*SCREECH!*

Gusts of wind tore through the area, threatening to uproot the surrounding trees as the black creature summoned its ominous energy. The purple chains constricting the beast turned pitch black, and before the spirit warriors could react, the chains corroded and assimilated with the monster's body.

"Tch!" The warrior standing on the branch leapt onto the frozen lake, his clear purple eyes expressing rage. "Everyone, we're entering the first formation; Strict Lock."

"Right!"

The other warriors responded with firm resolve and sprinted into their respective positions. Two female warriors – one with short blue hair and the other with long jet-black hair – encircled the beast, locking eyes with each other and nodding knowingly.

"Dual binding spell!"

Both ladies skidded on opposite sides of the creature and slammed their palms onto the icy ground. Red and blue lights emanated from their palms, and immediately, auras shaped like wolves emerged from their spirit energies.

The wolves gave an otherworldly howl as they hovered above the creature and then proceeded to slam into the monster with deadly precision.

"Hell wolves' prey!"

"We've managed to paralyze it!" The blue-haired girl's eyes displayed unwavering determination.

Just then, the clouds turned dark, and two brightly shining pillars descended. The pillars crashed onto the ice, causing it to fracture. Icy cold water splashed over the surface, slightly unsettling the souls standing upon the ice.

The creature tried to break free from the bind, but to no avail. The pillars began to glow even brighter as a dark aura emanated from the creature and travelled towards them.

"Infinite withdrawal," a well-built male spirit warrior muttered in a deep voice. "A spell cast by at least two spirit warriors. We should be able to absorb all the corrupted energy from this vile creature."

The lanky male warrior standing beside him nodded slightly in agreement.

"Heh," the brown-eyed spirit warrior grinned. "Once we've completed our mission of extracting research data from this thing, I'll be sure to personally torture it until nothing of it is left."

*SCREECH!!*

The monster's limbs began to move, bringing a frown to the spirit warrior's face.

"Don't loosen your grip on it!" he commanded, summoning his energy to try and pin it down.

It was too late, however.

The creature gathered an enormous amount of strength and easily blew away all their spells, negating their effects with its corrupted energy. Its sheer strength sent the other four spirit warriors flying, throwing them against nearby trees.

"D-Damn it," the black-haired spirit warrior coughed out flecks of blood. "Why is this thing so insanely strong?"

"Look out!" a voice desperately called out.

The black-haired warrior raised her head and felt her heart sink as one of the creature's limbs charged towards her.

"Huh?" She froze, unable to react in time.

*CRASH!*

Large volumes of snow debris were whipped up into the air as the monster made impact with its target. It raised its limb, revealing the spirit warrior impaled by it. Blood trickled down the creature's limb as the spirit warrior continuously coughed out blood.

The creature's single eye turned towards the other spirit warriors as it casually flung the unconscious body in the other direction.

"Liezel!" The blue-haired warrior's eyes widened in shock, and soon, rage filled her gaze as she glared at their target. "How… How dare you!"

A large blue aura erupted from within her soul core, greatly heightening her battle sharpness. The exposed lake grew unstable as she lunged at the beast with full force.

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"Tch!" The warrior standing on the branch leapt onto the frozen lake, his clear purple eyes expressing terror. "Adelpha, wait!"

"Severance spell!"

Two long, sharp blades shot out from the blue-haired warrior's underarms as she approached the beast.

"Blind Blade Slash!"

Her image blurred as she moved at breakneck speeds. The only thing that could be seen was the vague presence of an entity violently moving around the creature on all sides.

Several deep cuts appeared on the dark creature's body as the high-speed spirit warrior delivered countless blows in mere seconds.

The creature groaned in annoyance and tried to back away, but the spirit warrior's attack seemed relentless. She was determined to keep going until she completely sliced the creature into barely recognizable pieces.

"She's beginning to wear it down!" The brown-eyed warrior smiled. "Theo! Atlas! We're going to back her up!"

Theo, the well-built spirit warrior, sighed. "We both already had that in mind."

Atlas slightly nodded.

*SCREECH!*

The creature roared in agony as more cuts appeared on its body. Just when everyone thought the beast was about to give in, several tiny bumps protruded along its body's circumference.

"Don't let it do anything else!" the brown-eyed spirit warrior lunged at the creature.

