Dual Lockdown

"Young mistress", Xoese turned to Leticia.

The little girl's eyes widened upon hearing the silver-haired soul. She didn't utter a word in response however.

"Don't be surprised", Xoese closed her eyes. "There's a clear distinction between the spirit energy of a common soul and that of a royal. Honestly, I don't really care about the reason why you find yourself in this situation."

Kekeli observed from a distance, a stern gaze fixed on the exchange between the two. 

Leticia sighed and finally spoke, "You want to use my hair, right?"

"Indeed. I'd expect no less from a learned royal", Xoese knelt on one knee and touched a small symbol in the centre of the stage. "You've probably felt it. The fibres want a dose of this unfamiliar spirit energy."

"Why do you need my hair though?"

"Your hair is just what we need to connect the shadow soul to the pool of energy in this place", Xoese pressed her fingers firmly onto the symbol. "It'll be tricky however, since the shrine is going to naturally try to reject him."

Faint lights began to glow from the symbols and soon Leticia's hair responded, increasing in length and size. The little girl was startled as her hair begged its owner to get closer to the well of energy.

"Of course, I have a way of getting the process to work", Xoese stood up. "But before we begin with anything at all, even I won't be given access."

Edem raised an eyebrow as she noticed a subtle change in Xoese's demeanour.

"What do you mean?", his eyes narrowed as they shifted to the side. "Ah, how inconvenient."

Everyone's attention moved towards the two large doors at the entrance. Zanetor placed his palm on his belly as the sickening feeling from a while ago began to kick in. 

He took his arm off Kekeli and his senses grew on full alert. He wasn't the only one as Jackie hissed at the approaching danger.

*STOMP! STOMP!*

The sounds of thunderous footsteps could be heard as two pairs of red lights shone from the darkness. 

Creeping out from within the murky blackness were two large creatures that stood at a tall 8 feet in height. They both had white fur and their razor sharp fangs were bared in an intimidating gleam.

"A- Aren't those the statues from the entrance?", sweat ran down Kekeli's face.

*ROAR!!*

The bear-like beasts strengthened the muscles in their hind legs.

"Tch! Here they come!", Zanetor took his stance.

"Zanetor, you're not in good shape", Edem took a step forward. "Sit this one out."

The cloaked man's words were as silent as the walking winds as his words failed to reach his student.

"Torrent blazer", Zanetor began to move the energy within him in a familiar motion.

A crystal stream of water materialised around his palm, but its glow was faint and the torrent blazer's appearance was too slow! The spirit energy within him equally moved circled in his soul core at a poor rate!

He was completely drained!

"The hell-", his eyes darted to his right hand.

*BOOM!*

One of the beasts blasted across the hall at an unimaginable speed, delivering a bone-shattering headbutt that made point-blank impact with Zanetor's abdomen.

The shadow soul's eyes widened as his body was sent flying into a fragile wall at the back of the hall. A resonating CRASH! Echoed in the large room as the event occurred almost within the blink of an eye! The beast followed immediately with a pursuit of its victim.

"DAMN!", Kekeli turned around.

"Zanetor!"

Edem summoned his golden circles and attempted to rush to his aid when suddenly, a daunting presence loomed over him. The other spirit beast brought its fist down at an incredible force only to be stopped mid-air by the cloaked soul's golden circle.

A pillar of fire then erupted from beneath the creature and completely engulfed it. 

"We'll deal with this one!", Kekeli stood between Edem and the flaming pillar, a sadistic grin flashed across his face. "Jackie!"

Spirit energy from within his soul core connected with the black cat, boosting its strength and causing it to grow to a size on par with its enemy.

"Let's go!"

Jackie blasted forward, slamming into the beast and sending it crashing into a nearby wall. 

"Huh?", a surprised expression drew up on the flame soul's face.

Behind the wall was a deep dark chasm and now a fall was inevitable! That didn't bring any kind of peril to the crazy battle maniac however.

"Welp!", he laughed. "Guess we'll just have to go with it!"

The others watched as Kekeli plummeted with the creature into the abyss. Edem then turned to go after Zanetor, but was stopped in his tracks.

Xoese stood before him with a serious look in her eyes, "Don't bother."

"What do you mean?", he growled.

"Those spirit beasts can't kill him", she assured. "I've been here several times. I know what I'm talking about. Right now, what would help him is using your magic circles to speed up the starting process."

"You expect me to sit here and leave him in the hands of aggressive spirit beasts?", Edem forced a calm tone. 

"This person seems to be of more use to you than I was huh", Xoese raised an eyebrow. "It would be a shame if a perfect object of perfect use suddenly disappeared from your grasp, wouldn't it?"

A dark, menacing presence suddenly filled the area as Edem gazed at the silver-haired soul with a deep, evil intent.

Leticia flinched as she witnessed the sudden change. She took a few steps back without even noticing it.

