Soul Knight - Chapter 14 (Patreon)

Nick squared away with Kaya with their fists. They had been at it for fifteen minutes already, and he thought for sure Kaya was a bit bruised already. She had already transformed a bit, trying to call upon her transformation at will.

Eirwen busied herself with cleaning up the camp, and preparing their tent and bedrolls. If he hadn’t questioned how she could fit so much in the pack already, he certainly would have now.

The tent was larger than he expected, and nicer to boot. It had collapsible poles, making him once again wonder about their level of technology. After she was done with that, she was going to practice further with her crossbow, while she absorbed the remaining essence.

She thought she would reach nearly a third of the way to the next level, which boded well for her chances at hitting level four on the next floor. The difficulty of their encounters seemed excessive for the level.

Kaya’s breaths were measured, as she kept her furry paws as fists. He had learned from her that her mother had taught her various exercises that helped keep their ferality under control. As she told him about it, he thought it made a lot of sense.

One of the things that made humans different from animals, among the many, was a control of their emotions and instincts. Ferality appeared to amplify these emotions, making it even harder to maintain a steady mind.

Combat was something filled with pain and danger. Pain quickly builds anger, and danger can easily build fear and feed into the bestial instincts. Both can feed one another until they shift to the bear-like rage, for Kaya.

She definitely needed to spend more time being mindful of her emotions, and practice controlling them.

Nick lashed out with a few more punches, Kaya wincing as she blocked with her furry arms. She swayed and lashed out with a clawed fist, and Nick grabbed and twisted her wrist–just enough to elicit a growl of pain, before hitting her in the gut from the side.

She lashed out with the other hand to force him to back off, her tail flicking behind her in anger. He could feel the Body essence coursing through her, of a fury building up.

But she took deep breaths, and the turbulent energy shifted to a much more controlled enhancement. She dashed at Nick, and punched out with her own combination. He kicked her shin to destabilize her flow, and otherwise dodged her speedy attacks with quick movements of his body and bobbing of his head.

“You’re…frustrating to deal with. I can never land a solid blow.”

“I’m trying to be. You do get faster and stronger with your beast form, but also more predictable. Probably because you are used to using those claws, more than half your punches are hooks.”

Her claws clinched the air a few times, as she frowned at them in thought. “I’ll need to be more mindful. I think I swiped my short swords similarly.”

They spent more time in their back and forth, as they both absorbed their essence. Nick also practiced with using his Body essence, trying to use it to enhance himself in various ways. He thought he was starting to get the hang of it, and wanted to try it out on his blade at some point.

Eirwen had kept practicing using her crossbow. It appeared that picking her class had given her a minor amount of the skill, like downloaded knowledge.

When he heard this, he had frowned. He hadn’t felt anything like that about his Soul Blade, except for how to activate it. His wielding it or capability felt all his own, rather than it being granted to him. Perhaps, because he was better with it? He didn’t know.

Nick eventually did take Kaya to the ground, and had to mix in joint locks to control her clawed hands. He thought he had her once, then her tail wrapped around his wrist, and allowed her to overpower his grip–though only barely.

He laughed as he retreated. “No fair. Extra limbs and claws feels like cheating.”

Kaya smiled, but she seemed to be giving him an odd look. “I have to, you’re just so fast and strong–and heavy. I think I got enough practice for now, but maybe one more but try with a full transformation?”

“Think you can do it? You do seem to have it much better under control, and it has only been an hour.”

She nodded, but gave a sad smile. “I should have been practicing all this time, but I’ve been afraid. The extra levels may have helped a little, but knowing you’re here to help means a lot to me. Thanks for your help, Nick.”

He smiled, and tapped his cheek, displaying it for her. She gave him a confused look.

“What, you still ain’t learned from your sister? We talked about this, even taking an arrow for you didn’t get me anything.”

She blushed as she seemed to realize what he was getting at, but then she gave a mischievous smile. “Fine! But only if you can pin me when I use my beast transformation!”

Nick scoffed at the absurdity, he already had a hard time pinning her.

Still, he took the challenge seriously. After all, if she lost herself to her rage, he’d have to fight against her strength and claws again.

She unbuckled her belt, and then her body became furry as she became a beast red panda. Her tunic just became more filled out, and Nick almost laughed at the absurdity–seeing the animal wearing oversized medieval clothes.

He flooded himself with Body Essence, using everything he’d worked on for the last hour. His muscled were brimming with strength, his body moving fluidly. Kaya’s eyes were narrowed in concentration, as she still formed up fists to lash out a Nick.

But Nick ducked under as he stepped in past her attacks, and struck her twice in the body powerfully. She groaned painfully, but he felt like he was nearly hitting a wall.

She countered with a whip of her tail one way and a followup hook of her fist the other for a two-pronged attack, but he rounded on her to put her own body in the way of her tail attack.

He made to punch her in the gut again, and she moved to guard by closing up her body and bringing her elbows in. His attack was a feint, and he stepped in instead, putting his foot between hers.

With a powerful shove with his foot between hers, she tripped on his leg as she was pushed backward and to the side. He leaped up on her side as she fell to the ground on it, his knee pinning her shoulder to her own body.

