Son howled in pain as Lee Seng pushed him onto the jail cell wall. The light burned Son's face and body, scarring his soul. Lee Seng pushed himself onto Son and whispered into his ear.
"You attacked me in the form of a nightmare. You masked yourself so you could infiltrate my mind and reach the start of my Soul. Unluckily for you, I'm the strongest here." Lee Seng smiled and pulled the blade out of Son. Son howled in pain as he collapsed onto the ground, pushing himself away from the hot walls. He bumped himself right into Lee Seng with a shaky breath.
Lee Seng turned and exited the jail cell. He turned and watched it close in on Son, trapping him like a bird in a cage. "You can stay there until I find your actual body and kill it. You did all the work for me. I thought this would be harder." He waved goodbye and watched a chain fly from the darkness above and link to the top of the jail cell cage. Son was yanked up and away, somewhere he wouldn't be able to get out of.
'Time to wake up.' Lee Seng thought. He walked into the darkness, feeling light swirl around him. His consciousness pulled back to his body and his eyes opened. He let out a yawn as he rose to a sitting position. He rubbed his eyes and stood up from the bed. The quiet noises of Evan's snores filled the room. He didn't know what time it was, but it was certainly darker.
He pulled the time up from the System and noticed it was nighttime. 'No one came for us, yet?' Lee Seng wondered. He moved over to Evan and shook him.
"Evan." Lee Seng whispered. "Get up. It's nighttime." Evan groaned and rolled over to Lee Seng. He let out a satisfied yawn and rubbed his eyes.
"Hmm..? Time to go?" Evan asked, pushing himself into a sitting position. Lee Seng's ears twitched. He turned and listened.
"Not a noise." Lee Seng whispered under his breath. He turned his head over to Evan and motioned for him to follow. Evan groggily got up without question and followed after Lee Seng.
Lee Seng was the first to take a peek. He scanned the area, holding onto the faded brick while Evan slowly slivered his way up the stairs, poking his head into the open and looking around.
"I don't see anything." Evan whispered. "Or hear anything for that matter…"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt'It's silent.' Lee Seng thought. 'Shouldn't we be able to hear people going about? It's 9pm…'
"…ah…"
"What's that…?" Evan whispered. He began to turn to Lee Seng, but as he did, Lee Seng grabbed him and pulled him backwards.
'Stay quiet.' Lee Seng told Evan.
"…ah… h-help…" The voice weakly called out.
"Did you hear that?" Evan looked at Lee Seng.
'You can talk to me with your thoughts, dude.' Lee Seng tapped Evan.
'We should go help him.' Evan motioned. Evan pulled his arm away and slowly crept back up the stairs towards the voice. Lee Seng followed behind, quietly moving through the library.
"Over here." Evan spoke a little too loud. He knelt down next to a bleeding person. "Hey, are you okay?" The person groaned as they tried to say something. "W-what? I can't hear you?" Evan leaned in closer and listened to the gurgling as the person tried to say something. Lee Seng leaned down and wrote a healing rune. He grabbed the rune and let the light out of his hand.
"…attacked… by… lookalike." The person spoke weakly. They looked over to Lee Seng and tried to point at him. "Like that…"
"A lookalike?" Lee Seng asked, quietly. The person weakly nodded. They slowly pointed past their feet.
"Over… there… Fighting…"
"What should we do?" Evan asked Lee Seng. "Should I go ahead and look?" Lee Seng removed his hovering hand and put his hands together. He created a dome of light around the guy and watched the rune inscribe itself at the middle point.
"This should keep 'em stabilized. Let's go." Lee Seng motioned. Lee Seng stepped away from the person first, leaving Evan with him.
"Stay here. Lee Seng's magic will keep you alive." Evan told the person. "We'll come back for you." Evan started to stand when the person grabbed his hand, pulling his attention back onto him.
"…General… help…"
Evan nodded and plucked his hand away and set the person's hand back into the light shield. He moved after Lee Seng who was waiting for him.
