Second chapter, lotta words, lotta stuff with Hate being in a pocket dimension. The poor thing really needs a break.


The sound of crunching grass ringed throughout the twisted forest of purple, Hate running down the strange trees and enviorment for its life. There was other beings after it, following behind with those deranged smiles and loud snickers. Its legs felt weak from so much running, but perseverance coursed through its mind and pushed the dark figure forward. It couldn't stop running or else those horrifying beings would tear its limbs apart.

In its hand was the patienece soul that had saved Hate at the last second. They were nothing but extra weight and a burden, but they had proved useful and kind enough to be worth saving. An ally was what it needed right now too, having barely any magic to defend itself. The soul, too, barely had any magic, but they were recharging slowly but surely. The two of them just had to be patient.

"There has to be somewhere to get away from these assholes!" Hate yawped as they turn a corner and continued bolting, right in time to dodge a perseverance knife thrown right at him.

These guys were crazy, following behind without faltering. They didn't even look like they were trying, just waiting for the humanoid to tire out or slip up. It was as if they had all the time in the world for that to happen, much to Hate's irritation. All that and they were laughing as they did so...Was this a game to them?

No time to figure it out. One of them came out from the bushes in front of Hate, knife in hand and excitedly waiting to strike the being. It was quick to react, turning another corner before he'd get too close. Amused laughter could be heard from behind. Agh! Where the hell am I supposed to go!?

It looked down at the soul for a second, seeing it barely filled with any magic still. "Can't you hurry up?" What was it even saying? Of course the soul couldn't, which only aggravated the humanoid more. "The hell am I supposed to do?"

Lifting its head up at the sky for a moment, he could see the magenta moon behind the decor of cyan wires and dead human souls. It might end up there if it wasn't careful, if It had a soul at all. There had to be somewhere I could hide.

As if someone had answered Hate's prayers, they could spot a cave out in the distance. Approaching the structure, it'd noticed how dark the entrance was. The area was perfect for him for one reason: He was completely pitch black, he'd naturally blend in with the shadows. Happy to see such a gloomy place, he'd pick up the speed and bolt onwards.

Entering the cave, Hate would run down it until he was decently far in enough to catch his breath. It could see the patience soul in its hands glowing bright, now that they were in an arena completely devoid of light. Finding their light a major issue, the being shoved the shove into its chest, letting them sink in and out of sight behind its black body. "Sorry, but I'm trying to not die here.

"I can't believe it! He went into the cave! Actually, no, I can believe it." one of the Boukayku growled in annoyance as they all rushed down the cave, their glowing purple eyes and teeth illuminating in the darkness. They all seemed to be less than jolly realizing they couldn't see the pitch black being at all. "Dammit! why'd we construct our dimension like this?!"

"We thought it was cool at the time." Another answered with an awkward chuckle.

"Yea, well, now it's a burden. I don't like safezones in our own dam game!" The Boukayku growled. A loud cracking noise could be heard when he slammed his fists against the cave walls. "No one is playing by the rules today!"

Hate shivered, feeling the wind and dust of the punch that landed right beside them. Dam, if they weren't ready to kill the dark being minutes ago, they were now. It was awfully too close to them all, one wrong move and it'd accidentally get bumped into. Knowing this, it wasn't going to take chances and swiftly moved further down the cave. Screw this.

Its footsteps could be heard, the pattering noise echoing faintly throughout the pitch black system. All the swirly-eyed clones would immediately take notice of the sound. "He's going deeper down the cave! After that cheater!"

Hate turned to see the stampede of glowing, magenta faces from behind itself. Not good. Looking forward, it'd continue sprinting onwards. Seeing anything in this area was impossible, it didn't know if it was heading. For all the humanoid knew, it could be heading straight towards a dead end.

What it didn't anticipate was ramming its left leg right Into a bulging rock formation on the ground and tripping. It tried to force itself back up and continue its escape, but extreme pain would lurch from the damaged limb. He clenched his teeth and placed his hands over his leg. Crap, I think I cracked something!

"I heard him fall! Fire!" Hate could hear one of its chasers shout. Just moments after, it saw dozens of perseverance knives raised high in the air, ready to be thrown.

In a panic, Hate took out the patience soul and held it out. The heart only had half of their magic, but the being could care less - especially when it was about to die again. "Do something!"

