House of Amarin

Lia couldn't help but wander around for more than she wanted to admit. Still, after being reprimanded multiple times by core disciples who mistook her for a new recruit, she finally arrived at the gathering point. It was a vast, fluffy cloud, and simply stepping on it sent pleasure through all her senses, which quickly raised alarms in her mind.

"Insidious..."

She wasn't mistaken. Kyaranin's layer was designed by her, wholly understanding the psyche of men. All the souls arriving at her domain found themselves in a place that was almost the perfect description of what the so-called 'heaven' should look like. About what the promised afterlife is about and about the promised salvation. It was a ruse, lulling the people into a state where their souls could be manipulated and brainwashed. Not that they needed much work anyway...

Not far from her, multiple disciples were present, and after seeing her, a girl wearing loose robes walked before Lia, sizing her up.

"Name?"

"L-"

"No matter." She continued, not even listening to her, "Rank?"

"Inner Disciple." She lied, initially wanting to say Outer Disciple but quickly modifying it.

"Thought so. Listen here; we are having multiple batches arriving to replace our losses. Your job will be easy! I am going to assign you a group; you plant the seed in their souls, teach them the basics, and we send them back to Meriath to control the hordes. No need to go into details. They are not expected to survive for long anyway."

"Yes." Lia nodded, but she had no idea what the woman was on about... not that it mattered; she had other plans.

"Good." She smiled, clearly happy about how agreeable she was, and led her to a group of thirty souls waiting in a group, leaving them in her care.

Looking at them, they were all perfectly normal in that they still had the image of their original hair and eye color. They would be easily mistaken for any living being if not for their slight transparency. Their eyes eagerly followed Lia's figure, stopping their murmur about marveling at their surroundings. Still, they didn't do it fast enough, and Lia caught their words of happiness, thinking they had reached paradise. That the Undead were right all along, and they were here to free their souls while the Houses worked to enslave their body and mind.

"..." It took a lot from Lia to hold back and not lash out at the traitorous souls. Others were dying to protect them, and they were happy to end up here? She felt sick to her stomach. "My name is... Mia. I will teach you how to remain solid and not dissipate. If you do so, you will enjoy your afterlife to its fullest!"

"Thank you, Angel Mia!" They said in unison, waiting for her to continue with breathed breaths.

"First steps are easy, and it is called cultivating the soul! It will be faster to show you than to explain! All of you sit and close your eyes! Those of you who had any magical power while you were alive, start meditating!"

Her tone was strict and somewhat cold, and none of the present souls felt like she took no for an answer. Walking amongst them, Lia stopped behind every one of the traitorous souls, putting her hand on the top of their heads and infusing her mana into their souls. What they thought was the guidance from their new master was, in fact, their death sentence. The moment the group would descend back to Meriath and start controlling Undead bodies, they would burst into flames, killing them and anyone they were in contact with. Of course, to be successful, Lia had to teach them how to link up and control bodies... Which she knew not about.

"I need a soul..." She whispered before telling the group to continue to meditate and focus on the energy she left in them.

Scanning her surroundings, she couldn't risk attacking someone important. But the disciples at the same rank as her? It should be easy. After carefully looking around and choosing a weak-looking Soulbound cultivator, she approached him with a soft smile.

"Hey..."

"What is it?" He asked back, annoyed at being interrupted while guiding the people assigned to him.

"Can we talk? Privately?"

"I have no time for nonsense."

"It is important, and if you deem it worthless, you can report me. I'm serious..." She whispered, looking as if she was desperate to share it with someone.

"If you are screwing around, I will end you. I am close to raising to a Core Disciple. Don't think I won't consume you, newbie... It wouldn't be the first that one of my rivals thought of using one of you!" He smirked, his eyes flashing with hunger and glee, seeing Lia's fearful fidgeting.

Following her to a secluded location, hidden inside the cloud itself, Lia acted fast and like lightning. The man had no chance to react or process what was happening, being shrunk to the size of a pill encased in her blue flames. This time, she was taking a risk, not wiping away his memories and swallowing him like that, scouring through his knowledge. She couldn't tell how long it took as it felt too long, yet not simultaneously. In the end, after grasping their technique, she tried purging his thoughts from her mind, retaining herself in the process. When returning, she still felt weird, her head swimming with foreign memories of life in the Sect, under the faction of Kyaranin, and about plans aimed at fellow disciples. Thoughts about outplaying them, consuming them, climbing up the ranks, and standing on a mountain of corpses.

"Follow me; your teacher had a different mission assigned to him!"

It was the only sentence she told to the group that was now without a leader and guided them to her previous batch, manipulating their souls just the same. The increase in the number of Outer Disciples assigned to him quickly became noticeable, and the Core Disciple overseeing them came over.

"Why do you have..." She looked at the swirling energy ball in her hand, "Okusa's batch?"

"He had something... come up. I said I can handle it for him."

"Hah! He said that? This is why you are nothing but Inner Disciples. Some of you have no backbone, while others think you can do anything... There is a fine balance between being clever and shirking responsibilities!"

"I can handle it." Lia smiled, then added with confidence. "In fact, I could handle more."

"Oh?" The woman grinned, raising an eyebrow, "What was your name?" Looking into the ball again, she whispered, "Ah yes, Mia... Okay, show me!"

