Soul Spark

3 - Living Funeral

“They’re fascinating.”

“Their synergy is really good too.”

“It’s terrifying...but they really do look superhuman.”

Ryan and Stella hid in one of the nearby buildings. Stella was still resting, she laid on the floor’s antique wooden planks with some cloth wrapped around her. Ryan peeked out of the window, following the fight between the soulfuls.

Sakuto charged in with no remorse, using his electrifying striking to gain the upper hand. At the same time, Oskar only occasionally closed the distance - he was operating from a distance, trying to fire off arrows that guaranteed the kill.

“Oskar, swap with me.” Sakuto said, quickly jumping back after a clean combination of punches and kicks. Oskar charged in, swinging his blade and clashing it against Hermann’s sword. Instead of further continuing the clash, he held Hermann off for a bit and pushed him away with a shove-kick. Sakuto sent a flying slash that landed right on Hermann’s chest, sending him back further.

“Now!”

“Charging up an arrow takes a bit of time.”

“But my hands can also generate electricity charges. They're relatively weaker, but I can use them faster!”

Oskar clasped his hands, unleashing a bolt of electricity that hit the target perfectly. Hermann barely kept standing. He had a much more prevalent issue to deal with, however, as Sakuto charged in.

“He hasn’t used his soul expression yet...oh well, I can fuck him up regardless.”

Sakuto threw a high kick followed by a left and right hook, all landing and knocking Hermann away. From afar, Oskar was charging up a devastating arrow. Googlᴇ search novel·fiɾe·net

“Hold still!” Oskar called out.

“You got it!” Sakuto said. Instead of continuing the strikes, he shot for a takedown. Grabbing onto Hermann’s legs, he threw him on the ground with ease. There, he quickly took the top position, and even struck Hermann’s face with an elbow beatdown. As soon as Hermann turned his head, Sakuto slipped behind him and grabbed a hold of his neck.

“Clear!” Sakuto said, standing up while still holding the rear naked choke. He held Hermann as if he were a bag of meat.

Oskar charged up his bow, but something didn’t feel right. He quickly turned around, being greeted with the sight of a gray figure trying to ambush him. Oskar stepped back and put it down with an arrow to the head.

“Sakuto!” Oskar yelled. “Behind you!”

“Huh?!” Sakuto said. He stepped forwards and turned around, holding Hermann against his own creature. The gray entity resembled the appearance of a human, only its eyes were a different shade - a plain white.

Sakuto stepped back again, letting go of Hermann and narrowly avoiding another such creature stabbing him with a knife.

“So this is his soul expression? Using these...things?” Sakuto thought. Oskar came closer to him.

“They look like Jackal’s shadow puppets...except more realistic?” Sakuto said.

“So what do you think it is?” Oskar asked, drawing his electrifying bow again.

“Too many ideas.”

Hermann crouched down, touching the ground with his palm. Calm and calculated, he quietly chanted.

“Complete your duty. Lend your vessels for a greater cause.”

“Effective Reanimation.”

A small area around him was enchanted by a dark gray, almost disgusting and repulsive color. From there, pairs of arms began to seek freedom from the cruel ground. They rose up, looking like statues built in a monochromatic tone. Around a dozen or so were born, or, rather, reborn. Mindless vessels that now existed under Hermann’s orders, supported by Hermann’s own soul.

“Reanimation?” Oskar asked himself. “If they’re all soulless, it’ll be easy.”

“Some of them are soulfuls.” Sakuto replied.

“If this really is reanimation, how were those creatures subjugated to them?”

“Were they his prey?!”

“You...” Sakuto said, his voice was filled with anger. “Are these all your victims?”

“They simply sacrificed their vessels to me. This is all for the best.” Hermann said. He pointed his sword at the two. “Destroy them.”

“Damn...piece...of shit!” Sakuto yelled, charging at the enemy. His fighting style had changed dramatically. He started to avoid the puppets as much as he could, but inevitably, some of them caught onto him.

The ones that were getting a little too close were eliminated by Oskar’s arrows.

“Sakuto! What’s wrong?” Oskar asked, preparing another barrage of arrows.

“These were all people...” Sakuto said, keeping his distance from them. “Soulfuls too. These are the fucking people he culled...”

“If we didn’t get in time, that girl would be one of them too.”

“God damn it, focus! They’re not people anymore!” Oskar said, unleashing another arrow. “The people aren’t there anymore. They’re just empty vessels.”

“Right...” Sakuto sighed. He took a deep breath and with one swift motion decapitated the reanimated slave that lunged its hand at him. The one nearby was destroyed by Sakuto’s blade piercing her heart, and another puppet that dashed at him.

Sakuto rapidly closed the distance, his blade clashing against Hermann’s. They exchanged sword strikes, and Sakuto feinted and managed to catch Hermann off guard by slicing his leg open. A pair of puppets arose from the ground, distracting Sakuto, but they were destroyed rather quickly.

