Multiple trees crashed down, creating a pathway of hell as crystal spikes shot up into the sky from the force of the trees falling to the ground. Hana tried hard to find her feet on the ground, the trees acted like barriers to prevent the crystal spikes from impaling her.

  Sachiel moved quick, as if vanish-stepping 10 times in a second to clear the distance. Sachiel then appeared just meters above her, raising his leg up to kick her.

  Hana dodged, responding with the same amount of speed, grabbing Sachiel's face with her left hand and punching it with the other. Both were now exchanging kicks and punches while they were moving in ludicrous speeds.

  It looked like they were dodging and weaving while dealing successful hits but upon a closer look, it was Sachiel that was dealing successful hits.

  Hana's punches and kicks seemed to miss the angrier she got. How dare Sachiel? How dare he best someone that was free? How dare he make a mockery of someone who was free while he was a slave to his own curse?

  A pawn to Him, what seemingly all Soul-Wielders are.

  She was trying to prove that the path she took to become one of the strongest individuals in the entire galaxy without a Soul was the right one. She was trying to prove that living without a Soul is a freedom that not even Sachiel can comprehend.

  You can have no Soul, no Soul-Energy and yet become the strongest. Moving by your own will and not be limited by the symbiosis, a master-slave cohabitation that all Soul-Wielders have. That is free. That is freedom.

  Sachiel was the opposite. A prime example of this.

  But as the fight went on, Hana started to realize she was not the one who was dominating. It was him.

  Hana yelled in anger, dodging the next hit and appearing above him.

  Sachiel took notice of his fast and swung a side hand toward her, a slash projectile traveling through the air in a curved way. If it hit Hana, it would cut her in half.

  She heard a branch of a tree breaking, tapping the tree bark with her foot to confirm it was a tree and jumping from it to dodge the slash projectile.

  She landed on the ground, quickly launching forward towards Sachiel.

  "HM!" Sachiel moved his own leg forwards to eliminate her momentum, though did not expect Hana jumping above his kick. Hana kicked Sachiel in the face, forcing him to the ground for the second time. Hana then used that momentum to jump off of his face towards the sky, throwing a tree branch that she saw falling towards him in a long-range stabbing attempt.

  The tree branch was cut in half before it hit Sachiel.

  "What?" Hana was perplexed. It didn't sound like stabbing, more like something was cut. That's how she know the tree branch plan failed. She then deduced it was a Soul-Technique at work.

  She didn't really know if he was holding a Signature Weapon... Oh, the woes of being blind.

  .:. How many Soul-Techniques does he have in store? .:. She thought. .:. He was able to detect a tree branch falling and cut it in half mid-air while being on the ground! He couldn't possibly have more Soul-Techniques than Kaioshun does. That's impossible... Kaioshun has accrued so many Soul-Techniques that you couldn't even count... Or is it... .:.

  Hana's blind eyes widened in shock.

  .:. Sachiel's Soul is... not an ordinary Soul. .:. The realization dawned, chilling her more than the perpetual ice.

  .:. I see... I see how it is. It's just like how Kaioshun read it to me in the Library of the Souls... Kaioshun-Rymela, Sachiel Eria is a bigger problem than you think it is. .:.

  Hana then chuckled, backflipping on a tree bark and launching herself at Sachiel.

  Again, Hana was but an arm's length away from Sachiel.

  Sachiel lifted an arm, trying to punch Hana's face to force a concussion upon her.

  However, Hana ducked in the same margin of a second, grabbing his arm with her left hand while kicking his ankle with both her legs. As Sachiel lost his balance, she then twisted his arm, rolling him over to the ground and laying him on his back.

  Hana then kicked his chest multiple times. Now that he was vulnerable, she punched Sachiel on all his vital areas to stun him, buying her some time to do his head in. She kicked one of his cheeks, rolling him to the side. She then proceeded with a flurry of punches on the back of his head.

  She was aiming for the base of the skull.

  Sachiel grunted, his body jerking with each impact. But just as Hana was about to land a final, potentially fatal blow, he vanished.

  "What!?" The next punch she made hit the crystallized swamp grass instead of Sachiel, sounding different than a skull cracking.

  "...Ambrina..."

  Hana was dealt a hit of 1000 punches in every part of her body. Each of those hits felt like punches that hit harder than anything Kaioshun could muster. Sachiel appeared in front of her, swinging a side-handed slap through the air and sending a shockwave towards her.

  This knocked her back to the open field, all white the 1000 punches continued. The damage to her body was immense. It felt like she was being ripped apart from the inside out.