Thankfully the soul was quick to react, spewing strings out and towards the armed clones before they could throw their blades. They'd all become tangled in the cyan wires, arms and legs wrapped up and prevented from moving.

"Ha! What do you think of that?!" Hate shouted with triumph. the being thought it was impossible for them to get out of those strings. Patience magic was rather durable and long lasting. Or...At least it thought so until it saw the Boukaykus forcing their limbs to move slowly snapping the binding. "W-what?!"

"You think that'd stop us? Don't give me that bullcrap, this is MY game!" one clone would shout as he completely became free from his wirey imprisonment. He'd rush forward with his knife aimed at the glowing patient soul, laughing chaotically.

Hate turned away and shielded the heart shaped object, enduring a stab right into its back. It growled and whipped around, using its legs to kick away the Boukayku. It took a step back and reached for the knife, yanking it out and hissing. "G-go to hell!"

"we're already it in, baby! Ahahaha- HGN!" The Boukayku laughter was cut short when a long, purple cord-like tail struck through his body, coming out the other end with his constructed soul stabbed. He looked down in horror and gasped. "D-Dammit! We went too far in the cave!"

Hate looked at the scene in mortified confusion. What struck him? Was there a creature in this cave? Whatever the thing was, the humanoid wasn't going to stay around and figure out. It crawled away, tugging itself deeper into the tunnels. From behind, it could hear the clones screaming in pain, supposedly massacred. That was one issue gone, but a new one had popped up with that mysterious creature that only added to its despair. Why the hell am I always ending up in death traps?!

Once it believed it was far enough, Hate leaned itself against a wall, ignoring the hot pain from the knife wound on its back. " God... I swear if I die here..." It released the patience soul from its grip and gandered at the bright cumulation of whoever had saved the humanoid twice at this point. the object would hover in the air, a shell depleted of magic once again. "You don't have a high magic capacity, do you?"

The soul didn't speak, but Hate would continue on the conversation anyways, mainly as a coping mechanism to relax in the current stressful situation. "You remind me of a friend I was looking for. Withern..." it gave an awkward chuckle and rubbed the back of its head. "But instead of finding him, I get stuck in this dump. He's a good guy, although he's always too tense. I hope he's doing fine, better than I am at least..."

"...Dammit, Withern, why'd you have to run off? You idiot." Hate grumbled and lowered its head onto its knees. All it had wanted to do was find its friend, worried over their state from how harshly they reacted. It knew better than to leave him alone, a hunch almost. But instead he gets trapped here to die somewhat alone with no one knowing where he went.

To confirm this, Hate would take out its phone from its body to check the service. There was none, unsurprisingly, so calling for help was out of the question. The predicament suddenly reminded the void-like being of something else and lead to it slipping out a card from its black mass. Agni's phone number. It never registered her into its contacts, did it? Finding no better time than now, it went on to add the number in.

The small, simple gesture was undoubtedly making Hate sad - and even depressed to an extent. near hopelessness loomed over the humanoid, soon molding into regret. Trying to pinpoint why was hard. Was it because it had only lived so long, its existence merely having been under a year? Maybe it's because it hadn't spent enough time with its friends? Untied business? Or was it something else it was forgetting? the black mass felt like all those reasons were valid...

"I hate this..." The humanoid whimpered, which would then evolve into a harsh growled while it clenched its fists and teared up. "What the hell am I going to do...?"

Hate lowered its phone and went silent, sulking to itself for a few moments. Within that voiceless duration, it could hear a soft humming noise. It'd pay no mind to it for a second until it realized it was getting louder. Sucking up its moody state, back where it had escaped those clones not long ago.

There seemed be none of those swirly-eyed clones, which was an utter relief, but there was something else that had taken their place. they were a small, dog-like creature with its floating skull illuminating two purple dots from its sockets. their furred body with near black with purple accents on its chest and back reminiscent of a ribcage. Their tail was that same glowing wire Hate had seen stabbing and killing. The only reason the humanoid could see the creature's features at all was thanks to a small green orb hoovering above this as a sort of lamp.

That's the thing that attacked earlier? There's no way... Hate was in doubt for a second, stumped by their small size that made the creature barely seem like a threat, but their tail said otherwise. It could see how sharp the appendage was. Were they a monster? Whatever the animal was, they were approaching and looking directly at Hate. They knew where the being was.

