The spirit turned around, revealing a face of hollow eyes and a wide, toothy grin. “The Netherecho…?” it muttered. “Where am I?”

  Freddy slowly approached. “Well… you aren’t in Sophia’s body anymore, that’s for sure.”

  Silver Heart turned around, spotting the little reaper projection. “Ah, it must be the man who killed me. Good job. You got me good. You know, for a two-star, you hit like a freight train. And your mental strength is astounding. Out of curiosity, how did you even survive getting hit by such a curse?”

  “How the hell are you still alive?” Freddy retorted, completely ignoring the question.

  “I'm not, I don't think.” Silver Heart looked at his gangly hands. “Without a body, I’m… just a spirit, then? Remarkable. I had no idea such a thing was possible.”

  Freddy raised his scythe.

  Silver Heart chuckled. “I have truly become an ether construct. I feel that I can't lie anymore.” The projection’s fists tightened, and it turned its head to stare straight into Freddy’s soul. “So know I’m telling the truth when I say that I… am furious.” It took an aggressive step in Freddy’s direction.

  Freddy took a nervous step back. Judging by the size of this spirit, it was definitely at the level of a peak three-star in power. Freddy’s projection was nowhere near strong enough to face it.

  Silver Heart took another threatening step in his direction and then took a look at his hand. “Although I want little more than to tear you apart, I must admit, I am quite curious about what I can do in this form. Let’s see, then.” Suddenly, it vanished.

  “Fuck!” Freddy shouted as he immediately bolted to his body.

  As soon as he opened his eyes, he came face to face with a clawed, bony hand that was right about to tear his throat out. He moved to the side, avoiding the worst of the damage, but it was still enough to tear a large rent across his skin. He twisted and kicked at the spirit, but it vanished, moving to the Netherecho.

  “Everyone! Run!” Freddy shouted.

  Bloodshed! he called internally. He needed Bloodshed in the Netherecho to keep track of Silver Heart’s movements.

  I… I am still drained, Master. I need some time.

  Freddy’s eyes searched the room, and he spotted Travis not too far from him. “Travi—” his words were cut short as he spotted Silver Heart appear right beside a civillian and reach a clawed hand out to grab them.

  Immediately, Freddy conjured a Blood Javelin and threw it with all he could muster, but before it hit, the spirit vanished into the Netherecho again. “Goddamn it! How often can he shift like that!?” He turned to Travis. “Help me out!”

  Travis nodded with a dark expression. They both stopped and entered the Netherecho.

  As soon as Freddy appeared, Silver Heart launched himself right at him.

  “Travis!” Freddy shouted, blocking the clawed attack with his scythe, which nearly caused his projection’s hands to unravel, and Travis appeared in his dog-headed projection, swinging a large axe around.

  Silver Heart dodged the attack and lunged at Freddy again, forcing him to leave the Netherecho.

  But Travis was still there, so Freddy reentered the Netherecho to help him, only to spot that Silver Heart was no longer there. “Shit!”

  He returned to reality just in time for the spirit to sink its clawed arm into his chest, grabbing hold of his heart. It clearly tried to rip it out, but Freddy wasn’t soft enough for that to be particularly easy.

  He could see the spirit’s face twist in shock. And before it thought to pull its arm out, Freddy conjured a Knuckle Blade and punched out with an accelerated impact. Silver Heart clearly tried to go back to the Netherecho, but he’d gone back and forth too much.

  Spirits could only do that so many times.

  Freddy’s attack landed, and his punch cut right through Silver Heart’s torso, tearing out a small chunk of aura.

  It vanished again.

  Freddy raised his guard.

  Travis suddenly sharply inhaled, then grabbed his chest. “Jesus…! I thought I was dead!”

  The two men waited for a few seconds, expecting it to appear again. But it didn’t.

  Freddy jumped back a few paces, ensuring that his body’s position wasn’t revealed in the Netherecho as to not betray his location, and then he took a peek.

  Silver Heart was gone.

  He frantically looked around, and spotted the faintest of shadows leaving the very edge of his limit of perception.

  Immediately, he returned to reality and started running. “With me, Travis!”

  The man followed. “What the hell is that spirit!?”

  “Long story! Bloodshed!” he shouted, and a moment later, the skeleton appeared beside him. “Can you fight?” he asked.

  “I have recovered a little energy.”

  “I’ll need you to keep track of his location in the Netherecho!”

  “I can do that.” Bloodshed vanished.

  “Freddy, what the fuck!?” Travis yelled. “What is that skeleton?”

  “Bound spirit!”

  “How can it enter the Netherecho!?”

  “No time for that now!”

  Master, Bloodshed’s voice echoed in Freddy’s head. On the other side of the wall ahead of you!

  Freddy clicked his tongue drop-kicked the wall, breaking right through it and finding himself in a hallway. Lots of people were running around frantically, women and children screaming at the sudden appearance of Freddy. He entered the Netherecho, only to find Silver Heart moving through the wall on the other side.

