34 A Soul's Struggle

…??? PoV…

I have to admit, I'm surprised.

This body doesn't have any form of soul defense, so taking it over should have been very easy, but I didn't expect this person to have a Soul World.

A Soul World is the crystallization of a living being's soul; it either forms naturally over the course of centuries or by rigorous training. Most experts of my time who had a Soul World also had an almost impenetrable soul defense, since making a strong soul defense is magnitudes easier than creating a Soul World.

But this person didn't have the aura of wisdom that ancient sage types do either, so he can't be that old, his Soul World is also pretty odd.

The Soul World is a representation of a living being's accomplishments and deeds, and it's shaped by the being's personality and how they view themselves. As a result, most Soul Worlds are luxurious palaces for people or soothing lairs for Spirits and other beasts.

But this one is unlike anything I ever seen before…

*This World looks dead. How could someone create such a horrible place?*

I stop my wandering thoughts and focus on my current objective; I need to find the core of his soul and destroy it. Once his core is destroyed I'll be able to replace his Soul with mine and I'll finally be able to escape this prison after so many centuries of captivity!

*Now I just need to find his core, it should be around here...*

A white crack appears in the air just at this moment, the light emitted by the crack is so strong that it blinds me for a moment. The crack closes soon after; I regain my vision and smirk when I recognize the particular power emitted by the humanoid figure in front of me. I can't believe my luck; the core came to me of his own volition!

I then notice that the core had a weird aura around him, and that's when I realize that it's slightly flickering at his edges.

It's like it's an accumulation of thousands of afterimages rather than one solid body!

But I don't let his odd appearance distract me, and immediately kick the ground before punching the core as hard as I can. A grin creeps on my face when I hear the characteristic sound of a soul breaking-

Hundreds of coordinated explosions make my ears ring and send me flying before I can understand what's happening.

I skid on the dry ground for a few seconds before jumping back on my feet. The scene that greets my eyes makes my jaw drop: Remnants of hundreds of multiple cores are slowly dissipating in the air; some afterimages are lying on the ground, screaming in pain as they slowly dissipate, and the main body points a weird device towards me.

*What the fuck?!*

This is unlike anything I've ever seen before, and I feel a chill coursing through my spine when the remaining afterimages all scream the same words in unison.

"WE CANNOT BE STOPPED!" they say before another salvo of explosions echoes in the empty wasteland. My eyes open wide when I realize what the projectiles hurling towards are; they are sharpened shards of his soul!

*Who is this guy? Who would be insane enough to do that much damage to himself? This attack alone probably did more damage than my own!*

I avoid most of the projectiles, but there's just too much. I grit my teeth when I feel the projectiles piercing through my own soul and run towards the abomination before readying another strike. This time I pay particular attention to what happens, and it's mind-boggling.

My attack easily connects and shatters hundreds of afterimages. However, the others are slowly shifting to the side, some are still caught in the attack and get sent flying while screaming in pain as their limbs are destroyed. But the remaining ones ignore the suffering of their copies and point the weird metallic device at my head.

"WE CANNOT BE STOPPED!" they say before hundreds of projectiles enter my body.

I roll on the ground and scream as the holes in my head disappear. My soul is strong, so I can endure this kind of damage, but for how long? I lost a lot of power when I was sealed in that forsaken prison, not to mention that I was forced to use a lot of strength to manifest my soul in the material world once my sealed body died. I regained a bit of power when those miners broke through the prison, and the warriors they send after me were also a nice meal.

But I feel like all those gains were used in the last assault.

This abomination is frightening even to me who stole the powers of an ancient demon. I steel my resolve; this person uses his own soul as a weapon and he shouldn't have an unlimited supply of afterimages. And I can avoid most of the projectiles, so I should be able to win a war of attrition!

A toothy smile creeps on my face and I charge the abomination, my superior agility allows me to weave through the barrage of deadly projectiles. I reach my target and pummel him as hard as I can before jumping away, gritting my teeth as my left foot is turned into minced meat by the volley of deadly soul shards.

*I'm not called a Clan Destroyer for nothing!*

But it looks like my efforts were worth it: Hundreds of afterimages are dying on the ground, and shards of another hundred are floating in the air.

*Looks like I can win this! The afterimages don't have a real strategy and their battle prowess is laughable now that I know how they are going to react! This is just like fighting a mindless beast!*

I stifle a laugh, how could I've been worried by this incapable person? I'm the one who stole from demons, the strongest existence in the world that stood at the top for decades!

"WE CANNOT BE STOPPED!" they say again.

"Can't you say anything else, you mindless abomination?" I ask before cleaving another hundred afterimages in two with a single palm strike.

The death of their comrades doesn't bother them in the slightest as they unleash another barrage that I gracefully evade.

