"Brock, tell me the terms of your pact." Said Wang Bugui anxiously.
"In fact, it's not hard. I don't wish to make a pact directly with you, but for you and Hanae Chiou to make a deal with each other to merge your souls. This is because she can only survive if your body becomes her soul's vassal."
"If that happens, from now on, no matter how far away both of you are, you'll be able to sense each other's position and safety. Furthermore, you'll each be able to reap the result of the other's training. This is known as Simultaneous Training in the terminology of members of religious orders from the East. That said, it'll still be necessary to make a pact with me, if you agree." Said Brock.
"Tell me your terms directly." Wang Bugui said, not wanting to waste any more time.
"Fine, my terms are that you have to kill Dracula and bring his soul to me— Hanae Chiou's death is linked to him. How dare he kill my follower! Also, he stole so many souls from me during the two World Wars. I'll never let anyone who dares to go against me off so easily!" Said Brock chillingly.
"I promise you. I'll kill Dracula even if you didn't ask me to. Let Sister Chiou go." Wang Bugui replied.
"Right. Remember to keep your promise, otherwise I'll take your soul away personally. You have 20 years to achieve your target; that's the maximum amount of time the seal you people placed on him will last." Brock warned.
"Fine, let's begin." Wang Bugui spurred him on.
Brock nodded and took out a book. He wrote Hanae Chiou's name on it and conjured an extremely complicated magic circle, before directing the blood on Wang Bugui's arm into it with a finger. He then began chanting an ancient and intricate curse in a language that Wang Bugui and the other two completely could not understand. The boy could feel the blood in his body boiling, however, and his heart began to throb, as if it had connected with something within the magic circle.
Countless tiny lights appeared in the sky and beamed into the magic circle after Brock had finished chanting. Wang Bugui watched with slightly moist eyes as the lights slowly formed into the shape of a person, and he could see fragments of Hanae Chiou's memory in them. Her past was far more traumatic than he had imagined— she had been discarded by her parents as a monster for bearing unholy black tattoos on her right arm from the time she was born.
She wandered the streets alone in tattered clothing, constantly feeling hungry. She could wear a set of clothing for years and could only change out of them upon getting a "new" set of clothes, and had never wore a good pair of shoes. A pair of torn shoes she managed to find in a pile of trash was new to her.
Her beautiful face was covered with grime and dirt all the time, and she ate what she could pick up from the streets. Sometimes, she even had to resort from snatching the food from the pet dogs of other people and suffered a severe beating if she was caught. The best time of her childhood was when she had discovered a small uninhabited cave in the countryside. She had constructed a bed out of grass and clothes she picked up. Beside her were other pieces of clothing in slightly better condition, and they were her best looking and most precious clothes.
She only got to eat unexpired food and shoes in perfect condition when she met the Azrael and he brought her to work in his shop. After growing up, she became his disciple, and her daily tasks included killing people, evil ghosts or the containment of spirits. These memories were shown in black and white, and those that were in color were from after she met Wang Bugui.
He was the only person who did not view of her as a monster. The others had heard about a female monster who wielded a scythe, and many had fallen before her. Wang Bugui did not mind and instead was impressed by Hanae Chiou. This fact had amused her.
The first time they went out for coffee, the first time they drank red wine, the first time she went shopping, the first time she went out to have fun with somebody else, the first time she fought hand-in-hand with Wang Bugui... These colorful memories made Wang Bugui clench his fists tightly in rage and sorrow, and his teeth nearly broke. He could not stop trembling; he had never imagined that the moments which were very ordinary to him could have become Hanae Chiou's best memories.
Gradually, the lights formed into Hanae Chiou's figure— this was her soul. The ethereal figure was still covered with terrible wounds and lay peacefully in the magic circle.
"Azrael, what should I do to resurrect her?" Asked Wang Bugui, his heart aching terribly as he looked at the cracked up figure of Hanae Chiou's soul, especially so when he saw her beautiful face which was fixed in her last smile. It was a smile that grew out of the depths of Hanae Chiou's heart— she had diede protecting his retreat, but she died without regret and with a smile.
