Chapter 25: Haze

The winds settled down and caused the battlefield to return to stillness. The Senodokidatsu woman stood amidst the remnants of the broken ice. Her once impenetrable ice barrier was shattered by Soujin’s relentless attack.

A low chuckle escaped her lips. "Impressive," she admitted with a dark amusement. "You’ve managed to pierce through my ice and overthrow my defenses by harnessing the wind’s power. That was... interesting."

When the smoke from the battle cleared, her appearance came into full view. The pristine white cloak she had worn was now torn in several places, exposing more of her figure. The hood that once obscured part of her face had fallen back, revealing medium-cut hair adorned with small purple bows.

Beneath the damaged cloak, a part of her shirt peeked through which was blood-red. She met Soujin’s gaze not with fear or hesitation, but with renewed intrigue.

"So," she purred while making her fingers trace the remaining frost in the air, "Your winds are much stronger than the last time we met…”

“Sorry,” Soujin said with irritation. “I’d remember meeting someone like you.”

The Senodokidatsu woman’s lips curled into a sly smile. “Oh?” She tilted her head slightly. “Whoops, it seems I’ve let something slip.”

Soujin’s eyes narrowed. He thought, ‘Let something slip… ‘He replayed their exchange in his mind, focusing on the strange comment she had made earlier. “‘Former resident of the dead,’” he muttered under his breath. It then clicked. She wasn’t just referring to him as a warrior…

“Wait…” Soujin began while piecing it together aloud. “You know something, don’t you? About me… about my reincarnation!”

The Senodokidatsu woman smiled with a new kind of excitement taking shape on her face. “Reincarnation? Ah, now that’s starting to make sense. How fascinating… so you’re not just an ordinary swordsman who survived the jaws of death… You’re a soul that has returned from the other side. I knew we killed you before…”

Soujin’s heart pounded. “Who are you?”

The woman’s gaze never left Soujin’s. “You’re not the first soul to cross the boundary between life and death, Soujin. The cycle of reincarnation is always a rare find in this world, but in your case…” She trailed off and eyed him with renewed fascination. “It seems like you don’t know the full story, do you?”

Soujin clenched his teeth. If this woman had knowledge of his past, then she might hold answers to questions he didn’t even know how to ask.

The Senodokidatsu woman chuckled softly. “You really are an enigma, Soujin. A swordsman who holds the power of the wind, yet carries the weight of two lives. I wonder… just how far can that power of yours can go?”

Soujin glared. “Enough games. Tell me what you know, now! Or I’ll beat it out of you!”

The Senodokidatsu woman’s lips curled into a chilling smile. “I’ll tell you this much, Soujin. If you really want answers about your reincarnation, seek out Muffet. She knows everything… assuming she’s still alive, that is.”

Soujin’s eyes widened. ‘Muffet?’ He recalled their last conversation before he set out on this mission days ago. The cryptic words echoed in his mind: “Just try not to die, Soujin. Or worse, don't become like me.”

What had she meant? Could Muffet somehow be tied to the mystery of his reincarnation?

Before Soujin could demand more answers, the Senodokidatsu woman made her move. A thick mist of ice rapidly surrounded him, obscuring his vision and chilling the air to an unbearable degree. The mist swirled, a cold, biting force that gnawed at his senses, making it impossible to pinpoint her location.

Then, without warning, she struck.

Her hands were as sharp as blades. She slashed through the mist with brutal precision. Soujin instinctively raised his sword to block. The clash of her icy strikes against his blade sent sparks of wind and frost scattering in all directions. But he couldn’t see her. She moved like a phantom. Her attacks came from unpredictable angles which were too swift for his eyes to track.

‘Damn it… ‘Soujin gritted his teeth, trying to focus. Each time he thought he had her position, she vanished again. She grazed him with shallow wounds. He felt the sting of ice against his skin.

‘I can’t see her… but maybe I don’t need to… ‘Soujin knew he couldn’t rely on his eyes. He took a deep breath and focused on the movement of the air around him, trying to attune himself to the subtle shifts in the wind. The way it curved, the way it was disrupted—each disturbance was a clue. Soujin closed his eyes.

And there—he felt it. A ripple in the air behind him. In an instant, Soujin spun and swung Kaze no Monogatari with lightning speed. The blade met her strike head-on, stopping her cold attack in its tracks.

“There you are,” Soujin growled through gritted teeth.

The Senodokidatsu woman’s eyes gleamed with dark satisfaction but there was a flicker of surprise. “You’ve learned to fight without your eyes… clever.”

Soujin’s lips curved into a smirk. “I don’t need to see you to cut you down.”

With a swift motion, he unleashed a whirlwind slash, forcing her to retreat into the mist once more.

Through the thick mist, a familiar voice pierced through.

“Yo, Cap!” Bellar’s shout rang out and Soujin turned to see her charging through the fog with Cera slung over her back. The wild flash of her black hair combined with the faint crackle of her sword magic cut a path toward him.

“Looks like you made it out in one piece,” Soujin remarked with relif. He cast a quick glance at Cera who was now unconscious but breathing. “But watch it…this foe is dangerous.”

Bellar skidded to a halt beside him and scanned the mist. “This mist… It feels familiar.” A note of recognition creeped in and she began to speak lower with slight surprise coming to her eyes. “Wait a second… Is it…?”

