Ezra ran forward and threw his fist forward. The Snow King simply evaporated into smoke on impact, as if he was never there.

“Did you really think you could hurt me?” he said, his voice echoing from everywhere. “Combat of the Soul is a far trickier thing than throwing around physical strikes.”

A white glass spread underneath Ezra’as feet, creating a floating circular arena. A moment later, a half-dozen white golems appeared around him.

He ducked below the strike of one and punched back, blowing it apart. A fist sailed toward his head. He blew it aside with a palm strike, then kicked the white golem, blasting it apart.

One of the other golems struck him in the back, knocking him to the ground. He rolled to the side, dodging an incoming kick from the white golem. He jumped back to his feat and punched the golem apart.

Ezra breathed in and out.

“Is that all?” he said

“Not even close,” the Snow King’s voice echoed.

Ten more appeared out of nowhere.

“Fine then. Let’s get this over with,” Ezra said.

It continued in this pattern. Each time Ezra destroyed a batch of golems, ten more would appear. They seemed to be utterly limitless.

An hour passed by.

Ezra drunkenly smashed the last golem and braced himself for the next batch.

The Snow King materialized in front of him.

“Look at you. So much damage done to my physical form, but when I take you here, you’re useless.” The Snow King stepped closer. “Honestly, I don’t know why I was so scared—“

Ezra burst forward with more speed than he’d ever shown and smashed into the Snow King, sending him toppling to the ground. Before he could disappear, Ezra smashed his fist into the Snow King’s head, popping it like a watermelon.

Nothing but white powdery snow poured out from the head.

“Damn,” the Snow King’s voice echoed. “You were faking your exhaustion.”

“Of course I was. This isn’t even real, right? How would my body get tired?”

There was a pause. “You’re right. I can’t tire out your body. But I can tire out your will. We’ll be here for a long time.”

“Pass.” Ezra looked from left to right. “There’s always a way to progress, always something to break.”

“What are you talking about?” The Snow King laughed. “There’s nothing to break.”

Ezra looked down at the arena. He smacked his foot into it.

Cracks burst across the entire glass circle.

The Snow King hissed. “What are you doing?”

“Breaking things.”

Ezra hit the glass again. The cracks spread further.

“You fool! All you’ll do is fall into the void! There isn’t any point!”

“No point in fighting you for infinity either.”

Ezra raised his foot. The Snow King screamed. Ezra dropped his foot.

The glass exploded into thousands of shards. Ezra fell through the void. He stuffed his hands in his pocket and let out a yawn. After several minutes of falling, a light started to illuminate the void.

Ezra crashed into a pile of fluffy snow. He pushed himself up.

He was in an endless snowy desert that reminded him of pictures of Antarctica. The sun sat, suspended in the sky. A cold wind chilled him through his cloak.

“How dare you!” a voice said.

The Snow King materialized in front of him. “You dare to waltz into my most private sanctuary uninvited!? I will end you!”

Ezra jumped forward and landed a punch on the Snow King. Unlike last time, the punch hit flesh and the Snow King crashed into the ground. The Snow King held up his hands and blasted Ezra with a wave of magic, throwing him away.

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The Snow King forced himself to stand. “Damn you. We’re so deep inside my soul that I am completely vulnerable—“

“Shut up. Do you ever stop giving exposition? You’re like a shitty tutorial NPC.”

The Snow King growled and blasted a wave of magic at Ezra. The magic cut through the snow, leaving long trails behind it.

Ezra stepped forward and walked through it, unharmed.

“Are you joking with me?” the Snow King said. “What kind of nonesense is this!?”

“I noticed it when you blasted me the first time. Your attacks just aren’t that strong, sorry.”

Ezra stepped closer and closer. The Snow King fell backward and began to crawl away.

“No, no, damn it, you don’t need to do this—“

Ezra walked on. The Snow King tried to move backward. His arm slipped and his back fell to the ground. Ezra put his foot on the Snow King’s chest.

“Bye-bye,” Ezra said.

He raised his foot.

The Snow King smirked.

Ezra felt a chill go down his spine.

A wave of magic crashed into Ezra from every direction. It flooded his veins, his eyes, his ears. Everything. He fell to the ground and convulsed.

“I can also play dead too, you know.” The Snow King pushed himself up to his feet, blue robe flapping in the wind. “I am vulnerable here, and you did well to find this place. But the flip side to being vulnerable is that I am at my most powerful, as well. It would take a true master of spiritual combat to face me here, and you are not. You should’ve looked for an exit instead of finding the core.”

The Snow King held his palm at Ezra’s head. “Farewell.”

A yellow thread tugged the Snow King’s hand out of the way. He looked at his hand in open shock.

