The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 358: Meditation for the Soul

”...Hmmm...” I look over some papers, reports from my kingdom about the coastal area that looks great.

”...Why is the paper wet?” Thereʼs some kind of liquid on the paper, not enough to ruin it, but someone spilled something on the reports.

”This task was given to Freya and Aokitsu...Freya is responsible so it must have been Aokitsu.” I sniff the paper, it doesnʼt smell like seawater, but I canʼt quite tell what it is.

ʼThe paper has Freyaʼs scent...how unexpected...was it her who made this mistake?ʼ It doesnʼt have Aokitsuʼs scent, so she probably didnʼt even touch this paper.

”Haa...” Freyaʼs emotional colors have been constantly fluctuating since Thalorʼs death, I talked to Elena and found out the two had a close friendship, so Iʼve already deduced that Freya knew about Thalorʼs betrayal.

However, I really donʼt have any proof of this, itʼs just pure instinct, but Freya has the color of loyalty, a bit wavering, but still loyal, unlike Thalor who no longer had the color of loyalty.

Thatʼs why I havenʼt really done anything to try to prove it, I just check through the colors to see if sheʼs still loyal.

”Well, I guess it doesnʼt matter, I can still read everything.” I carelessly toss the paper onto the desk, not wanting to waste time on it while I imagine what to do in the future after the war.

ʼEven after my revenge, many things will remain unresolved. I have my kingdom to take care of, I have to conquer the world, I have to break the seal thatʼs trapping my older sister, and I have to increase my status to the level of billions.ʼ Thereʼs so much to do.

”Martial arts...maybe I need to switch martial arts again.” My martial art allows me to ”steal life” from targets with each blow, taking their mana for myself.

However, ironically, itʼs not that useful, so Iʼve used it very little, while the [Spatial Fencing] combined with my fighting style involving the use of multiple weapons is much more useful, but not enough.

Spatial fencing has very large limitations, and the fighting style I created by mixing fighting with various weapons has nothing really special, it just allows me to fight using multiple different weapons in a battle.

Itʼs good for being unpredictable, but it doesnʼt cause any special effects. Thereʼs a martial art I saw in a book that my older sister has used before, it was something involving gravity, and her punch destabilized the planetʼs gravitational center.

This shows how a good martial art makes an absurd difference. I canʼt make the entire planet come out of its gravitational center with just one punch, I can even affect the planetary gravitational center, but only with magic.

In addition, that was one of her initial martial arts, she learned much stronger things after that and even created her own style, so I also need something as strong as her.

ʼMy older sister is so incredible...ʼ She can kill at least 90% of everything that exists with just one punch, with only the goddesses and equivalent beings able to survive against her punch.

”I have advantages that my sister didnʼt have.” I know all the universal laws, every piece of what composes existence is knowledge I have thanks to my mother.

With this knowledge, I could create some kind of universal martial art or something similar capable of affecting the universe itself and the reality where my blows land.

ʼBut that seems complicated...how can I do something like that?ʼ Just knowing how each universal law and rule is doesnʼt mean I can just use it however I want or apply it to reality.

Especially because Iʼm still relatively weak by divine standards, Iʼll still have to train a lot.

”No...that wouldnʼt work...would it?” I think of something, asking Tsukuyomi to train me, maybe she can help me create a martial art of that type, and the reason for this is due to the type of goddess she is.

She is a being more connected to mythology than to reality itself, in other words, she has a unique perspective on what the universe and existence are, proof of this is that she merged with a planet in a way that she shares her own existence with the planet.

And knowing universal laws, I know that existentially merging with an ”object” is not common, itʼs not easy, and itʼs not something that can be done just by having power, it requires a high level of knowledge.

”Okay...I admit now that I may have greatly underestimated Tsukuyomi.” Iʼve never seen Tsukuyomi fighting with everything, when she fought me, she was feeling the symptoms of my mana invading her body.

And Iʼve already felt that when receiving unstable mana into your body, you take severe damage, Tsukuyomi experienced something similar to when I was thrown into the dead mana forest and almost died from the mana destroying me from the inside.

”She...didnʼt even bleed.” She didnʼt seem that bad, and I can say that my mana is very chaotic and destructive, receiving my mana without having taken real damage and still being able to come fight me is impressive.