"I can't resurrect her temporarily, and it'll take a long while to awaken her soul. After all, her soul has nearly been completely ground into dust, and it's already a feat to patch it back together." Sighed Brock.
"Then how can she awaken again?" Asked Wang Bugui, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Use your body as a vassal, and your life force as the source of power which can repair her soul. You can also copy your father and cultivate your primordial spirit. Using the power of your primordial spirit to repair her soul will restore it even more quickly." Explained Brock.
"But I... don't know how to cultivate my primordial spirit."
"Before you learn how to do that, I can give you something that can help you," said Brock as he drew out a coil of gold wire. "This is the Soul Thread which can connect both of your souls, and as your strength increases, her soul will receive more nourishment. Furthermore, when you know how to use the power of your primordial spirit, you can make use of it to restore her."
Brock passed a long, coiled up a piece of silver wire to Wang Bugui as he spoke. The boy could feel its warmth as he held it in his hand, and he could sense that it was extremely tough even as he did not know what material it was made out of.
"After you've restored her soul, she'll still be unable to move or even walk. The Soul Thread can help you act as a puppeteer. Then, you'll be able to channel the power of your soul to through this thread to teach her how to walk, run and carry out her daily activities. If she can't manage any of those at the start, you have to take the initiative to help her accomplish some simple tasks." Said Brock with a devilish grin.
"Fine, I'll teach her. I'll fulfil any of your requests! Thank you, but, there's a still a battle to come between us. This is a deal I made with Sister Chiou." Wang Bugui said. Even as he was grateful to Brock, he had not forgotten his promise to Hanae Chiou and wanted to test his skill against Brock in the future.
"Hehe... there's no need to thank me. You still have a long way to go. Remember to tell me all about how you help Little Chiou recover the ability to carry out her daily tasks after you've saved her." Said Brock as he grinned mischievously.
"Right..." Wang Bugui did not know why Brock was so happy, but he agreed.
"Looks like we'll have a good show waiting for us in the future." Brock laughed mysteriously, as if he did not know that Wang Bugui's emotional quotient was extremely low. He seemed to have foreseen how Wang Bugui's reunion with Hanae Chiou would play out and tried hard to control his laughter.
Suddenly, Brock seemed to have sensed something and gazed upward into the sky before telling Wang Bugui, "Alright, I have something to attend to and will make a move first. Don't forget about the pact or what I've told you. You can absorb her soul into your body now, and you can also contain her weapon in your arm like she did. That's all."
"Alright, catch you later." Said Wang Bugui as he watched Brock leave.
Brock waved goodbye to the three youths before turning around and vanishing into the void. In the next instant, he appeared on a desolated planet far away from Earth. There was only endless, pitch black ground on it, and a deathly silence pervaded. From the marks left behind from ancient flora, one could deduce that this used to be an ancient planet which had sustained life, but now, all living things on it had been destroyed.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, two huge multi-colored cloud formations appeared in the skies. Lightning of different colors were flashing inside them, each a few hundred meters wide. There were even beings not from this world in them, formed by the lightning surges.
There were creatures long gone from Earth such as dragons, phoenixes, Pengs, vermilion birds, black tortoises and white tigers within the cloud formations, and one of them even contained the Nidhogg, a mythological creature of the West.
"Haha, it's really hard going against the will of nature. Seems like I should interfere less in the matters of Earth, to think such a large welcoming party will be waiting for me after only saving a person's soul. However, I'm not afraid even if you're naturally able to subdue me. Come on..."
Brock laughed bitterly at the cloud formations and went forth to face the terrible lightning formation known as World Annihilation. This had happened because he had gone against the will of Heaven and brought someone meant for the world of the dead back to the living.
Soon, half of the planet was covered in a sea of lightning, and the howls and roars of different mythical creatures could be heard. When everything settled, a handsome man covered with blood stains walked out of the carnage. The other half of the planet behind him as still intact, but a huge crater caused by the terrible divine retribution was left behind.