Mind Demon's Path of Domination

"This is what you wanted to show me?" he asked.

Reol\'ran gently put her palm below one of the small orbs. "This little gemstone-like thing represents one of your demonic tricks. You know that, right?"

Mark nodded. He knew everything happening within his Soul Space; he checked at times. These gemstone-like things were familiar to him.

In the dark space, there were exactly eight of them--each gemstone representing one of his demonic tricks. Soul Devourer, Clown\'s Circus, Dungeon Heart Seed, Dream Gambler\'s Mortal Puppet, Alchemic Shapeshifting, Dream Shock, Parasite, and Heart Input. All of those abilities had one stone representing it.

He had seen it long ago inside his Soul Space, why would Reol\'ran go out of her way to bring him here and show it?

"Why are you showing me these?" he asked.

Reol\'ran consumed his own Mindpower and manipulated the movement of all the nine demonic tricks. She brought all eight of the small gemston\'ish things into the space between her and Mark. Mark looked at them silently.

They were like small, condensed planets in a way. Each of them always kept rotating around the Soul Space, too. But they never moved near each other. One demonic trick repulsed another demonic trick like the same pole of a magnet repulsed each other upon contact.

Currently, if Reol\'ran wasn\'t mentally restricting the demonic tricks, they would have scattered in all directions like frightened birds.

"You asked me why Mindpower is so illusive, Mark," she said, "well, this here is my answer. It is an interesting phenomenon that I thought might interest you. Try using one of your demonic tricks and see how these little gems react."

Mark tried to use Parasite.

He used all his attention on the gemstone representing that demonic trick as he did that--it looked like a small greenish stone. As he used the Trick, that particular stone trembled slightly, and his Mindpower was absorbed into it--vines crawled out of Mark\'s hand.

"You saw it, right?" Reol\'ran pushed a strand of white hair behind her ears. "When you activate a demonic trick, the neutral and insubstantial energy, Mindpower, is absorbed by one of these gemstones and then converted into substantial effects. That is how an ability is born."

Mark frowned. "So Mindpower is like electricity and these gemstones are like a circuit. Different circuits have different uses, too. Am I right?"

"Indeed, you are right. But electricity can burn and shock even in its neutral state but in its neutral state, Mindpower is like the building block of the universe itself and doesn\'t harm or complement anything. It is in a state of constant existence and nonexistence. Unless someone provokes the Mindpower, it doesn\'t affect anything."

"...."

"You are still weak, but it is a nice knowledge to have. This is what is happening when you are using an ability--inside your Soul Space, these little gemstones are working hard so that your Trick will work outside."

Mark looked at Reol\'ran and contemplated on that for a bit before he grew curious about something else. "So, I\'ve been meaning to ask. What is the Soul Space itself, does everyone have it or is it exclusive to demons like me?"

Reol\'ran straightened and fluttered around Mark. Having lost her hold on the stones, the demonic tricks scattered, repelled by each other\'s presence. Mark watched as the gemstones soon started moving in a small orbit of their own around him at far distances; they almost seemed sentient.

But man, demonic tricks really hated each other.

"Soul Space," Reol\'ran muttered, her voice faint. "All lifeforms in the world have some kind of mental scape--even mortal humans have a space in their mind where they can imagine things; like imagining a strawberry at the mention of the word--and that mental scape is where their soul resides."

Mark listened intently.

"And for people like Yuri who are Hunters, the small gemstones representing her ability also reside in that flimsy, non-substantial mental scape. But Soul Space, that\'s a more advanced version of this mental scape--and yes, as far as I am aware, only demons have Soul Space."

"What about you?" Mark asked, "Don\'t you have something similar?"

"I do yeah. A Mind Space. It is also a more advanced version of normal mental scapes that only my race--Heaven Souls--can have. Our Mind Space can hold the waters of the River of Destiny in there, allowing us to breathe and survive inside the River\'s currents."

"So, where in my body is the Soul Space located, I\'ve killed many demons and humans but we never encountered anything like that even when Yuri did experiments on them."

Reol\'ran explained patiently, "Of course, it\'s in a sort of different dimension itself. If we are all 3rd Dimension Creatures, the Soul Space and similar scapes exist in the fourth dimension.

I have never heard of anyone ever encountering a physical proof of its existence--I mean, if it was physical, people could easily steal other people\'s abilities by stealing their mental scapes and stealing the power gemstones within it."

"Damn, I\'ll get a headache if I hear more of this..." He sighed. Then looked at the small vines crawling out of his hand, Parasite was still on. If it was outside, he couldn\'t release these vines because he had a Parasite Host but for now, he could because he was inside his own Soul Space.

"What will happen if I use Parasite on your Will and steal your Mindpower?" he asked, curious.

Reol\'ran shook her head, smiling. "I am using your own Mindpower so you will not get anything done other than exhausting yourself."

Mark tried to touch Reol\'ran again but this time, she just appeared behind him. He tried again but she once again vanished and appeared to his front. "Okay, then," he cursed. "I have other stuff to handle, these are busy times. I\'ll catch you someday else."

Reol\'ran raised her eyebrows with a curious glint in her eyes. Smiling, Mark waved at her and vanished, melding into the darkness. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes to the real world--he could hear the faint sound of car horns and regular bustle in the distance.

He was on a tower in the middle of the city, overlooking the night scenery.

"That was quick, I thought you\'d blank out for a while longer," Yuri said from beside him.

Mark stretched. "So, what happened while I was blanked out?"

"Your Brother called. Apparently, he and his team had captured two Tier 2 Demons, they called me to help turn those twin boys into Hunters. The A-rank Healer, your \'grandma,\' apparently plans to use her Healing on the twins repeatedly to turn them into A-rankers in a week."

"Hm, they are so rushed. Even though they shouldn\'t be this pressed. Wonder what\'s going on," he muttered. "Shouldn\'t they be taking it as slow as possible and training every A-rank member of their team as best as they could? Why are they so eager to jump in and attack? Not like the mega-dungeon could eat the world whole in a week more, they still have time."

Yuri shrugged and drowned the wine in her hand. "Ask your \'brother\' what\'s going on. Come, he is waiting near the mega-dungeon not too far away from this major city."

This city would also be overrun by demons soon, then, Mark understood.

He gave Yuri his hand and she pulled him up from his seat on the floor.

"Just a week more till the attack, Yuri. Are you nervous?"

"A bit," she said, wondering herself what Mark truly planned to do.

Mark ruffled her hair and she smiled. "Come on, let\'s not waste time, we have much to do."

They went down the tower, entered a jeep, and began moving towards the mega-dungeon.