Lidien stopped in his tracks beside the concrete wall, letting the shadow from its roof block him from the moonlight.
As his figure darkened, merging with the shadows, he giggled.
Then he slowly turned around, only his crimson eyes illuminating the blackness of the night.
"And what can a dead woman offer?"
The female ghost stayed silent before smiling at him sinisterly...
"My... self..."
Lidien laughed hysterically, transforming into his demonic form instinctively.
Like a devil playing with words just to trick someone into offering their soul, Lidien happily walked toward the woman.
In a trance from his realization... without disturbance... with only the two of them existing in the present moment... Lidien lost himself from enlightenment...
His hands placed over the female ghost kneeling on the ground weeping, his claws digging deeper into her head... absorbing a ghostly grey substance that made Lidien smile from ear to ear as the ghost thinned until it vanished like smoke.
Lidien's crimson eyes turned white as he stared at the moon reflecting its light.
As his consciousness returned from the trance, Lidien suppressed his giggles until he burst out laughing.
"Ahhh... I think I get it... now, the only thing left is to upgrade my Incite of Blood, just to make sure my guess is right."
In his trance, Lidien had upgraded his Whisper of Soul to its final stage... truly understanding its purpose.
First, he could hear the souls of those still lingering in the mortal realm, unable to move on.
Second, he could see them, serving as true guides or witnesses of history.
Finally, he could absorb their Spiritual Essence... namely, the Soul Essence.
However, being able to absorb Soul Essence did not mean he could also absorb a Soul Shard, since a Soul Shard only exists in the living... and once someone dies, their Soul Shards are purified, turning into Soul Essence.
This realization made Lidien terrified of the power of the Death God... for being able to maintain the Soul Shard of the previous Lidien, stopping it from turning into Soul Essence after death.
"Don't worry... I'll try to avenge your death if I have the time..."
Though Lidien had absorbed her Soul Essence, he was still unsure of how to use it since he hadn't fully explored the potential of the Whisper of Soul.
Sighing, Lidien walked toward the Rift of the Shattered Mirror... as the fatigue from the whole day slowly crept up on him.
Lying on his bed, Lidien still tried to train even though his stress was piling up. Thinking that meditating to absorb Elemental Essence to build his Coreflux would help him fall asleep better than sleeping normally.
***
The lingering voice of the female ghost echoed in Lidien's dream, waking him from his slumber. He sighed as his body cracked from stiffness and fatigue.
'I think it's still early, considering no one has come in to give me my breakfast suit...'
Lidien crawled out of the bed and proceeded to the Training Room where Azer had destroyed the wall.
Changing into a training outfit, Lidien jogged around the room.
'I only know how to do calisthenics... but I could only train here since I needed money in my past life, unlike here... where individual prowess is everything.'
Lidien jogged for an hour without stopping, panting so hard as he continued without using his demonic transformation.
'If my Sparkline burns out... If my Verve is gone, which seems impossible... only my stamina and will would help me move regardless of how painful my body is.'
Panting, Lidien lay on the Training Room floor staring at the ceiling.
When he felt a hard object hit his abdomen.
"Stand up... you're dead if you lay like that on a battlefield..."
Grunting, Lidien looked at the object and saw it was a long metallic rod thrown to him by Azer.
Lidien held the quarterstaff, so heavy that even with his demonic transformation he couldn't lift it properly.
"This time, I'll teach you how to wield a staff," Azer said, while doing a frontal spin with the quarterstaff.
Lidien could only smile helplessly; he knew the outcome of this, and it was only one.
Him getting beaten up.
Gritting his teeth, Lidien threw the quarterstaff like a javelin and lowered his body, slashing his claws at Azer.
Bang!
Lidien was thrown against the wall by a forceful swing without him being able to touch Azer's skin.
"Idiot Lidien... you think your claws are the only weapon you have? Even I have that feature as a Demon of Wrath..."
Ptui!
"Idiot Azer... you think I can use that heavy weapon? Why not give me something lighter, like a dagger..."
Azer laughed, spun his quarterstaff overhead before smashing it toward Lidien, who dodged it by rolling to his side.
Then Azer used the bouncing force, rotating his body to smash Lidien again, who couldn't dodge in time.
"Urgh!"
Lidien's body dug deeper into the cold, hard ground. As he reached for his back in pain, he was once again sent flying, rolling and bouncing on the ground.
"Really idiotic... you think your enemy would give you time to scratch that itch in your back... If I were the patriarch of the Dark Wolf Clan, your head would already be in my stomach..."
Lidien coughed up blood, his Demonic Transformation gone... and only his Incite of Blood keeping him conscious.
'I need to get used to pain... To live in this fucking monstrous world.'
Lidien stared daggers at Azer as he limped toward the quarterstaff he had thrown, sticking out of a wall, without looking away from Azer.
"That's good, Lidien... Remember, you are a Prince of the Blood Rose Clan... unlike everyone... We are Demons of Wrath... We are more powerful when we are mad and furious... Let madness consume you... and when you can fully control that rage in you, that is the time you can say that you are a Greater Demon of Wrath."
Lidien tiredly rested the quarterstaff on his shoulder horizontally, pointing it at Azer like a spear.
Stilling his breath, he refocused his eyes, staring at Azer calmly.
But behind his calm expression, the Incite of Blood was rapidly making his heart pound so hard he couldn't even tell if it was beating or firing bullets.