Atlas and Theo joined in, prepared to pin the creature down as fast as possible. Once again, they were too late.

Long, whip-like structures lashed out from the bumps on its body. The whip-like structures spun around in a frenzy, painfully slamming into Atlas, Theo, and Adelpha. All three warriors were flung back at an insane speed, crashing into the forest.

"You little-," the brown-eyed spirit warrior evaded the creature's attack and leaped onto the top of its body. "Headquarters can forget about getting those research samples," he raised his right palm. "I'll tear you to shreds!"

Purple light engulfed his palm, and long, snake-like chains erupted from it. The chains encircled the beast, tightly binding it along with its whip-like structures. The chains began to glow with an eerie colour as they were slowly laced with menace.

"Chain spell"

The spirit warrior began to move the spirit energy within his soul core in a particular fashion.

"Binding punishment-"

Just as he was about to unleash his spell, something caught the corner of his eye. He looked down and noticed a deep red core gradually emerging from the creature's body.

"It's the core," he muttered. "Shit!"

*BOOM!*

A red pillar of light burst out from the creature's soul core, completely engulfing the spirit warrior in dense negative energy. The only sounds that could be heard were the warrior's agonised wails of despair.

Several feet away, the sounds reached the ears of a fleeing soul.

Kekeli, still running, glanced back. "Don't tell me those spirit warriors were no match for that thing!"

He swiftly manoeuvred through the dense forest, his feet continuously crunching the bluish-white snow.

It was only a matter of time before he got to the others. He was close!

A slight look of relief graced the flame warrior's face as he neared his destination, but it was short-lived.

Travelling right past him at an insane speed was the black creature. Its movement tore the trees off the ground and sent them flying into the air as it travelled in a direction that made Kekeli's heart sink.

"Y- You're kidding," he whispered.

Around the same time, Zanetor struggled to maintain his sense of self as his awareness threatened to swallow him up.

The evil entity's grin widened as it increased its grip on his neck, "Aren't you going to beg for mercy already?"

Rage filled the shadow soul's eyes as he stretched his right palm in an attempt to get the entity off of him.

"Look at you now!" the entity laughed. "You were alone, it won't change! Nothing ever will! No one will ever look for you! You'll cease to exist in the most fleeting manner."

Zanetor's vision slowly turned dark as his consciousness began to fail him.

Damn it. Why couldn't he do anything? Why was his awareness housing something like that? He couldn't understand. Why!? Why!? Why!? Why!?

Was it… truly going to end like this? If it did, wouldn't that mean that he'd be free from all the pain he'd have to endure? Free from the pain he currently endures?

This thing wanted to take over his soul. It wanted to make itself manifest through him. To BE him.

Was he going to allow it?

Heh. Could he even do anything about it?

Zanetor closed his eyes. There was nothing he could do.

"You shouldn't be giving up yet."

A foreign voice interrupted the shadow soul's train of thought, prompting him to open his eyes.

Several holes suddenly drilled into the entity's head, taking it by surprise. Its grip on Zanetor's neck loosened as it turned its head back to find out the source of the interruption.

"Who dares interrupt my-"

*Slam!*

An unknown force violently smacked the entity's head off its body and soon, a bright light erupted from the void. The light engulfed the entire space, dispelling the darkness along with the evil entity.

What was left now was an expansive deep blue sea that extended as far as the eye could see.

Zanetor slowly looked around, "What… happened?"

"Zanetor," a soft voice called from behind.

The shadow soul turned around and met the gaze of a girl. She was exactly the same height as he was and she was donned in the same blue-black trench coat that he wore. She had short black hair, and her eyes were the exact same hue as his.

"Who are you?" Zanetor muttered, caution and curiosity sparking in his eyes.

The girl smiled, "It'd be really nice if we could talk longer, but…"

Ripples began to emerge on the surface of the water they stood on. The ripples extended without losing energy, and as they kept touching Zanetor's feet, he began to feel unease.

Was this the way his awareness perceived spirit energy?

Zanetor was genuinely confused.

Wait, was the darkness his awareness, or the scenery he was seeing now?

"Until we meet again," the girl waved.

"No," Zanetor began. "W- Wait-"

Before he could utter any other word, a strange force pulled him further away from the strange girl. His vision slowly turned dark until eventually, everything was engulfed in a pitch-black nothingness.