Dance With the Nightingale - Chapter 43

“What are you gonna do exactly?”

I asked, unable to shake off that feeling of unease.

And how could I?

After all, it was my soul on the line not hers!!

“You are too dumb to understand the procedure. So, shut up, and let me concentrate brat!!”

It would have been funny to see her, who was shorter than me at 172 cm, to call me a brat who was at least 180cm, if this was a normal situation.

(A/N: His soul is same as his previous life, so 180+ cm.)

I would have even laughed then, but now,

“Okay…”

I muttered disheartenedly, sparing no brain matter for the joke, before sealing my lips.

-Let’s start.

I heard, as a palm that I could somehow tell was cold, was placed on my back.

Just in the middle of the arrangement of pikes.

And then…

Silence.

For a long time, I just stood there, like a dumb idiot, doing nothing, completely idle.

Dozen of times, runes climbed up my soul and on my back.

Sometimes freezing me, sometimes burning me, sometimes making me uncomfortable.

But without exception all of them cracked and disappeared as soon as they touched the pikes.

“So, it was not like this-”

“This is useless too-”

“Changing the scribe didn’t work-”

…

Occasionally, I heard some mutters, some useless chatter, but obviously they were more for her, than for me.

So, I just stayed quiet.

Then after another brief silence.

“This should work.”

I finally heard a voice that was meant for both of us, rather than just her.

A voice that felt fairly confident.

“Go.”

She said lightly, as she activated her spell.

A huge magic circle, that was no smaller than a house covered me from all sides.

I couldn’t help but marvel, even when I couldn’t understand a single bit of it.

And the huge circle didn’t disappoint.

While every other rune, every other spell, disappeared as soon as it touched the pikes, this magic circle didn’t.

Rather, it changed forms at various times and stuck to the pikes like it would never let go.

But unfortunately, that was all it did.

No, more like it tried a lot of things, but anything it tried, didn’t seem to work.

And then, a minute after the spell had been activated, something strange happened.

The ever silent, never changing pikes, changed.

Suddenly, they released a small cloud of white smoke.

And the next time I saw them, they were covered in runes.

Dark red magical runes, and incomprehensible magical circuitry, that I had never seen before.

As soon as those red veins appeared, the huge magic circle started trembling, becoming fragile, threatening to break at any moment, but thankfully it held on.

Just as I was wondering about what the heck was happening, a screeching, a searing, and somewhat buzzing sound resounded through the whole space, cracking it at several places.

Needless to say, the magic circle around me, was obliterated, shattering into pieces like cheap glass before disappearing…

And when it did, the origin of the sound, those same pikes that were embedded in my back stopped vibrating, and fell silent.

‘Those red veins or that strange vibration…’

‘It’s almost like the pikes are sentient themselves.’

I thought, while,

-Fuck.

Someone cursed hard.

Even in this situation, I couldn’t help but laugh.

In all honesty, it felt like a sleeping dragon was annoyed by a bunch of flies, so it woke up, and roared crushing them in process, before going back to sleep.

-SMACK!!

-Whooosh

-Thud

Rubbing the back of my head I stood up, bitterly smiling.

‘Looks like taking them out is impossible.’

I thought, but a voice filled with irritation brought me back.

-Come back here fast brat!

‘Why did you smack me so hard if you wanted me back?’

I complained inwardly as I saw the more than 100-meter distance that I flew for…

But, I moved my legs nonetheless.

“Listen up masochist brat, this is my last attempt for you, if this doesn’t work then nothing will.”

‘Oh, I thought the last one was the end, but I guess she has something up her sleeves?’

“Just be ready, it’s going to be painful, really painful.”

‘Or maybe she just thinks, smacking the back of my head wasn’t enough?’

I gulped,

“Do what you have to.”

As I answered grimly, before turning around.

-Here I go, then.

I heard, as the same palm was placed on my back again, followed by a flood of power that flowed in my soul.

