Chapter 79: Second Soul Servant Creation
Stephan looked down at Asriel’s lifeless body, his chest heaving, every breath scraping his throat like fire. The black aura of the tiger that had once roared around him began to splinter, its stripes peeling away into drifting wisps of smoke. The spectral beast growled low, then bowed its great head before dissolving entirely, its form scattering into black motes that faded against the ruined battlefield.
Stephan stumbled, nearly falling to one knee. His sword clattered against the ground before he caught it again with trembling fingers. His vision swam. Every muscle in his body screamed as if it had been wrung dry of strength.
"Damn..." he muttered, spitting blood onto the cracked stone. His body was at its limit, wounds burning, reserves hollowed, his very soul stretched thin.
And yet... he had won.
Asriel’s pale figure knelt before him like a fallen statue, frozen in death, her eyes glassy and unfocused. From her chest, the glow intensified. The sphere of violet soul energy had now fully formed, pulsing in the air like a second sun. Its light washed over the battlefield, painting Stephan’s face in shades of silver and purple.
His heart thundered in his ears. He could feel the pull, the gravity of that soul, beckoning him, promising to refill everything he had lost. Power enough to crush anyone who stood in his way.
But his body shook violently. His knees nearly buckled again. He wasn’t sure if he had the strength to claim it.
Stephan exhaled, long and ragged, his shoulders sagging. The battlefield was silent now, no roars, no crackling flame, just the faint hum of Asriel’s departing essence. He raised his gaze, eyes locked on the glowing sphere, the corners of his lips twitching into a tired, almost delirious grin.
"This... is mine." His voice was hoarse, but resolute.
He dragged his sword upward with both hands, the blade trembling as black fire reignited along its edge. The glow around Asriel’s soul seemed to answer, its light flaring brighter, resisting, as if unwilling to be claimed.
Stephan’s eyes narrowed. He stood tall despite the exhaustion, raising the weapon high overhead.
One last swing. One last strike.
Everything, his body, his will, his fate, was riding on this moment.
"Consume," Stephan commanded, his voice low but carrying like a verdict.
The violet sphere trembled, then cracked with a sound like breaking glass. Streams of raw soul-light poured outward, twisting violently as if trying to escape. Tendrils of black flame lanced from Stephan’s chest, coiling like serpents, wrapping around the dying fragments of Asriel’s essence.
The air thundered with a deep, hollow hum. The soul screamed, not in sound, but in feeling. Stephan’s body shivered as that grief and rage crashed into him like a tidal wave. It wasn’t like harvesting the weaker souls of nameless foes. This was different. He felt Asriel’s memories, her fury, her loneliness, all crashing against the walls of his mind before being dragged into the abyss of his dominion.
His veins burned. His skin prickled. Black fire roared from his shoulders as the last of her energy was torn free, collapsing inward into his chest with a final flash of violet.
[SOUL HARVEST COMPLETE]
A chill swept through the battlefield. The last fragments of light drifted into silence, leaving only the echo of the system’s cold voice in Stephan’s head:
Target: High-D Rank soul
Emotion Core: Anger & Rage
Corruption Level: HIGH
His lips curled into a smirk despite the exhaustion. He staggered back half a step, but the thrill of victory made his blood run hot. Then, a new window unfolded across his mind’s eye:
[SOULFORGE DOMINION ACTIVATED]
Options flared before him, ghostly words floating in the black fire:
[Shadow-bound Servant]
• Cost: 35 standard souls
• Form: Featureless shadow wraith
• Traits: Absolute obedience, silent, limited will
• Power retention: -50%
[Human-form Revenant]
• Cost: 45 standard souls
• Form: Physical, retains original humanlike shape
• Traits: Partial memory & will, can speak, mimic living behavior
• Power retention: 90%
• Risk: Higher corruption bleed-through; potential instability
[Confirm forging path & soul allocation]
Stephan chuckled weakly, dragging his sword’s tip along the broken ground to steady himself. His eyes glowed faintly crimson as he read over the options.
"She costs more souls to forge than when I forged Grief," he said, his voice laced with amusement and menace. His hand brushed his bloodied chest as he let the thought linger. "Not surprising... considering the fight she put up."
The glow of the unclaimed menus hovered before him, waiting for his choice.
Stephan staggered forward, his hand trembling as he raised the blade above the fractured core that once belonged to Asriel. His voice came out hoarse, nearly broken, but heavy with intent.
"Create: Human-form Revenant."
The chamber, what was left of it, answered with a deep, metallic DING, echoing like a tolling bell across the ruins.
