Richard stared at the brass knuckles for a moment, his mind going through the motions as he tried to give himself a "proper reason" why he should do it-

<tsk! Just grab them already>

Unfortunately, Richard’s cautious personality could not win against the Goddess who simply shoved the damned knuckles into his hands-

"Wa-"

He tried to say something but his mind was quickly consumed by a horrific vision.

Darkness washed over his sight and the next thing he knew, he was standing on a raised platform.

The world had transformed, all he could see is an endless plain-

"No... these are!"

At first he thought it was nothing more than a vast empty field coated in red but the reality was more grim.

What looked like a plain was actually just heads, tightly packed together creating a sea of black, all of it submerged in crimson blood.

The scene was still, it was difficult to even see the unnatural vision but-

"Protect" "Protect" "Maintain" "Protect" "Maintain" "Protect" "Protect" "Maintain" "Protect" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Echoes of the damned, voices that lacked emotion, howling yet without purpose...

It was a weird vision, one that made Richard feel conflicted.

For a moment, he thought to himself-

"There’s nothing bad about this-"

Yet all it took was one glance-

"!!!!"

The moment he looked down, he realized that all the faces submerged in blood were looking up. Simultaneously, as if waiting for him to do so, the moment his gaze were directed towards them-

The black soulless eyes... no, they had no eyes, all the faces before him had empty eye sockets.

Black stains marked their faces, as if tears of dried up blood, their faces... the expression they had were hollow.

Despite having different appearances, the similar look in their empty eyes made them all look the same. Any sign of uniqueness within them was gone.

The sight was gruesome yet beautiful-

<See? Was that bad?>

The Goddess manifested behind him, Richard let out a sigh as he turned back.

"What’s this?"

He asked "calmly" but the rage in his voice was difficult to mask, if the scene was not as orderly as it was- if the howls were more anguished. He would have become a white wizard "calmly" demanding answers from a boy.

The Goddess, ever as beautiful, the form of perfection she envisioned for herself. A stunning sight that many would go on their knees for and beg "mommy".

That very Goddess bend down, reached into the sea of blood and pulled up a body.

As if looking at something utterly mundane, without a care in the world, she peaked into the eye sockets of the body like she was taking a look into a can of pringles.

<I expected as much, if you found yourself a true genius then your luck would surpass even your ancestor. But this is the work of an amateur... no, it’s not that the mage was an amateur, he likely lacked the knowledge of more efficient methods>

"What?"

Richard did not understand what the Goddess was talking about so he asked once more but the explanation he got was-

*shove*

The goddess pushed the face towards Richard-

<Look>

"At what?"

<Inside>

"..."

There were a lot of things Richard wanted to say but he didn’t retort- not yet. He first followed the Goddess’ words and when he did-

"What?"

Inside the head of the corpse, through the empty eye sockets, what Richard saw was a purple gem.

<That’s a soul crystal, basically a refined soul. But the process for refining it was archaic. The product is an unstable crystal- hence the bodies>

"I want to ask how but I believe it’s better for me to not know"

<Why? It’s basically just torture to break sanity, then the eyes are gouged out and turned into a slurry, then the brass knuckles are soaked in the slurry. But that method would create unstable soul crystals. So the man who made this artifact used the body of the materials, turned them into a paste and created a large-scale ritual with the slurry at its core. The body creates a seal that locks the soul crystal in an enclosure that protects it from damage>

Richard’s active imagination kicked in, he found a few problems which he quickly knew the answer to...

"The previous owner was an undertaker... these souls..."

<More than half are elderly, using a dying soul for an archaic method- it’s no wonder the soul crystals he created were fragile>

Hearing the words of the Goddess, Richard could only stare at her with an apathetic look on his face-

"..."

But the Goddess was not perturbed as she rolled her eyes in response to his look.

<The elderly in your country are quite unfortunate, no, it’s better to call it an unfortunate product of your culture. Children leave the home early and lose care for their parents. Love is in the form of money and the concept of family is lost to a culture of chasing fortune. In such a world, those that do not bring benefits are relegated and for a man who works to deal with the deceased, looking for tortured souls is quite easy>

With a wave of her hand, the goddess made hundreds of bodies float up from the sea of blood. The bodies were pristine- wrinkly but pristine. Aside from their empty eye sockets, there was no sign of torture.

