CHAPTER 64: TRAUMA(2)

Soul King’s vessel. That was a heavy accusation that Logan was raising. But it was as heavy as it was improbable.

"Logan, I think you need to calm down." Orion spoke calmly with next to no sense of urgency.

"Even if Soup King were to try to possess someone again, I don’t think it’ll be another student, at least so soon."

"So I think it’s best to let the poor kid go. Come on man." Orion reached for Liam and Logan took a step forward.

"Don’t touch him." His voice was barely above a whisper.

With caution palpable in Logan’s eyes, shadows flowed out of his legs. It was clear he was starting to think Orion was possessed.

But before Orion could react or Liam could process the shadow’s presence, the shadow swallowed them and spat them out in the forest.

Appearing drenched in sweat was a pale Logan. The jump through the shadows had destroyed the World Cores that had been trying to restore themselves but he wasn’t going to let that affect him.

Wisps of darkness left Logan, who in turn was emitting pure battle and killing intent, and something told Orion that he could and would go through with it.

"Metallic Resonance." Orion’s hand formed several signs while he muttered in a bizarre tongue.

Feeling something in his dark space, Logan turned his attention to it and, much to his surprise, found the blades within moving.

The blades were given to him by Orion when they were about to confront the Royal Guard. He had never gotten the chance to use it because of how powerful the guard had been.

But now, Orion was calling on the blades while they were still inside his Dark Space and with success.

Naturally, Logan wasn’t just going to sit back and watch while Orion pulled off such an incredible feat.

Casting two dark shots, he shot at them straight at Orion and soon charged in behind them

The latter dodged but found a round-house kick from Logan waiting for him.

The heel of Logan connected with his jaw and threw him to the ground.

Using the opportunity, Logan fired a Dark Shot, but Orion flicked a coin en route, which took the brunt of the attack.

"REPULSION!" The coin hit Logan on his chest and sent him flying.

Logan spun on himself mid-air to balance himself and landed with a practiced grace.

Silence.

The two fighters just stayed in absolute silence. Logan was looking for a way to kill the possessed - both of them. Orion was trying to get his friend to think straight.

"Logan. Come on man, snap out of it." Orion pleaded.

Seeing no change in response or intent, Logan knew he couldn’t stop holding back his strength.

With a pull, he called out the blades in Logan’s Dark Space.

Space twisted and shot out small blades that flew to their owner - Orion.

The glinting blades snapped into Orion’s open palms with a metallic hum.

Logan’s pupils shrank.

That power. That flicker of metal.

It was just like Orion’s.

The speech pattern.

The spells.

The look in his eyes.

The look they all had.

They were all his.

They were all the Soul King.

Logan’s thoughts scattered. His body acted on its own.

"Dark Flash."

He vanished.

Reappeared inches from Orion, his face twisted no, not with anger, but something worse.

Fear.

The kind that eats you alive from the inside.

His fist came fast, wild, crooked just like a kid swinging at monsters in the dark.

Orion dodged, but only barely.

"Logan-?!"

A Dark Shot exploded from Logan’s palm before Orion could finish. The spell screamed past Orion’s cheek, grazing it.

"I WILL DESTROY YOU!"

Logan’s voice cracked mid-sentence. It wasn’t a threat. It was a scream for help.

He launched again, a whirlwind of shadows swirling behind him.

Orion blocked with a blade, stumbling back. "Logan, listen to me! It’s me-"

"No! You’re not him! You’re not Orion!"

His words were frantic now.

"You’re just another one! Just like the noble! Just like the Blood Witch! You’re lying to me with his face. GET OUT OF HIS FACE!"

Dark Cannon.

It formed without warning, charged from his palm - unstable, erratic, overflowing with mana that resonated with desperation.

Orion’s eyes widened. That wasn’t just a basic spell anymore.

That was a breakdown with teeth.

He leapt to the side as the cannon fired, the blast obliterating half a tree and corroding its leaves into ash.

Logan’s breathing turned ragged. His pupils were needle points. His eyes scanned the world like it was wrong.

Like the sky had betrayed him.

Orion raised both hands, his blades pointed down.

"Logan, stop. You’re hurting yourself, you’re-"

"SHUT UP!"

The ground cracked beneath Logan’s feet as his shadows erupted, crawling like hands, grabbing, screaming. He was overloading his body.

World Cores formed and collapsed rapidly. Too much so.

"SHADOWS DON’T LIE. YOU DO!"

He charged. But this time, it wasn’t to win.

It was to kill.

To end the Soul King once and for all.

Orion clenched his jaw. No more talking.

His blade spun into the dirt.

"Stun Pulse: Ricochet."

The blade bounced. Once. Twice. Off a tree root. Then a rock and then...

THUD.

Square to Logan’s shoulder.

He dropped mid-sprint. His entire body spasmed, shadows and darkness alike dispersing like smoke caught in a storm.

"N- NO!"

He clawed at the dirt like he could drag himself to the truth. To vengeance. To something.

But his arms failed. His strength ran out.

He dropped, face-first into the grass.

And then, from the boy who had screamed war ran a song.

Barely audible. But it cracked the air.

"I tried," he whispered, curled up on the forest floor.

"I really try to avenge you but I stumble every time."

Orion slowly knelt beside him, blades discarded. No spells. Just him.

Logan flinched. "Don’t touch me... please..."

Orion didn’t.

He just sat there. Close enough to catch him if he fell again.

Close enough to remind him he was still real.

Logan’s voice dropped to a whisper, almost childlike.

"Tell me you’re not him..."

Orion didn’t answer.

Because Logan’s eyes fluttered shut before he could.

Even though he was unconscious, his fingers still clenched like they were trying to cling to reality.

And for the first time since the fight started, the forest was silent.