New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Astaroth took a moment to reopen his eyes, his body aching. His jaw felt like he had spent a round in the ring with Clark, and he was lying on the ground.

"What the… What happened to me? The last thing I remember is getting close to the soul orb…"

Spinning his head in every direction, Astaroth looked for the soul orb and found it still near him, but the cage had changed.

Instead of lines of blue runes surrounding it, tightly knit, the cage seemed more aired out, and the runes had gone blackish red.

Astaroth could feel the runes exuding a demonic mana and was almost worried.

"Did the demon win and get out? Am I going to be stuck here forever, forced to watch as my body kills innocent people?"

"If only. Instead, I had to help that despisable angel boy contain your stupidity. Now look at me! I look ridiculous!"

Astaroth looked around for the squeaky voice talking to him until he felt a kick at his heel.

"I'm down here, you big moron!"

Looking at his feet, Astaroth saw an imp, about six inches tall, with facial features resembling his, if much younger, staring daggers at him.

"I look like I couldn't hurt a fly! This is your fault!" the miniature-demonized Astaroth shouted.

It kicked and punched at his leg, barely tickling him, and even tried nibbling at his heel in hopes of doing any damage. Of course, it was all in vain.

It now lacked the strength to pierce Astaroth's skin, let alone bruise it.

Astaroth stared for a moment, making the miniature demon seethe in discomfort.

"Say something, you gigantic monkey!" it howled, raising its little fist at Astaroth.

"Pfft!"

"No! Don't you dare laugh!" the demon shouted in anger.

"Pff! Bahahahaha! What the heck?! You're so cute, look at you!"

The demon blew out a fuse.

"RRAAGGHH!!! I will murder you!"

Another sequence of weak punches, kicks, bites, scratches, and even some tiny sparks of black fire impacted Astaroth's right leg, tickling him.

"Bahahahaha! Stop! It tickles! Ahahahah! Ooh, you're so feisty! Bahahaha!"

Astaroth was laughing more than he had in a long while, and for some reason, it felt cathartic. Almost like a burden that lay on his mind was shaving away with every peal of laughter he expelled from his lungs.

Astaroth bent over to grab the little explosive demon and wrapped his hand around the little thing. It kicked and screamed, demanding release, but Astaroth brought it to eye level.

"Let me go, you giant pain in my ass! If you hadn't intervened, I could be killing so many people right now! It's all your fault!"

Astaroth stopped laughing, containing it to just shaking shoulders, and smiled at the demon.

"With this size? You couldn't kill a baby rat unless you caught it by surprise. But what happened?"

The demon didn't answer his questions; instead, he continued to fight back, hoping to get free from his giant grip.

But a voice behind Astaroth answered his question.

"I can explain it better than they can, I believe."

Astaroth spun around, finding Nemus standing behind him, with a pouting Geminae next to her. He looked down at his feet like a child who had just been scolded.

"If you can, then by all means," Astaroth said, motioning her to speak.

"Not here. Time doesn't stop when you enter your soul space. It only slows down. And you have wasted enough of it inside here. Your partner needs help before that forest guardian kills her.

"You should have found what you sought so that you can fight it now. Find me when you have time. I will explain it in person. I will also be able to help you understand a few things."

Astaroth frowned at her, wondering why she refused to tell him now. But he remembered he was still in the middle of a fight with a giant moving tree, and his mind immediately imagined the worst.

"I have to go! How do I leave this place?!"

Nemus giggled at his panicked state.

"The same way you came in, child. Just will yourself out. Don't worry too much. She isn't in danger but might be if you stay here. Don't forget to seek me out after this. I will be waiting."

Astaroth nodded frantically before closing his eyes and thinking of going back outside.

When he reopened them, he felt a soft fur under his body and a rumbling of shoulders of a quick run.

Quickly realizing where he was, he tried getting up. But a set of roots were holding his legs and arms in place.

"Genie? Why are you here? I thought you were on the southern front, power levelling?"

The female wolf's voice echoed in his head.

'Master! You're awake! You had us worried. I came here when I heard from Morpheus that you had let him control your body. I got here just in time as well, before the fusion ended, and you plummeted a thousand feet toward the ground.'

Reaching inside him, he felt Morpheus' soul orbiting his, exuding worry.

He immediately summoned it, sending it back into combat.

"I'm sorry. I was held inside my mind for longer than I wished. What is going on?"

Genie released his arms so he could sit upright and saw the giant Ent to his right.

Its attention was toward the sky, where a tiny spark of blue was zipping around the myriad of branches and roots flying at it, occasionally throwing an attack of its own.

"Phoenix is still fine. But won't she run out of mana, burning through it like that?"

Genie hooked back towards the combat, and Astaroth realized something.

The debuff was gone from his interface.

Genie could read his thoughts and replied to his silent question.

"Luna's work. She found the cause of the mana deficiency and was able to blow it up. The Ent had a gem inside him that was sucking up ambient mana relentlessly. It took her a lot of power to destroy it since it was inside the Ent, and she vanished after that, but it gave Phoenix the resources she needed to keep fighting."

Astaroth grinned.

"Good work, Luna," he whispered.

He could feel her soul resting next to his, probably from being of mana so much. But he was satisfied.

"Then I guess it's my turn. Bring me under it, Genie. I got a tree to chop."

"Yes, Master!"