A Story of Evil

As soon as Sol finished giving the instructions he went to sleep. Although their hiding location was pretty secure, the two orphans knew better than to let their guard down. But the boy wasn't simply resting.

Even in that moment the boy was making preparations. Something which he can only do because of the circlet provided by King Jubilee. The same item he uses in order to enter Pandora's Domain. As soon as he entered it, the Seraphim sighed and gave a comment.

"Sol, I know that Jubilee told you that you can access my Domain through the circlet but, give me some personal space man."

"I thought you said that this place bores you." The boy replied.

"Well that was before your constant visits."

Ever since Sol gained the circlet, he had bene going to Pandora's domain every night. Even with the Culling starting Sol didn't stop this practice because, there were a lot of things that he wanted to learn. Things regarding the history of the Seraphims and their powers. As well as events long forgotten. But in that instance, his inquiry was regarding something different altogether.

"I know but, I need help with our new enemies Pan." Sol gave a stare which the Seraphim was able to read.

"So you noticed too huh." The boy nodded at this and continued.

"The earth titans. There's something weird about them."

There were various things that made Sol suspicious of these enemies. First and foremost, it wasn't a custom for the earth domains to send their titans with masks. In fact, that was the first time it ever happened. But that in itself wasn't enough to cause concern or raise alarm.

What truly caught Sol's attention was something regarding Alice's danger sense and its activation. At the earlier minutes of the fight between the earth titans and the summoner titans, the passive wasn't acitng up. This is a given since they weren't the targets of the attacks. So no matter how powerful the exchange was between the earth titans and the summoner titans, it wasn't supposed to activate. Hence, even with the amount of pressure the earth titans were showing, the girl remained calm.

However as soon as the earth titans were cornered, the girl had a genuine look of fright. Like what they were going to face was nowhere within their current capability. Sol didn't like that. He didn't want to get pitted against such strong opponents in the final phase of the Culling. Not without any extra assurance that they could win.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Pan, is there any way for me to use more mana?"

"More mana huh…" The Seraphim was deep in thought for a few seconds. Then after a seemingly stramineous amount of thinking, Pandora finally gave a response.

"Well, as it stands, there isn't a way for you to do that. You can exhaust the reserves created by my shadow but, I don't recommend it. There's no definite measure of the duration you can use it and, the enemy might kill you due to wrong estimation. Plus, the shadows weaved through your body is part of the reason why you're linked to me. Taking that away will also severe the link."

"So there's really no way?" Sol asked as if prepared to perform a miracle.

"Look kid, the only way for you to even pull something like that off is if you can resurrect."

"So there really is a way."

"Did you not hear what the requirement is? Do I need to repeat it to you kid?" Pandora thought the boy was going crazy at that moment.

"I did hear you. Now can you explain to me the concept behind that resurrection thing?" The Seraphim just sighed at that point. Thinking there would be no harm in telling it to Sol.

"Well remember the mana cores? Those things condense upon death. All the mana surrounding the corpse as well as every bit of mana within the body gets syphoned, correct?" Sol gave a nod.

"But a person with developing mana veins is actually different. The mana veins inside a corpse such as this will mature. The veins, which naturally siphon mana upon death, need to grow first. And they will do so rapidly without any fear of the consequence since their host already kicked the bucket."

"So the siphoning will only happen after the veins mature."

"Right again. So if you can magically resurrect before that part starts, you can take away the siphoning part altogether.

"Is that so…" Sol was in a thinking pose again. Pandora knew no other option which Sol could take and, simply offered something impossible. That's why the next words uttered by boy took her by surprise.

"This will be easy then."

"Did you just say that resurrecting is easy?" The boy's lips curved to a smile as he gave a nod to the Seraphim and provided his explanation.

"There was one culling that happened before that, had a peculiar result. It was five years ago I think."

"Wait how old where you back then?"

"Seven."

"Seven…right..." Pandora was amused at how young Sol began his preparations for the Culling.

"Anyway, back then the last member of the Void titans found himself being hunted down by a group of Wind titans. Of course there was no way for him to win but, his weapon back then gave him some fighting chance. It was a dagger filled with basilisk blood."

"Oh? And what happened exactly?"

"Normally, when you get wounded by that kind of weapon, you would die. That's how powerful the basilisk blood is. He tried attacking the wind titans but it was no use. He was in an open field and, in that situation, a wind titan could easily corner anyone. They cut his hand and then, as if to mock him, used the same dagger to stab through the Void titan's heart."

"And then?"

"Well he died. That's the natural effect but what happened next was even more surprising. A few hours after the fight, he was spotted back in the battlefield, completely alive and still running for his life." Pandora was naturally able to place all the details together; laughing right away from the find made by the boy.

"Hahaha! You humans really are interesting."

"If we take that into consideration and, if I momentarily use [Analysis] on the blood. I could get a clear description on the blood's effect. So, with that being said, what do you think?"

"I think it's still a dangerous idea kid. But, it's a good idea nevertheless."

Within his head, Sol was already thinking of the variables that he needed to consider. He thought of the items needed for the mission and, how far their supply needed to be hid during this interval. He also thought of Alice and how the girl would undergo the same process in order to hasten her mana vein cultivation.

"I'll be reporting this to Jubilee. Is there anything specific that you want me to tell him?"

"Yeah. Tell him that the earth titans are using a strange powerup and, tell him that Alice and I will unlock our powers soon."