Soulless

Heart and Mind unable to reconcile

The flesh weak, stripped away for unbreakable steel

I will give everything to keep you safe

Even from myself

"And that is checkmate."

With those four simple words, his will was as broken just like his body.

What was the point?

His allies had betrayed him.

His subordinates had deserted him.

His kingdom was falling, and he couldn't move.

And even if he managed to get off one single shot…It wouldn't matter.

He dropped his gun and simply lied his head down, waiting for it all to end. He could already feel it approaching…

The vault underneath the academy began to tilt and suddenly he was thrown back, the darkness of the cave replaced by…light. He grunted as he skidded and rolled across fresh grass and looked up to see he had been thrown back into the vault itself…

Just as the doors began to vanish…

Followed by the interior of the vault.

Before he could even blink, he was falling, the bright sunny sky replaced by darkness. The ground having faded away into an endless black abyss.

Perhaps it was fitting.

He had failed to protect his kingdom and people so this was how he awarded, to forever fall into a pitch black abyss.

Fall into pitch black hell.

He closed his eyes and just let it all go, regrets, desires, feelings…

It was all let go for there was no point in holding them anymore. He didn't care what lied at the bottom of the void, if there was even a bottom at all.

There was nothing to fight for.

No kingdom in the sky to protect.

No people to be saved.

Nothing…

He felt the cool sensation of water enveloping him and he couldn't breathe. He struggled and managed to lift his head over the water.

Where was he?

He looked around and saw nothing but an endless sea with a single light in the distance. He didn't know where he was…and he didn't care. He stayed there, sitting in the water and just stared off into the endless sea with a darkened sky and a single light in the distance.

Then the light approached him.

Was it his imagination?

Perhaps he had been here so long, his mind was playing tricks on him now.

How long had he been here?

He had lost track of time.

For all he knew, he could have been here for a few minutes, ranging to a hundred years. He didn't feel any different, but he barely felt anything at all now. It was almost as if he had been freed from all the burdens that had broken him down.

The light grew closer, consuming his vision until all he saw was light.

And then he heard a voice.

"Welcome, James Ironwood."

Suddenly he was no longer alone in a dark empty sea, he was standing in a grand room, two humanoid beings standing before him.

"So, this is the famous General Ironwood." The dark being on the right mused. "He's certainly…a sight to see."

"Be kind, Brother."

General…Ironwood?

Who was that?

"He managed to survive in the Realm of Darkness without losing his heart. I believe that is a feat not many are capable of achieving." The light being stated.

"Perhaps he would have succumbed if he had been left there a little longer." The dark being replied. "Why bother with him? We know that the heretic calling himself Oberon will become a threat to us if he is not stopped. Why bother with this castaway?"

"I am exploring other options then just trying to create as we have usually done. That tactic failed against Aqua and her friend. We must begin to consider other alternatives." The light being answered. "If the Heartless are beings born from the darkness in hearts, why can't there be a being born from the light?"

What are they talking about?

"So, this is as much an experiment as it is to create a counter to the Heretic, the Keyblade and the other forces outside of our world." The dark being crossed his arms. "To think this one would survive the end of his world along with the other seven who made their way into the Ever After, the very world we have not been part for millennia."

"We have watched but we did not agree that any creation of ours would not make their way back to the First World and carry out our desires." The light being stated, kneeling before him. "Do you seek a new purpose?"

A…purpose?

"You have lost your kingdom, your armies, your duty. I can offer you a new one." The light being held out a hand. "But only if you trust my judgement."

Trust?

Why would he…

What did it matter?

There was nothing to gain from refusing and nothing to lose from accepting.

"I…" His voice was barely above a whisper, hoarse and rough. "…acc…ept."

"Very good." The light being touched his chest.

And then touched his heart.

His eyes widened as he felt a great light entering it…He thought he should be screaming in pain, but he didn't.

In fact, he wondered if any form of pain was being purged from him.

His clothes, ragged and torn began to shine along with his entire body. His clothes burned away, becoming covered in white and golden armor that shined just as bright as the light being that was filling his heart with its very essence. His eyes, once steel blue were now shining white with black sclera as a pair of white angelic wings sprouted from his back.

The being of light retracted his hand and took a step back to marvel at his new creation. "It seems I was correct, Brother. Just as a heart can be swallowed in darkness as she said, it can also be engulfed in light and purged of all darkness."

The dark being dispassionately eyed the new being as it bowed to his brother. "And what shall this new being be called? A form of light Heartless?"

"No, this is the opposite of Heartless." The light being answered. "He still retains the capacity for intellect, reason and even emotions but has been purged of the emotions that humans are known for. He is in complete serenity."

