"Release these people." Siderius said.
He extended his right hand. At the same time, the silver soul behind him raised its palm. A ball of Dark Aether appeared and shaped itself into a sword of dark red.
It floated over and landed on Siderius’ hand.
The phantom did not answer. Instead, it roared. Black liquid spat out of its mouth.
Behind it, the souls of the first victim and second victim were tied by dark strands of vengeful will.
Anna, the first victim, somehow awakened from her slumber. Her soul opened its eyes to see the space of darkness, the monster in front of her and the man with white hair at the opposite.
The silver soul behind him illuminated, making him look like an angel befell from heaven to come for her rescue. Anna’s eyes glimmered with hope.
"That is... Who is that?" She murmured.
The phantom clenched its fist, the dark rope tightened around Anna, torturing her soul. She screamed out in pain.
The space changed. The darkness retreated and there was the Baron’s estate.
But not the estate that Siderius was familiar with. Not the luxurious villa that was always cleaned and nice but was filled with nothing but hidden darkness beneath its floorboards.
The landscape invaded Siderius’ dark mind space and tried to take over his psyche.
Siderius squinted his eyes. He smirked arrogantly. He rarely showed his arrogance because that was a sign of weakness. But here, he had nothing to hide anymore.
"Do you really think I’m that weak?"
From behind the silver soul, a second scene materialized. It was Siderius’ Alchemical Palace, the castle of which he had spent years studying and practicing his craft. It invaded the space between him and the phantom, both were fighting for control over this shared space.
The Baron’s estate retreated. It seemed to get pushed back by the Alchemical Palace.
The space changed again. Now they were fighting on Siderius’ homeground.
The Phantom looked around and growled. It had lost control and was no longer able to invade Siderius’ mind and take his soul away. There was only one thing left for it to do.
The Phantom spread its arm. Dark smoke exuded out of its body and formed shadow, faceless humanoid beings with white eyes.
"So you did have many other victims. But I wonder why you show yourself now."
Above him, swords of iron and fire materialized and shot at the faceless shadow, destroying them before they were even able to form.
This was a battle of the spirit and the collision of their souls. They fought with the strength of their will power and the appearance of their blade was whatever they could imagine. Discover more novels at NoveI[F]ire.net
The Phantom called upon the souls it had trapped. Naturally, its projections should be much more powerful than Siderius.
But Siderius’ soul was not ordinary. It had gone through one enlightenment of the Truth-Seeking Path.
"If you have existed for a little bit more, I might not be able to survive this conflict. But as of right now, you were less of a threat than a witchling."
Phantom was hard to deal with. The longer it existed the more powerful it would be. But on the same rank of power, a phantom would be much weaker than a witch. What was unique about it was that it would be difficult to destroy without the proper knowledge.
But Siderius knew everything about a Phantom. He didn’t even need to look at the System Library to recall the Alchemy Compendium. He knew it by heart.
And Siderius stormed at the Phantom. Its faceless minions rushed at him. Siderius’ sword projections aid him on his path, clearing away the minions on the outskirts. The ones that were unfortunate enough to approach him were met with the power of his Dark Aether’s sword.
They melted away like butter and split into multiple parts. The Phantom stepped back. It had lost most of its intelligence when it was human. But it had the instinct to know when it was in danger.
Dark strands reached out of its body and shot at Siderius with the goal to restrain him.
Siderius stomped at the ground. Immediately, the giant silver soul clasped its hand. A silver shockwave swept over the battlefield, blowing away every last bit of darkness. The strands were disintegrated into ash.
Siderius stepped forward, getting closer to the Phantom.
Anna was there to witness everything. She had soon forgotten all about the dangers around her and the peculiar situation she found herself in. What she knew was the man with white hair dancing on the battlefield like a true god.
He was elegant. He was brutal. He was the symbol of the blade but also represented hope. He was there to save her.
Anna was a young girl. It was natural for her to have all kinds of romanticized feelings. It couldn’t help that Siderius was really impressive with his control of the soul and his sword skill.
Everything made him a figure that looked bigger than life.
As Siderius entered the melee range of the Phantom, he executed a clean horizontal slash through the hip of the Phantom. Its body was cut in two, the chest fell down to the floor while the pair of legs wobbled for a few more seconds before falling down.
And there it was, the fall of the Nightmare Phantom.
The Phantom was weak and had not matured yet. It wasn’t capable of invading Siderius’ mind and pulling him into its nightmare. That nullified its biggest weapon, causing it to become less of a threat.
"Rest for now." Siderius penetrated his dark sword through the eyesocket of the Phantom.
Its body dematerialized and disappeared. The dark ropes twisted around Anna and the second victims were released.
Outside the real world, Siderius had placed his hands on the two victims for a couple of minutes. Dreams always felt longer than they actually were.
As Jude was feeling a little bored and wanted to go for a walk, Anna and the second victims suddenly sat up. They gasped for air with sweats covering their entire forehead.
This time, Siderius didn’t lose any blood. He slowly opened his eyes to find the two victims had awakened from their slumber.
The Phantom was defeated, temporarily. But it would soon return and wreak havoc to the world of the living. Dealing with it would need more than a simple Rite of Wandered Souls.
Anna turned her head to see Siderius. He was more beautiful than what she had seen in her mind. Her heart beat crazily, like an escaped bunny.
Siderius did see her glee but he didn’t pay it no mind. This face had drawn a lot of unwanted attention. He got used to it.
Baron stepped forward. "You really are proficient..."