Looking at the sight of corpses disappearing Ikem asked "I thought it was two kingdom at war, this sight is something undeserving of a kingdom, they should have by now handle the corpses of their own comrades themselves"
"The wonders of humans" Wardenwild said as he laughed.
Sensing Ikem’s confusion, Wardenwild said as he pointed at a dead soldier of silver kingdom "News from my source say that the kingdom this humans pertains to is under the threat of a civil war because of some disagreement between their new king and nobles so the dead bodies of their comrades is the least of their worries"
Pointing at the soldier of Björn kingdom, Wardenwild said "The people of this kingdom could care less about their own appearance, they only care about fighting and bleeding each other or someone else, dead bodies of their comrades is something they could care less about"
Ikem frowned hearing that as he looked off into the distance "Once we are done with this battlefield, I will have to pay my brother Maul a visit"
Looking at the corpse being brought back, Ikem asked "Why do your children bring some of these corpses back?"
Wardenwild was silent before answering "That is a sign of the corpse having no one left to welcome it or give it a proper burial"
Ikem brows furrowed "You mean they are the last of their bloodline or something may have happened to the corpse relatives"
Wardenwild nodded, before Ikem asked "What do you do with the corpse then?"
There was some silence as Ikem and Wardenwild walked across the battlefield before Wardenwild responded "There is another name i am a called that only of few know"
Ikem looked at Wardenwild who coincidentally was also looking at him before he spoke up "I wonder if you would be perplexed by this sight"
Wardenwild said as his deer forms shook like a veil was torn open, by now the whole battlefield was covered by the ash like smoke.
Wardenwild’s size grew to a size where the current full form Ikem looked like a dwarf, Ikem wasn’t taken by the change in sight but instead the new appearance of Wardenwild.
All over his current body were faces of what Ikem believed to be dead people, with no sign of life in them, also with Wardenwild current appearance Ikem noticed how the corpse brought back all stood up before walking towards Wardenwild giant figure.
As soon as a corpse got close to him, its whole body would be absorbed with a new face appearing on Wardenwild’s body.
Wardenwild’s huge head came down to Ikem’s size and said "Meet another part of me which is known as merchant of the dead"
Ikem frowned as a green construct sword appeared in his hand "What is all this about?"
Wardenwild didn’t seem to mind Ikem’s action before speaking up "You truly don’t know the workings of your world except for the part your reign"
"You see, your aunt has a lot of believers. Believers who study her grace and blessings, and are able to do great things with it"
"After I was marked by your aunt, Those believers are somehow able to track me down because I have something that can help them greatly understand death which is something they worship"
Ikem making the connection looked at the corpse being absorbed into Wardenwild’s body which seems to be growing in size "Merchant of death? So you sell corpses to my aunt believers"
Wardenwild smiled "Exactly, all these corpses with nowhere to go are being sold by me to those that need it"
Ikem with a furred brow took back his construct, nothing was said between them before the last corpse was taken in by Wardenwild.
"What is the price for those corpses?" Ikem suddenly said with curiosity clearly in his voice.
Wardenwild sounded full as he responded back a bit absentmindedly "Anything can be a price, gold, treasure, knowledge but for special corpses I ask for a higher price"
"What price is that?" Ikem asked.
"Souls" Wardenwild answered before grinning wildly at Ikem "I told you your highness, my race can never be fully trusted even the nice ones like me"
"I see that" Ikem responded before asking "Now that we are done here, can we leave?"
"Not yet, now is where the show starts" Wardenwild said as it looked deep down into the earth like it was staring at something.
Ikem was about to ask what it meant, when sudden the ground they were on began darkening. The darkness was so thick it looked like they were standing in a sea of dark water, at the center of this darkness a huge hole opened showing the sight of a figure sitting on their throne while Looking up, staring both at Ikem and Wardenwild.
Both felt a huge pressure descend on them with Wardenwild’s figure turning back to normal and him shrinking back down to his normal size, Nothing was said between the two as they watched the figure rise from their throne and started walking towards them.
Ikem and Wardenwild immediately took a knee looking down, not daring to look at the figure. Even Brix and Aqua, who were busy with their own thing, stopped what they were doing as they both took a knee.
Keles slowly walked to the gateway opened for her, soon her hand pierced through the deep darkness like a viel before her whole figure appeared back into the mortal world; Keles looked at Ikem before setting her eyes on Wardenwild.
Wardenwild was just a casual play on her part since somehow the demon was able to draw upon her attention, She doesn’t care of the demon service of cleaning up dead corpse but that didn’t change the fact that it somehow was a service that falls under her concept and the demon works brings a growth in strength to her.
The demon work was also a great service to her brother Ikenga but he didn’t make a move so she made a move. She had observed his figure and how he handled his work so as a way to thank the demon for its work, she had her realm consciousness bless the demon granting it a small access to her realm but to her surprise the bless turned into something akin to an innate abilities on the demon.
Today said ability has reached its limit. The ability gets stranger the more the demon interacts with the corpse and Keles knows what a great opportunity the war that occurred here will be to the demon she only hopes that the demon knows that itself.
Wardenwild didn’t disappoint as he made his way here, but the demon did something that surprised Keles herself which was summoning her to the mortal world. Looking at Wardenwild Keles asked in a cold tone "What is your purpose for this? You have missed a great opportunity for such stupid actions"
Wardenwild wanted to look up but he knew best so he continued looking down "Ascension wasn’t my goal, your highness. We haven’t had any opportunity to talk face to face before and Today presented itself as such"
Keles had no visible reaction before asking "What is your goal then?"
Wardenwild chuckled "I plan on dismissing my former identity and become an full resident of this world both in mind and soul"
Saying that a soul phantom left Wardenwild current form, Keles eyes hidden under the dark cloak covering her glowed with a gray light before a look of confusion flashed on her face as he asked Wardenwild with a hint of amusement clear in her voice "You waste an opportunity for ascension for something so miniscule as a good life where you basically are doing a selfless service"
Wardenwils smiled "I want to thank you, your highness for the opportunity, Your blessing in some way has made my dream become a possibility. As even with ascension I can’t be fully considered a resident of this world but as soon as I go through with this I can proudly claim to be of this world"
Keles said nothing in return before suddenly sighing and said "Do as you please"
Looking at Ikem who still had his face down, Keles eyes flashed with an amused look before saying "You can look up now son"
Ikem who has been confused the whole time heard that before raising his head to meet his aunt’s eyes staring back at him.
"This is our first time meeting," keles said to which Ikem nodded with a smile on his face.
Keles looked away before stating "I like the wine you sent to me"
Ikem’s eyes widened hearing that before he waved his hand where five barrels filled with wine appeared, nothing was said as the barrel was swallowed by a cloak of darkness "I would have sent more but this is all I have now" Ikem said with a smile on his face.
Keles nodded before Looking at Wardenwild "You can start now, I don’t have much time left in the mortal world"
Wardenwild nodded before saying "O World Spirit and Keles, goddess of death and darkness, grant me the strength to shed my mortal form and ascend to the realm of the spirits, to become a custodian of nature in its truest sense. In exchange for this gift, I pledge my unwavering dedication to the balance of life and death, to the preservation of the sacred cycle that sustains all living beings"