Subdued Soul Chronicle

One hundred fifty skeletons were buried in the wall, and they all broke down at the same time.

A thick cloud of dust rose. His ears were deafened by the roar that echoed through the entire space.

Then he finally realized it.

Seol Young looked at the wall that had collapsed in front of his eyes.

“I apologize…”

He turned his gaze and looked at Zaha.

“It’s not our fault that the people turned out like this, and this isn’t our world in the first place, so why apologize?”

He asked out of curiosity.

“Well.”

He replied to Zaha,

“Why did I say that?”

“Well, I think you did a good thing. It seems like those words broke the last binding force of the wall.”

Seol Young looked ahead at the place where the souls had left.

The powder from the broken skull wall spread around like a cloud.

[This….]

[We shouldn’t just leave….]

Several people’s voices could be heard in the fog. The voices soon merged into one, and their mouths were saying something.

“What are they saying?”

Seol Young and Zaha went silent and listened. At first, it was muffled, and they couldn’t hear it.

But slowly, their conversations became more clear, and Seol Young said,

“Woman priest? Doesn’t it sound like that?”

“Woman priest?”

After thinking for a while, Zaha said,

“If it is a woman and a priest, isn’t it like the slang term for a queen?”

“Then wouldn’t it be like calling Mita?”

As soon as Seol Young said that name, a black flame rose in front of his eyes.

There was a passage beyond the skull wall.

There were some faint things that looked like stains on the wall.

They seemed to be letters. Seol Young looked at them with the blue brilliance of his Blue Rainbow sword.

“It seems to be a memorial written that records the story of the deceased.”

“A memorial…”

The two went inside the place where the skull wall was, and there was a white mist from the bones there.

And then an illusion appeared.

It was a blurry shadow reflected on water, but it was hard to see what it was.

Flags and spears seemed to be tangled up. The sound of metal clashing was clear, along with screams and shouts and the neighing of horses.

This seemed to be a battlefield.

War of conquest.

‘Silla conquered Gaya.’

In the other world, it was a part that could be said in that one line. At some point, the two of them were in the middle of the battlefield.

And then a shout was heard.

[Even now, it isn’t too late! Surrender now! Our great king has promised to give you land and official posts!]

The army of Silla was moving in with great momentum. It was all an illusion, but just from a glance, they could realize who would win and who would lose.

It was then,

“Seol Young-rang, look there.”

Zaha pointed to the west. A group riding white horses appeared.

And their leader was a woman.

Their iron armor was shining under the sun, and their flags were fluttering. Her face could not be seen very well.

But the helmet on her head showed her identity. She looked identical to the painting they had seen in the shrine a while ago.

She was the ancient priestess, Heaven’s Priestess.

[Princess]

Cheers were heard everywhere.

Princess?

Some letters stood out clearly on the memorial at the tomb. And Zaha looked at the spot where the sword was placed.

‘Priestess of Royalty, Mita.’

It was the name of the deceased.

“She must surely be the one.”

“As we thought.”

The Priest of Royalty was a member of the royal family of Gaya. They were the descendants of the founding fathers of Gaya.

While these thoughts ran through their heads, the sounds of shouting changed into other words.

“Her Highness the Great!”

And a huge shadow fell over the battlefield.

The sky went dark as Mita raised her sword. The pattern along her sword shone with light, and the next moment, the entire ground shook.

Seol Young’s expression darkened.

“Summoning?”

At that moment, soldiers with human bodies and animal heads began to rise up. They jumped right onto the battlefield and began to fight their opponents.

They were an army of ghost soldiers.

Then another army appeared beyond the thick dust raised by the ghost soldiers.

They were soldiers wearing black iron armor and carrying spears.

They were the iron troops who guarded the tomb.

[Ack!]

Screams ran out wherever the iron troops passed.

No matter how valiantly they fought, the generals were all immobilized in front of the iron troops. And they easily slaughtered the enemy soldiers like wooden dolls.

And soon, the corpses piled up like a mountain.

