Volume 1: Path - [Full Awakening Arc]
Chapter 50: Fully Awakened
But he didn't think that guy Aiven would kill him like that; he had doubts, but he didn't think he would do it, so that is the only problem. But with a lucky opportunity, he got revived with these butterflies' help, so he has to at least treat them well.
Caelus looked down at the ground, caterpillars surrounding the body as if waiting for Caelus's decision whether or not to eat him.
He looked at the caterpillars around the body and asked, "You guys want to eat him?"
As if they understood Caelus, the caterpillars moved one side of their bodies up and down, allowing Caelus to grasp the meaning behind those movements as he contemplated these little creatures.
"I don't know what these creatures are nor how they work, but from my analysis, they help me block mind-type abilities on me, help my soul recover if they have the fragments of my soul, and even can be made into soul type weapons like this Tachi or even the marble."
Caelus got resurrected by these butterflies. They picked those white sprinkles (those are the soul fragments) and remade Caelus's soul body and resurrected his soul. They even merged together to make him a Tachi to battle, and even merged into a marble ball to explode. So, due to all this, he wants to give them their treats.
Caelus looked at the giant ball of shadow, which was reducing in size as another type of giant ball was being produced. That giant ball that was producing had a black and red mix in it.
"These caterpillars are maybe related to the soul element since they are using soul-like abilities," Caelus thought about it as he looked at the caterpillars and said to them, "I want his soul, so I can't give him to you, but you guys can eat that giant ball made of shadow. It still has this guy's energy." That giant ball is useless to Caelus because this figure has still not gone into the giant ball, which means his soul has not settled inside this body. Only when a living being stays inside the giant ball would they be able to control their body.
"Calling it a giant ball is sickening me; let's call it Soul Palace." He called it that way because it suits the way it works; the Soul Palace is like a palace where the soul of a body lives, and of course, once a soul goes into the Soul Palace and settles there, the soul expands itself and fits itself into the whole body, letting it become the owner of the body.
Caelus knew about all this because he experienced it when his soul was killed.
As he thought about it, he looked at the number of Caterpillars that were eating the Soul Palace formed by the shadow figure.
All of the caterpillars that ate their food came down as they formed pupae. Before the Soul Palace could disappear, ten thousand of them reached the pupa stage, but still this is like less than 1% of the caterpillars in this mind space.
Caelus looked at the figure whose face was smashed into bits, such that even the shadow armor on his face was gone, and the figure's face could be seen. Caelus was shocked by how the face of this figure was.
His skin is pale with eyes of vivid green, framed by long, pale lashes. His nose is narrow and straight, leading to gently shaped lips. His hair was silvery-white and slightly tousled.
"Damn, he is more handsome than me, so why the fuck would he get angry at being called ugly? and hides his face with his shadow powers, is he trying to gatekeep his face, weirdo Well, who cares?"
Just then, a butterfly flew over; it landed right on his forehead. The butterfly entered his forehead as he felt something in him awakening. At that moment Caelus realized what was happening: he was completely awakening, not half-awakened but fully awakened.
"So, this is the third requirement for my awakening, do I need these little fellas to go inside my soul, and I need to become one with them?"
Just as he was about to awaken fully, something weird happened: he felt his soul form, which he is in right now, trembling like crazy.
He felt two types of things are colliding together; one is the awakening, and the other is the demon that was supposed to form when Caelus was half-awakened.
Caelus was in the process of becoming a demon, but now that he has awakened, both things are colliding with each other. But suddenly, the awakening of his, which is the red-black butterfly, suppressed the demon and ate the demon.
With that, Caelus obtained two things at a time: he could use an element of his own, he didn't fall into the demon path, and he also got a demon form. Yeah, a demon form. At first, he thought he had only awakened, but didn't think a demon form could be obtained, but right now that form is partial. This is what his inner sight is mentioning to him.
Caelus then looked at the body under him; he was about to eat this guy's soul.
And it will be a gain for Caelus, unlike other people who will suffer because of what Caelus gained as the element of his soul, yeah, soul.
Caelus didn't understand how this would work, but from the generic webtoons or webnovels he read, if a soul were to be eaten, then they would gain something, and he wanted to check it out, though he is courting death right now.
"As the saying goes, 'High risk, high rewards.'"
He looked at the butterflies and caterpillars around him, and now he is able to understand them even more, and it confirmed his analysis about these guys to 100% that they are of the soul element because his eyes can now passively see and understand these creatures.
[Thanaeris (Butterflies Of Death)—Wherever death takes root, they gather with their winged heralds of silence. They are the Death's messengers, carrying each soul upon fragile wings to the Gates of Death.]
"What the actual fuck? These cute little fellas are like soul reapers. Then what are they doing in my brain? Wait a minute, now that I think about it, shouldn't I have died like three times in total? One was when I was 13 years old, the second was in the amusement park when I almost died in that thousand-faced monster, and right now is another time, but this time is not counted since these guys are already in my head. I think it all began three years ago because I also started having nightmares from then on, and my mental strength is increasing too, so it would have been impossible for these little fellas to come in here at that time. I need to figure out more about these guys." Caelus thought about it as he ordered the caterpillars and butterflies to make his soul into a ball-sized one that his soul could eat.
As if they understood his orders, they moved and started doing their work by removing the soil in pieces and then making a ball out of it, and after that, compressing the ball to that of a marble, and this all was finished in a few seconds.
"Thank you for your work; next time I have a soul for free, I will let you guys eat it." Caelus said to the butterflies as he picked the marble soul from the butterfly that was carrying it.
They understood his words and started moving around him, mainly the butterflies in the air, as if they were happy to hear the praise and that they would be getting food.
"Help me up if I get into any problems, okay? Otherwise, you guys can't get any food." The caterpillars and butterflies looked at Caelus in a way that made Caelus understand them, saying, "Yes, sir," with a serious expression.
'They must be super hungry; I have to get some food for them soon after I get out of this predicament.' Caelus thought as he sat down on the ground, and after sitting down, he directly tossed the marble soul into his mouth.
The moment the marble entered his mouth, the eyes of the mind space were gone, replaced by a dark, gloomy night with rain falling down heavily.
He looked around and saw a house that is worn-down house; it has only half a roof. He saw rain pouring down heavily in that place, and there is also a rock wall on that side with a broken window, and he is on the side where the roof is.
"What the hell, where am I?"
Just then, he noticed a little boy who was pale white with dirt on him, and his bones could be seen due to his having malnutrition and an injury. He has white hair with his eyes closed, and Caelus couldn't see the color of his eyes. The little boy right now is asleep, or dead... maybe.
[End Of Chapter 50]