CHAPTER 141: ARTIFICIAL SOULMATE?

The color sea swirled around Kivas Chariot, a kaleidoscope of concepts that pulsed with flavors, sang with melodies, and caressed her senses with tactile warmth and chill.

Her silver-yellow hair floated weightlessly, her white dress rippling in currents that defied physics, her halo casting a golden spectrum that harmonized with the realm’s hues.

Once again, before her loomed Fymnhendyr, a colossal entity of crystalline geometries, its form a fluid dance of facets and waves, refracting infinite possibilities.

Its prismatic eyes—void pools ringed with radiant halos—gazed at her with a curiosity that peeled back layers of her soul, yet carried no malice, only an ancient yearning.

Kivas floated closer, her tether to Fathomi—a divine thread pulsing with her halo’s light—humming reassuringly at her core.

The entity’s revelation hung heavy: it was imprisoned in this conceptless void, exiled by forces older than Fathomi, and sought freedom through Kivas’s divine spark.

But the how eluded her. As a Living Deity, her miracles were potent but bound to her domains for maximum efficiency.

"What can I do to free you, Fymnhendyr?" Kivas asked, her voice echoing through the color sea, bending hues into deeper indigos and vibrant crimsons. "I’m a Living Deity, but my miracles work best within my domains—they’re less reliable, especially in a realm like this, where concepts twist and bend carefreely like the wind of my homeland."

Fymnhendyr’s form rippled, bubbles of unborn ideas orbiting faster, their colors shifting to contemplative azures and thoughtful greens.

Its voice, a crystalline resonance tasting of citrus and thunder, carried a knowing amusement. "Kivas Chariot, your divine portfolio is clear to me—fertility, harvest, nourishment, rearing, protection—your major domains, woven into Vaingall’s stability. Minor domains also began to grow within you, leaking into your essence.

"You already know what to do. You probe for wisdom, testing if I hold a better path."

Kivas’s halo flickered, a flush creeping across her cheeks. Caught in her subtle gambit, she offered a sheepish smile, her voice light but earnest. "Alright, you got me. I apologize for the prodding, hehe.

"You’re a higher existential being—your perspective might hold methods I haven’t grasped. My miracles could falter against your nature, especially if you’re immune to foreign influence in this realm."

The bubbles slowed, their hues softening to pastel violets, as if the sea itself exhaled. Fymnhendyr’s existence gleamed, reflecting Kivas as a constellation of possibilities. "Your caution is logical," it said, its tone warm, like a summer breeze laced with rain’s scent. "Your proposition merits trial. Let us see what your fate can weave instead."

"My fate?"

Before Kivas could respond, a phenomenon stirred the color sea.

A fiery purple light bloomed before her eyes, angular and sharp-edged, like a tear in reality itself. Glyphs of divine essence materialized, pulsing with an ancient rhythm. Words formed, stark and undeniable.

『Soulmate Detected.』

The same notification that had heralded Samael and Oizys, marking them as candidates for a Genesis Core.

Kivas’s breath caught, her halo flaring as the sea’s hues danced in response—reds burning with passion, blues whispering of depths.

A second prompt followed, its glyphs glowing brighter.

『Would you like to imbue a Genesis Core onto this Soulmate?』

The words hung, heavy with implication, as the bubbles stilled, the realm holding its breath.

Kivas’s eyes narrowed, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "Are you sure about this, Fymnhendyr?" she asked, her voice steady but laced with skepticism. "Imbuing a Genesis Core could regress you. Samael became an Exo Human, stripped of much of her Voidling power. You might lose your prowess, your ability to shape realities—everything that makes you, you."

Fymnhendyr’s form contracted, colors darkening to inky violets, its voice resonating with a calm certainty. "That is precisely why it is perfect, Kivas Chariot. This realm imprisons entities of my caliber—beings of boundless creation.

"If I am regressed by an outside force, I no longer fit the prison’s criteria. The void will release me, for I will cease to be the entity it was designed to hold."

Kivas’s smile faltered, uncertainty flickering in her eyes. "But it’s not guaranteed. Oizys, another Soulmate, retained her power after the Genesis Core. If you remain as you are, this realm might still bind you."

The entity’s eyes dimmed, bubbles trembling as if reflecting an internal calculation. "I cannot know why Oizys retained her essence," Fymnhendyr admitted, its tone contemplative, like a tolling bell echoing in the void. "But I have simulated this within my psyche.

