Soul Godhead

The clatter of horse hooves echoed across the empty land, monotonous, peaceful and without any disturbance. As if guided by something, a straight line was drawn on the wallpaper.

His arrival alarmed the natives, and the monsters fled in panic, fearing that they would be noticed by him.

The master of death, the forerunner of destruction. The Skeleton Lord stopped, the soul fire in his eyes flickered, and he stared at the things in front of him.

It was a girl. More precisely, it was a soul.

Her condition looked bad. Souls generally do not fall into unconsciousness unless their power is nearly exhausted. Is this the purpose of his trip? The opponent does not look strong. The Skeleton Lord was silent for a moment, then bent down and extended his hand to the opponent.

Very strangely, he actually picked the other person up. Then, the Skeleton King turned around and walked back the way he came. He spent a while to find the place with the most concentrated death energy. After the dead land was destroyed, the death energy inside poured out, polluting a large amount of soil, forcing many monsters to move.

But this was just right for the Skeleton Lord. The thick deathly aura obscured their presence, making it easier to confuse their tracking. On the other hand, it was easier for him to find what he needed. The horse's hooves stomped on the ground, creating invisible ripples. His goal was clear, pointing straight to the depths of the black fog.

It was a huge skeleton nest. The Skeleton Lord did not need a fixed residence, but he still had his own territory. Whenever he came to a place, he would create a cave like this somewhere to produce his own followers.

Humans need many things to survive, but souls don't. The Skeleton Lord gave a silent order, and huge hounds jumped out of their dens and surrendered before him. They all had anthropomorphic faces and beastly bodies, which was terrifying.

"No need for guard dogs, I need you to find something."

Dozens of hounds came up to him, and after hearing the tasks assigned by the Skeleton Lord, they immediately ran around and disappeared in an instant. The Skeleton Lord walked into the lair, which seemed to be made of various bones. Countless souls were locked on the bone walls, making various mournful sounds. They exuded a strong smell of sin, and the hounds shuttled among the souls, responsible for guarding these souls. Whenever they saw the Skeleton Lord, these souls lowered their heads in fear and dared not look him in the eye.

The Skeleton Lord ignored their presence and went to the deepest part of the lair. He would occasionally stay here, so he had a basic bed.

He gently placed the girl's soul on the bed. The translucent black hair brushed against His arms, bringing a slightly itchy touch.

In the dim light, the Skeleton Lord stared at the other person's face. It was a childish face with trembling long eyelashes, looking innocent and ignorant.

Is this the heir he has chosen?

A faint sense of confusion arose in the monster's heart. After countless years, he felt the same breath again, which made him feel familiar yet strange.

The familiar gods have passed away, and only He remains here. He surrenders to the black mist in order to prolong his life. The complex emotional fluctuations flash by, and then turn into dead silence. The Skeleton Lord turns away and returns to his work. In addition to conquest and death, He will also judge those guilty souls.

The godhead in the eyes rotates, taking in all the sins of the other party. Depending on the degree of sin, the hound will give different punishments. Those with lighter sins will be bitten by the hound, while those with heavier sins will be torn apart and sewn into new hounds. Their pain and despair will become new materials to capture new malicious hunters.

The Skeleton Lord stopped working until a hunting dog came running over and reported something with his mind. The hunting dogs that had been sent out earlier returned one after another, gathering many resources that could be used to repair the soul.

This is a rare treasure outside. But it is more common in the depths of the black fog. There is no destruction or picking by outsiders. The resources here are more abundant. The Skeleton Lord crushed these herbs and minerals into his soul, just like using glue to glue broken stones together. This is a very wasteful practice, but with an entire army of hounds to find things for him, the Skeleton Lord does not care about this little waste.

Several loyal hounds approached him and reported a series of information. The Skeleton Lord frowned and said, "Don't worry about them. The impact of the Monster Lord is expected. Before he comes to us, we just need to avoid being disturbed by other things. As for the Black Mist believers and those craftsmen, let them act on their own. They won't stop us. Their target is humans, and we just need to act in the depths of the Black Mist."

Moreover, the Monster Lord will soon target the remaining craftsmen. Since they have not obtained the artifact that can kill the evil god, they can only make new ones. On this basis, the craftsmen undoubtedly have an overwhelming advantage. The struggle between the two is only in the mind of the Monster Lord.