"Stay back!" Hate demanded as the tiny beast got closer to it and the soul. They didn't seem aggressive, calmly approaching the two, but it had learned the hard way to not trust initial appearances. "Do you hear me?!"

No response.

It reached into its body and took out Sicko's blade, pointing it at the creature upon seeing them continue onwards. "Hey! I warned you to stay back!" The thought of the four-legged thing finishing off the two of them crept into Hate's mind. What else would happen in this hell hole it was forced into?

The creature was only feet away at the point, their magical eyes staring blankly at Hate. They'd begin couching down as if ready to pounce. The stance terrified the humanoid. It wouldn't take chances.

Just as they were inches near Hate, it brought down its blade. Too bad its arm was locked by the thing's wire-like tail, preventing the limb from moving in any meaningful capacity.

Seeing this, Hate would shut its eyes and clench its teeth, expecting death right after. "Fuck!"

For a few seconds nothing would happen. The being thought its impending doom was just slower than expected, so it'd continue to brace itself.

Still nothing after a solid ten seconds.

"What the hell are you waiting for?!" Hate's eyes shot wide open, impatient for its own death. What he was treated to, instead of doom, was the tiny beast gandering at its damaged leg as if they were insanely curious by the injury. "Er... Aren't you going to attack me?"

The creature shook their head and leaned forward, lifting up its paws and pressing them onto Hate's leg. Noting the being's painful hiss, they bent down and pressed their head against its damaged limb as if kissing it. Nothing would happen for a few seconds from what Hate saw, who was both confused and shocked by the animal's nature. Is it...Trying to help me?

The answer was an astounding yes. From the tip of their skull, green-colored magic would seep out and pour onto Hate's leg, slowly healing the cracked bones within. The creature would leave their face there for a long minute until they believed they had poured enough magic into the black mass. Pulling away, they looked up at Hate and their relaxed expression.

Hate felt much better with the healing magic coursing through its leg. Being helped was certainly an unexpected outcome, but it wouldn't complain in the slightest. It'd take any ally in this dimension. "So, I take it you don't want me dead?"

The creature nodded and turned away, walking deeper into the cave. They'd turn around for a second and gesture their tail for Hate to follow.

Complying, Hate picked up the patience soul and would attempt to stand up. It found it had no problem with the simple task and a light smile would form as it followed the animal. It wondered where they were going. Maybe the being was too quick to trust the pawed stranger, but so far they seemed friendly as the soul it held. Whatever despair it previously had was fading, replaced with hope that it could survive this whole ordeal. "You're helping me, right? You're not going stab my back?"

The creature shook their head.

Hate sighed in relief at the answer, especially since they'd all be approaching a light at the end of the cave. Squinting its eyes, it saw the entrance to the illuminated section blocked off by two curtains. "Is that where we're heading?"

The creature nodded its head

Eventually, everyone would arrive at the entrance to the place. Once they did, the tiny beast would grab one end of the curtains and pull it away to reveal a luscious plant-infested home. They seemed proud of the place, looking at Hate and the patience soul with their tail wagging uncontrollably.

Hate had never been happier to see another color other than purple until now. The place looked absolutely cozy in stark contrast to the previous sections of the cave. Inside there would be a wide variety of plant species hanging around in practically every corner of the room, from ones grounded in the walls or floor, to grown ones hanging around in pots. suspended in the air or seated on tables and tree stumps. In the middle of the room was the only actual living tree, a great oak with bottle-up magic hanging down from the limbs to illuminate the entire place.

Surrounding the oak would be what could only be described as a sort of alchemy table containing a set up of burners, bottled liquids and powders, and stacks of books pertaining to magic. Right next to that was a hammock hovering above a dog house likely meant for the creature. On the house the sentence 'Best Girl: BB'.

Some other notable things Hate saw in the room was a mini library off on one of the corners with beanbags, mounted skulls of various undefined creatures decorating one wall, and a desk with a diary on top. For some reason, the humanoid had an inherent urge to not touch that diary under any circumstances, likely some kind of memetic magic irradiating from the object. Ignoring that, it looked over at 'BB'. "Nice place."

