Reincarnated as the Death God's Vessel

It took a few seconds for Lidien to realize that another soul had gotten trapped inside the fragmented shattered shards, replacing the old Lidien's memories completely with an ancient soul that had tried to possess his Crimson Shard.

"Who are you... Answer me! why do you have two soul shards with three paths? are you the latest experiment of the Death Church?!"

Lidien only giggled, as his smile turned sinister, he looked at the ancient soul trapped in the fragmented shattered shards.

"Amazing isn't it? hiding yourself inside the Book waiting to steal someone's body... just to see yourself trapped again."

As his mocking laughter stopped, he added.

"So, tell me... Ancient one, who are you?"

The Ancient Soul glanced menacingly at Lidien, then the fragmented shattered shards showed his memories which Lidien watched with a smile.

He watched the Ancient Soul conduct his bloody experiments, the same as the memories from the Book bound by human skin,

Watched the Ancient Soul pray the same, the same prayer he had watched the past Lidien conduct when he summoned the Seraph,

And watched the Ancient Soul conquer a massive land, with over hundreds of thousands of crimson-cloaked figures chanting his name.

The Monarch of Blood.

"Now, worship me... Mortal, for I am the Monarch of Blood... and offer your body, and serve me, forever!"

Lidien covered his mouth, his eyes slitted, stopping his laughter from escaping his mouth.

"Even the God of Death couldn't make me surrender this body, and you? stuck in those broken Soul Shards, want to compete also for the ownership of this body... Better dream on."

The fragmented shards glowed crimson, so bright that the ocean of verve below reflected it as if it was a star.

Yet, no matter how much the Monarch of Blood tried to detach the Blood Rune, it would not budge...

For any verve the Blood Rune produced was instantly siphoned into the vast ocean below, adding to Lidien's reservoir of purified, blood-like verve.

Lidien watched, amazed at the Blood Rune acting like a Soul Shard when it purified the raw Spiritual Essence from the starry skies... however, since the soul shard which the Blood Rune was attached to was Lidien's,

The Monarch of Blood could only use it to purify more Spiritual Essence but not control it.

"Hey, Idiot Monarch... do you want to have a body of your own?"

Lidien said, staring at the Monarch intently, without a hint of mockery.

The Monarch of Blood didn't answer and just watched Lidien while smiling.

"Help me understand what Blood is..."

Then Lidien pointed at the Crimson Shard runes, specifically his Blood Essence Rune.

"My understanding about blood is still in its Rank 1 Initial Stage... however, my Soul and Necrotic Essence Rune are all in Rank 1 Peak Stage..."

The Monarch smirked, and turned around inside the fragmented shards.

"Maybe one day, after every Essence Rune turns to Peak stage, I could make a vessel for you..."

A deafening laughter resounded throughout Lidien's Dreamflow, the Monarch of Blood's image in the fragmented shattered shards disintegrated slowly, hiding within.

"Fool... Enlightenment is Unique, my Understanding of Blood may be different from yours... for we don't have the same mind..."

As the image of the Monarch of Blood in his fragmented shattered shards was gone, Lidien could only smile, thinking all of the effort of finding the secrets of the book bound by human skin was just a fluke.

'Good thing he couldn't attach his Blood Rune to my Crimson Shard, or else I would have been replaced by the Monarch of Blood...'

Lidien walked gradually towards the fragmented shattered shards slowly orbiting the Crimson Shard, He studied it, analyzing how it worked, and how it was formed.

However, even the memory of the Monarch of Blood was not showing how it was made... Like the previous owner of the body, it only showed his fragmented memories.

'At least... it shows some real History, and I could even use some of its memories to decipher Ancient Runes, that even the old Lidien didn't understand.'

Lidien tried to memorize the symbols from the memories, and how they were read, while comparing them to the language that he now used.

Though it would take some time, at least Lidien already had a lead... and it would also help Lidien to read ancient texts leading to hidden treasures left by the Death Church.

'I really need to thank the Old man for his gift, a perfect memory of Ancient Language...'

When Lidien felt that he was already getting pulled out of the Dreamflow, he closed his eyes and waited until he didn't feel the suction force anymore.

He was surprised when he opened his eyes, the conjured vortex had stopped, sending all the debris to the corner of the room, leaving a clean surface in front of Lidien.

However, when his eyes refocused... he saw that the door to the room was opened, and the Old man guarding the fourth floor of the Knowledge Spire was inside.

Kneeling in front of Lidien, prostrating.

"Hail, the Monarch of Blood... for the promised vessel has met its true owner..."

Lidien smirked, and acted out the memory of the Monarch of Blood when he was still alive, roaming and spreading chaos in Ancient times with his crimson-cloaked army.

He placed his hands on the Old man's head, while activating his Blood Form, and said.

"No one should know I have returned. Until I have my powers back."

He walked past the Old man, and stopped at the corner of the door.

"Let this World dye with Crimson..." Lidien glanced back at the Old man who was looking at him with reverie.

"And us, the Blessed of Death... will dye it for Him."

Lidien continued to walk down the silent corridor, and the only thing he could hear was the Old man banging his head on the floor, marking it with his blood, saying.

"Let death be the end of all things..."

Bang!

"Let death be the end of all things!"