Chapter 80
[Gaspard's POV]
The unknowable, accursed beast before me had ceased its infernal mockery and dropped back to all fours. The abyssal flames that had so greedily hungered for flesh but a moment ago had dimmed to naught but faint lights.
Its immense maw trembled and gradually opened to reveal a humanoid figure. At first glance, I surmised it to be just another soulless husk that had been consumed to fuel its sudden power.
But no, this figure moved.
It pried open the jaws of death and stepped down as a king would descend to survey his subjects. He was covered head to toe in filth and blood, born as he appeared to be from death itself. A young man, likely the same age as Fleur, stood across from me. His expression was neutral, yet his eyes were filled with life.
I did not know what to make of the situation. My trusted comrade, Eclipse Edge, had been sent far beyond the cage of thorns that sealed off my escape. The beast that had brought me such disgrace still stood, though it was no longer in motion; had it died to birth this young human?
“Gaspard Sylvain. Gladewarden of the Leafwhisper commune.”
The boy spoke as he sized me up. How he knew of me was as much a mystery as his own identity.
“You look injured. But I imagine you still have some fight in you, right?”
He produced an axe. To an untrained eye, it was just a regular wood-cutting axe. But I could see the traces of a violent soul lingering within, appearing as a crimson length of light that snaked its way around the handle.
I urged my aching body forward. I was battered and now bereft of one eye, but I was far from defeated.
The boy, despite his eerie nature, had no magic within him, nor did he have any other weapons.
“Please don't interfere.”
The boy spoke to the beast behind him, and it obediently sat down to observe. Any sign of its former rage and majesty had been lost to it.
The boy came at me.
He was slow. Nothing like the last child who moved like lightning and struck with the precise, explosive prowess of the very thunderstorm he seemed to embody.
This one simply swung their axe without grace.
I pushed it away with a gentle sweep from my left hand, then struck his throat with my right.
But his reaction shocked me to the point that I hesitated.
His windpipe had been crushed beneath my fingertips. And yet, he did not so much as blink.
His hand caught hold of the back of my head, and he rammed his own cranium into my nose.
It was a blow strong enough to break my nose and send blood dribbling into my mouth. Still, it was a far cry from the colossal might contained within the beast behind him. What he lacked in raw force, he sought to compensate for with unerring dedication. His axe came for me once more.
This time, I broke his arm and kicked the weapon away before redirecting his weight right into the thorny wall behind me.
He was impaled before me. His lack of reaction to pain had caught me off guard once, but now he was—
“Hm…”
He pulled himself free, blood pouring out from his wounds.
He could not be a revenant, for he bled like the living. So how could he remain unfazed?
“This is good.”
He showed a satisfied smile and looked down at his wounds.
I moved to break his neck, but he suddenly ducked under my outstretched hands and kicked my legs out from under me.
If he thought such a petty ploy would accomplish anything, he had spent too much time duelling arrogant brats and incompetent fools.
I rolled back and regained my footing before he could pin me, then stepped forth and slammed my palm up into his nose.
That slight had been repaid, and blood poured from his face as it did my own.
“”
But again, the attack did not halt him for a moment, and he used an unknown technique to appear before me.
That was not a feat of speed. That was short-range teleportation, not something a human child should be capable of.
My options were limited, as my mana capacity had already dried up in the earlier battle. However, even at that range, the boy moved more slowly than my weakest hunters.
I dodged and grabbed hold of his fingers, prepared to break them as I had his arm.
But a sharp pain instead tore through my palm, followed by a spray of blood.
Backing off was the best course of action when faced with unknown danger, but the moment I jumped back, my back was struck by the same pain.
The boy had appeared behind me and raked his claws across my flesh. He still wore a satisfied smile, but it was as though his eyes could not see me.
“Even from this range, huh? Should I push it further?”
The boy paused to inspect his hand, which had sprouted patches of dark fur.
“Gaspard.”
He called me out directly, and I felt compelled to let him speak. There was something about the way his soul shone in my eyes that demanded respect.
“Soul Sculpting is a respected skill for elves, right? Maybe you can be my judge?”
Hearing that phrase was a surprise under the circumstances. It was my belief that humankind had no appreciation or talent when it came to the manipulation of souls.
