Chapter 122: Death’s Mother’s Revival
Vivianne walked closer to the blade alongside the others and looked at it closely.
This was her first time seeing something like this, though unsurprisingly, there had been a lot of firsts for her today.
Vivianne reached out and picked it up before the others could warn her.
"Careful," Lilith warned.
"It’s..." Eve started.
"Don’t..." Lucy added.
"Eeek..." Sage squeaked. (Stop...)
"Wait..." Zero said flatly.
Sharp.
That was all she felt as soon as she held the blade. Otherwise, nothing happened.
Vivianne looked at them with a puzzled expression.
Lucy spoke up, looking embarrassed. "We thought it might attack you. It almost attacked the previous Devil when he tried to grab it."
Seeing the still-confused look on Vivianne’s face, she added, "The Devil even backed away from the sword as if he was terrified of it."
Vivianne paused and looked at the sword carefully. She didn’t feel any threat from the blade; in fact, it felt incredibly docile in her hands.
Shaking her head, she looked closely at the blade and then closed her eyes.
[Soul Revival]
Immediately, Vivianne sensed a lot of soul fragments, but all of them were anchored in the past.
Just like she had done for Sara, she pulled them to the present before they could be fully destroyed by the river of time.
The blade in her hand felt the same. But slowly, it felt more and more alive, as if she were holding a living being rather than an inanimate weapon.
[Blood Revival]
Vivianne kept her eyes closed and tried to recover its original body, but...
Huh?
It failed.
Opening her eyes, she looked at the anxious group surrounding her. "I have recovered her soul, but her body..."
Lucy guessed sadly, "Is it not possible to recover her body?"
"Not exactly," Vivianne explained. "I can only recover what is truly lost... And when I try to use the technique on this blade, the skill tells me there is nothing to recover."
Lucy then thought of something ridiculous. "Did she permanently turn herself into a blade?"
"I think that’s exactly what happened, and it seems it was a true evolution," Vivianne confirmed.
She elaborated, "If it was something temporary, I could have undone it. But an evolution is not something I can undo. It is permanent."
She placed the blade back down carefully. "This is all I can do, and honestly, I think she wants to remain this way as well," she said, eyeing the blade with a curious look.
This was her first time seeing someone perverted enough to turn themselves into a weapon just so they could be ’used’ by their master.
Vivianne chuckled to herself. Everyone has their kinks. I am the last person who should be judging her.
...
Vivianne brought Death to a barren, desolate land. Looking around, she could see destroyed houses and a few stray beasts prowling the area.
Death ignored everything else. Her attention was entirely focused on an uneven mound of dirt, likely disturbed because a fight had taken place nearby.
Vivianne looked at the mound and immediately guessed what it was.
Death moved closer and stood there in silence, as if recalling a long-buried past.
However, Vivianne, knowing their time was severely limited, waved her hand. The surrounding soil parted ways to unearth the few bones that were left of a long-buried corpse.
There were only parts of a skull and a breastbone remaining. The other parts had degraded with the passage of time.
Death looked at the remains with love and asked without much hope, "Is it possible to revive her?"
She had long come to terms with her passing. If revival was not possible, she had already planned to turn her mother into an undead skeleton just to keep her close.
Vivianne looked at the remains and smiled softly. "It’s possible. Though we don’t have a fragment of her soul, we can use the remains as an anchor to summon a fragment."
Death nodded solemnly and backed away a little.
The surrounding monsters didn’t dare come close after feeling the oppressive aura of a Devil Monarch.
[Blood Revival]
Though the technique focused on blood, it was possible to revive someone using a skeleton since blood was created within the bone marrow.
Slowly, the missing bones started reappearing from nowhere. First the skull recovered, then the breastbone, then the spine, the shoulder blades, the hips, the arms, the legs, and finally, the finger bones appeared.
Then the flesh, blood, muscles, organs, and skin started to knit themselves together. In no time at all, Death’s mother’s body was perfectly restored.
The body felt alive, but it lacked a soul.
Death looked at the body with hope.
[Soul Summoning]
The body then generated a subtle, magnetic pull. Soon, tiny particles of soul fragments gathered from the atmosphere around the body.
[Soul Revival]
Vivianne gathered the particles in her palm and performed the Soul Revival. The soul started recovering as the particles condensed into a ball, eventually turning into a thick, glowing fog.
