The broken record

In the depths of an unfamiliar, pitch-black location, a young boy drifted silently, clad in a blue-black trench coat. The weight of his surroundings pressed upon him, as if the entire ocean itself had converged upon his very being.

Confined within this watery realm, his attempts to speak proved futile, as though an invisible force stifled his vocal cords. Bubbles of air escaped his mouth, while his thoughts remained his only solace.

Questions flooded his mind. How had he ended up in the middle of the ocean? How was he even able to breathe? What had led him to this situation in the first place?

In that instant, the image of a silver-haired girl flashed in his thoughts, and an unsettling feeling tightened its grip around his chest. The liquid around him seemed to respond to his frustration, rippling as if in sympathy.

Yes, he remembered now. He had been engaged in a fierce battle with a fourth-rank spirit warrior, and then, suddenly, something had struck him unconscious. A sharp thought pierced through his shadowy soul: Was this place a manifestation of his unconscious state?

No, he couldn't afford to be here, lost in such a realm. He needed to return swiftly. Who knew what perils awaited in the outside world? Perhaps reinforcements had arrived, threatening to overpower Kekeli and Edem, or worse yet...

Though he didn't care much for them, the destruction of his soul core would be catastrophic.

And if he lost here then, his mother's-

Zanetor couldn't bear the thought of it any longer. He tried to gain control of his body with every inch of strength that he had, but to no avail.

Damn it! Damn it!! Damn it!!!

Move!

Why wouldn't his body obey him!?

It didn't make any sense. He was supposed to have complete control over it but somehow… Somehow he felt at that point that it didn't even belong to him.

There was a string of light that softly penetrated the water's surface and gently landed in his eyes.

He soon stopped struggling as he squinted his eyes and noticed a person standing on the other side of the surface, staring down at his drifting body.

Who was that?

The stranger smiled at him. He could make out that smile, but the strange individual could barely be seen amidst the soft light for some reason.

Whoever they were, their smile put Zanetor at ease.

It felt familiar, that warmth.

The shadow soul closed his eyes and began to let the water take him deeper into the depths. He felt so… relaxed.

Meanwhile, several explosions could be heard on the wrecked battlefield as Xoese's charged attacks continuously made impact with the various rocks and boulders that were unfortunate to be in her way.

Edem seemed to be rather enjoying this as he weaved away from each one of his former student's attacks.

He gave a jolly nod, "You've always had quite the explosive spirit energy. Seems to have gotten even more wild huh"

Xoese kept throwing deadly jabs at her opponent, a single thought racing through her mind.

Patience, Patience, Patience

"Xoese", Edem evaded one more attack and a tinge of concern made itself evident in his voice. "Do you really want this to continue?"

Now!

A great surge of winds gathered above the two souls, condensing as a large amount of spirit energy welled out from within the silver-haired warrior.

"Wind Spell", she began.

The winds formed multiple drill-like structures that rotated with a powerful force.

"Wind bullet: Mirrored"

Every single one of the projectiles descended with frightening precision, threatening to tear the cloaked man to shreds; however a large golden circle appeared above him and readied itself to receive the impact.

A hidden smirk graced Xoese's delicate lips as she darkly muttered, "There it is."

She quickly made strange, organised motions with her palms, changing the intensity and speed of her attack.

Edem's eyes widened in surprise as the nature of Xoese's spell suddenly changed at the very last minute. There was no escape for him!

An enormous weight pressed down on his body as the winds changed from pointed rotating drills to its base form. Tight rope-like structures made out of densely packed air particles kept Edem bound in that same position, rendering him motionless.

"What's this?", he muttered to himself. "She had been changing the frequency of the individual air molecules to break free from the effects of my magic circles, but this… to think she'd improve this much!"

The cloaked warrior sincerely smiled as Xoese approached him.

"You have no idea the amount of hatred I hold for you", she clenched her palms into fists. "Taking your soul core is going to free me of my rage."

