With both Fang and the Dragon King’s Avatar squirming in pain, it was hard to tell what was going on. The only thing I instinctively knew was that whoever fell first would get their souls obliterated.
With Fang right before me, bathing in the red light from the eerie moon, I had the urge to do something. However, even if I touched her again using the Flames of Regression, the speed at which her Bad Karma got burned wouldn’t increase further.
“…”
Gritting my teeth, I decided to protect Fang’s soul instead.
For me, someone who had five other souls inside my mind’s space, it wasn’t hard to get the feel of another being’s “soul”. However, doing so is a very tiring endeavor; after all, the souls are present in a higher dimension than the physical body.
Now, with the two legendary flames activated simultaneously, providing me with access to an infinite amount of energy, I can basically enter Fang’s soulscape without running out of gas.
I was thinking, though… What happens if both the bad and good karma get completely burned off? I haven’t tried it yet, and I am a little worried about how it will affect me. However, right now isn’t the time to deactivate it. After all, the enemy before us was still alive and kicking.
“Argh!!!”
Fang suddenly raised her voice, screaming in pain as she hugged her own body tight. Blood was streaming down her eyes and nose, definite proof that she was having a hard time under the torture of [Soul Eclipse].
Hesitation went out the window as I kneeled before Fang, holding her face to stare into her eyes, blurry and full of bloody tears.
“… L-Lead…er…”
“Shh… Don’t waste your energy talking. Focus on holding on for as long as you can… Leave the rest to me…”
I patted her head, careful not to hit her with the Flame of Evolution, while showing a faint smile. Like a good girl, she gritted her teeth and stayed quiet, focusing her nerves on just resisting the damage she was receiving from her own skill.
While Fang closed her eyes, I neared her face before bumping our foreheads against each other. Using the link between us as the tamer and the tamed, I accessed her soulscape. It didn’t go well at first, though, as Fang’s soulscape was treating me as a foreign object and was rejecting my entry.
Slowly, I increased the energy I was using, which caused the contact point between Fang and me to heat up. Just as I was grimacing at the warmth that was approaching unbearable levels, I successfully infiltrated inside.
As soon as I bypassed the rejection forcefully, I completely lost control over my body. It was as if my entire consciousness was used to create my avatar to enter and explore Fang’s soulscape. In this state, it would be extremely difficult to stay inside for too long.
I quickly looked around the dark space, where almost nothing could be seen, until I found Fang’s Soul floating in a faraway area. Her soul wasn’t the human form she had right now, but rather the wolf form she had the first time we met. No, it was a little smaller, even, meaning that it was her even earlier form.
All around her soul, marble-sized red beads of light kept passing through and rapidly rotating around her like satellites. Every time the red beads entered and exited her soul, Fang’s appearance got blurrier.
“STOP!”
I knew it was dangerous just from a glance, so I quickly stood between the red beads and Fang’s soul. I suddenly felt a cold wave sweep over me. Looking around, there was nothing, but I could feel a powerful gaze locked onto both Fang and my figure.
“Stay away from Fang!”
Although I was worried about the owner of the gaze, protecting Fang was my top priority. Using what little energy was left after I entered, I created a sword about half a meter in length. It was a little lacking, but having a weapon makes a large difference.
Every time I see a bead exit its orbit and fly toward Fang’s Soul, I intercept it with the energy sword. Red and blue lights clashed, releasing purple sparks all over for a moment until the red bead got sent flying away.
After just one clash, I felt that my avatar’s arm had gone numb. The red beads were extremely powerful! Almost as strong as I was, even!
After my first success, I didn’t let my guard down. Soon, as if angry at me interrupting their business, the red beads gathered into a large mass and, like a machine gun, peppered me in an incessant wave of attacks.
*PING!* *PING!* *PING!*
Even though I was waving my sword at full strength tirelessly, I couldn’t completely guard against the barrage. A red bead managed to slip past my defense and land in the center of my chest.
As soon as it made contact, my vision spun before a part of my avatar’s body, the entire left arm, broke off.
“…!”
Weirdly, there was no pain, but a lasting, uncomfortable feeling remained. I turned to Fang, but after a brief scan, her soul seemed to be in one piece. The red beads weren’t attacking Fang earlier, then…?
“F*ck, did I just do something unnecessary again…?”
Looking at her soul’s countenance, which was slowly turning into a peaceful and neutral expression from the pained look she had before, I convinced myself that I did the right thing.
“No matter! Come, bring it on!”
From what I know about [Soul Eclipse], it was just a powerful skill under the Darkness element that ignored the level gap between the user and the target. However, the specifics of the skill were only told to Fang herself, which made me completely clueless as to how it works specifically.
Despite knowing nothing about it, I at least know that these red beads were a part of it. If I could prevent them from touching Fang, then I could at least lessen the burden on her for a while, until the Dragon King, who was probably suffering under the same condition, was unable to hold on any longer.
Sharpening my senses, I waved my energy blade with as few excess movements as I could. Just like playing connect-the-dots, I waved my sword in a single line, catching a dozen or so red beads at once. Doing this one at a time is easy, but when you need to perform the same feat consecutively, that changes things a lot.
*Drip*
Although my body was nothing but a projection of my mental energy, blood started dripping down my nose. The extreme focus I was consecutively performing, matched with movements way beyond the capacity of what a normal body could handle, was slowly damaging my real body. The nosebleed was an easy-to-understand warning regarding that.
‘Come on… Drop dead quickly!’
I prayed in my heart. If this situation where Fang and the Dragon King were enduring the [Soul Eclipse] continues any longer, then I don’t know what else could happen to my real body. I might even become a vegetable after these red beads hit me if I let my guard down.
[Mortal… Cease your interference this instant…]
Just as I was fending off another dozen or so of the red beads, a voice echoed from above, making me send a glance to the source by reflex.
There, a man wearing a full black outfit was “standing” in mid-air. In his hand was a large scythe, the handle as tall as he was and the blade about an arm’s length. Just at a glance, I quickly attributed the title “grim reaper” to the mysterious figure.
Well, Fang’s life was on the line, however, so I wouldn’t stop even if God was the one ordering me. I completely ignored the voice and just focused on fending off wave after wave of beads. As if finding my reaction not to his liking, however, he snapped his fingers.
As the sound echoed, one of the beads that was about to get slapped away again suddenly moved out of the way, dodging my sword by the slightest margin.
“…!”
Unable to react on time, the bead managed to bury itself against my right shoulder. When that happened, just like the first time I got hit, my entire arm vanished into nothingness, leaving the energy sword to drop to the floor.
Both arms were now gone, for my avatar at least. I don’t know how this will affect me later, but the situation is pretty grim. Just as I lost my right arm, the rest of the beads returned once again and threatened to hit me, along with Fang behind me.
*SNAP!* 𝗼𝐯𝗹．𝐞𝘁
Just as the red beads were an inch from my nose, another snap echoed. Everything stopped almost instantly, making me feel relief despite the fact that the situation was not getting any better.
[I repeat. Don’t interfere with my business, you Mortal with multiple souls…]