I want to win

Kai was shocked by everything he had seen so far.

After Failure had possessed his body, he was basically just watching a movie play out. A very dangerous movie, mind you, one that could very well end up in his own death if it went wrong.

But it was still breathtaking nonetheless.

Watching the dome be created and come to life was absolutely mind-boggling. It would have been completely dark in the newly created dome, but Failure had managed to angle the top of the wooden structure so perfectly that slivers of light slipped through, successfully illuminating the vast area while still not affecting the surrounding area.

Even watching Failure fight the Demon was a mind-blowing thing to witness. The constant clashing of their respective blades, the countless wooden creations that were attacking the Demon from all angles with all sorts of different properties. Kai was incredulous at everything he was witnessing.

Sadly, not all was meant to go well.

After the Demon released its aura at full strength, Kai let out an agonising howl of pain as he gripped at his chest.

It was like there was two layers to himself. One was his actual body, which was still being controlled by Failure as he continued to engage the Demon in their vicious clash that would only end once one or the other was dead.

But there was also Kai. He still had a body, but he was more of a spirit at the current moment. He couldn't really see himself, but he could feel himself moving.

The was why the pain was so horrible, so harrowing, so agonising.

Kai resisted the urge to cry as he howled in pain once more. After the Demon's aura had hit him, there had been a crack, then greivous pain.

But what had even cracked for him to end up in this much pain, the last time he felt pain like this was when-

Even after realising what had happened, Kai didn't feel much better. Pushing through the pain, Kai activated Soul Sense and focused on his soul.

The pale gray orb was still floating in the centre of his chest, but now there was something different about it, something Kai didn't know if he should be slightly worried or absolutely terrified about seeing.

Along one of the sides of his soul, a thin line ran up along the side of its body. Faint gray wisps spilled out of the tiny crack, making Kai wince in pain.

His soul, to put it frankly, was breaking. That one crack was already spilling out some of his soul, and that fact made Kai extremely scared.

What would happen if one were to lose portion of their soul? Would they be the same person? Would their personalities change? Or would they grow substantially weaker? Did it work like blood loss where if someone lost too much then they would die?

None of those options sounded pleasant to Kai, in fact, all of them sounded rather terrible.

But what could he do?

He couldn't ask Failure for help as he was trying to reset all his creations that had been temporarily disabled by the Demon flaring its aura.

He couldn't ask Aldred for help as the gray wolf was still inside the wooden dome with all the other humans and beasts, meaning he couldn't exit unless he also wanted to become a victim to Failure's domain.

So all Kai could do was pray that Failure killed the Demon quick enough so he could promptly leave Kai's soul and offer him some high grade medicine, that should make this whole ordeal worth it-

Kai's eyes widened in horror as he caught a glimpse of something completetly unexpected and completetly dire happening inside his soul.

The gray wisps that had been slipping out the crack in his soul had only grown stronger and thicker, but what was worse than that was what was currently making its way for the crack.

A small white dot, a little thing Kai hadn't paid much attention to considering he didn't think he had used his Will stat at all since getting into the forest.

Actually, it was a little strange that his innate ability was litteraly called Will of the Kaiser, yet used his Luck stat as a baseline. Wouldn't it be more suitable for it to make use of his Will-

Those thoughts didn't matter now as Kai had just comprehended what was actually happening inside his soul.

The gray wisps weren't just hovering around the edge of his soul, they were constantly flowing outwards and instantly evaporating once they got far enough away.

And now, his Will stat was going to do the same.

The small white dot slowly started floating closer and closer to the crack inside Kai's soul, getting closer to spilling out completetly.

Kai panicked. The last times he had lost his Will stat was when he was in Goblin Mode. He had been turned into a crazed beast, but even then he still had a couple of the stat to keep him going.

But what would happen if he completetly lost his will? Would Failure be immediately expelled from his body, thus dooming himself and everyone in the forest to their death. Would Kai even be able to function, or would he just forget how to breath and just die from not getting any oxygen?

That was something that Kai would most definitely rather not get the oppurtunity to figure out. Sadly, it seemed that the oppurtunity was much closer than he would have liked it to have been.

Desperately trying to think of anything that could possibly prevent his Will stat from leaking out, Kai clamped his had down on the crack in an effort to just block it with his palms.

Don't spill don't spill don't spill don't spill...

Kai repeated those two words over and over again in a frantic attempt at preserving his mind. Maybe he would be able to manifest the crack disappearing into reality.

Don't spill don't spill don't spill- Huh?..

To his surprise, Kai's hands had started to glow a pale gray as he felt his soul tremble slightly beneath his touch.

The pain that had been so harrowing just a moment ago and had him on the verge of tears slowly started to dim, the stinging lessening. The pain was still there, no doubt about it, but it was a lot better when compared to how it was before.

Lifting his hands up from his soul, Kai couldn't help but be shocked at the fact the crack in his soul was complete gone, the few gray wisps that had escaped dissipating before his very eyes. The only main difference was that while the six vibrant dots representing his stats were in a perfect circle around his soul before, the white spark representing Will was now out of position. Kai was sure he would be able to fix that eventually thought.

As long as he survived, that is.

And sadly, it didn't seem like that was going to happen either.

"My dear Kai, it seems that we have lost.

Even with the help of a Miracle Bead, your soul just can't handle the strain. Maybe I will be able to do something once I return back to the Mother Tree considering my skill has already been set up, but I don't see much hope.

It seems that we were never destined to survive in the first place. Even if the Demon won and there was some valuable candidates on their side, our world wouldn't have gotten any time. The red gems in the centre of their armour were the explosives that had killed so many, and they were prepared to blow just before the tutorial ended.

It's a shame, I quite would have liked to win."

So that's what it had come to. Kai's soul just wasn't able to put up with the strain of accommodating someone like Failure. It was just too much for a level twenty-two with an E grade soul.

There were only two possible choices left. Failure exited Kai's body and had to fight with purely the utility and attacking methods offered by the dome, if it even remained standing after he left Kai's body, or there was the second option.

Kai didn't think of himself as a hero, not even anything remotely close to that thought. He was the same back when he first entered the tunnel with Wa'rak, he would much rather just have a hero rescue him instead of him having to rescue someone.

At least, that was he felt what it was like to save someone after helping that woman that night. In fact, that choice probably had the biggest domino effect of them all as it was her who even allowed the beasts to even stand a chance towards the end.

Saving someone, to help someone, it was an incredible feeling. Kai wasn't one that was going to pride himself and grow arrogant after helping someone, but he wanted to feel that way again. It made him feel human.

So that was why he made his choice.

He was going to let Failure continue using his body to fight the Demon. When cracks would show up in his soul, he would just erase them the same way he had just done.

It was the only real option after all. It was either Kai died while housing Failure, or everyone present died, including Kai.

Kai wanted to be someone that he could be proud of, someone that his mother and father could be proud of, that was his goal.

He just wanted to be himself after all, and what he wanted was to protect Sofia, Noelle, John, Umbra, Wa'rak, anyone he had met and held a conversation with over the last few weeks. Even if it was only minorly, they had all helped to shape him into who he was now, even if they had only known each other for a small amount of time.

So with a resolved heart, Kai wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled. He promised himself that he would smile in the face of pain after all, he just hadn't expected that he would have to fulfill that promise so soon.

So with a massive, heartbroken grin on his face, Kai said:

"Failure, fuck that shit. I want you to go all out. I want to win."