"Things are finally going my way for once. I'm not going to let this chance go to waste because of you!"

  Valerius’s eyes narrow, a low chuckle escaping his lips. "What a strange thing to say," he muses, sweeping his gaze over Elias's unmoving form, and Clarence, who’s shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm. "Considering the state your family’s in."

  "But we're still here, aren't we?"

  "True, you are certainly still here. You’re strong, you're also cunning. You've no tricks left up your sleeve now though."

  "No, no, no, Clara, we need to run, we need to get out of here!"

  But I know better. There’s only one course of action left.

  "We stay and fight, he can't chase us if he's dead."

  "No!" Clarence objects, pointing a finger at Valerius. "This man is covered in wounds! He's been beaten down several times and fucking exploded! And look, he's still coming after us!"

  "Because he's a persistent man, he perseveres. Perseverance is a human trait. He's human, just like us. And he can die, just like us."

  Valerius chuckles before bursting out into laughter. He laughs so hard that he eventually has to hold his gut. "Spoken like a true member of the Conclave! But that’s not what you are, is it now?" he asks, wiping a tear from his eye. "I've seen you fight, I’ve seen you kill, and I have seen the look you had in your eye all the while. And do you know what I saw? Indifference. Joyless murder. You are no Stygian, just another killer!"

  Maybe he expected me to break down and cry. Maybe he was just making an observation. Maybe he was right. No matter what the label or reason was, a killer was a killer, but I didn’t care.

  I look to the three souls behind me.

  This life was full of luck, and I would kill as many as I needed to keep that luck.

  "You know events past, present, and future that you should have no way of knowing, and your growth in such a short timespan is utterly explosive... If I had to guess, it’s likely that you’re something akin to a seer. So tell me, how is it that I kill you?"

  "Terra, prevent us from taking fatal injuries. Clarence, you’re free to use your magic as you please."

  Terra nods, and Clarence shuffles forward nervously. The three of us converge upon Valerius, with one common goal: survival.

  Clarence raises his hands, launching the largest fireball he can muster. The flames roar through the air, but Valerius evades the attack with ease, his movements graceful despite his grievous wounds.

  Before he’s able to close in on Clarence, Terra throws himself between them, shielding Clarence from certain death. Valerius's hand sinks into Terra's body, and it gets stuck. Seizing the opportunity, I lunge at Valerius with my rapier. My untrained body is too slow to land a decisive blow, but I do manage to nick his arm.

  With his free hand, Valerius backhands me, sending me sprawling to the ground. He wrenches his trapped hand from Terra's body, just as Clarence unleashes another fireball. This time, the flames strike their target, engulfing Valerius's back. His screams echo through the air, and Clarence smiles as he watches the scene unfold.

  "I got him!"

  I force myself to stand despite the pounding in my skull. There’s no way that Valerius would go down that easily, and then I see movement within the cloud of smoke.

  "Clarence, get away!"

  Valerius bursts out from the smoke, rushing towards my cousin once more. His stance is low, and Terra doesn’t reach him in time.

  Valerius mutters a spell, and next thing I know, he has a hold of Clarence, his acidic touch searing through the soft flesh of Clarence’s face. Clarence cries out in pain, his hands gripping Valerius's wrist as he retaliates with torrents of fire.

  I can’t allow this to continue; I can’t bear the thought of losing anyone else. I rush forward, but fall in the mud. I force myself to stand once more, and thrust my blade towards Valerius's forearm, hoping to sever it entirely. But he’s too fast, and catches my weapon with his free hand. Blood pours from the deep gash in his hand, and I struggle to pull my blade free.

  Terra charges Valerius, tackling him to the ground and providing a brief respite for Clarence, who clutches his mutilated face and stumbles back in pain. The air reeks of blood, smoke, and burnt flesh.

  Clarence's tormented screams pierce the air as he runs away, clutching his disfigured face in his hands. I wouldn’t have time to go after him; the hunt carries on regardless of casualties.

  Terra looks to me for instruction. He’s more than willing to keep fighting, despite the fist sized cavity in his chest.

  "Get Elias and Clarence out of here!" I command, my voice trembling with the smallest hint of fear. "Keep them far, far away!"

  Terra hesitates, but only for a moment. He turns away, hoisting Elias onto his back. With one last concerned look in my direction, he disappears into the underbrush, leaving me alone with Valerius.

