Eztli's soul continued to seep out of his wounded body as Ior's attacks grew frantic.

"No. This is impossible!" Ior yelled fearfully as he punched the blood sphere. "A soul shouldn't be able to condense outside of the body without dissipating. Even I can only do it with the support of this entire tower. Just how are you able to do it? What kind of monster are you?"

Ior was right. Normally, one wouldn't be able to condense their soul outside their body without support, but Eztli was different. He had devoted half of entire life to researching a way of transferring a soul to another body. It took millions of experiments and discarded research subjects, but he finally discovered an astonishing fact.

The truth about soul energy.

Unlike qi and life force, soul energy had certain special properties. One was that it behaved like a liquid, gas and solid all at once—constantly fluctuating between them all. In a sense, it made it have both a tangible and ethereal form. The other was that each soul had a unique frequency. If one was able to discover that frequency, they would be able to control a soul into any form they wanted; Eztli had figured out his frequency long ago as, without this bit of knowledge, his soul transplant wouldn't even have been possible. Now, he possessed full control of his soul and was capable of momentarily condensing it outside his body. However, it was not without danger.

Eztli was walking a thin line between life and death. He had to meticulously control his soul to vibrate as it seeped out in order to crystallize it into his human figure. It had to be known that, when he extracted his soul, he had used countless formations to aid in the control of the process; currently, however, he could only use his mind. One wrong move or waver in his concentration before he reached full stability…and his soul would shatter.

He would cease to exist.

It was a risk he was willing to take in order to gain information about a new way to become immortal. A way to get his revenge. Even then, the materialization of his soul could only be maintained for one, maybe two minutes. He would have to finish the battle fast, but before that, he had to make sure his soul was stable.

Damn it. Eztli thought, glancing at the blood sphere. Cracks had spread throughout the entire surface. It was going to burst. Just a bit more time. And I'll…

Eztli almost rushed the process, a mistake that would have killed him, but he managed to stop himself at the last second. Finally, ninety percent of his soul had seeped out and crystallized. The other ten remained within the rabbit, to both sustain its life and serve as an anchor for his soul to return to.

At the same moment, the blood sphere broke and Ior escaped with a tremendous roar. He was furious and immediately charged a beam of energy in his right hand and sent it flying towards Eztli. "You will die, now."

Eztli smiled and raised his bare palm to receive the beam. Once it hit, it dissipated instantly, sending a few vibrations through his arm. "This is hardly enough to kill me now. You'd have to try harder."

With a single step forward, Eztli appeared in front of Ior and punched him in the stomach. The blow connected and sent Ior tumbling backward into the stone wall. Damn. This feels great, Eztli thought, smiling as he tightened his fist—feeling the power rush through him. It drove him deep into his memories. Back to when he was at his peak.

However, he knew it was only a momentary illusion. Eztli looked at himself and gave a small sigh. He still wore robes of a deep translucent red—the color he was most fond of—but everything else had changed. He had grown old. So old. He touched his face and ran his bony fingers down the deep wrinkles that littered his face. Age, an inescapable curse even for one's soul. Yet, only in appearance for a soul didn't weaken with age; it grew stronger.

Suddenly, pain encompassed Eztli. It ran through his entire body, but with a quick flare of his energy, to form a barrier, it dissipated. He turned to look at a gloating Ior next to him.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who is naive and doesn't pay attention to the battlefield. A punch like that wouldn't finish me off." Ior said, encasing his fist in energy, readying another punch.

I am really out of practice. He had lost his focus for a moment—something the old Eztli would have never done—and allowed Ior to land a hit on him, but it wouldn't happen again. He smiled, standing tall. His aura extended outward revealing its evil and imperial nature as he faced Ior. He then focused and took a fighting stance—left arm forward, palm upwards, right hand near his chest ready to tear at his own flesh for a source of blood. It didn't matter that he couldn't use blood while being just a soul. The pose was instinctual—engraved into the depths of his soul. "Hope you enjoyed that free hit as it won't happen again."

Ior's figure stood still for a moment. He gauged Eztli's new appearance and then took a pose of his own—hands together in a praying form before separating in a twisting manner. "So much death and evil within your soul. You are more despicable than I thought. A soul truly permeated by Keres' corruption. " He shook his head. "No, it's like I'm looking at a fragment of Keres himself."

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"I'll take that as a compliment," Eztli said, rushing forward throwing another punch, this time laced with some of his soul energy. It was unfortunate that he had to end this with his fists as most of his skills were rendered useless while in soul form. He had never practiced any soul arts; however, he did study his own soul to the peak and had full control over it. He could use it to attack and defend, but at the moment he couldn’t risk separating part of it to attack for it could destabilize his soul. He was confident he could beat Ior, but he did worry whether he could beat him before his time ran out.

