Chapter 02 - Successful birth, I am now semi-human
In the basement of Venhorst Castle.
On a beautiful daisy flower, a woman lay with her legs spread wide, a piece of wood in her mouth. She was being firmly bitten, the bite so strong that the piece of wood might break at any moment. Heat poured from her entire body in a torrent. Two midwives were assisting the woman. With them was a man operating a life-giving womb; of course, this man was none other than Fernando Venhorst.
Catarina Venhorst, a high-level mage and, most importantly, Fernando's wife, lay in the daisy flower, struggling to give birth for the third time. However, this third time would be unprecedented, because her life, as well as that of her child, was at stake. If she weren't already a high-level mage, she would likely already be dead from the sudden depletion of her life force and soul energy. Of course, even being a high-level mage, she still needed the life matrix to replenish the vitality absorbed by the baby in her womb.
-Strength... push and breathe.
-Strength... push and breathe.
-Strength... push and breathe.
-Strength... push and breathe.
The midwives repeated the same words over and over. While Fernando operated on the life-giving womb and wiped the sweat from Catarina's face, Catarina, breathless but with a smile on her face, spoke repeatedly as she looked at Fernando.
-Our son.... Ours. He's going to be born.
-Our son.... Ours. He's going to be born.
-I can feel it. He's coming. Our son.
Fernando was experiencing a mix of complicated feelings. For him, it was his first time being a father. He didn't really know what to say. He could see his wife's suffering.
However, nothing could go as expected; after all, the future was unpredictable. Suddenly, complications began to appear; Catarina's vitality began to be drained at an even faster rate than before, and the matrix couldn't keep up with the wear and tear. Fernando's face turned sour, and he could feel his nuclei rapidly depleting. What Fernando feared most finally arrived at the moment of decision. Whether it was his son's life or his wife's, he was between a rock and a hard place.
As a man and a husband, he knew perfectly well what to do. There would be another chance to conceive more children while Catarina survived, but as a future father, he felt like a monster, ending the life of his unborn child. How could Fernando live with this in the future? This was a decision no man should ever make in his life. The struggle in Fernando's heart was over.
- even if I come to hate myself in the future I have to do this -
- Son, forgive your incompetent father. Who had to take your life. - Fernando's thoughts
As Ferdinand was about to cut the lifeline to his son's heart, an anguished voice filled with terror rang in his ears. Terror, anguish, disappointment, and finally, hatred. Catarina screamed hysterically, tears streaming down her face.
-Fernando. How...how dare you.
Shrill screams sounded from Catarina's mouth, her voice getting hoarse.
- You too... Fernando. You want to take my son away...
- I won't let you do this
- The others were ripped away from me... I..I..I didn't do anything. You have any idea how I felt. Do you know how I feel now?
Catarina's screams reverberated like thunder in the basement. The maids looked at each other and knelt together, praying for the goddess to intervene somehow. Fernando's heart was beating faster and faster, his eyes were bloodshot, and his hands were shaking. Catarina continued screaming like thunder.
- I 'll kill you if you lay a finger on him.
- I swear I will kill anyone who separates me from him
- Even. Even if it's you I..I ..
Looking into Fernando's eyes, Catarina said
- If he is not capable of being born, let me accompany him in death. He is my son. I will raise him even if it is in another life. I will take care of him. He is my most precious treasure.
A solemn look appeared on Fernando's face, he stopped operating the matrix of life, he then approached Catarina, Fernando sat on the daisy, hugging his wife he looked into Catarina's eyes, showing affection and understanding, natural he said.
"What kind of man do you think I am? As a father and husband, it's my duty to take care of my family. Come on, I'll accompany you in death."
Catarina saw the convection in Fernando's eyes; she knew she wouldn't change his mind. So together, they forced their cores into his dantin region to consume his own vitality. With that , Catarina took his consciousness into her own soul sea.
*****
In the sea of the soul.
Changes also occurred in the soul sea. While Ferdinand and Catarina fought outside, John wasn't idle either. As it turned out, the crystalline egg in Catarina's soul had somehow merged with the egg in John's soul sea. When the two eggs merged, the ghostly baby in John's soul egg became more tangible, and its eyes opened for the first time. And when it did, strange words in an unknown language came out without it even opening its mouth.
