More and more of the ghosts start slamming themselves into my soul, that number increasing even further as another pulse sweeps over them.

'What to do, what to do...'

I start brainstorming, trying to find a way out of this precarious situation, when I suddenly remember that time I fought the group of boars. They didn't have any reservations about attacking me at first, but as soon as I showed them that I was dangerous, they got much more cautious.

"Lyna, what should we do?" I hear Mama ask worriedly.

"Just a minute, I have a plan."

I close my eyes in order to focus my full attention on my soul, which is spread fairly thin in order to cover us. I start waiting for an opportunity, one that presents itself as a stronger ghost rushes in to attack by itself. I manipulate the part of my soul that it's about to run into, causing the ghost to sink in.

As I trap it within my soul, the other ghosts seem to get frightened, many of them halting or even retreating. Quite a few of the ghosts continue attacking though, but as soon as I capture a second one, even they stop.

'You guys are real loyal, aren't ya?'

I start applying pressure to the ghosts from all sides, but it seems relatively hard to hurt them. They start wriggling frantically as soon as they realize what I'm doing, but my soul is far stronger than they are, rendering them, for the most part, immobile.

"What, did you all think that I wouldn't attack back?"

The ghosts seem to have some sort of membrane covering them, granting them a certain level of protection. I can feel it weakening though, as I squish them into unnatural, oblong shapes. Finally, after a final twist, the weaker ghost bursts like a grape, its incorporeal body dissolving into the air.

The stronger ghost seems to notice what happened, as it redoubles its efforts to escape, but it's no use. Soon, its body, if you can even call it that, is evaporating into nothingness.

I turn my attention back to the ghosts, who are starting to group together again. I sense that they're now staying at a safe distance, and even after another pulse passes by, they barely budge.

"Hahaha, do you understand, now? You guys might be able to overwhelm me all together, but I'll get a bunch of you in the process! Well? Do you want to fight or not? Come on!"

Suddenly, I feel pressure on my shoulder, and as I look at the source of it, I see mama wearing a smile that doesn't really look like a smile.

"Do not encourage them, dear."

I shrug my shoulders, "I'm not sure if they can even hear me."

Suddenly, I feel another pulse sweep over me, one that's much, much stronger than any of the previous ones.

Mama turns her head and stares at the crater, "What was that?"

"You felt that? It's been going on for a while, but that one was a lot stronger than the others."

Another equally strong pulse emanates from the crater, causing the group of ghosts to start moving chaotically.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Mama, I think we should leave."

She nods her head, "I think so as well."

As Mama turns around, I feel another, even stronger pulse.

'There were barely even a couple seconds between those.'

I take another glance at the crater over Mama's shoulder, but as soon as my eyes land on the swords, I notice something. The white sword has something sticking out of it, something even bigger than the sword itself is.

'Is that... an arm?'

Scree!

An otherworldly screeching sound rings out, causing both my body and my soul to shudder. Mama seems to notice it as well, as she turns around and looks at the crater.

I watch as the translucent white hand jets out of the white sword, heading straight for us. I'm given little time to react as I move my soul between us and the hand, after which I use the shield necklace, causing a blue shield to appear in front of me. Mama also activates her shield necklace, then she uses her Static Flame Wall ability, causing several flame walls to appear.

Boom!

One of Mama's flame walls shatters as soon as the hand impacts it, followed by another, and another. Soon, all five flame walls are gone, allowing me to see the hand's silhouette through the shields. It's huge, probably bigger than Mama in her bloodcat form.

As soon as the hand slams into the shields, they both shatter. I brace for impact as the hand nears my soul, but I suddenly feel a certain weightlessness, brought on by my body hurdling through the air. My eyes are still glued to the hand though, which continues to move toward Mama, who's now gripping her halberd with both hands.

When they clash, it doesn't generate as much noise as I thought it might, but it certainly creates a spectacle. There's a hissing sound as Mama's halberd slices straight through the now much less opaque hand, followed by a huge burst of flames that incinerates the rest of it.

Thud!

Too preoccupied with watching the clash, I wind up slamming straight into the ground, rolling a couple times before catching myself. As soon as I get up, I look at Mama and find that she's still standing in the same spot, facing the crater.

"Mama, let's go! Hurry, before it attacks again!"

She doesn't even answer me, and merely sits down cross-legged. I look nervously back at the white sword, and I'm able to see several large fingers poking out of it, when suddenly, something above the black sword catches my attention. An arm starts rising from it as well, but much faster than the white one. Eventually, the black arm is fully formed and starts stretching this direction, growing as it goes.

"Oh, come on!"

I start running toward Mama, who seems to be meditating, when I notice that the black hand's trajectory is a little off. I also notice that the ghosts, which were conglomerated together before, start scattering in every direction away from the crater. As soon as I reach Mama, I grab onto her clothes with my mouth and start dragging her away from the crater.

Whoosh!

The black hand passes by not far from where we are and grasps at something. The fright causes me to pull harder, dragging Mama, who's sitting cross-legged even now, away faster.

I already had trouble comprehending what exactly was happening, but as I watch the white hand finally emerge only to grasp the black arm, which is still attached to the black sword, and pull, I decide to stop trying to make sense of things. I turn around and start using soul platforms to get away even faster, not even vaguely interested in how this lovers' quarrel might pan out.

"Haa, haa, haa..."

After a while, my soul started getting too fatigued to continue making platforms, so I started just dragging Mama normally again. Now, even my body is starting to get fatigued, slowing my speed to little more than a crawl.

'Well, I guess this is as good a place as any to stop.'

Somehow, even though I've been dragging her sideways on the ground pretty much the whole way, Mama's still cross-legged. I go ahead and push her back upright before sitting down to catch my breath.

"Dang it, haa, why is it only times like, haa, like these that my, haa, that my body acts normal..."

I lie down and rest for a while, though I can't help but stay a bit vigilant, since we're not out of the woods yet. Even though I haven't sensed any ghosts ever since we left the crater, I can't just assume that we won't run into them anymore. Besides, it's super hard to find them when they're alone, so there might even be a couple following us right now, for all I know.

My eyes drift back to Mama, who's still sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed.

"What's wrong, Mama? Why won't you wake up?"

I stand up and walk over to Mama, then climb up onto her lap, where I lie back down. There, I close my eyes and continue resting, scanning the area with my soul once in a while for any particularly brave ghosts that might show up.