"How will that be any good against the Heretic or the Keyblade?" The dark being questioned.

"Let us find out." The light being looked to his brother. "Summon your Grimm."

The dark being glanced at him but nodded, summoning Creatures of Grimm, Beowolves into the chamber. The surrounding Grimm snarled at him, but he felt no fear from them.

The only thing he could feel…was absolute disgust, complete revulsion at the sight of these monstrosities.

These things…

These abominations.

The mere sight of them made him feel a deep…murderous…rage.

"RAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" He held out his hand and from it came a blast of light that hit the nearest Grimm, turning it to ashes.

Light exploded from all around him, atomizing the remaining Grimm into nothing and even when they were gone, his rage was not sated. He turned to the dark being who seemingly sensed his rage and morphed into a dragon with a skull shaped face.

How revolting.

"Enough." The light being appeared between them. "Has this demonstration satisfied your curiosity, Brother?"

The dark dragon snarled but relented. "It has…Though for a being of light, I had no idea it could feel such hate towards anything, even my Grimm."

The light being regarded its new creation, noting that he was still ready to attack but its command had made him stand down. "Yes. An interesting development. It seems that in filling his heart with light and expelling any darkness, it has caused him to feel nothing but revolution towards anything that has been touched by darkness."

"I've never seen any of your creations react with such hostility before." The dark being stated. "It's almost refreshing. Does he even have a name?"

"I consider him simply to be my Warrior of Light." The light being answered.

"No, no, no. A warrior would imply he is still human." The dark being shook its head. "We both can tell it's not human anymore. We know it is still aggressive along being able to show emotions, so it does have a heart…Or at least as you said it is the exact opposite of a Heartless. Though the way it acts, I'd almost say it was like Grimm even though it's clearly not. It was motivated to destroy my Grimm as my Grimm are motivated to destroy creations of life."

"It is able to reason, show intelligence but does not move or react unless in the presence of an enemy." The light being mused. "So perhaps not a Heartless but…"

"A Soulless."

"Not something I would normally name a creation of mine but in this case, I believe it will suffice."

It was during my time as a mere apprentice to Nicholas that his wife shared with me stories of her travels through Remnant's history. As I mentioned in a previous report the God of Light Izanagi and the God of Darkness Erebus had seemingly delved into their own experiments of the Heart much as I and my apprentices foolishly did in my first life. Where we initially experimented to find ways to defend ourselves against the darkness, Izanagi sought to create a heart that completely submitted to the light, the antithesis to the Heartless. According to Aqua, where the Heartless rely on instinct, lack emotions and intellect while seeking other hearts, these creatures created by the God of Light showed not only emotions but also intellect and thrived on them.

I had not considered such dangerous beings could be born from the light. These beings have the potential to be even more dangerous than the Heartless though fortunately they were believed to be fewer in numbers. I am unsure of whether or not they existed as actual beings or mere myths in the original timeline before Aqua began her journey but if they did exist, they were possibly wiped out or sealed away by the time I was 'reborn' on Remnant.

According to her, these creatures were named-

"-the Soulless?" Terra raised an eyebrow at the name Aqua had mentioned from the book she was reading.

"Yeah." Aqua nodded as she closed the book. "It's an old book, written by a Keyblade Master named Odin. He mentioned to having meeting something like these Soulless on one of his journeys."

"I didn't think a heart could be overtaken by the light." Terra muttered, rubbing his chin. "I understand darkness but light…"

"I kind of find it hard to believe too." Aqua nodded in agreement. "I guess you have to be careful succumbing to either side."

"Does it say anything in particular about them?" Terra asked.

"Well…" Aqua opened the book again and read the page she had found aloud. "'…My companion led me to this red castle, known as the Crimson Keep. According to her, this castle is home to the King and Queen who protect this world from the danger of outside forces. Taking her word, I approached the castle, meeting the Crimson Guard outside who led me to meet their rulers: the Red King and the Blue Queen. Odd how the Queen was blue rather than red, but it is later explained that the Blue Queen came from a distant land and upon meeting her, challenged her and her companions to a game.

The stakes were if the companions won, the Red King would help them reach the Great Tree to find their way back to their home. In return, one of the companions, a little girl promised that if the Red King won, he would be given their protector, a warrior princess who was their guardian and protector to be his queen. The Red King was surprised but accepted the terms of the game nonetheless. Despite their best efforts, the Red King demonstrated his wisdom and cunning, winning the game and thus the companion's protector was made his queen but there was a condition:

So as long as his heart was dedicated to the protection of the innocent, she would be his queen. If he were to ever break this vow, their union would be broken, and she would become a waypoint of light for lost hearts once more.

