บท 54: The Infamous Musen
"What the f-!"
Taku's thoughts were immediately broken by Maka's astonishing voice. He looked up only to let out a surprised yelp. What was in front of them was not the "Outside" they were hoping for. The two looked back and noticed that there was a small vortex behind them.
The vortex was not that big and could only fit about two people at a time. Maka's expression turned solemn. "This is a transfer gate."
"A transfer gate...what's that?" Taku asked.
Maka did not reply and began studying the transfer gate. Taku was not bothered by her silence at all and turned around to study their surroundings. Looking around Taku found houses all around and a large temple right in the middle.
He felt like he was looking at an abandoned city. What surprised him the most was that it felt as though they were inside a mountain. The issue was that the whole place had no openings but there was still a source of light. It almost felt as if the sun outside could shine right through the mountain rock.
He began studying the small city and was constantly surprised as his eyes scanned everywhere. He could not help but think back to all the detailed history of Earth. No matter how much he scanned and examined the place he couldn't help but feel familiar with the place.
The setting of the houses was not something you could find in the Gutu Empire. The architecture reminded him more of Ancient Earth, or at least something recorded in Earth's history books. He saw the temple which reminded him of an article he once read. Even though the article had images, they were drawn out and not exactly accurate.
The article read:
"Çatalhöyük
In 7,500 BCE, this city in the Mesopotamian region (now Turkey) held thousands of people and is believed by many to be one of the world's earliest urban settlements. But the culture of the people here was unlike anything we know today. First of all, they built the city like a honeycomb, with houses sharing walls. Homes and buildings were accessed by doors cut into the roofs. People would stroll on the streets across these roofs, and climb down ladders to get to their living quarters. Doorways were often marked with bulls' horns, and dead family members were buried in the floor of each home. It's not clear what happened to the culture of the people who lived in this city. Their architectural style seems to be unique, though archaeologists have found many fertility goddess figurines in the city that resemble others found in the region."
Everything here looked exactly as what was described of the Çatalhöyük city. He could no longer hide his shock as his heart began beating rapidly and his breathing quickened.
Is there some sort of connection between this world and Earth? Why is there a city that looks exactly like those recorded in history books?
Taku was so lost in his shock and thoughts, that he couldn't even notice that the space above his head was distorting.
"Move!"
Taku was only woken up by Maka's shout. Before he could even do anything he felt a sharp pain coming from his chest. He looked down only to find nothing there, but his eyes became bloodshot. Taku had a very sensitive soul and could feel that something was attempting to attack it.
Taku quickly sat down cross-legged and began meditating. He took a look into his soul and what he saw left him shaken. Initially, there were only 3 entities in his body, at the moment there were 4. The three main entities were actually working together to attack the fourth entity. Taku could not hide his shock as he saw that the new entity was actually shaped like a human.
At the moment, the human spirit was not having such a good time. Musen had initially thought that possessing someone so weak would be easy. It was something that should have taken less than ten breaths to do, but now he had only been inside Taku's body for ten breaths and all he could think about was escaping.
When he was still alive he only really had one setback and that was when he was trapped in the pocket dimension in spirit form. At the moment his expression was really ugly. The moment he tried to leave he would be surrounded by the smoke inside Taku's body.
This left him depressed. He was one of the most powerful people of his generation, also known to be one of the most cunning people to ever live, but on two consecutive situations, he had made decisions that left him with regret.
He looked around for an opening only to see Taku staring back at him. A conflicted look appeared on his face. He had just attempted to take over this boy's body, but at the moment he really felt like asking him for help. Be it when he had a body or now with his spirit body, he had never been in such a dire situation before.
Every time he tried to move the smoke would bind him down. What made it worse was that the lightning kept on striking his body and the fire was at his feet burning him. It almost felt as if he was being cooked alive. His spiritual body kept on shrinking and a pleading look appeared on his face.
Taku did not care at all. He had noticed how every time the man's body shrunk his soul power would increase slightly. Even though the change was small, he could still feel it. A look of joy appeared on Taku's face. He ended up just standing there watching this intruder getting refined.