  Valerius allows this, patiently waiting for them to flee before he turns his attention back to me. He brandishes his curved dagger, and runs a hand over it as it becomes encased in his sickly, yellow magic once more.

  "So it's just the two of us now, my little bird," Valerius taunts, stalking towards me like a predator closing in on its prey. "Even though I sense very little magic coming from you, I've deemed you to be a threat of the utmost rarity. So I'll do you the honor of fighting you with everything I have. I do hope that you will return the favor in kind."

  I don’t get the chance to reply, because Valerius has already begun his charge. I plant my feet firmly to the forest floor, reaching deep within myself, I call upon the spirits that still linger here.

  "Raise!" I command, and the first spirit appears, grasping at Valerius's arm, but he shakes it off with relative ease. Another comes as I shout out once more, followed by a third, each taking hold of him with their little strength.

  "Is this it?" I think bitterly, my heart pounding in my chest. What little mana I had was draining, and fast.

  Never before had I dreamed of fighting Valerius head on this early, but this was the hand I was dealt this life. It’s unfair, but I’ll play it regardless.

  A familiar feeling rings deep within my chest, in the deepest depths of my very soul. Maybe it’s because I’ve been reduced to nothing more than a soul myself time and time again, but I can sense the many souls around me with ease. With every fiber of my being, I call out to them. "Help me," I whisper, my voice barely audible over the Whispers that float just overhead.

  The lost souls wrap themselves around my outstretched arm, and cascade down my body like a gentle stream.

  "Spirits of the forest, I call upon you to aid me in my hour of need," I shout, making sure every word is as loud as it can be. I want to reach as many as I can now.

  "In exchange for your service, I vow to free each and every one of you from this immortal coil, no matter the cost to myself. Feed on my soul itself if you must, I offer it all to you. Fight alongside me, help me fell the foe that stands before me, and I will lead you to your final resting place. This, I swear to you on my very soul!"

  [You have entered into a Soulpact with 12-]

  [You have entered into a Soulpact with 37-]

  [You have entered into a Soulpact with 55-]

  [You have entered into a Soulpact with 73-]

  [You have entered into a Soulpact with 99-]

  My eyes widen, and shimmer a light blue as tiny souls flood my vision. They wrap me in their embrace, and the entire clearing glows that same shade of blue now. "So many of them came?..."

  [You have entered into a Soulpact with 101 spirits. The Soulpact reads as follows: All spirits present will assist a ‘Clara Crowsong’ in battle against a ‘Valerius Blackthorne’. Upon defeat, said souls will be exorcised by any means necessary]

  A Soulpact. One of the few abilities at my disposal that did not require requisite experience to perform. You make a vow with a spirit, and as long as both parties are happy with said conditions, they will be forced to carry them out, no matter what. Even if it hurts, even if one side has regrets, it will not stop.

  As the Soulpact is sealed, a shiver courses through my soul, binding me to the hundred and one restless spirits. I feel their pain as my own. Their rage, their pain, their regret, their sorrow, and the most powerful feeling, their will to finally, finally rest.

  [Necessary energy for exorcisms will be pulled in the following order: Clara Crowsong’s remaining Mana>Clara Crowsong’s remaining Karma>Clara Crowsong’s Soul]

  Dozens of spirits fly forward, clinging to Valerius with a vengeance, hindering his march towards me.

  "Curse you!" he snarls, fighting against their grip. "What devilry is this? Your mana-core has only just been activated, you shouldn’t be able to cast more than a few spells!"

  Seeing that wild look in Valerius’s eyes, I’m reminded of my first life. I’m reminded of my first death, and the start of my relationship with Valerius. The words he spoke as he killed me for the first time come to mind.

  [It is not advised to spend Karma at this point in ti-]

  But I’m already speaking before it finishes, and Karma is deducted from my total.

  "You know, for all my years in the Conclave, I’ve been ever so curious about the Crowsongs. What is a Crowsong? What is this requiem they refer to in their ranking system? I wish to hear it. I promised myself that I would ask the first one I killed," I say, recalling the words I heard as my blood soaked fingers frantically tried to pry that curved blade from my chest, only to be laughed at by my attacker.

  Watching as Valerius struggles against the relentless onslaught of spirits, I can’t help but laugh now. "You cannot possibly understand my disappointment when I learned my target was the runt of the litter? The only one without a rank, a defenseless child!"

