Chapter 1096 Soul Contamination
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"Get the f.u.c.k away from Ruby!!!"
However, Rakasha reacted faster than I did, his enormous blazing hammer impacted the Specter of the Venerable with all his strength, blowing him away as all three of his accessories were thrown into the distance!
BAAAAAMMMM!!!!
"GRAAAAHH…!"
As the accessories were thrown away, I quickly grabbed Ruby with my draconic claws as gently as possible. She looked paler than how Vampires are, and she seemed very sickly.
By giving her a mere a.n.a.lysis, the System quickly told me what was happening to her.
[Warning! Ruby is undergoing Soul Contamination!]
[Foreign Soul Fragment trying to parasitize her soul detected.]
[Her soul will be completely taken over in 5 minutes!]
"s.h.i.t! She"s going to have her soul possessed in five minutes?!"
"The b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s managed to get inside her soul anyways?!"
"He already did long ago, she had been fighting this entire time…!"
"What can we do then… I have no idea how to deal with a soul!"
"Don"t worry, Rakasha…. I"ll just have to be a bit more drastic. Take care of her body, I"ll go inside her soul!"
"Inside… her soul?!"
"I"ve done this before with Benladann and my daughters. Using Dreams, it is more than possible!"
Concentrating my Divine Power, I combined the ability of my divinities into this special Spell!
"Divine Dream and Soul Magic: [Divine Soul Dream Travel]!"
My soul and body converged together into a golden ma.s.s of Divine Power, which quickly stretched like a noodle and pierced through the Soul Membrane of Ruby"s Soul.
FLAAASH!
In that very instant, I found myself within an endless dark abyss.
So this is Ruby"s soul…
At the distance, I saw a little girl struggling, while she was slowly drowning in an endless sea of blood.
I have to hurry!
"Mom?"
"Yes dear?"
"What"s… my purpose?"
"Your purpose is to become the Venerable"s Vessel, our oldest ancestor."
"…But what if I don"t want to?"
"Silly, that"s not something you can really reject, it is an honor, a duty you must do."
"But… I am afraid…"
"Don"t be afraid. Our ancestor brought us all to life, he"s our greatest father. He"s someone that will definitely protect us all. Someone selfless that only wants the best for our family."
"Was he really that good? I heard… that he brought doom to the world."
"That only happened because the whole world opposed him… But he brought us to life, the prideful vampire family. He gave us the whole world; our greatest era was when he governed… When we were free to live however we wanted…"
"Why did that change?"
"He eventually died… And the world itself turned against us. Ruby, us Vampires are hated by everyone. They"re envious of our talents, of our strength, and of everything we"ve accomplished…"
"But didn"t they turn against our family because… we did a lot of bad things?"
"Ruby, who has been teaching you these things?"
"I… I just heard them around."
"Sight… Dear, don"t worry about those things. They"re all lies. We Vampires did nothing wrong other than trying to exist. People that abhorred our existences… they"re the real evil of this world."
"Mom… Why do you harbor so much hate against the whole world?"
"It is not my hate, it is the hate of our family, of our bloodline. One day, you will understand, my daughter. For now, you have to grow strong and healthy, my dearest girl. Eventually, through your body, our ancestor will be reborn."
"…"
Ruby sighed, as her mother covered her in blankets.
She remembers that conversation as the last one she ever had with her mother that lasted so long.
Since she was a little girl that she knew there was something wrong about her family, about what they wanted her to become.
She didn"t wanted to become the vessel of anybody, she simply wanted to live freely and happily.
Yet happiness was always denied from her, not by the rest of the world which her family abhorred, but by her very family.
Eventually, she ended running away from there thanks to her very mother, and only because she didn"t wanted her to become the power of someone else that wasn"t their ancestor.
Although she had her life saved by her mother, she still remembered how she wanted her to sacrifice herself for the ancestor… at the end, even if she ran away for a different motive, she didn"t wanted to go back.
She found Rakasha and everything changed, those simple days at the side of a Blacksmith that sold a few little things in the outskirts of a Sect"s city were her best days, despite having to hide and all…
And when she meet Drake and Benladann, everything changed yet again, perhaps to even greater heights she never thought possible… Eventually, too many things happened at the same time, but she was enjoying her life, she was enjoying herself back then.
Slowly trying to make herself forget about her family, about the prophecy of her becoming the new Vampire Venerable… Of fulfilling her destiny, her duty.
Now, the past has come back for her, she was dragged away, and taken over by the very being she feared the most. The one her family and everyone else adored, the Venerable of Blood, her ancestor.
"Ruby, you and I can become the strongest."
"Don"t you feel frustrated of the world looking at you as if you were a monster?"
"Why don"t you become my vessel?!"
"You"re my descendant, my child! Wouldn"t it be the greatest of honors?"
"With your powers and mine, we"ll defeat Red and protect your mother and the rest of your family! I will protect you and your family. I will protect my kin! It is something… I swore to do!"
The Vampire Venerable had some good intentions mixed with his malice, he truly meant to protect his family, he found them his precious treasure, the only thing he had left that mattered for him within his rotten heart.
Yet Ruby… she didn"t wanted to give in to his promises.
"But I… I don"t want to give you my body…"
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