The thought-soul that had just registered in Yu IlHan's collection was very noisy.
[How could you kill me without differentiating whether I was an ally or enemy! Huh!?]
"And you had any thoughts on becoming friendly with anyone?"
[I was going to kill them all.]
Well, of course. There was no way the naturally occurring higher existence born on Earth, where everything was born with resentment towards Yu IlHan, would be friendly. Yu IlHan confronted the pitiful thought-soul that couldn't lie, and spoke with a sigh.
"Done differentiation, you're an enemy."
[How can you only check after you kill!]
"You always start off by killing before anything in war. And my life has always been a war."
[IlHan is so cool…..}
[Cool!? That's COOL!?]
The thought-soul sounded very enraged. Well, it was nothing surprising since it died before it could do anything, even though it was born as a higher existence.
However, Yu IlHan did not regret his actions at all. To be exact, he was sure that his will wouldn't have wavered no matter how the situation developed.
She was an enemy. The reason he could have a luxury talk with her right now was only because he had killed her and made her into a thought-soul, and if she was at all alive, then there would be no room for any conversation.
[Coward, how are you so well off after killing me with a surprise attack!]
"Hahaha, a loser dog is barking."
Yu IlHan also had the trait of a non-social person who became arrogant once he was sure of his complete superiority.
[Eeek, what do you mean a loser dog? There was no chance to fight at all!]
"I said life is a war. Why didn't you prepare the moment you were born? Well, you still wouldn't have seen through my concealment."
[Eeeeeeeek!]
[IlHan, you're being scary…..]
While Yu IlHan was thinking of ways to extort information from this noisy girl, the thought-souls' ranting continued.
[But cowardly is still cowardly! Just as I was about to take a breath after being born, a weird beam screws up my body, and after I barely endured that, a giant castle falls on me! There's a reason why this world is trying to kill you!]
"Mastering Death Collector is quite annoying. I collect weird thought-souls like these without my permission."
Yu IlHan quietly levitated the flying fortress and muttered. Of course, he said that, but it wasn't like she was a useless thought-soul. Not only was it a big plus that he had gained a thought-soul of a 5th class that had intelligence, if he used her well, when she was born from the records of the Earth, but it was also possible for him to gain information on what he couldn't even come in contact with until now.
[Khhhhh, it's so frustrating, dammit!] (Orochi)
"It's alright, Orochi. You're doing your best."
If it was any other ordinary thought-soul, he would have borrowed Orochi's power to interrogate, but she was of the 5th class – not someone Orochi could currently do something about. What remained was a peaceful negotiation, but the question was whether this soul fragment, just smashed by him, would cooperate.
From her words, she sounded like a little child with no experience despite having a lot of knowledge, perhaps because she was just born.
[Anyway, free me! I still have my body, and my soul is here too!]
"I'm sorry, but your soul has already passed on to somewhere I do not know. You are only a fragment of the original."
[What....!?]
Oh? Would she go into self-retrospective now? Matters of life and death, and of the soul, were always difficult for any being. For her to accept that when she was just a newborn, the weight would be too much on her.
[IlHan, what are you doing to a newborn?]
"Well, she's an enemy."
[Oh, yeah. I forgot since you acted so freely with her.]
Yu IlHan had levitated the flying fortress and checked the barrier while waiting for her reply, and the thought-soul, silent after realizing her own identity, finally spoke after a little time.
[Th-then...]
"Then?"
[Then it's the same as me being born again thanks to you, isn't it?]
Never did he think she would accept that so optimistically!
[You are quite amazing! Well, yeah. At the time I was born, I was only thinking about killing all the humans on Earth, but now my thought-process is quite free! So that's it, it's because I was born anew!]
"Well, yeah. I'm quite amazing."
"Yes. I didn't die. I was born!"
The shift in the thought-soul's thought process was surprisingly fast. Even Yu IlHan wouldn't be as optimistic as she is.
However, it was not a bad thing to accept reality and think positively about it. Whether it was for her or for Yu IlHan, it would make her advance forward.
And as expected, once she let go of the negative thoughts, she went on to expand her thinking.
[But this is still too stuffy for me. I don't like this feeling of being trapped in unknown darkness. Give me a body like that snake.]
[Groaaaaar, I'm not a snake. I'm Yamata no Orochi.]
"Hmm."
[The body my soul was in is still intact, right? If it's you, you can transfer me back over!]
"I'm sorry, but it's not that simple."
Yu IlHan spoke in a really unfortunate tone and took out her corpse. Perforated with a Blaze-imbued laser beam and smashed by the flying fortress, that 'body' made one wonder if it could even be considered a body anymore.
[...]
While the thought-soul was at a loss in front of the unfortunate reality, Liera spoke after looking at the state of the corpse.
[Perhaps it would look like this if an ogre ate a human and vomited it back out.]
[Uwaaaaaaaaaaaan!]
The thought-soul burst out crying. This was a real cry, not one to make Yu IlHan hesitate as before!
[It turned into paste, my pretty body! Although it's not my body, but still! Uwaaaaaaan!]
Yu IlHan glared at Liera as if he were innocent, despite being the one who made the body like this, and calmly spoke to the thought-soul crying noisily in his head.
