'My dormant ability hasn't recharged yet, I don't have enough Soul Essence to strike him again, and I can't even move.'
He tried to get up, but the wound in his stomach and leg wouldn't let him budge.
'I'm going to die.'
For a brief moment, he considered summoning the Maddened Frenzy. If he did, he might end up attacking Galahad and Gracia, but he was sure he could kill Sylas.
'But I don't want to kill him.'
What choice did he have? Any moment now his movements would accelerate, and once they did, he'd be able to kill Epsilon and finish everyone else off. Ki Song and Anvil would be left behind, as for Cassius...
'Why am I thinking about him now, I need to think about what to do next!'
Sylas raised his Sword, while Gracia flew towards him. She wouldn't make it in time. Heck, he didn't even have enough time to summon a memory in the first place.
'It's over.'
Fighting back was futile. Succumbing to despair, Epsilons grip on his sword loosened as it fell from his hand. Once again, he found himself giving up on his dreams.
'What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I do anything right? Why do I always find myself needing you?'
But in the end, he would never respond. Someone else did instead.
"It's not over yet! As long as I breathe, then the fun never ends!"
A puff of white smoke exploded around Galahad. And then another, and then another, and then another. Before Sylas noticed it, tens of white explosions surrounded them all.
Another exploded right in front him, and springing forth was one of Galahads clones. It leapt right onto him, but Sylas easily knocked it off.
'It's light.'
The moment it hit the ground, it blew up into a puff of white smoke, but immediately after another one jumped on top of him, and then another, and then another.
Sylas knocked them all off in just one swing, destroying them, but even more took their place, and more and more and more. They were all abnormally light and just as fragile, but still, their sheer number was a bother.
While he was occupied with destroying those, Epsilon struggled to drag himself away on the ground.
'That insane guy, how many times can he use his ability? Either way, he's buying me time. Think, I need to think! I need an idea!'
The Wraith was a spirit like Gracia. But instead of possessing objects, it could possess humans to marionette them.
And then, a switch flicked in his brain.
Desperately, he shouted at the top of his lungs,
"Gracia! Where are you!?"
Hearing his voice, the nimble sword quickly flew straight towards him. It pierced through the collar of his armour before dragging him further away from Galahads stampede. Right away they noticed, that they were running out of time. Eventually he'd run out of strength to even stay consciousness, and so the clone stampede would end.
The moment they got away from them, Epsilon asked,
"Can you possess a human?"
It wasn't an unfamiliar question to her. She had pondered the same thing, and was thinking about trying it for some time now, but she hadn't for safety reasons.
"Well.. I've never done it, but I know that its risky. I only possess inanimate objects specifically because they have no Soul. If I tried possessing something with a Soul, I don't know if I'll end up pushing it out, if we'll coexist, or if one of us will die on the spot."
For that reason she hadn't tested it out on anyone because she simply didn't know the consequences, so she postponed it as a last resort.
"But right now, there are two Souls Occupying that body. If its possible for the wraith, then I know for a fact that its possible for you too. I can tell that Sylas has been fighting against that Wraiths control from the inside so he must be still alive. If you go in there too and help him, then maybe, just maybe, you two might be able to kill it from the inside."
The idea came from Bobs description of the wraith. He described it as being more like Gracia rather than himself. Since he could only possess living beings that he had made a contract with. It gave Epsilon a hint as to what Gracias Aspect could really do.
'If the wraith wanted to keep his body that bad, it would've destroyed his Soul. But even now its tolerating his existence.'
It would only do that if his soul still served a purpose. If he died, then the body would become inoperable.
Now knowing what to do, Gracias soul emerged from that of her blade. It clattered to the floor as the luminous spirit rose higher and higher, her eyes stuck on the sea of Galahads below.
A sudden burst of a blinding white light flooded the cave, so intense that it erased all shadows and outlines. It crashed over everything in a single overwhelming flash, stripping away all detail until the world became a blank sheet of searing white. They all instinctively squeezed their eyes shut, wincing as the glow pierced their vision.
Everyone stood still for a moment, taking the time to protect themselves from the flash bang. But while Sylas did this, he felt something warm penetrate his chest. There was no wound or injury, but he could tell that something irritating just happened.
**
Gracia gently fell to the ground, landing softly on her two feet.
"Feet??"
She instinctively reached out with her hands, before looking at them alarmingly.
"Hands?!?"
Investigating herself, she even came to find that she possessed a whole body as well as all her memories. It was strangely translucent, and glowed with the same white light that she was familiar with. And even stranger, she found herself just as capable on the outside world, being capable of flight while still being weightless.
Before she could properly get used to her new body, she heard a loud explosion right behind her, followed by the sound of someone groaning. Quickly running towards it, her face paled when she saw Sylas collapsed in a crater.
"Sylas!"
Weakly opening his eyes, he pondered what exactly she was doing here. But he quickly dismissed those thoughts as he pointed to the sky above.
The floor was a flat surface made of stone, expanding infinitely towards the horizon. Meeting it at the end was the empty night sky with not a single cloud in sight. The only thing that decorated it, and was providing light to this place was..
'Two?'
There were two stars shinning in the sky.
'This is a Soul Sea right? Why are there two?'
There were two soul cores hanging above, although one of them seemed darker than the other. Looking at it further, there looked to be a black blemish staining it, which gave her a bad feeling.
It was the star Sylas was pointing at. Slowly picking himself back up from the ground, he said with an exhausted voice,
"Will you be able to keep up?"
The blemish swelled, tearing itself free from the stars surface. The light bent around it, recoiling, as if even the star feared what was emerging. Shadows coiled upward, gathering into a shape—a long, skeletal silhouette. Its form was smoke and void, a body that shifted between substance and nothingness. Where a face might be, there was only a hollow maw, wide and unending, drinking in radiance.
Gracia steeled herself.
"Who do you think I am? If anything, you need to make sure not to hinder me."