Return of the Runebound Professor Chapter 923: Greedy

“Oh, you know,” Noah said, with a small cough. “Life. It happens.”

“This is not the effects of life,” Vivian said. “This…”

She trailed off. It didn’t seem like she could quite muster up the words to figure out how to describe Noah’s soul. That was probably a good thing. It was certainly better than her deciding he needed to be purged on the spot. At least, Noah hoped it was.

“I didn’t invite you here to judge me,” Noah grumbled. “What matters here is that the Beyond is isolated. You can tell, right? It’s part of my soul itself. Not my runes. I’ve just got a very patchy balloon.”

Vivian didn’t even look at him for several seconds. It seemed to take her a considerable amount of will to pry her gaze away from the Beyond. But, when she finally managed to turn back to Noah, befuddlement was the only expression remaining in her features.

“What is a balloon? I — actually, forget that. I don’t care. How did you manage this?”

“It wasn’t so much a managed thing,” Noah admitted. “It kind of just happened. My soul was torn to shreds when I went to fight Father.”

“Yes,” Vivian said in a flat tone. “I remember. I wrapped it back up for you. A temporary fix.”

“Didn’t last very long,” Noah said. “Slightly shoddy work, that. But the Beyond seems to have filled up the cracks.”

The corner of Vivian’s mouth twitched. It might have been either amusement or annoyance. “It wasn’t meant to hold for long. And I wasn’t expecting it to somehow endure beyond death. And it didn’t. You died, Noah.”

“Well…”

“Look around you,” Vivian said. She waved her hand toward the Beyond — which really wasn’t all that hard. It was, after all, everywhere. “The Beyond filled these cracks? They’re huge. At least half of your soul is missing. It looks like it was halfway through dissipating entirely before it got patched back together. No mage could survive this. Not even me. If I had taken damage this significant to my soul, I would have died. That’s the end of the story.”

Noah didn’t reply immediately. He just scratched the back of his neck. Then he let out a small breath and shrugged one shoulder. “As some would say, shit happens. Does it really matter how—”

“Yes,” Vivian said flatly. She thrust a finger at a glistening pure-white crack filled with the Beyond “Because this? It’s impossible. The Beyond is an antithesis to life. To magic. It consumes, leaving behind nothing but itself. It co-exist. But, somehow, you have integrated it into your very being.”

“That sounds like a good thing,” Noah said.

“It is not a good thing,” Vivian growled. “You dense, stupid little mortal. This is not how the Beyond works. Coexistence is impossible for it. We were certain of that.”

“Or you were wrong,” Noah said. “I listened to your warnings. The Beyond was so deadly because people were pulling it into their runes and it was corrupting them because of that. I’m not saying it isn’t dangerous by any means, but I haven’t noticed any issues with the way I’ve been using it. Not yet. But you’re the expert. So you tell me. Without bias. Is my soul corrupted by the Beyond?”

Vivian hesitated. She looked back to the damage for a long second. Then her hands clenched. “For some reason? No. It is not. There are no signs of infection. Somehow, you are co-existing with it. But that almost concerns me more than anything else. Do you even realize what this means? If you are truly coexisting with the Beyond, then it is evolving. And it is somehow using to do so.”

“Is that really such a bad thing? If the Beyond isn’t inherently evil—”

“It is!” Vivian yelled.

A wave of force exploded out from her, driving into Noah and sending him skidding back across the floor of his own soul. His runes trembled.

Vivian seemed to regret the outburst instantly. She clenched her jaw shut.

“You do not know what it is you are playing with,” Vivian said quietly. “You have not seen what I have. The Beyond is not some… toy. It is not a weapon. It is something greater. Something far more dangerous. And you have become one with it.”

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“I haven’t seen what you have,” Noah admitted. “But that’s why I’m okay with you looking around in my soul. I didn’t agree to it just because I wanted to appease you. If the Beyond really is a threat, then I’ll need to find a way to deal with it. I won’t put my people at risk. But I need you to be objective. I can’t imagine what you went through in the Citadel. I only have pieces of information that I could piece together from your warnings. But I have enough to know it was bad.”

“It was worse than bad,” Vivian said. “And you are correct. You cannot imagine what I saw. What I had to do. And all of it was because I was arrogant enough to believe I could control the Beyond.”

“But you can control it now, can’t you?” Noah asked. “You found a way.”

“I adapted,” Vivian said. “And I was far more powerful than you when I managed it. I did not have a choice. And in the end, it came too late. It could not undo the damage I had already done.”

