8th day of the tournament.

The semifinals for the winner's bracket ended without incident a few days ago. Kai felt that the man who was in the semifinal had his soul altered as well. But, he didn't use any new powers and limited himself to his former state. Erina gave up after exchanging a few moves with the Blind Swordsman, she didn't need to defeat him after all.

The result was that the Blind Swordsman won both matches, Erina won one lost one, and the last competitor, Cole had lost two and was moved to the loser's bracket.

"...That man has the power of S-class too. Where did that thief take all of these souls?"

He would've needed to find and extract the souls of several A-class to make an S-class. That was way easier said than done. In the first place, even though Kai was devoted to perfecting his plan against the Blind Swordsman and the Soul Thief—he still paid attention to the happenings in the surroundings.

He left the bandits at Ethereal Moon to gather information on that continent, he had Superbia for Soaring Eagle, and he used his connections to the headmaster of Aubrey Academy to gain information here as well. Not just that, he also expanded his Soul Aura as far as possible for an hour each day to check for discrepancies but came up with nothing.

The fact that the frail-looking man, Damon, and Cole had managed to evade his senses until they reached so close made him cautious. Could it be that the Soul Thief had found a way to fool him? Or is it the angel holding unknown powers?

He could sense the angel's soul at the academy but ever since they had their first encounter with the angel, he couldn't do so anymore. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that the angel already left the town.

He wanted to consult with Reo but he was currently busy inside the illusion world.

The rest of the tournament didn't have much happening. The members of Memento Mori, including Erina, had all dropped out voluntarily or lost their matches on purpose—leaving Kai to face Cole in the finals of the loser's bracket.

They had already achieved their goal, all that's left was for Kai to face the Blind Swordsman in the finals and execute their plan.

Thinking about that, Kai stepped onto the stage.

Kai had learned Cole's name from the roster but looking at his current state and the state he was in two days ago during the semifinals for the loser's bracket, he had changed a lot. First was the suffocating air surrounding him, and then there was the fact that many veins were bulging all over his body.

His vessel had reached his limit. Kai furrowed his brows. He didn't have any intention to save Cole nor the souls that were melded because he didn't have the ability or leisure to do so.

This Cole was stronger than Damon and was enhanced more as a result. It was the right call to send Damon inside the illusion world. Time may flow faster there but the effect on the physical body was less and with Reo's skills, he would be able to prolong Damon's lifespan.

Nobody in Memento Mori was watching him today, they were all busy preparing for Kai's plan. It was an absolute necessity that no mistakes were made.

"We will now hold the finals for the loser's bracket!"

Following the announcer's yell, the audience cheered and roared. Many rooted for Kai who was hidden under a cloak and mask while a minor few wanted Cole to win.

"It has been a long road since the start of the tournament. He started off as an unknown entity but continued to shock the audience with each fight! The man hidden behind a mask, participant seventeen!"

The already bustling audience became even noisier and some even stood up to cheer. It appeared that Kai had gotten quite a few fans during this tournament.

Although he wore the mask and hood, it would be useless when fighting the Blind Swordsman. It would just be torn up from the pressure of his attacks. But, Kai wasn't worried about being seen. When they fight, the entire arena would collapse and unless the tournament staff was to somehow witness one side defeated, then the tournament would end without a winner.

"Next is the man who stormed through the winner's bracket but ultimately lost near the end, will he be able to make a comeback or fall in the face of the masked man's power?! Welcome, participant thirty-four, Cole!"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

For most of the tournament, secrecy was given to the participants' names but when the semifinals were reached for both brackets, names were given out. The hidden purpose of the tournament was 'publicity' after all. It was only natural that they broadcast the outstanding ones.

What resulted in the announcer's shouting of Cole's name, the audience roared once more. It didn't seem like they were cheering for the person himself, they just wanted to watch a good fight.

Kai wanted to end it an instant, but it was a necessity to have a prolonged interaction with them. Unsheathing his blade, Kai pointed it at Cole.

The announcer had a big grin on his face, even he was having high expectations of the fight.

"The finals for the loser's bracket starts!"

Cole immediately vanished from his spot as the part of the stage that he stood on broke apart. It wasn't Flash Step, he just using his body's strength to propel himself towards Kai.

Cole sped towards Kai with his bastard sword pointed in front. It was a tactic that would end the fight instantly if one side was unprepared. Unluckily for Cole, Kai's dynamic vision was superb.

