Lost Souls

The glowing red eye gazed at him deep within the darkness, staring at his soul. Veritas was petrified by the sudden development yet he was ready. He could not see with his eyes and his senses using the winds were dull. He felt that the monster covered up a majority of the room, it was gigantic.

Although the monster was stationary, the glowing red eye still loomed over Veritas. It was almost triple his size!

"If it weren't due to the transmutation.. I would've died!"

Veritas breathed carefully, gripping the light Wind Blade in his hands. Veritas walked slowly towards the huge eye. He felt the monster growl as the surroundings suddenly vibrated. Coming closer to the eye, he truly saw the size of the thing!

It felt like tentacles covered the room behind the monster, its large head covered the entire floor, if not, then two!

He used the wind to feel the floor from below, his guess was right. Tentacles were all over the floor below, this octopus was no normal sea creature!

However, most of its body was turned into gold and only the glowing red eye remained, staring directly at his soul.

'There is only one thing to do!' Veritas thought.

He didn't know if it would work but at least he tried! He planned to stab the thing to death. But, something this size wouldn't succumb to a meager stab. It was like puncturing a needle on a human's hand for the octopus.

Thus, he planned to use Wind Cut and spam the eye until it bled out. Hundreds and thousands of paper cuts could cut deep enough for a human being to bleed out!

It was going to take him a very long time though.

First, he had to check his Soul. Although he had not used much of his skills, Veritas' prolonged use of Wind Veil and Wind Blade has taken some effect on his Soul.

Veritas gazed upon his soul and saw a medium sized white illusory body deep within him. He was.. getting his Soul back slowly, only proving his hypothesis of getting closer to the heart means returning his Soul!

After gazing upon his soul, he scanned his runes.

[Veritas Alpas Elrod]

[Path: Untouc...

He skimmed through the runes quickly and looked at his skills.

[Skill:

Windsong

- Shape the winds with your voice.

Will of the Winds

- Shape the winds with your will.

Galebreathe

- Your lungs are always filled with the winds, you never run out of breath and you never feel winded. Your energy is boosted and your blood circulates well.]

'Could Will of the Winds work now?'

With that thought, Veritas activated Will of the Winds and immediately felt winded and dizzy until his nose bled.

'I guess not.. Windsong it is then!'

He first deactivated Wind Blade, considering it useless for the situation. Activating the skill, his mouth immediately felt windy, it was filled with air and held some power to his words.

"Cut!"

A high pitched sound was heard and after a small delay the sound of flesh being cut echoed in the room.

Veritas couldn't see how big the cut was yet he felt the success of it. He didn't know how long it could take him to bring this giant octopus down so he used the skill once more.

"Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut! Cut!"

The darkroom echoed with high pitched noises and sounds of cutting flesh. Veritas used the Wind Cut multiple times until he could feel some results.

After a while, it felt like his efforts were gone to waste.

He felt his mouth dry after the rigorous skill use. Not drinking anything after a few hours was finally taking a toll on his body. Although he was surrounded by water from every direction, he was still cautious of drinking it, he did not have any purifier of some sort after all..

'Shall I try a different approach?'

By modifying his chanting, Windsong could potentially be altered. A simple "Cut" could only bring a single Wind Cut, so Veritas thought that by switching up a chant, he could produce a number of cuts in one use.

He thought of many ways to do so. Such as saying.. "Multiple Cuts!" or "10 Wind Cuts!", but he disregarded that thought, he needed something more versatile. He needed to make the cut more.. compressed or highly condensed. But with mere words, it proved to be quite the challenge.

With Will of the Winds, he could easily conjure a high condensed Wind Cut, but using only Windsong needed a more complicated and carefully articulated word.

'Something that is not too lengthy yet powerful at the same time..'

As casting longer worded spells costed him much greater Soul. Seeing as the Golden Octopus had not been staggered by multiple Wind Cuts, he had to decide something that cost less soul but worked effectively.

Then! Something finally popped up in his mind. His soul was as gentle as the breeze yet as vicious as a storm. So why not use storm as a modifier to strengthen his cuts.

Storms were as fast as 100kmph or more!

