Celestial Ascendancy
Chapter 100: Awaken.
Elias Black.
The Underworld.
The light from the teleportation circle faded after Sai took Rias, Iris, and me somewhere. He had not explained anything after asking for my help, almost dragging us with how fast he walked outside the venue.
It wasn't because he wanted to be obtuse, no. He simply didn’t know how to voice his thoughts.
His soul was a mixture of so many things that I genuinely had some trouble differentiating them. Hope, anger, and dejection, to name a few. I had never seen my friend like this, and it honestly worried me.
The group was small, since he didn’t look like he wanted to have a whole circus in whatever this was. I suspected Rias had an inkling of what Sai wanted because she was quite firm with the rest of the group when she tasked Akeno with taking everyone away.
In fact, she looked like she didn’t want to interrupt, but since we were staying at the Gremory Castle, someone from her peerage needed to teleport us there after we finished, and I supposed anyone else would have been worse than her own presence.
At least they were family.
The house in front of us looked… not as grand as what I had come to expect from devils, but since I knew about his situation, that didn’t surprise me much.
There was a homely feeling in it, at least.
The door was opened by Kuisha, who also had a hopeful look in her eyes, then they narrowed as she glared at her king.
Sai rubbed the back of his head, looking almost embarrassed, but Kuisha just sighed.
“Welcome to our house,” Kuisha smiled, focusing on us. “It’s been a long time since we saw each other.”
Iris showed how little she cared about propriety because she launched herself and hugged the stuffing out of the poor devil. She whispered something in Kuisha’s ear that had the devil blushing before she shook her head minutely.
Iris pouted, finally letting her go with a look of disappointment.
“Kuisha,” I approached, hugging her softly and kissing her cheek, “I hope all has been well. Has Sai been more of a pain in the ass?”
Kuisha smacked my arm playfully as Sairaorg groaned behind us, then she gave Rias a brief hug.
“No more than usual,” she grinned amusedly, “I am… glad you all are here.”
“Especially since some of the peerage doubted Sai would ask you.”
I took a note of that but didn’t mention it, more so because Sai genuinely looked ashamed.
“And where are we, exactly?" I asked curiously.
At that, Sai grinned like he always did when he was sparring.
“This is where I live whenever we’re in the underworld,” he explained as we entered the house, “It’s not much, but it’s home.”
Iris put a hand on Sai’s shoulder, “You don’t have to say it like that, Sai. Look at us, before the big lug made that impossibility Sanctuary is, we used to live inside his freaking trunk.”
Everyone laughed at that, and for the first time in a while, I felt a bit embarrassed.
Maybe seeing my expression, Rias kissed my cheek with a grin, “The hollow is beautiful, my love, but you have to admit that entering a trunk to sleep somewhere is… not the usual.”
I pouted. The hollow was awesome, and I wouldn’t hear anyone say otherwise.
These girls deserved a spanking, but at least the small interlude made Sai grin like usual as he mocked me.
“It is located in the Vapula territory,” Kuisha continued as we walked through the halls towards the living room where the rest of Sai’s peerage waited. All of them shared the same nervousness as these two.
Well, that was a lie. Regulus only felt anticipation as he munched on some snacks.
The bastard’s eyes brightened seeing us both, and I felt my lips twitch, knowing that he was only interested if Dobby was close.
“Vapula, Vapula,” Iris tapped her bottom lip with a focused expression.
Then she perked up, “Didn’t you say you had their clan trait? I remember you mentioning that it was thanks to it that you managed to tame Regulus.”
“He’s a Vapula from Aunty Misla’s side,” Rias nodded… with what felt like… sadness?
What was this about? Now that I tried to remember, I didn’t think Sai had ever mentioned his family. At all.
He never spoke about his father or mother.
“So, what happened, Sai?” I asked as we sat down on the surprisingly nice sofa. Iris sitting on my lap while Rias on my right.
I poked her softly on the ribs, but Iris just stuck her tongue out.
Sai turned serious.
