The stinging pain on his soul still lingered, but Kai didn't care. If he was going to die anyway, he could handle a little pain.
Pain meant that he was still alive after all, even if only for a little while.
Failure managed to barely deflect another one of the Demon's heavy blows with the edge of his wooden blade. The aura had successfully slowed him down slightly, but he was still able to dodge or block any oncoming blows, though some barely.
He flew backwards while some of the flying wooden weapons and wooden puppets on the ground took his place in assaulting the Demon from all angles.
Confused, Failure couldn't help but steady himself as he spoke to Kai.
"What? Kai, what don't you understand? Your soul is collapsing, you will die soon if I don't exit your body? Is that something you want, to die?"
"Of course not!" Kai scowled. "Obviously I don't want to die, I'm still young, I'm only seventeen!
"I still have a life to live, a wife to find, parents to find, a cute little wolf who is hiding in that small wooden dome to raise, so why the hell would I want to die?"
That was one thing that Kai wasn't going to get over, no matter what.
Life. Life was something that everyone got to experience, yet it was different for everyone.
Someone could be rich and live a happy and fulfilling life, but there could also be someone that's dirt poor and barely managed to scrape by day by day.
Both were living a life, but they were vastly different.
And yet, Kai's couldn't be compared to either of them as he was currently being possessed by old knight, who's age he had no idea of, while fighting a Demon that had been created from the dark side of a cursed moon by the same god that cursed that moon.
Honestly, Kai wasn't sure if he should pity or envy himself.
... Probably pity.
"But it's not just me that has a life left to live. I mean, shit, Noelle undoubtedly deserves to live more than me. She had basically nothing, anything she got was nearly always taken from her.
I thought karma was meant to be you do some good you get some good in return, not you do some good and get absolutely bent over by fate for eleven years straight, what sort of logic is that?
And Sofia probably has a life to live, she's still young enough... I think.
Even John, that big damn softie, has a wife and child he needs to find. He has a goal set in mind and he's going to stick to it, that's what someone needs to keep themselves going.
And what do I got? Nothing, that's what."
He could have said he still had his parents, he could have said that he was going to see them again, he could have said that...
But he just couldn't bear to lie to himself.
If the other tutorials were anything like the one he was currently in, full scale wars in these kind of environments.
Then his parents were most certainly dead.
Of course, there was still the miniscule chance that they were still alive and well and Kai was just overthinking things, but Kai had already prepared himself for a possible death, so what was the point in giving him some kind of pointless hope.
Hope was for the living after all.
"So, Failure, I don't think I'll ever understand how badly you want your revenge, and in all honesty, I hope I never do. If I somehow end up surviving today, no offence, but I will pray that I never end up in a situation like yours.
But even though I don't know how bad you want revenge, I know you want revenge bad. So why are you backing down? The finish line is in sight, you're at the final push. Killing the Demon is technically the same as beating a God, considering it was created by one.
So Failure... You want your revenge...
So fucking do something about it."
Kai's body floated in the air, unmoving. Neither Kai or Failure bothered to move it, both remaind silent, thinking about what they had just respectively said or heard.
A small chuckle escaped Kai's lips he looked down at the ground.
A single tear rolled down his cheek, but it was impossible to tell whether it was Kai or Failure that spilled it. It could have even been both of them.
"Kai" Failure said, his tone soft. "I thank you for giving me this opportunity.
Once the Corrosion reached my body, I thought that was the end of things. My power was constantly being sapped so I could only rely on Aldred.
Hah, I felt so weak. I had been the one to take care of him when he was a pup, now he had to be the one to take care of me. I felt like a grandad.
So Kai, I truly cannot thank you enough for giving me this opportunity. You have given me the only thing that was out of my reach, and for that, you have earned my eternal gratitude.
Thank you, my dear Kai."
Failure sighed and closed his eyes solemnly, lifting his wooden blade above his head once more.
"And with that, I apologise for what I am about to do."
Kai's blue eyes flashed a shade of green as Failure roared and swung his wooden sword downward again, just as he had done when creating the wooden dome surrounding them.
Failure flared his presence, using his authority to command everything around him. Every wooden item that had been attacking the Demon at this very moment all attempted one last suicide attempt in an effort to injure the Demon as much as they could.
Arrows dug into flesh, blades chipped into limbs, tendrils tied down and pinned legs.
Yet the Demon did not care, it simply bellowed in anger as it shot out its aura again.
Failure's presence and the Demon's aura collided, an invisible battle occurring in between both of the duelling beings. Small bangs could be heard even when there was nothing creating the noise, the battle of wills was happening on a scale that one could not witness.
But even with neither aura being able to win over the other, just the shockwaves sent off from the battle were enough to make Kai writhe in pain.
Kai felt as more and more cracks built up on his soul, the ethereal silver wisps threatening to spill out once more. The cracks this time were much smaller and weaker, but there was more of them.
Kai bit his lower lip as he clamped his hands down on one of the cracks, desparately trying to copy what he had accidently done earlier in an attempt to prevent himself from dying too quickly.
"Failure, hurry up!"
Failure strained the body he was possessing, creating even more cracks on Kai's soul.
A green wave of light shot out of Failure's blade, its target being the Demon that was still deflecting some of the onslaught of flying wooden weapons.
Noticing something was off, the Demon turned its ugly head and allowed an arrow to plunge itself into his side in favour of lifting its axe up to block the incoming attack.
The Demon lowered its stance slightly and braced itself just as the wave of green light collided with the full moon abomination weapon.
The green wave of light crashed into the edge of the axe. The Demon was pushed back slightly before it roared and dug it's feet even further into the ground for more support.
The wind started swirling around where it was happening as small cuts started appearing on the horrid flesh of the Demon just from the force of Failure's attack.
The Demon was not having a good time.
Meanwhile, neither was Kai.
For whatever reason- Well, not for whatever reason, Kai had told him to go all out- But for whatever reason, Kai's soul was under a lot more strain than it was previously.
His soul was already marred by cracks even though he had gotten rid of a fair few by now.
He just kept repeating 'don't spill' over and over again in his mind as he pressed down onto the cracks with his palms. He wasn't even sure if thinking 'don't spill' was necessary to the whole process, but he would rather be safe than sorry.
Crack after crack appeared on his soul, but Kai was constantly repairing them at the same time. Another stat had threatened to slip out from one of the cracks, his Dexterity this time, but Kai had quickly put a stop to that.
And shockingly, after repairing another crack that Kai had lost count of, a notification rang out in his head.
[Soulcery (Common)] -> ...
Kai didn't even get the chance to look at the new upgrade or read the description of the upgraded skill, but at least he knew what was allowing him to repair the cracks on his soul.
The skill had been completetly useless thus far, but it seems that Kai had just been using it completetly wrong in the first place.
After the upgrade, even though he wasn't exactly sure how it had upgraded, the process of repairing the cracks became ever so slightly easier, but Kai was still constantly in agonising pain while still having to keep his stats and soul essence from slipping out of the cracks.
It was a torturous process. The pain was definitely up there with the worst he had experienced. The feeling of having your soul slip out of you was definitely not pleasant.
Just as Kai repaired another crack, the strain that had been on his soul weakened significantly. He quickly finished repairing another crack, and just as he was about to take a pause and find out what happened, he heard Failure murmur two words.
"It worked."
Then, a terrifying crack much louder than any of the ones previously boomed throughout the area.
Only this crack hadn't come from Kai' soul, it had come from outside the wooden dome.
Far, far above it.