The deadlock took more than two hours. Sho was feeling exhausted as time passed by. The gathering of Pure Energy took a toll on his Mental Energy, and the fact that he fought with Asterion was showing his weakness.
*Too weak.* He cursed himself.
"Kid, just give up. I'll take care of your body once I have it."
He chose to ignore Asterion. The Mythical Creature talked a lot since their stalemate. It was obvious that it was trying to distract Sho, hoping that his end would become faster.
*I can't just give up! Not after coming this far!*
For the past two hours, he had been thinking on how to overcome his situation. He had thought of a lot of ideas, but he eliminated most of them. Until finally, he reached three ideas for a higher possibility of surviving.
*Plan A it is!*
He frowned and slowed down the assimilation of Pure Qi Energy inside him. As he did, sweat started to show in his forehead as pain assaulted him. Immediately, the negative energy started to work their way once more. Sho could feel the dark Impure Energy slowly trampling the balance he created inside his Soul Avatar.
It wasn't too fast, but still, the negative energy taking over was visible for him. He could feel and see how his Soul Avatar slowly turned darker with his impurities. If let alone, soon only dark energy would be left inside him. Who knows what would happen then.
"Hahaha!" sinister laughter echoed in the empty place. He lifted his face and saw Asterion walking forward. "Finally. You're talented, kid. I'm not sure how you are able to last this long. But give it up. It's over. Don't worry, once I take over your body, that dark energy would be nothing to me. In a way, I'm doing you a favor." It chuckled.
"Old man, just rest in peace, will you?" It was ironic coming from Sho. But then, it was part of his plan. He was taunting the Mythical Creature.
"Desperate! Haha! I love it! Show me more!"
"Sadist." He hissed.
"Ignorant. Even though you know who I am, you don't know what I've been through. This is entertaining enough to me, but it's not enough!" As it said, it charged Sho. Sho didn't even have to pretend to be weak.
The negative energy was really making him weak. It was too hard to even dodge. Pain assaulted his stomach as he coughed saliva. The punch in his stomach wasn't strong, but it was strong enough to distract any control he had over gathering a small quantity of Pure Qi Energy.
"You think I'm a fool? You think I wouldn't notice your tricks? You're too naive, kid!" Asterion laughed.
He knew his Plan A failed. He wanted to bait Asterion over, and when the unsuspecting Mythical Creature came near, that's when he would attack his Soul Avatar. Attacking his Soul Avatar, he had an idea because of what happened to him. He was planning on gathering and injecting it with Impure Qi Energy.
*If Plan A doesn't work, I'll use Plan B! He was resolute, he took two hours to think the plan through. He was ready in case of failure!*
He knew he was too weak, so he could only use his brain to his advantage!
He ignored the assault of Impure Energy inside him. He quickly got up and grabbed Asterion fist before it could even retract it back. Seeing what Sho had done, Asterion immediately swung it fist to shake Sho, but how could he let go when he was already prepared?
Instead of letting go, he used his other hand and like a snake, he twisted his body to have better control over Asterion.
Asterion was shocked but let out a growl as it started to fight back.
Nothing is going to be easy, huh?! He grunted in his mind. As they continue to struggle, him trying to lock Asterion down and Asterion trying to shake Sho off.
But then, Sho's expression darkened. He was not the only one prepared for this fight. Asterion was prepared too. It had experienced how Sho single-handedly outmatched it with his intelligence. Earlier, Sho won because Rahmath body was that of a female. But now, facing an adult man's body, Sho wasn't matched at all.
After five seconds of entanglement, Asterion easily shook Sho, leaving him on his knees.
"Such futile effort. Just give up, human." It snickered.
Sho didn't say anything. He could feel the dark energy dominating his Soul Avatar.
Plan B failed.
His Plan A and Plan B aren't that far from each other. He was just forcing the distance between them to close up before he injected Asterion with his Impure Qi Energy. But it failed. He knew that the chances of Plan A and B to succeed was only less than 5%. But still, he took the gamble.
And he lost.
He felt bitter, but then again, he was expecting it. He was far too weak to contest a Mythical Creature. Although, their first encounter let him win, it was pure luck. Luck doesn't last long. That's why it's called luck. There's good luck and bad luck. It just happened that after good luck, bad luck would follow to balance the scales.
And this time, his bad luck came.
He let out a bitter smile before turning it into sinister. Asterion frowned upon seeing that.
He started his last plan.
Plan C.
"I would rather die than let you take control of my body!" Sho shouted.
Sho totally abandoned his hold on slowing down Dark Energy entering his Soul Avatar. Without anything slowing it down the Dark Energy hastily traveled all over his Soul Avatar. And within a minute, half of him was already engulfed with Dark Energy.
"Idiot!" Asterion hissed as it moved forward to Sho's body on the ground.
He just let out a smile, triumph. He had guessed it, Asterion wouldn't be able to take control of his body if his Soul Avatar was overwhelmed with Dark Energy. To be honest, he didn't want to use this plan at all. Who in their right mind wanted to die?
Of course, he didn't want to die. But there was something he realized with his encounter with Asterion. That there were far cruel things aside from death. It was when your body got controlled. You have no control over yourself. And you do things you don't usually do. Like killing someone else. That was far too cruel for him.
And the thing is, it wasn't even his body in the first place. And knowing Sho, he would also choose this option. Die rather than cause someone else to die. It was really simple. If he was predetermined to die, then he would rather grab that. He didn't want anyone to tarnish him or Sho's image of becoming a murderer.
As someone who took over Sho's body, it was the least he could do to him. He knew Asahi was the most important person to Sho. And Asahi might be the kindest person they both knew. Knowing such a kind person sees a murderer version of Sho, it would kill Asahi inside.
*Yes. Death it is. I don't want to do Plan C. But I don't have any other option left. It's just death anyway. I probably have been there. Also, Sho had been there. Maybe, we can meet while at it.* He chuckled inwardly. His consciousness was slowly drifting away. He couldn't even hear Asterion anymore.
This was death, huh? It was really… peaceful. Too peaceful, to be honest. There was nothing to be heard at all. Not even a buzzing sound or the sigh in his heart.
It was simply the end.
*At least I didn't have to be a piece of chess.* He consoled himself, but even his inside voice couldn't be heard. But he knew what he wanted to say.
*This feels lonely.*
He didn't know how much had passed. But he realized that the reason people started to regret everything was when they were inside that hollow space. Being there one could only think and think. Positive, negative and even neutral thoughts entered him. But with those thoughts alone, one could go crazy. It felt like an eternity alone.
*Did I go through this when I died? Did Sho go through this too?* To be honest, he couldn't find the answer even after spending a lot of time there.
*How long has it been?*
No answer.
But something changed. There was a light.
Hope.
He didn't know the meaning of the light. But he subconsciously wanted to reach the light. He didn't know how he moved, but he slowly crept forward. Or maybe he swum? But little by little, he moved towards the light.
As soon as he reached the light, he heard a muffled voice.
*Finally, sound!* He never thought he would be happy to hear any sound at all. But he didn't have any strength to celebrate as he slowly lost his strength. He lost consciousness.