*CRASH!*
A white projectile smashed into a nearby wall, sending mounds of chunky debris plummeting to the ground below. From within the rubble, a fist burst through and made way for the soul underneath it to make her way out.
Xoese coughed out bits of dust and muttered, "The annoying sound waves have ceased."
She stood on both feet and stabilised herself as the masked enemy she faced landed softly only a few feet away from her. Both of them stared each other down as they waited for the other to make a move.
'It won't take long', Xoese cautiously moved away from the debris. 'Once my spirit energy stops spiralling out of sync, I should be able to end this.'
The two souls encircled each other, trying to find the right time to strike when suddenly, a blindingly golden light illuminated the entire hall. Both girls turned to face the source of the light.
However, it was difficult to make out what was going on at the light source.
Xoese saw this as the perfect opportunity.
A white aura emanated around her as she pressed against the ground and lunged at the distracted enemy. Violent gusts of wind spiralled around her right arm, sharpening into a deadly shredder the instant she got close.
The fox-mask spirit warrior managed to evade, leaping several feet away. It wasn't a free escape however.
"Tch", Xoese repeatedly clenched and released her fists. "It's still going to take quite a while."
A painful sensation ripped across the enemy's stomach. She placed her palm at the affected area and noticed a red liquid on her palm. It grazed her, that wind, yet she was releasing so much blood?
The air around the spirit warrior began to grow cold.
Xoese's eyes remained fixed on her enemy, readying for an incoming attack.
'The golden light is probably from Edem's music circles', her eyes sharply followed the motions of the masked enemy as she blurred out of existence.
The white-haired soul accurately followed her opponent's movements even with her blinding speed, narrowly evading an attack that came from above.
Xoese began to take to her feet, silently blending into the wind and activating her movement technique.
[Lingering Whisper]
Her sudden unnatural speed didn't faze the masked warrior as the two battled it out with increasing acceleration.
A familiar energy pattern flowed within Xoese's soul core, causing the energy within to grow violent. Xoese felt her body become light as air erupted from her skin pores and formed several rotating drills.
[Wind Spell: Wind Bullet, Mirrored]
The heavily rotating projectiles shot forth in varying directions, attempting to reduce the opponent's mobility. Majority of the stray bullets smashed into the walls, causing a substantial amount of rocks to fall down to the ground.
Xoese's eyes narrowed as she tracked the wayward movement of a cloud of dust.
"There you are", she followed the wind's direction. "I can feel my soul core returning to its normal energy flow. I should be able to use the surrounding air again."
The air around the speeding soul gathered to her right side and amalgamated into a large, rapidly rotating drill.
[Wind Spell: Wind Bullet!]
*BOOM!*
A crackling sound sparked in the hall as the bullet fired at a location close to the masked opponent.
Large volumes of rocks and dust spat out into the air at the spell made impact, sending a mini-shock wave travelling outward.
Xoese's image restructured itself as she came to a stop. She breathed heavily and sweat began to form on her forehead.
"I've... I've used so much energy already?", she rose an eyebrow. "No. Perhaps, creating the resource for my spell must've been the cause."
Her eyes faded back into their normal emerald hue.
"But I can't stop here. It's not over ye-"
A horrifying sensation suddenly gripped Xoese, causing her words to die down her throat. Her masked opponent had emerged from the debris and closed the distance in less than the blink of eye.
*SLAM!*
The enemy's fist connected with her abdomen, sending a painful resonance that forced blood out her mouth.
The force from the attack sent her flying into a nearby wall with a disturbing *CRASH*
Xoese hung her head and her vision rapidly blurred, "H- How is she able to move like that? The winds should've at least grazed her enough to affect her mobility."
She weakly clenched her fists as she gathered all her strength to raise her head.
The masked enemy stood still as a yellow aura erupted from her soul core, rising like a relentless flame. On her left fist was a dual blade that shot out from her knuckles, drenched in blood.
Xoese's eyes widened, "D- Did she stab me with that?"
She looked down and noticed she was sitting in her own pool of blood. Desperate, she tried to gather her spirit energy and summon its healing effects.
"Tch, damn it. I let my guard down."
Just when Xoese thought things couldn't get any worse, she heard her opponent mutter something that made her heart immediately drop down to her stomach.
"Heart"
The masked warrior's aura flared even more violently and began to move in a manner that made it look like it was getting sucked into a portion right above her chest.
A small yellow sphere then materialised at the concentrated spot.
Xoese's eyes widened, "This flux..."
"Coalesce", the enemy coldly uttered.
*Click*
Parts of her soul core shot out slightly and an incredible wave of energy erupted from the small sphere.
Once the outburst began to die down, the masked warrior's new form came into view. Donned in a mechanical-kind of suit, yellow lights blinked on its surface and her mask changed into a different shape with streaks of lines that resembled a skull. It gleamed with a metallic sheen.
The air around her parted as she raised her right arm.
'That Heart's coalescence is...', Xoese forced herself to her feet, leaning on the wall. "Ati."
There was a brief silence before the transformed spirit warrior spoke.
"You realised it a bit too late, Xoese", her voice was distorted into a robotic-sounding one. "You never imagined I'd be able to achieve Heart's coalescence, did you?"
Xoese's eyes narrowed.
"To tell you the truth, neither did I", a sphere of energy materialised above her palm. "But after what you told me back then, back in the previous era, I've been trying to get better at understanding myself."
The white haired soul closed her eyes, "I won't lie either. I never saw you as a spirit warrior who would make any significant progress, let alone unlock the latent power of their soul core. You were always bound to let a flaw stop you from getting better. Back then it was your noisy ego."
