Lisa stepped into the provisioned battle arena, her spirits trailing behind her like small soldiers.

  Harrietta smiled warmly as she took her place on the opposite end, Sparky perched confidently on her shoulder.

  “I’ll be gentle,” Harrietta said with a chuckle. “I’m still a beginner at all this, too.”

  “I’ll only use Ruffy,” Lisa told her spirits. “You two can cheer me on.” She turned to the two with a grin.

  “Thanks, Auntie, but I want to give this my all. Lisa wants to see how strong she is now, okay?” She puffed out her chest proudly.

  “Haha, sure thing, honey,” Harrietta laughed, while Nerva smiled from the sidelines.

  Liliya, Scry, and Umbra all smiled as well. They were eager to see how Lisa would fare in a real battle.

  “Alright, you two,” Nerva said, exhaling. “Start whenever you’re ready, and please, don’t be reckless like those two morons before.”

  The crowd laughed and cheered, urging the duel to begin.

  “Ruffy, let’s go! Battle mode!” Lisa called out.

  Rufus sighed and absorbed Lisa’s mana. His body expanded into his battle form, a beast-sized lion with a blazing purple mane and dark violet fur. He roared, and waves of darkfire mana rippled around him.

  “Well, Sparky,” Harrietta whispered to the cat, “you heard her. Let’s show her what you’ve got. Battle mode!”

  She had finally grown closer to the spirit. Sparky especially enjoyed her mana when she got angry, which happened often.

  The cat spirit mewed and leaped from Harrietta’s shoulder, transforming into a fiery panther the same size as Rufus. His body burned bright red, flames licking the air around him.

  “Ruffy, attack!” Lisa commanded.

  The lion lunged forward, and the two beasts collided, purple and red fire clashing violently, scorching the air between them.

  “Darkfire Breath of the Lion King!” Lisa shouted. A purple magic circle appeared before her, and a thin burst of darkfire shot toward Harrietta.

  Harrietta chuckled and responded calmly, using only Sparky’s mana to cast her spell. If she used her full five-circle mana, she could seriously harm the child.

  “Cinder Slash of the Fire Panther,” she whispered, channeling the bare minimum mana needed. A burning claw materialized and slashed through the air, meeting the purple fire breath in a dazzling clash of elemental power.

  The two attacks exploded, raising a cloud of dust around the battling spirits.

  Rufus seized the moment to lunge at Harrietta, but Sparky reacted instantly, fire burst beneath his paws, propelling him forward like a comet. He slashed at the lion with blazing claws.

  Rufus roared in pain and retreated to Lisa’s side.

  “Are you okay, Ruffy?” Lisa asked, worried.

  “I’m fine. I left an opening,” he muttered, his pride clearly wounded.

  Sparky meowed sharply.

  “He’s right, you know. We agreed not to attack Harrietta or me directly.“ Lisa lectured the lion.

  Rufus snorted. “Humph,” and said no more.

  “That spirit of yours needs a good beating,” Harrietta chuckled. “If he’d attacked me, I’d have slapped him silly.”

  “Good job, Sparky!” she grinned at her spirit, who purred in satisfaction.

  “Alright, let’s finish this,” Harrietta said with a confident smile.

  “Sparky, dual casting!”

  The fiery panther positioned himself in front of her, summoning a glowing red magic circle.

  “We can do that too!” Lisa declared. “Ruffy, my favorite spell, please.”

  The lion nodded, and two medium-sized magic circles spun into existence above them, rotating in opposite directions.

  “Black Rose blooms twice!” Lisa and Rufus chanted in unison. Two purple roses ignited with darkfire, their petals shimmering ominously.

  On the other side, Harrietta and Sparky completed their own dual spell. A massive red sun hovered in the air, radiating silent, oppressive heat. Harrietta cast her own spell using the power of the spirit and its control over the fire element.

  The sun ascended, casting scorching rays toward Lisa and Rufus.

  “Ruffy, now! Scatter them, make it bloom!” Lisa called out, unafraid of the incoming attack.

  The two roses bloomed, and their petals scattered into the sky like burning stars. They swirled together, forming a stream of black fire that surged forward. The petals sliced through the fiery rays and struck the sun directly.