“This is what I call Right now, I have connected to a familiar soul from the other side of the campus…”
He flexed his claws to demonstrate.
“Things have become much clearer to me now. I think I should be able to do this with three others. I would like to put it to the test. Care to help?”
He awaited a response.
“Human. Are you allied with the Imperial blasphemers?”
I had no intention of playing along with him, but depending on his allegiance, it may be worth keeping him alive for questioning.
“I am both Imperial and a blasphemer, yes.”
He shrugged.
There was no need for further discourse; I lunged forward with the intent to kill.
His eyes flashed, and he vanished from sight once more. Then, an immense blow struck my side, fracturing my bones.
“That was a followed by a regular punch while linked to a particularly sturdy pig.”
The boy spoke calmly.
“Did you time it? There should have been less than a second between the two links.”
I swung my leg in an arc with the intent to knock my foe down, but he remained perfectly still and locked my ankle with one arm.
His appearance shifted slightly again. His muscles had expanded, and a strange heat radiated out from his body.
Using his broken arm, he brought his elbow down on my outstretched leg, then tossed me away with one hand.
“This one will be a little trickier.”
He did not move from his spot. He only raised one hand and pointed at me as he spoke.
His features shifted again, but there was no time to comprehend it. My right ear had somehow been severed from my head.
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A thin beam of had burst out from his hand and sliced clean through.
“So, even this is possible now? Looks like water capacity is an issue, though… is it because we only fused that one time?”
The boy stopped his attack and looked at his hand in thought.
“Perhaps if I had another water spirit, something could be done… I'll test it later.”
His strange, silver-scaled hand lowered. It returned to normal in an instant, but to replace the abnormality, his eyes had multiplied until eight green irises were looking at me coldly.
“Any benefit to this? Doesn't seem like I can produce any venom. Ah, right… demonic blood.”
He looked at his chest. Specifically, at the wounds that were rapidly repairing themselves.
“Handy. But this one is better for fusion rather than linking.”
His eyes returned to normal, and he watched passively as I stood back up. I was unable to put my weight onto my right side, but I could still fight.
He came at me with the axe again. I could not rely on my footwork, but his form and speed were both sloppy enough that I could redirect with my hands alone.
Something pierced my left side right as I disabled the hand holding the axe.
“Interesting.”
The boy spoke to himself as I ripped myself free from the foreign object that had dug into my rib.
“I didn't expect even to be possible. A dual link?”
He held up two blood-covered fingers. They were still wet with my blood, and boasted both claws and the silver scales at the same time.
“If this can be done, then…”
He closed his eyes, seemingly concentrating on something.
I did not afford him the chance to continue toying with me. I broke off a large thorn from the wall nearby and tossed it with perfect precision.
His eyes did not open. He was totally unaware.
But the bizarre stag-like creature that materialised before him easily blocked my attack with its sturdy bone skull.
It had a body of flora and antlers that appeared as glimmering crystal.
“Impressive, lost soul… but I have already expended too much energy. I shall return to slumber. You will need to find more fragments before pursuing this avenue.”
The creature spoke to the boy, ignoring me entirely, before a vibrant flower emerged from the earth and enveloped it.
“Hahaha! Yeah, that would be insane if it were so easy...”
The boy laughed with more liveliness than he had shown up until that point.
“Alright, Gaspard…”
He settled down and lowered his posture, like a wild animal preparing to strike.
“Help me break in my new and improved soul.”
***
[Rex's POV]
My body was no different than the day before, physically speaking. But the essence of my soul had achieved a clarity that I had not felt since my rebirth.
I had a goal. I had a purpose. I had certainty. I knew for sure that I was not just a tool that had been repurposed to fit the craftsman's desire. My mind was my own.
The Stag Lord was within me. The Watcher looked over me. But I was not just their servant.
It felt so ridiculous looking back. To think I harboured such doubts without realising it. To think I needed to undergo a factory rest and be cast into a void of thought to understand myself.
I was not Rex Jaeger, nor was I the reincarnated 50-year-old man from Earth. I was whatever I chose to make of myself. I could be both at once, or neither. I may have been born as Rex of Redwater, but that did not mean I had to remain that way forever. I may have been exposed to the Feral Abyss, but that did not mean I had to be bound to it forever.