“My mother… I brought her here, and she’s sick,” he said, almost too quietly, “I didn’t know if you’d be able to heal here before, and the uncertainty of it made me never ask.”
“Oh, you big idiot,” I sighed, lifting Iris with one hand while putting my other around Sai’s neck. “You should have told me sooner, even if I was incapable of it, the whole group would have done the most we could to help.”
“That’s what I told him,” Regulus snorted, “but as you said, my king can be an idiot sometimes. I swear that he only has a brain for training.”
Funnily enough, Kuisha was often the first to smack Regulus’s head whenever he got too snarky, but she didn’t move even as she glared at the Nemean Lion in disapproval.
Which was honestly shocking, and she must have been thinking the same thing.
“How long?” I asked quietly.
I didn’t have parents, and I never felt the connection Mione or Fleur seemed to have with theirs, so I wasn’t sure how I should act without showing pity.
Which was a shitty thing to do, especially when it came to Sai.
Pity was the last thing he wanted.
Iris was in the same boat as me, shuffling on my lap uncomfortably.
Instead of saying anything, Sai just hung his head.
Taking over, as it was her job as the Queen, Kuisha replied, “Almost nine years.”
No one spoke for a long time.
Nine years. He hadn’t said what she suffered from, but I doubted it was something simple since he was asking for my help. I was a good healer, and Sai personally had seen me pull some bullshit out of my ass time and time again.
I had no idea what she had, but I would do my damned best to help her.
Iris also nodded seriously.
“It was pretty strange. At first, we thought it was just exhaustion,” it looked like Sai was having a hard time speaking about this. “Considering the life we had back then, it wouldn’t have surprised me. Maybe even depression, if devils can even get that.”
He swallowed thickly at that, and I couldn't help but notice how haunted his eyes looked at that moment.
“She didn’t have energy for days, barely ate, and things like that for the course of weeks. But then, one day she fell asleep… and she never woke up.”
That sounded horrible, and Sai was barely a kid when that happened.
Fuck…
“Take me to her.” I tried to keep a calm tone, despite how bad I felt for my friend.
Sai smiled gratefully and didn’t hesitate to jump from his seat as we followed him.
There was a nervous air around here, and honestly… I didn’t blame him.
Rias also had a… peculiar expression, and a feeling of guilt emanated from her soul.
I grabbed Rias’s hand, locking eyes with her. It wasn’t her fault. Yes, she could have said something, but I genuinely doubted she even thought about it.
And it wasn’t because she was a bad person.
She shouldn't blame herself for not mentioning it. Not even Sai had done so.
She smiled guiltily for a moment, but a soft caress brought a tiny smile. And that was enough, for now.
The hallway was silent, with very few decorations around. But there were many pictures of Sai when he was younger.
I bit my urge to laugh, because it really wasn’t the moment, but damn if he didn’t look hilarious as a kid.
I wanted to know if Kuisha would agree to send me some photos to tease him later.
Sai pushed the door nervously, but I pushed his shoulder softly, and he nodded.
And I felt it immediately… Simply how… wrong it was.
It was subtle. So subtle that anyone without soul sight would miss it.
Misla lay peacefully on the bed. She looked relatively healthy for someone who had been sleeping for nine years, obviously. Whether that was because she was a devil, or what, I had no idea.
But her soul…
It was weird. Misla's soul was not fully in sync with her body. It was the first time I had ever seen something like this, obviously, but it was simply so different compared to every other living being I had met.
And I was including the weird souls of the Gods I had seen in person.
I walked inside, passing Sai, who walked towards his mother and grabbed her hand.
“Mom, I want you to meet Elias and Iris.” He said softly, “They are good friends of mine, and without their help I wouldn’t have been able to fulfill the promise I made you.”
“What promise?” Iris asked curiously, even as her narrowed gaze focused on Misla.
“To become stronger,” Sai laughed brightly, even as some stray tears escaped his eyes, “Stronger than anyone who treated us badly from the Bael family. Stronger than my father and younger brother.”
“You have a brother?” My mouth opened at that.