  One of the many spirits claws at Valerius, narrowly missing his eye as he cries out. I remember my own cries as I began to convulse on the floor. The pain was unbearable. Never in my life could I have thought that something could be so horrid, so wrong, so lonely…

  I remember reaching for his arm, clinging to it as he drove that very same blade into my chest over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  It wasn’t to stop it, no. I knew after my fourth death that no amount of begging, pleading, or fighting back would stop him from doing what he came into my room to do. The reason I clung to that arm was because I didn’t want to be alone in my final moments. I wanted to be consoled in any way, even if it was by the very same hand that was killing me.

  "Your screams compose the sweetest of melodies. Perhaps this is the fabled Crowsong I’ve heard so much about?" I laugh as the words leave my mouth, a tear running down my cheek. Valerius watches me through bloodied bangs. His eyes wide with confusion as he hears his own thoughts spoken aloud.

  "Who are you!?" he screams, his voice distorted by the spirits that surround him.

  "You want to know who I am!?" I cry out, raising an arm as all one hundred of the spirits return to me, covering me in their glow. "I’m the rankless, magicless, defenseless Crowsong girl who could never answer your questions, no matter how hard you hit her! The weakest member of the Crowsong clan who could never show you what it meant to be a Crowsong, but that all changes tonight! I’ll answer your question here and now!"

  This was it. My final, First Requiem.

  "Dance of a Hundred Ghosts!" I shout at the top of my lungs. It was a simple enough order, giving the spirits free reign to do whatever they like. Thankfully, they all have a common goal.

  The world around me seems to shift as the spirits surge forth. They’re like tiny shadows, blocking out the moonlight as they scream into the night. They weave and dance, Valerius finds himself surrounded by them, his movements stunted by their relentless assault.

  "Damn you!"

  I watch, my heart pounding furiously, as the spirits claw and scratch at Valerius's form, each new wound drawing a pained snarl from his lips. He was fast, but the endless onslaught of vengeful ghosts took its toll, leaving him unable to avoid injury.

  For each ghost that falls prey to Valerius's curved blade, I feel a searing pain as I fulfill my part of the pact. The exorcisms take a toll on my body and mind. With every spirit released, my mana drains further and further until it bottoms out.

  "Valerius, I will protect this little luck of mine this time around if it’s the last thing I do…"

  Blood begins to run from my nose, and I wipe it away absentmindedly. My Karma hits zero, and I feel my consciousness quickly begin to fade as my soul is siphoned in its place. Warning messages fill my vision as I feel the edges of my soul begin to be chipped away.

  Unlike mana, a soul could not be restored so easily. It was a finite resource. Such a strategy would permanently stunt my growth, but such a sacrifice was more than warranted.

  "Silence, girl! I will not give in to you, or these cursed spirits of yours!"

  My body aches with each passing moment, but still, I hold on, determined to see this through to the bitter end. As the last of the hundred spirits falls to Valerius’s blade, he and I stand alone in the forest, locked in a battle of wills that we both refuse to lose. I for my family, and him for his endless pride as a hunter.

  "I guess you still had a trick up your sleeve, huh?" Valerius's voice cuts through the air like the edge of a razor, his words dripping with disdain. He limps towards me, his form is the physical embodiment of pain, yet somehow he still stands, defiant to his condition.

  My limbs feel as though they’re made of lead, but I force myself to keep standing, unwilling to let this man claim one more victory over me. Yet even as my muscles scream in protest, I will my arms to rise, and I ball my hands into fists.

  Valerius continues his approach, his once graceful movements now reduced to a broken hobble. Though he was battered and broken, his eyes stayed locked on my form, hatred burning in them.

  "Did you get what you wanted, Clara Crowsong?" Valerius snarls, each step bringing him closer to me. "The hunt has been ruined. You are no prey. You are a hunter, just like me."

  "If calling me a hunter justifies you getting your ass beat by a little girl, then please, go right ahead," I rasp, my voice barely heard above the ragged sounds of our conjoined gasps for air. "What I really want is for you to be dead and gone."

  "A strange way for a child to think. Any other would have run till the point of exhaustion," His lips twist into a weak smile. "A pity, truly. I’d have liked to have a proper duel with you someday, to see just how much you’d have grown. You’re full of surprises… Really, it’s just a pity. Farewell, Clara Crowsong."

  As Valerius gets within range of me, he lunges forward, driven by a last desperate surge of strength, I know he’s right. My body is spent, my reserves of magic drained, and my soul has been damaged. This is it.

