Chapter 139: Lune, The Mimic Spirit
The false goddess, or more appropriately, the trickster spirit who was disguised as a goddess, stared at the girl stood before her. Her own confident expression finally cracked completely at the sudden revelation of her true identity.
"Shit! How did you find out?"
The panicked spirit stepped backward, creating a safe distance from Lyris. She did not want to face the sharp blade which emitted an unfamiliar, dangerous aura that could easily cut straight through her soul.
Lyris stood there, looking at her calmly.
"Well, it is quite easy. Because I also have a spirit affinity and can actually use it myself, so it was not too much of a burden for me to find out your identity. Yes, it is true that I couldn’t sense your mana core, but I was still able to sense the Spirit Energy emitted from your body..."
The Spirit Energy which she talked about earlier was different from regular magic. The Spirit Element is a unique element, vastly different from the basic elemental types, which requires the purest form of mana one can possibly have.
For a normal spirit magic user, they first have to gather their mana and convert it into Spirit Energy by imbuing it with the Spirit Element. But for an actual spirit, they can simply skip this tedious process of taking mana and converting it into Spirit Energy. They can cast magic without the need of following this step because their body is entirely made of that Spirit Energy.
"Besides, you were also able to see through my hidden identity along with the divine mark which I had. Not just anyone, except a spirit and an actual divine magic user, can sense that mark... And also, if we take the fact that you weren’t able to sense my concealed presence earlier—which would have easily been possible if you were a real goddess—it adds up. So, if we take all of these facts together in this case, then it was obvious to judge that you were just a Spirit..."
The Spirit’s face turned pale as she looked at Lyris. All of her earlier arrogance vanished into thin air. As she focused her eyes solely on the girl’s figure, a cold shiver ran down her spine. She looked at Lyris’s sword, which started to emit a terrifying silver energy.
"Wait—What is that thing? Why does it feel so bizarre?!"
The spirit directed a trembling hand toward the silver sword held firmly in Lyris’s grasp.
Lyris glanced at her sword calmly, internally considering how much she should really tell the spirit, who currently stood in front of her as a hostile enemy.
"Well, even I don’t know much about this specific power or what it is exactly called. But since it acts similar to mana but has a vastly different level of destructive power, I named it as a ’Supernatural Ability’, called ’Celestial Essence’..."
The spirit’s face went blank as she continued to look at the glowing blade. Her body still shook as her primal instincts warned her not to face that weapon.
She turned her eyes back toward Lyris. Her initial shock and fear vanished, and her personality rapidly turned from a once-arrogant goddess to a pleading toddler seeking mercy. Without waiting another second, she dropped hard onto her knees.
"I am sorry... Please let me go! I was just... well, I was just so bored after years trapped here! I was just trying to have a little fun... Please, let me go..."
Lyris’s eyes narrowed at her desperate pleading, seeing the spirit trying to convince her not to attack. But for Lyris, this pathetic pleading only fueled her urge to kill the creature even more. She vividly remembered Elyon’s earlier desperation to save her life, that she wants to bring her back to life. Her hand clenched tightly at the hilt of the sword, but she didn’t outburst with violence.
Lyris knew that blaming this tragedy entirely on the shitty spirit, who didn’t possess much humanity herself, was completely useless. She had read in texts that most spirits lack real human emotions and moral compasses. That was exactly why there were even fewer spirit magic users to be found in the world. Awakeners were rarely able to get a trusted spirit as their companion, fearing the spirit might whimsically betray them in the future.
So, for this creature, trying to feel entertained by watching two people kill each other through manipulation was not actually considered weird behavior.
"Don’t play dumb with me by acting like a pleading child so I will forgive you. Because of your stupid entertainment, my companion just died. I should kill you right on the spot rather than wasting my time talking..."
She raised her sword high. The Celestial Essence danced vibrantly along the sharp edges of the blade, ready to pierce through the opponent.
Another shiver ran down the spirit’s spine as she sensed the incoming attack.
"No, no, no! Please don’t kill me! I will tell you the truth! I will tell you who I am and why I am doing this, please! Please, just listen to me once. If you don’t get convinced, you can kill me right after, please..."
Lyris’s sword halted in mid-air. The Celestial Essence still danced around the metal blade as she pulled her weapon back slightly, waiting for the spirit to answer.
The spirit sighed in relief after seeing that the girl was at least willing to hear her out.
"Okay... So before we begin, I will introduce myself properly first. I am Lune, a mimic-type spirit hailing from the Spirit Realm..."
