Jedo and Strafe were so shocked, but Dyne kept doing his routine. Finally, Dyne was content and dispersed the souls in the zombies by making Jedo absorb them.
“Why are you making me absorb it?” Jedo asked.
“In case I may need to summon undead skeletons. If I transfer their souls to a body or a skeleton, they should be able to rise. Hey, can you nurture dead spirits in you?” Dyne asked curiously.
“… I am a Ra-Seru. Not a crypt keeper.” Jedo argued.
“Jedo. Agree with him. This is better. You don’t understand the power of what Dyne could do. Necromancers, Warlocks, and Druids use dark magics to control armies. Right now, Dyne has the means of creating undead soldiers but doesn’t have a way to store them. You just fill in that slot. If Dyne can do it, you should help him. Your soul space can contain several hundreds of weak souls.” Strafe ordered.
“Ye-Yes Lord Tieg!” Jedo submitted.
“Oh? Why is this Tieg suddenly so helpful?”
“It's because I have an interesting idea. You must have felt that there is a strange change in the Imaginarium Bond.”
“Yeah.”
“The Slime God sent something in it that is changing the nature and balance of all three worlds. In that situation, it's even possible to shape newer worlds! If you keep on gathering and sending creatures into the Imaginarium Bond, I can create a reverse world based on Brigandine through that entity the Slime God sent.”
“I’m listening…” Dyne was intrigued.
“I plan to use that world to help you walk on the Path of the Devils.”
“Path of the Devils?”
“Yes. You are Brimstone, and Jedo is technically Time and Space. But seeing as how you can wield its power easily…”
“I wouldn’t say easily. It’s very hard for me to control Darkness or Time/Space power.”
“… Just stop. Don’t-Don’t speak. Just stop. Ok?” Strafe felt his heart getting rip.
“Very hard? Very hard, your mother!” Strafe was cursing inwardly.
Even Jedo trembled in anger.
“Are you intentionally feigning weakness to insult me?!” Jedo also cursed inwardly.
“Anyway… With your talents and how you are somehow able to control Jedo’s powers for whatever mysterious reasons, I can create a Dark world opposite of Brigandines. If you can, send me the right items, creatures, and even souls. I can create that world.”
“That world?”
“You were assigned to infiltrate, capture, and interrogate a certain General in one of the enemy countries. You used one of his hideouts and interrogated them there. You delayed the mission for three weeks because his house had an old computer. But since that house didn’t have an internet connection, you began to play a certain game on that computer. If I’m not mistaken, your fanaticism in that game is equal to any PS1 nostalgic games you miss.”
“You can’t mean… You can create it…?”
“What game?” Jedo was curious. Dyne hadn’t shown him all of his memories but only a small portion of them. And the memories of such a mission that Strafe described weren’t something Jedo had seen.
“Heroes 3: Might and Magic.”
Dyne lost all strength, and he stumbled on his knees.
“He-Heroes 3?!”
“Really? You literally stumbled?!” Jedo was annoyed at the eccentric gaming desires of Dyne.
“Yes. But it may take a very, very long time to do it. Truth be told, I haven’t finished creating the worlds of Brigandine and Breath of Fire. I was planning to use the awakened Genesis Tree’s to help reform it as the souls will be sent to those worlds. Thanks to that entity that the Slime God sent, it is possible to make alternate realities based on the current worlds that exist. So It won’t be difficult for me to do it too…” Strafe explained.
“Alright! What do you need?!”
“Just play whatever games you come across. I’ll tell you if I need anything.”
“You got it, boss! Jedo, absorb the dark energy here, and let's hurry up and make Strafe stronger!” Dyne nodded and went ahead with his focus and determination skyrocketing to the heavens.
Strafe and Jedo were shaking their figurative heads and even face-palmed. Dyne was just too nerdy.
Dyne began to follow the group and noticed more creatures in the path.
“Zombies! Heroes 3 has zombies! Do you need Zombies, Strafe?! Jedo, send it in the Imaginarium Bond!”
“Calm down, you nerd!” Strafe cursed.
“Jedo is not yet strong enough!”
“Lord Tieg is right! Don’t get ahead of yourself!” Jedo also cursed.
It took a few more minutes of Strafe explaining that Jedo has to get stronger and even needs an awakened Genesis Tree to make it possible to send them into the Imaginarium Bond.
Dyne reluctantly killed the zombies and made Jedo absorb the death energy.
“Hrm? This is one powerful zombie! And it’s soul! It’s quite strong! His level ought to be a Martial Formation.” Dyne was amazed.
“This must be one of the stronger knights that went here. And by the looks of it, he had great potential for Soul Cultivation. Too bad this place has no Soul Cultivation heritages. To think that in this place, he managed to use his soul power somehow to strengthen his physical body.”
“So he could do spirit?”
“He was close to it. But by looking at his body, it would have been possible for him to win over an enemy of equal cultivation.”
“Then that settles it. I’m going to make him one of my main summoned zombie! Or Skeleton... whichever seems convenient. I’ll just have to figure out how to make them stronger.” Dyne killed the Zombie, absorbed the Soul, and brought it into Jedo’s soul space.
