“What now, brother? Do you want to join us? They still don’t know I’m the missing third piece, but they will, eventually." Matthew turned to Nicolas after absorbing the old lady’s soul.

“Join the enemy, then what? Give up all the morals and beliefs that I have upheld from all those lives?”

“If you join us, I can at least negotiate for that girl’s safety, Liam and I; we’re quite close. I’m sure he’ll understand," Matthew proposed as he began walking towards the lifeless Edmund and Darius.

Nicolas watched him with suspicion in his eyes, raising his word in case Matthew goes haywire: “You seriously think I’d believe you?”

"Well, it’s your choice to believe it or not; after all, you have always been untrusting," he replied before stepping on Darius’s head.

“What are you doing? They’re already dead; let them be.”

“Nope, if you think the death scythe can stop them, then you are highly mistaken, my dear brother. Get your lazy asses back here and get to work!”

To Nicolas’s surprise, the two really did stand up as if nothing happened. They tried dusting off the mud on their shirts, but it did not come off, so they quickly stretched their arms and legs instead, as if waking up from a slumber.

Nicolas shivered in horror as he second-guessed his eyes, “What did you do, Matthew?”

“Well, Liam said that if the body isn’t yours, you can possess it for however many times you want, especially when the owner themselves are not here anymore”, Matthew grinned.

“Wha— what do you mean?”

“I don’t know? Maybe after we take that girl’s soul we can call someone to possess her body. That way we can have her as a toy”, Matthew laughed before turning serious, “Now stay here and be good brother as these buddies of mine hunt your muse.”

“Don’t you dare!”, Nicolas exclaimed, bulldozing straight to Edmund and Darius like a bull.

A swing made a “whoosh” repelling itself an inch in midair, refusing to touch Nicolas’s forehead. It stopped him in his tracks and forced him to stumble backwards, down to the mud, as he was trembling in anger.

“You should’ve known that our souls would refuse to touch each other in any way possible. So what’s up with that reaction?”

“No need to remind me”, Nicolas replied, throwing a ball of mud he had been clenching since he fell over.

It plunged into Matthew’s face like ice cream but with the exclusive taste of dirt and earthworms. He was too surprised; panic painted his face as he tried to wash it off. He was about to finish cleaning his face when Nicolas came with a follow-up punch and pounded his face like bread dough.

“Who cares if I can’t take you down with my soul. I will take the sense out of you with these fists of mine.”

“So much confidence you have there, Nicolas!”, Matthew yelled, kicking him off. Seizing the chance, he stood and stepped on his brother’s head, pressing it vigorously into the mud.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

It did not look like a proper fight, not even a skilled duel of martial arts. It was a fight between two four-year-old, beating each other up from one broken small toy.

“Don’t think that I’ve already forgotten what you did last life”, Matthew roared.

“Don’t give me that crap; I tried looking for help for you!”, Nicolas replied with the same tone.

“You only wanted to get rid of me; you thought I wouldn’t notice but you’ve always thought I just slowed you down, so you left me to die there alone.”

“I NEVER ONCE THOUGHT OF THAT”, Nicolas finally managed to turn the tables when he desperately reached for Matthew’s foot and lifted it up as he stood with full force, bringing the boy back to the ground.

“I did not leave you there to die alone nor have I wanted to get rid of you. You held the kindness I can’t procure while I bore the blood lust needed for our survival”, he said, pounding Matthew’s face again, “You’re my twin, my other half. Without you, I’d rather die too”, Nicolas recited with every punch as he tried to get his point across.

Seeing Matthew’s swelling unconscious face, he finally calmed down. Holding back his punch, sighed and sat on the wet ground. “If that did not shake you back to what’s right, I don’t know what will.”

He stood up, raising his fringe back up, before footsteps came entering the alley.

“What happened here?”, Anton cried as the lighting showed his face and the broken sword he was carrying.

“Thank goodness it’s you. Can you help me tie Matthew? I still need to make sure Alisa and Mae are safe”, he held his head before falling to the ground beside his brother.

Anton quickly threw his broken sword to the side and tended to him, “Is this him? He really does look like you.”

“We might not be twins this time, but he’s still my younger brother. Though don’t tell him that, he won’t accept it that I came to be first”, He stood up, walked towards the lady, picked her up and placed her on her cart. He could only clench his fist once again, letting another person die.

He took one of the ropes inside the cart and handed it to Anton before walking away.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“To Alisa—”

Nicolas felt a strong blow to the back of his head. He tried to fight it off for a bit but ended up falling back to the ground. Watching the rain drop on his face as Anton stood in front of him. Wielding a black sword similar to Meriane earlier.

“Why?”, he tried to get up but the man stepped on his chest, pinning him to the ground as he pointed the blade inches from his face.

“Aren’t you getting tired of this, Nicolas? Because I am. I’m sick and tired of watching you ruin everything for me.”

“What are you talking about?”, Nicolas tried to push him away but he’s now too tired and his soul won’t materialize either.

In return, Anton placed more of his weight in his step, “That’s right, you have no idea on how much I’ve lost because of you. I lost my father and it’s your fault. Then after that, I was stuck taking care of a depressed, rude, and inconsiderate kid.”

Nicolas felt like he would sink through the ground after all that he heard.

“They have my wife, Nicolas. They have Selene’s soul with them.”

“You married Selene?”

“There’s so many things that can happen in a year. When you left, I decided to ask for her hand. It was quite a happy year without you, no whining prince to guard. It was just me and her. So tell me, what did Selene do to get caught up in this mess you made? What did she do that deserves for her soul to be reaped, leaving her an empty body with no ability to move nor speak”, Anton was infuriated and it shows with every surface visible from his body.

His growing redness, his sour face, and his screams. One more and he’ll probably explode from all of the things he shouldered up to this point.

"Anton, listen, you’re a rational person; handing me over would only cause further problems”, Nicolas tried explaining. “This won’t do anything good if he gets my soul back.”

"Yes, there is; he promised me there is”, Anton tried calming down while pulling Nicolas from his collar.

“He’s lying and you know that.”

“And so do you. I know you too, and on how much you lie to get what you want. Now shut the hell up cause we will be facing Liam either you want it or not”, he said before knocking Nicolas out with one single smack.