Before she could finish her thought, the disappointed Senodokidatsu woman echoed through the haze. “Awwww, it looks like Asher’s been put to sleep for now. How sad, though I must admit, this situation was starting to get interesting.”

The woman’s figure began to emerge but instead of pressing the attack, a dark, swirling portal materialized behind her. From its depths, a winding white road extended into a sea of shadow which lead to a barely visible silhouette of a castle in the far distance.

The Senodokidatsu woman chuckled, stepping back toward the portal. “Unfortunately, this also means our little fun ends here, Captain Soujin. Until we meet again!”

“Not so fast!” Soujin barked. Without a second thought, he lunged forward with wind energy swirling around him. Before he could reach the portal, a crack of lightning halted him in his tracks.

Bellar had drawn her sword just enough to release a flicker of Inaminari’s thunder magic. Afterwards, the portal vanished in a blink.

“Why the hell did you do that?!” Soujin snapped, spinning around to face Bellar with frustration. “I could’ve caught her!”

Bellar didn’t flinch. Instead, she crossed her arms. “Caught her? You were about to get your ass killed, Cap.” She pointed her sword toward the now-vanished portal. “Ain’t no way you wanted to go through there. That place? That dark realm? You’d never come back.”

Soujin clenched his fists, glaring at the spot where the portal had been. "I could’ve gotten answers…"

Bellar huffed. "Yeah, and you might’ve ended up stuck as a permanent guest in that creepy-ass castle. Look, I get it—you’re the captain and all, but that move woulda been straight reckless. You don’t know what’s lurkin’ in there. Hell, I don’t even know, and I’ve seen some real dark shit."

Soujin’s eyes flickered between anger and realization. She wasn’t wrong. He exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Maybe you’re right…”

Bellar smirked while sheathing her sword. “Next time, don’t go playing hero when you’re flying blind, Cap.”

Soujin gave her a reluctant nod, but his mind was already spinning with questions. ‘Muffet… what do you know?’

Bellar scratched her head. “So like, pretty sure that woman was Miffet. You know, the one that same senodokidatsu inside Cera was talking about before all this went down."

Soujin’s stomach dropped. Miffet? He barely even knew who that was but he couldn't afford to show it…not in front of Bellar. Nobody in the Divine blade society so far has taken this reincarnation story seriously other than Muffet, so the last thing he needed was for them to think he had no clue what was happening around him. He took a deep breath and put on his most serious face.

“Right… Miffet,” Soujin muttered under his breath as if piecing together some complex puzzle. In reality, he was scrambling to make sense of the name Bellar had just tossed at him. He gave a thoughtful nod. “So, that’s the connection, huh?”

Bellar raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, Cap. We’ve already thrown down with that icy witch before. She froze the hell outta us last time, but we still crawled outta that one. Then you went off and challenged her and Trombone by yourself...well, not entirely by yourself but..."

Soujin's mind raced as Bellar continued. The information she was revealing was a jigsaw puzzle, and he was still scrambling to fit the pieces together.

“Sounds like extremely reckless,” Soujin muttered to himself.

Bellar continued with concern. “Yeah, Cap, you were definitely playing with fire. When the room closed and locked behind you, you were stuck with Trombone, who was absorbing a Divine Blade. Things got really ugly from then with an ambush on the outside. We had to give it all we got to take care of them Senodokidatsu trash. When the door finally opened, Trombone and Miffet were gone. The place was a mess and it looked like you’d been sent to hell.”

Soujin’s eyes narrowed. His confrontation with Trombone and Miffet was likely the turning point in his old life, but hearing it from Bellar’s perspective made the situation all the clearer.

“So, you’re saying…” Soujin began. “They thought I was dead?”

“Yeah,” Bellar confirmed. Her tone was serious a smirk was creeping in. “You looked about as finished as a half-baked cake. Everyone was in shock when you showed up days later, just casually strolling into the Squad building with a money bag like you’d been out shopping instead of dodging death. We were all stunned, but of course, everyone acted like they’d seen weirder things at breakfast.”

Soujin couldn’t help but chuckle dryly. “Well, that’s one way to make an entrance.”

Bellar shot him a sidelong glance. “I’m serious, Cap. They didn’t expect you to survive, let alone come back like nothing happened. What in the hell did you even do in that room?”

Soujin shook his head. “I wish I knew. Everything’s a blur. I’ve been trying to piece it together, but all I remember is that I kept fighting to stop the two of em...”

Bellar sighed and glanced at Cera who was still unconscious. “We need to get her back to the Divine Blade Society and figure out what to do next.”

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps approached.

Pufima and Priya burst into view, both of them looking exhausted and slightly disheveled. Pufima's puffy hair was more unkempt than usual and Priya’s simple outfit was dirt-streaked. They stopped in front of Soujin and Bellar, panting heavily.

Pufima’s eyes widened with awe. “We... we came as soon as we could!”

Soujin squinted at them, taking in their uniforms. “And you two are?”

Bellar stepped in. “These are kids who found the Divine Blade that appeared in this area. Pufima and Priya. They’ve been hanging around, and it looks like they got caught up in all this.”

Soujin raised an eyebrow. “A couple of kids found the Divine Blade, huh? This is going to be one hell of a report.”

Bellar nodded. “Yeah. We should take them to the Head Captain. They will have more to add to this whole mess.”

Soujin sighed. “Alright, let’s get Cera back and then head to the Head Captain. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”

Meanwhile, Soujin also thought, ‘Tomorrow is gonna be a looong day…’