Erwin watched as the Crypt Fiend's leg moved past, just inches away from his face.
But he didn't panic. He prepared his weapon and thrust his spear forward once more, cutting through the flesh from the gap.
He had narrowly missed another eye.
Monster, too, was getting smarter. It used its abnormal anatomy to its advantage, pulling its eyes to safety whenever Erwin found an opening to attack them.
"This fight is not going to end this way."
Erwin, with no known weak spot but one potential in mind, had been in a fight with the Crypt Fiend for some time now.
Dodging attacks, blocking sweeps, baiting lunges, then making moves of his own afterward.
The cycle repeated with no ending in sight.
All wounds closed quickly, and Erwin tired himself out more; the next attack passed him.
"I need to bait its stomach."
So, he braced his back against a wall and waited for the creature to lunge.
And once it did, instead of escaping to the side as he always did, Erwin leaped forward, diving to the floor and raising the spear aimed at the stomach of the incoming beast.
He was sure it couldn't control itself and attack him.
"Tested its limits as far as I could."
But moments before the monster landed, he heard a scream.
A scream from a voice unknown.
{"TRAP!"}
{"ROLL"}
Instinctively, Erwin followed its command.
He didn't know why.
It just felt true. No lie, no malice was in it.
And as he barely avoided the beast landing on him, with a thundering noise, a tendril shot forward from the creature's mouth.
Like a bullet, it ripped through the air and cracked the ground below as it pierced through.
"Fuck…"
Erwin quickly got up and rushed to put distance between himself and the monster.
"Fuck… I just."
He looked at the spear in his hands, then the monster before him.
"I almost died. Ivara, was it you?"
["What?"]
Erwin's eyes widened.
"If it wasn't her, then who?"
{"TO LEFT!"}
The same voice screamed once more.
Erwin followed as told.
And watched as the Crypt Fiend ended its lunge with the same tendril it just fired from its mouth, being launched from an opening on its upper body.
It landed towards Erwin's right.
"Ivara! I am hearing voices."
["What voices?"]
"Inside my head. Screams to be precise. Warning me of the monster's movements."
["Wait…"] Ivara's crystal words suddenly appeared once again, shining brightly. ["Close your eyes!"]
Erwin did as told.
He called the ability to see the souls around him the soul vision.
The red glowing ball of the monster was gone.
A clashing spectrum of greens, reds, and blues took its place. Its shape vaguely resembled a human.
Despite seeing something like this for the first time, Erwin knew what it was.
Something etched inside him told him.
"A living soul."
He opened his eyes once more. The monster that ferociously attacked him before was moving slowly now, stumbling as it walked.
Pulling its limbs from moving at the last second.
"Almost fighting itself."
["Erwin. This may be our only chance."]
Ivara appeared behind him and pressed his back with both hands, casting the calming magic she used on their first meeting.
["Focus on the soul!"]
Erwin did as told and closed his eyes once more.
Focusing on the soul.
He felt it moving closer and closer.
But when he opened his eyes for a moment, the monster was still far away.
["Focus!"]
With Ivara's warning, he quickly closed it once more.
And this time, he took a step forward as well.
Close enough, he offered his hands to it, and the vague shape responded by catching them.
At that moment, the darkness around him took on color.
A clear blue sky, fragrant flowers on a green plain.
Thunks of a walking horse, clinks of armor.
Around him, four other men, each riding their horses, followed Erwin from behind.
Their faces blurred, but they felt close.
"Too close. Almost like brothers in arms."
Then the scenery changed.
Now, before him was an abandoned fortress, where an army of undead marched toward him.
He braced his sword and leaped off his horse.
A foul stench was in the air, not of the rotting corpses, but something else.
With allies next to him, Erwin fought.
And fought.
Then the scenery changed once more.
Stripped of everything but his dignity, chained to a wall in a dungeon with no light.
Bleeding from scars on his chest.
A tall man stood before him, the source of the foul stench.
His limbs were thin, devoid of color.
"The Necromancer of the Wrathful."
A title and name appeared in his memories as he looked at the blurry face of the figure.
Then the scenery changed once more, to one of pain and suffering, his very flesh and bones melting into one with his brothers' as the Necromancer chanted a spell.
Then… then there was nothing.
Just emptiness, and five dots of light.
Then four.
Then three.
Then two.
And finally, only one.
Erwin opened his eyes and gripped his chest.
His heart was beating wildly. Saliva had gathered on his mouth.
Unbeknownst to him, his eyes once again changed to that deep blue, like the ever-consuming abyss of the ocean.
"Ivara. I know what to do."
Erwin charged forward and leaped at the creature.
With one hand, he managed to grab onto a piece of bone and pull himself into the monster's back.
The soul inside still struggled to stop it, but it came to a halt when Erwin stabbed another eye with the spear.
The beast roared and tried to shake Erwin off.
But Erwin was prepared.
Right after stabbing the Crypt Fiend, he pulled the spear away and punched the hole he opened.
The green liquid quickly dried around his arm, giving him just enough standing power as the raging beast thrashed around.
With his free hand, he grabbed his mace and started to pummel the bones on the back.
"Just need to get through this."
He hit the mace on the bone again and again.
The ever-desperate beast tried to smash its back against the cave walls.
Stones, dirt, and pebbles fell as the very foundation of the room shook.
But Erwin kept hitting.
And hitting.
Even when the tendril launched at him.
Even when it pierced through the chainmail armor and grazed his arms.
He just avoided and kept hitting.
When the bone cracked enough, he dug in with his hand, forcefully removing chunks at a time.
When he finally reached the bottom, a human upper body emerged.
Or what remained of it.
Gray like the beast's flesh, its skin melted, eyes gone, and at an early stage of being rotten.
He turned to Erwin, keeping a bitter smile.
They both knew what to do.
Erwin took a deep breath and prepared himself for what was to come.
With a quick move, he drew his sword and slashed it at the body's neck.
Already softened bones and meat didn't resist as the blade cut through them.
And the head held a weak smile as it bounced off the monster's bones and rolled on the ground.
The fight was over.
The Crypt Fiend collapsed on the floor.
The system screen flashed for a moment before Ivara blocked it.
Erwin took a deep breath before cutting himself free.
"We won."
He looked at Ivara watching him from a corner.
"We won!"
He raised his sword to the air.
"Damn it."
Erwin turned to the head on the ground.
"Thank you…"
["It's over, for us, at least."]
"Yes…" Erwin nodded, but stopped halfway through. "What do you mean by us?"
Ivara moved towards the head on the ground. ["The soul, still trapped in the body. I don't know why."]
Erwin closed his eyes.
The colors were still there, just much weaker. He opened them once more.
"But why? There should be at least some explanation; even a theory of sorts would suffice."
["I don't know. Something from the past must be holding it still."]
The memories Erwin saw flashed in his mind.
"Ivara, what happens when a living soul fades?"
["Unless something protects it, it forever gets stuck in a purgatory between the realms of the dead and living. Why?"]
"So, that's why you still held on."
"Is there a way to free them? To let them move through to the realm of the dead."
Ivara stroked her chin. ["Normally, not. But since you are…"] She raised her head. ["What do you have in mind?"]
Erwin crouched next to the head as well, gently closing its eyelids. "I need to repay a kindness."
["There is a way. You should be capable of it, thanks to the curse. But it would be dangerous."]
Erwin nodded. "I see. But I need to do it anyway."
Ivara raised her hand, but stopped before saying anything.
She took a moment to breathe before shaking her head.
["Alright. I need you to listen to my instructions very carefully."]