“Are you able to summon your soul?” Twilight asked.

She was looking at me like she had before I left, seemingly completely unaware of the conversation I had just shared with Gaia and Terra. By using a slave bond with Terra, I had somehow allowed Gaia an entrance into my soul world. When I summoned my soul world here and Twilight attempted to invade it, that was when things were going to get messy.

I had faith in Terra, and with the feeling of her soul connecting to mine, there was no doubt that she was my Terra. Thus, I had nothing left to do other than begin the process. With the bell ringing, the 7th day had started. The dwarf king could ignite my soul at any second, so there was no time to waste. He hadn’t said what point on the 7th day he would ignite it, he just said that I had seven days.

I slammed my hands together, my body glowing from the numerous blessings sketched all over my body. I adjusted my jobs and skills accordingly, amplifying my resistance to miasma and darkness, and then I equipped the Soulsmith job. As Twilight had stated, the job immediately unlocked the first skill.

{You have unlocked the spell, Soul Summon.}

I began to cast the spell. Like Resurrection, it was a spell that seemed to take on a lot of mana. Rather, it was probably because of my soul’s distance and the fact it was in someone else’s clutches that made it difficult to summon. The first part of the spell seemed easy. This was the part where I located my soul and then attached mana-like wires to it, which would be used to pull it to my body. However, as soon as I started pulling, that was when it got difficult.

I could feel a sharp pain that was reminiscent of the pain I felt while I was refining Alysia’s soul in the Illusory Sword Dungeon. This was soul pain, caused only when you were directly damaging your soul. I also felt resistance, a force pulling back against my soul, trying to keep it from being lost.

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“GGhhhh… it’s not moving!” I growled. “I’m going to damage my soul like this.”

“You have to keep going. If he wins, he will destroy your soul! Surely, a little damage is a better alternative.” Twilight encouraged, looking just a bit worried. “Your soul belongs to your body. In a way, you have a home advantage. Your soul longs to be in its proper place. You can defeat him!”

Even with Soul Summon, it turned out that this wasn’t that easy. He was a powerful king who was able to defeat me with ease. Now, I was trying to steal my soul right out from under him, and he was very aware I was doing it. It felt extremely painful, and there were also those inside my soul world to worry about. What would happen if my soul ripped while Pait, Dav, and Alysia were still in my soul world?

“Ahhhhhh!” I screamed as I tried to pull harder and harder, but King Diorite wasn’t willing to give up.

“You must pull harder! There is no time! If you fail, he’ll ignite your soul!” Twilight shouted.

My only thought was that I’d need to get him to let go. In his mind, if my soul was swallowed, it’d just be more food for the darkness. He didn’t know about my plan. I did the only thing I could think of. I reached out to Alysia. I used mana, and the connection I had with my soul as I played tug-a-war across a vast difference.

“Alysia… you have to tell him. Tell him… to let go. I know what I’m doing. He just needs to… trust me.” I sent such a strangled message.

I didn’t know if the message reached him, but I felt my own summon starting to fail. In the end, he was even too strong here.

“I need your soul!” Twilight snarled. “With it, I can finally free myself from this prison!”

“Wh-what?”

At that moment, my soul suddenly stopped facing pressure. It was like when someone was playing tug-a-war, and one side let go. My soul flew into me so quickly that I was knocked to my knees. As my soul returned, Twilight began laughing.

“Finally… your soul is mine!”