Well… I didn’t know what kind of relationship they had, but considering he hadn’t mentioned that tidbit of information, I supposed it was bad.
“Magdaran Bael, the heir of the Bael family,” Kuisha nodded. “He’s… not bad. He’s the son of Lord Bael’s second wife.”
Huh… surprising, but whatever.
Nodding at them, my healing energy flowed through my body before entering Misla’s.
And as I feared, nothing happened.
This… didn’t feel exactly like a sickness. I had no idea why, but my instinct was sending alarm bells in my mind.
This was fucking unnatural. And that meant that someone was the cause of this.
I shared a serious gaze with Iris, who nodded minutely, saying that she felt the same thing.
It wasn’t poison, at least. I was worried about that because some nasty kinds could mesh badly with my powers. I knew the world was bullshit enough to have something that countered me, as absurd as I was.
Rias didn’t move from her place, but she did narrow her eyes. Iris did, though, walking next to me with a serious look.
“There’s nothing wrong with her body,” I explained for Sai’s and his peerage’s sake. “Her life force is as strong as I expected. I don’t feel anything wrong with her demonic power, and there are no signs of deterioration. I don’t know how a human would fare with this, but everything seems to be in order.”
Sai’s jaw tightened. “Then what is it? It’s not normal to sleep for years, even in the supernatural world.”
“Of course not, Sai,” I replied patiently, “It’s her soul. That’s where the problem lies.”
I didn’t elaborate further. This shit was absolutely artificial, and the more I focused on it, the surer I was. The whole situation stank to the high heavens.
I could only hope I was too pessimistic and my idea was wrong. There was someone who absolutely won from Misla falling asleep.
But I didn't want to burden Sai with this, at least not right now. And not until I was sure.
Iris was abnormally quiet as she looked past Misla’s body.
She didn’t say a word, but we glanced at each other one more time.
Rias noticed, she was like that. And she turned serious when she saw how we were acting, but she stayed silent.
Sai looked between us, looking hopeful despite the doubt in his heart. “You are good with souls, right? I know you can do many things with them, Elias. At least you can see them.”
I shrugged faintly, offering him an apologetic smile. “I’ve never seen anything quite like this before. I have some ideas, but I can’t promise anything beyond that. Seeing it is one thing; affecting it is another. That’s dangerous.”
That was the truth.
Sai didn’t hesitate for a single second, nodding firmly, “Do it, please.”
“The first step is to strengthen her soul,” I mumbled to myself. “Right now, it’s too frail to try even to touch it. Years of this mess seem to have weakened it.”
I stepped closer to the bed and allowed Aetherius to rise naturally from within me.
Golden light bled from my skin, only a tiny portion at first, because I feared overwhelming Misla without even noticing. It washed softly across the room, then it grew brighter when I noticed nothing adverse was happening to her soul.
The waves passed through the room, bathing it in the warmth of the Aetherius.
Regulus, Kuisha, and Sai closed their eyes for a moment, breathing deeply in contentment.
I loved seeing how people were affected by my light. It felt genuinely nice to bring such peace to my close friends.
I placed my hand on Misla’s chest and began guiding the flow inward.
But before I could continue, Iris caught my wrist. “Wait a second, Eli.”
The certainty in her voice made me stop in an instant.
I lifted my eyebrows at her, but before I could voice my question, Sai beat me to it.
“What’s wrong, babe?”
“Strengthening alone won’t fix her, and if you try to touch her soul directly, you might overwhelm her, Eli,” Iris said, her gaze still locked on Misla. “Remember that you aren’t only a mortal, and I fear the weight of your power will be too much for her.”
Green light began to seep from her fingers. Regulus hissed as he took a step back.
He never liked the feeling of Iris’s magic. It was too deathly for him, as he always said when they sparred.
The color was sickly and beautiful all at once; it was brighter than her own eyes, but just as breathtaking.
Iris looked focused on her hand, then glanced at Misla before turning to Sai. “Do you trust me?”
Sai nodded in an instant.
Iris didn’t say anything before she shocked all of us.