'Alright, let's go.' Evan telepathically told his friend. The two continued forward, noticing how destroyed the library was. 'You think one person could've done all this?' Lee Seng didn't answer. Something felt wrong about all of this. Blood spilt everywhere and there were tons of dead bodies.
'He couldn't have come here if he was trying to kill me from inside my own Soul.' Lee Seng thought to himself.
"Grah!" A sword plunged through the door with the sound of flesh squelching. The sword pulled out of the door and plunged into the door one more time before the sound of life escaped the body. The sword pulled out and the dead body fell to the ground, falling into view of Lee Seng and Evan.
"Have to get to the others." Ritsuka huffed. He stepped into view with blood dripping off his katana. He noticed something out of the corner of his eyes and reacted without thought. He rushed forward, swinging the sword straight for Lee Seng's throat. Evan pulled Lee Seng away, raising his arm. Obsidian Glass and the kinetic shield reverberated, causing a fluctuation of energy to shake the library.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Evan shouted. "We're allies!" Ritsuka's eyes widened and he pulled his katana away, taking a small jump backwards.
"You guys are here." Ritsuka sighed in relief. Noises of fighting filled the space. Lee Seng and Evan could see bright magic lighting up the night sky outside.
"What happened?" Evan asked. Ritsuka turned to look at the outside and rubbed his eyes.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"We were ambushed." Ritsuka answered. "By someone who looks exactly like Lee Seng. He brought a small army. They sealed the library off in an instant as if they knew someone important was there. General Halys forced a couple people to guard the library in return and Calis went outside to force the other Lee Seng away. I haven't heard anything since then. There's been so much fighting that I didn't notice the barrier fell."
'That's why Evan didn't hear anything. That much noise would've surely woken him up… It would've woken me up if I wasn't being possessed…' Lee Seng thought.
"We should try to find Calis. Maybe he's kept up with the other you." Ritsuka suggested.
"Won't it be dangerous for Lee Seng?" Evan asked. He looked over at Lee Seng. "They won't know the difference between you and him. What if your ears are the same? Who are they gonna fight?" Lee Seng summoned the Golden Armor and sword.
"That'll differentiate me and him." Lee Seng tilted his head. A halo of runes floated above Lee Seng's head as he turned and scanned the library one last time. Dark magic perfumed the sky like fog. It almost felt like poison sweeping its way through the library that was once closed off. He turned back to look at his friend and started for the door. "What're the enemies like?"
"Deimons with purple eyes. Some humanoid monsters that look deformed in some shape or form. Some monsters. You can't miss them. What's the plan?" Ritsuka asked as Lee Seng pushed the door open. The sounds of fighting and magic echoed all around them.
"Don't worry about the other me. I'll handle myself. Kill anything that isn't an ally." Lee Seng told Evan and Ritsuka.
"You shouldn't go alone. What if that's what he wants? It could be a trap."
"He already tried to kill me by possessing my Soul. If he's truly moving about right now, he's in a weakened state because I locked part of him up. I need to strike now and force an opening on our side."
"Let us at least come with you. We'll deal with small guys." Evan suggested.
"Grah!" Someone screamed and rushed straight for Lee Seng. Lee Seng rolled his eyes as he raised his sword. He slashed the air and watched as gold butterflies exploded from the purple-eyed enemy.
"Butterflies? You went from tiny wisps to butterflies? When did that happen?" Ritsuka asked Lee Seng.
"Just earlier." Lee Seng lowered his sword. He continued forward.
"J-just earlier? W-while you were… being possessed?" Evan asked following after Lee Seng. Ritsuka jogged after them, watching the left side for any enemies coming their way. Flames exploded in the distance, lighting a portion of the sky in a pillar of flame.
"Hold on tight." Lee Seng scrawled a rune. His finger hovered to the side of the rune as he focused on finding Calis. "Found you." He slashed the rune and blasted off with his two friends in tow.