383 If you read the latest Interlude, then you will understand this chapter
"Asty… what you are saying does not sound good at all…" Even though Kiera had no knowledge on the world that her Big Brother Alex was involved in, she knows that the matter of turning her soul into a demon soul is not a pleasant thing. "Asty, you"re just teasing me now, right?"
"Hah? I am not teasing you. I really have a way to turn your soul into a demon soul!" Asteria replied unabashedly as she kept up a straight face. "Why are you not believing me again?"
"It"s not that I don"t believe you Asty. It"s just that… all this talk about turning my soul into a demon soul is making me feel squeamish."
"Oh, so you"re scared of having your soul changed? Is that it?"
"Yes, yes. That"s what I am scared of Asty. What if something bad happens to me once I changed my soul? What if I became a demon? Asty… I don"t want that happening to me!"
"Hmph, that"s your only problem? And here I thought you have a real issue…" Asteria seemingly muttered to herself as she appeared to be disappointed with Kiera"s behavior.
"You don"t need to worry about that, Kiera. Everything that will happen to you will be temporary, so there"s no need for you to fear for any side-effects!"
"Temporary? Asty, when you say temporary, do you mean…"
"Yes. Your soul will only temporarily change into a demon soul." Asteria enthusiastically said as she started to rummage on her clothes. "You can say that once I change your soul into a demon soul, you will only stay on that state for around 30 minutes. Once that 30-minute time was up, your soul will be back to being your normal soul again!"
"…"
"So don"t think about those side-effects anymore. Even if there are side-effects, they will also be temporary, like your soul change."
"So my soul will only change for 30 minutes? Is that enough to help Annie out?" Upon hearing Asteria"s "a.s.surance", Kiera seemed to have lost her aversion on Asteria"s proposal as she began to approach the fairy.
"Well, it will depend on what power you can manifest." Asteria replied as her left hand stopped its movement. "If you can manifest a power that will be the perfect fit for this situation, then you will be able to help her out. Oh, and speaking of your power, I already got the object that will activate your power…"
Asteria then slowly moved her left hand away from her clothes, with her gestures making it apparent that whatever this "object" was, it should be the one being held by her left hand right now.
A few more seconds pa.s.sed by before Asteria was able to fully reveal her hand. Once this happened, Kiera was able to see an object that was nestled right at the center of Asteria"s left hand.
"…"
Kiera"s face immediately warped in disgust as she saw the object on Asteria"s hand, as if the very existence of this object was enough to revolt her.
Even Asteria had disgust on her face too, as she appeared to be not happy with what she was holding.
"Asty, what is that round, slimy thing that you are holding?" Kiera asked with trepidation as she stopped approaching Asteria. "Is that the thing that will help me out?"
"Kiera, there"s no need for you to be disgusted of this. This is indeed the thing that will activate your power." Asteria replied with her gaze averted away from the slimy thing. "As for what this thing is, you can just say that this is an…eye. Yes, an eye of a demon. In fact, I can remember that this eye is called the Eye of Baal. Pretty cool name, right?"
Asteria then slightly squeezed the eye, making its pupil dilate and some of its fluids drip down the floor.
"Asty, I don"t care if that name is cool! I don"t want to get near that slimy thing at all!" Kiera exclaimed as she started to not look at the eye. "And Asty, can you please not squeeze it? It"s making me sick!"
"Asty, cease that behavior at once!" Asteria barked out, as she appeared to be fed up with Kiera"s timidness. She then began to let out "tsk tsk" sounds which grated on Kiera"s ears.
"Kiera, this Eye of Baal is the only thing that can help you right now. So what if it is disgusting? Without this, you can"t do anything to save your friend!"
"But Asty-"
"Kiera, if you don"t have the courage to even face this thing, then how can you save Annie?"
"…"
"What Kiera? Will you still not do it?"
"I-I"ll do it?"
"Repeat those words."
"I-I"ll do it."
"Say it again."
"I"ll do it already, ok? I"ll do it! I"ll do it! I"ll do it! I"ll do it!!!!!!"
"Now that"s what I want to here. Hehehe..." Asteria said with relish as she flew towards Kiera. Kiera only flinched a little as Asteria approached, with her not backing away at all. Her eyes, which were wandering earlier, were now looking at the Eye of Baal seriously, as if she was trying to engrave its image on her very own eyes.
"So Asty, for me to activate my power, I just have to touch this eye, right?" Kiera asked as the Eye of Baal went nearer and nearer to her. "I… don"t need to do anything other than touching it, right?"
"Well, touching this eye won"t give you any benefits. You have to be integrated with it for it to affect you." Asteria replied in a tone that made her sound a little s.a.d.i.s.tic. "So if you really want this to work, you have to eat this eye. If you don"t, then there"s chance that your power will not activate at all. You wouldn"t want that now, not with your friend in danger, right?"
"Ugh… I have to eat the eye? Asty please, is there any other way that I can use this eye to activate my po-"
"If you don"t want to eat it, then I will make you eat it."
Before Kiera could full voice out her complaint, Asteria suddenly increased her flying speed as she flew straight towards Kiera"s open mouth.
Asteria faced no obstacles entering Kiera"s mouth, as the little girl was just unable to cope up with Asteria"s speed.
"Thump."
Once inside Kiera"s mouth, the dumb fairy quickly lobbed the Eye of Baal straight down on Kiera"s throat, leaving Kiera literally speechless as a rounded object just slid in on her esophagus.
"Kehok!"