"So you must have a question. If I am originally from the Spirit Realm, then how did I appear here in this Spire?... So, it is easy. I appeared here because of my previous master. That useless son of a bitch wasn’t able to complete his trial in the required period of time. So he got stuck here in the Ascension Realm and died somehow. But I, who was also summoned here when he was alive, got stuck here forever after his death."
"Since I am a spirit and don’t possess a proper, physical body, the Ascension Realm couldn’t just kill me. So it sent me to different kinds of trials and made me what you Awakeners call a ’Boss Monster’. A creature which the Awakeners fight and die against. I got stuck here playing the role of a boss for this stage, acting accordingly to the Ascension Realm’s rules to survive. If I do not play my part, then there is a high chance that my spirit form might get permanently erased from existence..."
"So, I just played my role accordingly. I am sorry for what happened to your friend, but as a spirit and as someone who has lived here facing different kinds of trials for years, it was not new for me to do that... I know I am wrong, but that does not mean I deserve to die! I just did what I had to do so I could stay alive... If you still want to kill me, then you can..."
She kept her head bowed low, touching the crystal floor, as if trying to convince Lyris that she was genuinely sincere.
Lyris stepped forward with her sword. The Celestial Essence sparkled again around the silver blade as she stepped closer to attack the bowed spirit.
"Wait—why are you attacking me?..."
Lune scrambled backward in fear as she looked up at her, feeling shocked. She had fully expected the girl to melt down in sympathy at her tragic backstory. But she had mistaken Lyris for a kind lady who was supposed to be naïve and forgiving.
"You said earlier that if I still want to kill you, then I can. Then what is this reaction?..." Lyris asked coldly.
Lune swallowed hard as she looked at her. She didn’t want to die, not even after living for hundreds of years.
"No, no, no! Don’t do that, don’t! I will do anything. I will do anything to survive, please don’t kill me..."
Lyris stopped in her tracks as she looked down at the pathetic creature.
"It is no use. I have already decided what should be done with you..."
As Lyris raised her empty hand, Lune saw this and squeezed her eyes shut in fear, waiting for her long life to slip away.
She waited. But instead of the sharp sword striking at her neck, a warm, gentle hand rested softly on her head. A warm, pure stream of mana started to absorb into her spiritual body continuously.
She didn’t dare to open her eyes. She already knew exactly what it meant to supply one’s personal mana directly into a spirit. It entails only one thing: that person is officially forming a bond with the spirit.
Lune let the warm mana absorb inside her core. If she wanted to, she could have forcefully rejected the mana and broken the bond formation. Since she was not a low-grade spirit, no one could forcibly bond with her unless that someone was a hundred times stronger than her.
But since she had been staying all alone in this cruel realm with no actual excitement or fun, living a miserable life, she finally got a sliver of hope that she might live a much better life alongside this girl.
As a large amount of mana was absorbed into her body, the bond between them was finally formed. Lune opened her eyes as she looked straight ahead.
Her grand Goddess disguise suddenly began to dissolve into the air. What appeared in its place was a small, cute white cat. The fluffy cat started to walk forward and gently rubbed its head affectionately against Lyris’s dark gown.
{Hehe... So I guess I will call you Master from now on... Thanks for taking me in...}
Lyris sighed, shaking her head as she looked down at the small cat. She picked the fluffy animal up in her hands and looked it in the eyes.
"Now, you are looking a little better. Now, go back to the Spirit Realm..."
Lune looked at her, feeling thoroughly shocked by the command.
{No! How can I go back when I am already here? No way am I going back. I am staying right here with you!}
Lyris shook her head firmly.
"I am currently completing my trial, and only a few floors have appeared. I can handle it myself; you don’t have to worry. Just go back to the Spirit Realm. I will summon you later after I get out of this trial. I have tons of things left to teach you, especially regarding basic manners, so don’t worry..."
Lune felt a chill run down her spine after hearing those last few words. She realized that Lyris was not going to easily let go of what she had done to Elyon. She was just shifting the punishment to a later date. The punishment was still very much waiting for her.
{Okay, okay, I will go. You can call me if you need my help! Bye-bye!}
The white cat’s form dissolved into bright light particles that absorbed directly into the air. Since she was now bonded with Lyris, all of the restrictive chains binding her to the ’Ascension Realm’ had been severed. She could finally return to her true home without needing anyone’s help, safely anchored because her current master was still alive in the plane.
Lyris looked at the empty space where the cat had disappeared. The last person left standing in this beautiful, silent crystal hall was only her. She didn’t let the heavy sadness cling to her mind. She stepped forward and entered the shimmering pond. Her body got swallowed completely inside the cold water, which was the actual dimensional door leading to the next floor.