“Why...why did you kill all those soulfuls?!” Sakuto yelled, unsummoning his blade as part of his divergent attack and slamming his fist into Hermann’s stomach. “What did they do to you?!”

Sakuto summoned his blade back and went for a killing blow, but a quickly rising puppet blocked the hit. Hermann attacked back, slashing Sakuto’s chest and knocking him away. Thankfully, Oskar destroyed the pair of puppets that were creeping up on him.

“He has a whole army at his disposal...”

“That means-!”

“Oskar! Go and protect the kid!” Sakuto yelled.

Oskar took a while to process the request, but eventually, he agreed to Sakuto’s plan. He rushed away, heading towards the hideout. And sure enough, a group of puppets was close to breaching the place.

“Good call...”

“You got this, Sakuto.”

“Looks like I separated them successfully.” Hermann thought, taking a few steps back. Some of his puppets stood behind him, almost as if standing in a formation. “The soulful in front of me is Sakuto Hitori. I should be able to-”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

A spark appeared on Sakuto’s chest. Sakuto gripped his sword even tighter, looking completely enraged.

“On second thought, I should probably regroup-”

Sakuto cut his thoughts short. A nasty right hook followed by a backhanded blade swing dealt great damage to him. His adaptation granted him the power to deal with puppets much easier, and soon enough, it could even nullify the puppets’ ability to track him altogether.

Hermann, however, did not intend to grant Sakuto that chance. He started to run away. To be fair, he wasn’t being a coward - Sakuto, an up-close powerhouse with a cheat code of an ability, was an unfavorable matchup. For him, at least. One of his puppets, especially with the added psychological impact, would have a real chance of catching him off guard.

Hermann sprinted across the street, using his puppets to boost himself further. Sakuto chased after him.

“He’s walking all over them...using them as fucking platforms...”

“What even made you do this...”

“You soulless piece of shit!”

“I have better errands to attend to. It was nice meeting you, original owner of the adaptation system.” Hermann said. He touched the ground once more. All of his puppets crumbled down. They sunk into the ground, transforming into root-like entities that all embraced one another at one point.

“I’ll recall my latest big catch. With this type of ability activation, I’m able to summon completed soulfuls at their full power, albeit at the cost of everything else.”

“Soul Interpretation.”

“What is this? A single stronger summon?” Sakuto thought, preparing to charge in.

“I’m clearly superior to them, and I’ve experienced one spark of adaptation. I’ll cut it down before it even emerges-”

“Complete Soul Reanimation:”

“Yuta Takemasa.”

Sakuto’s advance was held off by a strong blade blocking his path. He clashed against it, but once he saw the new puppet’s face, he was taken aback.

“No...”

“...Yuta?”

The latter couldn’t respond or even comprehend. It simply jabbed Sakuto in the face and kicked him away.

Standing back up, Sakuto was still in disbelief. He stared at the figure that slowly approached him, unable to muster up the clarity to fight. The puppet, on the other hand, had perfect clarity - due to his lack of thoughts and emotions. It only had one instruction, to kill the enemy.

Yuta, or, to be more precise, Yuta’s soulless shell, dashed in. He caught Sakuto by surprise. His speed was impressive, and he landed a good slashing attack on Sakuto. The latter still couldn’t concentrate.

“It’s not him.”

“No way.”

Sakuto noticed a bright white spot appear on his left arm. A few moments later, Yuta swung his katana-like blade at that point, and the impact dealt tremendous damage. Sakuto, with his incredible amount of soul prowess, could barely stop the attack from removing his limb completely.

A few seconds later, another such point appeared on Sakuto’s chest. Almost instinctively, Sakuto tried to dodge the attack - and it worked in his favor. The last critical point was located on his neck. Sakuto really did recognize Yuta. He felt disgusted. He ducked the attack, but was caught off guard with a knee to his chin, and a right overhand to knock him away.

“How can this happen to you...”

“It’s all because of them...traitorous pigs who want to kill every last one of us, huh?!”

Sakuto, enraged, suddenly closed the distance. He saw a golden point emerge on his leg, but didn’t care at all about it.

“Let me guess, if you strike me there, something will happen to me, right?”

“I know exactly how you fight, Yuta.”

Yuta swung his blade, but instead of concealing his leg or trying to dodge, Sakuto used that very leg to kick Yuta in the face.

“You were gonna bait me, weren’t you?”

“What, you think I forgot all the times we fought back in the good old days? Even if you’re a puppet, your fighting style is the same.”

They exchanged sword strikes more. Yuta’s swordplay was highly skilled, and Sakuto had to frequently unsummon and summon his weapon to be proficient and keep up. Eventually, a shining point appeared on Sakuto’s arm.