Xoese was unmoved however. She stared him down and never let a shred of his intimidation get to her. The cloaked soul recognised that stare… She wasn't fooling around.

"Fine", he sighed, secretly creating gestures that sent tiny magic circles in Zanetor's direction. "Let's start the entire thing then."

The menacing air slowly faded away as Xoese walked over to Leticia.

"Young mistress, if you will.", she gestured to the stage.

"R- Right", she obeyed.

Meanwhile, Zanetor had crashed through a series of old rooms and currently struggled to find footing. Apparently his torrent blazer had finally materialised.

"D- Damn it", he coughed, clutching his belly as a stinging pain refused to die down.

*ROAR!*

Zanetor's head shot up in the direction of the bloodcurdling sound. He had no time to waste! 

He aimed his torrent blazer at the rampaging beast and pulled the trigger, but no bullets formed.

"What!?", his brows furrowed. "But, I felt my energy spark just now!"

The beast had already gotten to where he was, but he wasn't going to let it land another attack this time. He ducked at the right moment, missing an incoming headbutt from the beast.

Vibrations rang throughout the room and cracks appeared all over. Zanetor staggered as the ground began to rapidly open up. Both entities fell through several floors until they crashed on a particularly hard floor.

Zanetor mustered all of his strength and took to his feet, slamming through a nearby door and entering a cave-like hallway. Small stalactites hung from the ceiling and a tiny stream of water flowed over his shoes.

*ROAR!*

The shadow soul sprinted towards his left, splashing water with every step. How was he going to get rid of that thing!?

It was as if he was forbidden from using the spirit energy he had.

"Wait", he muttered to himself as he took a sharp right. "That's exactly how I've felt. It's so subtle, I would have never noticed if I hadn't thought of it."

He could feel the beast getting closer from behind as he focussed his sights on his surroundings. It was faint, but he could see wisps of smoke erupting from his skin and into the walls of the cave-like hallway.

"This shrine…", he raised his brows. "It's absorbing the spirit energy I have! But, I thought it would reject it!"

Zanetor had managed to keep a fair distance between him and his pursuer. Little did he know that his luck had run out. He took a final turn only to end up at a dead end.

"Shoot!", he turned around.

Sure enough, the beast maniacally crashed into the turn and madly charged at him. Zanetor calmed himself. He was going to use the creature's rashness to his advantage.

"Not yet…", he whispered.

The beast got closer and closer. Anyone would straight lose it at the sight of the spirit beast's appearance, but Zanetor expertly kept calm.

"And…"

He slowly prepared an evasive stance.

"NOW!"

Zanetor swiftly moved to the side, leaving the creature to crash head first into the wall! Coincidentally, it seemed to be weak as well, exposing a large hollow cave on the other side.

The base of the cave was covered with a small layer of water and the spirit beast was in the centre of it, struggling to keep on all fours. 

Zanetor wanted to leave!

He had to!

But, he couldn't.

Something about that light blue liquid at the bottom was calling out to him. It was almost as if it sang a song to put him in a trance.

The shadow soul unknowingly leapt into the air and landed in the liquid that was only as high as his ankle.

His eyes were blank and tiny particles of light began to invade his skin. At the same time, the creature snapped out of its stun and growled as it circled its prey.

Sensing that it was ready for the kill, it lunged full force at Zanetor who only raised his torrent blazer to his ear level. Parts of the water around him snaked into the air, surrounding the blazer.

He turned the blazer to his right, aiming at the incoming spirit beast.

With eyes that were in an eternal emptiness, he uttered coldly;

"Water spell"

The light particles around him gathered above his chest and began to circulate in a familiar but much more turbulent manner. The stream of water surrounding the blazer got fierce.

At that point, the spirit beast's instincts flared in response and prompted it to flee.

But it was too late.

Zanetor pulled the trigger, releasing a bullet that coated itself with a turbulent volume of water. The water morphed, taking the shape of an enormous pouncing snake with three menacingly purple eyes each.

"Sea Snake Torpedo"

The spell opened its maw and tore the spirit beast in half. Blood blasted out from the spirit beast's torn up body and its innards splattered disgustingly in the water, turning it scarlet red.

Drained of all his energy, Zanetor fell on his back, staring high up at the stalactites in the ceiling. His eyes returned to normal but he was too tired to assess the situation.

At the same time, a portion of the cave's walls blasted into pieces and a blackened body was flung into the cave. Zanetor turned to take a glimpse at what it was and to his surprise, Kekeli stared straight into his eyes with Jackie lounging comfortably on his shoulder.

Behind him was the burnt up body of the other spirit beast.

There were several scratches on his face, but that was the least of his worries. He tilted his head.

"You don't plan on leaving now, do you?", Kekeli smirked.

"No", Zanetor sighed and then closed his eyes. "Not yet."