Still stuck in his mind, Zephyr racks his head on how he could stop this. He called out to Veldris, but there was no response. Veldris was on a rampage, killing everyone in the temple. If there was some way to limit Veldris's reliance on the abyssal's energy, he might be able to take back control. After destroying and throwing countless people off the platform, Veldris faces a man radiating a different aura, someone stronger than the other people in the temple. But Veldris turns the other direction, heading someplace else. After all, Veldris only sensed the blood and flesh of humans. Veldris jumps up an entire flight of stairs when he senses blood much more potent and closer to him.
Hmph, not bad. Cutting yourself without hesitation to save the others, Zephyr thought.
Veldris leaps onto the man, rapidly slashing his claws into the man. When Veldris pushed him back far enough, he kicked him as hard as he could into the wall. He leaps at the man, getting one of his hands stuck in the wall. A shroud envelopes Veldris, and shadows pop up from the ground. He tries to attack them, but it is as if the man has multiplied into five more of himself, making it difficult for Veldris to deal with. It seemed that relying on the abyssal's energy wasn't enough, so he turned to his qi.
Yes, Veldris's chokehold on the abyssal energy has been loosened.
Veldris teleports behind one of the shadows, slicing one in half, then teleports behind another, taking its head.
"Veldris, Veldris! Can you hear me!?" Zephyr screamed, trying to get Veldris's attention.
"Augh, yes, barely."
"Give me control! I can suppress the energy."
"What makes you think I'll believe you?"
Two shadows disappear into the ground, leaving Veldris to fight one shadow, five times stronger than the others. The shadow slices one of Veldris's arms, groaning in pain. He releases the tendrils from his sliced-off arm, ripping the shadow's head straight out of its body. The shroud falls as Veldris immediately leaps onto the man. Veldris pins him down, inching his head closer to the man's neck.
"Veldris, give me my body, now!"
Veldris thought carefully but decided that this might be the last chance he would still have consciousness, and he would have countless other chances to take Zephyr's body.
"Alright, fine."
A woman dashes before them, taking the man away in a flash. Zephyr returns to his own body, leaving Veldris in a spirit form. Zephyr struggles to keep the abyssal power suppressed; he is barely able to keep it under control.
"Zephyr, remember the place you were stuck in? Fill it all in with the abyssal's energy."
Zephry's body was twitching; he was struggling to resist the desire to leap at the man. Slowly, Zephyr forces the energy into that area, his scales disappearing as the energy starts to go away.
--------------------------
Ryu catches his breath as Eun pulls him away from the beast. Ryu tries to stand up but falls back down. He's lost too much blood and was about to pass out.
I can't give up now. Eun doesn't even stand a chance against this monster.
Ryu has one knee down, posting his other knee up to give a final desperate struggle against it. Blood covered his vision, his head bleeding from the impact he took from the kick. He could feel every heartbeat, and hear every movement. The only thing keeping him alive was his adrenaline.
When it all seemed bleak, instead of the beast leaping at Ryu, it stayed there, struggling.
Ugh, Ryu thought shaking his head to clear up his blurred vision, What sick trick is it pulling now?
The black scales and the strange energy began to disappear from the beast, turning it back into a human.
Yes, this is our chance.
"Stay here Ryu, I'll go slay it," Eun said, already moving towards the beast ready to slice its head off in a heartbeat.
"Wait."
Ryu tries to stand up but immediately falls back down, Eun lifting him back up on her shoulders. One step at a time, he walks towards the man, recognizing his face.
Baek.
"Tie him up and put him in one of the rooms." Ryu pauses, coughing up blood. "And take me to Seol."
In the blink of an eye, they appear at the infirmary. Eun carefully places him on one of the sheets lying on the ground as Ryu passes out.
-----------------------
Zephyr abruptly wakes up after a bucket of water gets dumped on by a mysterious man. Zephyr coughs up the water, squinting his eyes to see a boy's face. A torch is lit, right by Zephyr's face.
"Who... are you?" Zephyr asks.
The boy kicks his foot straight into Zephyr's chest, pinning him against the wall.
"So you're not Baek. How did you take over his body? Was it after Seong killed you? Or before the examination?"
Zephyr shakes his head, clearly still dazed as his chest is being pinned against the wall and a torch is inches from his face.
"ANSWER."
Zephyr coughs catching his breath.
"I've, I've just lost my memories," Zephyr said in a barely audible voice.
The boy laughed, clearly not being tricked by this response.
"Lost your memories? As if! Then why don't you explain to me how you're still able to utilize our qi techniques back there, huh?" the boy exclaims, stomping on his chest.
Zephyr grunts in pain, thinking of something, anything to say, realizing.
"It was muscle memory."
"Wow, wow."
The boy covers his face as if he was holding back his laughter. He then grabs Zephyr by the hair, pulling him closer to his face.
"You're telling me that first, you suddenly gain the ability to wield qi, then have muscle memory after learning how to utilize it for maybe a week at most? Yeah, very funny, very funny."
The boy pulls Zephyr closer, Zephyr gritting his teeth to bear the pain.
"I don't care what it is or who you are, but you're gonna tell me how you got into this body," the boy said, whispering into Zephyr's ear.
Zephyr knew that if he didn't tell the truth, he would die right then and there. But the problem was whether the boy would believe him or not.
"I've been reincarnated into this body, I know it sounds absurd but you have to believe me."
The boy drops him down with a thud, taking a step back. Zephyr coughs clutching his chest.
"Reincarnated?"
"Yes, reincarnation."
"But the God that reincarnated me never told me about you..." the boy muttered under his breath.
"Wait, you've reincarnated as well?"
"Shut it, I'm the one asking the questions here," the boy retorted. "So I'm supposed to just believe you?"
Zephyr was growing more and more impatient. He looked around for Veldris to no avail. Zephyr sighed and started to tell the man who he was.
"Ok I'm going to tell you everything that has happened to me, but first promise not to tell anyone else."
"Hmph, I'll decide that."
"This world right now has two divine beings. I'm guessing you were reincarnated by the original divine being of this world, God. I'm not sure why you've been sent here but whatever the reason was is most likely better than the reason my divine being sent me here. A goddess that never was supposed to come to this world. A being that broke the laws of the universe to travel to Umbraxis for reasons even I don't know-"
"Ok, so why did she reincarnate you here?" the boy asked cutting him off.
"Well, that's simple. For fun. She reincarnated me here for her entertainment."
"Well, it's probably better than staying in that goddamn world wasting your life away," the man mumbled.
"Better? Better?"
Zephyr started laughing, astonished by what the boy had just said.
"Let me ask you this, how many times have you been reincarnated before this?"
"One?" the boy questioned, confused as to why Zephyr would ask such a question.
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine times. That's how many times I have reincarnated trying to save this world. Every time, a new body, a new attempt, back to the same period, experiencing the same pain, again, again, again, and again. The more I reincarnated the more I sunk into despair. At some point, the pain didn't even matter anymore. I felt like a husk of myself. Just a single soul, tethered to a single body, that didn't even matter in the grand scheme of things. But this time is different. I have to survive. I was given a chance and this chance might not be given to me ever again."
"So what do you say, are you with me, not as Baek but as Zephyr, to save Umbraxis?" Zephyr asked offering his hand.
The boy almost grabbed his hand but started shaking his head.
"If I take this hand, what am I guaranteed?"
Zephyr sighed.
"Well, I can't guarantee your safety, but I can introduce you to a strong energy you had just fought moments before this," Zephyr said smiling.
Without hesitation, the boy took Zephyr's hand nodding his head in content.
"I'm Ryu by the way."