Soul Eater

The Damage From Soul That Begins Waver

The next day the weather looked better. After heavy rains flushed the entire land, now the sun's rays returned to provide warmth for all living things.

Gladio smiled to himself when he saw the sunlight that had just risen. His body felt comfortable when the light touched his skin gently.

"I don't know how long I haven't felt all this!" Gladio remembered that he often waited for sunlight when he was in the basement, the small gap that always gave off the warm light of the sun became a sweet memory in his brain.

Not long after, footsteps were heard from behind. Gladio turned around slowly, the figure of a bearded man was staring at him while his feet were still walking.

“Gladio, like I said yesterday, today we will be doing magic training!” Artorius looked at the sunlight. “Lucky today the weather looks really good!”

"Uh?"

When Artorius said that his eyes looked deep and serious as if he was looking at the enemy he was about to fight.

After that little conversation, they immediately started the practice stage. Gladio was asked by Artorius to stand up straight.

"Gladio! I'll show you an example of the magic you're about to learn! However, before that what element of magic do you want to learn first, because each and every element of magic will be very easy to learn if you are compatible at using it.”

Gladio was silent while thinking about what kind of elements he wanted to learn. While he was thinking, Gladio saw sunlight which had a warm feeling and gave life to other creatures.

"I want to learn fire magic first." The boy was very excited to say that.

Artorius also felt proud to see his students in high spirits. "OK! In that case, I will teach you fire elemental magic. So watch me first.”

Artorius stared straight ahead. His eyes narrowed, right hand raised up. “Venit Ignis!”

Flames began to appear like geysers coming from beneath the ground. The fire spreads and then forms like a ring.

“Gladio, this is a level one fire element! If you want to use this magic, you must be able to concentrate your mind, then try to channel all the energy you have into your palms. Once you feel the energy gathering say a fire spell called Ignis, if you want to cancel it just say Vastare!”

Gladio was very mesmerized by the fire magic he had just seen. Even though it was only for a moment, but he was already so amazed.

"Now try to do what I did before!"

Gladio started to open his palms. Right hand like a monster, Gladio was a little doubtful that he would be able to cast fire magic from a hand shaped like a disgusting monster.

"Concentration!" His eyes began to close, he imagined all the energy flowing into the palm of the hand. In a few seconds Gladio saw a drop of water falling into a puddle. "Ignis!"

Spontaneously he cast a spell as a drop of water fell into the puddle. Then, something terrible happened.

The fire that Gladio used wasn't the basic level fire that beginners usually put out. The fire is the embodiment of high-level magic.

"No way, how can this kid use this magic!" Artorius who was an experienced magician was very confused by what he had just seen.

Gladio tried to keep the fire magic. The fire continued to shoot out from his palm until it formed a dragon figure.

“Aquae Aspergillus!” Artorius immediately acted. Just as the situation was getting serious he spawned a magic circle that sprayed water at Gladio.

The water spray was like a fire hose that was dousing a big fire, as a result, all of Gladio's clothes became wet.

"Huh! Huh! Huh!” Gladio was in shock while maintaining the fire element, he seemed to be being possessed by something. "What's this?" Slowly he looked down at his palms.

"Is that so!" Artorius approached while holding his chin.

Gladio turned to Artorius, with a shocked face he asked, “Master, what happened exactly?”

Artorius was silent for a moment with serious eyes looking at Gladio's face. "You don't seem like a normal person!"

"Uh?" Gladio was very surprised not by Artorius' words, but the look in the eyes that Artorius gave him was like people who had insulted him.

"Gladio! If you can use that power then you will become a great magician. However, if you are unable to control it then you will only become a monster!”

“M-Monsters!” Those words always ring in Gladio's ears. He had always been said to be a monster.

“If you want to continue studying magic it would be best if you first suppress the emotions that are in your body!” Artorius understood who Gladio really was. “I didn't expect that he would come here! It would be terrible if the prophecy actually came true!”

The training was postponed until Gladio could control the emotions that were in his body. Ever since he cast fire elemental magic his right hand was in excruciating pain, every time it was throbbing non-stop.

"What happened to this monster's hand!" Gladio, who was about to sleep, now feels disturbed by the pain he has been feeling for a long time.

His right eye began to turn into a monster's eye. "Dug!" His chest ached so much. “What is this… why do I feel anger welling up in my heart!”

The faces of people who had been insulting and condescending themselves were rotated, scornful looks and insults kept repeating in his head.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Gladio's tone became very heavy and no longer sounded like a normal human. “I will kill you all, who have called me a monster!”

"Uh!" Artorius then entered Gladio's room. There he looked very surprised that Gladio's condition had completely become a monster.

"Gladio do you remember me?" Artorius wanted to make sure that Gladio was still conscious.

"Arrgh!" There was no response, only a loud, shrill scream out from Gladio's mouth.

In Artorius' eyes it was no ordinary scream. "It's terrible!" A black colored energy was surrounding Gladio and the aura it created was really uncomfortable. “Purifica hanc dubitationem meam. Purgatio Lux!”

Artorius' two palms then emitted a bright light. The dark energy that was enveloping Gladio slowly began to dissipate. After that, Gladio fell unconscious.

Artorius really couldn't understand what would happen if he didn't notice this soon. However, Artorius saw that Gladio was still conscious and trying to stop the dark energy from controlling his mind.

“Hmm… I guess, I should teach this kid how to control his soul first!” Artorius firmly believed that Gladio would be better off studying soul magic than natural elemental magic.

__To Be Continued__