Soul Link

Soul Link.

It was a rather strange and unpredictable skill that Kai had acquired over half a year ago. Even in this last half year, he never actually got the chance to test it because of the backlash of the skill.

The description of the skill stated that severing the tether between the two connected souls would require temporarily weakening their soul, but how exactly would it be weakened?

Would Kai feel immense pain for a set amount of time? Would his stats be decreased for a while? He had no way of knowing without actually using the skill.

And still, there was the unknowns of the skill.

There were obviously some limitations to the skill, otherwise Kai could just link his soul to a God, steal all of their stats and skills, sever the link and temporarily weaken himself and call it a day. That just seemed way too overpowered for it to be remotely possible, so Kai held back from testing it.

And turns out, he had been correct.

Kai know knew that there were two ways that this skill could be used.

The first method was a consensual linking. The two parties involved would be able to share their stats and skills, but it would be the party that possessed the skill in the first place that would be in control.

For an example, Kai named two imaginary people Marshall and Ted.

Ted possessed the skill Soul Link, and he consensually set it up with his friend Marshall. Ted would be able to give his own stats or skills to Marshall, but he would also be able to take Marshall's stats and skills.

Marshall however, had to receive Ted's permission if he wanted to initiate a stat or skill swap. Even though the link was set up consensually, the party who owned the skill was still in control.

But that also meant that there was another way that the skill could be set up.

It could be set up unconsensually.

If Ted set up the skill with Marhsall, but it was without Marshall's knowledge, the skill would be much more limited.

While before stats and skills could be shared freely in the consensual method, in the unconsensual method each stat and skill received their own value.

A singular stat was worth one point, and skills had varying prices based on their abilities and rarities.

In the beginning of the fight, Kai set up a Soul Link with Ezekial. It seemed like a really stupid move, but it was one that he had to at least attempt.

His plan had been to steal Ezekial's Equilibrium, massively weakening the blue haired man while simultaneously boosting Kai's own abilities.

However, Kai soon realised the issue in that plan.

Currently, with Kai's low level, the maximum value he could take of skills or stats through the unconsensual method of Soul Link was 100.

Equilibrium had a value of 500.

It was an Epic Rarity skill, and when Kai figured that out he couldn't help but shiver. All of that power was only Epic rarity, who knew what it would be like when it reached Legendary? Or even Heroic or Divine? Or what it would be like as a unique skill?

Still, the skill had a value way too high for Kai to even think about stealing, so he was going to give up on that plan and just steal some of Ezekial's stats or another skill or something.

But throughout the early stages of the fight, Kai noticed something.

The prices of the skills were fluctuating.

Their prices would go up and down, remaining the same for only a few seconds maximum, and it took a while for Kai to realise why that was happening.

And the answer was simple.

The prices relied on Ezekial's mental state.

Whenever he was calm and confident, the price would increase. However, whenever he began to stress or worry, the prices decreased.

So because of that, Kai held out on stealing another skill so he could steal Equilibrium if the price dropped low enough.

And it did, sort of.

Throughout the fight, the price had been steadily dropping. The fight had gone on for much longer than Ezekial had anticipated after all, and he had no idea what was happening to Castillian at the time.

However, it didn't drop far enough. While Kai was getting punched in the face by Ezekial, he could only watch in anger as the price of the skill sat at a steady 110.

But when the Plague Harbinger destroyed that wall, holding Castillian out of it, everything changed.

Ezekial panicked, and as soon as Kai realised that the price of the skill had dropped to 99, he stole it.

And that was what led up to the current moment.

Kai, barely managing to stand with how destroyed his body was, spat some blood onto the roof as the bright flames behind him began to expand.

He felt his stats increasing more than they already had, courtesy of the stat boosting aspect of the skill. He felt his body get invigorated with power, giving him some much needed energy.

This was what he had been waiting for. This was why he had to make all of his stats be equal, all for this skill.

Ezekial had said it himself after all, his Sword Style required every part of his body to be in perfect harmony. At first, Kai assumed that they just meant their mind and body, but no, it also included their soul.

And their stats.

And that was where the drawback of the skill came in. To be honest, Kai wasn't really sure if it could be called a drawback, it was more of a limitation.

That limitation being that for the skill to work, all of the users stats had to be perfectly equal.

Suddenly, the flames behind Kai got amplified massively, growing much quicker than they should have been.

Kai, manipulating Soul Flame to speed up the growth of the flames, felt the speed that his stats were increasing quicken. Grinning slightly, Kai readied Esurient and asked:

"What are you going to do Ezekial? Your precious king is going to die in front of you, and you're powerless to do anything."

Ezekial glared at Kai, the deepest form of hate seething from him. It almost felt like a demon had wrapped their hands around his throat it was that intense.

But Kai shrugged it off, he was in too deep to get nervous now.

Ezekial was not so calm.

"You! Deactivate that skill right now, it is mine! How dare you! What gives you the right to-"

"I do not care of any of your shouting, I've waited too long to do this."

Kai's eyes widened in shock as he glanced across the castle. It hadn't been him that had said those words, and Ezekial had already been in the middle of speaking.

The Plague Harbinger grinned darkly as the hand that was wrapped around Castilliab's throat suddenly began to clench, crushing the man's oesophagus.

A moment later, a sickening crunch rang out under the snow as the beast shattered Castillian's neck...

Killing the King instantly.

They then let go of his neck and let him fall to the pavement below. Castillian's corpse hit the ground with a harrowing splat, most of his body getting turned to paste on impact.

That was the end of the Cowardly King.

Ezekial's body trembled with rage.

"No!"

However, even he was powerless to his own skill. Before he even had the chance to do anything reckless, he heard Kai's voice from behind him.

"Equilibrium!"

The intense vibrant flames behind Kai's back all shot forward and converged on Esurient, creating a beautiful image of an incandescent sword shining through the eternal blizzard. Its overpowering light shot out in all directions, being able to be seen from anywhere in the city, a lighthouse of flames.

Without needing to be told, Esurient shot out of Kai's hands, making use of their own levitation ability as the power of Equilibrium fuelled them.

Their tip became sharper, their body mode durable. Combined with the fact Esurient's power also grew based on their Will, they were practically unstoppable on this state.

Not even a fraction of a second later, Esurient had thrust themselves into Ezekial's back, embedding themselves in their heart and eventually bursting through, sticking out of their chest.

Slowly, blood began to trickle out of Ezekial's mouth as he glanced downward at the sword sticking out of him. He looked back over his shoulder at Kai, softly saying:

"You..."

The next moment, Ezekial stumbled, falling off the roof of the castle. His body began to free fall, and mid flight, Esurient pulled themself out and returned to Kai.

Then, Ezekial himself hit the ground with a sickening splat, only nowhere near as much of him turned to paste on impact.

Kai fell to his knees, coughing up blood.

He had done it, he hadn't just stalled Ezekial for time, he had actually won.

Him, he had beaten a so called Sword Saint? Wasn't that just something.

Smiling weakly, Kai was just about to brace himself for the combined backlash of all the skills when the voice of the Plague Harbinger entered his ears.

"Don't."

Kai froze. He wondered to himself why not, but then he realised something about this whole thing.

Ezekial had died, so why hadn't he received a bunch of XP or the kill notification?

The Plague Harbinger, realising that Kai had caught on, answered that question.

"Because the Sword Man is not dead."

And at that exact same second, down on the ground below them...

Ezekial's body began to twitch.