The cost of using Cinders was the deprivation of moisture but wasn't the cost a bit too exaggerated? Sure he was expecting a massive energy expenditure but he didn't expect a quarter of the river to disappear.
Now if he wasn't near a large body of water then what? Would it take away the moisture in living creatures or even his body?.
Kamiya shook his head and snapped out of such thoughts, something was happening to the murky brown and black river and having stray thoughts could be lethal.
Suddenly a set of horrifying screams came out from the river and small figures began to float upwards, they were creatures resembling humans with blue skin and red eyes. They had gills on their necks and had long fish like tails swishing behind them.
They looked at Nuzres and Kamiya with a hateful look.
The water spirits were many, numbering almost in hundreds the mere sight of them made Kamiya feel small and insignificant.
One of them floated forward, her eyes observing Nuzres and Kamiya before she glared at them with a murderous smile. "To dare infringe upon our land, destroy our flesh nests and even dry up our river, who exactly do you think you are oh human and a parasitic divinity."
Nuzres smiled, her emerald eyes meeting that of the water spirit. "You water spirits are greedy, could you not wait for us before ambushing us with your filthy breeding corpses."
Kamiya turned his head towards Nuzres, breeding, what did she mean by breeding?!.
The water spirit snarled, her claws sharpening. "We couldn't help if we smelled the aroma of a pure soul untainted by this world, i am guessing this child with you is a Divine King or an Outer Creature."
//Did I just get called a child// Kamiya thought incredulously, he was sixteen, he was not a child, why was an ominous looking mini sized fish girl calling him that!?.
"Excuse me but I'm not a child." Kamiya protested from the side. "And besides what does my soul have to do with you guys attacking me?."
The water spirits eyes shifted to Kamiya. "Because your soul is untainted by the world, a pure Spirot queen can be born from your soul and once a pure spirit queen is born, all spirits in this world will finally become pure but everytime we obtain the soul of an Outer Creature or a Divine King, the fallen goddess of spirits
At the words of a soul being used to create a pure Spirit queen made Kamiya feel threatened, he moved back cautiously and readied himself to fight the corrupted water spirits.
The water spirits scoffed and crossed her arms. "Do not worry, we are not going to extract you soul anymore and since we did fail to ambush you, we will not kill you...but we do wish to collaborate with you, Divine King."
Kamiya still did not trust them and cautiously asked. "...What kind of collaboration."
"We own a spirit pearl, a spirit pearl we have cultivated for the 789th time after the Fallen goddess destroyed the rest in our attempt to purify all spirits, we have realised that extracting a soul and placing a spirit pearl inside is inadequate and it takes countless time and resources to cultivate, we have realised that we have to let a Pure soul willingly allow the spirit pearl to rest in their soul and allow it to hatch into a spirit queen, we wish to collaborate with you and hatch the spirit queen for us, if you accept, all spirits in this world will become your ally and will not attack you and you also have a 50% chance to become an awakened.
The only requirements is that you do not have anything residing in your soul except of course if you're planning to turn that into your Divine Symbol, you can still keep the spirit pearl in your soul."
The flames on the bridge had already been extinguished by a spirit.
Kamiya's mind raced. This wasn't just a combat encounter anymore; it was a political and metaphysical gamble. He looked from the snarling, desperate spirits to Nuzres, who was unusually quiet, her head tilted as she calculated the risks.
"A Spirit Pearl?" Kamiya repeated, his voice echoing over the now-hissing river. "You want to put a 'queen' inside my soul? That sounds like a fancy way of saying you want to haunt me from the inside out."
"It is a symbiosis, Divine King," the lead spirit hissed, her tail lashing the air. "The Pearl requires a vessel that does not belong to the cycle of this fallen world. In return, the Queen, once hatched, will govern the phenomena of all spirits. You would not just have an ally; you would have a crown."
Kamiya looked at Nuzres. "Nuzres? Is this... is this a trap?"
Nuzres stepped forward, her jade eyes scanning the "Spirit Pearl" that the lead spirit began to manifest—a sphere of swirling, iridescent mist that pulsed with a heartbeat-like rhythm.
"It is a gamble, little King," Nuzres said, her voice devoid of its usual playfulness. "They are desperate. The Fallen Goddess of spirits has turned their existence into a cycle of rot. They want a savior. If you host the Pearl, you essentially become the 'Living Cradle' of a new divine order for spirits."
She turned to him, her expression serious. "But listen carefully: If you accept, your soul becomes a beacon. She will know. She will hunt you with the fury of a mother whose hated child she torments has been stolen. However... the fifty-percent chance of Awakening is real. The Spirit Queen's birth would force your Third Eye open without the usual risk of becoming a Hollow, because the Queen would stabilize your fragmented soul."
