It was a completely one sided fight. Xie Jie’s twisted blood formed swords swept around like a whirlwind of death. His cursed ability offers no obvious weak points.

But the fight was never in his favor. Yan, the strongest swordswoman in the land, completely dominated them without ever drawing their own blade. She easily weaved through the rain of flying blades, not a single one coming close to touching her.

As she gathered her chi energy to use a powerful, unknown skill, Xie Jie grew ever more enraged at her relaxed demeanor in the one sided battle. Their wild strikes became more desperate, but they still couldn't reach the Platinum Knight.

“Be a girl girl and stay still already, or I’ll have to give you a good spanking before this is over!” Yan sidestepped a massive sword of blood, knocking it off course with only one finger.

“Shut up and die already, you bitch!” Xie Jie charged her, two swords appearing in their hands.

Their twin blades crossed mid arc in their attack, but Yan was nowhere to be seen, having already moved away. From behind the possessed child, her hand swept down and struck them on their bottom, knocking them to the ground with a loud slap.

“There’s one, a few dozen more and perhaps you’ll apologize for your rudeness.”

Xie Jie only looked more incensed by my mother’s action, and I doubt anything would calm them down at this point. They rushed back in, but Yan knocked them across the street with an earth shattering slap to the face.

“Whew, that sure took a while.” she looked at her glowing left hand, closing it into a loose fist. “Zen sweetie, come over here before they recover.”

I complied and walked towards her, not sure what she was planning. She smiled at me and ran her hand over my chin.

“Mommy is very sorry about this, but you’ll have to die… just temporarily of course, but I’m sure it won’t be pleasant.”

“What are you talking about, I still don’t know what you’re even doing!”

“This Skill will separate your soul from your body for a time and send you into that girl’s body. Once within, fight and weaken the possessing soul, while I prepare a seal on this side to lock away their personality.”

That was… completely insane. But she said it so calmly, as such a mundane fact, that I had no choice but to trust her. She wouldn’t ever do something that was a serious risk to her precious son, not unless it was the only way.

“Wait… a minute...” Lei, still injured of course, dragged himself up and stood beside us. “I’m not letting my best friend do something so dangerous… send me instead. I might be a weak fighter on this side, but I’m top of the class in astral projection… my soul is quite powerful.”

“Very well, I’ll send you both!” she clapped her hands together, a wave of energy washing over both of us.

The sensation of your soul being forced out of your body isn’t something that’s very easy to describe, and I struggle to think of any words capable of doing so. I did, however, expect it to hurt more than it did, but I hardly felt a thing. If anything, I felt better than before, as my soul didn’t suffer the same fatigue and injury as my body.

My vision blurred as I was forced into another reality, the ethereal plane. When I regained my senses, I was knee deep in a thick, red mud. The disgusting mud surrounding me bubbled unnaturally, and carried the same scent as blood.

Oh, I understand now, this is Xie Jie’s Curse. Within the soul of the poor girl he has possessed, her mental landscape has been repainted by the twisted soul of the undying assassin. I waded through the blood-like mud, unable to see anyone around me. A few moments later, Lei’s astral form landed directly in front of me.

“Yo, I see you got ahead of me again, Zen.”

“You need to learn to move faster, you slowpoke.”

“You might be right… anyway, let’s find what we’re looking for here!”

we wandered through the muck, eventually catching a faint sound ahead of us, sounding like a young girl crying. We headed that way, finding a slight island sitting atop the sea of mud. On said island, the girl whose body we had entered sat, her legs pulled up to her chest and her face buried in them. She noticed us approaching and started to back away, terrified.

“S-Stay away from me, you monster!” she shrieked, desperately crawling backwards from us.

“We’re here to slay the big bad monster for you, we won’t hurt you.” Lei called out to her, a soft smile on his face. He held his hand out, trying to get her to take it. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”

“N-No… you can’t win… he’s a monster… a demon!” she screamed, covering her head with her arms. “Nobody can kill it, we’re all dead already!”

“Yeah, you’re dead already, so just get out of my way and give this body to me, you stupid, stubborn little girl!” Xie Jie, in the form I had fought him in appeared from the darkness. She froze in terror, and the assassin pointed his hand towards her. The red mud shot out into a ran of deadly spears, just like his power in reality.

And one man cut through all of them like it was nothing. Lei, leaping into the heart of the fight without hesitation, a spectral echo of his sword appearing in his hand. Because this was the astral plane, and not the mortal world, the restraints of one’s flesh were released, and the gap between Lei there and here was staggering.

“I won’t forgive anyone who dares harm the fairer sex!” Lei through his arm out, several copies of his sword appearing in a ring around him. “On my honor, I swear this… not a single cut shall appear on her pale skin, I’ll take everything you have and more, and strike it all down, you worm!”

Xie Jie’s attack continued, but true to what he said, Lei’s spiritual blades deflected them all. Nothing got through his defense, and in his shadow, the girl looked at him in awe. Her hopeless face had started to change, but with Lei on the defensive already he had no way of retaliating.