Expecting the pain, I clenched my jaw and gritted my teeth, but, it didn’t arrive.

Instead, the power nourished my soul, which started brimming with it like never before.

A tinge of gold appeared in my soul. It was faint at first, but, it rapidly grew, becoming more and more prominent, before my soul changed from an ethereal silver to a light gold.

I wanted to ask, ‘What’s going on?’, but I didn’t.

The overwhelming power that kept rushing in my soul, didn’t allow me to.

It took my all to just keep that power from leaking out of my soul.

There was too much power being poured in, I just couldn’t hold it in.

It was like continuously pouring water in a water balloon.

And then, my soul which was just like an overfilled balloon…

Burst!!

Literally, it burst just like a balloon!

And the pain that I was warned about, arrived unexpectedly.

A searing, a burning pain, a horrible unbearable pain.

Pain from my very core.

I hurt so badly that I felt like I would go insane.

My brain got so overloaded by pain that-

‘My soul burst…?’

-The realization hit me belatedly, as my brain understood it’s implications.

‘Am I a goner now!!??’

But, proving me wrong, the same power that burst my soul, saved it.

The overflowing power, changed shapes and formed a golden tornado of pure soul power.

Every bit of my soul was gathered by the golden tornado, that somehow put those bits together to form my soul anew.

It wasn’t complete, it wasn’t the same, it was more like loosely stitching the scattered bits and stabilizing them for a bit to…escape.

Yes, escape.

Escape now, when those pikes were not embedded in me.

When my soul exploded those pikes naturally fell off me, got detached from me.

Taking the chance, the golden tornado took flight, taking my half-reformed soul away, far away.

A vertical wall of white came down from the ceiling separating me from the Empress.

And the last thing I saw before our separation was a colossal magic circle bigger than a football stadium, that only had two things in the middle.

A human and six pikes.

-Whooosh

The tornado of power placed me on the floor of the white space, and solely focused on healing me, using its own energy to do so.

And after a while, it was done.

The tornado revolving around me disappeared, revealing my silvery soul which was now as good as new.

“That was one heck of a plan!!”

I screamed without holding back, as I checked my back.

It was healed!

It was healed!!

It was healed!!!!

There were no pikes digging deep in it!

I was free!!

FREE!!!!

There are pikes embedded on your back?

Destroy the back!

There pikes are in your soul?

Burst the soul!!

And form it somewhere else!!

A simple, barbaric, surely painful, but effective plan.

I was literally dancing when I thought of this.

Alas, I danced too soon…

The white wall on the left side of the room rippled. Starting to crack in the next second, before it…shattered!!

A huge circular hole opened on the wall, showing purplish black space, indicating that this space was disconnected from the previous one.

And from that purplish black hole came the only thing that I didn’t want to see.

A flying black PIKE!!

At a speed that I couldn’t follow, it came flying straight at me…

And before I knew it,

-Puck

It stabbed itself straight in my back.

-Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I screamed, less due to the pain and more due to frustration, more due to despair.

As…

-Puck

-Puck

-Puck

-Puck

…the remaining pikes came, stabbing themselves on my back, as if I was a piece of meat.

-Puck.

Belatedly, the last pike came too.

Completing the number, and following it came another being.

The Empress.

She saw my state, and I saw hers.

She looked the same, not a bit tired, not a bit different.

I don’t know if really she tried or not, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

At least she tried.

“I failed kid.”

“I know, I had to face the consequences, you see.”

I tried to say with a smile, and horribly failed, giving her a distorted one, as I tapped on one of the pikes.

For a moment both of us went quiet, with me being really at a loss of words.

Thankfully, the Empress wasn’t as she quickly said.

“Don’t be too upset kid.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Anyways I am sending you back, then you can cling to your mother for consolation.”

“What? I won’t do that, and yes, let’s go back.”

-Haaaah

Looks like it really him me hard…

Guess, having a death trap over your life is really stressful.

‘Well, I should snap out of it soon.’

I thought, as the scenery changed again.