Awakening of the Weakest Slayer

Dusk was soon devoured by dark, The Spirit Essence around them — Crystal shaped outgrowing from the earth, started to glow, giving the mix of voilet and purple. Sezel hardly kept himself awake, he sat with his back against the rough bark of the ancient tree. Beside him, Mari had long since surrendered to exhaustion, her small body curled into a ball, her breathing the only soft, rhythmic sound in the night.

The night shocked Sezel even more than anything else. He had expected the familiar, oppressive void of the Spirit Realm's starless canopy. But here, thrashing all his expectations, three brilliant moons burned with cold, spectral light.

He couldn't believe his eyes, the sky was a spectral scene, the moons and the stars glowing majestically in the dark, draping the land below in an ethereal cold light, casting long shadows.

A doubt gnawed at the back of his head, he couldn't deny this place was the Spirit Realm, the mechanics of his Fable were proof of that. But what of the other place? Where had that gate led them back then? After witnessing this world, Sezel was not sure, what exactly was the Spirit Realm?

A cold breeze rustled the leaves, making his skin quill. He stared into the vast, indifferent sky, watching the tall grasses dance in the voilet glow of Spirit essence and silvery moonlight, singing a rhythm that soothed Sezel's mind, his eyes felt heavy. He was tired, and his body demanded rest after what it had went through today.

"NO." he shouted at himself, careful not to disturb Mari. He couldn't afford to sleep, there was no guarantee that they won't be attacked. Not here. To sleep in this place was to offer a formal invitation to death.

'I need to distract my mind a little.' he thought, then an idea struck him, 'I can go into my spirit meridian, with all my senses here at full alert.'

He sat up straighter, his hand tightening around the hilt of his katana. He was hesitant. The last time he had entered his soul, he had not been alone. The whole scenario from the last time still haunted him and he hasn't been inside his Spirit Meridian since then.

But he gulped the glob in his throat and continued, his consciousness entering the vast area of his Spirit Meridian. The few lonely trees still danced to a wind that made no sound under a sky that held no stars.

But there were a few things that had changed, he looked up at his Spirit Core, the one Spirit channel came from beyond the mountains and ended inside his core, shimmering with multiple colors, reminded him of 'her'.

His golden card still floated in a slow, lazy orbit around the core. But it was no longer alone. Accompanying it, in a fixed, synchronized orbit of its own, was a small, dense ball of pure blackness, surrounded by a faint, pulsing violet aura. The caged essence of his new puppet.

Sezel raised his hand, while thinking of the card and it slowly drifted towards him, he ordered it 'show' in his mind and it turned into the silver translucent screen, with all his information on it.

[Name - Sezel]

[Spirituality Rank - 0]

[Category - Legendary]

[Fable - Master of Death]

[Type - Gold]

Sezel touched the small arrow on the side of his Fable, opening another menu beneath it.

[Fable - Master of Death]

[Tier - 1 - Rising]

[Evolution points - 85/10,000]

[Soul Shards - 0/100]

Soul Shards have been reverted back to zero, 'So, i can use hundred Soul Shards to convert the dead into that puppet thing.'

His eyes drifted further down, to the part of the screen that held the most dreadful secrets. He didn't want to read it again, but he had to. He had to understand the chains that bound him.

[Ability - You are the being who defied death. Death is your forte. Your audacity has swayed the God of Death; you have been recruited as the Master of Death. You have the authority to order the dead and use their powers.]

The ability, the same as it always was, it didn't provide him with anything new.

[Mission - You were helped by the God of Death. Now you live as his retainer. Find the God of Death and pay off the debt by serving him.]

[Curse - The Crown of Hollow Memories]

{Every Soul leaves a fragment of its own behind. You must bear what they left.}

[Note - Complete the Mission to lift the Curse from your Soul]

The mission and the curse part was a little problematic for Sezel, 'From what it says, i have to complete the mission in order to lift the curse?' his eyebrows twitched, as he read the mission again. 'What is even this? Why do i even have this curse?' he thought, bewildered.

The curse wasn't here the last time he checked his Stats on Earth, or is it something that only appears when you are here in Spirit Realm just like the Soul Shards thing, that had appeared after he came here.

But even so, 'What the fuck does this curse mean? and no way i am doing the mission.'

The mission itself was fucked up, find the God of Death? God? Sezel had never believed such a thing exists. It was a cruel, elegant trap. To be free of the curse, he had to enslave himself to a god he didn't believe in. It was absurd. Wouldn't it mean that it was practically trying to push him to be a slave for an greater entity.

He gritted his teeth, "I don't give a fuck who this god is. I won't give away my freedom, i am no slave to someone. I will Live how i want to."

He did say it, but was it even the case? could he even live according to himself? Restrained by the Spirit Realm's will.

He dismissed the card with a wave of his hand, the silver screen dissolving into motes of light returning to become a card, revolving around the Core. The emptiness of his Meridian felt suffocating. He needed answers. He needed to confront the other ghost in his soul.

He took a deep breath, and his voice echoed across the barren plains, loud "hey, the purple girl," he shouted, "Who ever you are, i don't know your name but i know you are here. Come on out, i want to ask something."

His voice boomed and then faded, swallowed by the profound silence. Nothing answered. No sign of her presence. Only the unending, oppressive quiet of his own soul remained.

And then, in the world outside, something stirred.

He jumped sideways, a desperate, explosive movement.

His eyes snapped open, met with a glinting sword that would have just pierced him.