Long ago, in a time when souls still remembered their emotions and sins after death, they were called vengeful spirits.
These vengeful spirits were trapped between life and death. Over time, they started to corrupt and lose their minds. Many of them merged together, layer by layer. Then the strongest emotions appeared first vengeance, sorrow, and envy.
These storms of emotion turned into strange and broken creatures called Soulborne.
They are basically made of shadow, ash, bones, or even flesh.
Because Soulborne are made from many souls, most of the soulborne are not very smart. Their minds are broken and confused. Those mindless, driven only by hunger/instinct are known as Lesser Soulborne.
But sometimes, in rare cases, many souls merge but one strong soul takes control of the others. When that happens, the Soulborne becomes intelligent and may even have goals or desires.
The Soulborne awakened by the hooded man is one of those rare, intelligent ones.
* * *
The Soulborne jumped and slammed his fist down where Aether was standing.
Aether used his footwork and dodged his attack.
"Grrrhehh.…hehe!"
"You're a pain in the ass " Aether clicked his tongue as he unsheathed his sword.
"You're good at dodging, human?
"Ah, you're a Greater soulborne." Aether said.
Greater Soulborne are smart, unlike the lesser soulborne who have no mind of their own.
In his past life, Aether went through the Cultists trauma during this time. So he doesn't remember or know much about this Soulborne.
"Gegegeheh...eheheH!... I'm Gorvul..Tier 7 Soul Realm soulborne..gegegehehehe"
The Soulborne revealed its name and soul realm. He's called Gorvul and he was a Tier 7 Soulborne, as strong as a 7th circle mage or a low-stage Transcendent.
Two hundred years ago, during the Age of Cataclysm, Gorvul was defeated. But before he was completely killed, someone stole his half-dead body and sealed it away.
Now, the hooded people's organization has awakened him. But since he just woke up, he hasn't recovered his full power yet. For now, he's still in a weak state.
"Grovul or shovul... whatever your name is, you're going to die." Aether took his sword stance and used his family's sword technique.
'Noctvain sword art: third form'
Aether's aura glowed dark green. Everyone in the Noctvain family has dark green mana, it's the mark of their bloodline.
He slashed at the Soulborne, Grovul, who stood in the distance.
Grovul slammed his left hand into his own belly...
BOOM!
A huge shockwave exploded out, stopping Aether's sword strike in midair.
'What?!' Aether was shocked. His attack had vanished in an instant.
Then the Soulborne stomped on the ground and launched itself at Aether.
Aether quickly raised his sword to block. But when Grovul's fist hit the blade
Slice! Slice! Slice!
The sharp wind pressure from the punch gave Aether small cuts on his body. He was pushed back five steps.
Aether then twisted his body to redirect the force, but
Crack!
The sword snapped in half. He had no choice but to let go.
Then he placed his hand on his right side, and a glowing system window appeared in the air.
From that window, he took out two daggers.
Inside the system, he had an inventory where he stored many weapons.
" Human!!, how did you do that?"
The Soulborne was confused. He couldn't see the system window, so it looked like Aether had summoned daggers from nowhere.
Even in this magical world, The system window was something beyond their understanding.
This special power was given to him by his big brother, Julius von Legolant.
Then,
Aether moved faster than before. His daggers were small and perfect for fast attacks.
Whoosh!
He got behind the Soulborne and aimed for its neck.
The Soulborne was also fast, even with it's huge body.
The Soulborne sensed Aether coming and quickly covered its neck with its hand to block the attack.
But Aether had only pretended to strike the neck. At the last moment, he changed direction and slashed at the Soulborne's leg joint.
"Aaaaaaa!" the Soulborne screamed in pain.
Then Aether tried to step back to create some distance, but the Soulborne grabbed his leg from behind.
The soulborne slammed him into the ground again and again.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
As a result his whole body was beaten badly.
Blood flowed from his head, and he started to lose consciousness.
Just then, something was thrown at the Soulborne. The soulborne, Grovul was pushed back a few steps and let go of Aether's leg.
Thump.
Aether fell to the ground.
"Ah… damn it." Aether lifted his head and saw the Left Guardian standing in the air.
'Void Step'
Void Step is a technique that lets the user walk on air. It is learned at the Unrestrained Realm.
Aether then looked toward where the Soulborne had been pushed.
"Ah"
The thing the Left Guardian threw at the Soulborne was the hooded man,Franklin.
'huh. The left guardian is treating him like a toy.' Aether felt pity for the hooded man .
Then the hooded man Franklin stood up, brushed off the dirt, and then started walking on air.
'whaa...Even he can use Void Step.....Well, the demons way are always faster.' Aether thought to himself as he clicked his tongue.
The hooded man, Franklin, used Void Step to reach the Left Guardian, and they began fighting in the sky.
Clang clang clang.
"You bastard, don't toy with me!" Franklin shouted angrily.
While they were fighting in the sky, the Soulborne stood still, chanting in a strange language.
Suddenly, the sky grew dark with heavy clouds, and thunder roared.
Rumble! Rumble...
As the sky darkened, Franklin laughed like a madman and fought fiercely with the Left Guardian.
"Face the wrath of Grovul!" he shouted.
While Aether was looking at Franklin and hearing his shout
Boom!
A strong punch hit Aether's stomach, cracking his rib cage and bursting some of his internal organs.
In a flash, he was thrown all the way to the inn where Thalia von Ravenfall was.
"Cough cough." He pushed away the debris and stood up.
"It... it's you."
Before Aether knew what happened, Thalia von Ravenfall was standing next to him with a shocked look on her face.
'Damnit, I don't have time to deal with this brat.'
Aether was in a life-or-death fight, and the Soulborne suddenly grew much stronger. His head was also spinning, and without realizing it, he said Ravengirl."
"Hey, Ravengirl... cough... cough... get out of here."