Eztli watched the energy continue to wrap around him—encasing him in an unbreakable bubble. At first, he had tried breaking free by making his soul ethereal; yet as he tried passing through the red qi, it rejected him. That's impossible, he thought, how could this stop my soul? Isn't it the same as before?

Holding back his fear, he placed his palm on the ever-shrinking barrier and sent his soul to scan it. His soul immediately rebounded, but in the short moment, he had managed to feel something, unlike anything he ever had. The qi was…different. He didn't know how to describe it, but it was like he came across something he shouldn't have touched.

And that made him feel fear.

He shook his head and pushed the feeling aside, trying to focus on a budding familiar feeling. His passion as a researcher. The qi was something he had never experience before. He had not even read about it in the many records he had plundered over his years as emperor of the realm. He called it…the energy of a god. He thought, looking at a shattering Ior. If I can assimilate it or even gain more of an understanding about it… Eztli grinned. He had to figure out what it was and make it his.

Flaring his soul to its limits, he attempted to analyze it once again. The soul energy penetrated and spread across the barrier of qi—sending data into his consciousness. Simultaneously, however, he felt part of his soul begin to crumble. "No!" he screamed forcefully dragging the fragment back before it was too late. As the soul merged with him again, more data entered his mind along with a certain feeling.

"It's futile," Ior said, laughing. "Your soul is to tainted and not strong enough to destroy Ylos' qi. You will die."

Fear.

It was all Eztli could feel at the moment. No, there has to be a way. There has to be one.

Eztli gathered all his soul energy and attacked frantically. Attack after attack. He even used methods that would harm his soul indefinitely: from vibrating his soul at frequencies he never thought possible; to burning part of his soul away in order to gain a quick boost of power. But no matter what he did, he couldn't free himself.

The barrier kept shrinking.

Soon, he barely had enough room to move. However, Eztli's mind continued to work furiously, trying to figure a way out—analyzing the information he gained when scanning, compounding them into workable information. He managed to formulate several theories on how to escape, but they all required one thing: his soul to be stronger.

Suddenly, immense pain assaulted his whole being followed by a strong breaking sound. The energy had started to crack his soul.

It was over.

The realization kicked in hard. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. Ior was right, the red qi was something far beyond his current understanding. Something he couldn't fight. Something holy. Something divine.

This is how I die…he laughed at himself, resigning to his fate. Strangely, he only felt happiness.

Eztli sunk in that feeling as one thing appeared in his mind, Rhett. He saw every moment he had spent with him. From when he was a weak child learning under him, to when he selflessly took care of his aging body. A tear fell from his eye. Rhett…I just hope I could have saved you from Wes and told you the truth about that night. The energy shined stronger and the cracks on his soul became larger—bringing his soul to the edge of collapse.

In the last moment, however, Rhett's voice popped into his head. "The bond." It whispered calmly. "You can still fight back, Master."

Eztli's eyes widened as he realized what the voice meant. He cursed himself for forgetting he still had the boy's soul—a pure innocent one. He smiled. Using the part of his soul left inside the rabbit's body, he called upon the bond with Kael. He rearranged several of the runes in their bond—changing them so that he could exert control over the boy's soul for a brief moment. It was sloppy work, but he needed to do it fast; before his own soul shattered completely.

"I'll just have to use a pure soul to break out then," Eztli said, laughing.

Ior somehow sensed what he was doing and guided energy to attack the bond between him and his soul fragment. Eztli wailed at the pain and felt the ten percent of soul almost break away from him. He roared and in a final bout of sheer will, the rune transformation was complete.

Eztli gave a laugh of victory—forgetting about Ior's attacks—and willed Kael's soul to his own.

##

All Kael could see was a world of red.

The pressure exerted by the formation had suddenly increased drastically. It made him unable to continue standing and he fell to the floor with a hard crash.

Pain ran down his body. It was so intense that Kael felt as though his bones were being pulverized; yet strangely, he felt his blood trying to heal the damage. However, that only made him suffer more and there was nothing he could do about it. He hadn't learned how to control his blood. He couldn't even scream as a way to release him from the pain. He could only comfort himself by screaming in his mind, but that did little to ease his torture. Just as his mind was on the verge of breaking, the pain vanished.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Then, he felt it.

A strange force, like a demon whispering into his ear, enticing him, pulling him from his pain. It eased his suffering—bringing a sudden calmness—but as the force grew stronger, the true torture began.

Pain, unlike before, assaulted every cell of his body and his soul. He saw his own body lying on the ground, no longer moving. Then the force pulled him away from it.

Before he could see anything else, he blanked out.

##

Eztli called upon Kael's soul, dragging it towards his right hand. The soul had taken the form of a ribbon. It radiated with a dim pale blue glow—showing the level and pureness of the soul. It swirled in the air as it made its way to Eztli. Currently, the soul was in an intangible state so Eztli willed it to compress.

Quickly, the strand rounded and caved in upon itself, slowly turning into a small spiraling point—something Eztli could work with. He closed his eyes and concentrated on it, checking both the state of Kael's soul and the runes he had made with haste. It took less than a second to confirm the stability of the runes then he controlled the spiral to spin and thrust it towards the red qi.

