The dark apparition charged through Klein's body, its form passing through him with seeming ease.
His body staggered, his eyes turning blank.
Step... Step.
He stumbled backward, his backfoot missing the stone.
Whoosh.
Klein fell from the height of the stone pillar-like arm, headfirst into the crimson water.
Splash!
He sunk into its depths.
Klein could not feel any of it; the wind from the fall, the wetness of the water, the sensation of suffocation, or the heavy repugnant taste of iron.
He was in a different space. He was a transparent soul confronted by a thick black shadow with red orb-like eyes.
His soul's form was the same as his body, with one undeniable difference.
There was something tangible inside it, akin to a worm struggling with all its might, its desperation palpable. It was constantly giving off a shrill scream.
The Shadow observed Klein's soul, and Klein heard it speak for the first time.
[Tainted One...]
To say it spoke was strange. It was a direct communication through the soul, and Klein felt the guttural tone of the Shadow seep into his very being.
The Shadow, in its ethereal state, morphed back into that figure in knight armor. However this time, it was reformed in pristine condition.
Klein observed the knight's armor, and the symbol etched onto its right breastplate.
The symbol drawn was that of a central circle surrounded by seven smaller circles.
He paused, and the worm inside him paused too.
Seeing the symbol, he recalled a distant memory.
"Smile, Kly...You're more handsome when you smile"
He shook his head to rid those thoughts and maintained his alertness toward the enemy.
Klein's condition was severe, even in his current intangible form.
The moment the shadow had entered the space of his soul, he felt the speed of his thoughts slow.
He couldn't comprehend much in this strange, eerie state, and he attempted to focus his thoughts on a soul spell.
As he tried to recall a spell, he found that it was easier to call upon them in this strange space than it was with his physical body.
Regardless of his efforts and struggle, the Shadow Knight continued to speak.
[Drawn Blood Of Your Blood...]
[Blood Of Her Blood...]
[Tainted Soul...]
The words shook Klein's consciousness. It was fading, and he knew that if he couldn't maintain it, he would die.
Amidst the turmoil and slowness, he had trouble recalling a soul spell, but in his desperation, he tried to cast the one he thought would be most damaging to the apparition.
[Soul Steal]
The cast was sloppy, the magic circle was awkwardly drawn, and the concepts infused were half-baked.
As he hadn't mastered the spell, he felt it would fail.
A moment passed.
Contrary to his expectations, the spell corrected itself in the soul space and activated smoothly.
A large ethereal hand grasped the shadow with a vice grip and squeezed.
[Your Dead Soul...]
[Taint...ed]
The last words of the shadow echoed before it was ground down into specks of dust - the grip preventing it from reforming into smoke.
The remnants of the Shadow flew into his soul, and Klein felt he could think again, his incorporeal form becoming slightly more tangible, slightly stronger.
Before he could rejoice at his victory, and at having vanquished the dreaded thing, he found himself unable to breathe.
Klein's body was sinking deeper into the depths of the sea. His eyes opened with great effort and he struggled to move.
A sharp pain came from the cuts on his chest and abdomen, exacerbated by the red sea water.
He found himself a little distance away, facing the stone monument. Most of its form was hidden in these depths.
The sensation of iron and blood overwhelmed him as he tried to reorient himself to swim upwards.
Something stretched out and grabbed his collar from the depths. Another followed, taking hold of his arm, then another at his leg.
And then many more reached out to him.
Hundreds of pale, emaciated arms emerged from the darkness of the sea, all aiming to drag Klein's body down towards them.
He heard their faint whispers, calling him.
[Tainted One...]
[Dead Soul...]
[Blood Of Your Blood...]
Klein's strength was waning, his resistance a seemingly meaningless endeavor.
'Give... me... a break!' Klein subconsciously cast 'Blink', even knowing he shouldn't have had enough mana to do so.
To his surprise, the spell activated, and Klein found himself closer to the statue, and closer to the surface.
It was a terrible idea for a mage to cast 'Blink' underwater. Coordinates were much more difficult to parse and accurately assess in such an environment.
However, in this situation, Klein grasped the statue as a reference point, making it slightly easier for him.
He glanced back as he prepared another 'Blink', seeing thousands of pale arms reaching for him.
He looked up, judging the distance to the surface, and swam upwards, using the stone monument to help his upward climb.
This time, however, his mana was insufficient for the spell to activate, and could only use his physical prowess now to escape the monstrosities in the depths vying for his soul.
Bony fingertips grazed his clothes, his nape, his arms, and his feet. In a desperate attempt to get away, he ignored the unnerving sensations and climbed.
Weakness overwhelmed him. His consciousness was fading, and his breath was being held by the merest thread of reason.
And yet, he continued to climb.
An arm grasped his robe from behind, and unwilling to give in to their mad pull, he forced himself upwards, fingertips grasping the stone.
He offered his robe to the arm. Feeling the resistance vanish, and the robe falling off of him, he continued to climb.
"Hah, aren't you just like a cockroach?"
A whisper from his memory taunted him, and he ignored it, continuing his desperate, ugly struggle.
His fingers slipped, and before his thread of reason snapped completely, he attempted another spell.
Sadly, his mana had yet to recover enough to cast anything.
And he felt the scent of death approaching.
'Hah, yes... I'm a cockroach...' Klein thought with a mad smile, unwilling to let himself fall.
His right leg hooked itself onto the edge of the crown that was placed on the head of the stone statue. He briefly noticed it, before using his other leg to push upwards once again with all his might.
His arm reached upwards, breaking the surface of the water, and his head followed.
The sound of intense wheezing was expelled from his lungs, along with splashes of red liquid.
Cough. Cough.
He grasped tightly onto the nearest thing he could find, for he felt himself being dragged down once again.
Those arms had firmly grasped his body beneath the waves, madly desiring to pull him down.