The Villain's Story

Was James powerful in Alan’s soul sea? No, the answer was simply no. After all, he was akin to a parasite. One that was simply residing there to survive as he made the necessary changes. In Alan’s soul sea, the ultimate power was him; this was further enhanced by the fact that Dominatus had already latched onto James.

Whilst Dominatus is not under the control of Alan Peccator, it is still the same existence as him; therefore, it could be said that they have a form of mutual agreement. Dominatus will not protect James.

Rather, it’s a noose slowly tightening around James neck, as his body, or rather, his soul, is battered by Alan. Furthermore, due to the effects of the Weave.

James is the weakest he has ever been. He can’t form complete thoughts, he can’t think as clearly, as his soul is suffering from the aftereffects of challenging the Weave. He is simply Lamb to the Slaughter.

And Alan has no intention of sparing this lamb, inside his Soul Sea, he is certain that if he ‘kills’ James here, the man would be gone for good. If not, Dominatus would always have a chain tightly bound to him.

Alan realized why Ariel had sent him here: it was to find and confront James. Unfortunately for the man, Alan had no intentions of talking it out.

“Hey… Come on, I know you don’t like your old man a lot, but at the very least… Can we no-“

His sentence was interrupted by Alan dropping a meteor on top of him. James was barely able to avoid it, but he fell to the ground once more, soaked in the thin layer of water. His hair was untidy, and his mask cracked more and more.

He barely managed to stand up, as Alan cancelled the meteor and slowly approached him. Technically, in Alan’s soul sea, he could do whatever he wanted. If he wanted, he could drop a thousand meteors on James, but Alan was still inept at the ways of the soul.

And if he was being honest, beating the shit out of James, just like Valus beat the shit out of him… was satisfying. It was the most satisfying thing ever in his life.

Alan had fought James before, in the form of a dream or an illusion. It had happened a long time ago, and Alan was certain that it was something James had planned to do. In that illusion, Alan had lost himself in his affinity for Chaos and transformed into a horrifying draconian that was more like a monster than anything else.

It wasn’t anything remotely close to his Ice Draconian transformation. In that illusion, Alan was unable to beat James, but this time? It was different.

This was a real battle, one in the soul, in his own soul, and Alan didn’t give a damn if James was injured or not; he just wanted to end him.

Alan appeared beside James once more, grabbed his head, and shoved him to the ground. The scenery around them changed as they were once more in the core of the Soul Sea. Alan’s soul was behind him at all times, almost one with him in the Soul Sea, and James had no way of interfering with it, even if he wanted to.

Alan was unaware that the Weave had crippled James; he had merely thought that this was the Panoply at work, or Ariel’s influence, rendering James unable to control him through his soul. And if James wasn’t able to do that…

He was as weak as an ant in Alan’s soul sea, just a helpless parasite incapable of doing anything.

Alan threw James to the ground and planted his foot on his chest. He wasn’t sure if he had any bones or flesh in the Soul Sea, but it didn’t hurt to try doing this. It induced a feeling of superiority in him… and Alan relished it.

He pushed his foot deeper, and James barely managed to utter.

“Don’t you… have any questions?”

For a moment, Alan stopped. He let out a faint chuckle, but ultimately didn’t say anything. He was unsure if conversing with James would trigger any unusual event. He didn’t want to do anything that could allow James to turn the tables.

“Silent treatment… huh…AHH!”

Alan exerted more force on his foot, and James groaned in agony. Alan could feel his soul being crushed bit by bit, and unfortunately for James, no one was here to help him.

Not even Aranus, who was in a deep slumber in the core of Alan’s Soul Sea, was hidden deep in his own soul.

“Nothing… huh.”

Alan kept exerting more force, but then he realized.

‘How do I kill a soul?’

Of course, he could keep doing what he was doing and hope for the best, but would such a means of attack really kill a soul? Technically, it should, as Alan was also in his soul-form, but he couldn’t be sure.

Would magic do the job? But he didn’t know any magic that could kill a soul. But then again, did he really need to?

Alan raised one hand and thought about it.

‘A soul-killing magic…’

A torrent of mana realized itself in the palm of his hand; it was like a storm. Alan kept silent as he kept trying to think about it. A magic to kill the soul.

In the end, he was a dragon; he didn’t need to spend years upon years to learn such difficult magic. In his own Soul Sea, using his own gifts as a dragon, Alan was perfectly capable of making magic that could harm a soul, maybe even harm it.

But then again, would it work on James? Would it really work? Although James was not a Mythical Being in this iteration, Alan didn’t believe for a single second that he had no way of resurrection. Could Alan try to create a ‘soul-killing’ magic and use it on James… but would it work?

Alan actually had something that could do that, known as the skill [Death?], but he was incapable of using it, and it goes without saying that anything he made wouldn’t really be able to match the skill of [Death?].

In the end, Alan decided to go for it; it would be better to try something than to do nothing at all. He began to think… of what a magic that could kill the soul would be…

As a Dragon, he could do it.

James watched the entire process with a slight smile on his face, one that betrayed any thought that he was in pain.