Poor Kiera had no choice left but to swallow the eye right now, as it was just too deep in to be pulled out.
"Asty…"
As the Eye of Baal began to roll down to her stomach, the clearly angry Kiera could only give a baleful stare at Asteria, who had successfully flown out of her mouth.
The dumb fairy seemed to look not guilty at all, as she only gave Kiera a victory sign with her fingers.
"..."
A few more minutes pa.s.sed by like this, with Kiera only standing on her spot and her eyes glaring at Asteria.
At this point in time, Asteria started to feel uncomfortable, as she realized that there was something different on Kiera right now.
The current Kiera began to emit a mature aura, which was something that Kiera should not be able to do. After all, she is just a young girl who had not yet experienced anything. Heck, not even Asteria can emit this mature aura even with all of her efforts!
"…"
This mature aura had amplified the animosity in Kiera"s glare, which made Asteria feel more and more uncomfortable.
"Kiera, now that you have successfully eaten the Eye of Baal, your soul will quickly change into that of a demon soul." Asteria said as she did her best to ignore the anger in Kiera"s gaze. "But since this change was only catalyzed by a small part of a demon, the change will only last for 30 minutes. Once that 30 minutes have pa.s.sed by, your soul will be back to normal, and there will be no lasting side-effects. The Eye of Baal that you have eaten however will disappear, as its components were used as the fuel for your change…"
"…"
"So rejoice Kiera! You now have the power to save Annie, although it will only last for 30 minutes! It is only during these 30 minutes that you can use Soul Manifestation! Once your soul turns back to normal, you will be barred from using Soul Manifestatoin again! So don"t waste your time glaring at me anymore! Just focus on what you should really do! Yes, just do what you need to do!"
"Oi Asty, I am happy that you went out of your way to activate my power. However, I am extremely unhappy on how you did it." Kiera coldly said as Asteria shrank back on her place. "I really want to chase you right now, but just like what you said, I need to save Annie first. So Asty, be happy that I am occupied now. …"
Kiera"s personality seemed to have drastically changed after she ate the Eye of Baal, which appeared to be a sign that the Eye of Baal is now doing its work. Of course Asteria was happy by this discovery, although there was some part of her that was also feeling scared right now…
"Ok I get what you are saying Kiera. So um, can you focus now on your power? Can you activate it already?" Asteria asked hurriedly in an attempt to change the topic. "Do you feel as if you can manifest your desires right now? Do you think that you can do the things that a demon can do by itself?"
"Asty, I am not sure on how to describe it, but I feel as if there was a flame burning inside me now." Kiera said as she started to caress her tummy. Her face held curiosity on it as she continued on stroking her tummy. "I feel as if I can manipulate these flames to do my bidding, and that it can do anything, as long as I will it do so."
"Yes, that"s it Kiera. That"s the power that you should use!" Asteria exclaimed as she clapped her hands.
Her wings then began to wave in a frenzied manner as she started to mime a pulling motion with her fingers.
"Now, if you want to manifest your power with those flames, you should think of your desires while pulling those flames out of your body." Asteria said as she pointed to Kiera"s throat. "As long as you are thinking of what you desire while those flames are coming out of your mouth, those flames will take the form that will grant these desires of yours!"
"It is just that easy? Well then, I shall start the process now." Kiera then closed her eyes as she sat cross-legged on the floor. Her whole body then started to emit heat as she opened her mouth.
"Hum!"
Steam literally appeared on her skin as the heat on her body just continued to increase. Even her clothes were affected by the heat too, as some of them started burning on the spot.
Her hair was fortunately unaffected by the heat, as it just continued to sway behind her in a graceful manner.
Kiera appeared to have not noticed any of these things, as she was only focused on what she was doing right now.
"I want a power to save Annie. I want a power to save Annie. I want a power to save Annie…" Kiera continuously chanted these words as flames began to crawl out of her mouth.
The flames appeared to be sentient, as instead of bursting out into the air like normal flames, these flames started to cover Kiera"s body.
Every inch of her skin was covered, until Kiera looked like a human barbecue grill.
The flames then expanded and contracted as they danced all over Kiera"s skin, creating a magnificent sight that was able to leave even someone like Asteria at awe.
This process continued for 5 more seconds before the flames disappeared.
"…"
Once the flames were gone, Kiera"s whole body was displayed once more, and this time around, she actually looked like a different person.
No, not a different person. A different creature.
"Kiera, that form…" Asteria stuttered out as she observed Kiera"s new appearance. "Do you know what your new form signifies?"
"You"re asking me about the significance of this form of mine? Frankly speaking, I am not sure. But I can feel that this form is the power given to me by my Soul Manifestation ability." Kiera replied as she started to move her new body. "Why Asty? Is there a problem with it?"
"You"re asking me if there is a problem?" Asteria replied as her eyes took note of Kiera"s new body. "I think there is a problem with your transformation!"
"What"s wrong with this form?" Kiera replied as she twirled the black robes that was covering her body. She then waved the long scythe that she was holding in her left hand, which was accompanied by the wails of dead people. "I think this new form of mine is pretty cool…"
"Cool? Kiera, you just transformed into a Soul Reaper! Do you know how uncool is that?" Asteria shouted out as she put herself away from the scythe"s range. "Kiera, you are now literally one of the most dangerous creatures that can exist in the Multiverse…. Having a form like that is just a way to invite trouble here!"
"Oh really? If that"s true, then my current form must be powerful then." Kiera replied as she only smiled after hearing Asteria"s bleak words. "I"m glad to know that."
"…."