*I'll recognize that a large number of these attacks can do some serious damage, but does it seriously expect to hit me again with projectiles this slow? Ha, dream on!*

"You cannot even dream of hitting me now! Just lie down and accept your death!" I shout before jumping and kicking the air, sending me barreling through at least two thousand afterimages.

"I'm the perfect warrior!" I turn around and punch the air, creating a deadly blade of wind that destroys thousands of copies.

*This is really too easy!*

The remaining afterimages get up and take out another device similar to the other one, but I'm not worried about it. In fact, it'll help me since it will only deplete his soul faster!

I prepare for another strike while he points the new device near his feet, and something blots out the sun.

*What-*

Thousands of projectiles coming from every possible direction at once pierce my body before I can even realize what happened.

*What is this?!*

I pour all my strength in my legs and jump away, just in time to avoid another volley. It allows me to get a better look at the battlefield. I can hardly believe what I'm seeing!

Thousands upon thousands of blue portals are surrounding the position I was previously in, every single inch of space is occupied by a portal!

*How? How is this even-*

My thoughts are interrupted when the creature, which seems to be mumbling undecipherable words, launch another barrage that tears me apart. My soul, which is on the verge of breaking, burns through its reserve at an alarming pace to heal the devastating damage I endured.

"WE CANNOT BE STOPPED!"

Another set of portals appeared as soon as the afterimages finished their sentence, and I'm forced to the ground by a barrage of projectiles. The pain is incommensurable, and every fiber of my being is torn apart, the only thing that keeps me together is the power I accumulated during decades of consuming the soul of powerful creatures and people alike. But this power is waning rapidly since I was forced to use half of my reserves to stop my soul from dissipating.

I jump away as soon as I regain enough strength to move around, but the core uses his mysterious portals to follow me around. I'm still quick enough to avoid another lethal barrage, but I know I can't flee forever. My power is limited, and the soul of my opponent seems limitless as the countless afterimages shoot volleys after volleys in my direction.

*Maybe a battle of attrition wasn't the best plan, but it's too late to cry now. I guess I'll have to reveal my trump card!*

I grit my teeth and gather all the demonic energy I sealed at the bottom of my heart, I stifle a scream as the ooze-like power invades my soul and corrupt its appearance even further. I ignore my grotesque appearance and use my newly found energy to avoid another barrage, this time I focus power in my hand and a beam of pure energy flashes out of my raised palm.

Demons from ancient legends always had the power to bend reality to their will without the use of Formations. I wanted to acquire this power for myself by devouring the soul of a weakened lesser demon that has been sealed for thousands of years.

But I did gain several benefits: My attacks became unbelievably powerful, and I could feel an incredible energy swirling in my body. But I never managed to master this power since my body was too weak to handle it. I also had to struggle every day to stop the demon's consciousness from taking me over.

My corrupted appearance quickly got me ostracized, and I became hunted once words of my actions reached the ears of the most powerful Clans.

I reduced their cities to ashes as a futile attempt to force them to abandon their pursuit, but it didn't deter them. They finally cornered me into a cave and unleashed their most powerful seals to bind me to this specially prepared prison.

This area was designed to suppress my demonic powers, so I waited hundreds of years and watched my body helplessly rot away until it finally died. But I didn't give up yet, and I used my last breath to complete a ritual that would allow my soul to remain in the material world by sacrificing a large part of it.

Of course, I chose the part that housed the dormant consciousness of the demon. Its disappearance meant that I gave up a large amount of potential power, but it was an acceptable price.

Hundreds of years passed when clueless miners broke through the walls of my prison, thus weakening the already waning seal. The disturbance was small, but it was enough to allow me to blast the seal away.

I quickly consumed the miners and it allowed my soul to regain a part of its former glory. Afterward, groups of weak warriors were sent to investigate the incident, but I made quick work of them and consumed them whole.

Another thirty years passed before I was disturbed again by the two clueless explorers; I made quick work of them. Then it should've been this thing's turn, but-

A deafening scream takes me out of my thoughts, and I grin when I realize that the figure is clutching its stomach. Literal piles of dying afterimages litter the surroundings, and the shards of dead afterimages almost cover the entire sky.

But I can see that the core that's still standing is clutching one of its arms. I think it's also beginning to become transparent, meaning this soul is on its last leg!

"How do you like that!" I clutch my fist and unleash another beam. The kneeling figure doesn't have many afterimages left, another second and-

The core smirks and shoots itself in the chest, causing the entire Soul World to flicker for a second. Everything goes black and white and I can hardly believe what I'm seeing… I can no longer move and can only watch the earlier events unfolding again, but this time in reverse!

The destroyed and dying afterimages are fragmenting and half of the fragments are turning into full-sized copies that are dragged to the main core by an invisible force. The rest of the fragments just explode, and the resulting shards sink into the core's chest. The sun in the sky is also going in reverse!

