Man-man opens his eyes and he is greeted with familiar red eyes. He doesn't feel any comfort from those eyes. He also doesn't understand what is comfort so it doesn't really matter.
The eyes stare directly at him but it also looks like they are looking at him unconsciously. Is she still asleep and why does he see blood in her mouth again?
Restless don't sleep much and even if they do. They sleep with their eyes wide open. So perhaps, she is much more tired than he had thought. But he can't explain when does she has so much blood on her face and in her mouth. That is just strange.
"Good morning, Man-man. It is such a nice weather today, isn't it?"
Man-man sees Louis's head half impaled on Skin's polearm. Why is he over there? Why every morning has to be so strange with people.
Man-man just can't understand these illogical things.
After looking at Skin's bloody face one more time, he stands up and stretches his body a little.
His bones still aren't completely healed but at least they're set in their places because of his own blessing. It still hurt and limits his moments a little. He can't really do anything about it though. Her blessing won't heal the damage done by her.
That makes Man-man think. Can she control her own blessing? If she can then how much can she control this healing blessing?
It is odd to think that damage done by her attacks won't get healed. It has to be an intentional heal. There is no way that it is just free healing that she gives out to people for no reason.
There has to be a reason. She could be using her blessing as a manipulation tactic. She is trying to make Man-man think that he is safe around her.
Of course, he doesn't believe that at all. He knows that she is dangerous and she will kill him if he did something that she doesn't like.
He just has to wait and see.
He moves towards Louis. This Chosen is still alive even after getting beheaded and he isn't healing either. It is fair to say that she choices who to give her healing.
Louis's head also have starting growing a spine. It is still at its early stages but he is remaking his body. That sure is incredible to make a whole body out of nowhere. That is what a shapeless chosen does. They're odd and breaks every possible rule of this universe.
He needs to be careful of this man too. But he isn't that much of a threat as he is just a head for the time being.
"Louis? Do you know anything about her? What happened at night?"
Louis looks disappointed as he doesn't get his 'Good morning' back. He almost starting to think that these two doesn't have common human manners. He feels like a foreigner between the two.
"I don't know. She had gone away to check on something after you fell asleep. I don't know what happened after that though. She just came back really mad and released all her anger at me. Then she impaled me here. Would you mind pulling me out of here?"
Man-man wonders what she did when he was asleep. He doesn't trust her at all. He needs to be careful from now on. He has no idea when will she lose her temper.
"I can wait for a little longer, I guess. You can pull me off from here later. I don't mind. Just don't forget that I am here, okay?"
Man-man ignores Louis's annoying words and sits near Skin. He just has to wait for her to wake up. That's the safest plane.
***
Soon, Skin woke up and they started moving towards the direction given by Louis.
According to him, it would take two days to reach that Shapeless Chosen's place. He lives alone and it is almost impossible to find him if he doesn't want himself to be known.
Louis's existence will help Skin and Man-man to find that chosen so they can ask it about the mountain soul. For now, that is what will be they do for the next two days.
This will be happening in one corner of hell. But on the other corner of hell, someone else is also trying to find the same sinned soul.
Somewhere in hell, a man with pure black skin is tearing a sinned soul apart. The sinned soul was a companion of this Chosen who was killed during a battle with another sinned soul.
Killing their dead companion brings no joy to him. But it had to be done. A sinned soul is a creature of sin and hate. There is no shame in killing these terrible creatures. Even if they once were one of the Chosen.
This man's name is Mor, a Guideless Chosen. Once as a child, he was thrown into the poisoned river that was created by a sinned soul. That incident ends with the death of the sinned soul and corruption of his flesh and body.
There are few side effects for his flesh changing color. Constant pain is one of them. As he aged, that pain did reduce but never disappeared. He still feels this strange ace on his body that can only be ignored during violence.
Now as an adult, he is also from Sicksea region like Midori. Mor is strong and respected as a Guideless Chosen. He is also one of the dangerous Chosen.
Currently, he is in hell on a mission. But it seemed like that mission going to be the end for his people. It has been a week and so many of his people has died. These people are actually the soldiers that he has given. A team of fifteen Chosen. But only nine has left.
"Shame on me…"
He can't help but blame himself. He isn't responsible for these Chosen's death. Even though he is bringing them here. Every chosen is responsible for their own life. Or in some cases, a Chosen's life isn't really worth much.
However, that doesn't make Mor feel any sympathy for himself. He is also a Chosen so does feel some kinship to these Chosen.
He spares one finally glance at the death sinned soul and commands the Chosen.
"Those who aren't severely injured will find anything that in edible in these corpses. Those who can't move can rest for few seconds. That is all."
Every Chosen listen to Mor's commands and follows them. Every single Chosen here is Guideless Chosen. They're younger than Mor so they may as well be children. That just makes him feel more guilt though.
Guideless Chosen aren't supposed to be guided. They're rebellious and see the world as mishap or a mistake. Guideless Chosen might be the only Chosen that despise this lawless world that they live inside.
Other chosen doesn't care or love this hellish world.
There is no heaven in this world, it may as well be only hell. That is what Guideless Chosen say.
But there is a heaven. However, that heaven is way too far away from here.
Mor isn't very educated. He has a limited knowledge of this world but he has heard that if you move further away from hell then you'll get closer to the heaven.
