Rena was panicking. Dyne had fallen unconscious for some strange reason. It wasn’t long before Rena’s parents rushed back home. They had yet to finish their errands when a peculiar force began to gather on the hut where they lived. The townspeople even grew curious at the sight of the fluctuations and energy erupting out. Even the clouds above began to gather as if a tornado would soon strike the land.

When the villagers all saw this scene, they were even more fearful of the young man called Dyne. However, the stories of his miracles had already been spreading all over the town. And many even began to call Dyne the 'Hero of Light.'

Rena’s parents rushed towards the house and were stunned to see the state of Dyne, which was practically lifeless.

Rena was worried and had already begun concentrating and cast the most potent healing spells she knew. But while Dyne’s outward injuries and cuts were healed, his countenance remained grim as if he was moving closer and closer towards death.

When her parents arrived, they stopped Rena, pale white from over-exerting herself in casting her spells. Rena tried to explain what had happened and began to cry. The wounds that she healed on Dyne’s body began to resurface again.

Suddenly, a twin-headed serpent emerged from a strange rock near Dyne, stood over Dyne, and rested at his heart. A jewel also began to shine and somehow floated near Dyne’s chest.

Soon, the glow around Dyne gradually disappeared. But Dyne’s appearance began to look worse.

Rena wanted to cast another spell, but then Gyoro and Ururun raised their heads and began to cry out to stop her.

“Gyoro… Ururun. Is little brother alright?” Rena cried.

The twin serpent didn’t answer but merely rested again on top of Dyne’s chest along with the strange jewel that was growing white.

Strafe saw all this and sighed. He was watching the soul of Dyne.

The power was so strong. The attack that the Slime God sent was something that devoured a majority of Dyne’s soul. Gyoro, Ururun, and Jedo were alarmed that they began to release their elemental powers in an attempt to help Dyne. Jedo began to devour the thick dark energy that struck Dyne while Gyoro used his fire powers to kindle Dyne’s Elemental Spirit Seed.

Strafe watched over Dyne's condition carefully. He would send out a vast amount of holy energy to Dyne’s heart. The Slime God's attack had damaged the Elemental Spirit Seed on Dyne’s heart that the Brimstone heart even started to crumble. The jewel in Dyne’s chest was also cracking as if it would turn to dust anytime.

“Damn that Slime God! He sent such a powerful attack! This is too much!” Strafe cursed. Soul Whisk was a means to chip off a bulk of another’s soul, hoping that it would recover and grow stronger through the attack. But the danger of this technique is that if the soul is unable to recover, the person would be permanently weaker than before. Only by consuming medicines or going through certain recovery magic would his soul be restored.

Soul Whisk was a brutal means that many dared not to try. A damaged soul was very difficult and expensive to recover. And while Strafe expected the Slime God to chip off about fifty to sixty percent of Dyne’s soul, Strafe was shocked that the darkness the Slime God sent was devouring ninety percent of Dyne’s soul!

Strafe was about to act but then realized that this was because the Slime God believed this was something within Dyne’s capability.

The strengthening and recovery of the soul wasn’t something that could be easily passed on. Instead, it depended on a person's enlightenment and understanding of what to do.

“Dyne… You’re like a person being thrown into deep water for the first time. You either learn to swim or die in darkness.” Strafe sent his message.

“The Slime God did something even crazier. He sent his dark energy to attack your soul. In other words, you are being thrown in deep water with heavyweights to pull you down. He is practically trying to kill you.”

Dyne’s soul trembled as he heard this.

“… Show me another miracle, Dyne!” Strafe resisted the temptation to help Dyne.

The small wick of fire that was Dyne’s soul continued to grow dimmer and dimmer.

Dyne saw himself in a vast endless darkness.

There was no light.

“Am I dying…? That Slime God’s a jerk.” Dyne’s remaining soul muttered weakly.

Dyne did his best to keep himself awake and feared that the darkness would consume him.

“What a… terrifying darkness!” Dyne sighed.

The darkness began to move around him, and for the first time, Dyne could feel the darkness.

“Fragmenting Slime God!” Dyne cursed as he thought hard about what to do. He could feel the fire element and another force that was devouring the darkness. But the darkness around him was too thick that these external forces that were trying to help Dyne couldn't save him.

Dyne realized that this must have been Gyoro and Jedo trying to save Dyne.

“If only Rena’s Light magic… could be directed to this darkness!” Dyne cursed. Rena was not skilled in Soul cultivation and may not have any means to direct this magic towards the Soul Seed.

