Sharp, high-pitched sounds reverberated constantly in a particular forest clearing as several golden circles surrounded a particular soul. These golden circles vibrated violently as they continuously played distorted tunes.

"I- Isn't this a bit too much, uncle Edem?" Leticia covered her ears. "You've kept this up for a long while now."

Edem smiled enthusiastically, "It's the perfect way to help Zanetor in this case!"

Meeooww! Jackie desperately tried to cover its ears.

"You see," a glint of mischief could be seen in the cloaked soul's eyes. "Sometimes being in a place filled with unpleasant sounds can lull you into an unexpected withdrawal from that very noise. It's called zoning out."

"Zoning out?"

"Exactly," Edem snapped his fingers, and the ear-piercing noise stopped. "Zanetor is long gone."

The shadow soul calmly sat in the middle of the clearing. His breathing was focused, and he seemed to be in a highly relaxed state as he absorbed every possible piece of information from around him.

Fading noise.

Chilling winds.

A lack of outward awareness.

Boiling within.

He could see it again; the spherical source of the blue light which he had suspected to be his soul core. It drew him closer to it, and it closer to him.

Zanetor felt himself reach for the small orb until suddenly, a shadow appeared from behind the core. It looked like the silhouette of a person's hand. The dark hand smoothly grasped the soul core, and immediately, an unexplained force pulled the shadow soul back.

He felt his body pull farther away from the light until there was nothing but utter darkness.

What had happened?

He hadn't returned to his conscious state.

Was he finally in his awareness or something?

There was a presence in the dark. A presence that felt highly familiar.

Ominous, discordant music could be heard played on a piano as the darkness began to slowly recede. The shadows only withdrew to a point which made only the source of the music visible.

Someone was seated before the piano in a stunning jet black tuxedo. He was so engrossed in his play that he didn't notice Zanetor's presence.

An expression drew up on the shadow soul's face; one that suggested his unhappiness with the encounter.

"You again," he muttered.

The strange pianist played one last off-key note and slowly turned to face the shadow soul. Unlike the last time Zanetor met this entity, it looked like it had facial features this time.

A wicked grin slashed across the entity's face, and despite the lack of all other features, one could visibly feel the malicious intent it carried.

"We meet once again, me," the entity's voice echoed in the dark space. "I have a question for you."

Zanetor's angry frown was unchanging, "I thought I dispelled you."

"Unfortunately, you can't get rid of yourself," the entity stood up. "I am forever bound to you."

"We're nothing alike."

"Oh really?"

Zanetor felt a great weight press upon him.

"You pretend to have an interest in building bonds with others. At the same time, you so desperately crave recognition and love from those around you. You hate everyone and yet you want others to love and respect you."

"Tch," Zanetor clenched his fists. "What are you talking about?"

The entity entered a crazed laugh and then calmed down. "You've envied the bonds you've witnessed so far, even if they haven't been the most ideal."

The shadow soul kept silent.

"Leticia and Zozo, Edem and Leticia, along with the wind warrior. Even Edem and Leticia. You stand in their midst and detach yourself, quietly craving even the slightest form of love and care that they have for each other."

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The entity began to encircle Zanetor, its menace growing with each word that came out of its mouth.

"It's pitiful. You lacked love and care as a child when you were alive. Your father abandoned you and left you with your sick mother who constantly had to be admitted to the hospital. The rumors that went around about the kind of shady businesses your mother engaged in before ultimately being left bed-ridden made you an icon for stigma in your school."

Zanetor winced as the memories slowly flowed back.

"The kind of stares they gave you and the way they looked down on you still haunt you to this day. So much so that you see everyone to be the same just so you wouldn't risk the chances of allowing anyone to reach your heart and shatter you from within."

The entity stood a few feet before him and raised its hands, giggling as it voiced out the next few words.

"Now you find yourself in the Spirit realm, and even here, no one wants you. You're an eyesore, a problem for everyone. It'd be better if you never existed," it moved inches closer to the shadow soul's face. "… Right?"

A fuse blew within Zanetor as he summoned the Torrent Blazer and fired several rounds of water-coated bullets.

Each bullet made an impact with the mischievous person, but the grin was still stuck on its face, and the only reaction it had to being shot was that of maniacal laughter.

The darkness then blew away, and before Zanetor knew it, he found himself in a small room. It was quite messy as several books were scattered on the bed in the corner, and the desk at the other end of the room was littered with crumpled papers.

"T- This place," Zanetor's eyes widened. "This is my apartment bedroom."

"You remember quite well."