BB nodded and stepped inside, approaching her dog house and curling up inside. She would watch Hate wander around and gander around the area. She was relaxed, but she wouldn't let the black mass out of her sight.

Hate laid down on the hammock above BB, letting itself get a much needed break from everything that had happened. After running for its life, cracking its leg, and enduring a stab wound earned itself at least some semblance of a break. Sleeping was out of the question though, it didn't want to stay here for long. There were friends it had to eventually return to. It felt restless without them. "Thanks for inviting me over, BB, but I need to get out of here soon."

It leaned its body over the hammock, looking down at the animal. "I know I'm asking for a lot, especially after what you've done, but can you help me out of this hellhole?"

The soul in Hate's grasp shined brightly, spewing out a new set of patience wires that'd attached the tree like a web. Written on it was the word 'out'. Hate wasn't the only one who wanted to leave this place.

BB didn't reply with any nods or head shakes. Instead, she got out of her spot and headed over to the alchemy table and its books. She took a specific book from the pile using her tail and tossed it over to Hate. With that done, she'd lift her tail and point at the patienece soul.

Is she concerned about the soul? Hate caught and glanced down at the book titled 'soul manipulation magic'. It suddenly felt its own soul pale at the words. Soul manipulation? That exists? The book itself seemed pretty old, ancient even with how worn the entire thing was. The title was originally plated with gold, but most of it had been flaked away and left the title's imprint, the pages themselves were tinted an almost mustard yellow color and crinkled in various spots, and the cover was torn. The author's name was long gone.

Opening the tome to the first page, Hate was greeted to some basic knowledge of human souls as well as the chapter contents. the information was disturbing to say the very least.

•Intro.

•Soul biology.

•Soul manipulation basics and understanding.

•Consequences.

•Soul Division.

•Vessel Creation and Importation.

•Soul Corruption.

•Forceful Duality.

•Determination.

•Weapon.

•Bête

Human souls are able to persist for over a minute in comparison to the soul of a monster, which will either shatter instantaneously or within seconds. There has been a major debate on how one can prevent a soul from demanifesting, whether it is a monster or a human, granting a sort of immortality. Of course, monsters can achieve such as task by absorbing human souls to effectively achieve both tasks, but such luxuries are not present by humans themselves...Or so that was the original thought. I have discovered something so bizarre, something so untouched yet a gold mine of possibility: Soul Manipulation. I won't bore you with how I came across the discovery for that is a secret I'll keep to my grave, but I believe every other knowledge pertaining to this art should be exceptionally understood by future wizards.

No matter how horrific and immoral the process is.

"What the hell are you saying about the soul, BB? It'll...eventually break?" Hate looked at the soul. They looked completely fine, minus having no body whatsoever. The soul, though, confirmed the book's statement by writing put 'yes' on the cyan web.

It uncomfortably looked away and back onto the text. "Okay, well, what the hell am I supposed to do about that? If you're telling me escaping with them is pointless, since they'll just die anyways, then what?"

BB inched her tail to the pages and flipped them over to a specific section labeled simply as 'Weapon.' It was the second to last entry.

If you care about the soul you're manipulating, then soul reformation is not the ideal course of action.

I have yet to find a way to completely alter a human soul without destroying the mind of one, the process is too unstable and too unbearable. Humans were never meant to become expressive on a physical level, immutable unlike a monster's. After all, humans are tied to desire while monsters are tied to individuality.

Despite that, I've made a key discovery that will immensely help my future progress.

Just like how humans can create weapons out of their soul trait's magic, a soul can become a weapon itself. It isn't hard either. If a human is simply determined enough, they can alter their own soul in such a manner, dead or alive. That and the usage of runes, which I've provided the schematics to below. Thankfully for this part of my ongoing discoveries, I only had to use my own soul. It was an overwhelming success, in thanks to my determined soul.

There's only one issue: It needs mass amounts of determination to work. The determination will keep the soul alive indefinitely, but the exact quantity needed is unknown. Alternatively, there is a much darker substance that can be used, but that vile thing will never be touched on my soul. I have no name for the wretched thing either, I've only discovered it after countless trials with a particular soul. They were oozing with it. See more at the Soul Corruption entry.