The punch connected, but Ior's body turned into smoke and disappeared. Eztli didn't have time to be shocked by the sudden disappearance as he felt danger behind him. He twisted in the air, barely dodging a red beam of energy. It grazed his shoulder-causing a faint crack to appear. Fuck. Eztli cursed as he quickly guided his energy to stop the crack from spreading. He then gasped for air. What the hell was that? How could he teleport like that? And that beam… The energy gave off the same feeling as the one that stopped his probe inside Kael.

"I'm amazed you managed to dodge that, but it looks like this will be the end. Ylos' power—to purify corruption—is still the best when dealing with Keres and his servants. It doesn't matter how strong your soul, you will be purified by his energy. Besides, within this tower, you are in my domain." Ior said lifting his arms and spreading his fingers, pointing them towards Eztli. Ten beams quickly formed at his fingertips, all tinged red. "Don't worry, I'll make your death quick. You'll thank me for purifying your evil soul."

Ior disappeared and appeared all around him as beams shot out, their speeds greater than the previous. They aimed at all of his escape routes. Quickly, Eztli urged his soul to vibrate faster—changing his soul state for a split second. It allowed him to became ethereal thus giving him invulnerability, but more importantly, it allowed him to feel the attack with his soul.

Eztli concentrated his whole being to scan the beam of energy as it penetrated through his soul. In that split moment, he became more familiar with it.

Having encountered the energy multiple times before, he had a rough idea of what it was. Now, however, he knew what it was and that he could stop it. He changed the vibration again, becoming tangible, his whole body became a shield as the other nine beams hit. They bombarded him and sent him back a couple of steps, but no harm was done to his soul. He let out a laugh. "I would like to see just how exactly such petty attacks will kill me. I have already seen through them." Eztli said, making his way next to Ior and throwing several punches.

Ior's soul shuddered and flew back. "That can't be!" he said, voice trembling and face twisting with shock. "That much of Ylos' power should be able to purify you of Keres' corruption. How could a mere servant of him withstand it?"

"I've said it before. I'm a servant to no one but myself." Eztli appeared behind Ior and gave another punch. This time, however, he grabbed hold of Ior's right arm—stabbing his fingers into it—and pulled. Eztli's right hand shined with a massive amount of energy as he brought it down on Ior's shoulder.

The energy sent out a shockwave so large that it blasted Eztli backward and caused a disruption in the black aura of the formation—momentarily making the tower shine white.

Ior's scream filled the air and his disheveled figure slowly came into view. He held his right arm in place. It was riddled with cracks and it looked like it was about to fall off—only attached by a strand of soul energy. His soul also dimmed. "Damn…you," Ior said, gasping and falling to his knees. "You…vile…"

Eztli smiled and walked to him. He then placed his hand on Ior's head. Light strings slowly formed and begun to wrap around Ior—embedding themselves into his soul in order to disassemble it and extract his memories. "Don't worry." Eztli grinned wickedly. "I'll make sure your death is long and torturous."

"I…won't give…you the satisfaction." Ior laughed as he flared his soul. Eztli jumped back as a massive amount of red energy rushed out of the formation and encompassed Ior. The cracks on his left arm quickly heal followed by his soul burning bright red.

"How can he…?" Eztli muttered, still taking in the sudden flow of energy. It was purer than the previous energy and more menacing. Just looking at it and receiving its light caused Eztli's soul to burn with fear. "This energy…"

##

"I didn't want to do this, but you forced me," Ior said, his voice roaring a full octave lower and causing the tower to rumble. "You will face the energy of a god."

He spread his arms wide then crossed them on his chest. A sliver of his soul split from him and went into the formation. It quickly broke through the countless layers and swam deep underground towards the red crystal surrounded by seven black pillars.

Many feelings sparked inside Ior as he stared at the crystal. To be more precise, at what was inside. Ylos. The strand of soul approached the crystal. It lingered on its surface as if it were a hand and caressed it.

"I'm sorry Yl." He whispered, voice trembling. “This is the only way I can protect you. I'm sorry I have failed at finding someone to free you. I hope you can free yourself one day…If not…"

He didn't want to think about it. A holy existence like Ylos, trapped for eternity…all because of him. As if hearing him the phoenix forcefully opened its eye and gave a faint and sweet chirp before returning to its slumber.

The chirp was all it took for Ior to calm down. He glanced at Ylos and nodded. "Thank you, for forgiving me. And all the years I spent at your side…I hope that one day we can meet again."

With that, a massive amount of energy made its way back into his soul. Ior felt his soul undulate and start to crack. The sheer amount of energy was too much for any mortal soul to handle. But instead of feeling pain, he only felt comfort. He felt the embrace of his lifelong friend. He was with him, even as his soul was perishing.

He wasn't afraid.

Ior turned and looked at Eztli with immense rage. Lifting his hand, he commanded the energy to wrap around Eztli. He then made a fist and the energy followed suit—tightened slowly. "I shall give you the slow and torturous death you deserve, servant of Keres."