“What the hell is this!? How did you—“

Another thread reached up and grabbed his other hand. A third wrapped around his neck from the front, forcing him to his knees.

“Damn it, I can’t—“

A fourth thread wrapped around his neck from the back. Two threads pulled on the Snow King’s neck from opposite directions.

“N-no! Not like this!” He gurgled. “Damn you!”

There was a loud snap, and the Snow King fell to the ground.

Ezra stared at the dead body. He looked behind the body to a figure.

It was a woman. She had long black braided hair going down to her knees. Her skin was a pale, almost unnatural white. Her clothing was silken and thin. Her form was like a painting come to life.

But it was her eyes.

They were yellow. A pure, golden yellow, the same color as his threads.

“Ezra,” she said. “Are you okay?”

As soon as she spoke, he could tell who it was in an instant.

“Filamenta?”

----------------------------------------

Filamenta stiffened. “You picked up on it fast.”

“I’ve had your voice ringing in my ears for the past two months. I think I’d recognize it.”

“Oh. That makes sense.”

The two stared at each other.

She smirked. “I told you that I was beautiful. You didn’t believe me.”

Ezra raised an eyebrow. “I’m more confused as to why you look like that in the first place. Last time I saw you, you were a spider.”

“Last time you saw me in my soulscape, I was still reeling from the sudden change. I didn’t have a firm grasp on my identity. That has since changed.” She twirled. “What do you think of my clothing?”

Ezra sighed. “I think we have bigger things to talk about than your clothing, Filamenta.”

Her smile flickered. “Ah, I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Ezra stood up and glared at her.

“You know what I’m talking about,” he said. “I think that I know you well enough to tell when you’re blatantly lying to my face. You heard the accusations.”

Her expression switched from teasing to serious. She looked up, black hair running along her shoulders like a waterfall.

“I suppose that you think I owe you an explanation, yes?” she said. “The truth?”

“That would be a good place to start.”

She sneered, her face twisting into a distinct look of disgust.

“Then how about this?” she said. “Every single thing he said was true.”

Ezra blinked.

“What?”

She laughed shrilly. “That’s right. Everything. Gods, did you really think that I was your friend? You’re even more stupid than I thought.”

"Shut up," he said.

"Why?" Her laugh was sharp enough to cut. "Because you don't want to hear the truth? Poor little Ezra, so desperate for someone to care." Her eyes glittered. "I saw everything in your head, you know. Every pathetic memory."

The soulscape darkened around them, shadows creeping at the edges.

"Your father walked out when you were ten. Your mother, who can't even look you in the eye anymore." Filamenta's voice was silky smooth. "Tell me, do you think it's because you remind her too much of him? Or because she sees what a disappointment you turned out to be?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Ezra said.

"Don't I? Let's talk about Charles then. Your best friend—until you drove him away too. No wonder he hates you. And Pete?" She clicked her tongue. "He actually wanted to be your friend. Reached out again and again. But you were too wrapped up in your own misery to even try, weren't you?"

Ezra took a step forward. "You think you can—"

"And Yuki!" Filamenta's smile was vicious. "That poor girl. So obvious with her crush. And you just... ignored her. Treated her like she was nothing. Because that's what you do, isn't it? Push everyone away before they can leave you first?"

“You are infuriating,” Ezra said.

Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Oh no. We haven't even gotten to the best part yet." Something changed in her expression. "Let's talk about your sister."

The soulscape went dead silent. Ezra stopped breathing.

"Don't," he whispered.

"Why not? It's such an interesting story." Her voice wavered. "A little boy who just had to play with daddy's gun who just had to show it to his sister."

"Stop it."

"Did you know the gun was loaded? Did you think about what would happen when you pulled the trigger?" Each word seemed to cost her something. "Or were you just too stupid to—"

“Stop.”

"Why should I?" Her voice cracked. "It's the truth, isn't it? You killed her. Your own sister. And you've spent every day since then pretending it wasn't your fault—"

Her hands were trembling while her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

"You're crying," he said.

Filamenta froze. "What?"

"You're crying."

"I'm not—" She reached up and touched her cheek. Looked at the wetness on her fingers with something like horror.

"You couldn't do it, could you?" His voice was quiet now. "You tried. You went for the worst thing you could think of. But you couldn't keep the act up."

"Shut up."

"Why are you really doing this, Filamenta?"

The soulscape trembled.

"Because you'll die!" The words burst out of her. "The Dark Seal will kill you, you idiot! And I won't—" Her voice broke completely. "I won't watch another person I care about die because of me."

The soulscape began to fracture, reality splintering around them.

"I won't let you sleep," he said simply.

"And I won't let you die."

"Then I guess we're both going to be disappointed."

The world shattered.