"Time to get serious," Zilon muttered as he locked eyes with the demon puppet, which crouched low, ready to charge.
With a thunderous stomp, the puppet lunged at blinding speed—but Zilon was already in motion.
He ducked low the moment the puppet vanished from view, narrowly dodging a devastating blow aimed at his head.
Pivoting behind the puppet, he struck a sharp, powerful blow to the bone-like spine.
The small sound of a crack could be heard but the puppet doesn't seem to stop as it gave a quick twist with it's leg hitting Zilon who raised his hands and managed to block his head.
The impact blacked him out instantly, his body crashing into the ground, then flung into the air like a rag doll.
Just as the puppet prepared to finish him off mid-air with a deadly kick to the chest, Zilon's eyes snapped open.
Placing his fingers together he performed a cutting motion, spinning mid-air as a gleaming silver arc sliced from below.
It struck the puppet's foot, halting its momentum and sending it tumbling backward.
Zilon hit the ground hard, rolling across the floor with muffled groans, pain rippling through him.
He staggered to his feet, shaken. The puppet stared back with its blank, lifeless gaze—but something about that stare had... shifted.
He couldn't quite place it.
Dashing at him, it immediately twisted it's body and made a jump making him spin in the air as a kick headed towards Zilon.
Still breathless, Zilon barely managed to drag himself back as a purple arc screamed past his face, slicing into the ground where he stood moments ago.
Seizing the opening, Zilon stomped the ground and unleashed a flurry of slashes, silver arcs streaking toward the puppet's exposed back.
The strike connected, launching the puppet forward, its body skidding across the liquid-like floor.
It struggled to rise—slow, clunky—and Zilon noticed a thin red line across its back from the earlier blow.
After fighting this puppet for a while, Zilon was able to notice multiple flaws on it.
" It's body doesn't seem too strong, on like it's hands and legs, it doesn't have any skills whatsoever, heck not even a fighting style, " Zilon thought panting.
" it mostly copies from what it sees, that would have been trouble if it executed it perfectly..."
The puppet's eyes dimmed slightly as it locked onto him again, the blankness deepening into something darker.
Zilon grinned as he finally found out what was it.
The puppet charged with another punch—this one noticeably slower.
Zilon swatted the arm aside and drove a vicious kick into its jaw, silver energy trailing behind.
Dropping his legs down with more force, his heels landed on the puppets chest causing a slight rumble.
It buckled, refusing to fall.
But Zilon wasn't done....
He ran up its body and twisted in mid-air, delivering a heavy kick with his left leg that blasted the puppet back to its starting point.
Zilon landed in a crouch, panting. Sweat streamed down his face.
"This won't do....." Zilon frowned.
While indeed Zilon managed to find out that it had energy reserves and the more damage it took the more it depletes, Zilon wasn't really on the favourable side.
Even though stamina is irrelevant here in his soul, same couldn't be said to his mental strength, he could sometimes feel his vision blurring whenever he attacks.
"If I don't find a way to end this, it will eventually tire me out, I might wake up to the real world..... But what if I don't? " A chill ran down his spine.
"I have to survive."
Ignoring his own limits, Zilon dashed forward before the puppet could recover. It had barely stood when he was already in striking range.
He wasn't going to hold back....
The demon threw a punch, the moment Zilon entered his range.
Zilon jumped in response, flipping upside down as he spun his body and swiping his hand like a sword,and creating a cercent Sliver moon.
The demon hurriedly stepped back and raised his arm in defense as Zilon aimed for its neck.
The attack immediately went through the arm and Zilon landed behind him with his hands stretched to his right.
"Say goodnight.... "
With a flick of his left hand, the puppet's leg and half a severed arm dropped to the floor. Black blood splattered violently, seeping into the glassy surface.
Zilon turned around and saw it kneeling, he also noticed the black blood dripping from its severed parts, dissolving in the liquid transparent ground the were on.
" I hope this won't harm me....."
Zilon stood as he expected the puppet to finally collapse but to his surprise it suddenly lunged towards him with it's remaining leg.
"Hah, I knew it won't be that easy " Zilon thought as he knew for sure that he couldn't dodge that attack, even if he tried he was too worn out.
"So that's why..... "
He raised his hand—and suddenly, a blinding silver glow erupted in front of the puppet's face.
Alerted by the sudden attack , it redirected it's body momentum and manged to narrowly move past the dome that suddenly formed.
It crashed to the ground, skidding in a heap.
In the distance Zilon has set up a web of thick silver threads around him, there were thousands and thousands of it around him all set in various connections to one another, ultimately creating a web like dome.
" if I can't fight you anymore, I might as well use my last reservers to tire you out "
The puppet stared at this for a while before charging towards the dome a purple mist on its hand as it struck out it's fist.
It struck the dome—nothing happened. Not even a scratch.
" Hahaha, I am already aware of your monsterious strength so this threads you see aren't ordinary " Zilon chuckled weakly, slumping to his knees,staring at the four strings that where circled on his fingers.
Of course the puppet didn't seem to listen as it kept on punching it , trying out different directions and angles.
Above,the side,left,right.....it even tried hitting multiple places at the same time.
Zilon stared, surprised at the sheer ferocity.