Flags with the words ‘Recover the old land’ were fluttering.

“What is the true identity of that bizarre force?”

An angry voice echoed through the letters carved into the walls of the tomb.

[It is said that the priest who worships Mount Gaya has ascended the throne! The weaker nations are now forming a new coalition around that woman!]

[A woman who uses strange sorcery and powers we don’t know about! The damage to our allies is too much!]

The bodies of the soldiers of Silla piled up.

[That bizarre power has to be destroyed!]

[I found it! I finally found out where they are!]

And the illusion appeared.

Deep in the night.

They saw a fort buried in the mountain. The army moved into the thick darkness, and they approached the fort without a sound.

The troops were closely moving in, but for some reason, all of them stayed motionless. Amidst the silence, the officials of Silla stepped forward and broke the barrier.

Then the commander quietly raised his hand and issued an order.

Fire arrows flew off their bowstrings, and they covered the dawn sky like a cluster of shooting stars.

The thatched roofs caught on fire. They flared in an instant, and all the people who were asleep came out.

[A fire so suddenly….]

A flame arrow pierced the chest of a man, who was looking around in shock.

[Kuak!]

[Ack!]

All the men and women of all ages were hit, and the troops were pushed into the castle.

[They are people of Shinra!]

Screams rang out, and the commander ordered,

[To break down the momentum of these rebels, we need to destroy their castle now! Do not leave even a single child alive!]

[Yes!]

In front of the soldiers attacking from all sides, the people died helplessly. And they were hit by swords, arrows, and flames.

[Help me!]

Even pleading had no effect. Parents were dying in front of their children, and children were dying in front of their parents.

Even those who had managed to escape were caught by their hair and pushed to death.

[These bastards! What sins are we even guilty of?!]

[The heavens should be scary, right?! You will be punished for generations!]

Curses came out of each person’s mouth as they died.

“…”

Seol Young and Zaha felt like they were trapped in hell. They couldn’t move. They could just look at what was happening.

They wanted to look away, but that wasn’t possible.

‘Look now…’

The spirits had left, and their thoughts remained in this dust made by their bones.

‘Please look at our deaths, which haven’t been recorded in history….’

The castle, which had been peaceful until then, has now turned to ashes. Mita’s back looked devastated.

Her men came running.

[Even now, we can just abandon the castle and get out of here and think for the future!]

Their appearance vanished, and the vision that Seol Young and Zaha were seeing changed to another place.

It was an underground path that was dark and ominous, like the tomb they were in.

There were already dead bodies in there. The few remaining iron troops and priests were there, and all of them were covered in blood from the battle.

But they all began to fall, one after another.

[Do not look back! Keep running!]

[You need to survive! You are the only one who can take revenge!]

The priests with large earrings and tattoos on their heads ran. Only a few servants who served the king were left.

And they tried to escape through the secret passage, but they were all soon surrounded.

[Ack!]

The priests who remained until the end were all hit by the swords as they fell down.

And now only the king remained.

She raised her sword despite being surrounded, and the pattern on her sword began to glow.

She was going to cast a sorcery spell.

But…

Puak!

An arrow hit her in the middle of her chest.

[The price for my late brother’s life!]

Soon, arrows rained on her, and Mita collapsed with the arrows on her.

[The devil is dead!]

Her body was dragged out of the castle. She was tied to a rope and hung on a high wall. Then a faint wailing sound came from somewhere.

[Your Highness…]

The heads of the people piled up under their feet were wailing, and the white mist around them began to die down slowly.

Only then did Seol Young come back to reality.

“This is…?”

As they walked while watching the vision, they passed through the aisle before they knew it. The place they had entered now was surrounded by stone walls.

Tomb.

It was the place where the coffin of the dead was placed.

“…!”

Both of them were shocked, and at that moment, their gaze fell on a certain thing in front of them.

A bloody corpse was hanging high, with arrows stuck in its body.

It was Mita’s soul.

Seol Young and Zaha both stood there without saying anything.

Then she opened her eyes.