  "AGGGHHH!" Hana screamed in agony, blood trickling from her mouth as she skidded across the icy landscape. The scream was the cue that Ren needed. He entered the ship and fired it up, the lights flaring up and the sound of the engines starting cancelling all outside sounds of the fight.

  She laid there for a moment with a heavy chest. Every heavy breath fogged up the already foggy air. Every part of her body ached, and her head swam with a nauseating dizziness.

  "You have a chance. Surrender and oversee a trial. If not, I will not hesitate to kill you. I am giving you one last warning." Sachiel stated, standing tall above her.

  Hana pushed herself up on her elbows, a defiant smirk on her lips.

  "Never... NEVER! Your justice is a farce... a fallacy! Who are you protecting, huh? Your people? Huh!? FROM WHAT!? Everything and everyone you've ever known and loved, will fucking die!"

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "..." Sachiel stood there like a menace. His aura was now different than earlier. Hana could sense it.

  Even though that gave her some sense of fear, she continued. She wasn't going to bow to anyone. She's free.

  "They will fucking die, Sachiel Eria. They will all fucking die because you will never be powerful enough to stop Kaioshun-Rymela or Him! Whatever you do... whatever you try-"

  "Quiet!" Sachiel commanded.

  "Or what!? You're gonna kill me!? Go on then, do it! That's what your Soul wants. So go do it, go and be a little slave to your own fucking curse! I am free! I am freer than anyone else in this world!"

  The Great Kamisword turned away from her, looking in the direction of the ship.

  .:. They are making their escape. I have to end this now. .:. He thought to himself.

  "I will not ask you again."

  "DO IT!" Hana screamed, stumbling to her feet. "Do it, you fucking coward!" This sounded like it was directed to the Great Kamisword... but it was directed to Ren.

  The ship made lift off, gliding toward the sky. Ren didn't leave, but he had the ship's weapons ready to fire. Ren's eyes were locked on Hana's form. This was an escape disguised as a counterattack.

  "Fine." Sachiel raised a hand, Soul-Energy crackling around his fingertips like golden lightning. "I will end this."

  Ren jumped out of the cockpit, standing on the rooftop of the ship. Cyan fire spread around his hands. "Jetzure... Flame..."

  A huge, volatile beam of cyan fire spewed out of his hands and aimed directly at Sachiel.

  Sachiel didn't even flinch. He swung his arm, absorbing some of the fire that was aimed at him. However, it was very unstable and volatile. It was able to incinerate the snow and everything it touched. Sachiel had no choice but to back away from Ren and Hana, and onto higher ground.

  The snow that was absorbed lit up again, the area surrounding Sachiel and Hana was now a blast furnace. The open field, a thousand kilometers away from the nearest outpost was now constantly on fire.

  One of Ren's special abilities concerning his Soul-Spec is that his fire never burns out. The cyan flames burned away at the snow, melting it instantly, revealing the green, crystallized grass underneath.

  It was a beautiful, yet terrifying sight.

  "Get in!" Ren yelled at Hana, extending a hand to help her onto the ship. Hana leapt, her fingers barely catching the edge of the ship's hull. Ren pulled her up with surprising strength.

  They were safe from the Great Kamisword for now. But the Great Kamisword was safe from them as well. Both sides had won.

  But Hana didn't see it that way.

  "For you to get beaten up like this... it really was a great idea, wasn't it?"

  "... At least I've got a read on his power." Hana spat out some more blood, the blood on her chin remained to harden. "He's not just strong. He's... something else entirely."

  The ship accelerated, climbing higher into the atmosphere. Below them, the cyan fire continued to burn, a reminder of their failed mission.

  Ren leaned against the hull, watching her with a lazy grin. "If you, something else can't beat someone that's something else entirely... what does that make me?"

  "Quite the charmer, aren't you?"

  "You could say that."

  "I was only at a disadvantage because I didn't carry a special something with me. I'll use my sword, or I'll borrow a dagger from Kaioshun so the next time we'll meet, I'll annihilate him."

  "What, so you can fail again?"

  "Keep talking so I can turn you into a mindless, pathetic pet like Vincent is."

  "Heh, fine by me! Since it's a beautiful girl doing it."

  "..." Hana's silence was a clear sign of annoyance. She turned away from him, her back to him as she walked away.

  Ren watched her go, a small, genuine smile on his face. It almost looked like Ren liked something in her. He also knew that Hana had a soft spot for him.

  He knows that if Hana got annoyed by a normal, ordinary person, they would die. But Ren was able to get away with his shenanigans.

  He turned to the ship's controls, plotting a course back to their hidden base. The mission was a failure, but they had gathered valuable intelligence. And more importantly, they were still alive. For now.

