Spirit Taming

Chapter 409: Could Be Nightmare

"Clark, hurry up!" The sound of Maria shouting for Clark snapped him awake. He jumped out of bed and rushed toward the door. When he saw her, he found that she was looking at him with an expectant look.

"Sorry, I was up later than expected meditating." His face was a little sorry but Maria just shrugged her shoulders. She knew well that this was just the deal with him.

"We have to get things moving with everyone else. You know that. They all wanted to head out without us since I was waiting for you." The fact that Maria had waited was nice but Clark knew that it was odd that no one else had waited. The group wouldn't just run off like that.

"We have time to get moving toward the white robed healer's dungeon. The glow sting jellyfish will still be there. Don't tell me that Ella got impulsive?" Clark wanted to comment about Isa and her ice maiden but with the sudden urgency to leave, he figured that they had all decided to hold everything off.

"It's not that, we just need to leave sooner than later. You know, the whole losing time thing. You could sleep for days if you don't start moving now, right.' Clark just nodded a little confused. He was sure that Maria was being much more pushy than usual. But he wasn't too unhappy. He was actually happy to get back on the road.

To journey more.

"Is Illia seeing us off? Or is she still at her father's bedside?" Clark looked up at the stairs toward the hallways where they would have gone to see Illia's father's room.

"Why would they?" Maria was now glancing back at Clark confused.

"Um, well… wouldn't they want to say goodbye at least?" Clark stopped and Watched Maria walking out of the mansion.

"You're kind of funny sometimes. You always have something to joke about. The other day you were saying that we should make a show of being nice to Nebula and its people after that cult attacked. But why would we do that? If we did that then we wouldn't have control over Nebula after we killed those half dead tamers in charge." Maria's giggle sounded like it was filled with pure evil.

It was sweet but the sound made Clark sick.

He saw all of this occur. It was as if it was being projected in his mind. "You even insisted that we kill them with fire. After you saw some kid with his parents you got all angry again. Saying that just like you, they should die with their parents in flames. Isn't that what you wanted, to be there to die with your parents?"

Smoke began to fill the Nebula mansion all around Clark. Images of flames melting skin and the smell of burning hair started to fill Clark's senses. "After you found them dead, you went insane and let that little beast consume the souls of everything around you. That fire burned on the entirety of Nova. you found me on your way to killing my older brother too."

"If you didn't show me that healing was worthless and taught me to turn Lit in to a venom queen jellyfish, then I would have been just weak trash too. But it was even funnier when you baited my brother in to getting eaten by his own spirit beast. Really terrifying the demonic possession skill your beast has. Little evil Devil."

The laughter seemed to resound through the flames as they encroached on Clark. His eyes burned just seeing everything. "Then you picked Ralph and his skeletal flame boar from some collapsed houses. He's a great soldier even though he's burned to a crisp. Ella and her brother are excellent too, the cursed spirit vines that came about from forcefully fusing their beast was genius.

Who cares if they are practically insane? They work fine."

The taunting visions hit Clark one after another. But that Grace girl was even better. Forcing her wind beast to become an earth and wind beast even though the opposing energies cause her to lose the use of her legs and her wind sensing skills? Brilliant. The sandstorm falcon is excellent at suffocating others."

"But Isa was the best. Using her blood to make potions and forcing her beasts to completely control her was so much nicer. Rich little merchant brat like her was better on chains as a pet that helps made special affinity potions for the core four elemental energies. Much smarter."

The heat around seemed to grow more as the visions of flames became more and more telling of what Clark had done in these situations. The atrocities he committed. "We should have ke[t that Jerold kid though. But after you saw he wanted me you had Crim eat him alive. He would have been good to use later as a pawn." The slight tone of teasing just made Clark feel the vomit well in his throat even more.

"At least we have Reese and Brad, Reese is a little messed up after Brad forced his possessed helm to take control of him, but having a possessed swordsman with an abyssal sword? Genius. Brad just has to constantly meditate when sending him in to battle. Not too much issue there, as long as he doesn't burn up his life too quickly he will be useful." Maria sounded like a demon.

A demon melting and burning in the flames before Clark.

"So, we have to get going? Right? You're pretty much ready to go somewhere to find the next material you need to completely fuse yourself with your beasts? You're still going to the ghostly puppet king, right? You said you could become an immortal demon when you eat them and everything they are alive."

All of these things were making Clark's mind feel immense pressure. "Stop with that look, you're happy, right? You are going to get more than revenge. You will control the whole world one day. make it kneel to you. Make it so that you can never be hurt again.

Everything that dares look at you wrong will break. Just look at your parent's bodies, you always take them out when you are sharing all of your plans. I promise I will find the corpse poison for them so we can make them undead so they actually move when you speak with them."

The depths of insanity that were being thrown at Clark was too much. The images he saw were enough to push him right to the edge. However, when a single enraged aura started to leak from him, the flames seemed to become ice cold. This cold anger was not just Clark's it held the very essence of death. The strength that had been fostered slowly but surely by Devi and Clark's combined efforts.

The single laugh that echoed around extinguishing the flames and bringing a cold and dark smoke to the room was soon growing all around Clark. The cold anger that pushed Clark to turn toward the fading apparitions of demons he could have created were blown away with the smoke as Devi took full form next to Clark.

"Sorry about that. I let my fears get to me a little. I know I named you Devil, but you are not evil like a demon. You are a Devil in the eyes of those that desire to crush us and abuse those as we were. Revenge is just one step of what we will get.

When we get justice, we will keep stamping out corruption wherever we find it." The affirmed laughter from Devi was all Clark needed to what before he took a step and everything around him was blown away in smoke.

The scene of two burned bodies and a burned beast egg in front of him did not seem sad now. Instead it felt like a promise. One that had been made in anger and depression, but also one that drove Clark to be better. A promise to those that he wished he could have stayed with in this second life for many more years. But a promise that had shaped him in all that he is and was going to be.

'Due to the extreme bond between the spirit beast Devil and the host. You have overcome the trial. The trial has drastically sharpened the mind. Absorbing energy, adapting to bonds, and understanding new information will drastically increase.'

'Hidden quest completed- the reason for being

Requirement: test the mentality and qualities that drive you.

Reward: mind enhancement potion.

Mind enhancement potion- unique

Item given through the system as a hidden quest. The potion is able to greatly assist in strengthening the mind of the user. This is able to assist in many things but will overall increase the body's ability to adapt to energy shared through binds. This will reflect back towards the beasts that the bonds are made with causing them to have a week long enhancement speed of energy absorption.'

When Clark's eyes shot open, he heard a knocking at the door. However, this time he was not hearing Maria's voice asking him to wake up. It was her voice asking for him to come and see Isa immediately.