Misted

Soul continued to walk along the path, a small army of Corrupted monsters following with him as he carried Oki. "So, you doing good, Oki?" Soul asked the child, who was remaining quiet. "Yeah, I'm fine. It kinda hurts to speak, so I'm just waiting for the pain to go away." Oki responded, and Soul just decided to question him too much about it. After all, he hadn't felt pain in quite a long time.

More monsters kept on throwing themselves at Soul and Oki, but the beasts that Soul had Corrupted stood in front of Soul to protect him. After all, that was the only reason he had Corrupted them in the first place. He wasn't planning on bringing home any Corruption with him. Well, maybe except for Oki.

Soul kept walking, hoping to encounter something that wasn't out to kill them. After all, all that they had been doing up until that point was just walking. Both of them still had those encounters still present in their minds. The one with the Beastwoman and the more recent one with the centipede-like monster still were fresh in their mind, pretty reasonably.

The air around the group suddenly began to change as a mist-like substance coated the sky. It was almost like it was trying to obstruct their field of view. Soul kept on walking through the mist, not expecting much. However, only when the misty air began to take a physical form did Soul realise what was happening. Soul watched as the sky condensed, or at least appeared to, into the shape of Aaron. It was a clone of Soul, or at least a character representing him. "You there. Stop." The misty clone of Soul, who'll be referred to as Misted, told Soul. "You don't belong here. Leave. You're bringing an army into a forest civilisation, and I can't have that." Misted informed Soul before rushing at him with murderous intent in mind.

Soul just stood still, wondering what was going to happen. After all, the thing was made out of the mist. Soul watched as Misted shoved his hand through Soul's chest, but to no avail. However, what shocked Soul was that Oki seemed to negatively react to the mist. Oki's spasmed slightly before falling off Soul, dark Corruption spreading throughout his body. "You're not bringing your disease-ridden selves into the civilisation that I protect," Misted told the confused Soul. "If you want to try and fight me, this shall prove an almost impossible attack, as you saw that I am made of mist." Misted mocked Soul before receiving a quick punch to the jaw. Misted went flying backwards, shocked at what Soul had just done. However, now that he looked at Soul more closely, he could realise that Soul was semi-transparent.

Soul was activating GHOUL and its secondary effect. GHOUL allowed a person to interact with ethereal objects or entities by becoming one of them. "When did you learn this little trick, huh?" Misted asked, acting as if he's known Soul for his entire life. "Shut up. I wasn't planning on bringing any monsters into the city. Plus, that child has travelled alongside me for the past few days. Only today has he been infected with my influence, and I'd ask that you never interact with us again." Soul responded, throwing a mean right hook at Misted, sending him flying backwards. Soul unsheathed Tsuyukagiri while putting it under the effects of GHOUL so that he could draw the weapon in the first place.

Soul swung Tsuyukagiri at Misted, contemplating if mist could be classified as ethereal or if he was just wrong about it being mist. Soul's blade cleanly cut through Misted, who thought that everything was fine, but it was when he couldn't put himself back together that he realised he was in serious trouble. "What have you done to me?" Misted asked Soul with a slightly worried tone in his voice. "I cut you in half. Are you blind or something?" Soul responded, a smile on his face. "No, I mean, what have you done to stop me from healing myself? Why would you stop me from putting myself back together?" Misted clarified, causing an even bigger smile to line Soul's face.

"Well, if you put yourself back together, you'd be in my way for too long. I need to tend to Oki's wound now, thanks to you. So, this is how I'll repay you. After all, you didn't seem to notice that he has a huge damn hole in his chest!" Soul responded, getting angrier at the ethereal being the more he spoke to it. Soul began to walk away, but before he did, he threw his sword at the monster, spiking it through the head as if it was a child's toy.

"You bastard. You may be here, but you'll never get the cooperation of the fae spirits and Beastpeople to join whatever cause you're following. I overheard them talking about you in particular. A man who goes by the name Aaron Stone. Whatever tricks you pull, you can never convince the Wilderpeople." Misted yelled at them as Soul snapped, even for just a second. He wasn't angry at being compared to Aaron. Hell, it kind of made him happy. What made him mad was that people were insulting Aaron, and he wasn't even here to defend himself. Plus, the monster thought Aaron walked around with a Corrupted arm and eye? How clueless were the people here?

He ran up to Misted, an angry expression on his face. Black tendrils shot out of his back, those becoming ethereal as they appeared. "I. Am. Not. Aaron!" Soul yelled at him, his whole face covered in Corrupted flesh for around five seconds. "I am the other version of him. Soul. Burn that into your mind, for it's the last name you'll hear." Soul threatened him while the tendrils from his back stabbed into Misted's chest, although nothing came out. After all, Misted was just made of a misty substance.

Just after this, Soul's eyes opened wide as his Corrupted flesh regressed to the inside of his body. "Oki!" Soul yelled as he realised what he was doing. Soul retracted the Corrupted tendrils, running towards Oki's motionless body as Misted fell to the floor. "Hey, Soul! The last name I heard was Oki! Suck it!" Misted yelled as his body dissipated, just to annoy Soul.

"I don't have time for this shit..." Soul contemplated, disabling GHOUL to make sure that Oki was alright.