The Fire Giant

I felt relieved.

For the first time in many decades, I felt at peace.

I was floating in a serene void, uncaring of everything.

Then I remembered.

Who I was. What I'd done.

I'm not allowed to be at peace like this. Not after the sins I've committed.

B-but I'm just so tired. I want to rest. I want to stop resisting.

.

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"How are you feeling?" A deep voice called out to me.

I slowly opened my eyes as my surroundings changed.

I was brought out of my stupor by--

!!!

"GET BACK!! HOW ARE YOU HERE??!"

Ifrit

Why is he here?

"Calm down. I do not have any malicious intentions." He responded.

"Like I'll believe that after decades of knowing you. I'll ask again, What are you doing here? I thought Ashborne got rid of you!"

"He did, but then he gave me another chance."

"He told me that I if managed to get your forgiveness, he would forgive me too."

Still quite hesitant to believe him, I asked, "And you have no problem with being at his mercy, what's with the sudden change in mind?"

"Lord Ashborne is an existence I cannot hope to reach. I understand that now. The sudden change in me is also due to the Lord's benevolence."

What? How did Ashborne manage to bring about this change?

"Lord Ashborne showed me a different world. He opened my eyes to the plight of people. He showed me the lives of his Legion and enlightened me to the importance of life."

"I think I'm starting to understand now.....It feels as though I've been reborn. Liked I've gained decades of experience and wisdom."

"You seem more intelligent too," I replied.

Then I finally asked the most important thing in my mind, "So you're here to ask for my forgiveness?"

"Actually no. I've committed sins far too heinous to be forgiven. The damage I've done to your life is immeasurable. I'm only here to apologize for the pain I've caused you. Then I plan to ask Lord Ashborne to get rid of me for good." Ifrit replied with a straight face.

"W-What?!"

Is this the same Ifrit that I've known for years? How is this possible??

I don't sense any lies in his words either.

I'm in a dilemma now.

I want to hate him...for everything he's done.

But it seems he wasn't fully aware of his actions.

But he still ruined everything.

But he's a different person now.

Yet I still can't let go of my hatred...after all, MY life has already been destroyed.

"Don't forgive me Shizue. You don't need to do that to yourself. I don't deserve it."

That doesn't help either, you idiot. You devil. You monster. You, you--

"I'm sorry for killing your friend."

"I'm sorry for giving you those scars."

"I'm sorry for forcing you to become Demon Lord Leon's subordinate."

"I'm sorry for the constant pain I caused you trying to hold me back."

"I'm sorry for whenever I tried to sabotage you to gain control of your body."

"I'm sorry for everything Shizue."

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.

.

.

"I forgive you, you bastard," I said, barely holding myself together. 

"I don't have the capacity to hold on to that hatred anymore. I forgive you for everything."

A look of immense surprise appeared on Ifrit's face.

Suddenly, I felt warmth. I felt warm hands wrapping around me, holding me.

"It's okay. You can cry now. You deserve a break."

I broke down.

I fell into 𝘩𝘪𝘴 embrace and cried my eyes out.

He comforted me, as I let out all my pain and anguish onto him.

---------------

I don't know for how long I hugged Shizue for, but it felt like days.

I could literally feel her pain pouring out.

What kinda life would one have to live to become like this?? I can't even imagine the things she has experienced.

The world is so unfair.

*SHAKE*

No point in sulking and becoming all philosophical.

I slowly lifted Shizue's head up, only to realize she had already fallen asleep.

I'll just let her rest as long as she wants.....She deserves it.

"So. What're you going to do now? Shizue forgave you, and I'll respect my word and forgive you too." I said to Ifrit, who was standing a few feet away.

"I-I don't know.... I have nothing to live for. I'm burdened by my sins, and I don't--"

"Then atone. Atone for your sins. I shall carry them for you until you pay the world back for the suffering you've caused. Become my subordinate Ifrit." I stated, holding my hand out to him.

Steeling his resolve, "Very well."

"I pledge my undying loyalty to you Lord Ashborne. I swear to atone for my sins and pay you back for your generosity."

Smiling at him, "Welcome to the Legion. From now on, call yourself 'Magna', and honor the Legion"

A huge amount of magicules were drained from me, nearly exhausting my supply.

'SHIT!! This is too much. At this rate, I'll be forced into a psuedo-coma.'

"Lord Ashborne!!!" Magna screamed out, surprised at the developments.

My vision was getting blurry.

"Tell the Legion to not worry too much. And protect Shizue." were my last words as I fell into a coma induced my absolute magicule exhaustion.

----------------

Apparently a whole week had passed when I was in a coma.

A lot of shit had happened in that time.

"Are you feeling well Ashborne-san??"

And I was currently laying my head in the lap of Shizue Izawa.

"Uhhh... Yeah. What's going on?"

"I woke up just the day-before-yesterday. I've been taking care of you since then. I owe you at least that much."

"You really didn't have to, Shizue-san."

"No need to call me with honorifics. You can just call me Shizue."

"So what now? You've escaped from Ifrit's burden, you're free now, so what will you be doing?"

