"You need to figure out something about yourself. Soul Magic needs that initial push to get you to some level of comprehension. Are you the type of person who will take this problem head-on?"

  Xerxei, the Oracle, and Gia were sitting in a circle. The event hadn't happened yet. Enough time had passed that it was close.

  "I'm… I want to. But this I can't just run headfirst into a succubus and have her take me over."

  "That means you're stubborn, but not stupid. Let's be smart about this, then." The Oracle lowered her head. "You need to stop wasting your limited time explaining your situation over and over again. You need to train. Can you start in the arena and try to stop the gate?"

  Ludere had never considered starting at the gate. He obviously could have. The hulking demons that walked through first on either side would be a problem. He'd never fought one even to standstill. He'd fought a succubi with one hand tied behind his back, effectively. With his Athletics traded out, he wouldn't be able to do much. He needed to escape the vision somehow.

  Something needed to change, and he was all about it.

  "You have this opportunity to really understand what makes demons tick. We don't really get this chance. They come to our people cut up into pieces," Xerxei said. "There really isn't a way to do what you want to do without killing a few of them. Some people might consider them a blessing, but they're… it's a tricky topic."

  Ludere nodded. Gia reached out to hold his hand, and it felt nice. He knew that she wouldn't remember this in the next loop, so this had to be some sort of… was she feeling sorry for him? "No one should have to bear this burden on their own."

  He didn't ask for this. He didn't even know if he could do it, but he could damn well try.

  Ludere considered his options. He could stay here and see what happened. The invasion would take hours before it would get this far under normal circumstances but that was not what he was presented with. What he had was a very specific population of demons that he had been fighting against for so long. He couldn't just turn away from this. Even if he wanted to save a few people. Eventually, all these visions would have to turn into something, so that he could make his way down there and stop the invasion cold. And that was when he got his worst idea of all. If he could find a way to get into the gate or to stop the gate, could he stop the flow of demons.

  "Theoretically, if you had Spirit Magic, you could stop that portal and close it up. But your Magic would have to be at a higher level than that. And I don't know any Spirit mage that is in the city." The Oracle wasn't smiling. "I only know enough to get you the basics, and that's been passed down from the elders."

  He suspected that she had Soul Magic. Perhaps it was the way that her eyes went the classic black of someone tapping into their Will, but with a hint of blue.

  Had it always been blue? It felt like she was touching his soul. He felt naked under her gaze, as if she was his mother, trying to get him to show her the blemish he had been complaining about.

  The pulse of energy washed off him before she relented. "Your soul, it has a weight of its own. Demons can sense it. That is probably a part of why they started seeking you out. I can sense the crack that Xerxei fixed, but to them? It would look like you were wide open. They're looking at you like you're an egg, and they need breakfast."

  He would ask her on a different loop if he hit a dead end. But there was something else he needed to do.

  Xerxei cracked his knuckles. "While we have you, it's time to work on your Soul Magic. This gives me an opportunity to test out some of my pet theories."

  The Soul magician had him work through several things.

  First, he had to think about who he was, and then who he was in relation to society. Then he had him do several breathing exercises. None of them was any more difficult than any of the others, but he would not have picked them all to do.

  The fact that he knew that people were probably being slaughtered by the dozens at that moment across town did not help. He needed to use all of his focus to stay on task.

  He worked through a guided meditation that wasn't long, but it was effective in helping him understand what it was that Soul Magic could do that Will could not, and the difference between the two. Through it all, Xerxei's deep blue eyes never left him.

  Will magic let him affect change upon the world outside of his body. The power, if strong enough, could imbue objects and move them through the air.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  At high levels, he didn't have to even be close to the thing. Once he imbued it, he could just pour out some of his own willpower, which would grow as his skills grew.

  That, in itself, was the most helpful thing that he'd learned. Will could be used for more than just summoning little fiery balls that went through the air. He could, for instance, summon multiple things, or crack the ground with a touch, and then use that shrapnel in an arc leading from his body.

  At the highest levels, he might be able to control another spear or sword to fly around him and deal more damage. That part was theoretical, but his mentor was certain that it was in the realm of possibility.