With a wave of her hand, another batch was transferred over, leaving her to work. When she returned a little later, seeing how around 100 young souls were meditating, some of their hairs already showing white strands, she truly was impressed.

"Well, well, well! Color me impressed, Mia! My name is Yima, a Core Disciple. What do you think? What is your limit?"

"Double of the current number!" Lia answered without hesitation, surprising Yima.

"Hungry for more eh? So be it! Let's test it! I'll give you another hundred! If you can manage it, I will keep an eye on you! Prove yourself useful, and you can join me!"

"That would be an honor!" She cupped her hands, bowing deeply to hide her gleeful smile.

It was precisely what Lia wanted. While teaching them how to synchronize their souls, work together, and later take control of Undead bodies, she planted a fire seed in them, hidden, ready to burst. With enough excitement, they would burst into flames when they began to do it for real. The only thing she was disappointed in was the fact she would not see it happen.

...
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.....

"I received some weird news..." Kyaranin sighed, sending a mental message to Che and Laupa after coming out from her meditation. The trio were still where they thought Erias and Lia were hiding, keeping vigil and sending in disciples to search for them.

"And?" Laupa asked, "Let the elders deal with it."

"It is about the faction of Loonah and Io. They are getting restless, and there is talk of skirmishes against Killieth's realm."

"Now?" Che snorted, "Right now? Really?! Bastards... Don't they know what is going on?!"

"That is why I am saying it is weird. My own contacted me that supposedly people parading around as my subordinates visited both realms, instigating them to fight."

"And? Did you?" Laupa asked, as it wouldn't be the first time.

"No, not now. I know when to stop."

"Strangely... I believe you." He replied, surprising Kyaranin, which made her unable to say anything for a moment.

"I can imagine that it is Killieth's doing." Che mused but did find it a bit unbelievable. Risky. "But I don't know if he would be so bold to attempt it right now. Master would surely kill him for it... A conflict within the Sect right now is forbidden from happening!"

"Should we head back?" Kyaranin questioned, but Laupa quickly shot her down.

"Not until the Sect Master orders us."

"You should." Che murmured, overriding him a moment later, "Investigate it and then tell them to settle down! If you find nothing more, return... but keep an eye out for strange coincidences. It may not be Killieth's manipulation."

"They couldn't have escaped without our senses picking up on it!" Kyaranin exclaimed, quickly catching on to what Che was thinking about.

"Agreed." Laupa quickly argued against the idea, feeling it was an attack against his abilities.

"None of you fought against Erias long. None of you know how crafty that bastard can be... We had to abort the previous harvest because of him! It was almost a success..."

"I heard Sect Master only healed up halfway, and he ordered the retreat to let the flesh-bound repopulate the world for a second round."

"Yes and no." Che and Kayaranin answered Laupa at the same time. "It was the plan to retreat after killing off all their strong leaders. Their souls were covetous, and it would have paid for our losses." Che continued without holding back any information, "But Erias raised up people that we failed to secure our gains and even ended up with losses... or you would not be a Supreme Elder right now. So, in a way... do thank him when you meet with him again."

"I will thank him by presenting his soul to the Sect Master!" Laupa snorted angrily, taking it as an insult.

"You deal with him..." Kyaranin chuckled, and without waiting for a word, she disappeared, already halfway back towards the Sect.

...
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.....

On Meriath, the leaders of the forces of the Six Houses were having a secret gathering. It was not just the Houses who were present but all the famous guilds, kings, and rulers, including the Misfits. The meeting's first and foremost goal was to assign the new year's roles to everyone on which region they are in control of, patrolling and looking out for Undead insurgences. They couldn't let them open a second front with another successful outbreak.

The second point that was discussed in detail was the raising of new mages and armies, which was given over to the newly returned Headmaster of the Institute, Lucian. After reaching the 9th Tier and becoming an Ascendri, he returned at once, brimming with energy.

"Lucian," Reyra spoke up, addressing him directly in the meeting, "I want you to be in charge of the continent. While we focus on the frontlines and on the defenses, I want you to be the head of our backlines.

"Yes." He stood up, bowing without arguing.

"How's teleportation?" Reyra questioned, wanting to know as Lucian could already appear anywhere, even when he was in the 7th Tier.

"I can appear anywhere, any time. I don't know my new limit, but it should be high. I could go... anywhere." He murmured, clearly thinking that he could have appeared where Lia was... especially now. "Not even the disturbances in No-Space seem to trouble me. My mastery over it... became substantial, Lady Reyra. If you wish, I can jump in the middle of their occupied territory, bringing along a strikeforce!"

His words sent a wave of discussion between the present mages right until Reyra clapped, silencing the crowd.

"Good to know... we may use that, but not now! Not until we can nullify the effect of that damned tear! We need stability! We need time!"

"Time?" Lucian asked as he was yet to be informed about what the Misfits learned about Lia's fate.

"Time for my daughter to come back..." Reyra smiled, shocking many with the news before going into explaining... but it was mainly aimed at Lucian. She watched with a warm smile as tears welled up in his eyes and the distant, somewhat uncaring darkness dissipated, replaced by a bright light, raising Lucian's strength even further...