"I was wondering who the stupid fool was that interfered with my sleep — so it turns out to be you.... This LOWLY MONKEY..." Lady Achillia squinted her eyes and a terrifying bolt of pressure slammed Sun Wukong into the ground.
'Fuck.. fuck.. I'm so fucked..' Sun Wukong lamented as he struggled against the pressure seeping into his soul, causing the very foundation of it to shake violently.
'How was I supposed to know that this boy wasn't just a broken cultivator but also harbors the consciousness of this old hag....' The Monkey King lamented his misfortune as he raised his head — and that was when he saw her.
Seated majestically on a large golden throne floating above a blue sea. Her legs were crossed, her posture completely nonchalant, her eyes fixed on him with the patience of someone who had all the time in the world and knew it.
"What?" She asked, noticing his gaze — and he felt another pang of pressure that almost decapitated his head.
"Nothing... Absolutely nothing.. The boy helped set me free, so I wanted to check on his meridians..." Sun Wukong lied through his teeth.
"Meridians? When did a lowly beast like yourself become an Alchemist?" Lady Achillia asked — and Sun Wukong's entire existence shook violently.
"The last time I checked, you were killed by your brother... How come you're still alive?" Lady Achillia asked.
"He couldn't kill me... He tried everything he could but I refused to die... So he ended up trapping me here for hundreds of years.. I've even lost count of time. Nobody could find this place — and those that did ended up dying from the spiritual energy restriction placed all around.."
"Spiritual energy restriction?" Lady Achillia's eyes widened slightly. "I've never heard of such an art.."
"You've never heard of it because it's a forbidden art of the Devil's Alliance. Only a few people possess such terrifying techniques even among them..." Sun Wukong stated.
"No wonder — after you were gone, the Humanoid Beasts faction joined the Demon's faction." Lady Achillia finally sighed.
"YOU FOOL... YOU NOT ONLY LOST TO YOUR BROTHER.. BUT ALLOWED THE HEAVENLY STAFF TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE DEVIL'S ALLIANCE... Do you know what that cost us?"
Every word from Achillia slammed deep into his soul. He sounded more like a child receiving a lecture from his elders.
"But if I may ask.. What are you doing in this body?"
"Hmmph.." Lady Achillia snorted — and the Monkey King quickly bowed his head.
"Know your place, mongrel... During our era you were only at the Early King Tier Realm... The only reason you could join the King's Alliance was because of the Heavenly Staff in your possession.. Now that you've lost it and have been trapped here for years, your powers have regressed back to the Grandmaster Realm..... I can extinguish your soul without blinking..." Lady Achillia threatened — and Sun Wukong understood his situation completely.
Even though both he and Lady Achillia were in the same alliance, that didn't automatically make them friends.
But he had a privilege here — and that privilege, he intended to use.
"If you extinguish my soul.. the boy will also die..." The Monkey King said to Lady Achillia.
"Because he's almost dead already — his internal system has failed and his body is deteriorating..."
"And so...?? Why should I care about him?" Lady Achillia stated — shocking the Monkey King to his core.
'I thought she was here to protect him... Looks like this boy is truly unlucky..'
"The spiritual energy restriction didn't affect him because you were dormant — but now that you're active, he'll be tribulated by the restriction. And your soul won't be an exception..." Sun Wukong revealed, pausing to gauge her reaction.
Lady Achillia wasn't shaken. Her expression didn't flicker even slightly.
"So that's why I came in here — to establish an equal soul contract with him as a reward for setting me free after all these years... Am I not benevolent?" Sun Wukong stated eloquently.
"I see... You really take me for a fool..." Lady Achillia started — and a bolt of terrifying pressure slammed into the Monkey King.
"You... A proud beast that reigns terror on the Devil's Alliance, forming an equal soul contract with a human.. Joke of the century.." Lady Achillia chuckled — and the Monkey King's soul churned.
'She has seen through me...'
Without hesitation he moved — trying to escape the sea of consciousness — when Lady Achillia squinted her eyes.
"Who gave you permission to leave?"
The sea rose immediately, flooding everything within seconds. Even the island was submerged before he could process it — the water dark and heavy, carrying a pressure that had nothing to do with its depth. A whirlpool formed and gathered tight around his consciousness.
"You wanted to turn him into your slave — but what you didn't expect was to meet me..."
"And you still had the nerve to think you could deceive me... For that reason — YOU SHALL PAY.." Lady Achillia snapped her hand and an ancient text appeared in the air.
Written in blood. Nothing but blood. A language that existed outside of anything ordinary understanding could reach.
"A master slave contract...." The Monkey King's eyes widened as he realized what the Goddess of Death was doing.
'Is she trying to make me his slave??' His soul churned as he forced himself against the restraint of the sea — which held him down without hesitation — the text floating forward and penetrating into his head one character at a time.
"Aaaarhhhh... Forgive me, Goddess of Death.... I can't serve a puny human...." Sun Wukong cried out.
"A puny human you say?" Lady Achillia raised her hand — and out of the sea rose Socrates' consciousness. Unconscious. Dripping with water, the surface of the sea rippling quietly around it.
Lady Achillia waved her hand — and the Monkey King felt a golden aura rush out of his head and enter directly into Socrates' soul.
The Monkey King's eyes widened.
"My spiritual energy..... Lady Achillia.. What are you doing?? You're using my spiritual energy to strengthen his body...." Sun Wukong was literally crying as he felt his vitality regress significantly — his cultivation base dropping instantly, everything he had rebuilt over hundreds of years draining out of him like water through cracked stone.
Lady Achillia smiled, watching every impurity and piece of rubbish expel itself from Socrates' body one by one.
In the outside world, golden energy covered Socrates' body as every part of him was repaired — bones knitting, wounds sealing, the dried blood along his ribs dissolving as color returned to skin that had gone the pale grey of someone close to the edge.
"Although you can't cultivate.. Your body has broken past the limit of a human warrior.. You now have the Peak Sky Rank physique that can rival a Foundation Establishment Cultivator..." Lady Achillia was satisfied.
"Oh no... My cultivation... It has regressed... I've fallen... I've fallen so low... Oh no...." Sun Wukong cried out.
"Your crying.... IT IS DISTURBING.. You don't want me to wipe your memories, do you??"
The pressure slammed the Monkey King into the ground as he quickly crawled forward and bowed — again and again, without dignity, without restraint.
"Oh Goddess of Death... The Great King Gladiator... THE GREATEST EARTH BENDER... THE ONE WHO REIGNS SUPREME ABOVE ALL... I SHALL ACCEPT MY DUTY AS A SLAVE OF THIS MIGHTY HUMAN... I SHALL NOT DISOBEY HIM.... PLEASE SPARE ME..." Sun Wukong cried out, his voice bouncing off the walls of the sea of consciousness with nowhere else to go.
"SCRAM~"
Lady Achillia's voice echoed throughout the entire sea of consciousness — and the sea rose and flooded everything.