  Utilizing Will and Soul together, he would be able to stop someone dead in their tracks, and potentially use their own body.

  It took a touch, and it took some getting used to, but he was able to conceptualize the idea. Even if he didn't yet have the skill to do it, Xerxei walked him into how to do it with a reluctant Gia.

  He put his hand on her back.

  He was, for a brief amount of time, able to see out of both her eyes and his. His mentor told him that if he kept pushing, he would be able to control her at the same time that he was controlling himself, but it worked best if he just used a command.

  It was similar to the effect that the succubus had given him, that he had been working so hard to get away from. Once a soul was dedicated to a task, it was hard to pull it away, and the succubus was able to pour away all of her effort into his soul and take that over. It was some perversion of Spirit Magic, he knew, but only Soul Magic, or a strong amount of Will could stop it.

  That gave him some hope. Because he knew it had only been an hour and a half in this vision, and he had yet to reach level two in Soul Magic.

  He could feel it. The more that he pushed through and tried to use Gia as the second pair of eyes,the distinction was more pronounced. Feeling her meant that he understood his real identity and what that actually meant.

  He had never really thought about what his identity was for so long, but Xerxei made it clear that there were many different ways to look at one's identity, and one had to be aware of the multitude of those. So true was it also that he could adopt a new one. He could take it, and if it didn't suit him, he could discard it completely and just take on a new one.

  Initially, this didn't make sense to him.

  How could someone take out a new identity? But then, it didn't have to be that big of a change in one loop, and say that this loop, he would be the commander of a Legion and he would just act that way. Or at least, he would pretend, and the rest of the world would have to try to catch up to him. He did not want to think about how many identities he slipped on just to pretend to be something. As a bookie, he had to be a people-person. As someone who just wanted to pay their bills, he could care less about the people that made bets at his arena. The only reason he cared was because it was how he got paid. If he wasn't making money for the arena, they could just as easily find someone else who would take the job.

  So he had adopted the persona of somebody who was actually good at his job and he had been playing it for so long that he had actually gotten good at it.

  He considered the role of being a friend before. That identity felt true to him. He was their friend, but he would save everyone that he could. He hated that. He knew that he was going to have to die during this loop, in order to save the world in a subsequent one. There was no indication that any of this was going to turn into reality at some point in time.

  That was the part that he was the most afraid about. At any point in time, a loop could finish and become reality. But by now, he had a suspicion that he was not going to get through this vision until he actually did something about the demons. After that was done?

  There'll be a lot to do between now and then. At some point in time, he did lose track of time, but thankfully, it wasn't something he did.

  Eventually, he had to face the music. The demons arrived, marching slowly into the front area of the temple.

  He didn't even have to search them out. Had they made a beeline for people with skills? There was some method to their madness.

  He needed to understand it, but only enough to use it against them.

  The temple had found a good spear for him and he dashed in. The speed at which he could dispatch demons was now something he could not recognize. Again and again, he pierced the throats of the petty normal demons who dared to approach him.

  This went on until he had killed more than a dozen handily.

  The ground cracked behind him and he saw a succubi stand up from a small crater.

  Ludere smiled. He was about as strong as he could get. His Spear skill was approaching the Adept level and his Athletics was tagging along.

  She barely stopped for five seconds before she was upon him. Whatever the previous succubus had thought was a good fight, this was not. Instead of trying to play with him, this demon immediately wanted to move for the kill.

  They had received his message, and were sending the terse reply that only came from someone who had prepared their speech for days. She lunged at him, but this time, he was prepared. He leaned back into a kick that was more about getting her into the air than dealing damage, using her momentum, which carried her into the wall next to him.

  He took this chance to plant his spear, kick himself back onto his feet, and then spear her right arm.

  "What a wonderful day. Perchance, would you have the time for a short interview?" He said, as he pushed her shoulder with his spear into the stone building. "I just want to talk."

  The spear slid straight into her shoulder. The demon grimaced. "Talk is nothing. Die, human."

  "See, I thought you would say that. I've only killed one succubus before. Happy to do it again. Ah, there's the face I was looking for."

  The purple demon shrieked. The sound was both the loudest, and then quickly the quietest, thing he had ever heard.

  Edited 2/1/26