Kai moved slightly to the side as the sword brushed past him. Then, he slashed at Cole who was still in the air. It happened in an instant, nobody in the audience saw it. The Blind Swordsman wasn't present and not even Iori and the others who were well-versed in swords would be able to see it.

At that instant, Kai moved faster than sound but there wasn't any indication and neither was there a sonic boom.

Cole landed on the other side of the stage—seemingly unaware of the cut that Kai had made on his body.

"Can you speak?"

Kai asked in a voice that nobody other than the two of them could hear. It wasn't Telepathy, he had just blocked sound from traveling through the air.

"..."

Cole glared daggers at him. It didn't seem as if he lost his sentience but he had lost the ability to think for himself.

Is the angel the same?

Kai felt insanely bothered about the angel. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but the soul that he felt, its fluctuations were familiar. He didn't have many angels that could be counted as friends or allies in the future so he could recall all of their fluctuations perfectly.

"Well, you can't speak anyway."

He muttered in disappointment and used Flash Step to appear in front of Cole.

"[Vacuum Blade]."

Kai swung his sword. It was just a simple and slick move and wasn't anything impressive but the moment the wind from his blade was released, the stage was cut apart and Cole leaped towards the side to dodge.

"At least you still have your instincts. If you hadn't dodged that, you would've been cut in half."

Kai spoke nonchalantly while swinging his blade. The nearly invisible wind that had gathered around his blade disappeared and Cole felt a breeze. He then walked towards Cole while gathering a huge amount of mana.

"You...bas...tard..."

Kai stopped his steps.

"You're still able to speak that much? Amazing. Having several souls at once would mean that they're all fighting for control, your soul is that strong, huh?"

If given time, perhaps he could gain his sense of self back. Unfortunately, his body was far too weak to handle that many souls and even if nobody were to interfere, he wouldn't last for more than three days.

Cole charged out and clashed swords with Kai. The former was like an enraged bull while the latter was a calm storm.

"[Combustion]!"

Cole's sword began to glow red and once it clashed with Kai's, a huge explosion ensued. It was an explosion from an S-class' magic power. The entire stage was scorched in flames and there was a giant crater at the place that they had fought.

"You're still able to chant?"

Kai jumped and floated in the sky with knit brows.

Cole wasn't able to speak properly yet he was able to complete a chant?

"[Blazing Dragon]!"

From the smoke, the figure of a dragon made of flames threatened to swallow Kai. It wasn't like Kei's Flame Dragon, it had exploding sparks wrapping around it. It seemed like an actual dragon was raging.

"[Spherical Storm]."

Gray clouds filled with rain and the sounds of thunder wrapped around Kai. The dragon opened its mouth and swallowed Kai and the sphere whole but after ten seconds passed, the dragon began to disappear and its place was Kai without a single burn or injury.

Following that, Kai waved his sleeve and accompanied by a huge consumption of mana, wind so thick that it was visible descended towards the stage and dispersed the flames and smoke.

Cole was looking at Kai with burning hatred as he slowly descended.

"Don't look so angry. Even if you were given the power of an S-class, what makes you think you can contend with me?"

Kai stepped forward and unleashed Soul Aura.

Cole's eyes flickered and his body was suddenly forced to kneel.

"URGH!"

"Looks like it's very effective."

Kai increased the power of Soul Aura even more and Cole couldn't even lift a finger, let alone fight.

"RAGH!"

Cole kept on making growling noises as he was unable to form words but Kai could see the emotion behind his eyes clearly. It seemed like his hate for Kai was enough to create a flame that could burn the entire world.

"It amplified his emotions... I see..."

He couldn't quite investigate Damon clearly because the fusion was better than Cole's. This is the first time that he had seen souls on the verge of consuming each other inside one body.

Once Kai confirmed that, the pressure on Cole disappeared. He immediately stood up but just as he tried to do so, he fell down.

"I cut your tendons earlier and now I paralyzed them, you won't be able to walk anymore. Even if the greatest surgeon in the world were to try and save you, their only choice would be to amputate you and give you prosthetics. Well, not like you'd live long enough to find one."

Kai kneeled in front of the growling Cole and used Mental Pressure to momentarily stop his movements. Then, he slid down a pellet down Cole's throat and forced the latter to gulp it by stuffing his mouth with water.

"Cough cough!"

Cole coughed over and over.

"That's the last mercy I can give you."

After he finished speaking, Kai hit Cole in the neck with the handle of his sword and knocked him out.

After a few seconds of delay, the announcer announced his victory and he walked off the stage.