The Old Soul (2)

The screams abruptly ended as the scratchy-voiced man once again ripped open the person's ribs from behind. You could faintly see his blood being absorbed by the strange symbol that was painted on the floor.

As the last sacrifice was thrown away to the side, I could vaguely feel the world trying to pull me into it. I felt like my soul was being ripped apart and being molded into a shape that wasn't familiar to me.

[Warning! Your soul is in danger!]

A game-like system prompt popped up beside me as I attempted to resist the summoning.

'argh...!'

[Warning! Your soul is in danger!]

The prompts constantly popped up which added to my annoyance, but at this point, my head was filled with too much pain to even give a darn about it.

...

Thud.

The deer-man turned his head behind in suspicion of the sound. It sounded like objects falling which seemed to be near the entrance. They were most likely the locks they had put up on the door, which was now forcefully broken.

He silently made a judgement as he turned to the person beside him. "Those dang candidate are here— Hey, you! Call the others and prevent those little shits from entering this room!!" He commanded towards the seemingly ordinary cloaked person. The cloaked man gave a nod out of respect and then proceeded to run outside of the room to follow his orders.

"How long until the old soul descends?" The deer-man asked in impatience.

"In.. five m-minutes or so! It seems to be trying to fight back!" The scratchy voiced man said in confusion, how was a weak soul able to fight back a summoning?

In confusion, they hadn't noticed that a small cat had entered the room through a small opening near a broken door. It carefully and slyly climbed up an empty looking shelf.

"Meow~" the cat sounded as its large eyes stared at the man in front of it.

"Huh?—" the scratchy-voiced man couldn't even process the surprise as the cat jumped towards his face. "Urgh!?!" In shock, the man elbowed away the cat as he tumbled down towards the floor. He was about to take hold of this chance to stab the cat when he suddenly heard a gunshot pierce through his left shoulder.

The deer-man, in pure frustration, grabbed hold of him and sheltered both of them behind a pillar as the gunshots continued to sound behind them.

"Quick! Turn into your apparition form and deal with those candidates! I'll forcefully take hold of the old soul." The deer-man said as he took the strange-knife from the other's hand. The scratchy-voiced man just nodded as a thin mist covered his body, slowly transforming him into his apparition form— a horse. He neighed as strength engulfed his bodies, he forcefully ran over the spot where the gunshots came from with his head aimed down, and rammed onto the person near the door who held the gun.

Because of how quick the horse was, the candidate librarian couldn't react before he got flung away and crashed into the wall. Laura, the other candidate librarian that was near him immediately aimed her gun towards the horse, she got a shot on its neck as the horse groaned in pain and crazily ran to her as a desperate last form of attack. Due to its size, it managed to ram onto her before she could even dodge, the horse stumbled backwards a bit and then fell onto the floor lifelessly as its neck, which was shot by a bullet, splurted out blood. Covering the floor in a red dye.

The deer-man who was near at a distance grabbed the cat that was previously smacked away, the cat hissed in pain as it covered itself in thin mist, trying to turn back into its human form. The deer-man however, forcefully used his strength to crush its skull before it could do so. It then threw the dead cat away on the side effortlessly as he took hold of the strange knife.

"Oh old soul, come closer..." He muttered repeatedly.

Suddenly, Basir, Anna, and Rafael entered the room. "Shit! What happened?!" Rafael said as he attempted to help Laura up. He looked at the dead horse near her in shock.

"Q-quick!! Stop him!!"

Basir immediately grabbed hold of his gun as he aimed towards the strange man holding a knife. He shot three times, accurate shots which pierced through the man's back without fail. However, instead of falling down onto the floor, the man suddenly convulsed crazily as his back bent over.

...

"Oh old soul, come closer..." My last bit of sanity couldn't hold off as the strange power invaded me. I saw the deer-man grin at my direction as though he was "seeing" me.

[Warning! Your soul is in danger!]

The prompt popped up once again, however this time, I let myself be consumed by the strange force entering my soul.

I looked at the direction of the fight, to see three more people enter the room. It was a blonde-haired teenager coupled with a red-head boy and a girl with glasses whose hair was cut short.

"Shit! What bappened?!" The red haired boy said as he attempted to help their other teammates. "Q-quick!! Stop him!" Laura shouted as she pointed at the deer-man.

I could hear one of them take hold of a gun and shoot shots, but I couldn't make up of anything anymore as I felt my soul enter the deer-man's body.

[Analyzing the chosen body's apparition...

Found apparition: Deer.

Invalid! Ejecting the host!]

The system prompted, as I was inside the deer-man, I could vaguely make out his pain as he convulsed wildly and bent backwards as the system ejected me from his body.

"H-HELP ME! W-WHAT IS THIS THING?!—" The deer-man screamed for help. I could feel his pain, I could feel his desperation to live. It drove my head crazy, it was an uncomfortable feeling which wanted me to get out of his body to take away the pain that he was feeling.

I forcefully ripped open his organs, which exploded and covered the area surrounding him in blood.

I could feel myself "escaping" from his body, however I could still feel the pain of having my soul ripped apart.

[Warning! Your soul is in danger! Find a suitable body!]