(31.2) Owrou Reborn

Necra screams, its mouth contorting so widely its jaw breaks several times until it is big enough to swallow all of Aki's upper body in a single gulp.

Still, Aki holds on tight, unafraid that she could be eaten while in this position.

Necra falters, the warmth of Aki's embraces makes it unable to close its too wide mouth on her.

"But tearing yourselves apart, tearing Necra apart, won't get you what you want." Aki embraces the convulsing Necra tighter, wrapping her arms tightly around the decrepit corpse. "You're all starved, right? Then how about this?! I give you my Life Essence, but in exchange, you have to let Necra keep leading all of you. Follow its lead, even if you hate it. Let Necra decide what to do, and you'll not starve. I promise."

Pelgaius breaks free from the darkened souls surrounding it and forces down the bitterness so many of them carry. Though this temporary turn will only last so long, since the smaller lights aiding Pelgaius are falling.

"I said I'll let you have my Life Essence so please! Listen to me this much!" The Crown over her head shines brighter, sparkling and crackling brilliantly.

With the combination of Pelgaius and Aki's Crown, Necra once more is washed over by a sourceless spotlight, halting its convulsions and silencing the relentless wails of the other souls.

Then Necra bites into Aki's neck, its numerous flat teeth burrowing into the spiritual flesh like a cold spoon through butter.

Aki holds her tongue, grimacing in pain as she feels herself weaken. She pats Necra's head and soothes the starved creature.

Strings of power stretch out from the mottled form in Aki's arms to the souls outside the spotlight.

The countless ones pile over each other and make slurping sounds as they absorb what Necra gives them.

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[LE: 62/72]

[LE: 55/72]

[LE: 41/72]

[LE: 29/72]

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"It's dropping fast." Aki grinds her teeth and squeezes her eyes tightly. "I'd rather not die, but I can't expect you to control yourself after everything, right? Don't worry, I won't hold it against you…"

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[LE: 13/72]

[LE: 07/72]

[LE: 01/72]

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Just before the number ticks to zero Necra pulls away. Its spiralling void of eyes acquire a sense of focus, returning to their normal soul-piercing intensity.

["You are… the Narrative being? How are you here?"] Necra coughs out some bile onto Aki and hastily tries to pat it clean only to make it worse.

Realisation dawns on it as it senses the restless souls around it. 

Necra grows large, first becoming bigger than the chamber, morphing the space into an open desert field.

It grows larger still, its presence resembling not a rampaging beast from before but the all-powerful owrou Aki remembers meeting back in New Pinacca.

["Have I grown too lax these 800 years?"]

Necra's tone makes Aki shiver, a fearful cold running up her body despite not having the faculties for it.

Vile spirits zip past her, being sucked in by the growing form of Necra. As more get consumed, so too does Necra's voice start to return to its usual multi-voiced state.

Those that aren't devoured sink their cloudy forms to the ground. Black and white souls bury their faces into the spectral ground.

Even the powerful presence of Pelgaius kneels before the might of Necra. Though it is one of the few souls that dares aim its gaze up at the owrou's main ego.

["108 violent spirits were locked in the standing stone, left to consume each other but we chose to fight for dominance instead."] Necra speaks coldly. ["We agreed the winner would rule."]

Its cloak starts to shape and it bends down to glare at those bowing. Spiralling eyes bore even into Aki despite not being looked at.

["I won. We follow MY rules."] Necra opens its mouth, its face rips and stretches until only its mouth and the countless teeth, hundreds in a row, can be seen.

Necra chomps the group of souls that still seem to be rebelling with resounding speed. Screams and crunching follow the move.

["Your consciousness is no longer needed, but I will be taking your power."] Necra laughs cruelly. Then turns its head and body in an odd contortion where it looks at them straight on while leaning its neck back but still right-side up. ["If you were so starved, you should have eaten each other like that. Do not mutiny, do not cross me, and do not cross the master's commands."]

Smiling wide, its lips curve past where its eyes are.

Aki senses fear and panic swell as the countless gathered souls that still remain make themselves scarce, fading away from detectable presence and leaving Aki and Necra alone.

["Narrative being…"]

Aki flinches but locks eyes with the owrou.

Only, rather than seeing some dark desert field and a massive monstrosity, Aki sees a blank white space with floating structures, sensical and not.

Meanwhile, the cloaked form of Necra kneels on the ground with its head bowed and pressed against the floor.

["I realised what was happening too late. My… no. OUR saviour; he freed us from our prison, granted us family, and allowed us to view the world once more."] Necra speaks. ["How could I repay his companionship by telling him we – I – was splitting apart and losing control without consuming Life? It would be a staunch reminder of his present weakness.]

["I became too lax as we drew closer to the place Master claimed would grant him unmatched power."] Necra lets out a rattling sigh, its many voices chiming with sincerity and remorse. ["My focus was on the future so completely that I forgot Winter was yet to reach this goal. Had I not lost myself and remained calm until then, this would not have happened."]

Necra looks up.

Rather than the aggressive spirals, they were a glowing violet with a single white dot in the centre.