As I stood before Fleur's brother with the intent to put my soul to the test, I spotted something on the ground.
A mask. Exquisitely made and just the right size for me, it was lying on its lonesome.
“Do you mind?”
I asked my foe, nodding at the mask.
He glared at me hatefully without response, but made no movement to attack as I walked to retrieve it.
“It was my master who got me into wearing these…”
I spoke idly to myself. The elf had no way of understanding my meaning, but I found it relieving to voice my feelings aloud.
“The purpose of a mask is to hide one's identity, common sense really, isn't it?”
I chuckled as I pushed it up over my eyes. Much like my own mask, this one was enchanted to allow the user to see through it. There was something else to it, but without knowing the command words or the function, I would have to save investigating that for later.
“Master hated distractions, you see. And he got sick of beating me for letting the past hinder my engagement in his lessons. So, he made a mask, stuck it to my face, and threw me into an animal den.”
My pleasant recollection had only just begun, but Gaspard was already furiously throwing thorns at me.
I extended my soul as an automatic reflex and connected to Tiara. She was fighting her own battle in the dormhouse, but she didn't seem to need my help yet.
My reflexes improved by leaps and bounds. Not only was I linking from so far away, but the effects were even stronger than usual.
I ducked and weaved, then and punched Gaspard in the throat, just as he had done to me.
He stumbled and coughed as he took a knee. I didn't hit as hard as he did, but he seemed far more affected. Now that I thought about it, when he closed my windpipe, I had just reopened it reflexively as if it were only natural that humans could move their insides as easily as their fingers.
“Master the soul and you will master your body… externally internally.”
I repeated one of Poggy’s old teachings and chuckled.
“The mask helped condition me, you see.”
I continued from where I left off, letting Gaspard get to his feet in his own time.
“Focus on the immediate goal. Cast away all distractions, or you'll die…”
He stood up suddenly and tossed a stone at my head. I caught it easily, but that brief opening was all he needed to slam his palms into my stomach and force me back.
I felt an unending reverberation in my bones; it must have been a martial art of some kind.
I could not move as a result, and Gaspard was coming in to drive another thorn into my temple.
I focused inward, trying to manually do what I had automatically achieved previously. I moved my internals.
More accurately, I shifted my soul into a state where ‘my body was stable’.
Everything went back to normal, and I side-stepped the attack. Then, I reached out for Soot's soul.
The chaos appeared to have driven him quite far, as he was all the way by the centre of town for some reason.
Perhaps he was following my scent, and we just missed each other?
“Haha…”
I laughed at the thought as my body grew hot and sturdy. But I did not disconnect from Tiara.
My soul was solid enough to support multiple others now, after all. I wondered whether I could put them in touch with each other this way?
I tried issuing a mental command to Soot, though I felt nothing to confirm if it worked.
With the flexibility of a feline and the ferocious strength of a boar, I twisted back and swung my fist up into Gaspard’s stomach.
His feet left the ground, and his one remaining eye widened in shock. But I was far from finished.
With this body of speed and power, I sought to replicate something Axel had once done to me. A juggling act of sorts.
The air sang out as my fists rapidly passed through to deliver an endless barrage of attacks. The thumps of my hands against his body resounded throughout the campus and sent shockwaves out beneath my feet. The ground cracked, unable to withstand the force.
“1, 2, 3…”
I began counting aloud, trying to see how long I could keep him in the air.
“3, 4, 5…”
His face was swollen and armour stripped clean. The elf's bare torso was revealed to be more bruised than not.
“6, 7, ah, damn.”
I winced as my muscles screamed in pain, and I had to end the test by slamming his body into the ground.
I felt that Axel would have done a better job. Maybe I should ask him to teach me the proper form?
I pondered as I aimed two fingers at Gaspard's knee and reached my soul out far beyond Borderton, and all the way into the sea.
Kipper had long since left my company, but all I had to do was focus on his being, and I could track him, as I could with any soul I had bonded with.
This was yet another benefit of refining my soul through introspection.
With the high-pressure water jets now in my arsenal, I could practically roleplay as a gunslinger. One with some very deadly water pistols.
A dull pain struck my chest and forced me back. There was some kind of white blade protruding from me.
“You are too dangerous, chimera.”
