Lisa pulled her arms up and twisted them across her chest.

"Right? Oh, right. Of course, I don't know you, your... highness or whatever. My position is, after all that I've done for you, a lackluster and more one-way than two-way consequence. You don't know a lot about me because of course you don't give a fuck. That's the usual stuff, so never mind that. The lines between Life Companions and Blessed can get tricky or dull, breaking long before it is right, or... something like this."

"I don't care about the norm!" Murai argued, increasing the tone and voice of his Will.

Lisa barely flinched as she finally reconciled on what to do. "Now, now. There is no need to be overly emotional with each other. It's not as if we are digging graves or trying to paint the skies. We are living, and you are trying something else. It's one of the unwritten rules that Life Companion has. We try. Everyone does that."

"Unwritten?" Murai frowned. "Don't tell me there are some... written stuff? Wait... No. I take it back. What about your rules, that is your head? As if the world would dictate something for the likes of you." He sneered and surprised Lisa quite a bit with his view and manner.

It was the outlook that she liked. "My rules are my head, huh?"

"When you were alive," Murai said. "I am sure you had your own Life Company. How and when it went isn't important to me, as everyone has their reasons for existing, or doing their bidding, or living, or cursing, or desiring. Is that the reason you do this thing to me? Because the past that matters to you?"

"Well..." Lisa hesitated in her recollections. "I don't like to think about it. It's not important to see my point or validate my thoughts."

"Facts are usually hidden behind logic, then words, and acts. You are awful, which is my main argument and encouragement that makes me think." Murai argued. "You are also quite often illogical, emotional, and frankly, irritating in what you do, cause, or wander in your head. It's kind of hidden and misleading, making me think you are more than I judge, but you aren't. You are this sass and brittle trick made into a living being that... oh, I think so. It's a Wraith if I remember correctly. Odd bores of fate and space, those are."

"That doesn't change anything. Also, I don't deny what truths lie behind the acts, or stuff, or words that are better not unveiled. I deny you the words because of your subjectivity and matters like my actions. Since the very beginning, I have no idea how to approach you in this shitty world with rules and Gods that think power is excellency, but they are kittens to it."

Murai squinted his eyes, looking her straight in the eyes. "Is that right or wrong?"

"What sticks the truth with lies is the difference between words and thoughts. Stuff happens. Lies end. Truth shifts or turns or prevails, or drops to the Abyss that is everywhere. It could shake us all up."

"Seems like excuses because you can't read me. Just the surface isn't enough for you, which makes you frustrated and act as I've described. How come?"

"It's not my fault!" Lisa argued, scoffing and looking away. "I don't like this conversation and your change. What the hell happened in that Realm?"

"Vacation."

"..." Lisa couldn't consider that word or give it too much attention.

"I was there for a long time, so what do you want then? Am I that important to you if you are approaching this situation like this? Or is something new after being long and little, or like a spark and shade? Were you afraid of something, little Wraith?"

"Time is always right. It isn't when it isn't right."

"So?"

"I need a change. I want an exchange and a way to get us ahead better. You see, Life Companionship between us is special. We are all heavy in Will and souls, and you are reaping and thinking into my words. I think you don't get what it truly means."

"One is better than the other," Murai argued, thinking she was being overly serious about this entire discussion.

"I don't deny that. You are like a whole realm before everything and everyone. Swallowing, perhaps? Or stupidly over his head and shoulders, even if you can barely stand above half a meter as you look loftily with your chin high? Oh, sorry. You don't have one. You can't see shit because your beak is in the way, you stupid duck"

Murai shifted his head sideways. "Your attempts at encouraging me are futile. What is that exchange? Getting us ahead is a lot to take in if we are talking about the same thing. Oh, and we don't. Change? Don't even think about it. We aren't the same."

"I am a being of Will and mana."

"So? Do you think I haven't realized who and what kind of freaks Wraiths are? Silly Lisa, you used to have your flesh, yet you think you grew into a moon in your End." Murai laughed in his head, showing off a delightful glint in his eyes.

Lisa took it with skepticism and was yet to fret. "That is fine. I don't think that is even remotely our problem right now. After being reborn, this is what I am left with." She swirled in the spot, letting her sona dance and travel like water and glistering wind. "It isn't so bad, by the way. Flesh acts as silliness that dwells on some points. I do that too now as well."

"Good for you. Where do these words go then? Is your suggestion you, again? Oh, dear suns smearing the light on gods... Don't tell me you..."

"We can fight together. Heed two Wills together, and we can get a lot of things done." Lisa said confidently, beaming in her own light of azure and white.

"Your voice and reasons and outer pacts aren't enough? You want to mingle Wills together, eh? Oh, I see. Do you want to die that badly or damage your soul? Maybe I shouldn't discourage it, but don't you think of my Soul Fragments as bad treats?"

Lisa hadn't lost her confidence so far, even though she knew he was most likely right about her.