  He drop-kicked that wall, too.

  To your left, Master!

  Freddy turned on his heel and punched through another wall.

  Up through the ceiling!

  He looked up, jumping and slamming his fist to create a hole. It wasn’t nearly big enough. He had to use a Tsunami Strike to finish the job, then he pulled himself up, finding another hallway.

  Up again!

  Freddy jumped again, once more making it another floor up. He broke into an empty office, and there, Silver Heart finally changed directions.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Master, behind you!

  Freddy whirled, moving out of the way of a clawed hand that nearly tore his eyes out.

  “Tch!” Silver Heart kicked Freddy’s head to knock himself away and create more space between them and then vanished into the Netherecho again. Freddy followed his direction, running through a glass wall and then sprinting into the open office space, knocking tables over as he kept going in the direction Bloodshed guided him towards.

  Suddenly, Bloodshed appeared in reality, holding its arms up in a guard position. “I apologize, Master! The attack would have killed me!”

  “Where is it!?” Travis shouted as he finally made it through the last hole Freddy had created.

  Freddy entered the Netherecho to check. But there, he found nothing. He returned to reality and then immediately turned to Bloodshed. “Where did it go!?”

  “I don’t know, Master!” it shouted, and then, returned back to the Netherecho to continue the hunt. The seconds stretched on, ticking down one by one.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  Radio silence from Bloodshed.

  Are you okay, Bloodshed!?

  I’m all right, Master, but I’ve lost track.

  Freddy turned to his right, looking at the large window leading outside. There was barely a moment of hesitation, just long enough for his intuition to respond, and in the next moment, he was sprinting towards the window, leaping through it head-first.

  He found himself flying through the air outside, shards of glass mingling with drops of rain around him. His eyes were wide open as he fell down, staring at the muddy ground of the well-trodden dirt behind the building from several stories up in the air. After a second of falling, he vacated his body, entering the Netherecho again.

  As soon as he entered, his body vanished. It was still moving, so it wasn’t visible in the Netherecho. And there, not even an arms reach away from him was Silver Heart, falling through the air with a focused look on his spirit’s twisted face.

  Before Silver Heart could even notice Freddy’s sudden appearance, Freddy swung his scythe, wrapping it around Silver Heart’s neck and pulling. Silver Heart screeched, trying to fight back, but the sudden attack caught the spirit unprepared. With a flicker, he vanished from the Netherecho again.

  Freddy panicked, turning his gaze below where his body finally reached the ground and reappeared as it stopped moving.

  He focused and allowed himself to fall as quickly as possible, and as soon as he touched the body, he returned to reality, where he felt Silver Heart’s claw on the verge of severing his spine.

  Suddenly, a shard of blood fired, striking the spirit in the side of its head and knocking it off balance. It groaned as it tripped, and Freddy reached behind his back with an arm, grabbing it by the leg and swinging it around, slamming it into the ground. The man-turned-spirit was still full of energy, and he whirled as he grabbed hold of Freddy’s arm to tear it away and free himself from the titanic grip.

  But in the next moment, a pair of feet smashed right into the spirit’s head, slamming it into the ground. Travis momentarily reeled from the fall as he struggled to cope with the impact, but he regained his balance, swinging a massive sword across Silver Heart’s back, leaving a deep rent.

  The spirit shrieked with a nasty, blood-curdling screech. Its heart suddenly popped out of the hole in its torso and morphed into a little puppet that leaped at Travis. The man wasn’t ready for the attack. Despite its incredibly small size, the puppet’s punch sent the man flying into a wall, where he slammed his head and and dropped to the ground, dazed and groaning in pain.

  Freddy jumped to his feet and raised his hand, conjuring his Sanguine Avenger, still holding Silver Heart by the leg. The puppet leaped at him and reached for his eye, grabbing hold of it and crushing it like an egg. But rather than reel in pain, Freddy focused on his sword, which was reeling from the desire to retaliate.

  Silver Heart panicked and tried to escape to the Netherecho again, but he flickered instead.

  There was only so many times a spirit could do that.

  Freddy swung his Sanguine Avenger, cutting the spirit in half, right across its waist. The top half fell to the floor while the legs instantly dissipated into essence and vanished.

  The puppet, with its arm still embedded into Freddy’s eye, reverted back into the shape of a heart and lazily rolled over to settle back in the hole.

  Breathing heavily, Freddy fell to one knee, blood dripping all across his body. “That’s too many beatings to take in a day.”

  Silver Heart simply remained there, unmoving, his spirit body unraveling at the cut midsection and the smaller wounds. Had the man not flipped between the two sides of reality so many times, perhaps this blow would have forced him back to the Netherecho.

  Travis finally got back to his feet, frantically looking around until he finally spotted the spirit on the ground. He held the side of his head, which was bleeding profusely, with one hand, and cupped the wound on his chest with another. It took him a long moment to process what was happening, but as he took in the state of the dying spirit, he sagged in relief. “If I don’t get a heart attack today, I never will.”