“Then you have the experience to know.” Noah asked. “Is the Beyond stable in my soul or not?”

Vivian was silent for several seconds.

“What has been done to your soul is something that I did not even believe to be possible. But… yes. It appears to be stable.”

“So there’s no need for you to go trying to purge my existence or anything,” Noah said. “Right? Because all that would do is cause both of us a whole bunch of hassle that we don’t need.”

“The fact that you sincerely believe I would have any trouble at all killing a Rank 5 is insulting.” Vivian sent him a sidelong look. “And the fact that I genuinely believe you might make me a fool.”

Noah chuckled. “Well, we can’t all be perfect. And if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s being annoyingly persistent.”

“Do not make light of this,” Vivian warned. She walked up until they were just inches away from each other. “If I were smart, I would simply try to end you and be done with it. But with how integrated the Beyond is into your soul, I fear what would happen were you to truly die. I cannot answer that question. And thus, I cannot take the risk. So you will listen closely. If the Beyond spreads in your soul — if it begins acting in a way that it has not, you will tell me. Immediately.”

“I can do that,” Noah said. “I’d prefer to know what’s happening in my soul in the first place. I have no trouble calling on your knowledge to make sure things don’t get out of hand.”

Vivian just shook her head. “I think things got out of hand a long, long time ago. You are either extraordinarily lucky or incredibly unfortunate. The Beyond likely would have ripped your soul to shreds with its presence alone if it wasn’t so large from all the years you spent enduring the Line.”

“You know, that gives me a question,” Noah said. “Why exactly my soul so big? Is it based on how long you’ve lived or something? Because I also had a demon around in here for a while, so there are a few different factors rattling around.”

“You had a — no. Forget it. I don’t have room to consider what that’s meant to mean right now,” Vivian said wearily. “The size of a soul depends on many things. The pressure of your runes is a big one. The years you have lived affect it. It is not directly from your age so much as your understanding of the universe. And it can also be grown by taking damage.”

“Wait, really?” Noah asked.

“Don’t take this as a suggestion,” Vivian said. “Only an absolute fool would go down such a path. But when your soul is cracked, the pressure from your runes can push it outward easier. The more damage, the more expansion is possible over a long period of time. But cracking your soul comes with so many adverse effects that it is rarely worth the trouble.”

“And what about spending a very, very long time wandering down the Line?” Noah asked casually.

“The Waters of Life would have renewed all the damage you took on the walk. But your knowledge not being wiped clean… it justifies a lot,” Vivian said. She hesitated for a moment. “Okay. Tell me about the demon. I am already aware that this is not your original body. That much was clear. You could not have walked the Line and returned in the same form.”

Noah glanced down at himself. “Yeah. It belonged to a guy called Vermil. He was trying to summon a Rank 5 demon. Pulled it off, actually. But I came along in the process. Shredded the demon up to bits on accident. He hung around for a bit. Then he died. It’s not a big deal.”

Vivian blinked. Then her eyes narrowed. “Wait. You… shredded a Rank 5 demon with your mere presence?”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly conscious of how it happened. I didn’t even know I had a passenger until he popped out to say hi.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Vivian said. A frown hardened her features. “You would need more than a large soul to crush that of a Rank 5 demon. You would need power. Immense power. But you came to this world without knowledge of runes, did you not?”

“Yeah,” Noah said. He grimaced. “No knowledge of them. You saw that much?”

“I saw… a lot,” Vivian said. “Not much. Not anywhere near close to it. Just some of the strongest memories. Those of another world. But if you destroyed a demon with your presence, you must have been in possession of something powerful other than your memories of the Line. You would not have been able to channel them yet.”

“Huh. Must have gotten really lucky,” Noah said. He cleared his throat. “But we’ve wrapped up the check of the Beyond, right? So we can head back out and talk normally in your office. No need to stay in here.”

Vivian’s eyes narrowed.

“You would have had to already be in possession of a Rune. A strong one. Before you arrived in this world,” Vivian said. “How is that possible?”

“Life finds a way,” Noah said. He shrugged. “It’s just the past, now. It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get out of here.”

“Hold on,” Vivian said with a shake of her head. “This is important. It could have something to do with why the Beyond merged with you. We can’t leave stones overturned. For you to have crushed a Rank 5 Demon like that…”

Realization lit behind her eyes.

“…you’d need a Rune. An incredibly powerful one.”

Then she looked up.

“You greedy little shit,” Vivian breathed in some mixture of awe and disbelief. “You took a bite out of of them?”