it on it. His vision changed once more as soon as his hand touched the dome of light.

His astral body was pulled inside the dome. The darkness was still visible through the thin walls of the dome and seemed to somehow fight to get inside, but the dome was also holding steadfast, refusing its entrance.

Ignoring the phenomenon at the border between the light and darkness, Seth turned towards the middle of the dome, where a pair of pure white orbs were glowing brightly. As Seth fixed his eyes on those orbs, he could feel the orbs were also watching him.

His thoughts were proven right as, in the next moment, a strong and authoritarian voice resounded in his ear. “Who are you? Intruders are not allowed here.”

Seth frowned and ignored the words of the voice as he fixed his eyes under the two orbs, where a little girl was sleeping with a pained face. She seemed familiar to him for some reason, so he started walking closer to take a better look.

“INSOLENCE. LEAVE MY DOMAIN AT ONCE.” The voice from before returned, a sudden pressure descending over Seth simultaneously, but Seth continued pushing forward through the pressure, his eyes still fixed on the little girl.

Just as he reached a few feet from the little girl, the dome around him reduced in size, and the pressure increased, pushing him down and almost making him fall onto his knees.

Seth finally lifted his eyes from the little girl, fixing them on the two orbs. A dark-red color appeared in his eyes, and his divinity trembled inside him as he said. “THERE IS NO PLACE IN THIS WORLD THAT MAY BAR ME ENTRY.”

With his words, destruction energy erupted in the form of a spear that flew forward, stopping before penetrating one of the orbs.

The pressure stopped pressing him down, and he stood tall again.

“Divinity…” muttered the voice from before, its tone turning a lot meeker as both orbs of light floated a few inches down.

“HEHE. LET’S ERASE THIS SCATTERED WILL MASTER.” another voice resounded through the small dome of light, and Seth’s face contorted in pain as he could feel his divinity struggling to push the spear forward again.

“Fuck.” Swore Seth, looking back at the little girl. Without hesitation, he immediately moved to cancel his energy, but it was failing to respond to his commands anymore.

Knowing it would be disastrous to lose control right there, Seth turned towards the two orbs, now cowering in fear, and said: “IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, RUN. TAKE HER AND RUN.”

The two orbs shook for but a moment before the dome of light retracted until it only covered the little girl and flew away into the distance, forming a bright light throughout the darkness.

Seth finally fell to his knees, and a dark-red silhouette formed right in front of his eyes.

“Why do you reject my will, master? Why must you rebel against me? You think those two weak children will ever be able to fight against me?”

Seth chuckled and a broad smile on his lips as he looked at the silhouette in front of him. “You’re scared.”

“They are but crownless children, thriving on human desires while I’m a God that reigns over everything that is not.”

“You’re a god only because I gave you form. I made you, and I will destroy you all the same.” Replied Seth, the grin on his face becoming more pronounced despite the dark-red energy slowly devouring his astral body.

The entity in front of Seth didn’t seem perturbed by his words, its voice resounding again.

“I’ll be waiting. That is if you can reach me anymore. You’ve grown weak.”

Seth didn’t continue arguing with the entity in front of him. He closed his eyes, leaving his consciousness to dissipate as his body was consumed by the destruction energy.

Barely a few seconds had passed in the real world. As Seth’s astral body was devoured in the strange space, he and Leora fell unconscious simultaneously, blood leaking from the side of their mouths and ears.