Threads of the Soul

Chapter 494 - 494: The Ocean Master

"Yes Sir... We've successfully infiltrated. It seems the enemy have access to some kind of teleportation system... No, it's more advanced than our own. It definitely belongs to the Gods...Yes sir, We are looking for the artifact now. We suspect the old man will lead us to us.No Sir, he doesn't suspect a thing."

Lightning Tiger smugly reported, talking to his Supreme Captain on a video call through his communicator. However, before the Captain could give him the praise that they deserved, along with a nice promotion, his partner suddenly let out a blood curdling scream.

Lightning Tiger whirled around, catching the horrifying sight on the call with the Captain, as his partner writhed in pain. Pure white lightning crackled across his body and glowed within his eyes as he was cooked from the inside out.

He didn't even get a chance to know what it was before his partner grew limp again, smoke curling from his eyes, mouth and ears.

Gulping nervously, with slightly quickening breathe, the Russian spy turned back to the camera and quickly corrected his report.

"It seems... somehow not only have the enemy detected us, but they have advanced weapons capable of attacking souls directly. Sir... Should we... Should I retreat before I am detected?"

As a spy, Lightning Tiger had naturally been trained for the inevitability of being killed, or even tortured, upon his discovery. He was fully aware that it was not a possibility, just a matter of time, and had been prepared for it.

But something about that death in particular, and the dreadful scream his partner let out as his soul was ripped apart and incinerated stuck in his head, and suddenly all of that training and preparation felt utterly useless.

He had to clench his fist to keep it from trembling as he waited for the Captain's response with baited breath.

The Captain, instead of responding right away, simply sighed heavily in disappointment and annoyance before finally answering.

"Permission Gr... Permission Grrrrrr... Permission Grrrraaahh!" The words Lightning Tiger desperately wanted to hear suddenly turned to aggravated and pained screams as the Captain clutched at his head.

Lightning Tiger recoiled slightly in horror at the sight of the Captain's scale covered arm, as if he was part of some kind of Lizard Abomination.

"No!" The Captain shouted, his voice reverberating, as it was layered with a voice that was not his own. The two voices spoke, just out of sync, with the foreign voice leading and the Captain's own voice trailing behind obediently.

The Captain... No, the thing that was in control of him, straightened up, looking into the camera with a cold, emotionless and unblinking gaze as his eyes had turned into vertical slits.

"You will find the artifact. They mussssst not be allowed to kept it. It belongsssss to me! Pray for Ssssuccessss and It will be granted to you." It said with a knowing smile.

Lightning Tiger shuddered at the eyes staring into his soul, each rolling S sent shivers down his spine, as if there was some kind of worm squirming into his ear and rooting itself in his mind.

He nodded softly, quickly cutting off the communication so those eyes would finally stop boring into him and yet even when they were gone... he could still feel them.

He considered abandoning his mission, glancing out into the hills with a fear in his eyes that he had never thought that he, a highly trained soldier and spy, would ever feel again. Yet after considering it, and feeling that worm still wriggling in his mind, the man known as Lightning Tiger slowly sunk to his knees and clasped his hands before starting to pray with a trembling voice.

A wave of refreshing energy swept over him from seemingly nowhere, filling every ounce of his body with newfound strength as well as relieving his built up strength. But that was not the intent of the wave, merely a side effect of its presence.

It swept past him, engulfing the smouldering corpse of his friend and comrade, before it started to spasm and writhe again.

It rose off of the ground, as if it was a puppet being pulled up by invisible strings, before his comrade finally opened those dazzling blue eyes once again. Only... his comrade did not have blue eyes, at least not before.

His Comrade glanced at him, regarding him not with the professional warmth or comfort they had built from working together for years, but with the disinterest one would show a stranger.

He began to inspect his own body, as if he was surprised by what he was seeing, before snorting in irritation and disgust.

"This is not my vessel... Ugh, This isn't even a Celestial." His comrade spoke with a foreign voice, rolling his neck before holding out his hand to the side. The air shimmered and glowed with a blinding light, before a golden Trident manifested out of thin air.

He twirled it a few times, getting used to the weight and the feel of his familiar weapon in this unfamiliar body, before glaring at Lightning Tiger in annoyance.

"Well? Why have I been summoned here?"

"T-there is an artifact we must collect and a... a portal underneath the lake that will lead to its location. I think you are supposed to be my reinforcements. There is an unknown amount of defenders, plus signs of a defensive structure underneath the waterline.

I suggest that-"

"I don't need your suggestions boy. Just try not to die, I don't have time to baby sit the likes of you."

His former comrade spun the Trident again before striding towards the lake with strides that overflowed with confidence, forcing Lightning Tiger to follow reluctantly.

As they neared the waters edge, a pair of horses wrapped in seaweed and other greenery rose from the water, they bore their teeth in anger and trotted on the waters surface, preparing themselves for a fight.

But the stranger controlling his comrades corpse simply raised his Trident and slammed its end against the ground.

The shock-wave rippled out across the lake, overflowing with power and authority. An authority that the Kelpies were unable to deny, as everything within their existence was telling them to submit.

The rage immediately left them, as they quickly dropped down and bowed their heads in reverence as the stranger stepped onto the waters surface and strode across it like it was solid.