Afterlife Department

Chapter 13 - Soul Eaters

After Huo Ling calmed down, he turned to Yi Bing. "Where's the remaining corpse in the first floor located?" he asked.

"106." Yi Bing answered.

Huo Ling nodded. He looked at the pitiful child's corpse. "His soul also is gone?" he asked.

"Yes." Yi Bing closed the compartment and stood up. He looked at the child's stepfather who was drinking beer and laughed loudly when the comedian on the television joked. His eyes narrowed as his fingers raised and the faucet opened. "Let's go.." He told Huo Ling.

Huo Ling wiped his tears. "How will you go out?" he asked.

As an answer, Yi Bing picked up a walnut on the kitchen counter, then flicked it towards the window. The jalousie instantly broke and the walnut flew out of the window.

"Who the fucker - ?!" the man cursed and he immediately marched towards the door. He opened the door and walked out.

Yi Bing immediately went out of the door and kicked the back of the man's knee. The man cried in pain and he weakly fell on his knees. Huo Ling who went out laughed and gave Yi Bing a thumb's up. "GJ!" he said.

Yi Bing just smiled and walked towards the 105 in the middle of the bottom of the U in this U – shaped apartment building. "The child's mother must have only her child in her mind." He suddenly spoke.

"Why?" Huo Ling asked.

"After all – " Yi Bing turned to Huo Ling. " – the mother can undergo in Mania when she was a soul and turn to an evil ghost. That way, she can kill her husband. However, she didn't." he said. "She must be worried for her child who will be alone in the afterlife." He explained.

Huo Ling nodded. "That must be it." He said. "However, you said their soul was gone. Are their names also not on the Death Note?" he asked.

"Yes." Yi Bing sighed and looked at the blank Death Note.

"Say, Yi Bing." Huo Ling called and stopped.

"What?"

Huo Ling looked at Yi Bing. "Can the souls eaten by the Soul Eater still reincarnate?" he asked.

Yi Bing also stopped. "There's a possibility." He answered.

Huo Ling sighed in relief. "That's great, then!" he said. A smile formed on his face and he went first to 105. He didn't see that Yi Bing's expression cooled.

Yi Bing closed the Death Note. "There's a possibility, but in order for them to reincarnate – " he said and looked at the falling rain. " – they can never be a human again." He muttered. The soul a Soul Eater ate is already damaged. However, to what extent, it depends on the soul's strength. If a soul was badly damaged, then they might disappear and their cycle ends there.

Yi Bing exhaled, a cold smoke come out of his mouth. He turned and followed Huo Ling, unaware of the beast on the back of the apartment building, eating another soul from 909. On its skin that's a lump of meat are the faces of the souls it ate. It has no eyes, only nose, ears and a mouth, on its jaws are a row of long and sharp teeth.

Afterlife Department.

"A Soul Eater?!" San Di exclaimed after Gu Shi spoke.

"Haven't the archangels killed them all 50,000 years ago?" Feng Er asked.

"How many souls could a Soul Eater eat, for it to have its own form?" Si Shui said, his brows knit.

"A Soul Eater should at least eat 1,000 souls, digest them for 1,000 years, then wait for another 1,000 years to have their infant form." Gu Shi explained.

"So this Soul Eater should be 1,000 years old?" Si Shui asked.

"Not necessarily." San Di spoke. "Their age depends on their size. 1,000 years for an infant form. In human age, they are just a day or a month old. Can you imagine it?" he asked.

"1,000 years for soul digestion, and 1,000 years for its physical form, 2000 years is the least time they have to wait. And they are at their weakest." Gu Shi said. "If a Soul Eater would appear the size of an average human…"

"They must be at least 20,000 years old." Feng Er said. "The reason why they have to wait for a long time is because of the quality of the soul they ate." She said. "One soul, if an infant, it would take at least 100 years for them to digest. If they ate an old soul, it would take at least 1000 years." She raised her head. "The longer the lifespan of the soul they ate, the longer for a Soul Eater to digest the soul." She analyzed.

Gu Shi nodded. "Yes." he sighed. "It is because of the memories." He looked at the interns in the Afterlife Department. They are the souls who weren't willing to reincarnate and chose to work with them. "Even just a moment of joy for a human, but that memory is worth at least 200 years." He said.

"Why is that?" someone asked.

"Is it like bidding?" someone spoke and rose from his seat. "It depends on the value of the memory?" he asked.

Gu Shi nodded. "Yes." he answered. "If the humans value the objects, we – as well the Soul Eaters, value souls and their memories." He said. "The more precious the memory, the more value it has."

"How does a memory valued?"

"There's what we call Memory Energy." San Di spoke. "The happier or sadder a memory is, the greater the energy it would have." He explained. "The Memory Energy, in a simpler term – " he smiled. " – it's what we call 'emotions'." He told them.

"It's what these emotions the Soul Eaters feed on the souls they ate." Feng Er said.

Si Shui nodded. "The greater the emotions in those souls, the greater the power the Soul Eaters will have." He said, then paused. "Of course, the longer they have to wait to digest those souls, and the longer they will take form." He shrugged.

"So, the older the Soul Eater, the stronger it is?" someone from the interns asked.

"That's how it always is." Gu Shi nodded. "So, if you found a Soul Eater – " he took a deep breath. " – you have to run." He said.

…

"So, a Soul Eater emits Foul?" Huo Ling said after he listened to Yi Bing's explanation about the Soul Eaters.

"Yes, and no." Yi Bing answered. "Soul Eaters emits Foul, but when there's a Foul, that doesn't necessarily mean a Soul Eater is around." He explained.

Huo Ling nodded. They just finished inspecting the corpses from the first six floors. Currently, they are on the sixth floor. As they guessed, the corpses they found didn't have a soul in them. "How old do you think the Soul Eater present here?" he asked Yi Bing.

"In human age, they must be at least 2 years old." Yi Bing answered.

Huo Ling was surprised. "That young?" he said.

Yi Bing looked at him. "Its actual age should be around 5,000 years old or more." He told him. "A 5-year old human age Soul Eater can consume an entire town-worth of souls." He added.

Huo Ling shut up. "Soul Eaters should be rare?" he muttered.

"It depends on the speed they cultivate." Yi Bing said, referring to the Soul Eaters digesting the souls.

In the apartment building, at least 20 souls the 2-years old Soul Eater ate, including Fu Ling's soul they found. The reason why Fu Ling's soul cannot leave her body must be due to the Soul Eater. "Can they mark a soul?" Huo Ling asked after he told Yi Bing his guess.

Yi Bing nodded and gave him a commendable look. "Yes." he answered.

Huo Ling felt like he was praised by his high school teacher. He smiled. "How will you kill the Soul Eater?" he asked. "It should be easy, right, since it's just 2 years old – " he said.

Yi Bing cut him off. "Idiot." He said and stopped. "Look at the '2 years old' you're talking about." He said and turned his 'head'.

Huo Ling's gaze followed and his eyes widened in shock when he saw a lump of meat taller than Yi Bing. "No way…" he muttered under his breath as he looked at the red monster standing at the end of the hallway. Its back that sometimes shows different human faces is facing them. "How can this be – "

"A 2 years old?" Yi Bing said, his voice lowered so that the pointed ears of the meat monster wouldn't hear them.

Huo Ling's face darkened. This couldn't be! If a 2 year-old Soul Eater is already bigger than Yi Bing, then how big will an 'adult' Soul Eater be?