Chapter 47: Angry Souls
Chapter 47: Angry Souls
Then, after a moment of tense silence, the door opened on its own, as though it possessed a life of its own.
When the door slid open, it revealed a dark room enveloped in eerie silence.
From this side, it looked like a creepy warehouse, the kind that seemed to house something extraordinarily dangerous.
"The door opened," Sam exclaimed, taking a deep breath.
The principal, driven by an insatiable curiosity, immediately wanted to enter the secret chamber to uncover the secrets the Tachibana clan had guarded for so many years.
He was desperate to find the technique that could finally vanquish the soul-sucking entity that had been wreaking havoc.
Just as he was about to step inside, a hand grabbed him, halting his advance.
"Why did you stop me?" Agor asked, narrowing his eyes.
"If you value your life, you'll listen to me... don't go in," Sam said, his voice shaking and his expression one of intense fear.
"What's wrong?" Agor noticed Sam's unusual state.
The girls did too; they had never seen Sam scared before.
Sam was known for his unwavering courage, so his current state was deeply unsettling.
They didn't know what lay beyond the door.
If they did, they would be in the same condition as Sam, if not worse.
With a trembling hand, Sam pointed at the open door, towards the darkness that seemed to lead into an endless abyss.
"What? There's nothing there," Agor said, baffled.
All they could see was a creepy door leading to an even creepier dark room.
"They're standing right there... you don't see them?" Sam's eyes widened further with terror.
What the others couldn't see were the hundreds of damned souls, their empty eyes staring at them in eerie silence.
Sam was the only one who could see and feel their presence, a presence that was anything but normal.
He felt death, anger, and hurt emanating from them.
And then there was that look, the one that sent chills down his spine.
Sam was certain it was a warning: if anyone other than him took even a single step, there would be unimaginable consequences.
"There's no one there... Sam, tell us what you're seeing," Isabelle grabbed his arms and held him close as she asked.
"I-I can see hundreds of angry souls on the other side of the door... and they are not happy that you are here," Sam said, glancing nervously at Agor.
"That's not possible. Souls are not of the living world. No living thing is capable of seeing the souls of the dead."
"There was only one person in the whole world who could do that, and that was our progenitor..." Then a realization, more of an off-chance possibility about Sam, dawned on Agor.
"The only way for someone who is not a progenitor to have the ability to see souls is if they had the Soul power," Agor glanced sharply at Sam.
"You possess Soul power, don't you?"
"Hmm," Sam simply smiled in response.
"... Look, even if you have Soul power, we need whatever is inside that secret chamber to defeat that thing," Agor ignored Sam's warning and took a step inside the door, but nothing happened.
"See, it's just your imagination. These souls should not have the power to stop us, the living, from doing anything."
BOOM!
Not even a second had passed since he said that before something invisible attacked him.
Only a strong, intense thud-like noise was heard before Agor, like a statue without support, fell to the ground.
"Grandfather!" Lucy's face darkened, and she immediately went to support her fallen grandfather, but a hand grabbed her to stop.
"Wait, the souls won't let you be... I will take care of him. You trust me, right?" Sam looked into Lucy's eyes and asked.
Lucy aggressively nodded her head.
Sam was everything to her right now, the most trusted person in her world, even more than her grandfather.
She didn't know why she felt this way, but right now, she knew she would trust Sam.
He quickly gave her a few reassuring nods before swiftly going to her grandfather, carrying him back to her.
Sam proceeded to check Agor using his magic and the Eyes of Truth.
"I couldn't find what's wrong with him... but it's got to be related to his soul, causing this paralysis."
Sam closed his eyes for a moment, steadying his breath.
He invoked his soul power, directing it onto his eyes.
His Innate Ability, the Eyes of Truth, which he had already activated, reacted to the incredibly pure soul energy and began to evolve.
[You have met the conditions to evolve your Eyes Of Truth]
Suddenly, he felt a strange sense of nourishment in his pupils.
His intensely shining blue eyes transformed into neon blue, with a hint of white hue.
[Your Eyes of Truth have evolved into Eyes of Illumination.]
[Innate Ability: Eyes of Illumination]
[Description: One of the rarest, and upgraded versions of the Eyes of Truth, born from the union of the purest form of soul power. Its effectiveness has increased more than tenfold along with additional unlocked effects.]
[Additional Effects: Soul Recognition, Soul Interpretation, Soul Scan, Soul Precognition, Soul Gazing]
Ignoring the system notification, Sam activated his Eyes of Illumination and began to scan Agor's soul.
As expected, he could see injuries on Agor's soul.
"The souls of the dead have injured his living soul," Sam muttered, observing Agor closely.
"Does that mean he is going to die?" Lucy asked, her face darkening.
"No... I mean, he is going to stay unconscious for a few weeks, maybe even months, before he regains consciousness. Souls are like our skin; if wounded, they need time to heal," Sam continued, his gaze still on Agor.
A thought crossed his mind.
Sam didn't like the sadness in Lucy's expression. He held her hand and said, "I might have a way to speed up the healing process... Can I try?"
Seeing her nod, Sam immediately summoned his holy power, forming a ball of silvery white flames in his palm.
With his other hand, he raised a ball of light blue energy shaped like flames, and carefully placed both the holy flames and soul power onto Agor.
The holy flames seemed to absorb the light blue energy.
As they spread across Agor's entire body, they didn't cause any pain, nor did they seem to be doing anything at all.
As a result of whatever Sam did, the wounds on Agor's soul began to heal even faster.
"You can heal souls now?" Austin couldn't handle the amount of nonsense Sam had been revealing to them; this was the most outrageous yet.
"I'm not healing souls per se," Sam explained patiently. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"The soul is like our physical body. When it's wounded, it needs time and nourishment to mend, but unlike the physical body, the soul doesn't get nutrients from eating."
"I just used my own excessive soul energy and my holy power as a conduit to deliver the nourishment to his soul, which sped up his healing process."
"It's fortunate the souls weren't intended to kill your grandfather; they just wanted to show what the consequences would be if you don't listen to them," Sam said, turning his gaze towards Lucy.
"He should take at least a day to heal, but he will be back to his old self," Sam reassured her, patting her head gently and meeting her dark, abyss-like eyes that seemed capable of pulling him in completely.
Seeing Lucy smile like her old self reassured him as he turned towards the door and listened to the souls.
"Are you talking to the souls?" Ragnar asked, clearly puzzled.
"You can talk to souls now?" Austin rolled his eyes, wondering why Sam kept coming up with such far-fetched bullshits.
"Yes, it seems I can see and communicate with souls now," Sam muttered thoughtfully.
"And they're telling me that only I am allowed to enter... Actually, the girls are allowed as well."
Sam narrowed his eyes, puzzled as to why the souls permitted him to bring the girls but not the principal and the others.
Glancing at Ragnar and Austin, Sam instructed, "You take the principal to the infirmary while I take the girls with me inside to explore."
Sam then looked at Lucy. "Lucy... You don't have to come with me if you want to be with your grandfather."
"It's alright. You said he'll be alright in a day or so. I trust you... I will go with you," Lucy replied confidently.
Sam led the way, and the girls followed closely behind him like obedient wives.
With each step Sam took through the door, the stone lamps hanging on each side of the wall ignited in crimson flames, as if by magic, one by one.
Their fiery glow illuminated a cave that stretched deeper and deeper into the darkness.
"Let's go in," Sam urged, his voice echoing faintly against the stone walls.