'Let's see..'

Gazing upon his soul and activating Windsong, his mouth was filled with the winds and his words felt more powerful. Veritas inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with air.

"Storm Cut!"

Suddenly! All the winds around him had vanished, it felt like Veritas had lost some of his senses. He was getting used to the winds being a sixth sense after all. What Veritas failed to notice was that without any air around him, his ability to breathe was compromised.

Veritas heard a loud high pitched screech followed by the sound of flesh splitting. The area suddenly vibrated from the immediate sound yet that was not all! The octopus growled and roared, although Veritas could not hear it, he could feel it within his legs.

What came after the storm was the sound of spluttering blood. Veritas heard, the blood seeping down the golden floor.

"It worke-"

Realizing that he was out of breath, he fell to the floor and choked. After chanting the words "Storm Cut", he immediately choked and gasped for air. Every wind, even the ones in his lungs, were used up!

Luckily, Veritas thought quickly and gazed upon his soul, activating Galebreathe immediately. The winds filled his lungs and he could finally breathe properly again. Although the stillness of the area due to the lack of air was unsettling, the feeling of success washed away that feeling!

His ears were still ringing from the skill that he'd use, it was a loud high pitched screech after all! But now, he has slain a giant octopus! An incredible feat in his eyes!

Now, the only thing that he had to do was wait for the giant golden Octopus to bleed out. It could take a couple of minutes or even hours! Nevertheless, he was going to wait for some spoils.

He might even get a Lost Soul!

Generally, Lost Souls were the drops of creatures when felled. Veritas learned that Lost Souls were the will and determination of the creatures. Thus, when they are felled, there is a chance for them to turn into weaponry, armory, or many more!

The individual's soul that felled the creature, would absorb the Lost Soul and store it in an area within their Soul. This was called the Soul Storage and only Lost Souls could be stored within them. One could simply not bring physical materials such as money or weaponry to the Soul Storage.

Once inside the Soul Storage, an individual could then reach for their soul and manifest a Lost Soul in the real world. The Lost Soul would then become a physical manifestation of their spiritual selves.

Also, only those that have reached for their souls can utilize the Lost Souls.

'This could be great!'

With those thoughts, Veritas, whose ears were still ringing and senses turned dull, enthusiastically waited.

Yet.. before he could even celebrate he felt a cold sharp steel puncture his back.

"What the hell!"

Luckily, Wind Veil prevented him from being in dire danger.

His mouth spurted blood and he grimaced at the pain. Veritas thought quickly and backed away from the mysterious attacker. Without the winds, his senses were useless, and his hearing was still unusable.

However, Veritas was quick to his feet, he could still feel the pain of a cold steel punctured in his back but he had to act quick. Veritas gazed upon his soul and activated Windsong.

"O! Winds-"

He coughed blood, not finishing his sentence, he kneeled at the pain. This was dire! He had only let his guard down for a couple of moments yet he was punished greatly!

Veritas quickly stood up, ignoring the pain, and backed away from the unknown attacker, he could not see or feel where it was. Veritas then brought a small steel knife from his side. It was the knife that he had brought from the carriage!

Forming a defensive stance, Veritas quickly became vigilant. Tightly gripping the knife at his hand, he turned every so often in every direction.

The suspense was intense! It was as if the unknown attacker was waiting for him to lose his guard in order to attack!

'Smart bastard!'

He taunted it in his mind, yet was also at awe, it had waited for him to lose his senses to attack. It was quite the plotter!

Whatever attacked him had some sort of intelligence, it was not the same as the imp who only acted out of instinct.

A few moments passed by, blood flowing out of his back, Veritas began to feel weak. Yet he remained strong as to not show any opening for another potential attack. The attacker was quite patient though, waiting for a perfect moment to strike!

But! Veritas felt the wind gradually returning, his senses were starting to return and his hearing was coming back too! He held some hope in his heart.

As hope began to return to him, he suddenly felt a shift in the room. He heard.. a cold voice of a woman? It seemed like it carried some weight.

It said:

"You should not be here"

In a taciturn and emotionless voice, the woman jumped at Veritas, this time aiming her blade towards his heart!