" Apart from the thread being created mainly out of mana, the way I created it was actually genius " He continued.
The demon kept on punching this time with more force, sacrificing it's speed for rough strength.
The dome seem to tremble but it was still intact.
"And you know the best part" Zilon's expression changed to a cold one immediately as he plucked a string.
A split second later a silver blur shot past the puppet's face who held out it's hand ready to give another blow.
" It's deadly sharp too "
Bloodlust rolled off Zilon like a tidal wave. His cold stare locked with the puppet's empty gaze.
For a moment it was as if the puppet's eyes seem to widen slightly as it felt the wave of pressure pressing on it.
It pushed itself back giving distance between it and the dome.
The puppet then began to glow, a purple halo evolping it's armless figure, it's dimming eyes began to grow dimmer.
Then with a stomp with it's remaining leg it lunched itself forward like a rocket and the next second it slammed hard on the dome.
The scene was a spectacle to say the list.
A huge silver ball that looked like a cocoon stood aimlessly in vast black space, the liquid beneath it reflects it's silver glow, inside a sliver figure bent on one knee stared at the incoming threat with a cold expression.
*BOOOOM*
Next to it was a purple arrow, that cut through the air in half,and with a force of a flying torpedo slammed itself on the silver dome.
A huge ripple swept across the arena , going to all directions as the two pushed each other.
Inside, Zilon and the puppet locked eyes through the barrier—one frozen in a glare of fury, the other in dimming madness.
The redness in puppet's pupils were slowly gone giving it a black and lifeless look on its face.
Zilon almost thought it was over as he glanced at the purple lights which was surrounding its figure and was slowly fading.
He glanced at where the puppet had hit noticing small cracks, entertaining the thought that if it was on full power, then dome would have been easily crushed by it.
However the moment he glanced back at the puppet his body immediately froze.
His eyes trembled as he stared back at the red eyes of the demon which was getting brighter and brighter.
Before Zilon could even move the unthinkable happened.
* BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
A huge explosion that seemed to shake the whole realm erupted, covering Zilon in a flash of light.
A purple mushroom was formed where the explosion and covered up to 30 meters in the realm.
it took a while for the purple smoke to disperse showing the silver dome, cracked from all sides, that still stood with all it's glamour.
" I.... sur...vived " Zilon said as his body which was bruised from all sides fell to the ground face flat.
The dome managed hold up pretty much well, infact no damage whatsoever managed to reach Zilon from the explosion.
However, apart from the exhaustion of putting up something that could even survive that, the small cracks created from the first attack gave way for shockwaves to spread inside the dome, forcing him to endure it with little to no defense.
He was in pain—so much so that he couldn't make out anything. All his senses were clouded by nothing but the stinging agony.
"I can't... I can't... it's TOO MUCH..."
If he had any energy left, he would've screamed his lungs out in pain. He wanted to writhe, to roll on the ground—anything to escape the torment.
But all his body could do was tremble.
"This... was rather surprising..."
At some point, Zilon managed to recognize the familiar voice—the one responsible for putting him in this hellish state.
"HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THIS?! YOU WEREN'T MEANT TO! NO ONE WAS MEANT TO!!"
The sudden outburst from the voice made Zilon's condition worse. His world spun out of control.
He couldn't understand why he was still conscious. He was tired, drained, and drowsy—yet something kept him from fading.
In truth, something was keeping him awake...
"MY PLAN WAS CRAFTED SO WELL... YET YOU SURVIVED, BOY! DO YOU EVEN KNOW... WHAT ARE YOU?!"
The demon's voice rang with fury, confusion, and desperation—all twisted together in that deep, dark growl.
Still, Zilon could hardly care. His mind felt like it was burning. The voice echoed, but its meaning blurred.
"No matter... You are someone I can no longer take lightly..... Don't expect anything to be easy for you"
Suddenly, Zilon felt like he was being gently pulled, and before he knew it, he was breathing air again.
---
It took a while, but slowly, his senses began returning.
When he could finally feel something again, he noticed a warm, gentle hand combing through his hair.
His sense of smell followed, and he caught the familiar scent of sandalwood close by.
Zilon carefully opened his eyes.
He was met with a pair of slightly soft, honey-colored eyes staring intently at him.
Though his vision was still blurry, he could make out the distinct features of Lyla.
But the moment his vision cleared, he was startled by the indifferent expression on her face.
"I'm... alive?"
He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. Looking at Lyla again, he realized—he was out of that hell.
"Can you tell me how it went?" Lyla asked after a brief silence.
"But before that, if I may... why are you here?" he asked, genuinely curious. Had she sensed his struggle?
"I just came to check on you. Then I saw you breathing heavily, sweating... and red... with steam coming out instead of breath," Lyla replied.
"So she just randomly checked, huh?" Zilon thought, beginning to piece things together.
Before, it had only been a guess—but now it was a certainty:
Things that happen there affect my real body in the physical world... but not the same vice versa.
"How intriguing..."
He was somewhat familiar with the concept of souls, but his knowledge was shallow. He could only draw conclusions from vague guesses.
Snapping back to the present, he noticed her eyes studying him with a questioning gaze.
He cleared his throat, then began recounting everything—starting from the very beginning.
--------------------