She flooded herself with Essence and tried to get up, but her right arm was pinned by her own weight plus Nick’s, and her left had his knee pressing against it. She tried to get up by using her legs and tail, but he twisted her arm behind her back, threatening to break it.

Kaya fought his strength with her own, but the poor position left her unable to bear much of her strength. She growled a little at the pain as he would twist it further as if to show he could break it if she kept moving, but then her breathing picked up as she froze.

A wave of Essence ran through her body, and then it began to shrink. The furry red panda shifted to a beautiful red-headed girl, her red eyes staring at him and breathing heavily.

He shifted his position slightly to where his legs straddled her body, and she rolled onto her back as he brought her right arm above her head instead, pinning it above it. Her eyes were hooded with desire, her tail wrapping around his waist, like she would rather not let him go.

Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, with a full blush on her cheeks. He thought that beneath him, she looked sexy as hell. Something stirred within him, making him want to make her his.

She was fierce in battle, and devoted to her sister. He could tell how much she cared for Eirwen, how important it was that he made her happy. Similarly, he could tell how much Eirwen wanted for Kaya to be happy.

Deep down, he could somehow feel her desire for him–for a man she could count on, and he could feel her attraction to him. He’d seen it before in the pond, and he could see it had only increased as she saw his capability.

Suddenly, he wanted to spew some other nonsense like he had said to Eirwen before, so instead he shifted his knees backward and leaned down and kissed Kaya’s lips. Her body seemed to shift and mold into his as she moaned and returned the kiss, her free left arm pulling him into her.

His left arm held himself up, as his tongue sought hers. She opened her mouth to his questing tongue, moaning. It mixed with a growl, causing Nick to shiver. Her left hand began roaming his strong chest as the kiss deepened.

Kaya’s ear on her head twitched, and she pulled back with an even wider blush. Suddenly, she seemed to realize what was happening, and looked a bit worried.

Eirwen’s voice came from behind them. “No need to stop on my account, Kaya. You two were just getting to the good part! It was getting a bit dark for me to keep practice shooting, so I took a dip and figured I’d see how you were doing. Turns out pretty well!”

Nick chuckled as he got up, reaching down to help Kaya up as well. He smirked. “I was just getting my reward for helping out. She did pretty good with her beast transformation.”

He looked over to her, seeing that her concern hadn’t left her expression, and her ears were flat on her head. “What’s the matter, Kaya? Winny doesn’t mind.”

She seemed a bit speechless, before Eirwen walked up and hugged both Kaya and Nick from their sides. “I think she barely realized what happened herself, and she remembered her fears. You can trust in Nick, Kaya–I’m sure of it! Nick and I are going on a dream date tonight, did you wanna come?”

“D-Dream date?”

“Yeah! I’ll use my dream magic to go on a date with Nick. It should be fun! It’d be fun if you came too. That way, we can all sort of get a break from the Ordeal, too.”

Kaya looked between the two of them, then shook her head. “You go ahead, Winny. I think I need a little more time, to get used to…it. Plus, it’s harder for you to hold three people at once, isn’t it?”

Eirwen nodded. “That’s true, but you’re still important to me even though I have Nick now, Kaya. And I can tell Nick would like you to come now too, right?”

Nick hesitated. He did, but he also wanted to be alone with Eirwen. Then, he felt deep down that Kaya did really need some space. Too much was changing all at once for her, and based on what Eirwen said, she had some trust issues. Once bitten, twice shy.

Eirwen was a lot more adventurous, since everything was new for her. Nick wasn’t sure where he was getting these instincts about Kaya–Eirwen was easy enough to read, for him. Maybe it was his Advanced Soul Sense? He didn’t know.

“I wouldn’t mind it, but I did want to give you the attention you deserve, Winny. Still, no pressure, Kaya–if you’d like to come, that sounds like it’d be a bunch of fun, us all having a little more time to unwind together. I did enjoy training with you–even without the fun that came after. We can do it again a little more in the morning, before we take off to the fourth Level.”

She gave a small smile, and he thought she actually appreciated his focus on Eirwen. “T-That’s okay, Nick–Thank you. I…had a great time, too. I do appreciate the help, I feel much better about my beast transformation now.”

Eirwen gave her sister a hug. “Alright! Well, I do think we need to get rested. We had gotten a few extra hours in the Safe Area thanks to the clearing of the Level, but we should still get some sleep now that the sun is down. That way, we more effectively use our daylight hours.”

They headed back to the tent, that Eirwen setup. Looking inside, he marvelled at how well everything was set up.

“Thanks for taking care of the camp, Winny. I really appreciate it.”

She blushed. “You’re welcome, Nick! This is my job, as the Ordeal Supporter. This way, you can just focus on fighting, and resting up for the next one.”

“I still think that ain’t right, but at least you got a dip in the pond too.”

They all laid out inside their bedrolls, which were set up next to each other. Nick was set next to Eirwen, and Kaya on her other side.

Nick asked, “So how’s this work? What are we gonna dream about, anyway? … I’m going to remember the dream, right?”

Eirwen giggled. “Secret! I wanna surprise you. This should be tons of fun, and yes, you definitely will remember!”

He couldn’t help but share some of her excitement. While it was a dream, they would both be having it and remember their time spent together, like a real date.