["Thank you for not destroying us, even when you saw our memories."] Necra's skeletal features are hard to make a read on, but the sincerity is felt regardless. ["You are the first who saw everything and still chose to preserve us… please don't tell Winter. He does not seem to realise the truest extent of what bore my existence."]

"That's for you to tell him, I think." Aki smiles easily and pats Necra's head softly.

"Besides, the crimes those souls carry, there's no one left to get justice for, nor is it my place to give them forgiveness."

Aki nods once and straightens up. She chews on her lip and rubs her wrist before continuing.

"But I can forgive them going berserk. I know what it's like to be jealous that others have more than you. To feel like something was stolen from you. So, I understand them that much."

["Perhaps this is why you are a Narrative being,"] Necra nods and floats upright. ["There is nothing alive that could show such kindness after seeing those memories. Not even a god."]

"Huh?"

Necra presses a clawed finger against Aki's forehead and everything starts to fade rapidly. She feels her body get heavier and her balance shifts this way and that without rhyme or reason.

It feels like her Self is being squeezed through a straw so tight even Soul Sight is compressing itself just to slip through the tiny space.

Finally, the divide ends and Aki's senses return to normal, albeit feeling weak. Something warm along her back presses against her and ragged breathing rattles her ears.

She opens her eyes, blinking the discomfort rapidly away. Dent, looking even more battered and barely holding himself up, holds her in his lap and is about to give her a potion to drink.

"You live." He pulls the potion away and slaps her cheeks gently. "Can you feel this? No, why did you not explain your plan more? I was under a completely different impression for what your actions would be."

"Where's Necra?" Aki sits up, patting his shoulder with a quick Healing Touch spell.

Dent points to the shrinking vortex of cloak and darkness drifting their way.

"After you fell on the creature, the owrou lashed out even more destructively with a great focus on destroying you." Dent tells her calmly. "When you showed no reaction after it sliced your legs off, I focused my efforts on keeping you alive lest you become an acolyte meat dish."

"Oh, tha–" Aki looks down at her legs in a panic only to see them still there. She moves them quickly but feels no issue. "I thought you said–"

"I reattached them with a special potion. A very expensive special potion." Dent shakes an empty bottle lined with golden decorations on its overly designed hourglass shaped body. "Oh, it seems the owrou has arrived before us."

As he said, Necra's cloak plops down in front of the two, just a few paces away and falls still.

"You're pretty quiet right now, eh, ahh, pfft." Aki has some of her hair rise up into her mouth. "Ah, I hate frizzy hair."

She grabs and pulls at the heap of oddly heavy robes before her. For some reason, pulling at the bundle makes her feel like all her organs are doing flips.

A small rock hits the edge of her lip as it and many others fly up past her.

"Oh. Necra's down." Aki musters a sharp bark of a laugh. "We gotta go, Dent!"

Without Necra's active presence, the power holding the island is done for and starts to fall.

Meanwhile, with the battle over and Aki awake, Dent seems to have finally passed out from his injuries.

"Damn the skies and stars!" Aki scoops up the heavy bundle in one arm and hoists Dent in the other.

Already the path back to the escape is crumbling even more, with the lighter sections breaking apart the path back.

"The sailors!" Aki turns to look back to the crumbling city. Then up at Dent.

Cold claws press against Aki's forearm. Necra's weak voice floats into her head. ["I have them. Escape."]

"But–"

["Do you trust me?"]

Aki blinks once then nods.

The crumbling island is less island now than it is rapidly shrinking pieces of rock breaking apart with every second.

Still Aki pushes as hard as she can, leaping from surface to surface to get a little closer to the passage in the temple's land.

Aki carries Dent and Necra into what remains of the temple. The original passage below the altar is broken open and is splitting apart.

It could break open completely, allowing a clearer path soon, but that runs the risk of damaging the transit station where the Space Gates are.

Aki takes a sharp breath and adjusts Dent and Necra's bundle before racing into the crumbling path.

The walls split open or crush into themselves, turning the straight path into a series of rapidly forming twists and turns where one wrong move would mean falling through the island or being crushed by rocks.

"If ever there was a time to trust my extincts…"

She bounces off the walls and ceiling without slowing down, hoping her senses can make up for the gap with legitimate superpower abilities like [Precognition].

Aki feels her muscles burn, begging for her to stop.

"Keep going!"

The passage breaks open, showing the interior of the chamber where the Space Gates are.

Some are already broken or blocked by rocks from what Aki can see, but only one is active and thankfully, unobstructed.

There on the opposite side of the chamber, furthest from Aki, is a Space Gate, its purple energy spiralling endlessly in hurried invitation. Flanking it in a straight path are heavy traces of defence magic to reinforce at least that part of the chamber from being destroyed so quickly.

A large crack breaks open next to it, cutting the Space Gate next to it in two and opening a hole beneath.

The scent of water joins the smell of rocks and fills Aki's nose.

"Let's go, Aki. Let's go!" She leaps up and kicks off the wall like a rocket.

She feels her blood boil and her muscles pump hard as she sprints for it, dodging everything that comes crashing down in front and around her.

With one last push, Aki manages to cross the Space Gate just as the island crashes into the sea and breaks apart rather spectacularly.