Vivianne explained, "This is how a soul of a mortal who has not cultivated looks."
She then turned to Death. "You should be able to feel a connection to her."
Death nodded excitedly. "It is mother and I can no longer sense her death. She is alive."
[Blood Soul Revival]
Vivianne then merged the soul with the body. Death could now feel that the body was truly alive and breathing.
"She will wake up in a day or so after her body and soul are well rested," Vivianne assured her. Her situation was unlike Sara who had suffered a soul injury.
Death nodded in deep gratitude as she pulled her mother’s body into a gentle hug.
Vivianne looked at the scene with envy... recalling pieces of her own past.
Shaking the thoughts away, she brought Death and the body back to where Night’s main body was stationed.
She expected some spatial resistance, but the teleportation happened seamlessly, as if they were already recognized as allies.
As soon as they teleported back, Vivianne dismissed her clone incarnation.
Death reached the others while carrying her mother.
Lucy looked at the body of a naked woman carried by Death and immediately guessed it was her mother.
She didn’t know much about Death’s past, but she guessed it was quite dark judging from the way Death usually behaved around them.
"Eke eke ek ek!" Sage chirped excitedly. (Was it successful?)
After seeing that both Blade and Sara were okay, Sage had regained her previously cheerful mood.
Of course, Night’s situation was still uncertain, but just like Blade, she felt for some reason that it was impossible for Night to die, at least not to the likes of these enemies.
Though the opponent this time had shaken her confidence, she still felt they were lacking if they truly wanted to kill Night.
Death looked at Lucy. "Can you keep her safe?" she asked. She had already sensed a new connection within their group soul network and guessed it was likely Sara.
Lucy looked at her seriously. "We can keep her in Night’s Inner World, but she might become like us..."
Death looked down at her mother with a gentle gaze. "I wouldn’t want it any other way." Though she loved her mother dearly, her devotion to Night was on an entirely different level.
She felt it was only right for her mother to come under Night’s protection as well.
Lucy’s eyes twitched at the complete lack of resistance. Mumbling something under her breath, she got to work.
Lucy repeated what she had done with Sara, and this time, it happened even more easily.
Death’s mother floated out of her hands and into the air. The Nightmare Mist immediately covered her, encasing her in an egg-like cocoon.
The cocoon broke soon after, and the mist was fully absorbed into her. Similar to Sara, Death’s mother’s hair became blackish-purple in colour unlike her previous black colour.
Lucy then covered the woman in shadows and pulled her safely into Night’s Inner World.
Vivianne watched this process carefully and finally made her decision.
She sensed, Death’s mother had also changed fundamentally from before, and Vivianne could see it much more clearly since she was the one who had just restored her body and soul.
Though Death’s mother was a mortal, she now possessed an extremely strong, otherworldly foundation.
Vivianne turned to Lucy. "Try it with me, too."
She could already feel herself weakening. In about a minute, her temporary power would fade, and she would drop from the Devil Monarch Rank.
"Are you sure?" Lucy asked.
"My strength is only temporary," Vivianne explained frankly. "It will drop in a minute, and I will become even weaker than you guys."
Lucy nodded. She was not against Vivianne joining them after all the help she had provided.
She guessed Night wouldn’t be against it either; in fact, he would probably be happy to have a new friend.
Lucy started the process. She created a line of soul force from Night’s soul and tried to connect it directly with Vivianne, but she immediately felt resistance.
Lucy looked at Vivianne. "You need to lower your soul defenses."
Vivianne tried lowering her soul defenses. It was incredibly hard, especially for a Devil like her, who were known for being naturally egoistic, arrogant, and self-serving.
But because of the many severe blows to her pride today, she was able to reduce her soul defenses to a bare minimum. Still, she could not bring herself to take them down completely.
Lucy saw this but didn’t comment on it.
Vivianne was stronger than them, and Lucy didn’t know why she was betraying the other Devil or why she was desperate enough to resort to this.
But Lucy was happy to gain a new ally, especially one with such ridiculous, reality-bending capabilities.
Lucy tried again, and this time, the bond was successful.
Immediately, Nightmare Mist covered Vivianne and formed a cocoon. But unlike Sara and Death’s mother, where the process finished in a single moment, this time, it took much longer.