  In this final moment before our fates collide, I feel a strange clarity wash over me. A sense of calm acceptance that is both chilling and invigorating. This world may have been cruel and unforgiving, but at least they had survived this one time. In Valerius’s twisted features, I see the face of Death, coming to take me one last time.

  I imagine Terra, Clarence, and Elias all far away from here, safe, and alive. And I can’t help but smile in the face of my final death. I did it. I got two people out of that damned house. For once, my life is complete. I hold my arms open wide, as if to embrace what was to come next.

  As Valerius’s blade reaches me, I fall back, and he tries to follow. As Valerius leans down, a streak of red fills my vision. Trinity’s Thorn, propelled by a single spirit. A wet schlick can be heard as it slides into his abdomen. I watch Valerius as staggers back, swiping at the single spirit. It disappears from sight, and the rapier dangles out of his body. He takes one breath, a second one, and I give him one last smile.

  [Passive Effect, Ashflower will now take effect]

  "You thought that it would end at a hundred just because I said so, huh? That’s why you lost."

  Valerius pays me no heed, instead reaching for the blade to pull it out, but the cut on his arm gives way to a small burst of flames, followed by a somewhat larger wound on his hand. This is followed by the largest of the explosions. Hot, wet blood explodes out from his midsection, leaving a crater in his form as he collapses onto the muddy ground below.

  I look over at him, his fingertips are still twitching, but just barely. I’m just mere feet away from him, and I force myself to crawl. My eyelids begin to flicker shut, but I reach him, and take his hand in my own. Dying alone is the worst fate possible. "This victory is mine. Farewell, Valerius Blackthorne," I mutter, and soon enough the dark forest becomes even darker as my consciousness leaves me.

  *

  Valerius’s eyes open a short while later. He must have passed out due to the pain. The girl who had caused him so much trouble tonight is laying next to him, her fingers interlocked with his. He can surely finish her off now. She’s unconscious, and he grunts under his breath.

  "Corrode."

  His magic does not respond to him, and the Stygian lets out a scoff.

  "All out, are we? No matter, there must be a blade around here somewhere…"

  The Stygian rolls onto his stomach, pressing his hands into the forest floor in an attempt to force himself to rise. But he lacks the strength, falling forward into the mud instead. WIth a heavy sigh, he drags himself forward as he grips his sister’s blade.

  As he reaches the Crowsong girl, he points the tip of the blade to her throat, only to be stopped at the last moment. A hand grips the back of his shirt and pulls him away. He was so close. Valerius swings behind him, but his blade only sinks into… clay?

  Valerius is thrown to the side as he watches this creature made of Earth tend to the girl. Valerius gasps for breath, and glares at the creation.

  "You’re that spirit… Sorry to say, but your master dies tonight. There is no outcome where that does not happen," Valerius says, forcing himself to stand on legs that threaten to give out at any moment.

  But Terra doesn’t reply. He can’t, he has no mouth to speak. He pulls Trinity’s Thorn out of his side, holds it clumsily. This only acts as fuel for Valerius’s fighting spirit.

  "Oh? The spirit wants to fight now, is that it?" Valerius can’t help but laugh as he holds his side. "Truly, what do you think you’re going to do with that blade? Keep it from me? I’ll strangle the girl if I have to."

  Terra runs the blade along the length of his face. A thin slit appears for a mouth, but no words come from it. A Whisper of the forest flutters by, and the assassin hears it clearly.

  "Valerius Blackthorne…"

  Valerius shoos the Whisper away only to find another overhead.

  "It brings me no joy to fight a man with such injuries, but I can see that you have no intention of leaving. No, you intend to kill my master if it’s the last thing you do."

  Valerius continues to swat away the Whispers weakly, but one lands at the end of Terra’s hand.

  "I cannot speak my true name, so in its place, I will use the name my new master has bestowed upon me. I, Terra, challenge you to a duel, Valerius Blackthorne. I alone will judge you for your sins."

  "A duel? What, are you playing the part of a knight now?" Valerius scoffs as a bit of acid coats his hands.

  This damned spirit must be stalling for time, Valerius thinks to himself. The Stygian marches forward, undeterred by Terra’s challenge. But a moment later, Valerius found himself thrown back by the spirit. No matter how many times Valerius tries to pass, that clay body of Terra’s only seems to increase in speed. Even when Valerius becomes frustrated and lashes out, his strikes all seemingly miss.

  "You’re not going to let me pass you without that duel, are you?"

  "No," a single Whisper answers.

