Ugh, I hate mannequins. Always did. I once had a nightmare where a bunch of them were stalking me just outside my room. Scratching the doors, begging me to let them in. I shuddered at the memory. Unlike the fear of the unknown, this kind of fear is tangible. Meaning they can be destroyed. Those four were gonna pay for looking similar to the things I'm scared of.

The spirits around simultaneously lunged at me with spears, claws, and bodily ma.s.s. I sucked in a mouthful of air and immediately a burst of light exploded from my body, causing howls and shrieks around me. Charred smell permeating my surroundings, but I ignored it, running up the stairs as the rest of the uncooked spirits pursued me. If only they were attractive girls chasing me instead of creepily shaped spirits. But life seldom turns out the way we want it to be. I continued running, occasionally turning around to kill off any of them who got too close for comfort. I was almost at the top as I noticed them finish chanting. Each of them took out a dagger in unison and slowly closed into Bastion. My expression became sour, they were seriously going to offer him up as sacrifice, and soon. I poured any remaining power I had to my body and leaped to the peak of the temple. Landing right behind one of the spirit priests and drove a blade through it. As expected, my powers rampaged within its body, withering it like the rest of my victims. The rest of them halted for a moment, flabbergasted by my ability to bypa.s.s their guards. They turned their gazes back to Bastion and quickly decided that the ritual must be completed at all costs, unhesitatingly flinging themselves wildly to Bastion, trying to offer him up to whatever deity it is they wors.h.i.+pped. I scoffed as I darted to fill in the gap between Bastion and the three remaining spirit priests. Not on my watch. I ran my blade through the closest spirit priest, causing it to shriek eerily. It thrashed around, swinging its dagger desperately in hopes of injuring me. I kicked its torso and sent it sprawling. The stab-wound oozing out something viscous that evaporated the moment it hits the air. It squealed, desperately covering up the puncture with its hands, trying to prevent more of its "blood" from leaking out. My eyes widened in bewilderment. It's still alive. I looked to my blade, noticing its lack of l.u.s.ter. I cursed, knowing I didn't have any more juice to kill them in one hit. The two other spirit priests howled in zealous rage, running fearlessly towards me with their daggers in hand only to be cut down by a couple of strokes. I undid Bastion's bound in a rush with my sword, accidentally injuring his wrists in the process, and dragged his limp semi-conscious body down the temple. My vision blurred for an instance and I lost my footing, causing us to tumble down magnificently, barreling down the steps before finally coming to a thudding halt. I groaned inelegantly. My entire body screamed in burning pain. I swished my tongue inside my mouth and spat out a few bits of bloodied teeth. It's a good thing this isn't my real physical body, else it would really suck to be condemned to never smile again in shame from not having a full set of teeth before fifty. Knowing there's still plenty of spirits coming after us, I heaved my body up, sharp sting flaring from almost every part of it. The spirits had surrounded us again. This time, they didn't attack us impulsively like before, watching us warily instead. They must've learned their lesson from jumping at me without thinking. Fear is an excellent teacher. I materialized my soulblade again. I must've accidentally dismissed it whilst rolling down the pyramid. I kicked on Bastion's unconscious body, "Wake up!" I shouted.

I barely have enough strength just to keep myself standing, let alone carry him all along the way. I growled at them like a feral beast, letting them know that I'm ready to take down as many as I can together with me. The spirits hissed and howled, not having the guts to approach, despite seeing me standing unsteadily, ready to topple down at even the slightest touch. We maintained the status quo for a while. I felt my senses beginning to dull. Sleepiness threatening to overcome my consciousness "If I die here, would I die for real?" the thought of that being my greatest drive towards staying awake.

They took a step forward to test my reactions and I had to struggle just to glare at them to display my killing intent. A cornered beast is never to be underestimated. Even animals know that. One of the spearman spirits lurched from my back and pierced me through the shoulders. Throbbing pain a.s.saulted me as I screamed in agony. I forcefully spun, disrupting its balance. I closed the gap between us and buried my sword into its throat, drawing out a gurgling noise out of it. I pulled and let it dropped. A second later, I heard the air whistled in my ears and everything blurred at a dazzling speed. I wasn't sure what happened. The next moment, indescribable pain a.s.saulted my entire body. It wasn't exactly everywhere, but I was hurting so bad that I couldn't exactly pinpoint the source. I forced my eyes to open, my will to survive demanded it. And through my shaky vision, saw that the angle of the world had tilted by 90 degrees with dirt and dead leaves pressed to my cheeks. I was on the ground. I heard the spirits hooting out in cacophony as they stampeded from afar. My non-existent heart pounded, and I forced myself to get up. But I can't. The pain was just too much to bear. I s.h.i.+fted my head to figure out why. I froze in a horrifying realization. Even knowing that it wasn't my actual physical body didn't help much. I was broken, literally. My ribs were compressed and my joints were all bent in the wrong direction. I closed my eyes briefly and compelled myself, "This isn't my real body. Pain is a projected response from my spiritual body, it isn't real. Like spicy stuff. Yeah, exactly like spicy stuff. It burns, it hurts, it makes your sweat and cry in pain, but ultimately it isn't real."

I felt the pain receding, though it didn't go away entirely. After all, seeing is believing. But most of all, I regained enough composure to think. I swept my gaze around to find Bastion. He wasn't anywhere. Based on the distance between me and the spirits, not to mention the condition of my body. I've come to a conclusion that I was tackled by one of the Hoppers. The spirits were swiftly approaching and I racked my brain ceaselessly to find a way out. Let's lay down the problem one by one. Firstly, I'm out of angel power. Next, my body is so damaged that I can't even stand, let alone move. They arrived a dozen meters away from me, slowing down to walk. A few spirit spearmen trotted towards me, one of them shoved its weapon through my belly and I screamed. Blood gushed out my abdomen and I felt the rest of the pain returning. Another spear dove into my lung, the sensation almost causing me to blackout. The last spearman arrived, lifting its spear in an overhead grip, aiming for my temple.