Chapter 07 – Soul Forge.

“The Soul Forge, had I known you possessed a blessing like this, Hero, I would have struck you down much sooner.”

“That’s the price you pay for being an overconfident oaf, Demon King.”

“Despite such a gift, you still ended up getting backstabbed by your close aides. That’s quite an accomplishment for someone with so many talents. Quite an accomplishment in itself, don’t you think?”

“Really? I recall a certain demon army inexplicably retreating, allowing me to stroll right into your grand demonic castle. Perhaps if you treated your aides as individuals rather than cattle, they might have supported you!”

“Nonsense, they were born to serve me, and their purpose was to follow my orders without question. Loyalty is a weakness, Hero, one that I have eradicated from my ranks! How loyal were those people you trusted, Hero?”

Rusty listened to the back-and-forth between the two orbs of light. It seemed that this place was called the Soul Forge, and it was supposed to make him stronger. However, before he received an explanation, the two beings of light started arguing with each other, as if harboring some unresolved resentment.

“Um… What is loyalty?”

During their conversation, Rusty finally decided to interrupt. The two orbs of light turned their attention back to him, and the white one sighed as if dealing with an ignorant child.

“Loyalty is when someone is devoted and true to another, usually out of a sense of duty or love. It’s a concept that you probably never had the chance to experience in your dungeon full of mindless monsters.”

“Sense of duty? Love?”

Instead of answers, he was given more words that he didn’t understand and to make things worse, the two beings of light didn’t seem to agree with each other. The dark sphere was quick to interrupt and say that the white one was wrong and the two started to argue with each other once more.

“Ignore my ignorant friend here, loyalty is a weakness, a chain that binds you and limits your potential.”

“Limit my potential?”

“Indeed and you seem to be someone that wants to be strong, don’t you want to be strong?”

“I do!”

“Good, then accept me as your master and I shall bestow upon you immeasurable power!”

“Don’t believe this idiot demon, he doesn’t even know how this place works.”

Rusty found himself uncertain about what to do; the two glowing lights weren’t making any sense. They used words that he didn’t fully grasp. One thing was clear: they were more akin to the humans he encountered inside the dungeon than the silent, less intelligent monsters. While he didn’t trust them, there seemed to be something that they knew about this soul forge that was supposed to make him stronger.

“I don’t care about those words, just tell me more about this soul forge. Can it really make me stronger?”

The two orbs ceased their bickering just as the dark one responded.

“Well, Hero, this is your gift. I’m genuinely intrigued. How does this ‘Soul Forge’ work? It appears that it, along with my demon castle, has become one with our hollow friend here. Probably a result of the merger after our untimely demise.”

“It’s not exactly the same… I used it to refine my enchanted equipment by gathering rare materials and refining them… but this one…”

“Hm, considering that the only thing of note is that heap of junk in the middle, do you mean that this place can somehow refine and improve on our friend’s metallic body?”

“Hey, I have a name, it’s Rusty!”

“Oh, my apologies~ What a magnificent name, Rusty. Rolls right off the tongue…”

The dark orb chuckled in a way that Rusty, for some reason, didn’t appreciate. Unaware of concepts like sarcasm, he decided to let it pass.

“How do I improve my body?”

“If it works the same as before, you’ll have to gather the proper materials and learn the skills required for metallurgy and ore refining…”

“Now that’s a good one, a living armor becoming a blacksmith and forging its own body!”

Rusty, despite not fully understanding the implications of becoming a blacksmith for his own body, felt like he understood the gist of it. They were telling him that he could use the tools here to somehow enhance his own body, the only question was how. While the tools were there, he didn’t see any raw resources like ores or ingots. There wasn’t really anything to work with so he turned to the white ball of light that seemed to know this place more.

“Where and how do I gather proper materials, how do I learn skills for this metallurgy?”

“I…”
He waited for the answer while the white ball of light gathered his thoughts. This was it, he would finally be given the answer that he was waiting for his whole existence.

“I don’t know… and I don’t quite remember …”

“Haha!”

The black ball of light started laughing and it sounded quite menacing with that deep voice of his. Rusty was baffled by the response, not understanding how the white ball of light could do this to him. The answer was right there but he was being denied and he was starting to feel something strange coming out.

“Huh? You don’t remember? Did you lie to me?”

“Why would I…”

As the ball of light was trying to answer, the whole chamber started shaking as Rusty’s voice became packed with more anger.

“What is happening?”

The two orbs started flickering along with the soul forge and the whole castle. It was as if this whole place was reacting to the rise of Rusty’s emotions, not something that the late Hero and Demon Lord thought he had.

“Calm down, I just don’t remember! My memories, parts of them are missing, I really don’t quite recall how this place worked!”

“Rusty my friend, calm your nerves. The Hero might be a fool but at least he is no liar.”

“…”

The two observed the angered armor as the tremors subsided. Their forms, once trembling, started to recover along with the glow. Rusty, devoid of any readable expression, gazed at the two orbs, as if anticipating an answer.

“It seems that our fragmented existence lacks some of our previous experiences and memories.”

“Fragmented existence?”

“Yes, the two of us had perished. It seems you have somehow absorbed our essences that were recreated in this place.”

“Oh, it must have happened that time?”

Rusty vaguely recalled his time within the void with other amoeba-like existences. Back then, he had absorbed something radiating the same light as these two orbs. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The Soul Forge, it seemed, was a place that could enhance and refine his body, and Rusty acquired this ability by consuming these two beings with the peculiar identities of hero and demon king.

“So, you’re saying that I have the power of a Hero and a Demon Lord within me?”

“Not quite… we are nothing more than shells of our former selves, but if you desire strength, then maybe there is something we can do…”

The black orb, more talkative than the white one, floated over to what was supposed to become Rusty’s body. It circled it as if examining it before stopping. Soon after, the black orb started glowing, and to Rusty’s surprise, the corroded armor began changing color. From a bronze with many rusted parts, it transformed into pitch black.

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“That I would be reduced to this…”

The demon king orb gave out a sigh after performing the strange phenomenon. His size had diminished and so did his light after he made the armor turn into a darker hue.

“What did you do?”

The white orb floated towards the now darkened armor and started to examine it as well.

“I just infused some of my essence into the metal; it should be a tad better now. What do you think, Rusty, my friend? Helpful, aren’t I?”

Intrigued by the change to his new form, Rusty approached and sensed that it had become stronger than before. He was drawn to it, wanting to exchange his damaged, corroded body for this enhanced version. However, before he could, the orb of white light voiced his concern.

“Stop!”

“Is there still something wrong?”

Rusty asked, somewhat annoyed with the back-and-forth between the orbs.

“Do you really think that I don’t know what you are trying to do, Demon King?”

“Whatever do you mean, Hero?”

The black orb replied in a mocking tone, while the so-called hero orb approached the darkened armor. Soon, it began to change colors again, growing brighter as the white orb infused it with its essence. Eventually, the color returned to a more bronze hue with a subtle intensified sheen.

“There, that should balance things out…”

“Quite the busybody, hero…”
The two orbs resumed their disagreement, but Rusty wasn’t paying much attention. Instead, he focused on observing his newly transformed body, now infused with a blend of both of their essences. Though the corrosion remained, something had improved, and he was confident that this armor was better than the previous one.

“Finally!”