Kamiya looked back at the hundreds of red eyes staring at him from the river. He felt the "Violent Energy" in his chest thrumming—it was restless, hungry for more than just destructive words.
"And if I refuse?" Kamiya asked the spirit.
The spirit's murder-smile returned. "Then we return to the original plan. We drown you, extract your soul, and try the 790th cultivation. It is less efficient, but we have nothing but time and spite."
Kamiya gripped the bridge railing. He was tired of being a "child" in their eyes. He was tired of his power costing him his memories. If this could give him a 50% head start on Awakening and turn an entire race of elemental beings into his allies, maybe it was worth the target on his back.
"What's the catch?" Kamiya shouted. "There's always a catch with you people."
"The catch," the spirit said, her voice dropping to a gravelly whisper, "is that the Queen's personality and power will be shaped by your 'deeds.' If you are a King of Ash, she will be a Queen of Inferno. If you are a King of Mercy, she will be a Mother of Life. You will be tied to her forever. Your fate becomes the spirits' fate."
Kamiya took a deep breath. He thought of the charred city, the memories he'd lost, and the long road to the Inverted Golden City.
"Fine," Kamiya said, his voice steadying. "I'll host your Pearl. But if she tries to take over my head, I'll use 'Cinders' on my own soul and take us all down."
The spirits let out a collective, haunting shriek of joy.
The lead spirit surged upward, the iridescent pearl glowing blindingly bright. "Open your heart, Divine King. Let the purification begin!"
The pearl shot forward, not striking him, but dissolving into a stream of pure, silver light that poured into Kamiya's chest.
Kamiya did not feel anything except for his mind feeling lighter and something within him which he thought was his soul feeling a little bit comfortable.
Once the spirit pearl entered him, the water spirits now all seemed to give him a friendly smile. The one leading smiled. "Thank you for collaborating with us oh Divine King, from now on all spirits in this world that do not serve the Fallen goddess will be your allies."
Kamiya sighed. "Does that mean we can leave?."
The Lead spirit nodded. "Yes you can but I do have to warn you, do not trust anyone who is trying to get close to you by suddenly wanting to help you for no reason, everyone in this world has a price for helping Divine Kings."
The spirits floated back towards the river after saying that and Kamiya turned to Nuzres who had a strange expression on her face. "Let's Hurry...I feel something ominous is about to happen."
As Nuzres said that, the clouds in the sky slowly began to turn dark. Kamiya stared up and tilted his head. "Strange, is the weather always erratic here."
Nuzres grabbed Kamiya's arm and began to drag him towards the other side of the bridge with urgency in her actions. "Quickly, we mist quickly leave little King?!!."
Kamiya didn't know why she was acting in such a hurry, he still complied and followed her as she started walking faster.
<"She" descends her will with the corpse of the previous cultivated Mother Spirit who she had turn into her corpse angel.>
Kamiya froze and slowly turned his head towards the clouds.
Instead of rain falling from the clouds, what seemed to be countless black and blue feathers began to float gently, falling all across the land, covering the seas and blanketing the skies.
Something peeked out from the skies, it was large and indescribable. It resembled the opened shell of a clam where a single large pearl was being hugged by a creature with countless mouths on its body, continously spilling out blood.
On the clam countless eyes were embedded on its shell and four rings of black and white feathers surrounded it like it was a celestial body.
Kamiya didn't wait for any of them to land before he picked up Nuzres and with all the strength from the trauma that Shingensha had given him ran with all his might.
Nuzres was of course surprised by the sudden action of his but soon recovered and made the black dust from her pouch divert the feathers trying to touch them towards the river below them.
The angel above stayed their for a moment before the opened clam shell snapped closed with a thundering sound and fell towards the bridge with breaking speeds.
It didn't take even a second before it collided with the bridge and began its descent into the river. Kamiya was almost at the other side of the bridge when it collapsed, he and Nuzres were now falling down with the shattered pieces of the wooden bridge into the river below them.
Countless blue and black feathers graced upon his body and Kamiya felt a sudden mental pain assault him, it was like countless small needles were piercing his brain. Kamiya had an urge to scream but he suppressed it and focused on the current situation.
He didn't want to fall into a river filled with an indescribable creature and blood and bodies of countless dead creatures.
Nuzres who was tugged under his arm was contemplating on whether she should use her scale to save them from this precarious situation but the cost of escaping from an angel is surely large and frankly it was not worth it so she discarded the idea.
Instead, her Emerald eyes began to glow as she spoke in an ancient language.