Gaspard lifted his torso from the ground, though he shook like a leaf in the wind after all the abuse he had been put through.
“You spoke of soul sculpting. You were indeed right that my brethren value the practice dearly…”
Another white blade emerged from Gaspard’s palm.
“To contort the soul is something we forbid until the ancestors give an individual their blessing. It is not a toy some arrogant child should be permitted to play with.”
He aimed the blade—that I identified as polished bone—at my throat.
I moved to fire a jet of water, but with a mere flick of the wrist, my hand was severed.
It hurt. Badly. But I did not pause for even the briefest of moments. Hesitation was time wasted after all.
I split my soul two ways, connecting to both Tiara and Vek, who was still assisting in deepening the tunnel to the east.
My hand began regenerating, but it was nothing like the ogre I had fought in Farrowgate. It would take hours for my hand to regrow, but at least the bleeding had stopped.
Gaspard was unable to close the distance between us, but those sharp bones he was producing continued to fly at me with increasing speed.
He could form them as he wished by the look of it. Some were like boomerangs, curving wide to catch me from a blind spot. Others had been hollowed out and formed with small holes to lessen the weight. They whistled through the air as they left deep cuts in my body.
“I will acknowledge you, chimera. Die in peace.”
Gaspard reeled back his arm after producing a particularly long spear of bone from his back.
“Chimera? Catchy, but my name is Rex Jaeger, and I don't intend to die for a long time.”
I responded in a bid to buy time as I gripped the bone-blade in my chest. One solid and I could bury it into Gaspard and end it all.
But my response worked better than expected.
“...Rex? are Rex?”
He began to lower his weapon.
“A Druid could solve every—”
“Haha! Surprise, asshole!”
A bolt of lightning blew apart the wall of thorns, and Axel bolted through, faster than I could track, despite his condition. He has managed to recuperate enough during my fight to charge another .
“Wha—”
Gaspard turned to attack, but he could no longer compete with Axel's speed. A mighty fist crashed into the back of Gaspard’s skull and exploded with lightning.
“
Axel roared the name of his attack as he cackled maniacally.
Gaspard slammed into the ground again, this time, losing consciousness entirely.
“...haaa…”
I exhaled deeply.
“You're back? No more speaking like an angsty poet and eating people?”
Axel smirked at me.
But try as he might to appear tough, he was swaying violently and could not keep his eyes fixed on anything for long.
“Haha… hahaha…. We… did it.”
He threw his fists up and fell flat on his face.
It was a good thing he had not killed Gaspard with that attack; I would need him in the near future after all.
With a moment of silence amidst the unending violence, I turned to face the large monstrosity that had patiently awaited my attention.
“My role has been fulfilled, lost soul.”
The beast spoke.
“Keep on the path. Do not stray, lest you become like me. I shall remain vigilant, but I hope no more souls will follow your path.”
It stood and approached me.
“...Our past burdens us, but we are of this soil now, lost soul. Hear the hypocrite as he speaks; a complete soul does not fear itself.”
The beast began to crumble before my eyes.
It sank into the ground, as if returning to the soil it was born from. Only the skull remained, proof of a strange beast's existence.
It never told me so plainly. But I felt as if that thing understood me better than anyone else in this world.
“There they are!”
A furious voice cried out, and I looked over to see Klaus leading a large force into the campus.
Draven, Felicia, Bodo, Linus, and many more soldiers came filtering through.
“What the hell were you fools thinking!? Do you understand that moving outside of your orders could put us all in jeopardy!?”
Klaus got up in my face and barked at me.
“It's damn bad luck these knife-ears haven't gutted you, ‘cuz now get to run your sorry ass into the ground!”
“Klaus. Stand down.”
Draven calmly stepped forward, and the burly therian obediently backed off, though he still glared at me with undisguised ferocity.
“...What happened here?”
Draven did not acknowledge the chaos around us or my injuries. He only looked at one thing.
“How did Gaspard Sylvain come to be reduced to a state like this?”
“...Long story.”
There were still a couple of things to do. Most immediately, I had to go make sure Tiara was still okay. After that…
I looked back at the duelling arena, which remained eerily silent even after everything that had occurred just outside.
Somehow, I felt that I should not trespass on whatever was happening inside.