[Soulforge Dominion: Human-form Revenant forging initiated]
[Consuming 45 stored souls...]
[Remaining stored souls: 200]
The ground shook as the air split with a bone-chilling howl, not from any throat, but from the souls themselves as they were ripped apart for the forge.
Black mist boiled up from the cracks, twisting and collapsing, folding in on itself like a living storm. It poured into Asriel’s shattered essence, wrapping around it, smothering its violet glow until nothing remained but shadow.
Fragments of soul-flame burned like embers in the dark, circling faster and faster until they fused into a skeletal frame. Spectral bones knit themselves together, every click and crack sharp as glass, until a tall figure stood in the dust.
The shadows swirled tighter, shaping into sinew and cloak. A jagged mask, broken in the battle, remade itself from swirling strands of black flame, its grin sharp, its surface cracked with glowing seams of violet.
Fingers flexed, long and clawed, shrouded by a ragged mantle of smoke. The figure’s form rippled with a faint, inhuman grace, like a nightmare given body.
Then, silence.
From beneath the mask, two pale azure-violet lights blinked open. Not eyes, not truly, but fragments of memory, fragments of rage, fragments of the woman who once stood proud as Warden.
[Soulforge almost complete]
A low hum shook the chamber, vibrating in Stephan’s chest. The Revenant drew its first hollow breath, the shadows around it pulsing in time with the beat of a dead heart.
It raised its head slowly, locking those ghost-lights on Stephan. For a moment, there was defiance, the last echo of Asriel’s will, but it flickered, dimmed, and bowed.
[Servant forged: Soul Maw Witch – Revenant]
[Power retention: 70%]
[Partial memory preserved]
[Bound to user’s will]
Stephan’s lips curled into a smile. His chest was still heaving, his body still broken, but his victory was absolute.
The shadows around the Revenant settled, its ragged cloak whispering in the windless air, waiting for its master’s command.
A fallen dragon, now chained as a servant.
Stephan stared at his new creation. She was terrifying, yet beautiful in a way that twisted his gut.
The shadows fell back like a curtain, revealing a young woman, her form solidifying with each breath of the soul-forge. She looked no older than her early twenties, just like Grief had when she first took shape. But this one... this one was different.
Her hair, once white as snow, now spilled down her shoulders in cascading waves of violet flame, shimmering faintly with spectral light. Her skin was pale, marble-smooth, almost too perfect, the kind of beauty that made him catch his breath before he realized he was staring. Her horns still curled proudly from her head, remnants of the dragon she had been, and her eyes, deep, ocean blue threaded with faint violet glow, were lowered in a posture of obedience. Yet they shimmered with a calm, unsettling intelligence.
And then Stephan saw the rest of her. His throat went dry.
It was the same as when he forged Grief. The body was complete, too complete. Soft curves at the chest and hips, a slim waist cinched in shadows. Only thin veils of drifting soul-mist clung to her, barely disguising her form, clinging like a half-remembered dream.
His pulse spiked violently. His breath hitched. His aura even flared uncontrolled for a brief instant.
"Not... not this again," he muttered, dragging a shaky hand down his face, heat rushing up his neck to his ears.
The servant tilted her head, violet hair spilling forward as her body shifted. Almost as if in response to his unspoken thoughts, the shadows curled tighter around her chest and hips, modesty born from his embarrassment rather than her own. That only made his heart pound harder.
DING.
[Soulforge Note:]
• Incomplete spiritual shell defaults to user’s subconscious design imprint.
• User desire, fear, or stray thought may shape external form.
Stephan groaned, half-mortified. "Yeah... the system said the same thing last time. So this really is my fault?"
He barely had time to recover before her voice reached him.
"At your service... my liege."
Her tone was soft, almost musical, but edged with a spectral echo that reminded him she was not alive. She bowed with deliberate grace, violet hair spilling forward like moonlight, the shadows folding across her form as if dressing her in reverence.
The title rang heavy in the broken air, absurd yet final. Stephan froze, lips parted, heart hammering louder than the whispers of dying soul-flame still hanging in the ruins.
My liege? Grief had never called him that.
Another DING struck like a bell through his skull.
[Soulforge Dominion: Servant creation complete]
• Soul-bound Servant: Warden (human form)
• Loyalty: Absolute (forged soul contract)
• Form: Human soul shell (higher cost; retains personality fragment, higher autonomy)
• Command status: Awaiting orders
Stephan swallowed hard, forcing his eyes away from the smooth curve of her shoulders and the pale skin beneath the shadows. His voice came out rough, stripped of bravado.
"okay " he managed, clearing his throat. "It’s time explore my new creation."