Chapter 79: The Moon Swallowed by the Sun (1)

A soul stigmata was a divine blessing possessed by every hero. It was the power that allowed mere mortals to wield mana and tread into the realm of the gods. These soul stigmatas were granted by one of seven deities, and thus fell into seven categories: Sun, Moon, Stars, Sky, Earth, Sea, and Forest.

Technically, there was an eighth, the Demon God’s soul stigmata, forged from the blessing of the Demon God. But when people usually spoke of soul stigmata, they meant those given by the seven divine beings.

So, what differences were there between these soul stigmatas? In short: not much. Depending on the type, mana granted by a particular type of soul stigmata could be slightly more destructive, delicate, or adaptable. But in the grand scheme of things, a soul stigmata was a soul stigmata. There were no game-changing differences.

Jayden Bastion, the continent’s foremost soul stigmata researcher, had once talked about the differences between different soul stigmatas and said, “It’s like the difference in skin color.”

It was just like how people from the Empire’s south had darker skin, those from the Holy Empire were pale, and those from the Republic were more golden-toned. Different races had different skin tones, but they were all still human. In the same way, regardless of the type, a soul stigmata was still a soul stigmata.

Yet, because of them being almost the same, discrimination against certain soul stigmatas had never ceased since the birth of the first hero. Two soul stigmatas had always borne the brunt of disdain and ridicule: those of the Moon and the Forest.

Why? The reason was simple. Among the Great Five Heroes who had sealed away the Demon God five hundred years ago and saved humanity, not a single one bore the soul stigmatas of the Moon or the Forest. Reynald, the Knight of the Sun, held the soul stigmata of the Sun; Julius Bastion, the Great Sage, wielded the soul stigmata of the Sea; Ryu Jin-Sung, the Iron Fist, bore the soul stigmata of the Earth; Baek Seung-Hyuk, the Divine Spear, had the soul stigmata of the Stars; and finally, Grace, the Light of Life, was blessed with the soul stigmata of the Sky.

Sure, brave heroes possessing soul stigmatas of the Moon and the Forest had also fought valiantly and died during the Demon God War. But history only remembered the Great Five Heroes. The names and deeds of the others had faded into the footnotes.

That was how soul stigmata hatred was born. It had originated from something so pathetically trivial, and yet, it thrived. It spread especially strongly among old noble houses and the powerful elite.

Eventually, after centuries of hatred, it birthed something dangerous: soul stigmata replacement. It was a technique to forcibly overwrite a person’s soul stigmata with another’s.

Naturally, the technique was immediately condemned. It was rarely practiced and quickly abandoned. This didn’t happen just because the Holy Empire raged against it as sacrilege, saying it dared to alter the blessing of a god; it also had a critical, insurmountable flaw. A soul stigmata was not just a vessel for mana. It carried the soul of its original owner.

What happened when one tried to overwrite it with someone else’s? Memory confusion and bodily changes were some of the aftereffects. In severe cases, violent seizures or even death occurred long before the procedure was complete.

Thus, soul stigmata replacement became a forbidden art. Eventually, it faded so thoroughly into obscurity that only a handful of soul stigmata researchers even remember it existed.

***

I stared at Mother, my voice trembling. “You want to… overwrite my soul stigmata with Brother’s?”

She nodded, face alight with excitement. “Yes. Fortunately, the family preserved Yuren’s soul stigmata. The procedure won’t be a problem.”

“N-no… That’s not what I meant.”

She gently caressed my cheek with a look of pity. “Yurina, I know how hard you’ve worked, pretending to be Yuren. Training in swordsmanship every single day without rest, enduring the pressure to always be first. But once we transplant Yuren’s soul stigmata into you, you won’t have to work so hard anymore. You’ll no longer have to imitate the sun.”

A high-pitched ringing echoed in my ears. My vision blurred, and my throat tightened. I couldn’t breathe. I already knew that I wasn’t what my mother wanted and that I could never become the “Sun” because of the soul stigmata of the moon inside me. Still, I ignored that truth, pretending not to see it, clinging to that rotting strand of hope like it meant something. But of course, it would come to this.

“Mom… No. Mother.”

“What’s wrong? You’re not about to say you won’t go through with the procedure now, are you?” she replied.

Just moments ago, her eyes were warm. Now, they had gone icy.

“Did you forget who was responsible for your brother’s death? If you hadn’t spouted nonsense that day, asking him to pick you some stupid flower on that cliff, none of this would’ve happened.”