“Don’t worry about me, Zen.” he smiled, splitting a massive blade in two with his own. “Go kick his ass, I’ll keep your new underage concubine safe for you.”

“Thanks, but don’t get the wrong idea here… I’m only doing this because he pissed me off before!” I ran through the mud, spikes and spears appearing from within it to cut me down.

Here, Xie Jie’s power seemed almost limitless… but we two were above normal ability. My stamina felt endless, and my right arm was no longer broken. I summoned a copy of my father’s sword, cutting down the spikes in my path. I carved my way to Xie Jie, moving like a flash of light.

Because I had no real body to worry about, I could fight with a reckless abandon I couldn’t show normally. My sword roared to life, a flame erupting from it, the same technique I used to sever Xie Jie’s arm in the real world.

My flaming sword crashed through the mud, splitting a path to the assassin. I dashed forward through the opening, aiming for his head. He disappeared into the sea of blood, avoiding my attack. As soon as he reappeared, his sword in head ready to cut me down, I summoned a replica of my sword, and fired it towards them.

If Lei could do it, there was no way I would be shown up. I transformed my spiritual energy into a hailstorm of swords, forcing Xie Jie to fall back. He leapt into the air, and I followed with an impossibly large jump of my own.

Our blades crossed in mid air, sparks flying off the two swords. I landed atop of one of my summoned blades, avoiding falling into the debilitating muck again.

“Heh, you’re not half bad now, Yi Zen...” the assassin hovered above the mud, a small platform of it rising for him to stand on. “But I haven’t shown my true power yet.”

“Tough words coming from someone who's already lost to me once before!” I launched a volley of blades towards the assassin, the final one being the sword I stood on. I let it carry me towards the assassin, crossing my arms over my chest.

A wave of blood crashed into the swords, preventing them from reaching him. Xie Jie dropped to the ground, the bloody muck swirling around his body.

“I’ll show you the truth of my Accursed Blood...” he covered his face with one hand, hiding half of it. His exposed left eye twitched violently, and his face twisted up into a cruel smile. “Daeva’s Awakening...”

The blood that had spread out across the astral plane flooded towards Xie Jie, absorbing into his body. His skin was stained red, and sharp spikes grew out of his body, including two demonic horns on his forehead. His hands twisted and grew into giant claws, and his teeth extended into sharp fangs.

And then I plunged my sword into his chest.

“..!” he looked surprised, staring down at the blade handle protruding from his body. He tried to grab at the hilt, but another blade pierced his hand. A rain of swords penetrated him, pinning his body against the ground below him.

“Did you think I would just wait for you to finish your transformation, you idiot?” I stood over them, a few more swords floating behind me. “Maybe if you had turned into that from the start, but mid fight? You’re completely open during that ability.”

“Y-You… You!” Xie Jie screamed, snuggling against the dozens of blades that held him trapped.

“That should do it for weakening him, now it’s mom’s turn...” I looked up at the sky, the empty void of the astral plane, and waited.

And then, a ghostly chain appeared from the void. It wrapped itself around Xie Jie’s soul, completely binding his movements, even his mouth was sealed up tight. The chains latched onto the ground, then began to drag him into the dirt. He struggled in vein against it, and quickly vanished completely.

I walked over to Lei and the girl, Bai Cai I believe the assassin had called her? Lei looked a lot more worn out than I was, but he was defending against a flurry of attacks the whole time. He was covered in cuts and scratches, but he kept his word… the girl was unharmed.

“He… he’s gone?” she asked, looking around nervously.

“It’s impossible to destroy a soul, and he was so ingrained in here already it would take divine intervention to rip him out safely… so we did the next best thing.” I knelt down next to her and smile. “We locked him away real deep, he won’t be able to hurt you anymore, and if he did somehow manage to escape my mom’s seal, we’d just have to beat him up again, so don’t worry about a thing.”

I pet the girl’s head to reassure her, then looked at Lei.

“So uhh, how do we get out of here?”

Almost as soon as I asked the question, I felt my soul being pulled up. In a rush of movement, I was dragged out of the girl’s soul, and returned to my own body. I woke up with a headache in my house, mom must have had us moved once we were in the astral plane.

Lei woke up soon after me, his real life wounds having been patched already. The girl was there as well of course, her badly injured body already healed through some Skill no doubt. Man, I wish I recovered as fast as a kid, then this arm wouldn’t be such a pain.

‘”Welcome back Zen! You did wonderfully… I’m so sorry to make you do that!” my mother embraced me as soon as I opened my eyes, hugging me tightly.

“Me too, let me in on this action!” Lei jumped towards us, hoping to worm his way into my mother’s hug somehow. I kicked him in the face, sending him to the ground howling and clutching his nose.

“Why don’t you ask your own mother for a hug if you’re so desperate?”

“B-But...”

I sighed loudly.

“Why am I stuck with so many idiots?”