*What is this?*

I almost drop to my knees when another set of afterimages descends from the sky and fuse with the other one.

The resulting core becomes blurry for a second. His figure is suddenly surrounded by a pixelated film that fuses with him and causes the blurriness to go away.

The Soul World regains its colors and time resumes its normal flow. The newly regenerated core doesn't waste a second and produces another dome of portals; this one is somehow twice as dense as the other one!

Words don't even have time to escape my mouth as I'm torn apart again and again. I feel my consciousness waning as the figure teleports in front of me with a wide flickering grin present on his ever-changing face.

"Well, tiMe foR taKe twO I gUess. AnD I migHt as wEll tRy tHis oUt…" It says in an almost cheery voice.

The last thing I see before my soul fades into oblivion is an open mouth.

…John's PoV…

I scream as soon as I regain my consciousness and take deep breaths until I calm down.

*What the hell happened?*

Looking around refresh my memories: Those guys fought against that weird figure made of light, and they lost. Then-

My eyes wander on a pile of mangled meat, and I forcibly turn my head around.

*Then Hisako got fucking obliterated… After that, he forced me to my knees with his power, and then there's nothing.*

I focus on my hand since I feel a sharp pain coming from it, I'm surprised to see that I'm clutching my somewhat cracked phone as hard as I can.

*Just what happened? Where is that luminous bastard?*

I look around, but he isn't anywhere. I'm somewhat relieved but it doesn't last long. Fighting him is going to be almost impossible, but I don't have any other choice. Hisako died, and I can't do anything if she doesn't return to the village alive.

Not to mention that it's likely that the figure escaped the mine, I don't know for how long I was out but it's possible that it's rampaging on the surface.

I just hope that this thing isn't too hard to kill… The world shifts when I press the Rewind button.

The world is back to before the creature noticed us, I look back and see a crouching and trembling Hisako watching the fight with her mouth wide open.

"Stay here, I'll take care of it!" I say before sinking into a portal under my feet. The apparition of the portals causes a lull in the fight, and the participants all look at me with surprise visible on their face. However, I don't wait for them to get out of their stupor and shoot the figure before teleporting to another location.

I click my tongue when the bullets just fall on the ground in front of the apparition. It grins and kills the dog-eared man with a flick of the wrist before focusing on me. I teleport as fast as I can to avoid his deadly gaze and to stop him from noticing Hisako.

*Now, how am I going to kill this thing? I can't shoot it, and I can't teleport it away since it could reach the village before I get my information, so what should I-*

I bump into something and a bloodcurdling scream echoes into the cave. I look up and notice that I accidentally bumped into the figure during my reckless teleporting, but what shocks me the most is the hole in its torso where my forearm grazed it.

*W-What the… You know what; I'm not even going to question it for the time being.*

I punch the downed figure and my fists tear a huge chunk of its body off. It looks like it wants to seep into my arm, but it quickly dissipates once it touches me. I make quick work of the figure and it finally disappears with one last nightmarish wail when I take the final swing.

Silence falls on the cavern, and I look at my clenched fists with a puzzled expression.

*Do…Do I have to wear a cape and shave my head now?*

I shake my head to chase the idiotic thoughts away and focus on my surroundings. It looks likes the intricate stonework is extremely ancient since some parts of the small room are covered in cracks and almost falling apart.

*Just what was buried in this place…and how did I kill it?*

Shuffling noises interrupts me, and I see that Hisako is already looting the bodies of the two dog-eared men. I sigh and make a mental note to try to punch more things in the future. Who knows, maybe I've been gimping myself by using a gun instead of my fists?

"Found anything interesting?" I ask, and she freezes for a second before resuming her activity.

"See that plate over there?" she points at the blood-covered plate that was in front of the kneeling man.

"I've never seen anything like it, but I believe it's some sort very advanced Formation. I'll bring it back to the Elder, along with this thing…" she hoists the iron pillar on her back, "and this." She shoves what looks like a gem incrusted collapsible baton and weird iron disks into her pack.

"What do we do now?" I say after discreetly snapping a picture of the Formation plate. If I understood what happened in the previous timeline correctly, then this was used to somehow summon a Spirit. Maybe I could get more information by showing this to a blacksmith? The figure said that it was a fake, but I'd rather not blindly trust the words of some weird ghost trapped in a mine. And even if it's a fake, I could maybe copy it to use it as distraction…

"…Are you even listening?" Hisako interrupts my thoughts.

I shake my head and she sighs, "I asked if you were done because we need to go back to the village."

I nod and pull out my Portal Gun. She opens her mouth, but I interrupt her, "I'm not walking for two fucking days, so just grab my hand."

She grits her teeth and looks like she's about to say something unpleasant, but she stops at the last second and grips my wrist as hard as she can. I ignore her futile attempt at intimidation and select the waypoint in the middle of the village before firing under our feet.