The Red King agreed and thus the warrior princess became the Blue Queen. When I met them, the Red King was distrustful of my presence for I was an outsider, but the Blue Queen calmed him and welcomed me. I explained my purpose and my mission, a protector to the hearts of the innocent from the forces of darkness that threaten them. I had seen the darkness, the Heartless take on many shapes and forms and they would always prey those hearts that were corrupted by darkness.

The Red King then asked me a question that surprised me: What about the other half?

I was confused by his words, and he clarified that if Heartless embodied the darkness in hearts, then what happened to the light half? Did creatures who embodied the light side also exist? I was admittedly left surprised and believed the light would never corrupt anyone, but the Blue Queen mentioned that such a being did once exist in their world. A being whose entire existence was bathed in light and he created beings like him, hearts filled with light that were unlike anything else.'"

"A being of pure light?" Terra could not help but interrupt. "Wouldn't that be a good sign?"

"Not sure. The Blue Queen never said he was evil or anything like that so it's possible she was wary because of he was just different." Aqua shrugged. "Odin continued speaking with the Red King and the Blue Queen for a day at least, talking about these beings of light. Apparently, they believed them to be the opposite of the Heartless in every way. Where the Heartless act on instinct and thrive on the darkness of people's hearts, these beings of light called the Soulless thrive on the emotions and intellect, they don't corrupt like the Heartless and are not driven to increase numbers either do but are capable of purifying hearts to make more like them."

"So how come we didn't know about them until now? Is anything else like this mentioned in the archives?" Terra asked.

"Not that I could find but the archives are huge, Terra." Aqua pointed out. "For all we know, these Soulless could have been encountered by other masters or they were a myth and these beings the king and queen spoke of were not what Odin was thinking of. The queen mentioned that they had a great enmity for the darkness that they were driven to seek out and destroy it all costs. Maybe they went into the Realm of Darkness to destroy all the Heartless and never came back."

"I guess." Terra shrugged. "Still, that's an eerie name the king gave them, Soulless."

Aqua had to agree with him on that. The soul was what gave a being a life and the difference between being alive or dead. It is the force that wills the body to live and drives it to survive. That was why some considered the soul to also be the 'mind' of a being.

When a Heartless was born, their heart which controls the body is released and the body and soul are left behind. The soul is the energy and life of the body uses to carry out the heart's commands.

The soul is essentially life.

There have been documents of the soul leaving the body, becoming a spirit or ghost but usually when the soul leaves the body it has no energy to carry out the heart's orders which causes the being to die. That was why spirits or ghosts were considered weaker compared to the Heartless.

For a being like these Soulless to exist and to be considered beings of pure light…

Aqua wasn't sure what to make of that.

She looked at the book one more time before closing it. "It's probably just a myth, Terra. We're safeguards of the light, not these Soulless things if they ever existed."

Terra smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we are."

Secret Report

Subject: Silver Eyes

The subject of Silver Eyes was briefly touched on during my report on Remnant's system of magic. Magic is a difficult subject to categorize scientifically, specifically because the very nature of magic is being able to distort and even break the laws of physics through the manipulation of molecules and particles which can be done through the power of the mind. However, it should be noted that Silver Eyes have several distinct differences from the usual magic system.

Silver Eyes have the ability to kill Grimm. They are triggered by strong emotions, sort of explained to be emotions of protection. Silver Eyes don't consume aura like Semblances. Silver Eyes can only be activated when there are Grimm nearby.

So, if a Silver Eyes Warrior fights people in a place without Grimm, they can't use the power of their eyes, but this doesn't matter because Silver Eyes only work on Grimm anyway, they supposedly have no effect on people. However, the fact that they are even able to kill Grimm so easily suggests that they are able to disrupt magic itself, given that the Grimm themselves are a form of destructive magic given physical form. That is a rare and extremely powerful ability, but it seems to be targeted only at Grimm. I cannot help but wonder if this is a power that can evolve beyond its intended limit.

If this power can evolve beyond its intended limit, it could become strong enough to disrupt not just the Grimm but even any form of magic regardless of its origin. It is likely not a conclusion that Salem herself has realized but still recognizes this power as a threat, hence why she had systematically hunted the small number of people with these eyes to near extinction. I cannot help but ponder if anyone with these eyes had pushed her to her very limits.

"Okay." Summer looked at Leo. "We should ask it inside here, just to be safe. I don't want this to activate outside of the Vault."

Leonardo glanced at Raven who considered it carefully and nodded, walking into the vault, followed by Maia and Leonardo being the last.

They all approached Summer as she held out the Lamp and whispered the password. "Jinn."

Time literally froze but in that frozen moment, everything changed.

