After the Battle of the Arbor, the cold, eerie energy of the Soul-Soul Fruit surged within Euron's body, finally coalescing into a clear number:
[Soul Points: 3280]
Euron now understood that the mystery of soul points lay not in the quantity of lives taken, but in the strength of their souls.
Sometimes, a seemingly ordinary deceased person could offer a brilliant radiance worth 15 points, while a strong warrior's soul might yield only a meager flicker of 3 points. Soul strength had no correlation with physical prowess or visible intellect; it concerned a deeper, more essential, yet elusive quality. However, Euron had no intention of delving too deeply into the metaphysics. He was not a scholar of souls, but a harvester of power. What truly concerned him was what "nutrients" these points could buy, and when the next war would erupt to bring him more points and profit.
Euron stared at the small cluster of flame hovering above his palm. It was barely the size of two thumbnails, flickering unsteadily, yet it contained a nascent, pure elemental energy. This was the tiny elemental life form he had previously created using the eerie power of the Soul-Soul Fruit.
Without hesitation, with a slight shift of will, the massive amount of soul points harvested from the Battle of the Arbor began to pour into it like a floodgate opening. The points were consumed rapidly, the numbers dropping sharply. A full one thousand soul energy points transformed into invisible nutrients, greedily devoured by the tiny flame.
The effect was immediate. The flame shrank inward violently, then suddenly expanded. When it stabilized, it was the size of a ping-pong ball, burning more steadily and brightly. Its light and heat made the shadows in the secret chamber dance, and the air around it began to distort slightly.
Euron's gaze remained calm as he continued the infusion. Another one thousand soul points vanished. This time, the flame's volume didn't increase significantly, but the color of its core shifted from orange-red to a near-blinding incandescent white! The temperature it emitted spiked dramatically. Waves of heat washed over him, and the stone floor beneath his feet began to feel hot, as if a miniature sun had been compressed into the room.
The third thousand soul points merged into the flame. This time, the change was more subtle. The flame's size grew only slightly, but its movement underwent a qualitative leap—it was no longer just burning; it was skipping and spinning lightly on Euron's fingertips. It seemed to possess the simplest form of consciousness, conveying a confused but pure sense of joy, like a newborn expressing delight to its creator.
At this point, only 280 soul points remained. Euron keenly sensed that investing more into this flame would yield diminishing returns for now. He decisively stopped the infusion.
However, he didn't save the remaining points. Instead, he channeled 200 soul points through the forbidden power of the Soul-Soul Fruit—the power that bridges life and death and shapes souls—directing it toward empty space. Energy gathered, twisted, and transmuted. Gradually, a pitch-black thundercloud, smaller than a palm, coalesced above his other hand. Inside the cloud, tiny black electric snakes darted silently, emitting a dull, dangerous, and oppressive aura distinctly different from the searing heat of the fire.
Another newborn elemental life was born here—Thundercloud: Thor.
The Soul-Soul Fruit could create all kinds of elemental lives, but Euron chose Fire and Thundercloud.
In the world of One Piece, one of the Four Emperors who possessed this fruit, Charlotte Linlin (Big Mom), created two primary homies: Prometheus (Fire) and Zeus (Thundercloud). Euron had seen their power, so creating these two elemental lives was the safest bet.
The newly born black thundercloud rolled silently in the corner. Occasionally, tiny electric snakes flickered within the clouds, still too weak to be of much use.
On the other side, the fire elemental that Euron had fed with a full three thousand soul points, named "Apollo," had grown strong enough over the past few days to become a terrifying support in battle.
Euron stood in the courtyard. With a thought, Apollo happily leaped onto the blade of the sword in his hand.
In an instant, the cold steel was wrapped in incandescent white flames. As the blade sliced through the air, it carried a scorching wave of heat. Every strike not only delivered incredible force but also scattered sparks capable of igniting everything around. Every parry forced the opponent to not only withstand the brute force of the clash but also endure the searing heat.
He opened his palm, and Apollo obediently hovered above it. At his will, it suddenly spat out a concentrated tongue of fire. The temperature was extremely high, enough to ignite leather and wood instantly, or scorch flesh and bone.
He could also throw it like a stone. The fireball would accurately hit a distant wooden target and explode with a boom, turning into a massive ball of fire that scattered shrapnel with devastating power.
The most difficult application was short-term possession. Currently, he could barely make the flame wrap around one of his arms, turning it into a blazing arm of fire. A punch delivered both physical impact and burning damage, but the energy consumption was huge and difficult to sustain.
To further excavate its potential, Euron summoned the Red Priestess Gwendolyn and the Shadowbinder Evelyn. He demonstrated Apollo's various forms in front of them without reservation, then turned his gaze to these two experts in energy manipulation.
"Gwendolyn," he began, the flame dancing on his fingertip, reflecting in his deep eyes. "Your Lord of Light commands fire like breathing. And you, Evelyn, the essence of your shadow play is also energy transformation." He manipulated Apollo to perform intricate movements. "Tell me, what are your insights on it? How can I more effectively integrate it into the art of killing?"
Red Priestess Gwendolyn stared at the flame skipping happily on Euron's fingertip, obedient as a limb. In her eyes, usually filled only with devout fervor for R'hllor, the Lord of Light, appeared a look of near-shocked confusion and awe for the first time.
"This... this is no ordinary fire," her voice was slightly hoarse with amazement. "Nor is it the sacred flame my Lord grants to his believers. R'hllor's fire requires faith and prayer as fuel; it is a manifestation of divine power. But this..." She watched the flame split nimbly into two streams and merge back into one. "It seems to be a newborn spirit of fire itself, an elemental servant with simple consciousness. My Lord, you are not 'manipulating' fire; you are 'commanding' a living flame. This is unheard of even in the records of Asshai."
She stepped forward, her fingertip tentatively approaching to feel the pure heat, her tone becoming increasingly fervent and reverent. "My suggestion is to nourish it, as one nourishes a child. Perhaps try letting it consume different fuels—special oils, magical woods, or even powerful blood—to observe if it grows or changes differently. At the same time, My Lord, you might try connecting your will more deeply with it. Not commanding, but guiding. Let it understand your killing intent and tactics, so it becomes a true extension of you on the battlefield."
On the other side, the aura around Shadowbinder Evelyn seemed to grow darker and more obscure, as if her own shadows were shying away from the flame's light. Her face was hidden deep under her hood, silent, but that silence radiated an intensely focused scrutiny.
After a long time, she spoke. Her voice was low and silky, carrying a dissecting coolness. "Fascinating. This breaks common logic. In Asshai, we peel away shadows and weave illusions, but to endow an element with basic consciousness... this is power bordering on the domain of a Creator." She seemed to see through to more of its essence. "Its current form may be far from its endpoint."
Her suggestion was stranger and more dangerous. "Heat and light are its appearance, but also its shackles. Since it possesses the rudiments of consciousness, why not let it learn 'stealth'? I can try to inject a trace of shadow essence into its core—not to extinguish it, but to teach it to hide its light and heat when needed. To become a silent dark fire that invades the enemy's body before erupting. Or teach it to split; even the tiniest spark could parasitize a living organism, burning slowly from the inside out. That would be a source of fear that truly cannot be extinguished."
Two women from mysterious lands offered two completely different paths: one leaning toward sacred nourishment and communion, the other toward eerie modification and assassination.
Euron nodded, indicating that every path was worth trying. He recalled that Big Mom's fire, Prometheus, also needed to eat fire.
I wonder if dragonfire would make it stronger? I look forward to finding out.
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