Before actually performing the work, Kousuke received a proper explanation from Asura.
He said that if they didn’t both understand what they needed to do, things wouldn’t go well.
First, they would mix their respective “powers” and imbue them into an object that would become the core of the soul.
This would become the divine power that the soul possessed.
The divine power held by the soul would be fundamental to the individual being born, making it an extremely important existence.
Asura casually stated that once the soul was created, all they needed to do was prepare a body for that soul to inhabit in Asgard.
Kousuke understood the process of the work itself, but he only grasped half of the actual task.
However, Asura assured him that she would handle the follow-up, so there wouldn’t be any problems.
After receiving the complete explanation, they proceeded to the actual work.
Kousuke and Asura sat facing each other across the work desk.
“Place both your hands on the desk.”
As Kousuke did as Asura said, he placed both his hands on the desk.
Asura took his hands and placed them together, with their right hands on the bottom.
From Kousuke’s perspective, Asura’s left hand was resting on top of his right hand, and his left hand was on top of Asura’s right hand.
Asura slightly widened the joined hands to form a circle and murmured,
“…Summon.”
With that single word, Kousuke felt a powerful force from Asura.
He knew that with his current abilities, he couldn’t possibly do the same.
He later learned that Eris and the others couldn’t do it either.
Regardless, after that word, a sphere-like object floated in the center of the circle formed by their joined hands.
“…What is this?”
“Hmm, it’s difficult to explain… it’s something like a Soul Vessel, I suppose.”
“So, we put divine power inside this?”
“That’s right. I’ll handle the part of putting it in, so you just circulate your divine power.”
As Asura instructed, Kousuke began circulating divine power within his body.
Then, Asura’s divine power was transmitted to him through their joined hands.
With that sensation, Kousuke understood what he needed to do.
He reciprocated by sending his own divine power towards her.
At this time, Kousuke had closed his eyes to concentrate on the work, so he couldn’t see that Eris and Jal, who were watching the process from the side, had surprised expressions.
Incidentally, Asura in front of him had a slight smile on her face, but Kousuke never noticed it until the end.
“…How’s this?”
“Yes, it’s more than enough. It looks like it’s going to go much better than I expected.”
“That’s good.”
The flow of their divine powers circulated slowly through the rings formed by their arms via their joined hands.
Sensing he was getting the hang of it, Kousuke stopped closing his eyes.
In his opened vision, the object that had been a mere transparent sphere until then was now shimmering with various colors.
Kousuke stared at the radiance, dumbfounded.
Asura narrowed her eyes too.
“This is amazing. I wonder what kind of soul will be born from this… Oh, right. Don’t let go of my hands until this light subsides.”
“Understood.”
Not letting go of her hands meant, of course, continuing to circulate divine power, but Kousuke judged it to be no problem as he didn’t feel much strain.
He hadn’t asked how long it would take, though.
Kousuke figured that if it was going to take so long that he couldn’t handle it, Asura would have said so upfront.
And indeed, that was the case, so there was no issue, and the work concluded.
The sphere’s radiance subsided within a few minutes.
“…Is it okay now?”
When Asura told him so, Kousuke carefully stopped circulating his divine power.
Although he said “carefully,” it only took a few seconds.
He could have stopped it all at once if he wanted to, but since he had accepted another person’s divine power, he didn’t want to use a rough method.
“…Um?”
Even after stopping the circulation of divine power, Asura didn’t let go of his hand, causing Kousuke to tilt his head.
Seeing Kousuke’s reaction, Asura smiled as if tickled and said,
“Since we’re together, shouldn’t we stay like this a little longer?”
“…Um…”
As Kousuke hesitated slightly, Asura’s smile deepened.
“We can’t come here frequently, so when we do, we should take the time to be like this, shouldn’t we?”
“Uh, no, well, it’s not like I have any complaints, but…”
For Kousuke, it wasn’t a matter of complaints, he was actually all for it, but since this kind of interaction with Asura was new to him, he was just a little flustered.
“I see. That’s good. More importantly, it’s about to stabilize.”
The sphere, which had received their divine powers, was floating gently in place, but as if in response to Asura’s words, it stopped its movement abruptly in mid-air.
“…This is?”
“It’s the prototype of the soul that resides in all life. Though, for now, it’s visually represented for clarity.”
Normally, it’s not something that can be seen with the naked eye.
Since Kousuke was involved in the work this time, Asura made it visible and easy to understand.
“Prototype? So it’s not the soul itself?”
“That’s right. A soul can only exist when it inhabits a physical body. If a soul were exposed in its naked state, it would instantly perish.”
“Whoa, really? Ah, come to think of it, you said something like that when I first came here.”
“Yes. In your case, the fact that you weren’t a newborn soul was fortunate, allowing you to exist up to this point.”
“So, I was in serious danger?”
“Yes. …Quite dangerous.”
Looking back now, it’s a chilling thought, but at the time, he didn’t have that knowledge and probably just thought he was lucky to meet a beautiful woman.
He had considered various things, but he barely recalled his emotions at that moment.
Of course, he hadn’t forgotten the content of the conversation itself.
“I see.”
Kousuke simply said that, and didn’t say thank you.
He had already thanked her several times, and Asura had told him it was enough.
As for Kousuke, no matter how many times he thanked her, it wouldn’t be enough, but since Asura told him so, he couldn’t force it.
Kousuke also had no intention of pushing his gratitude.
“…So? What are you going to do with the body of that soul?”
“That was prepared by Eris and the others.”
“…Others?”
Kousuke instinctively glanced at Jal, and the person in question puffed out her cheeks.
“What? Do you have a complaint?”
“No, no. Not at all.”
“Hmph. …Well, it’s fine. Also, although she’s not here, Spica also contributed.”
She said it casually, but Eris and her group are known as the “Three Great Gods” in Asgard.
He was both excited and a little scared to see what kind of soul vessel these beings would create.
“…It’s not going to surpass Kouhi or Mitsuki, is it…?”
To Kousuke’s questioning look, Eris and Jal turned away.
“…Eh!? No way?”
“No. Please don’t misunderstand. While we did create the body, we won’t know the actual strength until the soul is infused.”
“…Is that so?”
Asura nodded at Kousuke’s gaze.
“Yes, that’s right. Of course, we can make some predictions. But I don’t think it will surpass Kouhi or Mitsuki.”
Kousuke felt a sense of relief in his heart at Asura’s answer.
If a being that couldn’t be contained by Kouhi and Mitsuki were to be born, he lacked the confidence to control it properly.
“Well, this is as far as the work goes for now. All that’s left is to place this prototype into the vessel. I’ll do that when you return.”
“Understood.”
Kousuke had no objection to this and nodded honestly.
“Alright! Well then, let’s go to the party. Everyone must be waiting!”
At Jal’s words, Kousuke’s expression faltered slightly.
“Um… is it possible to be absent…?”
“We refuse!”
Rejected by three voices simultaneously, Kousuke realized he had no escape.
The reason the three of them were surprised when Kousuke circulated his divine power was because of its speed. Ordinary people cannot circulate their divine power so easily. Even Eris couldn’t do it. It would be different if there were two Asuras.