"Your Genesis Core will regress me, reshaping me into an Exo Human, as it did with Samael. The prison’s logic then will falter, and I will be free."

"Before I proceeded." Kivas tilted her head, her halo casting a spectrum that rippled through the sea. "Can you share that wisdom? How does the Soulmate detection work? Why you, of all beings?"

Fymnhendyr’s form expanded, colors lightening to vibrant golds and silvers, as if unveiling a truth. "Your Soulmate phenomenon requires two traits in close proximity: a spiritual signature and soul prowess capable of enduring a Genesis Core, and an emotional psyche that can—or will—bond with you as an entity, individual, and person.

"In essence, Kivas, a Soulmate is a literal soulmate—someone destined to stand by you, to connect indefinitely."

Kivas’s eyes widened, her breath hitching as she processed the revelation. "Wait," she stammered, her voice trembling with disbelief. "You’re saying a Soulmate isn’t just a vessel for the Genesis Core? It’s someone who... who could be with me, truly?"

Her halo dimmed, the sea’s hues softening to empathetic blues. She had accepted the term as a mechanical designation, a marker for Core compatibility.

This new truth shook her core, stirring memories of her wish to the World Forgers—to be loved.

To think that the truth had only just been confirmed now of all time, in front of a being with an unstable existence chained inside an exotic realm made for the purpose of imprisonment.

Then again, there is a high chance that all of these could have been nothing but a lie woven to manipulate.

After all, there was no such way for Kivas to find an indicator of what machination of mind was churned behind such a powerful existence like Fymnhendyr.

Fymnhendyr’s voice softened, a melody of warmth and resolve. "Indeed. A Soulmate is one whose essence aligns with yours, whose bond can endure across realms. You’ve sensed this in Samael, in Oizys—their loyalty, their connection to you.

"Isn’t that enough of a prove of the literal meaning shown in the glyphs of your own blessing?"

Kivas’s cheeks flushed, her hands clenching as she grappled with the weight of it. "But how did you become a Soulmate? Did you... choose this?"

The bubbles swirled faster, forming a whirlpool of concepts that drew Kivas closer. Fymnhendyr’s form shimmered, its shape gleaming with a playful intensity. "I reshaped my spiritual and conceptual existence to fit your Genesis Core’s criteria.

"I wove a powerful concept into my being. the capacity to bond with you, to be there for you, regardless of circumstance. My will bent my essence to become your Soulmate, in the truest sense."

Kivas’s blush deepened, her halo flaring with a mix of embarrassment and awe. "You did all that just to escape this prison." she said, her voice sharp with realization. "You rewrote your existence to trick the system, just know that it is rather awkward of me to accept such a soulmate with such a background."

Fymnhendyr chuckled, a wave of pleasant warmth washing over Kivas, like sunlight on rain-soaked earth. "The reason does not diminish the truth. I am now a Soulmate, crafted to stand by you.

"My existence is yours, Kivas Chariot, to share in your journey, to weave realities together. I am ready to fulfill that role."

Kivas’s heart raced, the glyph’s glow intensifying before her. The 『Soulmate Detected』 notification pulsed, a reminder of the choice at hand.

She hesitated, her mind racing through possibilities.

Freeing Fymnhendyr could bolster Vaingall against cosmic threats, but it meant binding a being of unimaginable power to her side—perhaps as a friend, perhaps more.

The weight of destiny pressed upon her, echoing Ardan’s plea, Norn’s presence, and her own role as a liberator.

"Don’t regret this," Kivas murmured, her voice firm but tinged with vulnerability. She reached out, her fingers brushing the glyph, its light searing her senses. "I’ll do it. Let’s see what fate weaves."

The glyph burned brighter, a supernova of purple flame that illuminated the color sea. A deafening crack echoed, as if reality itself splintered.

Fiery gold ink erupted from the void, roaring to life with crackling flames. Symbols—arcane, divine—spread in radiant arcs, latching onto Fymnhendyr’s ineffable form like chains forged from the heart of a star.

The entity’s crystalline geometries trembled, its prismatic eyes flaring with a mix of triumph and surrender.

The color sea churned, hues spiraling into a vortex of chaos and creation. Kivas’s tether pulsed wildly, anchoring her as the realm quaked. Fymnhendyr’s voice echoed, a final resonance before the transformation.

"Freedom... begins."

The chains tightened, gold ink searing into the entity’s core.