Chapter 428 - Devoured

~Netherworld~

Docor, custodian of the gate of the Netherworld visited Rades the King of the Dead in the Oasis Realm. This place is off-limits to outsiders but they are allowed to come here as long they have an important thing to ask him.

Docor waited in the garden located at the back of the palace, admiring the colorful lotus flower floating in the pond.

A few minutes later.

Rades can be seen exiting the door, heading to the guardian's location.

The moment Docor saw the King, he bowed his head and spoke in greetings, "Good morning, your majesty!"

Rades lowered himself on his favorite lounge chair and looked at his subject. "State your purpose in visiting me at this hour, Docor," he said.

"Your majesty, did you remember Sylvia? The brave warrior who fought with me and the other custodians in the fight to death in the arena long time ago?" Docor said.

Rades brows knitted for a moment. "Yes, of course I remember her... why are you asking me this?"

"Your majesty, Sylvia visited the netherworld to come to look for the soul of his great grandfather but on the same day she also disappeared. She was boarding my chariot and was attacked by the rebels on her way to the Soul Mast Tower. She vanished without a clue. Until now I'm still looking for her all over the place but I failed to find her each and every time..." Docor explained.

"I see... so what do you want me to do?" Rades asked his subject.

"I know that you have the ability to know everything that's happening here in the Netherworld. Can you please help me find her? She is a valuable guest of mine, her disappearance bothered me deeply," Docor elaborated further.

Rades looked at his subject closely. He feels that Docor was affectionate towards Sylvia. He closed his eyes and suddenly a third eye appeared in the middle of the area between his eyes.

Docor bowed his head upon seeing the almighty third eye of the majesty, getting excited to finally know what happened to Sylvia.

A few minutes later.

Rades' third eye vanished from his forehead. He opened his eyes and looked at his subject. "Sylvia was devoured by my pet, the soul devouring bird," he finally said.

Docor's eyes widened in shock. His heart sank heavily. Everyone in the Netherworld knows that the King's soul-devouring pet would escape its cage from time to time. It will devour any wandering soul he meets on his path. "Majesty, what can we do? Is there any other way to extract Sylvia's soul from your pet?"

Rades smiled. "Yes, there is a way... my pet would usually spit souls every two hundred years from his stomach and replaced them with new souls. You just have to wait for 200 years to see your friend again," he said casually.

Docor's face went sad. "Well, two hundred years is not that long but in the human world Sylvia's body will rot..." he said.

"I know, but you don't have to worry, Sylvia will be reborn again in a new body... so what is there to worry about?" Rades said nonchalantly.

Docor sighed. "Thank you, majesty, for helping me find my missing friend. I won't disturb you anymore. I'll return to my post now," he said.

Rades nods his head and watched his subject walk away from the garden sporting a sad expression on his face.

He knows exactly Sylvia's location!

He stood up and disappeared from the garden in the blink of an eye.

Rades appeared in the secret room of Soul Mast Tower and freeze the two occupants of the room, lying in bed, cuddling each other.

There he saw Sylvia cuddling with his subject Mehos. He went to the bed and placed his hand on Mehos' head, erasing all his memories of Sylvia's current visit from his subject's mind. He doesn't want his two guardians fighting for one woman's affection. He won't allow peace and harmony between his subject destroyed because of Sylvia.

Done, he placed his hand on Sylvia's head, they vanished from the room in the blink of an eye.

A few minutes later.

They landed back in Rades' castle located in Oasis Realm.

This time they appeared in a house surrounded by beautiful gardens and a spectacular view of the sky located at the top of the mountain.

Rades waved his hand at Sylvia's face to awaken her.

Sylvia opened her eyes and was greeted with the sight of the King of the Netherworld, Rades! She quickly bowed her head in greetings. "My majesty... it's nice to see you again!" she said cheerfully.

"You returned here in the netherworld which is not yet your time to to ascend. Ascend. and you are about to cause a rift between my two guardians, Docor and Mehos! How dare you!" Rades scolded her in an irate voice.

Sylvia saw the anger flashing on the King's face, she quickly dropped to her knees begging for forgiveness. "I'm so sorry, your majesty. Please forgive me. I will never visit this place again," she said, tears sprang from her eyes.

"You could have enjoyed your life in the world of the living. Why you must return here when your time has not yet come to ascend to the netherworld realm. Don't you know that you are about to cause a huge rift between my two favorite guardians? I won't tolerate this! Because of what you have done, I will punish you gravely!" Rades said angrily, waving his hand.

A blackbird, half a meter in size suddenly materialized in the room.

Rades looked at his pet bird and gave his instruction. "Go on, devour this woman's soul!" he commanded in an authoritative voice.

Sylvia looked at the bird in shock and fear, causing her whole body to tremble. "Oh, no! Please forgive me, your majesty! I will return to the land of the living now!" she said desperately.

"Too late for that. Don't worry, my pet will spit your soul after two hundred years and you will be reborn again in the land of the living. For the mean time, enjoy your time inside my pet's belly..." Rades said.

The bird opened his mouth wide and began the process of devouring Sylvia's grief-stricken soul.

"Majesty, pleaseeeeee have mercy on meeeeeeee!" Sylvia shouted desperately in her last attempt to get out of the situation. Slowly, awareness dawned on her that she could no longer get out of her current situation, she closed her eyes in complete surrender.

A few minutes later.

Sylvia's soul finally disappeared, the bird's mouth shut after eating another tasty soul.

Rades and his pet vanished from the room.

...

Sylvia awakened to a strange surroundings.

"Where am I?" she asked.