Chapter 130: One Soul For Another

'I suppose I'll try and pay him a visit sometime later.'

Percy smiled at this thought, and he turned and began walking in the opposite direction. Percy let out a wave of his mana as he began to search through the river for what he was looking for, and it didn't take long for him to find it! Percy turned towards a certain direction with a smile, and he began to head over there.

….

Hildegard was floating on air. There was a peaceful, calm sensation around her as she enjoyed the peace and quiet of the afterlife. Over here, Hildegard didn't have to worry about school or the hateful glares of her classmates. She could just float in place for all eternity without any worries at all!

But Hildegard knew that this was not right! She was not meant to be here. Hildegard tried desperately to open her eyes, but she wasn't able to do that. It felt like there was someone holding her down to the bottom of an ocean! She couldn't get up! Hildegard raised her hand to grab hold of anything above her, and for a moment, it felt like she was only grabbing nothing but air. But then a hand appeared and grabbed her hand tightly, and Hildegard felt her heart fill with relief as she was pulled up by the mysterious hand.

"Don't worry, I've got you. Just wait for a few more minutes."

The voice spoke to Hildegard in a pleasant, soothing tone, and Hildegard felt like she could trust this voice, so she allowed herself to relax!

Out in the real world, Percy looked down at the twisted and disfigured form of Hildegard's soul. Hildegard and Vero had both been in Hildegard's body when she died, so their souls were now mashed up in a way that you wouldn't know where Hildegard's soul ended or where Vero's soul began! This was why Percy couldn't stop the ritual back then. If Percy had stopped this, then he would've destroyed both souls without any way to retrieve them.

Percy narrowed his eyes and focused as he began to work on the soul, and he stayed there for more than three hours as he allowed his hand to seep into the soul and slowly separated them from one another. By the time he was almost done, Percy felt some wiggling from Vero's soul, and Percy knew that Vero was awake. Percy smiled and spoke to the demihuman general in a coy voice.

"Did you really think you could run away from me, Vero?"

The soul wiggled once again, and this time, Percy actually laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm not the one who's going to punish you. You see, the Soul Bind you did was something very frowned upon down here. You've basically marked yourself in Death's eye, and now you're going to serve as an example."

Vero began to shake even more as he tried to get away from Percy, but Percy didn't bother saying anything more. Percy simply continued working, and it didn't take long before Percy finally separated the two souls from one another. Once he was done, the black cloud from before appeared once again, and Death emerged from it. Percy stood up with Vero's wiggling soul in his grip, and he held it up for the skeletal figure. Death took the soul, and the soul seemed to almost shrink in on itself from fear! Death looked at Vero with a narrowed gaze before he turned back to Percy and said:

"Take your prize and leave."

Percy nodded once in thanks, and he turned and opened a Dimensional Door.

"Until we meet again, Verati."

This was the last time Percy heard from Death, and Percy ignored the whimpering of Vero's soul as he finally left the underworld.

….

Two hours later, Percy emerged from the Dimensional Door that led back to the city of Aquinas, and he saw that Rita was already there waiting for him. Rita was sitting beside Hildegard's body with a patient look on her face, and once she saw him appearing through the gate with Hildegard's translucent soul in his hands, Rita smiled.

"Hi, baby. You've been gone for a while."

Percy smiled at her, and he moved towards Hildegard's body and knelt beside it before he gently put her soul back into her body. A beat passed without anything happening, before Hildegard's chest suddenly jolted up in shock! Hildegard's eyes opened wide, and she took in a deep breath!

"GASP!"

Hildegard turned to the side and began to cough in pain as she was brought back to life, and she breathed heavily as she looked around her to try and understand what was going on. Hildegard finally landed on Percy and Rita with wide eyes, and Rita smiled at the lamia and spread her hands out for a hug. A feeling of intense emotions suddenly came over Hildegard in that moment! Even though Hildegard didn't understand everything that had happened, Hildegard had a feeling that she had gained a freedom that she never had before, and Hildegard threw herself into Rita's arms and cried like a baby.

Percy just watched the scene with a small smile on his face before he stood up and looked around at the city calmly. The city was a mess, and the festival was definitely over, but Percy knew that things would be fine. It would take a little while, but Percy was sure that everything would be just fine.

….

After the festival incident, a lot of things happened all at once. The festival was postponed by the king since the city needed to be properly cleared out of any cult members, and multiple kingdom guards were deployed to search through the entire kingdom for any of the cult members that they could find!

Both Mirio and the cat girl were arrested for being cultists, and Percy knew that they would be put away for a very long time. All the businesses and schools in the kingdom had been shut down for a day to allow everyone to mourn the lives that had been lost, and there was a kingdom-wide ceremony for the losses.

Hildegard had been absolved of her crimes by the king since he knew that she was not in control of her body, and the king had lifted the status of being a third-class magical risk because Percy had vouched for her and ensured the King that he would take responsibility for Hildegard's actions.

The days had passed very quickly after this happened, and before long, the schools were opening up once again, and it was time for the students to return to the Academy to complete their winter semester.