Her words struck like knives, and through the reopened wound, the memories came flooding back. That day, we had gone to Spirit Mountain, where generations of Helios family heads were buried. I had tugged on my brother’s sleeve, pointing at a flower blooming precariously at the edge of a cliff, not knowing what it might cost him.

“Big brother! Can you pick that flower for me?”

I was just a clueless little girl crying, whining to get what she wanted. And then, he died.

“If only… If only you weren’t here! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU!!”

The Helios family’s hope was extinguished, so easily and so absurdly. He was gone from this world.

“Ha… Haha.”

This was punishment. A sentence handed down for the irreversible ignorance of a ten-year-old girl.

I gave a feeble nod. “I’ll do it…”

Mother smiled in satisfaction. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

I tilted my head, puzzled. Mother reached into her robes and pulled out a communication orb. When she channeled mana into the palm-sized crystal, it glowed, and an image shimmered into view. It was a man with snow-white hair and a golden monocle over one eye.

The man said, “Greetings. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Faust.”

“Lord Faust is said to be even more skilled in soul stigmata research than Jayden Bastion himself,” Mother said proudly.

This was the person who was going to transplant my brother’s soul stigmata into me. I silently stared at the white-haired man displayed on the orb.

Faust, as he called himself, smiled warmly and said in a gentle tone, “Haha, there’s no need to be so worried. Of everyone who’s undergone my soul stigmata replacement procedure, not a single one has experienced seizures or anything of the sort. Of course, given the nature of the operation, there are some minor side effects.”

“What kind of side effects?” I asked.

Faust shrugged casually. “Well, for one, you may lose some memories as the soul stigmata changes. But don’t worry, they’re nothing important. Just trivial fragments.”

He grinned slyly, as if this were nothing. “After all, isn’t it human nature to forget what you had for lunch just a week ago? You won’t even notice the missing pieces.”

I clenched my fists tightly, heart pounding with unease. Losing even a few memories from my life, how could that be a minor side effect? I wanted to punch that smug face of his, but there was no way to land a blow through a magic orb.

“Is that the only side effect?” I asked.

“There’s one more,” he replied.

“What is it?”

“You’re using a disguise pendant to disguise yourself as a boy right now, correct?” he asked.

I gripped the pendant around my neck and gave a small nod.

“You’ve probably found that while your chest and overall frame can be altered to appear male, you’ve run into… anatomical limitations, haven’t you?”

“What are you trying to say?” I asked.

“Once we implant Yuren’s soul stigmata into you, your physical form will begin to change to the point that your actual biological sex will shift.”

My eyes flew wide open. “What?”

A change in… sex? Then, I will never again be a girl…

The man named Faust nonchalantly said, “It means you won’t have to go through the trouble of pretending to be a boy anymore. From your perspective, Lady Yurina, I’d say this is more of a benefit than a drawback.”

Suddenly, I remembered the mannequin in the clothing store earlier today. It was wearing that light, airy, elegant dress. I’d never get to wear anything like that again. I thought I had already given up on living as Yurina long ago. I thought I had buried every foolish fantasy of a naive little girl deep in my heart.

“Ah!Ugh!”

Then why did it hurt so much? Why did my chest feel like it was being torn open?

Mother pulled me into her arms and gently said, “Yurina, for me, for the Helios family… and for your brother, too…”

I felt like I was burning all over. The heat spread from my heart, scorching through my veins.

“Become the sun,” she said firmly.

She was asking me to let the sun swallow me whole.

***

Rubbing the sore spot on my head where Professor Kane had smacked me, I finally stepped back into my dorm room. “Ugh! Can’t believe Professor Kane was waiting at the dorm entrance…”

I had expected to get dragged out for punishment tomorrow after skipping class, but instead I got clobbered today.

“I hope that idiot Yuren’s okay…”

I had told Yuren to avoid the dorms and hide in a private training room, just in case Rosanna tried anything. But he just replied that he would be fine and walked off to his dorm before I could stop him.

Maybe I should send a message, I thought.

I tapped open my Hero Watch and messaged him, asking if he got back safely. No reply came.

“Hm. Maybe he’s asleep,” I said to myself. After all, Professor Kane had kept me detained so long that the evening had already gotten late.

Thinking I would ask him myself tomorrow, I slipped off my Hero Watch and collapsed into bed. But then, a gentle chime rang from the device.

“Huh?”

I sat up and turned the Hero Watch back on. A message from Yuren had arrived. It popped up in a hologram window.

Yuren: Dale, can we meet for a bit right now?

“Huh?”

Meet? At this hour?

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