Nyx took another step, finally reaching the same place from which she started to retreat.

While she was still a fair distance away, watching Nyx reach this point, as well as the expression her face revealed, caused the man's brows to furrow as he finally accepted that his plan had backfired.

It had been a long time since that fateful day where his original body had been destroyed and even longer since he had genuinely interacted with Nyx.

The final months of his rebellion were of constant strife and turmoil. A point in which he didn't have the time or patience to deal with the soul's antics, always sending Nyx on suicide missions to slow down and disrupt his foes.

However, due to their current interactions, the man realised that his memories had become somewhat hazy, even to the point where the bits he remembered seemed to be cherry-picked by his emotions. This had caused him to treat Nyx like his other, expendable, summoned and not the monster he had purposefully created.

Now that Nyx was standing before him, having turned from a cowering, mentally scarred tool into a vicious predator within a few moments breath, ready to attack even though it knew it had no chance of victory, the man could only sigh in regret at how he had approached the situation.

The less desirable memories, before he had finally bent Nyx to his will, had started flooding back. These including the copious amounts of headaches and tribulations he had been put through by the strange, vengeful soul and the fact that no matter how badly he broke its will, after a few months it would always recover.

To the man, the soul called Nyx was as fluid as the darkness it referenced continuously. An entity that would adapt and overcome any obstacle, no matter how seemingly insurmountable it appeared.

The perfect, if not somewhat high maintenance, tool.

Of course, the man knew that there were a few, foundational elements in Nyx's personality that seemed to never change. Like its craving for interaction and companionship, as well as its desire to survive no matter the cost. But those were things that, surprisingly, were extremely hard to manipulate in the soul.

The first never seemed to work, Nyx bonding with others seemingly at random and without apparent cause, while the latter was impossible to invoke in a soul that, for all he knew, couldn't die.

"Memories are strange things," sighed the man again, as he looked at Nyx, the tool that could make his current life so much easier if he could just grasp its handle and point it in the direction of his pursuers.

In the past, Nyx's skills, as well as its relentless, vengeful personality, had been the pride and joy of the man, causing his enemies to tremble in fear and cower in their strongholds.

It wasn't that Nyx was omnipotent, but that the idea of it had grown beyond the simple soul inhabiting a flesh corpse and into something of a legend. A being that inhabited the nightmares of adults, an unstoppable might that was likened to a force of nature.

However, the man knew that because of how he had approached the situation, instead of recovering an outstanding killing weapon, one he had spent decades developing, it was now pointed in his direction.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Shaking his head, the man revealed a somewhat sombre expression as he cursed the agent who had mysteriously disappeared with the soul crystal.

He knew that Nyx had a cultivation core and that even if he even managed to knock the body unconscious, the soul would still detonate it if he gave it no other choice. "Nyx, are you sure you want to do this?"

Nyx was the only soul, out of hundreds, that hadn't succumbed to madness and slowly faded away. While it wasn't critical for his current plans, if he could get Nyx into a decent body, the man felt confident that it would be a game changer for him. Something that would turn the tides and allow him to live in the open once more.

Looking into the distance, beyond the tremendous explosions that occasionally rang out nearby, the man watched as bolts of lightning rippled across the gloomy sky.

While the man hadn't lied about the next steps should Nyx refuse his offer, hunting down the soul crystal and publishing the rebellious soul, he could tell that the distraction set up for the continent's guardians wasn't going to last much longer. He knew that if they showed up now, forget about regaining his most prized weapon, escaping with his life would be a challenge.

Deciding he would try one final time, the man took a deep breath, his wings shaking behind his back as power coursed through them. "I offer this chance to show you that I consider you more than just a weapon. If you return to me and behave well, you can regain some of that precious control that you crave so much. I will even let you decide how to complete your missions."

While on the outside the man was smiling, inside he was cursing Nyx constantly for forcing him to compromise, promising that as soon as he got his hands on Nyx's soul crystal, the soul would discover how much pain one could experience.

The man had half expected his overpowering presence as well as the constant conditioning he had applied in the past to have worked, subduing Nyx without much of a fight, yet, much to his dismay, the moment Nyx opened her mouth, he knew that it had failed.

"Control?" Nyx's smile, while extremely unnatural, continued to grow as she took another, still hesitant, step forward. "Why would I need something that I already have? However, it does seem like I have been given another chance."

If anyone was listening, the summoned beserkers purposefully ignoring everything that was happening towards Nyx and the man while scanning the surroundings, it would sound like Nyx was trying to start negotiations.

However, instead of revealing a happy expression, the man's face only darkened. Now that his memories had been triggered, floating up from the recesses of his mind, he knew Nyx too well to believe her previous statement was anything good for him.

"When I saw you die before me in a pool of blood, I felt free and liberated." The pitch in Nyx's voice was wobbly at first. However, it quickly started stabilising. "But I couldn't shift the thought that it wasn't right. That it wasn't fair for you to die like that."

A pitiful, somewhat upset expression appeared on Nyx's face before they started to revert back to their emotionless state.

Yet, unlike before, her eyes burned with a passionate drive and desire that almost seemed fanatical. "That it was unfair that you would fall to another so painlessly. A mere broken arm, a dagger to the heart... Your end lasting mere seconds. After everything you had done to me? Forced me to do?"

"Last chance Nyx," growled the man, his wings spreading out in an intimidating manner. He knew it was pointless yet the two options before him weren't desirable. One was to capture Nyx and see if it really did detonate its core, the other was to kill its body and come back later to search for the crystal." and that is only because you are somewhat special. Don't force my hand."

"No matter what form you take." Nyx's voice lowered to a whisper, the freezing killing intent contained within it almost tangible. "How strong you become, where you hide, if you change your ways or how much you beg."

Nyx came to a stop, her tiny five foot nine frame appearing even smaller against the six foot four angle-like being before her.

"I will find you and..." Nyx licked her lips, similarly to how the man had earlier but this time, laced with sinister intent. "After I crush your soul crystal, I will rip your still beating heart from your chest and eat it before your very eyes."