  Harrietta smiled and detonated the spell. The explosion of fire consumed the black stream and its petals in a brilliant blaze.

  “Come on, that’s not fair!” Lisa protested.

  “You always need a backup attack, dear,” Harrietta said gently. “But that was impressive. You did well. With time, your spells will grow stronger, and your mana reserves will deepen.”

  “I guess…” Lisa replied, reluctantly accepting the lesson.

  “Bravo, you two! That’s how you spar!” Nerva applauded. “Those spells were beautifully executed. Well done!”

  The crowd erupted in cheers and applause, bringing a proud smile to Lisa’s face.

  She hugged the still-enlarged Rufus. “You did great, Ruffy. Next time, I’ll give you more mana. I promise.”

  Rufus sighed. “You did well, Master. For your age, very well.” He was still awkward around the child, but couldn’t deny her talent.

  Shelly and Max floated over. “Good job, child,” Max said warmly. Shelly simply smiled and curled up on Lisa’s shoulder, drifting off to sleep.

  Lisa beamed as Rufus returned to his normal form.

  Harrietta and Sparky joined them. Harrietta hugged Lisa and praised her, while Sparky padded over to check on Rufus.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “I’m not wounded. Leave me,” Rufus growled.

  “He’s just a sore loser,” Scry teased, flying over with a chuckle.

  “Bravo, you two,” he added, his tone shifting to one of mentorship. “But you still have much to learn.”

  He began explaining what could’ve been done better, his voice calm and instructive.

  And so, the sparring matches came to an end. While Kai slept, the world moved on, each of his friends growing, learning, and becoming stronger.

  ***

  Kai awoke in a soft bed, sunlight gently filtering through the curtains. He sat up slowly, the warmth of the morning light brushing against his skin. Rising to his feet, he walked over to the wardrobe and selected a pair of black pants and a matching button-down shirt. After slipping into a long coat, he checked his reflection in the mirror.

  The figure staring back at him was not Kai, but a young Florian.

  Kai didn’t notice the difference. He was deeply entranced, lost in the hypnotic grip of the madman’s memories. The goddess’s memories had been too vast, too divine for him to fully merge with; he had only been an observer. But this… this was different. He was living the life of Florian Seth.

  Florian stepped out of his modest student apartment and made his way toward the Academy. He was in his second year, and his reputation preceded him. Teachers praised his gift in soul magic and his uncanny control over mana. Everyone expected him to join the prestigious Fourth Tower upon graduation, and Florian shared that ambition.

  On his way, he indulged in a familiar ritual: a stop at the local grimoire shop. Tucked in a narrow alley overlooking the Academy’s hill, the shop bore a crooked sign: Hidden Secrets of the Occult. It was run by an old bat beastman who had a passion for collecting rare tomes and forgotten grimoires.

  “Morning,” Florian greeted as he entered.

  “Ah, good morning, Florian,” the old man replied warmly. “Just got a new crate delivered by some adventurers from the south. Want to be the first to dig through it?”

  The old shopkeeper liked the quiet teen and often gave him first pick of new arrivals.

  “Sure,” Florian said simply. He wasn’t one for small talk, at least, not yet.

  He headed to the back and opened the dusty crate. The old man left him alone, trusting him completely. Florian was a regular, often spending hours browsing through old, forgotten texts.

  He sifted through the contents, flipping through brittle pages and cracked bindings. Nothing stood out until his fingers brushed against a half-burned grimoire. Its title was scorched away, and half its pages were missing. Yet something about it called to him.

  Florian closed his eyes and used his spirit sense to scan the book.

  Suddenly, a surge of deep grey mana erupted from the grimoire, lancing into his forehead and flooding his mind.

  The book dropped to the floor.

  A voice echoed in his thoughts: “We are the children of Soultek. Our only purpose is to create perfect beings, the strongest nation of Sacra.” As bits and pieces of the legacy slowly flowed into his mind.

  His eyes widened. He knew the name well: Soultek, an ancient nation of Soul Forgers, infamous for its ambition to conquer Eastsun.

  Why did the book choose me? He wondered. Am I… a chosen one? One meant to continue their legacy?