  Bloodshed walked over, raising its hand to finish Silver Heart off.

  Freddy eyed it. “No reason to bother,” he said. “You’ve already spent too much energy. Come back to my soul. This thing is already dead.”

  The skeleton nodded, then dissolved into a mist, flowing back into the ring and returning to Freddy’s soul.

  Silver Heart chuckled, making both Freddy and Travis tense. “In all my years, I have never met a two-star quite as bizarre as you. The girl’s memories had misguided me. You were a freak even back then, sure. But now, you’re a monster.” It lay there silently for a few moments. “I can’t lie in this form, so before I depart, I would like you to know the truth of my life. Do you wish to hear me out?”

  “Just hurry,” Freddy said. “You don’t have much time left.”

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Travis said as he took a shaky step forward. He winced, likely as he’d suffered an injury from several-stories-tall fall. Not everyone was as tough as Freddy. “But is this a person?”

  Freddy nodded. “Yes. In fact, you likely already know of him. History remembers him as Silver Heart.”

  Travis simply sat there, clearly failing to digest Freddy’s words. But as it sank in, all color suddenly drained from the man’s face. He gulped. “You wouldn’t be talking about…?”

  Freddy nodded. “The one and only.”

  Silver Heart laughed. “I deserve my reputation. I’ve done some horrible things. But I’m not just some brazen maniac as many like to believe. From the very beginning, I’ve always had a single goal in mind—the preservation of the human race.”

  Freddy laughed at that. “Wow. So you’re just a misunderstood hero, huh?”

  “Of course I’m not. There is no room for heroes in this god-forsaken universe.” His voice grew bitter and spiteful. “This world… these wretched portals… they will bring intelligent beings, powerful and experienced in the rules of ether. And we will get destroyed.” He turned his head to look at Freddy. “I was willing to do anything. Anything, you hear me? Anything for the power to fight back. And I failed.” He laughed. “So… so miserably. I failed.”

  Freddy shook his head. “That’s the problem with any means to an end. If you die before you get there, you’ll just be remembered as a fucking asshole.”

  Silver Heart laughed harder. “Yes. I agree. But someone has to do it. Or there will be no one left to remember me anyway.” His empty eye sockets narrowed. “You were right to kill me as you did. I’d have used both you and that girl for my means. Especially that girl. She has the power to make a real change. Before I pass, I’ll leave you with a final gift.”

  Suddenly a strange force enveloped the spirit. His body, which had already been rapidly unraveling, began to do so much faster. “Give it to her,” he said. “And let her do as she pleases. I’ve peered into her mind.” Silver Heart grinned one final time. “She has the potential to inherit my will.” His body imploded.

  The ether all gathered together, wisps gathering together and crystallizing into a small, black shard of ether. It floated in the air for a moment. And then, with a soft plop of mud, it fell to the ground.

  Freddy walked over to it and picked it up. It was an affinity shard. Of the death affinity. He couldn’t stifle a laugh. “This psychopath… Really…” He shook his head, putting it away into his storage ring.

  Travis just stared at him. A million questions seemed to shift through the man’s eyes. “Just who the hell are you, Freddy?”

  “Who am I?” He chuckled. Then, he sighed with a weight so heavy his breath moved the rain. “I’m just a bastard who can’t stop asking for trouble. Now let’s go get my friend. I kind of abandoned her in the hall.”

  “You know, I’d rag on you for dragging something like this into Valhalla,” Travis said. Then, he scoffed. “But I think you deserve a break today.”

  “Eh. It wasn’t that bad. Nobody was killed.” Freddy chuckled. “Consider it a bonding experience.”

  Travis returned a half-hearted laugh. “Right. Well, let’s get moving. The people are panicking.”

  The two of them made their way back into the building. Both were severely injured. Externally, Freddy looked way worse. He was covered in blood and one of his eyes was missing. But while he walked without much trouble, Travis was limping and wincing with every step. “Ugh, I’ve really fucked my hip this time.”

  “Grin and bear it. I’ll give you some of the medicine the adjudicator handed me.”

  “Spare it,” the man said. “I’ll be ascending to the third star soon. That should heal a small injury like this. It would be a waste to use such a precious potion.”

  Freddy shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

  As they made it inside, a number of people met them, rushing with weapons out and frantically looking around. “Where is it!?” Lara shouted with eyes wide open.

  “We got it,” Freddy said.

  A sudden wave of relief flooded the crowd. They immediately turned around and started running back down the hallway to spread the word and stop the panic.

  Freddy followed after them, helping the man along. They stepped into the empty hall, only to find an extremely confused woman, missing an arm and a leg, looking around her in a clumsy stupor. She spotted them, jumping at the sight and leaning back on her only arm. “Who…?” she asked.

  Freddy just grinned at her. “Hey there, Sophia! Long time no see.”