Just as she was about to stretch her palm forward, a black figure caught the corner of her eye. She felt her left shoulder press down a bit; something had landed on it.

Meow

The silver-haired warrior widened her eyes as she immediately recognised that particular sound.

"Jackie! Now!", a familiar voice boomed from a few feet away.

"I won't let you", Xoese coldly uttered.

A forceful gust of wind was summoned and the small black cat was knocked off her shoulder. Her eyes trailed to the spirit warrior that stood not too far away.

S- Shoot!

Kekeli stumbled as he tried to step back.

Several wind spheres then appeared, covering his major joints and threatening to tear them off if he ever moved.

Jackie was left helpless as it had its entire body was covered by a wind sphere.

M- Meow!

The cat trembled as the sphere slowly reduced in size.

"J- Jackie", cold sweat ran down the sides of Kekeli's face.

"Now stay put", Xoese turned her attention to the cloaked man and stared deep into his strangely alluring eyes.

The rains began to slow to a stop as both of them stared at each other with highly contrasting expressions on their faces.

"So, aren't you going to ask the question that's been bothering you for a while now?", Edem tilted his head.

Xoese kept quiet, steadily clenching her fists.

She wanted to do it

To ask him why he had left her behind

Why he had chosen to abandon the Spirit warrior corps

Why he chose to throw the ambitions they had together to the side

But, that urge to ask had long died.

She stretched her left palm towards the west and promptly drew the shadow soul's core to her side.

"I have no questions to ask", she muttered. "There is only one task for me to accomplish and that is to destroy the shadow soul along with his accomplices."

Zanetor's soul core grew closer and closer to her palm and sparks of her spirit energy began to crackle at the tips of her fingers, ready to smash the bluish sphere into pieces.

"Tch", Edem cursed inwardly. "This is bad."

Tiny cracks began to appear on the shadow soul's core as it got closer and closer to her palm, its complete destruction imminent.

The raging winds that surrounded the sphere dissipated and just as she was about to grab hold of it, a gripping force took hold of her wrist.

Both Kekeli and Edem's eyes widened in shock as they beheld the sight of a soul they thought was out of the entire picture.

Xoese turned to face the interruptor only to get flung in the other direction before she could get a full glimpse of who it was. The silver-haired warrior crashed into a nearby rock with a deafening BOOM as it smashed into thousands of pieces.

The dust settled from the impact, exposing the heavily bruised girl. She coughed out blood as she struggled to sit up.

"Y- You", she stammered. "How is this possible? I- I pulled out your soul core"

Edem stared at the now conscious Zanetor with a look of slight surprise in his eyes as he thought, 'Intriguing, highly intriguing! The fact that his soul shell hasn't been rendered immobile due to his soul core's removal can mean only one thing…'

A cold glare was evident in the shadow soul's eyes as he stretched forth his right hand towards his soul core. Blue lights glowed from within the small orb as it responded to its owner's call.

His soul core transformed into a streak of light that soon materialised into a sleek pistol that had intricate designs on its body. The torrent blazer gleamed with a menacing air of death.

Zanetor aimed his weapon at Xoese.

'T- this is insane', Kekeli thought. 'This is completely insane! Isn't that heart his!?'

A mischievous smirk appeared on Edem's face, 'Zanetor, you're not the only one holding on to that soul core.'

Xoese staggered as she stood on both her feet, frustration clearly evident in her eyes. How had she not noticed him!?

How was he still standing after she had taken out his soul core!?

The last shadow soul she faced wasn't the same as this one.

In addition to that, the data on all other shadow souls seem to contradict whatever behaviour this particular one was exhibiting.

Tsk, she should've been more alert considering the fact that something felt greatly amiss with his incredibly large spirit energy pool.

Zanetor's torrent blazer made a clicking sound as he raised it, his eyes betraying no emotion.

The silver-haired spirit warrior was forced to take a step back, unable to summon enough strength to flee.

"You're going to regret…", Zanetor spoke, his voice chilling with killing intent. "Ever getting in my way."