This was not a good thing for him, but he could do nothing about it. After all, he could not handle things that far away. As for those new believers, if it were not for the hounds sent out by the Skeleton Lord to find their information, he would have no interest in this matter at all. It would be better for him to continue working here.

After giving these instructions, the hounds all understood what they were supposed to do. The Black Mist followers had not sent souls recently, so they only needed to deal with the previous stock. When the Skeleton Lord was not at home, the hounds had already gotten used to this job. Now that the Overlord was by their side, they immediately worked more energetically.

In order to take care of the souls he had picked up, the Skeleton Lord did not go out, but stayed in the lair. After an unknown amount of time had passed, the Skeleton Lord's actions in handling the souls paused slightly, and he turned his head to look deeper into the lair.

The souls He brought back seemed to wake up.

......

The scenery in front of me began to shake. The soul does not have five senses, but it perceives this world through its perception of reality.

The strong aura of death impacted the perception, causing the sleeping girl to suddenly open her eyes.

Black hair slid down her shoulders, and there was a hint of doubt in her bright red eyes. Although it was a physical body, she could trust her body to it. It was not the usual touch, but a real warmth.

Gloria raised her head. It was a large round room with bone walls growing in an interlaced pattern, forming a perfect arc above her head. Below her body was a thick layer of grass and fur, which gave off a familiar smell. These seemed to be materials with soul properties, and therefore they would nourish the soul.

She reached out her hand subconsciously, but instead of taking the familiar object, she bumped into something. After a few seconds, the girl raised her head slowly, and faced a cluster of jumping flames.

The centaur looked at her quietly. The girl was leaning against his…horse? Bones? In any case, it should be his arms, the part near the horse’s belly. No wonder she felt so warm. It turned out to be the warmth of his fur.

Gloria looked at him. He looked familiar. She had seen him in the church library before. Before she could react, he spoke.

"You'd better not move. You're badly hurt."

The girl didn't move. "Who are you?"

The other party did not answer, but simply leaned over to look at her. The prismatic godhead in his eye sockets shone like a gem, with a flowing halo hidden in it.

"I am the Skeleton Lord, a monster that rules over death and destruction. It is a pleasure to meet you, a soul that possesses the godhood of death."

After saying this, He paused for a moment, and then said, "You can also call me by another name. I was once a servant of the God of Death. Responsible for judging those who are guilty. My name is..."

"Lucutus."

Lucutus, meaning "mourner" in pre-Dark Mist times.

When the name was spoken again, even the Skeleton Lord himself felt it was a little unfamiliar.

In that era, everyone would enter the kingdom of the god of death after death. There they would be judged. The guilty would atone for their deeds in their lifetime, and the good deeds would be led by the gods to the resting place. At that time, Lucutus was just a small god.

"I found you in the wilderness. You were badly injured."

"Thank you for your help. This isn't the first time we meet, is it? You are the owner of those hounds."

Gloria sat up, a lantern and a black doll in her hands. She didn't seem panicked, which was a good thing. It's better to teach a smart child than a dumb one.

The Skeleton Lord's eyes fell on the black doll: "We should have a good talk. I have been waiting for you here for a long, long time. Since 1,000 years ago, I have been waiting for you to appear." Our mission is to keep you alive until now.

He still remembered the moment many years ago when the god he followed called him to his side. Being a foreign god had two endings: one was to be killed, and the other was to submit to the true gods, choose to follow their teachings, and become their assistant. At that time, Lucutus was such a small foreign god, responsible for punishing those guilty souls.

The black-robed Grim Reaper looked at Him calmly: "I need you to do something. This thing will be very hard, but it is extremely important for the future. Fate has guided me, this is something only you can do, Lucutus."

At that time, He did not understand the heaviness in the other person's tone. He just thought that he could finally be of use, so he was extremely excited.

"As you command, Your Majesty, I will carry out all your wishes."

What kind of mission would be given to Him?

Start a war to spread the reputation of death, or do you need him to establish a religion to further spread the belief in the god of death. Or maybe His Majesty finally saw his ability and wanted to reward him...

All kinds of thoughts flashed through my mind quickly, and finally I focused all my attention. Unexpectedly, the great god just said one word.

"Lucutus, you have to live."

No matter what happens in the future, you must survive, and then you will know what to do.

From that moment on, fate seized him. Until today. Sometimes, the Skeleton King felt that he might have only lived in two moments. The first moment was when the gods gave him this mission many years ago, and the second moment was now when he finally saw the hope of this mission being realized.