Only Gyoro could help as he is fire. He had been absorbing energy from Dyne’s Elemental Spirit Seed when they were being sent into the Cultivation World. Jedo, on the other hand, began to devour the energy to save Dyne. If Rena were to cast her magic, it would only cause more trouble as it would distract the two of them in their attempts to help Dyne.

“I wish I found even just one Phoenix in Legaia so that I could use it on myself…” Dyne lamented.

He recalled the item that was used across many games. Phoenix was a consumable item that would revive a fainted or fallen ally. But when Dyne reached Legaia, he already expected that such an item would be rare.

In his dying moments, Dyne felt no fear, no sense of regret or longing. He had treated this world as a game and was already on the brink of death before entering Legaia. What he felt was a sense of curiosity.

“I wonder how… the Phoenix item works in Legaia or in the Cultivation World?” Dyne wondered.

“Is it a soul item?... Is it something that heals a person… physically?”

“Does it literally act like a phoenix…? Are people reborn from the ashes?” Dyne’s peaceful thoughts brought him all over the place as he recalled how Phoenix is used in Legaia or Phoenix Down in the Final Fantasy series.

It was then that it occurred to him.

“Wait… Ashes? Brimstone?” Dyne began to realize something.

“If the God in my world, Basileus Basileon, created us by breathing life into the earth, then… isn’t that what Brimstone is?” Dyne’s realization brought him out of his melancholy.

“I forget. Brimstone isn’t Earth and Fire. It’s Earth and Light! Life granted to the dust of the ground!”

Dyne’s soul began to glow as it forced itself to produce Brimstone energy.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it…” Dyne recalled a certain bible verse in his world.

“Let there be… light.” Dyne declared as he released the Brimstone energy.

The powerful surge of Brimstone began to devour the darkness. The darkness was melting away, and the consuming force that was chipping away Dyne’s soul was slowly diminishing.

Jedo’s Ra-Seru began to glow brighter and brighter as it greedily devoured the weakening darkness. The darkness before was too strong to pull out of Dyne’s soul. But now, it was easy.

Gyoro and Ururun had a peculiar look on their face, and they began to panic and kept leaping on and off of Dyne. They couldn’t understand what was happening, but soon, Gyoro released the fire energy sent towards Dyne’s chest.

The wounds around Dyne’s body began to emit red light as if it was burning.

“Little Brother!” Rena shouted.

“Stop! Rena, we don’t know what’s going on! Even his pet is hesitating! We can’t be reckless!” Lucas shouted.

The process took several minutes. Soon, Dyne’s entire body showed cracks as if he was a stone sculpture on the verge of breaking.

“Rena… Heal me…” Dyne’s mouth moved weakly.

“Rena! Take this quick!” Trina shouted as she gave Rena a small black fruit which Rena immediately ate.

Rena’s magic source recovered, and she began to cast healing magic on Dyne.

As the light magic fell on Dyne, Dyne’s body began to glow bright red.

At that moment, several villagers took a peek inside the doors and windows. They had long heard the shouts of Rena and her family. At first, they opted not to approach in fear of Dyne, but curiosity got the better of them, and they took a peek.

Dyne’s entire body began to release red flames, and a thick amount of ashes began to scatter as Dyne slowly seated up and sat down in a meditative position.

Rena and her family quickly took the nearby items that could catch fire.

Dyne’s clothes were strangely not burning throughout this entire process.

Outside the house, the villagers dreaded the sight of this as they couldn’t understand what was happening.

The wounded Boaz was also among the crowd. His cultivation allowed him to recover after taking several expensive medicines. He harbored ill intent and wanted to attack Dyne in the commotion, but what he saw brought even more fear to his heart.

“Fire? Is he... a Mind Cultivator?!” He was shocked.

“You idiot! He said he was in trouble!” Boaz suddenly smacked the nearby villager, who reported Dyne’s strange circumstances.

“But! But! Boaz! I definitely heard it! Rena and her parents were shouting stuff, and that Dyne was definitely in danger!”

“In danger? Does that look like he’s in danger! Sense his cultivation! It’s rising!” Boaz shouted.

Rapture_edge

Posting this now. A super typhoon just struck our area. (which last night Dec. 16 Phil Time.) It was way stronger than expected. As we live in a tropical country, the Philippines usually gets about 1-2 super typhoons a year. But this one was quite strong. It caused a city-wide blackout and it may take 2 days for the city to repair the damages and get the whole city back up. so wifi and data are also unstable.
Don't worry though. I wasn't that affected aside from power loss. (were using a generator to get electricity and get online) As always, thanks for the support guys!