There was a blue mist that surrounded the group before the Spirit of Knowledge, Jinn appeared before them. "Well, well, this is a nice change of pace. Usually, it's the old man who wakes me up."

Summer and Raven stared with widened at the sight of the spirit, Leonardo stuttered a bit, seeing as the spirit was in the shape of a woman who had no clothes on and Maia took a step back.

"Though it is nice to see the usual reaction from the first timers." Jinn chuckled. "The old man doesn't even blink anymore."

Summer shook her head and stepped forward. "We'd like to ask a question."

"Of course you do. That's why you're here, holding my lamp and having said my name. I am allowed to answer only three questions per one hundred years, per the judgement of the God of Light. You may ask me anything you wish but remember, the answer may not be what you like and you better have made sure you are asking in complete detail for an answer. Too many have asked me a question, only to be disappointed because the answer was not to their liking, mostly because they could have phrased their question better." Jinn sighed, leaning back as she let out a dramatic sigh.

Summer cleared her throat. "Okay…Let's see if I can do this. If Salem can be defeated, what are the steps we must take to do so?"

Jinn raised an eyebrow, and she smiled. "Oh? You are asking a 'what if' question? Why not simply ask how Salem can be defeated?"

"Well, you said that we have to be detailed in how we ask our question, or we'd end up getting an answer that glossed over some facts." Summer rubbed the back of her head, a sheepish look on her face. "So, we want to know if Salem has any weaknesses, we can exploit then how best we go about doing that."

Jinn threw her head back and laughed. "Wonderful, simply wonderful! Someone who is using their brains when it comes to asking a question. I haven't seen that since…well, a good friend who always makes things fun when she summons me. But very well, I answer your question."

A blue mist surrounded the ground and suddenly they found themselves in a dark land, surrounded by Grimm…and facing Salem.

"Step one of how to go about defeating Salem: Since she has magic, has control of the Grimm and is immortal-"

Raven and Leo sputtered. "Im-Immortal?!"

"You need to remove her control over the Grimm and neutralize her magic. The first step starts with you," Jinn pointed to Summer. "More specifically your eyes."

Summer reached up and touched her face under her right eye. "My Silver Eyes…"

"Correct. Now, depending on how powerful your eyes are, you can neutralize all the Grimm in the surrounding area no matter the location. Salem herself, having long since been imbued with the essence of Grimm will be susceptible to this power but you must tread carefully. If the power of your eyes is not strong enough, it will not be enough to stop her." Jinn continued as a flash of light blinded them all and when it was done, Salem was a statue, a horrified look on her face before the statue broke and shattered. "Your Silver Eyes, powered by not just desire to defend life, the lives you love but also by the other source of magic with you."

Summer stiffened but said nothing.

"If one or more users of magic channel their power through you and enhance the power of your eyes, it would be enough to disrupt the destructive magic coursing through Salem's veins. If powerful enough, it will fully immobilize her, disrupting the magical forces that make her a threat." Jinn said before the blue mist surrounded them again, seemingly going back in time as they were again in the Land of Darkness. "Another option would be to use the Staff of Creation, the power of my brother Ambrosius, the Spirit of Creation."

Salem was shown again, facing the Staff of Creation as Ambrosius appeared and with a wave of his hand, Salem was trapped in a large, transparent crystal.

"This method was used before, and she imprisoned for a century." Jinn stated. "Though if you are looking for a more long-term option the one involving your eyes or the last one might be what you need."

The key shaped swords then appeared before the group, embedded in the ground/

"What is that?" Summer whispered with wide eyes.

"The divine weapon that came from outside of this world known as the Keyblade." Jinn answered as a knight in blue and silver armor, a knight in bronze and red armor, and a knight in armor colored green, silver and gold appeared. "Wielded by warriors from the great beyond, the Keyblade possess the power to bypass the divine powers of the Gods and can even harm them."

The knights then faced Salem and with just three mere slashes, she dissolved into a puddle of black Grimm matter, letting out a scream as she melted.

"These weapons along with your Silver Eyes are the most effective weapons in stopping and defeating Salem. Beyond that, the only other option would be to gather the Relics together, summon back the Gods and let them bring their judgement on her." Jinn stated before the Land of Darkness faded away in a blue mist, returning them to the vault. "Outside of these weapons, only the Gods can kill her."

And with that, the first question was answered.

The Huntresses, the Headmaster and the Maiden all stared at the Lamp of Knowledge that rested in Summer's hands. She softly placed it back on its pedestal and then slowly turned to face the others.

"Summer?" Raven asked, her eyes wide.

Summer took a deep breath and sighed, closing her eyes for a brief moment…

And then opened them to reveal burning silver eyes followed by three words.

"I am ready."