Corrupt Creations

Seth also realized that Velgor's affirmation implied one more thing. It pretty much told him the fact that Serene served as nothing more than a tool for the Demon Lord. 

Seth knew that he was pretty much a tool as well, and at the perfect time, Velgor would try to execute whatever plan he had stored under his sleeves. But the fact that Serene was being treated as a tool, was something Seth couldn't accept. 

"Our relationship was created by you? What are we for you? Mere tools? Are we just experiments? Is it that funny, trying to control our lives like that?" Seth was still trying to control himself, but his rage wasn't diminishing at all. What was holding him back at that moment, was the possibility of Serene getting hurst by any impulsive action he took. 

"Tools? That is a really convenient word to address yourselves. However, you're wrong. Tools...? You're not tools. I will show you what are the real "tools"; the ones that aren't able to go against their master and the ones that when perfectly handled, are able to cause a massive destruction." 

Suddenly, from Velgor's shadow, nine filaments started to extend out. One of those filaments connected to First Shadow's shadow, while the others created eight individual portals at a certain distance from him. Those portals were very similar to the portals Seth often opened up for instant traveling, only having a single difference. 

They didn't connect to a physical place on the mainland, but to a sub-space Velgor had specially developed while using the darkness element together with the Banshee Crystal Core. 

From those small portals, eight different figures stepped out. The weakest among them, Twelfth Shadow, was "still" a Mana Control middle-stage Realm cultivator; however, for a tool, he had his value. 

The level of power kept rising until the last individual left through the portal. Second Shadow was the last one to leave a portal, and he was a Profound Mana peal-stage Realm cultivator. 

Right at that moment, Seth was in the presence of the entire group known as the Twelve Shadows. Their powerful auras increased the pressure around Seth, completely telling him there wasn't an escape from that situation. The pressure was so high, that if he hadn't protected Serene with his aura, she could have been injured. 

"Tools are meant to be used; tools won't even be able to go against their master; tools are just like that, tools. However, you... You aren't a tool... You are something else; something more important. How can I find a word to describe it...? Hm... You're more like a special case, an anomaly that fit very well in the role of a vessel." Velgor suddenly said those strange words and at the same time, he made the Banshee Crystal Core appear on his palm. 

Seth wasn't even able to say anything, before he felt his heartbeat accelerating. When he looked at that crystal, his eyes glued to it like a magnet and something inside of him started to resonate with it. 

It was like the Banshee Crystal Core was sending many pulse signals, that were being received by something inside of Seth's soul. 

"And as the special vessel that you are... The time for you to comply with your role, has come." Just as Velgor finished his phrase, his Mana quickly entered the crystal core and activated it. 

The Banshee Crystal Core suddenly exuded an inviting purple light and Seth's eyes abruptly lost their brilliance. A connection between Seth's soul, Serene's soul and the Banshee Crystal Core had been established. 

That connection was pretty much an energy tunnel where commands were sent to their brains, trying to do whatever Velgor was interested on doing. 

Inside Seth's soul, the Soul Trap started to move restless, as if it had received a supreme command. It was trying really hard to leave the cage of purifying light that Lexi had put it in and detonate, finally accomplishing its purpose. 

A similar situation was happening inside Serene's soul space. However, there was no one less than the queen of purification residing there and nothing the purple energy being led by the Banshee Crystal Core did, was able to shake the unsurmountable mountain that was Lexi's purification powers. 

At the outside world, Velgor smiled after realizing the Soul Trap inside of Seth's soul had activated and was probably doing what he had commanded it to do. His long-cherished plan was about to be concreted. After transferring his soul to the vessel, he would not only have access to that strange crimson energy, but return to being a youth once again. He was about to channel his Mana inside the Banshee Crystal Core and start the ceremony he had prepared, when suddenly, Seth's muddy eyes returned to normal, as if nothing had happened. 

Seth unceremoniously returned and looked directly at his master's shocked eyes. It didn't seem so when looking him, but Velgor was reacting like someone that had seen the impossible. There was a long time, that he hadn't experienced a feeling of defeat. But the sensation he felt after seeing Seth returning to normal, was close to the feeling of utter defeat. 

That failure represented a lot... It was just like the first gear that held his plan in place, had suddenly failed. Without it, he knew nothing would be supported and everything else would inevitably crumble. The vessel was not empty, what meant that the whole ceremony would serve for nothing. From that point onwards, things would only go down the hill. 

At that moment, Seth abruptly shouted inside his own mind: "Lexi, now!" 

Just a single second after Seth had kind of "returned", the purple energy trying to control Serene and him abruptly changed colors. It went totally white, getting fueled by the purifying energy coming from an ancient spirit. 

The connection between Seth, Serene and the Banshee Crystal Core still remained, but it was now being purified by Lexi's powers. The Banshee Crystal Core inside Velgor's hands changed from purple to transparent in just a few seconds. No one was able to understand anything, but the powerful soul controlling aura affecting Seth and Serene had suddenly dissipated. 

Actually, even the Soul Trap Velgor had put in the minds of his own subordinates had dissipated. They were all undone, like undoing a simple knot. In a single instant, they were set free. 

A sense of loss suddenly took every single one of them by surprise and while none of them knew how to properly react to what had just happened, Seth quickly embraced the princess once again, activating his dark teleportation technique to move far away from there. He was snatching the bride for the second time. 

In a single instant, all his plans were thoroughly crushed and Velgor suffered what was easily considered the worst fall he ever had. On his entire life, he had never felt so powerless like in that single situation. 

Velgor kept silently holding that transparent crystal core inside his hand and looking at it as if he was absent-minded. He didn't even bother to follow Seth or send his Shadows behind him. What had just happened, represented something truly huge for him, something that was able to shake his entire being. 

He kept staring at that crystal with a solemn expression, devoid of any hope. That Banshee Crystal Core represented his ambitions, so when it lost its soul controlling powers, his ambitions were lost as well. They were now, something impossible to be achieved. 

As Velgor kept locked on that strange stupor, his nine subordinates were actually experiencing something similar. Most of them have experienced what was the cruelty of working under Velgor's commands, but differently from now, before this strange situation that had just happened, they were all prisoners, slaves to their Master's will. 

Some of them, like First Shadow, were willing to serve Velgor with their own life. They were not only devoted followers, but admirers of Velgor's cruelty and power. But there were a few individuals inside the group called Twelve Shadows, that were not in agreement with everything they did. Those individuals, would never dare to go against their Master, even now that they were free from the Soul Trap. 

But now, they had the choice to secretively leave, vanish from the surface of this world, while making sure that Velgor would never find their whereabouts. 

While multiple questions and possibilities were still forming inside the minds of the members of the Twelve Shadows, there was a person who gave a shit for everything that had happened. 

First Shadow suddenly released her Mana Sovereign prestige and locked her perception on Seth's aura signature. If we were to talk about any other practitioner with other elemental affinities, it would have been impossible for them to locate where the dark sub-space Seth had created to teleport away, had led him to. But First Shadow, was not only a dark elemental practitioner, but a master at it, just like Seth. She easily located his elemental "footprints" and locked her perception on them. 

First Shadow wouldn't allow him to get away so easily from them.