Sovereign's soil

Silence.

It was too silent. The thought, a lonely echo in the vast emptiness, was the only proof that he still existed. Ares was on edge, his senses screaming into a void that offered nothing back.

He tried to open his eyes, but they remained sealed shut, glued together by an unseen force. Panic, cold and sharp, began to prickle at the edges of his awareness. He tried again, straining, putting all his will into the simple act of seeing. Nothing. He tried to move a hand, a foot, anything. His body was a statue, a prison of flesh he no longer commanded.

Where am I?

He felt… nothing. No bed beneath him, no floor, no texture. Just a weightless, terrifying suspension in an endless, featureless black. He could only be in one place. The void-realm.

He felt his body begin to drift, to rotate slowly in the absolute nothingness. The memories came flooding back, unbidden and sharp. The ethereal blonde woman, Aethera. The impossible, effortless demise of Vhala. And the crimson blade, a shard of pure malice, plunging into his chest.

Vhala… a catastrophe-level beast, a world-ending threat, still alive and merely recovering in another realm. The thought sent a tremor of pure dread through his paralyzed form. If it ever returned to the real world…

Suddenly, a sensation.

It was alien. Foreign. It started on his hand, a dry, whisper-soft slithering, like a snake gliding over cool skin. In the suffocating, sensory-deprived darkness, it was the only thing he could feel, the only anchor to a reality he couldn't see or touch.

Panic lanced through him. He tried to flinch, to pull his hand away, but his body remained unresponsive. The slithering continued, deliberate and unhurried, coiling around his wrist, then his forearm. It wasn't just on his skin; he could feel it in his skin, a pressure that was both physical and something… more.

What is this? he screamed silently, his thoughts a chaotic storm in the stillness. What's happening to me?

The sensation reached his shoulder, then began its slow, terrifying journey across his chest. His mind flashed back to the horrifying vision of the crimson sword, the malevolent pulse of its energy. Was this it? Was this Vhala's essence, its will, now a physical, parasitic force consuming him from within?

The slithering reached the center of his chest, directly over his heart, over the Vhala fragment that was already a permanent, unwelcome guest. And then, it stopped. The pressure intensified, a focused, almost surgical pinpoint of force.

Suddenly, a voice, ancient and resonant, echoed not in his mind, but seemed to emanate from the very point of pressure on his chest.

"Your body is… inadequate."

It was Vhala. But it wasn't the roaring, desperate beast from the void. This voice was different. Calmer, colder, imbued with an ancient, almost dispassionate authority. It was the voice of the Serpent's Echo, the fragment, but stronger now, more… complete.

The pressure on his chest became a sharp, piercing pain. It felt like something was growing, pushing its way out of the fragment, winding its way around his heart.

"This shell is weak. Brittle. The mana pathways, narrow and constricted. A flawed vessel."

Ares wanted to scream, to curse, to fight back, but all he could do was endure as the sensation of internal violation continued. It felt like ethereal roots were sprouting from the crimson sword, from the Vhala core, and burrowing deep into his being. They weren't just wrapping around his heart; they were integrating with it, weaving themselves into the very fabric of his mana system.

'Get out… GET OUT OF ME!' he raged in the confines of his mind.

A faint, almost imperceptible chuckle resonated through him. "Out? Little vessel, you misunderstand. I am not an intruder. Not anymore. I am… a part of you. The most important part."

Then, a new wave of sensations flooded him. It wasn't pain. It was… information. A torrent of raw, untamed knowledge, a glimpse into the nature of Mana Force, of Vhala's own power, so vast and complex it threatened to shatter his sanity. He saw visions of swirling cosmic energies, of worlds being born and consumed, of a power that treated life and death as mere fluctuations in an endless current.

"Your understanding of mana is… primitive," Vhala's voice explained, as if lecturing a particularly slow student. "You treat it as a tool, a finite resource to be spent. True power is not a tool. It is a state of being. It is a garden. And your core… your mana core… is the soil."

The vision in his mind shifted. He saw his own mana core, a familiar, faint blue orb of energy deep within him. But now, something was wrong. Something was… growing from it.

A tiny, spectral plant, the color of dried blood and shadow, had taken root directly in the center of the orb. Its roots, ethereal and dark, were the very same tendrils he could feel wrapping around his heart, digging into his soul. They were drawing sustenance directly from his mana, a slow, constant siphon. The plant itself was small, barely a sprout, but it pulsed with an energy that dwarfed his own, the same malevolent, crimson light as the sword.

"The crimson blade was a seed," Vhala's voice explained, the final, horrifying piece of the puzzle clicking into place. "And your core is the fertile ground. I will grow here. I will draw from you, and in return, you will be permitted to draw from me. A… symbiotic relationship, you might say. Though the definition of 'symbiosis' is, of course, a matter of perspective."

The full, horrifying reality of his situation crashed down on Ares. He wasn't just a host to a parasitic power fragment. He was the incubator. His very life force, his mana, was being used as fertilizer to regrow a god-killing catastrophe from the inside out. Every bit of power he gained from the Vhala fragment, every step he took towards becoming stronger, would also be a step towards Vhala's own resurrection. He was a walking, talking time bomb, and the countdown had already begun.

The helplessness was absolute. He was trapped, a prisoner in his own body, forced to nurture the very essence of the monster that had destroyed his family.

'No… I won't let you…' he thought, a desperate, futile act of rebellion.

A wave of cold amusement washed over him. "You have no choice, little vessel. Your desire for power, your thirst for revenge, your desperate need to prove your worth… all of it will feed me. Every victory you claim will be a victory for me. Every enemy you strike down will nourish my roots."

The spectral plant in his core pulsed, a single, tiny crimson leaf unfurling. With it, a minuscule, almost unnoticeable trickle of pure, refined Mana Force flowed back into his system. It was intoxicating. A power so pure, so potent, it made his own mana feel like stagnant water. It was a promise. A down payment. The first taste of a drug to which he was now irrevocably addicted.

"Grow strong, Ares Roshin," Vhala's voice whispered, a final, chilling command that was both a threat and a promise. "Grow strong… for me."

And with that, his senses returned in a violent rush.

GASP!

Ares's eyes flew open, his body arching off the bed as if shocked by a defibrillator. He was back in his dorm room. Jones and Sylvie were staring at him, their faces etched with alarm. Nia was watching him from her bed, her usual smile gone, replaced by an expression of intense, unreadable focus.

"Ares! What the hell?!" Jones shouted, already moving towards him.

Ares couldn't answer. He was panting, his body drenched in sweat, his heart hammering against his ribs. He looked down at his chest. There was no sword, only the faint surgical scar. But he could feel it. He could feel the roots. He could feel the parasitic sprout in his core, a constant, low-level drain on his mana.

He quickly pulled up his interface, his hands shaking.

[Participant 148: Ares] [Rank: D (Provisional)] [Condition: Stable. Vhala Core Fragment - Symbiotic Integration Stage 1 initiated.] [Integration: 23% (+6%)] [Mana Pool: 118/120 MP (-2)] [Mana Force: Locked (Partial Unlocking Imminent)] [New Trait Acquired: Sovereign's Soil (Unique) - Your mana core now acts as a conduit and incubator for Vhala's essence. A portion of your mana is constantly consumed to fuel its growth. In return, a refined trickle of Mana Force is passively generated, accelerating integration and personal growth. Efficiency increases as the 'Sovereign's Seed' matures.]

Symbiotic Integration… Sovereign's Soil…