"You're saying I can turn the soul into a weapon?" Hate closed the book and shuddered. "God, everything about that is fucked up. Where the hell do we even get determination or that odd substance? Is the soul even okay with it?!"

Everything about the book was messed up. Soul manipulation? That was manipulation of the very existence of someone, and someone made a whole project on it? It was sickening to see so many pages worth of information about the subject, the entire book horrifying. It had created corpses to produce its words. Why would someone have this thing, let alone create it?

A string of patience would gently wrap and squeeze around the book. It'd take the book and press it against the soul as if hugging it. They wanted this.

"You-You're sure?" Hate cleared its throat and ran its hand through its hair. "Fine. If this is what you want, then so be it... It would suck to die right after escaping this nightmare anyways." It felt like what it was going to do was very much forbidden in the modern-day realm, especially seeing the four-legged being take out a red syringe from one of the nearby cabinets. Do they really want this? How does BB know anyways...? That kind of intuition can only be in-

It suddenly occurred to Hate what kind of creature BB was.

"You know what you're doing, don't you?" Hate accused the tiny beast with a glare.

BB gave a soft, bone-snapping crackling noise like some sort of laugh. She nodded and held out the syringe to Hate. As soon as it reached to grab the needle, she retracted it away and instead took out a jar. She wanted something in return for the injection of determination.

Hate grunted in annoyance at the creature's actions. It should've known she'd do something like that, knowing determination was very much sought after and rare to come by. What was with the jar though? How was it supposed to give something of equal value? All it had was Sicko's sword, a phone, and a card. "You want...something in exchange for that syringe? But I don't have anything of equal value to that."

BB shook her head, believing Hate's words to be nonsense. She placed the jar next to the being, leg and raised her tail. Without warning, she began to scrape off the pitch-black substance Hate was made of, letting the dense fluid pour into the glass container.

"Ow! Ow! Gently!" Hate cried. It hadn't expected her to want a literal portion of its body in exchange. But why? As far as it knew, its mass had no useful properties aside from letting it store and hiding objects and hiding within shadows. Even then, it had no idea how someone other than itself was supposed to utilize it. Paint? Pitch black dye? Was it really worth a syringe of pure determination?

Once the jar had been filled, BB popped a lid over it and gave a satisfied humming noise. She handed over the injectable red substance to Hate and walked off with the jar to store it away. She didn't seem interested in what they'd do with the item anymore.

"Well...This is it..." Hate looked down at the needle. Its hands felt awfully warm as it held the object as if determination was pulsing full of life and power. It had heard the substance was powerful and sought after by many researchers and wizards, but now it understood to what extent. Just touching it, even if it was encased behind glass, made the humanoid feel envigorated.

The black mass looked at the patience soul. "Do you believe this will really help us?"

The soul's web failed to morph and retrained its written 'yes'.

Hate sighed and raised the needle next to the cyan soul. "Alright...From what I read in the book, you have to be determined to alter your soul into a weapon. Straightforward, right?" After a second of hesitation, it pressed the needle into the soul and administered the serum of determination. Pulling out the empty syringe, it watched the soul become outlined in red.

BB gave a rattling purr, satisfied by the humanoids actions. She would take over from there, gently taking the soul from Hate's grip and using her tail to draw in runes in a circular pattern. Hate had no idea what she was writing, let alone know what runes were, but it trusted the feral creature to get the job done.

This better work.


Agni looked down the dark alleyway she had escaped and Hate had fallen through. Her body shivered at the sight of the place and she felt sick to the stomach thinking of what had happened to her void-like friend. They were probably dying down there for all she knew. Whatever creature that had pulled Hate in wanted to 'play' with them...

The scene had been horrifying for her, the only reason she hadn't become frozen in fear was the fear of suffering whatever awaited her. She could never bring herself to get harmed and she was glad Hate had saved her from that, but now she felt selfish for not doing anything to help them in return. Thinking back on it, there was a hundred things she could've done to prevent this all: let her fear take over and lead Hate away from the alleyway, use her magic to escape, blast away their attacker - just a few ideas that came to mind too late.

What can she do now? Normally she'd go and call for help, but...everyone around her was frozen. Time had stopped and there was no one that could help, even if they wanted to. Terror overcame her upon the realization she was alone now, with no one to help her...No one to help her friend. If only she was brave enough to go back in that alleyway, but she wasn't that kind of person...Not anymore at least, fear helped her make it this far. Not bravery.