The girl looked up at Him, listening to the story with a confused look on her face.

"Why me?"

"Not everyone can inherit the power of death. You have a special kind of power, and it must never be handed over to evil people."

The centaur stared at her, his voice like a dream.

"It is a terrifying power that can control everything, reverse life and death, enlighten beasts, or distort human nature. It is a bottle of poison, a nightmare, something that was once sealed by my Lord and has come in this era."

"Your godhead name is—"

"Soul."

The soul that controls everything is the one that decides its life and death. If even the spirit does not belong to me, then what else in the world is real?

This dangerous position has only appeared once in history, and was sealed by the God of Death himself. To prevent it from having an unknown impact on this world. Now seeing the lantern in the other party's hand, the Skeleton Lord had a vague premonition of "as expected". He finally understood why he needed to live until now. If there was no guidance from his ancestors, the out-of-control soul godhood would turn the world into a twisted place that was more desperate than the black mist.

In order to master this Godhead, He has many, many things to tell the other party and many, many things to teach the other party. This is why He survived until now.

But the Skeleton Lord still suppressed the impulse. It's okay. They still have a long time. Before that, he needs to explain these things to the girl first.

He recounted those ancient memories while crushing the gemstone and putting it into the girl's body. Feeling the power in her body slowly recovering, Gloria's eyes lit up. The Skeleton Lord repeated this action with flames dancing in his eyes, and took the initiative to ask: "What are your plans next? Do you want to return to the human world?"

The girl shook her head without hesitation: "No, I want to stay here. You seem to have a lot to say to me."

And there are so many good things here, it would be a shame to go back!

After reading the opponent's hidden message, the Skeleton Lord smiled a rare smile, and a gentle look appeared on half of his face: "Yes. I can't leave here. This is the agreement between me and the Monster Lord."

"He knows a lot of things, including the prophecy left by my Lord. In order to survive, I made a pact with him. Unless he allows me, I will never leave the depths of the black fog and come into contact with humans. And he will not kill me. Maybe he thinks that he doesn't have to worry about such a situation just by isolating me from humans, or maybe that proud guy believes that even if the prophecy comes true, it will not pose any threat to him. In short, if I leave here, he will immediately chase us and kill us."

When he chose to surrender, that being did not make things difficult for him. Compared to others, the Skeleton Lord always maintained a distant relationship with him. He followed the Monster Lord only because of their agreement. The latter knew this and stayed with him only to understand the nature of death from him and further master the authority of death. Both parties got what they needed.

Looking at the restless girl, the Skeleton King was very sober: "If you want to follow me, you have a compulsory course before leaving here."

"What is it?"

"You must learn to hide your aura, otherwise you will be easily discovered by the Monster Lord."

"Is that why you can call Him by His name?"

The Skeleton King nodded in agreement: "Yes, He can't hear my voice."

"You should know that every living thing emits pollution. All pollution is intertwined to form this world. Hiding the aura is actually hiding the pollution emitted by the soul. You can imagine that your soul is transparent."

"Transparent?"

"Yes, even stones can be polluted. But if you transform your soul into a transparent one, the pollution will pass through it. Does this sound a bit difficult to understand? Let me demonstrate it to you."

As he said this, the Skeleton Lord dispelled the aura from his body. When the strong aura of death disappeared, the girl was surprised to find that the other party had become something non-existent in her perception, as if there was no one there at all. Although she could see it with her eyes, she could not perceive anything.

“How is this done?”

"It will take some time to practice, and only a death-related godhood can do this. If you want to stay, I will train you strictly from now on."

The Skeleton Lord's voice became extremely serious. He stared at the girl and said slowly, "If you want to leave now, I can send you back. But if you stay, the rest will be out of your control. When you choose to fulfill this prophecy, danger will always haunt you until the Monster Lord dies."

The girl smiled. She raised her chin and answered without hesitation: "The last thing I worry about is danger. It has never left me since I was born."

If the world is a storm, then this little challenger is ready to face the storm without stopping. The lantern will not go out until everything is under his feet and his wishes are realized.

If that's the case, what else can He say? He was born for this moment. The Skeleton Lord smiled and said, "Then I'll take that as your agreement."

The girl stared at him without blinking, her pupils bright as flames. "No problem, teacher, can you also tell me about the era before the Black Mist? There is really little information about the God of Death. I want to know more about the prophecy."

"Of course, we still have a long, long time..."