  Ren knew what sword she was talking about. A gift, left by the man that trained her.

  Serith Arannis.

  Maybe with that sword or the dagger that she'll borrow from Kaioshun, Sachiel can finally be bested.

  The King That Never Lost A Fight.

  = = =

  The ship only made it about a thousand kilometer closer to the main continent of Testharia, only a maritime border separating the two continents. The vast icy ocean was clear to see from a distance as the blizzard stopped.

  Both Ren and Hana were out of ideas. The ship they hijacked was out of fuel though there was a reserve fuel can in the storage unit. But even with a reserve, they were still out of ideas.

  An idea to cross a thousand kilometer maritime border to the main continent. Not enough to cross it with the amount of fuel they have. They are also fugitives so they can't go and get fuel from outposts and even if they did, they didn't want to get their hands dirty right now.

  Hana is injured, but she doesn't really know to what extent. She just knows that her body aches.

  There's little that you can know about your body if you can't feel and see.

  In the meantime, she just uses Ren as eyes for herself.

  "...How bad is it?" She asked, both of them sitting on the metal floor of the ship. Ren found some military rations and water packets.

  "Bad," Ren replied, tossing her a protein bar. "Like a walking canvas. Lots of pretty colors. Mostly purple and blue-"

  "Yeah, alright." Hana sighed, sensing an object about to collide with her face. She caught whatever it was before it hit her face. Her senses were still as sharp as ever.

  "It's a protein bar. Gotta unwrap it first to eat it."

  Hana nodded, unwrapping it proved to be a rather difficult task for her. It's like 2 different people inhabited one body. One was a ruthless killer and the other was a damsel in distress.

  Ren watched her fumble with the wrapper, holding back his laughter. He seems to forget sometimes that Hana lacks important senses that he has.

  "...You need help?" Ren offered, leaning back against the wall.

  "No." Hana mumbled, her fingers clumsy against the plastic. The crinkling sound was frustratingly loud in the quiet cabin. Too loud. It was grinding Ren's gears.

  "...Fucking... God fucking damnit..." Hana just threw the protein bar to the ground.

  Ren sighed, picking up the bar, tearing the wrapper open and handing it back to her. "Here, your highness."

  "...Thanks." Hana took it, taking a small bite.

  They sat in a tense silence, the only sound that was going on was of the ship's systems and their own breathing. The blue flames on Ren's hands had long since died out.

  "... I couldn't imagine how it would be like to have no Soul and no Soul-Energy, let alone be blind and lack a sense of touch." Ren started. "You're one hell of a woman, Hana."

  Hana didn't respond. She just continued to eat her protein bar.

  "I used to view my defects as a curse," she said after a long while in a deliberate, quiet tone. "I used to 'look' at myself and think just how pathetic I was. How could anyone try to survive without being able to feel and see? It's like the Gods gave me a chance to live with a backhanded slap."

  ...

  "You know just how much I struggle with the easiest tasks ever, but I fight better than anyone else. I move more elegantly than anyone else. I see better than you do."

  She didn't say that to brag. She said it to make a point. A point that Ren was thinking about as well.

  "And that's because you're free." Ren mumbled.

  "..."

  She didn't say yes this time.

  "...Nobody is free. We're all bound by something. Whether it's a Soul, a feeling, a memory... a curse."

  Hana looked in Ren's general direction, her head tilted as if seeing something far beyond the ship's walls.

  "Everyone has something to strive for and even if they don't believe they are, it's all written in their body movements, their will. I know people who have truly desired to be free, or tried to move in that direction but only created prisons to trap themselves in. They made a new world, but forgot that they brought the cage with them. I am no different. I wasn't supposed to be born. The fact of me being alive and telling this pathetic story to you is a result of a 'condition'. This condition made it possible that I could experience life, but ban me from experiencing life in it's best form. I am free, yes. But I am also a prisoner in my own body. Me and Serith are just people that believe we can be free, but are trapped in an endless loop of trying to find that same freedom. He sought freedom in a meaningless manner, I sought freedom in the unmaking of what gives me meaning. Free will isn't a fallacy, freedom itself is. You try to tell someone who cherishes meaning more than anyone because of what they lack to experience it that nothing has meaning and to be truly free is to not carry that meaning until your inevitable unmaking, while you constantly press yourself down into your own prison..."

  Hana then looked at the sky.

  "...Is a hypocritical, grand nihilistic lie."

  Ren coughed, the sudden philosophical monologue catching him off guard. He was expecting that Hana would quip back or ignore him, not give him a lecture on the meaning of freedom.

  "I'll never know what I truly am, but maybe that's a good thing."

  "That's because nobody has an answer to deformities."