She needed a push.

Luckily, someone would provide that.

"Let me go you dam cheater- Hrck!" Agni heard someone claim right behind her. Turning around, she'd see two black figures against each other, both with swirly eyes and glowing mouths. The only difference was one was cyan while the other was purple, the latter being held in the air and chocked out.

The cyan being threw the Boukayku to the ground and snapped their fingers, tying down the clone. "Stay there." They looked up and faced Agni, who was cowering against a wall with a spear in her hands. "Hey."

"H-hey-y?!" Agni squeaked out, completely flustered at what she had just witnessed. She had no idea what she was dealing with. Were they an enemy or not? Her trust in swirly-eyed humanoids was awfully low with what happened not long ago. She'd raise her spear and point it at the being. "S-stay back!"

The cyan being ignored Agni's warning and stepped closer. "Calm down. You're the black thing's friend, right? Bravery soul? You don't act like one..."

"Uh. Y-You mean Hate? Er- Yea, that's me. wait- Is Hate alive?!" Agni lowered her spear ever so slightly.

"Yea...I'm here to save them. They told me you'd provide much needed assistance." The cyan humanoid stated casually. They bent down and grabbed Boukayku off the ground, retracting the wires. "We have a plan. And as much as I'd like to be detailed as possible, I'm growing impatient. I just need your magic to blow a lot of shit up."

Should Agni trust them? They just appeared out of nowhere, spewing out words that could be false about her friend's state. It could be a trap, and she never really looked at the bright side...But Hate was a strong individual, there was a good chance they were telling the truth, a chance she'd be willing to take. Still, hesitation took her. "I-I- How do I know you're being truthful?"

The being frowned and placed a hand over their chin. "I suppose I am rushing things...Why not ask me something only Hate knows?"

Something Hate knows...? Agni had one thing in mind, something rather specific back when she first met her friend at the convention. She snapped her fingers and gave a semi-confident smile. "Alright. What's the first thing I gave Hate?"

It'd take a second for them to reply, crossing their arms and looking up at the sky. "hm...He said passes to your stupid convention panel."

Agni's eyes widened.

They were right.

This was the help she was waiting for.

"Y-You're right.." Agni smiled. "Okay, fine, I'll help. B-but..."

"But...?" The cyan being raised an eyebrow.

"If I find out you're lying, I-I'll make you hurt! Really badly!" Agni stated, trying to sound threatening to no avail.

The humanoid tried their best not to laugh, stifling them out as best as possible. "Pft- Got It. Let's begin now, shall we?" she snapped the clone's neck, causing the pitch-black alleyway to reform into a mono-colored forest.

Agni was already regretting her decision.


Super Short Story.

Determin...

Betty shot up from the grass, clenching onto her chest as she felt her soul beating violently. The pain wouldn't stop as it continued for over a minute, even as she banged on her ribs to force the soul to cease. It'd become too much for her and she'd forcefully rip the soul out of her body. She could still feel the pain of it, since the soul was directly connected to her body, but at least she could try and figure out what was going on.

Gandering at her heart-shaped object, the girl could see the pink and red portions of her soul clashing. The middle was bubbling with fear and determination, attacking each other to leak out what she could only describe as 'burned' magic. Her soul was acting up again, unable to handle the two traits existing at once. It wasn't meant to happen. "N-Not good. Kumu!" Betty called for help.

Kumu came rushing to Betty's aid, extending out an appendage to keep her from falling over and dropping her soul. They'd help the agonized human towards a nearby stream of water and settle her down on the ground. They could feel her becoming worse, the magic in their body continuing to 'burn' and turn into a ugly brown brownish-black. This wasn't the first time the blob had to deal with their owner becoming 'Soul-sick', but this time it was the most serious it had ever been. It could become deadly.

"Why is my soul acting like this?" Betty moaned as she laid still and her soul hovered above her. It hurts! She could do nothing but watch Kumo try to treat her in any way it could, first off trying to get her to drink some water but forming a portion of its body into a cup. They'd scoop up some of the stream's liquid and pour it carefully into her mouth.

