A loud thump sounded as Ikky's body collided heavily against the grey spirit, knocking the small human body out of its grasp. He caught hold of the body before it could fall, the blood pouring messily over his body. This woman had been cut nearly in half— her legs removed and parts of her face bitten out.
By the time the spirit found its balance and turned to smack the life out of the unfortunate man, Ikky had already attached the strings of his life into the woman's body, the sudden drain of life essence making him vulnerable to the spirit's attack.
Equinox held the woman tightly in his arms exorcising that broken tree and running in the opposite direction of the exhausted man.
Without even bothering with technique, he tore his shirt roughly off his body and began to wrap the remains of the woman's body in it. Before the spirit could slam down on his back, he had already placed her on the ground so the force from the spirit's blow would not shake her body.
Equinox choked, gasping for air as he turned around to push the spirit away. He stretched his claws further, ripping a portion of its literal soul— a night mist copy of the evil spirit out of its body.
The spirit cried as it lost a bit of colour, looking even paler now.
Līfwin's 'exorcism' is one that purified by splitting the pure soul from the impure physical form. But creatures with free will were such that they taint their own souls, making releasing that 'pure' soul a lot more complicated.
The attack was a gutting one, bringing the spirit to its knees as it roared. It had after all just gotten a part of its soul ripped right out of its body.
Equinox followed with another hand swipe to the bottom of its head, knocking it up, but failing to rip out another night mist shadow.
"Focus!" Yaga advised. His life currently depends on how quickly and often he could force his hands into the spirit's abstract self.
The spirit soon regained its balance as Ikky was about to try again, grabbing his wrist and pulling the man up to its mouth. Its jaw unhinged and it bit down, its teeth unfortunately sinking into the intangible night clone of itself instead.
Equinox had switched places with the night clone. The clone ran through the spirit's body, running around with its arms spread out.
"It doesn't seem like this Deciever has too many crystals. You are simply too weakened now. Don't say I did not warn you earlier."
Even now, Ikky still wasn't listening, pouring his life into a lost cause. It was clear that woman would be dead soon.
"They'll... kill me!!!" Screeching out barely audible sounds, the spirit rushed at the tired prophet, but just as it was about to get tackled down by the man, it suddenly twisted its body before grabbing Ikky's arm and throwing him aside.
Running even faster now, it headed straight for the half eaten woman.
Ikky's dark eyes shifted, immediately swapping places with the mist clone and appearing right behind the spirit to grab at its neck with both hands. Pulling those hands out of the creature's neck, two more clones were ripped out.
"Settle down, spirit." Līfwin exhaled, his words coming out with frosty breaths.
Before he landed, he reappeared in the position of the other clone already in front of the creature.
"This can only ever end in one way..." He grabbed the spirit's jaw and dragged down more of its soul's remains, flicking his wrist to the side and flinging the spirit onto the ground.
Walking towards the creature wreathing in agony, Equinox's dark eyes looked as impenitent as ever... unapologetic.
What he offers is the ultimate relief, the torment this spirit had to face from its soul being ripped out piece by piece was as a result of its own actions. It had acted of its own free will, murdered of its own free will, tortured of its own free will, and yet, here it was on a path to redemption. This little pain was hardly anything to feel bad about.
The spirit suddenly screeched, stabbing its own chest with its hand and crushing its essence crystal. Light gradually started to spread around its entire body from its chest.
Ikky picked the creature up by the shoulders and threw it far into the sky.
The mist clones were starting to fade— a result of the creature's self destruction. So they all flew one by one, knocking the spirit further up as they crashed into its spirit's body and restored its life.
The last clone grabbed the creature's head, substituting its position with Equinox, now waiting on the ground as the amber eyed man came down from where the clouds should be.
Black and white streak fell like a mystical pillar from the heavens. When it met the earth, a cloud of white shimmers burst exploded, adorning the dark sky like glimmering stars.
———
"There really are people here to take back."
"Shh!"
Equinox heard voices as his eyes opened groggily, looking up at the two women moving their hands all over his bare chest, he stuttered out a question,
"Err, who are you people and... what are you—"
"Anne?" One of the two called out.
"Ugh... calm down now. We're just applying first aid." Anne said to the amber eyed man.
Ikky's eyes wandered before he decided to shut them and recall where in the world he was.
"That man still stabbed you in the end." Yaga suddenly spoke. "But it seems he was telling the truth. I estimated that you wouldn't be able to use your muscles for weeks after deactivating your Totem, but the drawbacks, the pain, they're all gone."
Ikky's eyelids folded as he struggled to recall. "... That's right!" He suddenly stood up, pushing the women away. "Where is she?! That— that woman who..."
He turned his head around, searching wildly for that person. He eventually found Ivan sitting a few meters away with Ikky's clothes beside him. The amber eyed man crawled all the way to him, asking,
"What happened? Could you save— did she die?"
Ivanhoe shook his head and gave a reassuring smile.
Ikky looked down at the woman. Her body was still in a bad state, however she seemed to be resting now, and her body had been properly wrapped and bandaged.
Realising that, he sighed with relief and then fell back on the ground.
"I'll take care of her for you. Is she your friend?" Ivan asked, to which Ikky denied. The Sullivan could see a small smile on Ikky's face that he was trying to suppress, and could only assume that Ikky really did know her.
But he truly did not. He felt strange, as strange as he'd been since he settled in Mahar— happy. He'd saved one life, one single life, one measly life compared to the countless his family had made suffer, and the many he'd pushed to their deaths in that bleak cave. Now that he thought about it, there really was nothing to be happy about.
What exactly had he done? Heaven knows both of those two would have died had it not been for Līfwin's choices. He had no reason to risk his life for Astrid, nor those two strangers, so he surmised, he'd most likely not have helped them.
Ikky is Līfwin, but telling himself that was the truth just seemed like a lie to him.
In the first place, why is he here trying to become a prophet?
'Wishes. I get to wish for anything I want as a prophet.' There were incentives to being a prophet;
'I want to live long for my mother's sake.' He could not afford to risk his life for strangers.
After affirming what he was really here for, he shut his eyes to rest.
"Do you have water?"
Ikky's mouth tasted really bitter.