Is this really a Game?!

It was … unfamiliar.

The power he was able to sense coming from the light that formed the barrier made him slightly uncomfortable, which shouldn't be the case as he did have light manipulation, all forms of light powers should be somewhat familiar to him, but he felt none of that from the barrier of light.

He even doubted for a moment that the barrier was made out of light, but it was, that much he could sense, it was just that the light, the power it was made of, was different from what he usually knew. Of course, he knew that having the same ability didn't mean that two people would use them the same way or have the same properties.

For example, his darkness manipulation and Shadow's darkness manipulation were completely different. Shadow's darkness was one that could corrode all things and slowly eat anything away while his darkness was a lot more destructive, one hit would do much more damage, but there would be no corrosion from it.

They still had similarities, of course. Shadow and Reign could both use the darkness to hide their presence and be nearly invisible, and they could utilize a similar technique, the ball of darkness that can draw anything in it, even though theirs were different from one another.

The darkness around this place was a different thing completely. It wasn't a destructive force like Reign's, nor corrosive like Shadow's, it was just a void, a place devoid of anything, it was so different and so powerful that Reign had no idea what to think of it.

"I know what you are thinking, but I still don't think this is the work of a Nephilim, at least not the light, after all, if you are making a prison like this one, why would you give the prisoners a chance to get out in the future?"

'Maybe he thought that after millions of years, they would change, maybe this was some sort of punishment, and the person that made it gave them a way out after they had done their time?'

"Haaa, maybe, who knows, that still doesn't change the fact that the big guy is lying and that something else is going on here, unfortunately, it is as you think, we will only gain more information if we manage to get the artifact, of course, what happens after that might not be a good thing at all."

'I know, I'll be careful.' Reign said before looking at the soul.

"Alright, I shall keep you updated about the artifact, if it truly did belong to her, then there is nobody else that knows more about it than you guys." Reign told the soul which slightly flinched when Reign called the person they served as 'her'. Reign didn't miss that, of course, and even chuckled inside a bit.

'They seem to not like it when I don't use honorifics huh?'

"They have seemingly devoted their entire lives to serving the one they call Alfrea, so it is natural for them to feel like that if one uses her first name or just calls her as 'her'."

'I guess you're right.'

"Alright, soooo … how do I get out?"

"The light construct shall escort you out, just as he had done when bringing you over here." The big soul said as Reign nodded at him.

"Also, if you could send some souls in here from time to time, it would be much appreciated, it would alleviate some of the pressure from us and the fragments, allowing us to better defend ourselves against the darkness."

"No problems, I have used almost all of the ones I have before, so I won't be able to send a ton of them, but sending a couple every now and then shouldn't be an issue." 

Reign said with a smile as he lied to the big soul. He had a lot of remaining souls, as well as the means to get a ton more whenever he wished, he just didn't want to send them souls and give them more power as he still didn't trust them in the slightest.

Keeping them weak was the best thing he could do right now as that would limit the danger they possessed toward him, as well as Liara.

The gray smudge was waiting for Reign at the end of the barrier, upon getting close to it, the smudge wrapped itself around him and made its way to the entrance in order to bring his soul fragment out of this place.

As Reign got out of sight, four more large souls appeared and stood next to the one that was talking with Reign.

"What do you think?"

"An artifact, did one truly appear?"

"Will he be our way out of this place?"

"Does he trust you?"

The four immediately started asking questions, to which the large soul simply shook his head.

"This person, I don't think he trusts me fully, he was clearly a bit apprehensive, but that is to be expected, this is the first time he is meeting any of us, I do believe his story about an artifact, the only question is which one has been found."

"Her Majesty's artifact, we cannot let anybody get it!"

"We must take the artifact back, no matter who manages to acquire it."

"Demons, if they take it, then this vessel that has the fragments might be in grave danger."

"You have done well to tell such a story, Arkimezmon, the child is young, he will definitely find no faults with it."

"Will he truly, I feel as if we have come across somebody we shouldn't underestimate, especially not because of his age." The soul said, prompting the others to think.

"Hmmm, young, but relatively strong, a strong soul."

"Only a fragment, hard to find out the full strength or origin of the boy."

"I felt some power from him, old power, he might not be a mere human."

"A 'mere human', you say, haven't we already seen for ourselves how powerful 'mere' humans can be a long time ago?"

"Yes, they can become strong, many of them, huge numbers, some incredibly talented, good for integrating with other bloodlines and powers, must not be underestimated."

"Yes, from weak, they became strong quickly, not underestimate, especially if the boy is a special case."

The souls continued talking, discussing how much help Reign could end up being while the soul that talked to him continued staring at the entrance of the prison they had been in for the last several millions of years, even though he couldn't see Reign's soul anymore, he was apprehensive of him, he felt that the young boy was not simple at all.

Reign managed to get out of the prison, and now, there was no more vortex, just a black smudge inside Liara's soul. It was harmless, for now, but Reign knew that he had to find a way to get more information about it.

He managed to fuse the fragment of his soul with his soul again, turning it whole once more before going out of Liara's soul and opening his eyes.

Immediately, he managed to smell a nice fragrance as Liara was still on his lap, hugging him.

He felt her weight on him, he felt her chest that was right up against his own, and he was able to feel her breath tickling his neck.

"Hey, you good?" Reign asked Liara as the latter flinched suddenly and drew her head back. Her expression was a bit drowsy, which Reign took as a sign of her just waking up. She had probably fallen asleep like this a while ago.

"Hey, you didn't drool on me again, right?" Reign asked the drowsy Liara, which immediately made her wake up and stare at him angrily.

She got up and made her way to the bathroom immediately before closing the door.

"Ummm, you do know that you're almost naked and that your clothes are here, right?" Reign asked in a teasing voice, which made Liara, who was in the bathroom flinch, but she simply turned on the shower and said nothing.

A couple of minutes later, Liara got out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel. She quickly grabbed her clothes and went back to the bathroom to put her clothes on before coming out and staring at Reign.

"What happened, you said the barrier was still present."

"It was, but we underestimated the vortex, well, we didn't know what it truly was till now, are you interested to hear just what is going on with you and what the thing in your soul is?" Reign asked Liara, who grew serious and nodded at him before sitting down and listening to Reign speak.

He held no information back and told Liara everything that had occurred and what he had gone through, which made the latter widen her eyes in shock and stare at him wordlessly even after he had finished talking.