  A smirk curled his lips. The idea was intoxicating. To be chosen. To be special. To fulfill a forgotten prophecy. He had always longed for greatness, for a destiny that would set him apart.

  Without hesitation, Florian snatched the scorched grimoire, tossed a few crystals onto the counter, and bolted out of the shop, racing home with a fire in his heart.

  ***

  In his room, Florian sat cross-legged on the floor, the grimoire open before him as he channeled mana into its pages.

  ?The book glowed with a dull grey light, and mist began to seep into his mind. Visions of advanced soul spells unfolded, methods to create Soul Chimaeras, intricate surgical diagrams for grafting body parts and organs.

  His eyes widened, heart skipping a beat. “This is it. This is what I’ve been missing. With this, I’ll be unstoppable. Even the Seven Towers will bow before me.”

  ?He chuckled to himself. All his life, he had craved power, craved recognition.

  Yes, his talent in soul magic had earned him some acclaim, but never the kind he truly desired. There was always someone better, someone with stronger or more unique magic. But now, he had found a way to surpass them all.

  He poured even more mana into the grimoire, and knowledge surged into his mind like a flood. The final vision before the book disintegrated revealed a vague location, where the last secret of Soultek lay hidden.

  He smiled. He had a goal now. ?He would master these forbidden soul arts and forge an army of powerful beings to serve him.

  Days passed, and Florian merged with the inheritance seamlessly.

  One night, he summoned a handful of wraiths, creatures born of a new spell, and sent them to steal bodies from the city morgue.

  They brought the corpses to an underground bunker beneath the Academy, a place Florian had discovered months ago and claimed as his sanctuary.

  There, he practiced grafting techniques, even merging wraiths with the dead to create his first grey monstrosities.

  ?He sent these creatures to hunt beasts in the sewers and roam the streets under the cover of night.

  As his army grew, so did his dissatisfaction. He wanted stronger, more perfect creations. The deeper he delved into forbidden arts, the more obsessed he became with perfection.

  Eventually, he managed to steal a magetech artifact from the Academy, one capable of storing living beings in a separate space. With it, he could carry his creations wherever he went.

  ***

  One night, Florian crossed a line even he hadn’t dared before.

  ?His grey monstrosities crept through the alleys and shadows, kidnapping orphans and the homeless from the streets. With fresh, living vessels, he finally succeeded in creating more intelligent and refined creatures.

  One of them was Mantis.

  Sharp-minded, fiercely loyal, and terrifyingly efficient, Mantis became Florian’s right hand. With his help, Florian committed increasingly horrific acts until the Academy and the city of Hanover could no longer ignore him.

  He was caught. Chased from the Academy and hunted through the city, Florian lost most of his creations. They bought him time, sacrificing themselves so he could escape with his two most loyal followers: Tweek and Mantis.

  Fleeing south through the regions of Eastsun, Florian hid in forgotten corners and abandoned places, continuing his twisted work. He created more monstrosities, each more grotesque than the last.

  But then the Seven Towers responded in anger.

  ?They sent the Wardens, elite mages tasked with maintaining order across their territories.

  Florian ran again, and the Wardens destroyed nearly all his servants, but he managed to find a teleportation circle and escaped south, far beyond the reach of the Towers.

  Still, the Wardens pursued him.

  To evade them, Florian used body transformation arts to alter his face and soul signature, hiding in plain sight.

  He followed the path etched into his mind by the grimoire, a trail of whispers and visions. Like that, years passed until finally, he reached the Dead Lands.

  There, deep within a canyon, he discovered massive metal doors buried underground.

  ?They responded to his soul frequency and opened.

  Inside, he found the legacy of the Soultek’s and the body of a goddess.

  ?She screamed and cursed him, but Florian didn’t care.

  He tested her blood on Tweek and Mantis. They evolved into perfect manifestations of their grafted souls. One became a mantis-like humanoid with insect parts, and the other transfigured into a rat-like creature.

  Green blood held unimaginable potential. Florian laughed, wild, triumphant, unhinged.

  “Finally,” he screamed, “I have a place to evolve my army and grow. I will hide here until we are strong enough!”

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