It didn't help. In fact, it seemed to worsen her as she choked on the water and coughed it out. She leaned to her side and bent her head down, groaning. "What's happening..?" Are my soul traits rejecting each other? It was the only explanation at the moment, her soul wasn't natural, especially possessing a determined half. It shouldn't have been possible and it seemed like the world was figuring that out just now.

Betty felt like death, leading her to believe her demise would come slowly and painfully. She didn't want to die, she had been made to carry out her wishes. This was the worst pain she had ever been with her soul. What did she do to deserve this? The suffering was too much for the girl to handle, so much so she'd pass out and leave Kumu to take matters into their own hands.

Kumu would do everything in their power to save their friend...Which wasn't much. How the hell were they supposed to deal with a dying soul? The best they could do was watch over her and observe her soul.

There had to be something else they could do though. Anything.

Kumu tried to figure out what was wrong with Betty's soul and what exactly was going on with it. There wasn't much of an indication of why she was spewing out 'burnt' magic from the middle of her soul, it just did. Over the course of four hours this would go on, with no good signs of change and them watching hopelessly. The only thing that happened was the pink portion of the slow losing its magic. The idea of getting a human to help came across their mind at the sight, but they were scared their helper would quickly become their attacker.

No. Getting help was out of the question.

The pink monster would turn to alternative reasons. Maybe something was wrong with Betty's structure? They were created by a spell after all, there was bound to be an error with magic. Not everything works the way it was intended. Maybe there was something messed up about them? There had to be since this wasn't the first time their soul acted up like this.

Kumu felt around Betty's body, trying to feel for anything that they could deem 'wrong'. There was nothing at first, she seemed completely fine on a physical level, but then they reached the stomach and felt how shallow it was.

Curious, they'd lift up their friend's sweater, just enough to notice her malnourished body. Suddenly it made sense why Betty was dying. She wasn't getting any nutrition.

But wasn't she supposed to solely survive on magic? Kumu didn't need to eat, they just lived off the magic Betty gained. They thought she was the same way, except she lived off the magic her determination...provided...

Kumu's eyes drifted up to their friend's soul and the 'burnt' magic it was leaking from the middle. Her determination couldn't properly produce magic anymore. If they had to guess why, given all the hints, it was because she needed food. Magic couldn't be properly produced without some energy sustaining it.

How could they forget she was still human? She wasn't a spell as originally intended. They both made a severe mistake thinking otherwise.

The pink monster sighed and moved away from Betty, heading back to the stream of water. It'd transform the lower half of its body into a spear, waiting for an oncoming fish to prey upon. They needed to feed their friend.

An hour later and Betty would wake up to the smell of fried fish in the air. She felt groggy to high hell, but she'd look to see where the smell was coming from. In front of her was Kumu forcing one of her hands and use fire magic to cook a filleted fish suspended over the limb by a few sticks. She stared at the sight in confusion as to why they were cooking, but her stomach would also growl. the smell made her soul hurt... "What are you doing, Kumu?"

Kumu sliced off a portion of the fish and shoved it into Betty's mouth without warning. She was forced to swallow the meat, a muffle of surprise emitting as she did so. She pushed away the blob and eyed them in annoyance. "Why are you feeding me? How it supposed to help-"

The pain in her soul died down ever so slightly.

She looked down to see it dripping less of that brownish-black substance. "-my soul..." She then saw Kumu's smug grin. "I see."

They'd nod and hold out another piece of fish, which Betty would enthusiastically munch on. The process would continue until they ran out, each time her soul becoming less and less painful. Eventually, the magic pouring from her determination would begin to resume correctly.

Betty smiled with contentment and wiped her face. "I feel so much better..." So all this was because I didn't eat? I've been starving myself? Admittedly, she felt stupid for never considering the idea she needed more than just magic to keep herself running. How could she forget she wasn't just magic? She bled, she had organs, she had everything a human would. She wasn't just a used vessel.

All this time, her soul was warning of an energy deficiency in her body and she never noticed...

"How could I have forgotten such a basic necessity?"


Notes:

•Time in the pocket dimension works differently, preventing souls from shattering normally.

•The book is at least a thousand years old.

•I was going to have Agni's phone number be a key way for Hate to escape, but I realized reception would probably be nonexistent in a pocket dimension.

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. The next one might be even better hopefully! owo