He struck with that same arm, but this time, Yuta wasn’t going for a feint. He swung his blade right at the critical point...

“I told you, I know how you fight.” Sakuto said. His other hand had held Yuta’s blade. Yuta tried to pull it back, but Sakuto used the blade as an anchor to land a perfectly placed elbow strike right at Yuta’s face.

Stunned, Yuta wobbled back. Sakuto slashed his feet with his blade and finally sealed the deal by slicing Yuta’s head off. His breathing was still irregular. The body fell on the ground and dusted away.

“The first time I knocked you down, I caught you with an elbow strike.” Sakuto said, watching the remnants slowly fade away as the howling wind spread them across the street. “I’ve noticed that it was your weakness. God damn it...out of every possible power...”

“They really did get you, huh? Yuta...”

Sakuto’s moment of grievance was cut short by the sound of an engine getting closer. He quickly diverted his attention, noticing a pair of mechanized vehicles emerge in the distance. They were filled to the brim with armed troops, and the machine guns mounted on them were pointed at Sakuto.

“Really...?”

Sakuto quickly hid behind one of the buildings by the street, closely listening to the convoy’s arrival. The men were speaking amongst themselves, their rifles were carefully scouting the area.

He climbed onto the roof, watching the vehicles from above.

“God...damn it...”

“You have no reason to fight!” Sakuto yelled, revealing his position and raising his arms. “You have no reason to kill all those soulfuls. What the hell is wrong with you? Why do you want to die?!”

“Target identified!” One of the soldiers yelled, quickly aiming at Sakuto. A few seconds later, a rain of hellfire befell upon Sakuto. He quickly ducked, but the hellfire didn’t stop. Soon, even heavier shells and machine gun fire started to break the building apart.

Sakuto let his emotions take over, screaming in upset. He released a pair of slashes that dismantled most of the convoy in just one go. The men were wounded and most of them dropped their weapons. He jumped down and approached one of the soldiers, disarming him and grabbing him by his uniform.

“Why are you fighting for a cause you can’t even comprehend?” Sakuto yelled. His prey seemed unfazed. He tried his hardest to punch Sakuto or to reach for his weapon. Behind Sakuto, a pair of soldiers had managed to retrieve their weapons, and were about to open fire.

“No, I get it.”

“It’s impossible to reason with them/”

Sakuto swung his blade, decapitating the two with a flying slash. He slammed the soldier he held into the ground and shoved his fist into his stomach - ripping through his body as if it was a lump of cotton candy.

“They’re soulless.”

“It’s always been the same with your kind.”

“I fucking hate you.”

Sakuto ripped the dead soldier’s jaw open, enraged, and struck it with an elbow strike that broke the corpse’s face. He heard something behind him, he turned around only to see a soldier attempting to run away. He threw a flying slash his way and cut his head off.

And at last, the only soldier left wasn’t even a threat anymore. He was on the ground, his weapon - a few meters away from him on the ground. A rather dishonorable position for a soldier to be, but when considering the magnitude of the threat, it was understandable. Sakuto approached him and put his foot down on his stomach with enough force to break some of his ribs.

“What in the world do you want from us?” Sakuto asked, much more calmly this time. He had already made up his mind about killing him, maybe that explained the change in his demeanor.

“I was just following orders...” The soldier pleaded. “This is my job, I...I have to provide for my family.”

Sakuto didn’t reply. He looked at him with an expressionless glare.

“I have my little boy at home, I need this job...I need him to have a proper college fund...” The soldier said, slowly starting to cry. “I...”

Sakuto moved his foot a little and stomped his chest, crushing his heart and lungs almost instantly. As if that weren’t enough, he summoned his blade and stabbed the man’s head with it.

“Sakuto...?”

Oskar, Ryan and Stella revealed themselves as the spectators of that cruel play. While Oskar only looked concerned, Ryan looked scared. And Stella looked confused but a little fascinated - it was the hero who saved her, right?

So Ryan just kept looking at him in fear, acknowledging that he owes his family’s life to him.

“What’d happen with the big guy? You killed him, right?” Oskar asked.

“Not exactly...he got away.” Sakuto sighed. “He was a necromancer. And he summon fucking Yuta to fight me.”

“You mean-”

“Yeah, I do mean that.” Sakuto said. “We’re better off bouncing. We need to get out in case they send more reinforcements in. If they have snipers, they can hurt you.”

He was a bit surprised by the lack of response.

“Come on, focus!” Sakuto said. He didn’t understand at the moment what the issue was about. He had to look at Oskar and to see his subtle gestures regarding it. At last, he looked Ryan in the eyes.

“R-right.” Ryan nodded, slowly approaching him. “Let’s move.”

Stella shortly followed suit, and the four went on - their destination being Rin.