...Soren gritted his teeth, his vision blurring from the pain.
He focused.
He tried to feel the soul energy within him.
That raw power that usually stayed dormant until he reached for his first form.
He tried to push it outward, to coat his bones as instructed.
"Again!" she barked.
She blurred into motion. One strike toward his head—Soren parried, the impact numbing his entire arm.
Two strikes toward his legs—he leaped, the wind from the twig nearly knocking him off balance.
"Close your eyes!" she commanded, her voice rising in intensity.
"The light is nøt a lie. Feel the pressure! Anchor yourself!"
Soren did it.
He shut his eyes.
In the darkness, he couldn't see the twig, but he could feel it.
It felt like a dense, heavy needle piercing through the cold night air.
He moved his dagger to intercept, but he was still too slow.
The twig caught him in the shoulder. He felt the joint scream as the bone cracked.
"Do nøt not let the energy leak out, Soren! Compress it! If you want to survive in battle, you must become nøt as dense as the soul steel you carry!"
He didn't fall.
He couldn't afford to fall.
He let the pain fuel his focus, reaching deep into his core, trying to catch the soul-weight before the next blow landed.
Bloodshine watched him closely through the dark, her eyes shimmered with a predatory kind of gleam.
She noticed something Soren was too blinded by the constant pain to realize: he was actually doing it.
Small, flickering pulses of soul energy were beginning to coat the areas where she had broken his bones.
The soul energy was acting like a spectral cast, trying to reinforce the damage.
But before the energy could solidify into a true defense, it would collapse.
He was relying too much on his physical grit, trusting his muscles and his stamina more than his soul.
It was like trying to do a backflip but lacking trust in your hands to catch you before you touch the ground.
A devious thought crossed her mind.
To help him reach the soul, she had to break the body until there was nothing else left to lean on.
Yes, her plan was to exhaust him until his muscles gave up entirely.
She smiled, a sharp, frightening expression.
"Nøt enough," she whispered.
Then, she launched an absolute assault.
Soren tried to open his mouth, attempting to ask for a second of breath, but a swift strike of the twig to his jaw shut him up instantly.
Blood splashed from his mouth.
Maybe that strike had been too bold. But shd had started, and could not stop now.
The wood hissed through the air like a whip.
Bloodshine began fighting wilder, her movements losing their grace and becoming jagged, violent bursts of speed.
Driven by desperation and the haunting memory of the Caretaker, Soren also fought back like an animal.
He stopped thinking about the hand to hand combat technique, and started moving on pure survival instinct.
The woods echoed with the sound of heavy breathing and the rhythmic thwack of wood against steel.
In a frantic scramble, Soren managed to catch the twig in the crook of his dagger's guard.
With a roar of effort, he twisted his wrist, ripping the branch from her hand. At the same time, Bloodshine's palm slammed into his forearm, the vibration rattling his bones until his fingers went numb.
His soul-steel blade flew into the darkness, clattering against a rock.
They stood for a heartbeat, disarmed and panting.
Then, they collided again.
The fight turned into a brutal hand-to-hand struggle.
Soren's mind fell back on a mix of combat training and fighting on the street.
throwing tight, efficient punches and low kicks.
But Bloodshine's style was something he had never seen—she moved with a serpentine fluidity, using his own momentum to throw him.
She struck with her palms, her elbows, and her knees, each hit carrying that same mountain-crushing weight.
She moved behind him like a shadow.
*Snap.* She broke his left arm with a clinical twist.
Before he could scream, she swept his standing leg with such force that the bone splintered.
Soren hit the dirt, his body had become a map of broken parts.
Bloodshine froze, the manic light in her eyes fading as she looked down at him.
She dropped to her knees, her face filled with sudden, genuine horror.
"Soren... Husband, I am nøt sorry. I did nøt go too far," she reached out, her hands trembling as she tried to help him up. "I did nøt not mean to—"
But Soren didn't look at her. His eyes were vacant, fixed on the dagger lying a few feet away.
With his one good arm, he dragged his broken body across the dirt, his fingernails clawing at the earth until his hand closed around the hilt.
"Again," he croaked.
"Soren, no, we must heal—"
Without a second thought, Soren brought the soul-steel to his own neck.
What she did not know was that he didn't have months.
He didn't even have days. He only had the loop.
Squelch.
[You died]
.....
...Soren's eyes jolted open in the shed. The phantom pain of his broken ribs lingered for a second before he stood up.
He didn't wait. He walked straight over to the corner where the illusion of Bloodshine slept.
"Outside," he commanded.
Minutes later, they were back in the clearing.
The air was cold, the twig was in her hand, and the soul-steel was in his.
This time, the battle was even more fierce. Soren didn't wait for her to guide him.
He threw himself into the meat grinder, his soul screaming for the weight it needed to survive.
He parried, he bled, and he pushed, the two of them becoming a whirlwind of violence in the silent woods.
And of course, it ended with his body broken in more ways than a person should survive.
[You died]
....
[You died]
.....
After a while, Soren began to feel it. He began to feel the world move around him.
Suddenly, his soul energy was no longer a simple expression of his emotions. Instead, it was of his will.
It coated his skin like an extra armour.
And once it did, the soul pressure came naturally.
Bloodshine stared at him speechless. "Soren, ate secretly a genius?" She had a brow raised at him.
Then again, this was a very valid question.
The reason was because she had seen him struggle a lot in his past battles, and in only a few minutes I asking her to train him, he had understood how soul pressure worked.
But of course, wrapping yourself in soul pressure was entirely different from wrapping another object in soul pressure.
Bloodshine explained that it was not so easy a task to perform.
And that was why she did not use it in battles.
Now that Soren thought if it, she did not use it when fighting Mora that time.
He coukd not help but look at Bloodshine strangely.
This girl seemed to have a more richer, and denser background than he had seen with other nobles like Polystar.
And yet, no one around her seemed to have noticed.
Still, Soren was very grateful.
However, the moment he took a step...
Tisssshhhh!!!
The soul pressure fizzled away.
Bloodshine raised a brow at him. Then face palmed.
She understood what was going on. It was like holding your breath, and then holding your breath to swim.
One took more effort, and concentration than the other.
Soren would have to learn how to move with the soul pressure.
And this was also entirely different glfrom using it within a fight.
After all, it involved a different level of mindset, and concentration.
At such a time, Soren raised his head—Only to see Bloodshine approaching.
She had a menacing look on her face—with her long tongue sticking out like a starved wild animal.
"No... no... no... stay back. I can get it." He tried again.
But the soul pressure fizzled out. Again.
Again.
Again.
Soren sighed. Accepting thd fate that was to befall him.
And so, with more concurrently administered beatings, Bloodshine ensured that jis body adapted quickly.
Although, Soren could not actively engage in a battle while his soul pressure was active, he could at least walk and run with it.
If he was to learn the how to use it in battles, he might have to stay here for months.
And truthfully, Soren was too eager to get back at the Caretaker.
As far as he was concerned, that was the threat.
—The reason this town was in trouble.
—his friends.
And most of all, Mora.
This time around, he was going to do it. He was going to set her, and everyone else free.
What Soren did not know was that this desire for the affection of one woman would form the foundation of a long list of regrets in the future.