ʼSheʼs so needy and weird that I didnʼt even notice how absurd it was that she fought me in that state.ʼ Plus, the fact that she was still protecting her abdomen because of the pregnancy.

Maybe if Tsukuyomi wasnʼt suffering those effects, she would have given me a much harder fight than I ever imagined.

”It seems that even those I underestimate can turn out to be monstrously strong in situations I overlooked.” Tsukuyomi now deserves some degree of respect, I admit that.

I underestimated her too much, she never seemed to me like someone very strong, and her ceremonial and needy way always hid how strong and clever she can be.

ʼSo maybe she really can help me.ʼ Maybe with her help I can even get my divine weapon like Delphinaʼs daggers, a divine weapon strengthened by Violet must be impressive.

”I think Iʼll meditate.” Iʼm trying many different things, meditation is something Iʼve recently started because Iʼm too ”irrational” sometimes and Iʼm trying to improve.

Iʼm no longer a child, Iʼve already reached the adult stage of my race, I need to mature my mind, I know it will be impossible to get rid of the monster instincts I have, but I want to at least reduce their influence as much as possible.

”A leader must not succumb to hatred, only know how to manage it...” I murmur this phrase that defines well how I should focus my mind, I shouldnʼt make decisions based on hatred and anger like I often do.

I just need to manage the hatred and anger to choose the best option to screw those I hate.

”Soul...” I sit on my bed, ignoring the reports I can read later, I cross my legs and close my eyes, meditation is not just about trying to keep the mind calm.

Itʼs also a way to try to delve directly into my existence and understand the essence of the soul, what a soul truly is and what makes it unique.

So I thought that maybe by meditating while using mana, I can try to discover about my soul and use it as a template to know how to create real souls.

After all, much of what I know about magical biology comes from my body and the bodies of others that Iʼve studied along with theoretical material from books.

ʼMaybe I should dissect some of the races to try to discover things.ʼ Dissect living beings until they die to see how things change and how the soul behaves.

I already know how to trap, take, and see souls to a certain extent, itʼs not perfect, but itʼs what I do to take the souls of others and bring them to my universe, so I should be able to use that for study as well.

ʼWho would have thought, having to study even in another world, the universe is really an irony.ʼ The amount I have to study is gigantic to do the things I do, since they are complex depending on what it is.

ʼItʼs better to stop getting distracted, I need to focus on meditation, I can think about this later.ʼ I ”clear my mind” leaving it blank and focusing more on the interior of my body.

I have two hours before I have to go to the academy, Iʼll take advantage of this time.

...

...

...

”Grand Duke Veritus, is there a problem?” A maid asks as I adjust my clothes, heading to Pandoraʼs room in a certain hurry.

”No, I just have to leave, a matter has come up and I should be gone for at least a week.” I tell the maid, Kaelith sent me an unpleasant message.

Kaelith is my daughter, as my creation, she is the heir to my family, when my lifetime is over, Kaelith will replace me, she will create another homunculus that will be her child and continue the cycle.

ʼKaelith, why did you release those flaws?ʼ Kaelith had asked me for her sisters as toys in the past, she was quite sadistic and her sisters were useless flaws, so I gave them to her.

However, I always thought they were dead, but apparently Kaelith always took care of them to a certain extent, keeping them alive, and finally decided to release them and take good care of them.

But she finally noticed the problem, and now I have to go get something and send it to her, the problem is that some of her sisters have an intentional flaw that will make them die.

Unless they receive something that is being kept, now Kaelith has sent me a desperate message asking for help.

ʼHaa...being a father is so difficult.ʼ I think about this as I reach Pandoraʼs room, opening the door.

”...” I see Pandora floating above the bed with her eyes closed, she has six arms in different positions forming symbols while she emits a faint concentration of mana.

”Pandora?” When I call her, she opens her eyes, loses concentration, and falls onto the bed while her extra arms dissolve into black mud.

”...Tsk, do you need something?” She asks irritably.

”Yes, I need to leave, Iʼll be gone for a week because I need to get something for Kaelith.” I say, asking for permission to leave.

”...Okay, you can go, just send a report on it afterward and itʼll be fine.” She says, closing her eyes and ignoring me, I let out a sigh of relief as I leave the room and close the door.

ʼI just need to be quick.ʼ Iʼve never seen a message from Kaelith as desperate as this, it seems she has finally developed some degree of positive feelings for her sisters.