Musen was now really afraid. He saw that Taku had no intention of stopping. What really scared him was the fact that there were 2 different elements. He had never heard of a person who carried more than one element. What type of monster is this? Then there was the smoke-like fog that was binding him. He had never seen anything like it. He felt as though all three of these forms had a certain level of sentience, almost as if Taku's presence was not needed.
After a couple of more breaths, his body was now the size of a palm. He then looked at Taku. "Kid, I come here with no ill intentions. I just wanted to stay in your body until we leave this place. I can't leave this place in my spirit form. So can you stop refining my spirit?"
A complicated look appeared on Taku's face as sunk deep into thought. He knew that what the man was saying was just a bunch of bullsh*t. How stupid does he think I am? No ill intentions? I don't even know if I can stop these three from doing what they want.
Taku finally sighed. He really did not trust this man at all, but the issue was that the man seemed to have some information about this place. In truth, he would rather refine this spirit once and for all, but alas they needed to leave this place and return to the Gutu Empire.
With a thought, the smoke and lightning retreated. This greatly shocked Taku. This was the first time that he was able to freely control these two. But he could not help but let out a sigh as he noticed that the fire was still somewhat resisting him. Well, it can't always be perfect.
Taku shook his head and constantly gave the order for the fire to retreat. Only after Taku had commanded a dozen times did the fire stop and retreat. As it retreated Taku could feel its unwillingness and rage. He felt helpless in this situation.
He then stared at Musen who was now the size of an adult index finger. The minute their gazes met Musen moved. Even though he was small he was still quite fast. He rushed towards Taku with a vicious expression on his face.
Taku was shocked by the speed that the man possessed, but he still kept calm and just casually dodged. When Musen saw that Taku had dodged, he did not even bother to turn back and attack, instead, he chose to escape.
Maka was staring at Taku with worry written all over her face. This was the first time that she felt so helpless. She had not even noticed that there was another life form in this place. By the time she saw it, it was already about to enter Taku's body. All she could do now was stare at him and hope that he'll be okay.
Just as she thought that nothing would happen anytime soon, she noticed that Taku's body had a faint white hue around it. A breath later she saw a finger-sized human spirit flying out of Taku's body. Her face turned grim and just as she was about to act, she saw the smoke rising from Taku's body as it flew chasing the spirit.
In a second the smoke caught up and restrained the spirit. F*ck! Musen couldn't help but cuss in such a situation. "You vile kid! You have already consumed at least three-quarters of my spirit. What more do you want?"
Taku opened his eyes and a look of ridicule appeared. He really did not know what to say to this man. He had tried to possess Taku and now he wanted to leave just like that. If the world was really that merciful then he really would have let him go.
"Trust me, kid! Keeping me here won't be of any benefit to you. Once I recover I might just attack you. You don't want that now do you?" Musen had all this in panic, but Taku did not pay mind to it. He turned his head and began explaining what was going on to Maka.
The more Maka heard the more she felt shocked. No matter how powerful Taku's soul was, it still should not be powerful enough to stop this man. Even though the spirit's energy was vastly depleted, Maka could feel that the man was at least 10 times more powerful than Taku was.
She looked towards the tiny spirit and spoke. "If you know a way out of here I suggested you tell us. That is the only way I can ensure that your death will be quick and painless."
Musen's face contorted in rage. "How dare you say such words to me? Do you know who I am? I was a prominent figure way before you were even born. I used to strike fear in the hearts of the Royal family. Do you even know who you are saying such words to?"
Both Taku and rolled their eyes. Such empty words actually made them want to roll around and laugh. Taku looked at the man. "You are already just a spirit. If you were not reckless enough to try to possess me before then your words would have been able to strike some fear into us, but now you are nothing more than our captive."
"You as*hole! I am the most feared man in the Gutu empire. I am sure there are still plenty of my wanted posters around. It would be a shame if you do not know who I am. My name is Musen. Did you hear that, Musen? Are you scared now?"
Taku still just rolled his eyes, but Maka had a surprised look on her face.
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