- Omnipotent..hunger ...
incomplete...feed.from.starve.to ...complete... symbiosis...host....weak...weak...subdue....eat...eat..
John didn't understand the words that came from who knows where, inside the baby. Then, without warning, a cord made of soul energy connected John and the Baby, and the energy was drained from John's ghost body. Worse still, the body John could sense outside his soul was also being drained of its life force. He knew it would be his end, so he tried to rip out the soul cord connecting them.
This was the moment Catarina attempted to enter the sea of her soul with her own consciousness. To her surprise, she entered not her own sea of soul, but rather another sea of soul. A boundless sea surrounded her; there was no land in sight, no sense of direction, just water everywhere.
Catarina saw something even more unimaginable, two babies fighting each other, this would be a cute scene to see, however it was not the case because one of them seemed stronger than the other, absorbing soul force, life force not only from the other baby but from herself, it didn't take her long to understand what was happening.
Catarina knew that the weakest part was her son's soul, so she had to help him. She took the soul cord that connected both babies and tried to destroy it, but was unable to do so. She then connected a second soul cord that connected her and her baby to share the burden of wear and tear. When John saw the woman who came to rescue him, he was confused and then happy, but when he saw that even she was important, he was disappointed. But the moment the woman connected with a soul cord, John was stunned.
John could feel all the woman's feelings through the soul-generated spiritual link . He could see everything the woman had been through in the past few months, the agony she had endured all this time. Deep in his heart, he felt deeply loved. He understood where she was seeing all that vitality: it came from the woman who, once again, wanted to sacrifice herself for an unborn child. He was truly moved. He swore right then and there that if he survived, he would be a good son, and they wouldn't do much wrong in this life.
John felt that his soul, as well as his body, were no longer drained, but before he could give a sigh of relief, he saw that the woman's soul was becoming transparent. Another smile appeared on her face, full of love.
John was furious. He was an orphan in his past life, and he didn't want the same thing to happen again in this possible life. All because of a ghost baby who, instead of asking for a bottle, was feeding on soul energy and life force.
After being drained for all this time, John realized it was time to cut himself apart. He used the little soul energy he had left and created three soulstrings. He connected two of the strings to the baby inside the egg with its mother, and the third to himself.
Suddenly , a blood-red energy surged from the baby inside the egg. The blood-red force quickly filled the woman's soul, which was about to disappear. The woman's soul became increasingly tangible, and so did John's soul. He became excited and tried to steal more energy from the baby. He reveled in the abundant soul force that made him seem omnipotent.
As all good things must come to an end, the baby's eyes opened and fixed on the mother and child pair.
-crap.- John thought.
Catarina had been stunned the entire time by the two babies' struggles. She could do nothing, but the feeling of omnipotence she felt from the crimson energy made her feel drunk, as if she were at her peak. When the baby's eyes inside the egg opened, with a wave of her tiny hands, all the strings of her soul snapped one by one. A look of arrogance and scorn was directed at the mother-son pair. With another wave of her tiny hands, the mother-daughter pair were expelled from the sea of souls.
The mother-son pair disappeared in crimson light. Stillness returned to the sea of the boundless soul. The baby within the soul closed its eyes again, but before doing so, it threw a piece of wood so that only John could return, into the sea of the boundless soul.
****
In the basement of the castle.
Suddenly, Catarina's body began to burn with crimson energy, which quickly regenerated her body. Fernando stopped her core, which was draining her vitality. The maids who were praying on the floor fainted upon feeling the crimson energy. Catarina regained consciousness and, with Fernando's help, continued the birth.
***
After some time, Catarina was lying exhausted on what was left of the daisy, with her baby in her hands. Fernando was amazed because the baby didn't cry, he just looked around.
To John, it seemed like everything around him was gigantic. Even the woman holding him was a giant. John couldn't even turn around as he wished. He saw a tail coming from within, wagging independently of his wishes, as if it had a will of its own. He felt embarrassed, so he tried to hold it with his hands. But to the adults, it looked very adorable, like a cute kitten playing with its tail. Fernando smiled and thanked the goddess for helping them.
John was now a baby, he released an internal relief.
-Successful birth, I am now semi-human -.