That is the problem though, heaven is too far away and guarded by ancient Sinned souls. These sinned souls are far more terrifying than a normal sinned soul and they surround the hell.
For now, the Heaven cannot be uncovered if these ancient sinned souls aren't killed. Guideless Chosen want to do that. But they need power so they're venturing into the center of hell to find frozen blessing that are powerful enough to do that.
It isn't easy though as frozen blessing are almost impossible to find. But somewhere in hell inside of a mountainous sinned soul. There is some guidance of gods like a temple.
That is what Chara has said. A guideless Chosen that can see the fated events of the futures and according to her this will be an important piece in that future.
That is why Mor and his Chosen are here. To find that mountain soul and uncover this mystery.
It is a fated event according to that woman. But Mor can't see him succeeding in this mission. That is just his gut feeling.
Thoughts always come to his mind though. It isn't anything unique or related to his own blessing. He is just a born pessimistic.
While wondering about these pointless pessimistic things. Someone familiar enters his view. It is none other than Midori Dieman. But is it really Midori?
"You don't look like Midori."
The not-Midori stops and then she breaks. Instead of Midori, now someone entirely different stands in her place. It is like a she wasn't Midori at all.
"Mor, I don't know how you always see through my mirroring. It is impressive, just a little. Maybe next time, I will fool your eyes."
Midori's strange blessing can make her mirror onto other Chosen. There isn't else known about her blessing. Either she can only capable of doing that or there are few limitations to her blessing.
And for figuring out the real Midori, Mor's senses are sharp and he can see slight differences in the body. No matter how perfect her mirroring can be. He can see through it and find inconsistencies. There is no trick to it. Just his skills.
"Why are you here, Midori? Weren't you collecting your army?"
Midori sighs.
"There has been an occurrence. Someone bothered me too much so I had to kill my mirror. It was also a losing battle. My opponent was a wild animal under the human skin. A disgusting pest."
Mor wonder who is this Chosen that bothered her in fighting. She is strong and capable of fighting melee much better than any of his soldiers. If she can be overwhelmed than perhaps the Chosen in hell aren't as weak as he had thought. He needs to be careful when dealing with these Chosen moving forward.
"I've collected over thirty wild Chosen for now. This roster is enough for now. We can work with them."
Midori only has one arm. Cause of that some might think she is weak but that isn't true. She is powerful and strong. That lethality is also increased because of her weapon. A mace like weapon which is a frozen blessing. The true name of this frozen blessing is [Reduced to a pawn].
He doesn't know much of the frozen blessing. Only thing he knows that it can make puppets or something. How? He isn't sure.
"You got some info on our mission then?"
Midori nods.
"I tortured Chosen, now my puppets, that I suspect had blessing that could tell me about the location. I killed five of my puppets but I got nothing. Such a wasted effort."
Mor looks at the puppets and they seemed to be numb and have no thought of their own. It is quite creepy. Some would say that they look so close to becoming a sinned soul. That frozen blessing is terrifying.
Then Mor sees two puppets coming from the dark carrying a Chosen's body that is tortured to an unnatural degree. Whole his skin is removed, hair is plucked off, finger nails and teeth are removed, eyeballs are pocketed out and other quite gruesome things that Mor doesn't want to describe.
Midori dieman is really good at torturing. She has particular skills that makes her scary in that regard. However, despite that the Chosen is quiet like deadman. It is probably because it is currently a puppet.
"Instead of focusing on finding a convenient blessing. I changed my approach and started searching for info. I tortured my Chosen, few talked and few didn't. There isn't much to know about this hell of a place but I did find out that there was a battle that happened between these wild Chosen and a dangerous sinned soul. According to this Chosen, who is currently peeled off, there is something inside of that sinned soul. It carries a temple or some structure. That Sinned soul was massive like a mountain. So, I believe that there is some chance that we can find something from there."
Mor's expressions are a mystery because of his dark black skin. It is impossible to tell what is he even thinking. Midori can only watch him and wonder what is going in his mind.
In reality, nothing much is going on. He is satisfied with the info she has gathered. It isn't rock solid but it is quite good. She has gathered much more than him.
However, he can't ignore her methods. He doesn't agree with her methods at all. They're too cruel and awful. But he also can't deny that they're bring results. It just makes him… remorseful.
"You can have that little peeled man. I don't need it anymore. kill it and then kill the sinned soul that come with it. I am tired of killing these ugly pests again and again. We will discuss the plans tomorrow."
And so, she disappears. With her, all the puppets disappear too. Except for the peeled chosen. As she leaves, [Reduced to a pawn]'s effect is gone and the peeled man screams in agony.
Mor watches him with a somber face. He does move to kill the peeled man nor does he order his companions to do. He just watches him.
He knows that killing him is the quickest way to release him from his agony. But he doesn't know if he should choose that. Even if he isn't chosen by the Guideless God that man is still a chosen. It feels wrong to him.
Does he feel pity?
However, pity doesn't last long. Those agonizing screams ends and changes into laughter. The peeled man laughs like a maniac. This is sign of a Chosen.
A crazy smile appears on Mor's face too and he orders.
"As soon as you all get free of your tasks treat that man with whatever healing supplies you got. If he misbehaves then you can call me."
Every Guideless Chosen stare at him with horror.
Mor isn't just soft and light hearted. He is also cruel and this seemed like a great opportunity to get another soldier for himself. And also…
'Ten soldiers just sounds better than nine…'