Chapter 45: Being Freed (Part 1)

It was two hours ago. According to the unstable time right now, it was a day ago. But regardless, that was when we entered the tomb. The little girl was the first one to step in, followed by Sneha and then Sona. After that, it was my turn.

The three of them looked at me as I lifted my foot to step in the tomb. That was it? I am about to step in the real tomb, I thought to myself. And as I thought that, only then did I realize something.

Sona: "Don't take forever."

Kais: "Wait! If I step in the tomb,"

This is Ozyllus' tomb. If I step in, who knows what may happen? My concern was about the fact that he was locked inside The Cage because I could overpower him when he was in my mind. But if I stepped inside, that power balance could change.

Girl: "Come on already."

I stepped back.

Kais: "Listen, there's something I haven't told you."

I said so to Sona as I looked at her. She narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything.

Kais: "The thing is; Ozyllus' soul is currently in my subconscious."

All three of them gasped as they heard that.

Sona: "T-That's a pretty lame joke."

Kais: "You know I am not joking."

I was serious and, from the expression on her face, I could tell that she understood that.

Sona: "… Damn!"

She immediately caught on to what I was getting at.

Sneha: "How did that happen?"

I knew all three of them wanted the answer to that question.

Kais: "Well, he was the one who invaded my consciousness. It happened on the beach."

Sona: "Wait, seriously!?"

She was wide-eyed as she looked at me. I nodded in response.

Sona: "Then don't tell me that … that …"

I didn't get what exactly she was so shocked about.

Sneha: "No way, the other personality?"

Sneha caught on to what Sona was thinking and as she worded it, I got it too.

Kais: "No, that wasn't Ozyllus."

After I gained all of my memories back, I remembered all the times that other personality had taken over my mind.

Sona: "You know about that?"

I nodded.

Kais: "It was because he was trying to make me forget everything about him that I kept forgetting everything every time the other personality was in control."

Sona: "I see. So then that would have been a part of all the memories you gained back."

Because she is a spirit-user, subjects like souls and what they can and can't do is very well-known to her. So, she was the quickest to understand everything that had happened to me involving the souls of Abyss and Ozyllus.

Sona: "But regardless, that's not the current issue."

That's true. So no one objected to her pushing the issue aside.

Sona: "What is the state of his soul right now?"

She asked me with serious and focused eyes.

Kais: "I locked him in a part of my subconscious called The Cage. It's basically a-"

-A dimension where a psychic's consciousness rests while one goes to sleep. Or so I was about to say,

Sona: "Yeah, I know what The Cage is. Barry had explained it to me."

Kais: "I see. That helps."

Sona: "You are afraid he may be able to break out of there if you step in his tomb."

I nodded. I was never so confident in myself to think I'd be able to keep him locked in if it comes to fighting on equal footing, much less when I am in a place that may be beneficial to him.

Sneha: "Okay, so I need some clarification. Just because it's his tomb, would it really make his power grow."

I was not sure about that either. I was just being cautious. If anyone would have known the answer to that, it would have been Sona.

Sona: "It's not something that would happen in anyone's case. But in his case, there's a chance."

Girl: "Excuse me,"

She tilted her head as she asked Sona,

Girl: "why would it be anything different for him when you said that he was not a god, but another human?"

That was a good point. At the end of the day, if he was just a human, then no matter how powerful he may have been; the same laws that apply to everyone else should apply to him too.

Sona: "It's not about him being a human or a god; it's about him being a cunning asshole."

She replied in a bit of irritated tone.

Sona: "There are some methods for increasing a soul's power that can only be performed by someone who has a physical body. It's very possible he could have set the tomb in a way that one or two of them are performed as soon as his soul entered the tomb."

That was a bit of a stretch to think.

Sona: "What's even more possible however – is that he could have made the dragon put in some mechanism like that in here, since the dragon was following him for all these years and everything."

Now that was completely possible.

Sona: "The question is – is it worth the risk?"

And the answer to that question could only have been given by the dragon, who had told us to go in the tomb without telling us why.

Sneha: "Haaa!"

She took a long sigh and looked at me.

Sneha: "My goal has nothing to do with what yours is but I need someone who has been recognized by Ozyllus to come with me. It's probably because Kais fulfils that requirement that nothing is happening to me right now."

Sona fulfilled that requirement too but Sneha didn't know that.

Sneha: "I would offer to listen to your problems but with the time as it is now, that could backfire."

That was true. If we lost a lot of time on this, it could definitely backfire in ways we couldn't imagine. Not to mention the obvious fact that the two who attacked us back there could come here since it seemed like their target was me.

Sona: "This is a problem."

She looked at the ground in irritation at not being able to come up with any solutions for the said problem.

Girl: "Then I think you should step in the tomb."

She said with a smile as if it was no big deal. Needless to say, someone would not like that attitude.

Sona: "Do you even understand what's going on here?"

Sona asked with quite some irritation visible on her face.

Girl: "I know, I know. But shouldn't you choose to learn as much as you can when you get the chance. After all, it's not like you can keep him caged in forever."

To all of our surprise, she made a very sound point.

Sneha: "I am all for that idea."

Sneha supported her in that decision. In the end, the decision still was mine and Sona's input was the most crucial but,

Sona: "Oh boy!"

She sighed.

Sona: "… she has a point, we should go in."

And agreed to it as well. I couldn't help but agree too. I couldn't waste any more time on something like that. I had to sacrifice either the knowledge that could help me in the long run or the cage holding him in that would help me in the short run only.

Kais: "Fine then!"

With that decided, I stepped in the tomb; and as soon as I did that, a sharp pain arose in my head.

Ozyllus: "That sure took a while."

He said as he materialized before us outside of the tomb.

Girl: "I can't believe it!"

Sneha: "No way! Is that really …"

The two looked at him in astonishment.

Ozyllus: "I am. I definitely am."

He proudly told them with a smile. That astonishment, however, was not present on our – mine and Sona's – faces. To us, who had seen him once before, we couldn't afford to be astonished every time we saw this legend. The only expressions we could manage to muster up at him were – hate and disgust.

Ozyllus: "Don't look at me like that, Sona."

He said to Sona as she looked as if about ready to kill him. It makes sense, to be honest. After learning the truth about the incident that took everything from her, he is the one who has inherited all the hatred that Sona once directed towards the dragon.

Ozyllus: "Oh well, I can't really change your impression of me now that it has gotten this bad. I wish I could but I can't."

He said as he started to walk away from us.

I looked back at him, leaving the left side of my chest I had ended up holding while the pain intensified in my head.

Kais: "Not gonna try to stop us?"

I provoked him to see what his response was. I didn't want to find out later that he had set up an ambush. So I asked this question because, if he had acted like he won't stop us and was lying, I would have known.

Ozyllus: "No, there's no point in trying to stop you. I doubt the devil inside you will just sit back and let me do whatever I want to you."

It made me angry beyond my imagination to hear Abyss being referred to as the devil, and by him on top of that. But, before I snapped, Sona grabbed my arm tightly to bring me back to reality.

Sona: "Don't lose it!"

She told me as she looked me in the eye. I nodded. I was thankful to her for stopping me because I knew I couldn't have stopped myself.

Kais: "Well,"

I looked at Sneha and the girl, and then glanced at Sona.

Kais: "Let's get going."

Sona nodded and hence, we started walking. Ozyllus didn't say anything after that. Since I was neither facing in his direction nor trying to read his aura (because was I disgusted with him enough to want to stay away from everything that is his), I don't know what expression he had at that moment.

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