Iris stepped forward and, without any further warning, plunged her hand through Misla’s chest.
There was no resistance, and not a single drop of blood came out of her body. Her hand passed through flesh like it wasn’t even there, but my sight allowed me to see exactly what she was doing.
She had Misla’s soul in a tight hold.
Sairaorg winced, and for a moment, I feared he would move, but he took a deep breath and stayed in place.
I watched as Iris wrapped her fingers around the distorted edges of Misla’s soul. And she began adjusting it with care, reshaping the misaligned portions with the extra energy the Aetherius was providing.
Okay, this was working. Slowly but surely.
I grinned at Iris, “You’re the best love. Keep doing it, and I’ll tell you when to stop.”
She could sense and interact with souls, but pure sight? I think my eyes were better, at least until she grew her power.
Which was something we needed to talk about... and probably bring Odin into it.
He knew better than us.
“Alright,” I said, allowing the Aetherius to flow a bit faster. “You’re doing perfectly.”
We didn’t speak for minutes, doing the same thing over and over again.
But after a while, I stopped seeing any difference. And Iris was starting to sweat.
Rias passed a clean washcloth through Iris’s forehead with a frown.
“More,” Iris whispered. “Add more, Eli. A lot, but… slowly. I need to shock her soul awake.”
I increased the output carefully, maintaining control so I wouldn’t overwhelm the connection.
Honestly… I was getting a bit nervous.
A minute passed without much change, but out of nowhere, the final 'distance' between body and soul locked.
Iris withdrew her hand from Misla’s chest, the green light fading as she did.
And one second later, Misla inhaled sharply.
Everyone froze, including Iris and me.
We had hoped, obviously, but… well, the important thing was that it worked.
Her eyes fluttered open. Misla looked confused for a moment, and fear emanated out of her in waves.
Then she watched Sai’s crying eyes at the foot of her bed.
“Sai?” Her voice was smooth, even if it was obvious she had not used it in a long time.
He dropped to his knees beside the bed without hesitation.
“Mum?” The same couldn’t be said for my friend.
His voice broke as the tears came unhinged, but no one blamed him even as snot came out of his nose.
She lifted her hand slowly, her fingers brushing his cheek as if she was thinking it was a dream.
She didn’t cry, even when I felt the turmoil inside her soul.
“You’ve gotten big, my baby boy,” she murmured.
Sai laughed between the tears, looking at his body, “I guess you can say that, Mum. It’s been years.”
His voice failed him for a second before he choked out. “I missed you so much, Mum.”
Misla frowned softly. Everybody could see how much it pained her to miss so much of her son’s life, but she powered through it.
I stepped back without thinking, giving them space.
It... it made me feel jealousy.
Beside me, Iris swayed in her spot.
It was subtle, but I moved as soon as I noticed. I wrapped an arm around her waist before anyone else commented on it, steadying her as the green faded from her eyes and left them their usual shade.
I was so damn proud of her. But as much as I’d want to, it wasn’t the time to shower her with praise.
Sai pressed his forehead against his mother’s hand, his shoulders finally dropping now that he didn’t have to pretend to be unbreakable. I didn't know how much he went through in all these years without her.
I couldn't imagine the relief he was feeling.
I smiled brightly seeing him this way.
“I did it,” he whispered, barely audible. “I kept my word.”
Kuisha was crying with a bright smile on her face. She only looked at Sai; her king was the only thing that mattered to her, and he was happy, so was she.
I needed to talk to Sai because Kuisha deserved a ring after all this time. She was always there when no one else believed in her, and I knew he liked her.
And she was absolutely smitten by him.
Regulus looked the other way, acting like the brat he was.
I didn’t mention the thank you murmur that barely reached my ears as we quietly left the room.
As much as I wanted to meet with Sai’s mom, they deserved this time alone.
And I needed to talk to Rias, because this sleeping sickness was giving me a bad vibe.
And I absolutely wanted to find out who was responsible for making my best friend suffer.
Rias must have similar thoughts, because her lips were set in a firm line as she teleported us to her family territory.