Immediately, the energy gave in and a small part shattered.

Even though Kael's soul was at such a low level, its pureness was enough to penetrate the barrier. With that Eztli finally had a way out. He changed himself into an ethereal form and escaped through the small break.

"You won't be able to break out a second time." Ior roared, gathering more energy and shooting it towards Eztli, performing the same encasing art.

Leisurely, Eztli manipulated Kael's soul into a blade and slashed forward. Ior's attack met with the soul blade and then dispersed.

This was only possible due to the effect of Eztli's formation. It was meant to link a soul with another in a way that would increase the power of one exponentially. Thus, at that moment, Eztli's power was at least double of what it had been, giving more than enough energy to fight Ior. However, it came at a price, the soul who was controlled would be severely damaged and the controller’s soul would lose a large part of their soul force—weakening by hundreds of years. He looked at Kael’s soul but felt nothing. He was, after all, saving himself. Besides, at worst, the boy would only become a vegetable.

Eztli took a deep breath, feeling pressure around his almost broken soul disappear. He inspected the damage and frowned. It was too severe. If he had lasted a moment longer being wrapped by the energy, he would have ceased to exist.

Thanks, Rhett. He thought, then he turned to face Ior.

Ior stood in shock. "This can't be! That was the energy of a god. How could you break it when your soul is on the verge of shattering?"

Eztli laughed as he walked slowly towards Ior—exposing the blue blade and the runes.

Ior’s rage increased as his eyes went wide. "Despicable. You would use someone else's soul in such a destroying manner to save yourself?"

"Just doing the same thing you did, only better. Unlike you, I have studied souls for thousands of years and stumbled upon a way to use them to my advantage…" He continued walking towards Ior."Only that it’s still highly unstable and dangerous for both mine and the boy's soul. But in the situation, you put me through, I had nothing to lose."

Ior laughed hysterically. "Don't compare me to you. I did it to protect my friend. You, on the other hand, are harming an innocent soul four your own survival. You are truly evil."

"Yes." Eztli raised the blue soul blade once more and charged up an attack.

"That won't be enough to defeat me," Ior said, burning his soul. At that moment, his strength grew exponentially. So much that Eztli would not be able to contend against it.

"Oh, I know that. But I'm not aiming for you." He grinned wickedly and slashed towards a passed-out Brin.

Ior faced showed immense shock before he teleported in front of Brin and protected him—taking the full for of the slash.

"Damn, you," Ior muttered. "I can't believe…you would do that…to innocent souls"

"You care too much about them. So what if they are innocent? As long as I can live and get what I want. I don't mind murdering millions, even the whole world."

Ior gave a low laugh of self-pity. "Don't involve them any longer. This is between you and me."

"I won't…that is if you don't resist." Eztli gave a wicked grin raising the blue blade and licking it. "If you do, I can't guarantee how the boy will end up. Right now, his soul is so chaotic that he might cease to exist. However, if we stop this now, he will only lose some memories…maybe."

Ior looked at Kael's soul then at the unconscious Brin behind him and sighed. Then, he kneeled on the ground. Accepting his defeat.

"Oh, giving up so suddenly," Eztli said, with a bit of surprise in his voice. He hadn't expected Ior to just accept his proposal.

"It's not like I can do anything to stop you at this point. I have already used up my last resort to protect the boy. Besides, my soul will disperse soon, using the energy of a god is no small matter." Ior sighed and glanced at Kael’s soul again. "I also don't wish to harm the innocent soul in your hands. So just end me."

"I'm not going to end you so easily." Eztli stood in front of Ior and extended his hand forward—grabbing Ior's head." I will extract all your memories. It will be a painful process…for you."

Before Ior could process what he told him, Eztli manipulated part of his soul to enter Ior’s. Ior let out screams as his soul began to crack—sending shards of Ior's soul into the atmosphere. The shards rose up slowly and then began to vanish. Before they did, Eztli took a deep breath, guided them into his soul.

Absorbing them.

Eztli didn't immediately scan the new memories but rather used part of the energy to heal his own soul. The wounds were too severe and if he left them without treatment, it would take many years for him to heal it naturally. There would be no loss of memories as the shards would become part of his own soul and he could sort through them whenever he had time.

Soon, the cracks in Eztli's soul began to mend as Ior's soul fell apart. Though as he continued the process, Eztli felt something amiss. Pain sprouted from the depth of his soul.

In all the years that he had extracted souls, it was the first time something like this happened. Maybe it's because my soul is currently wounded. He thought, with a frown as started getting dizzy. But as he continued to extract the memories it became clear that it was not that. It was the memories. The amount was too much.

Just how long did this soul live for? He thought, gritting his teeth as he fought to remain conscious.

A large explosion of qi suddenly distracted him causing him to almost lose control of the technique, but he managed to stabilize it at the last second. "What the fuck?" he cursed as he turned to the origin of the qi. Dean stood in the center of several elders, amassing a huge amount of energy.

A sense of urgency came to Eztli. They were trying to stop the formation, but if they succeeded then Ior would have nothing to hold his soul and he would vanish—preventing him from extracting all the memories.

Furious, Eztli increased the number of shards he breathed in. Even if it meant fragmenting them and damaging his own soul once more.