Zanetor turned around in an attempt to determine the source of the voice, but to no avail. The entity seemed to be communicating from the other end of a dark void.

The shadow soul's eyes narrowed, "Whatever nonsense you say isn't going to affect me in any way. I'll dispel you once more and rid my awareness of your presence."

"Quite bold, if I should say," the voice ridiculed. "You'll never be able to erase the darkness in your heart if you don't learn to embrace it."

A gust of wind blew into the room, and the pages of an open book flipped all the way to its last page. Zanetor caught a glimpse of the book and immediately recognized it to be his diary.

He couldn't remember writing anything substantial in that book, though.

But then, what was written at the back made him all the more confused.

It read, 'The time I spent with mother today was priceless! If only I could be with her forever.'

The only time he had found himself in that apartment was when his mother was bedridden, and the government began to take care of him while he attended high school.

When did he ever meet his mother at that time?

"Are certain realizations finally beginning to dawn upon you?" the voice uttered, and immediately, the scenery changed.

This time, he found himself at the shores of an unfamiliar beach. The sun was beginning to set in the horizon, drenching the sea in an orange-red hue. Warm winds brushed across his face as he absorbed the rays.

What was this place?

Had he ever been there?

"Things will only work for you when you embrace your darkness," the voice spoke again. "Tell me, is it the warmth of love you truly crave, or the chilling frigidity of hatred?"

Zanetor's eyes turned fierce, "Shut up. Who are you to ask me questions?"

At that instant, an invisible force grabbed hold of his neck and lifted him up. The scene began to plunge into darkness as he returned to the space where the piano was.

The entity became visible, allowing Zanetor to realize the source of the force as the mysterious person's grip on his neck.

Zanetor tried to break free, but it proved futile.

"You INSOLENT CHILD!" A deep frown replaced the evil grin of the entity. "Your ego extends to the deepest, darkest reaches of your heart!"

"L- Like you just said," Zanetor struggled to breathe. "It's… my heart. I'm not… willing to share it."

The entity twitched and then gave a crazed smile, "Then you'll die on the inside."

Zanetor's body outside of his awareness began to flare up as a murky black spirit energy erupted from his soul core. The air surrounding him began to shimmer in response to the irregular energy fluctuation it had caused.

Both Leticia and Edem sparked their alert at the sudden unfolding of events.

"This again," Edem's eyes narrowed.

"His spirit energy is beginning to go out of control," Leticia held onto Jackie securely. "Uncle Edem! My fiber binding isn't enough to tone it down."

A golden circle materialized out of thin air and surrounded Zanetor. However, the characteristic golden hue of the circular music sheets immediately turned pitch black.

"Damn it," Edem cursed. "He's corrupting my spirit energy."

Jackie hissed as it felt a great threat looming.

. . .

At around the same time, Kekeli sprinted between the trees as fast as he could. He had planned to warn the others about the large creature that had just wiped a spirit warrior out of existence, but it began to chase him down!

He chose to change route since running towards them would just end up taking the danger to them.

Kekeli got to the outer edge of the forest and tried to make a sharp turn, but then he slipped on ice and landed hard on his side.

"Ouch!" he rubbed his side as he stood up. "A frozen lake?"

*SCREECH!*

The eight-legged beast blasted through the forest and skidded right before the former spirit warrior.

'This should be far away enough,' Kekeli thought, channeling the spirit energy within him. "Fire spell—"

"YOU BASTARD BEAST!"

A sudden voice boomed into the area, prompting both Kekeli and the creature to look up.

There, descending from the sky was a soul donned in a similar uniform as the female warrior from before. Purple light engulfed his right palm as he sped towards the beast.

"Chain spell!" he roared. "Concatenating spiral!"

Several purple chains then burst from certain parts of the forest. The chains spun around in a spiral, and each one of them seemed to be linked to the caster's palm. The spirit warrior landed on the sturdy branch of a nearby tree and pulled his palm back.

The chains shot out towards the monster and completely tied it up.

"Another one of them," Kekeli muttered to himself.

Just then, four other souls emerged from the forest, surrounding their captive.

A sarcastic smile formed on the flame warrior's lips, "T- There are five of them."

The spirit warrior who had landed from the sky wore an expression of rage on his face as he clenched his fists.

"I'll make you pay for what you did to Rebecca," he growled and summoned an intense aura of energy that engulfed his body.

The other spirit warriors did the same, unleashing their spirit energies and preparing to decimate their target.

At that point, Kekeli had made a run for it.

"T- They didn't even notice me there," he panted heavily as he ran. "I have to hurry back!"