The item landed gracefully in the palm of Litei Frost , not a single grain of essence escaping the sealed pouch. In order to defeat the ghoul at the level it was at , he had to transcend the boundaries of humanity and become a traveler—destined to follow the whims of fate and act accordingly.
He pulled the red knot , opening the sand pouch. Laying a before him , Litei sat down in the exact same meditative position and prepared himself to absorb the soul essence thus completing the final stage into reaching his goal.
Sword Saint didn't waste time either.
As soon as the dormant human closed his eyes , Riuki immediately went for the opening created when the ghoul was distracted. The grass patches swayed back and forth conceding to the force resulting from his dash.
He stabbed the silver sword aiming directly at the torso of his enemy—unwavering , the ghoul slid down , dodging it with ease and launching a counter-attack.
Riuki jumped back , narrowly avoiding the loss of his head. His clothes fluttered as the once gentle winds grew into gales , an invisible force established its dominance behind the unholy ghoul , wrenching it backwards , gradually.
He himself remained perfectly still , his impatient rush into battle was the cause of all this. All the while he had been in the mindscape the carriage had gone in the wrong direction and ended up in that same canyon they were currently.
Taking a deep breath , he focused his thoughts on coming up with a strategy. This time he wasn't going to fight the creature head-on , a frontal assault at this point would be suicide , and so in order for him to but enough time until Litei awakened he needed to study and find a way to hinder its movements.
Knocked back by the invisible force , it was left defenseless for a minute or two however , this time the young Saint just stood there , his focus unwavering , per each breath the unholy ghoul took , he observed the rhythm even forgetting his own need to breathe in some air. He could feel it , his powers were growing. A Trojan Traveler had powers specifically suited for infiltration , whether it was a sting operation or that of the mind—as he had previously shown to have a knack for—those same abilities enhanced his senses allowing him to tune into the emotions of others.
Blocking out the variety of emotions that would try to break through once in a while , Riuki synced his blank mind with the ghoul's , allowing all kinds of evil muses to enter his mind.
He felt a sharp pain in his head , instead of groaning silently or even shouting at the top of his lungs , he just kept quiet. This amount of pain was nothing . When compared to the time when he was sent away to the institute , or when he first encountered the ghoul in the mindscape even when he tried to glance at the Old One and got punished by the Distant Echo, then he knew true pain but this… it was barely even an itch.
"All right , let me know who you are."
****
(Litei's Pov)
'This is getting old' , again I opened my eyes only to see myself in that bloody shack again. The system was testing my patience at this point. However , it could try bait into losing my temper but I wouldn't give in.
My view had gotten better since the last time I was here. Though there wasn't anything that was worth seeing in the dark for in this wretched abyssal shack. I paced around the room , desperate to find an exit —one completely different from the that regretful choice.
I was in my head, inside my head—which doesn't make sense—so I could somewhat guess that this apart of the final trial in my journey as a Child Of Destiny.
I laughed internally at the ridiculous name , whoever or whatever was the Distant Echo, it had sense of humor. One that could be deadly and totally unnecessary at times but a sense of humor no less.
Other than that open panel in the floor board no other exits could be seen in this dream-like mindscape. Sighing , I glanced at my body and clothes : Both were in bad shape even before our first encounter with the ghoul. My soles completely exposed , probably had to thank that bloody system for giving me this get-up instead of some proper gear.
Then again I had nothing to expect , I didn't really get here by normal traveler means now did I?. An idea lit up , I patted my pockets , finding the pouch that Riuki threw me a fe- , it was impossible to tell the time in here . Perhaps days had passed since catching the pouch and the ghoul had already killed Riuki and consumed my body for its dinner , of which would leave me stuck in this undesirable nightmare.
I gulped at the thought , it was horrifying enough to have witnessed to monstrous form of the unholy ghoul. The cockroach shell like scales pasted on its skin , the hair rampaged by vile , dread worms. How could anyone think that other monsters existed after encountering that.
(Back to the point.)
Laying out the soul essence on the floor in a wide circle , I retained the meditative position from before. Clearing my mind , I saw a white plain , complete white covering the world view. With no end in sight as it seemed to stretch far into the horizon–if there was one , that is.
"I'm going to regret this aren't I!?", I said to no one particularly, just myself , me and the void of white.
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Author's Note :
I know , I know the story updates have been unstable so far and that is totally unacceptable to the loyal readers. Most of you may divert to free sites and miss out on good none slop novels out there.
For everyone who has given my story a chance , thanks and I hope that you'll support me to the end.
_Frosted_Snowman ☃️
HAPPY HALLOWEEN 🎃