Infinite Body Prince

A fog tendril formed, attaching itself to Haldon's soulbody.

Unlike with the birds, due to higher potency, it was taking longer.

Fifteen minutes had passed by the time it finally descended into the fog.

When the tendrils made contact with Haldon's real body, Hadrian's manifested body deformed into mist and he coalesced the fog around Haldon.

Up in the first layer, Haldon's body grew faint by the minute, with only his cores remaining.

Haldon's left index finger twitched but his eyes remained dead.

Half an hour later, with all his concentration on Haldon, Hadrian watched as Haldon's pupils dilated, his soul body in the first layer completely erased.

Not wasting time, he carried Haldon in the metal box.

Like he'd seen with the birds, they didn't immediately regain control but took a moment.

Going off the tendril, and Haldon's soul body taking half an hour longer to fade away, it might take a moment longer before Haldon regains control or consciousness.

Whenever Hadrian took over Baruch, Baruch's consciousness would retreat but would remain present somewhere in the back.

Sealed in the box, Hadrian felt Haldon's consciousness was dormant, giving him confidence to proceed.

If he didn't do this now, he might not get another chance.

When he'd first been sealed in the box by the witch Lys, his connection to his vessels had been cut, however, it now seemed to have been the witch's influence and not a feature of the sealing.

He did not wish for Haldon to be conscious to see the process of him carrying him out of the space and back to the real world.

Without hesitation, he carried the box with Haldon, the birds, Alia, and some of the fog, descending out the space.

He took Alia and the birds because he wasn't sure how them being left in that space would affect his connection.

After all, aside from Baruch's special nature, his consciousness so far had been incapable of splitting between that space and the real world.

With the box being of a higher rank than him, it could carry a bit more of the coalesced fog.

Once in that mystical space of the box, the effects didn't stack on him who would then have to carry the box.

No matter what was carried in the box, the box's burden remained that of a rank five for as long as it contained the objects and subjects.

Of course, with the fog, it wouldn't be long.

In the real world, feeling his essence low, he summoned the box, ejecting Haldon, the fog, and one of the massive seabirds.

Haldon fell flat on his back, his body like a corpse without Hadrian's control.

Hadrian's back straightened, and his face took on a calm expression, his pupils shrinking on Haldon as some of the fog he'd brought to the real world wrapped around him.

He did this to avoid Haldon being tracked, leading back to him.

Next, he spread his arms, the remaining fog around him like a little cloud.

One of the massive sea birds, channeling force path essence, grabbed Hadrian by the armpits, flying away with him.

Hadrian wasn't running away. He wished to observe a genuine reaction, not influenced by his presence, from a distance.

Since he'd had Haldon's vessels and cores for a while, he knew the spatial sense of a rank two space path mage was increased from twenty metres to fifty metres.

Of course, the further away, the worse it got, but even then, Hadrian wanted to be outside that range.

The sea bird flapped its widespan grey feathered wings, flying up and away from Haldon.

Like with Baruch, Hadrian's consciousness could exist in the background without notifying Haldon of his presence, so he could still observe.

Hadrian caught the view of the landscape, the ocean was to his right, the plateau grassland to his left.

He didn't pay them much attention at that moment.

They landed about seventy metres away, well within Hadrian's range of control and perception, and Hadrian watched as Haldon slowly regained consciousness.

Haldon's muscles around the eyes twitched, and his body thrashed like he was being held down.

His pupils widened and he shot up from his back to his feet in one quick motion with a scream.

His eyes were wide, his breaths heavy.

The death sickle appeared in his hand, his pupils restless as he scanned his new environment, panic and fear etched on his face.

He spun around, still in his blood clot red robes and heavy black boots, the black hair he'd cut short restless to the shore winds.

Slowly, the fear on his face turned to confusion.

His eyes were on the ocean for a moment, his brow furrowed, seemingly not remembering how he'd gotten there.

He took off the red robes, so that he was left with a sand coloured textured top, black trousers and black boots.

He then sliced the robes with the death sickle, decaying them to ash.

Hadrian watched how quickly Haldon was adopting to being in a new location with slight amusement.

Haldon ran his hands through his hair, then carried the sickle away.

He took one last long gaze at the blue ocean, and turned on his heel, heading into the mainland, creating distance between him and Hadrian.

Hadrian didn't stop him, after all, he could always find him and could even use him to explore the new place he'd found himself in.

Seeing the success, his mind was on Alia.

He couldn't wait, but was also hesitant to.

There are other tests.

He told himself.

Haldon had only been a vessel for a few hours. Alia, meanwhile, had been a vessel for a little over two months.

He thought there was a possibility it might affect her reawakening.

Seeing Haldon had gone far enough, Hadrian took a deep anxious breath, his eyes closing for a moment.

He waited half an hour for some of his essence to replenish to carry the box to and fro. Most of that time was spent recalling the past two months with Alia.

Finally, he carried the box, entering that space.

His consciousness split between the first layer and second.

His eyes were on Alia's soul body drifting and covered with fog, looking to be in a peaceful slumber, and her real form in the second layer, her eyes looking dead at the moment.

He left her with the rank two elemental cores, and sent his intent to the fog.

Like with Haldon, he anxiously watched as the fog tendril formed, slowly spinning into the fog and flying into the second layer to meet Alia's body.

…

On an elevated, flat, grassland adjacent to the shoreline, Alia's black pupils dilated, her gaze fixed on the cerulean sky, and the chalky fluffy clouds.

Cool wind blew on her skin and she felt the texture of grass between her fingers.

She supported her torso up so that she sat on the grass with her legs stretched out.

Her eyes fixed on a vast stretch of water, the rhythmic waves splashing somewhere beneath her, the sound of birds nearby.

Her flowing black hair danced to the wind, a tear rolling down her cheek.

— END OF VOLUME 1 —