Rubbing her head sheepishly, "About that--"

Flame-like miasma suddenly popped out of her back.

"I'm currently inhabiting Shizue's body, my Lord." Magna said.

What?!

"I know you forgave him, but I didn't you would be comfortable enough to let him house your body!" I said.

"Well, he needed a physical body, so I suggested that he could go back into mine."

The kindness within this woman is truly immeasurable.

"My Lord. Due to receiving a name and your blessing, I have evolved into an 'Elemental Lord'. I'm truly grateful for your generosity!!"

Isn't an Elemental Lord a race on par with some Demon Lord races?

That's impressive, no wonder the naming cost me my whole store of magicules.

Magna is now my new strongest subordinate. Poor Coatl is not going to be happy when he returns.

I slowly got up from my position as I examined my surroundings.

'What the HELL?!!'

I was in the [Soul Realm], but what's all this??

It looks liked a full-fledged city!!

I had given [Great Sage] the permission to order the Legion for the construction projects, but I didn't think it would turn out like this.

It seems that [Great Sage] had been giving the Legionaries clear imagery and instructions for the construction of the [Soul Realm] through the Soul Circuit.

It had retrieved all it's information from [Archiver] and the memories of my past life.

I had given free reign to [Great Sage] because unlike Rimuru, who was a real-estate contractor, I didn't know shit about architecture and Civil Engineering.

I looked around with Shizue following me, observing everything that had been built.

"My Lord. I'm glad you have awakened safely." Rigurdo suddenly teleported to me and reported.

"Give me a report of all the things that have happened while I was asleep." I ordered.

"Yes my Lord."

Then he started his report--

After I had fallen asleep, Magna had informed Rigurdo and Garmr about it. They were cautious at first, but decided to trust him since they sensed him to be a Legionary.

In the following week, the construction had gone smoothly.

My question is, how did they accomplish so much in such a short time??

<Received. A combination of instant transport, the ability to fly because 'Giant Bats', and perfectly synchronized instructions all contributed fast pace construction.>

Heh...It seems that [Great Sage] is quite proud of itself.

And rightfully so, because this is impressive.

By the way, what do you mean by 'Instant Transport'?

<Received. The whole [Soul Realm] has been interconnected by a network of underground threads using the skill [Organic Web Network] Legionary 'Arachne'. Every building and facility connected to network, with central control system located at center Realm].>

'Arachne did all that by herself??'

I definitely need to reward her in some way, because that is just plain amazing.

Onto the topic of buildings and facilities, it was very unique.

For the Ogres, there was the residential district, for the monsters, there were other specially developed habitats.

There was the Arachnid District for the Spiders, which also contained the cloth production area.

The caves were home to the bats and centipedes. The insides were heavily developed to suit the needs of the monsters.

That was built near to the mines.

The [Soul Realm] had the capacity to comfortably house over a few thousand residents now. But there were still only around 300 Legionaries.

Since the Legion contained a wide array of lifeforms with very different bodies and lifestyles, we had to get creative with the construction.

Then there were other facilities like product storage areas for the various collected and harvested materials.

There was a gigantic kitchen, which confused me since none of the Legionaries required food.

Upon asking, Rigurdo told me that since the Legionaries didn't require food, they could focus on developing unique dishes and could freely experiment without any limits.

I had already introduced them to the concept of spices, which were harvested from all around Jura.

I was looking forward to what all they could cook up.

Let them cook.

Shizue then interrupted--

"We also harvested a few Hellmoth colonies, which can be used in the production of finer cloth, which I helped in."

"Thanks for your help Shizue."

Hellmoths were what were used to produce all of the cloth in the original timeline. However in this one, we have the spiders, many of whom can produce finer verieties of webs, suitable for producing cloth.

But still, Hellmoths were the go to when you wanted properties similar to silk. Hellmoth cloth also had another unique property. The strength and quality of the cloth depended on how magicule-filled food you fed to the Hellmoths in their growing stage.

So if you fed them extremely nutritious magicule-filled food, the cloth you could harvest from them would be durable enough to be classified as Special-Grade.

Apart from that, Rigurdo completed his report with a big piece of news.

Around 500 goblins had approached the village seeking protection from it's 'master'

Rigurdo had provided them with temporary shelter until I woke back up.

I had expected this to happen sooner or later since it happened in the original series as well.

"Let's go meet them right now." I announced.

I then exited the [Soul Realm], accompanied by Shizue and Rigurdo.

I appeared in Veldora's cave as that was where I had last been before going into the [Soul Realm].

Ok...Let's try this out.

I activated [Spatial Manipulation], letting [Great Sage] handle all the precise calculations while I thought of the place I wanted to go to.

And there I was. It was almost instantaneous, I along with Rigurdo and Shizue appeared in the decoy village built in the outside world.

"AHHHHHH!!" a voice screamed in terror.

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A/N: New Chapter!!

And Shizue is alive!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: 

I just wanted to say, I would really appreciate it you REVIEWED the story since it helps in pushing it so more people can read it. It's also good motivation for me too keep writing.

Thanks in Advance!!