"I thought breaking the minds of the material was necessary?"

Hearing Richard’s question, the Goddess chuckled as she showed him a teasing expression while answering.

<Cared for by strangers, left alone in a room that smells of bleach at its cleanest and excrements at its worst. Forgotten by the children they raised, a single year of such a life was torture enough- to live through it all... look at their faces, consistency is something that is impossible to achieve for this kind of method yet the stains are all clean near surgical>

Richard analyzed the bodies and he noticed it as well, the weird feeling of staring at these horrific sights was nonexistent since these bodies- these souls...

<They lack the one thing that would have turned this medium into a legendary artifact->

The Goddess paused, Richard looked at the endless bodies before him. The Goddess’s words, based on what he learned, the source of power for magic... the reason an individual could interfere with the rules of the world. The power that bends reality-

If a thousand souls could unite to bring magic into fruition, then the source of that power was-

"Emotions... strong emotions... these souls- they lack emotions"

He responded to the Goddess but-

<ERRR! Wrong~ The right answer is... >

The Goddess looked into the distance and she made a grabbing motion before pulling. Then, following her actions, a black body was dragged from the depths.

This time, unlike the rest of the souls that looked like empty vessels, this one was...

<MALICE>

The Goddess grabbed the head and presented the corpse to Richard.

Immediately, Richard could feel a sense of dread from the black corpse, a strong feeling of hate, anger... all the negative emotions that one could feel were being exuded by the black corpse.

<While most of the souls are empty vessels, those that aren’t were pushed to the depths of the seal, the main source of power for the artifact are these malicious souls. But the method of creation also allows for the development of a psyche>

The explanation of the goddess made Richard open his eyes wide in shock as he answered-

"You mean-"

<Yes, a soul with power developing a psyche is what gives birth to ghost, spirits, malicious entities that haunt the world of the living.>

Richard observed the black corpse and he quickly noticed something-

"This one’s covered in wounds and looks young"

<Good eye! This one is likely the soul you expected to see. The empty vessels of the elderly were used to dilute the malice.>

"Isn’t malice the source of power?"

<It is when processed correctly, but the method used for this one is similar to the ones used by ancient humans. The very same ones that Merlin despised>

The name of his ancestor popped up once more, Richard felt like there was something deeper going on but he somehow can’t point out what it was-

<A more efficient method is the ones used by the religions, they indoctrinate followers and use faith to obtain their power while they live and upon death, the souls that crave for salvation reach "heaven">

"So paradise is just becoming a soul crystal?"

<Unfortunately, it’s worse, soul crystals are mediums, think of them as a catalyst for generating energy. There are methods to prolong this useful period but once a soul is converted to a crystal it becomes a consumable source of energy>

"Why do I need to use it then?"

Richard asked, he could use magic because of his heritage, why did he need to use a non-renewable energy source?

<For regular mystics, the soul crystal is a consumable item, but for you? It’s an enhancer. When others use a soul crystal they burn the soul for every magic they cast. After all, nature would not just let anyone manipulate it. Only those accepted by nature could bend its rules and forcefully doing so would come at a price. The soul crystal is the medium to protect the mystic, once it’s broken, the mystic needs a new medium>

"But my situation allows me to use the crystal to empower myself?"

<Like the emperors of the past, most of them had mystical blood. Hence why many legends speak of God’s having children who become kings>

"Isn’t that just propaganda?""

<It is, since few kings were connected to God’s but most had the blood of the fae, may a land deity or something similar>

The sudden history lesson made Richard’s mind that was about to go wild calm down.

"So, how do I turn this into a better artifact?"

Richard ignored everything and just focused on what he believed the Goddess was alluding to from the start.

Her continuous comment on the "shoddy artifact" made him know that she was trying to get him to improve it.

<Of course, all you need to do is put these souls under your control!>

"..."

Richard felt like the Goddess was just shoving random bullshit into his face. Like a certain masked crusader-

’Now that I think about it, we’re in the same situation right? Forced to do shit by crazy deities?’

The young man mused but such thoughts didn’t last long as he felt his body lost weight as the platform vanished from beneath his feet-

"Thi-"

<IS SPARTA!>

The Goddess screamed in a cute voice as she watched Richard fall into the depths of the bloody sea-