Dyne continued moving towards the inside of the cave and soon reached the location where Char and his minions were. The ritual continued, and Dyne took note of everything that the Char said.
As the ritual was completed, another tremor could be felt. This time, some loud howls and growls could be heard all over the cave. And the sounds of screams and anguish were heard echoing from a distance.
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“The Souls are screaming?”
“The dark energy in this place is getting stronger. And so, the souls would feel terror, fear, hatred, jealousy... All those emotions,” Jedo explained.
“So meaning, it's bound to attack anything alive? Jedo, coat me up with darkness.” Dyne ordered.
Jedo harnessed the power, and it covered Dyne. With the Golden Compass and the darkness, the undead couldn’t sense Dyne.
As Char finished, it moved and hastened to the last location.
Dyne followed the group.
“Wait… I haven’t finished absorbing the dark energy here yet.”
“Don’t absorb it yet. After they cast that spell on that location, I think that they will all gather at the very center of this magic circle. And to get there, they would have to pass here. If we absorb the energy now, they might detect the weakness. So we absorb this place last.”
“Alright.” Jedo nodded. Secretly, Jedo was amazed at how Dyne could think way ahead into the future. All those other locations have only been absorbed because Dyne knew Char the Evil wouldn’t pass there again.
Dyne followed the group. Along the way, the corpses they were carrying were starting to become alive as the thick energy awakened it all. The minions of Char couldn’t kill it because it would disperse the souls, so they pinned it down instead. The zombies didn't bite them since they were also coated in Dark energy.
Soon, they reached the location, and Char began his chants.
Dyne listened from the very beginning of the ritual and observed what the warlock was doing.
“Hey, Strafe. How does this spell work exactly? I mean, just by chanting those words, you can turn an area into a place that gathers dark energy?”
“It's actually a chant that is based on the words gods or devils use. You see, when creation began, gods and devils only had words to make things from nothing. The same concept occurred in your world when Sovereign Basileus Basileon created that universe when He spoke the Word to creation. Humans copied the words these gods and devils used and made spells out of them. Rena’s healing spells, magic, and so on are based on these concepts.”
“Does Legaia follows these laws?”
“Yes. This means you can cast magic using the chants on all game worlds in the Imaginarium Bond. But simply saying the chant is useless. You need a conduit to mimic the power that these gods or devils had.”
“So basically, Mind? I need to have magic to do it?”
“Or… Soul. The Ra-Serus can also do that. Jedo can perform this.” Strafe smiled.
Jedo was startled at Strafe’s explanations.
“Legaia was only fated to have the knowledge they have. So obviously, no one knows this. But now, things are different. Because of the Slime God’s interference, your enemies will soon learn this.”
“Hmm… Fair enough. So I need to make Vahn, Rim Elm, and Biron stronger. Wait. Now I have Rena, Lucas, Trina, Jaden, Amorien, Ishreth, and Chad… Ugh. Too many characters! It's Suikoden and Chrono Cross all over again! Curse you! my obsessive-compulsive desire to keep all their levels equal!” Dyne wept.
“You… can’t be seriously thinking of training everyone so that they have equal cultivation?” Strafe wondered.
“Of course, I have to! That’s why I’m crying! It’s so frustrating!”
“Lord Tieg. If I may ask…”
“Yes, Jedo?”
“What the hell? Why Dyne?”
“I didn’t have a choice!” Strafe also wept.
But right before they could continue weeping, another tremor could be heard as a powerful sense of dread erupted from the back.
For the first time since Dyne entered this world, he felt fear.
Dyne was startled and had a furious look on his face.
“It can’t be! The creature their summoning to this plane is powerful! It’s an Afarit!” Strafe was shocked.
“A what?”
“An Afarit! It's a powerful demon that is as strong as Saints!”
Dyne’s expression grew grim.
“So keeping it in Jedo isn’t possible…” Dyne began to think of ways to weaken the creature.
“Well, the good news is that this Afarit should be young. Afarit’s could be considered as lords of the demon world. And this one right here could be a prince! So this is their plan to create more deaths!”
“If it’s young, then it should be weak, right?”
“Yes. But Dyne, I believe that Basilius Basileon arranged this. In other words, you have to capture a portion of its soul now and kill and conquer it later. The reward for completing this game of Diablo is Diablo himself!”
“What do you mean?”
“Afarit’s are powerful demons that can grant wishes. It’s what people of your world refer to selling your soul to the devil. But the form of this demon is very familiar. If you see it, you’d know what it is.”
“Afarit… Wait! You mean, it’s an Efreet? I remember that in Heroes 3, the Efreet looked like fire Genies. Same in Brigandine. Djinn, and then the fire-type upgrade is Efreeti. Are you saying that it’s similar to that?”
“What game has another creature that sounds just like Afarit, Efreet, and Efreeti and looks like a demon?”
“… Wait. You can’t mean…?!”
“Ifrit of the Final Fantasy series.”
“My first summon!” Dyne almost leaped in joy.