"However, I can give you a different body."
[...A different body?]
The moment she heard that voice, her voice floated up as if the crying never happened. Success – Yu IlHan smiled after he was sure of that.
"You should know that everything in the world is a give-and-take process, right?"
[But you killed me! No, well, a soul that shared consciousness with me!]
"Then stay like that if you don't want to. I'll come back for a 2nd round after making Orochi grow. I'll say this now, but the conditions then wouldn't be as good as they are now."
[Ugh...!]
There was no need for Yu IlHan to provoke any further. Her intelligence was very clear, enough for her to judge that the situation was too disadvantageous to drag out.
On top of that, the fact that she was considering the higher existence that had just died and herself as different beings finally led her to obediently reply to Yu IlHan.
[I can't help it.... and so? What is this condition?]
"It's very simple. You only need to become a subordinate under my rule. It's the best method for the two of us to be able to trust each other."
[Aha, like that snake...?]
[I'm not a snake!]
Shouted Orochi. Yu IlHan giggled as the two fought, with their fight as BGM. Although it was a pity he couldn't obtain a 5th-class magic stone from her body, it seemed like a jackpot in its own way.
[???????? has become your subordinate.]
[Uugh, this feels unpleasant. I can feel a connection with another being.]
"Hold it. It's not only you who feels unpleasant."
Although she was only a thought-soul, she was still a part of a higher existence. It was an enormous matter to make her submit under his rule.
It would have been difficult even if he had mastered the Rule skill, but with the support of a Deathgod and her cooperation, he succeeded. And naturally, his skill level rose significantly!
[The skill Rule has reached level 97.] It becomes easier to accept a higher-level opponent under your rule; the growth rate of all beings under you accelerates, and you receive their natural loyalty. You can apply a little bit of forcefulness in the activation, but only against beings overwhelmingly lower-leagued than you.]
"Hhm. This skill is becoming frightening too. That forceful part really nags on my mind….."
If he could forcefully submit someone, it meant that someone overwhelmingly stronger than him could do the same to him. Yu IlHan was worried about that, but Liera replied as if that was nothing to worry about.
[It's normal stuff to make others forcefully submit even without the Rule skill, when there's a large gap in levels, no? There's no need to worry about that. What's more important is the speed you're levelling the Rule skill at.]
"Hmmmmm, that's true, but thinking about how it could affect the opponent's mind, it feels a little….."
[Sheesh, minor details. There are not many people who raised the Rule skill as much as you in the first place!]
The Rule skill. It was a skill of tremendous difficulty to acquire, made for rulers, and even harder to raise. However, not only did Yu IlHan acquire this skill from Heaven's Quest, but he also established several footholds for its growth by subjugating elves and even dragons…
Moreover, this growth accelerated as the subordinates, who were in places unknown to him, were developing rapidly. Adding a higher existence into the mix, it had reached an absurd level of 97.
[Ugh, this is uncomfortable. I can't hate master even if I wanted to! Eh? I called him master and not master, but why do I keep calling him master?]
"Please speak something I can understand."
[I am!]
It seemed the subordinates' speech patterns were also affected. Yu IlHan became afraid of his own skill for a moment, but then thought that everything was fine since he was fine.
"Well, it would be fine if I became stronger faster."
[You're quite progressive when you've just killed a higher existence in a surprise attack.]
[Master, body! Where's my body?]
The thought-soul that just finished the contract shouted in a bright voice. Yu IlHan stopped thinking about the Rule skill completely and confronted her.
"Before that, let's give you a name. There's also something I want to ask you."
[Although I want a body, I guess that's fine... name me anything.]
"Well, then. How about Mistic?"
[....Mystic, I like it! Master is quite good after all!]
"Huh."
In fact, he meant for the name to be part of 'optimistic', with her being naïve and all, but she heard it as 'mystic', i.e., being mysterious. But since she liked it, Yu IlHan decided to not talk about the source of the name.
Well, everyone grew up that way. Even Yu IlHan wouldn't be standing here if the pain of the 'Blured Lancer' didn't exist!
Like the name, Mystic 1 asked with an endlessly positive attitude.
[So, what is it that you want to ask?]
"The current state of the Earth. You talked about this, right? That you thought that you had to kill me the moment you were born. It would be fine if that was your instinct as a monster, but after talking with you, it doesn't sound like that."
[I'm not a monster!]
"That's why I'm asking, Mystic."
Yu IlHan's voice lowered. Perhaps this was the most important moment after the 3rd Great Cataclysm.
"I have a lot to ask, but let me ask this first. How... were you born as a higher existence?"
[That's…..]
Mystic hesitated for a moment but replied soon.
[Probably, I was part of a large pool of shared records before I was born.]
"...Huh?"
Yu IlHan momentarily couldn't understand and asked again, but Liera instantly understood her.
[So you aren't a naturally occurring higher existence?]
[Yeah.]
Acknowledged Mystic.
[I was born with the help of another higher existence sharing his own record. With the orders to kill you.]
"...."
At that point, Yu IlHan could understand her words.
It looked like there was a higher being on Earth right now besides her.