Ati kept silent.
"Maybe you may have toned that down and allowed your core to talk to you", Xoese smirked. "I wonder what flaw you'll let in this time."
Ati crushed the sphere in her palm and released the particles of light, causing them to dissipate. Several streaks of spear-like light then appeared around her and aimed their tips at Xoese.
The white-haired soul stumbled as she muttered, "Curses. Did I irritate her? I thought I dealt with this bad habit of mine."
"You should very well be aware of what a soul's heart's coalescence is capable of.", the air grew tense. "Die."
Xoese's eyes turned fierce. She knew exactly what she was referring to.
Heart's Coalescence was available only to souls who had awakened via Soul Project and had undergone several years of spirit evolution. The process of activating coalescence caused their inner soul core to expose itself, revealing latent power hidden deep within.
It was a technique that was only possible after a thorough understanding between the core and the soul. Since the inner core manifested into a new form for the soul, sometimes changing or enhancing their form, they had the ability to directly affect the inner cores of others.
"A normal battle between souls is a clash between their outer cores", Xoese muttered as she desperately summoned her energy. "A battle between a normal awakened soul and one that has undergone coalescence, is a battle between the outer core of one and the inner core of the other. If those things hit me, I'll suffer from internal damage."
Faint lights could be seen struggling to form around her. The lights slowly gre brighter, but died down immediately as Xoese coughed out volumes of blood.
She panted heavily, "I- I've taken too much damage. In addition to that, those blades seemed to have affected my spirit energy somehow."
The white-haired soul tried to focus her blurring vision as she came to a realisation.
"They've come here solely for Edem and I", she concluded. "The blade she struck me with must've been vibrating at abnormal frequencies."
At that moment, each one of Ati's light spears sprung into action, tearing through the air at nearly the speed of light.
Xoese's eyes instinctively shut tight as the air around her raged violently in an attempt to stop the attack, but the spears just passed through.
*BOOM!*
A loud explosion rang throughout the hall as the attack made impact, sending cracks racing up the wall.
Ati turned around, "Now I'll have to help the old man."
She was about to leave the scene when streams of white energy appeared in the air and travelled into the dust. Gentle winds caused the debris to part as a soul cloaked in white light emerged from the rubble.
Xoese's wound was partially healed and a single angelic wing sprouted from her right back.
She slowly opened her eyes as a smaller wing appeared above the side of her head. A small harsh light could be seen glowing right above her chest.
"Ah, I forgot", Ati turned around. "The stone has decided to protect its host. I should've seen that coming."
Xoese struggled to stand. She felt her chest become heavy as she clenched it.
"But then...", several light spears appeared around Ati once more. "How long can you keep yourself in that form?"
'This thing is draining out every bit of my strength', a horrid thought crossed Xoese's mind. 'I- I can't move at all!'
The light spears launched themselves at the immobile soul, once again tearing through the air at insane speeds. Xoese's eyes widened as they got closer, but it wasn't because of the impending doom.
She felt something else.
'Huh? The air', her face was illuminated by an orange light. 'The air suddenly turned warm?'
*WHOOSH!*
A pillar of fire erupted from the ground between the incoming projectiles and the battered girl, immediately dissipating the light spears.
Ati's head lowered menacingly
The flames continued to spiral into a mad rage for a bit before dying down and revealing a figure from within.
"I'm awake now", the young boy's expression displayed a killing intent as he had a light spear caught up in his palm.
His eyes glowed a bright crimson as flames emerged from his palm and completely burned away the light spear.
There was a period of silence as the two sides observed each other.
'His spirit energy', Xoese thought to herself. 'I wasn't imagining it. It increased by a very substantial amount.'
"WOAHOHOHO! Did you see THAT!?"
The tensions withered away as a goofy smile popped up on Kekeli's face. He flexed his muscles and twitched like a lunatic.
"I came in and WHOOSH! Damn friggin spear thingies went RIPPLERIPPLERIPPLE!"
Xoese's brows rose.
What... What was he saying?
"What nonsense is this?", pressure fell on the area as Ati's aura flared in a rage.
Light spears materialised again, just that they were a lot more this time. Each spear vibrated with an unsettling screech as they shot at the two at top speed.
Kekeli's goofy expression disappeared and so did he.
Flames sped towards the incoming spears and laid them to waste in a second.
Ati was taken aback, but stopped dead in her tracks as she felt the presence of someone right behind her.
"Is that all you can do while you're in heart's coalescence?", Kekeli smirked. "You see, I'm VERY passionate about battles! So maybe I'll inspire you!"
He clicked his finger, causing an enormous pool of magma to appear beneath the both of them. Molten rocks and flames erupted from the pit in a spectacular fashion. The boiling heat caused the nearby rocks to melt as Kekeli laughed crazily.
"Hey Xoese!", he waved.
The white-haired soul began to feel a bit of her energy returning to her. She looked down and noticed a black figure resting on her right shoulder.
It was Kekeli's spirit beast; the black cat.
Flames wafted from the creature's yawn and surrounded her wounds. It was a warm sensation. A warm and comforting one. Her injuries disappeared as the flames died down.
"You can battle now!", Kekeli leapt over to her side, his smirk widening into a grin. "Right?"
Xoese stood there surprised for a bit.
The Spirit evolution must've been more than successful for him then.
Violent winds descended upon the hall as Xoese's aura flared to life.
"Yes", she muttered.
"NICE!", Kekeli stretched and his eyes were vibrant. "Let's go!"