  "Fine then, I accept your duel," Valerius relents, and the Whisper that Terra had been holding onto disappears from sight.

  Valerius found it strange that such a weak spirit could control Whispers. Even though he knew that they were wild spirits that only existed to instill doubt into the minds of others, this Terra could use them to speak?

  A peculiar spirit indeed, much like his master, Valerius thought.

  Everything has grown eerily quiet though. Terra bows to Valerius, and the Stygian watches a nearby Whisper fleeing. If he listens just closely enough, he can make out what it is they’re saying.

  "Run!"

  "We have to get away!"

  "Pain…"

  "It’s one of them…"

  "They’re back!"

  "A fate worse than death…"

  Valerius can barely make sense of their strange mumblings. He reaches out, plucking one of the fleeing Whispers with his gloved hand. But it does not whisper, it screams, "Let me go! I don’t want to see that!"

  "What are you all shouting for!? It’s just a mangled piece of clay with a soul holding it together!" Valerius growls at the lone Whisper.

  The Whisper refuses to listen to reason as it swings a small, spectral hand through its own tail. Valerius’s hand becomes encased in ectoplasm.

  The Whisper was willing to injure itself just to flee?... Valerius couldn’t understand it.

  The spirit could control Whispers, so what? They were just mind games, Valerius tells himself.

  Even so, if he tried his hardest, would he be able to force a Whisper to injure itself out of fear?...

  Valerius sees the flicker of steel before him. His sister's blade is scary indeed, but in the hands of this golem, it was nothing. Terra takes up a battle stance, an incomplete body, with nothing more than a little brute strength, Valerius thought. Yet something about that stance seems so formal, full of resolve, trained. A chill runs through Valerius’s form.

  "Mind games! You expect me to believe a thing like you could best me in a duel?" Valerius holds his fists high. Something about that damned spirits stance; it struck him to his core. That wasn’t any stance he’d ever seen, but it definitely wasn’t that of an amateur. No, those damned Whispers were getting to him!

  "You’re just a spirit like the rest!"

  Valerius blinked.

  It was just a blink. Something he must have done millions of times throughout his life. So why? Why was the spirit gone? A moment later, that mangled body of the spirit is before him, poised to strike. Valerius’s eyes widen in fear as he wills his body to move.

  "I need to dodge it, now! Or else I’ll…" Valerius thinks, but he no longer has time for that. There was never a chance to dodge. He holds his hand up, and is barely able to deflect a killing blow as the rapier slides through his palm with ease.

  Valerius tries to back up, to run, but he finds himself on the forest floor. A stump of a fist heading straight for his skull, and he just barely moved his head out of the way in time. A second fist came in, and he is pinned beneath Terra now.

  "I yield!" Valerius cries out, but Terra says nothing.

  A single locust crawls from Terra’s mouth. It was just one at first, but then many others came with it, and soon they were falling onto Valerius’s face. The man tries to swat them away, but all he can do is scream as his vision fills with the swarm of insects.

  *

  The first thing I notice is heat. I try to open my eyes, but the blinding sun forces me to squint. I am no longer in the Veilwood Periphery; instead, a golden sea of wheat surrounds me, swaying gently in the morning breeze. My hair jostles with each step, and I realize that someone is carrying me. Through my hazy vision, I look up to see Terra, and then I feel the rough texture of his makeshift body against my skin.

  As my gaze shifts past Terra's ‘face’, I see Elias, unconscious and slung over Terra's other shoulder.

  "Where...?" I manage to croak out, but my throat is too raw to speak.

  I look ahead and catch sight of Clarence's back. In his hands, Ethel's grimoire lay open. He glances down at it, then points into the distance. His voice is muffled by the distance between us and the wind, but I think he’s giving directions to Terra.

  Clarence turns slightly, and my heart clenches at the sight of his once normal, bulbous face, now horribly marked. The open wound snakes across his cheek and jaw, four fingers and a thumb are burnt into his face. He notices me and tries to speak, but the words are incomprehensible, garbled by the fog that is quickly consuming me.

  "Clara, I... We..." He speaks, but I can’t understand him.

  "Please... not again..." I mutter, my vision beginning to blur as darkness creeps in once more. But even as the world around me fades, the faces of the dead remain clear as day. They were always there. Always watching. All those I had failed before him. His face right now was simply another to add to the collection.

  Was my saving him worth it? Did he even want to be saved?

  "I’m sorry…" I try to say, but I lose consciousness before the words leave my lips.