"That is why it is a suggestion, Murai Hisagi. We have our bond. In soul space, we can reside and be strengthened, see better, and meet. Your ridiculous Robust Spirit empowers depths and reasons, making you the epitome of your living. My very origin is there too, but I don't really care about the rest. I have my problems, however, and you get it."

"Problems? I refuse to elaborate on its possibilities. I don't know you to trust your End to you or me like that. And don't even pretend suggestions are obtainable. You have always been crafty and thinking far outside all the boxes scattered around you. Am I a box as well?"

"Why not? Obviously. So yes, my worry is nowhere. You wouldn't lose a thing in a try."

"Bullshit" Murai said, serious and not completely engaged in this conversation. "Your approach is difficult. Bond? Wills? Mingling those two together is not an option. You want to crash and weigh us in, and what is that? Your body is why, isn't it? I am not versed in Soul Powers to think or judge it too much, but I know this shitty body and soul all along. Your body is a suitable pawn, but regrowing it is difficult, so you must want my weight as an ammo, right?"

Lisa sighed. "You figured it out, huh?"

"Means you are confident, realized, a bit insane, but the same as always. I see. You had some insane time behind, hm. Yes. You are also stupid, so why?"

"You don't know me to dismiss this."

"Likewise. Who are you to take me for granted or something like that? Never mind. I get it. Weight," Murai said firmly, making his eyes the deepest, "between us is far too different."

Lisa forgot it, misjudged some matters, and shook.

"You know what? I do know how to talk about reasons. Very much so. I just don't think I want to include what is difficult. One reason to talk is to gift and move what can be right. Life Companions are nothing but slaves in the eyes of the Gods."

"Each one of us is a sinner in the eyes and minds of many, but we are also hopes and those who have died and performed...well, mistakes. In some eyes, we are less than living souls. We are the past. The reason that the Battleworld never goes through many shifting changes is the prevalence of toxicity and hierarchy. Old fools beneath gods are defiant, and Gods themselves are the same, if not worse, yet they also have rules to follow. When they don't or are forced to pretend, that is where many reasons fall to sins."

"That is why the Blessed are so potent. Gods don't want a change. They learn from the past and play with this world. For thousands of years, if not longer, this place has been a paradise for dramas and the weight of us sinners."

"You sound like a petty victim. Also, I am not a sinner."

"Like you, you mean?" Lisa smirked at him.

Murai rolled his eyes. "True. You might like how right that sounds, but that is wrong. Perhaps you should take it as an ideal and look in the mirror. Well, you aren't a vampire, that's for sure. You can't even leech off me, but... You can try. Oh, you did try. I see.."

Murai hummed and wandered off with his sight around the cave, contemplating stuff or regarding his current spiritual disposition.

Had he grown? How? Well, how could it be so easy or caused by mere kidnapping of that shitty Realm?

Lisa did not appear fearful or hurt over his sudden burst of ideas. She also didn't hide anything, albeit she still chose to play with rightful words. "Our whole situation is anything but old craziness and nothing but majesty, lost pride, matters of time, and memories. Do you want the truth of what I want?"

"Oh..." Murai's face changed to one of surprise. What she just said was quite a crafty topic, and he understood the underlying implications of her chosen words.

She was a victim, but the one who was given a choice by those who imprisoned, hurt, and acted against her core principles. Wouldn't this create more sinners and problems? Was it even everything?

Lisa might play with him, not revealing the entire truth, but only pieces. His guts and hunches were weird to him, however, and something in him wanted to trust her.

It reminded him of some of his ancient problems.

That was at least the way Murai saw these matters, while she was an oddity. Soul Read didn't work on her, while her Robust Spirit was a matter of outer considerations that escaped from her mind.

Murai was too busy to notice it. Her emotional readings that he began to master weren't enough for anything, so he always considered her face as a language and words as her tone.

"Fine, I am willing to compromise if you tell me one thing. Why can I not Read you?"

"Read, you say?" Lisa raised her eyes, meeting his jolting storm within his. "Isn't that obvious? I am already part of you, so what is there to watch?"

"No. You aren't."

"Then, let me tell it differently," Lisa pointed to herself and him with each hand. "Read me inside of you."

"How?"

"Robust Spirit is a weird entity and master of a space that is a weird realm. You have forgotten that it is about you and that you are unique, despite the fact that such powers landed and granted and grown out of pettiness that is accursed. Well, you petty those Soul Powers of yours far too lightly, even if they are ridiculous, yet I don't have the power to judge you for that. You don't listen to me."

"Says a ghost," Murai sighed and was willing to try listening to her choices while observing himself, thinking, and slowly unraveling the changes happening inside his mana and body. Its boiling main point wasn't over.

The Brightlife and Resonance's aftermath will take time to reconcile with his flesh and mind.

"But I am willing to trust you, Lisa. For now, so don't butcher it. How heavy of a price my trust holds is another thing. Do you want to mistrust or waste that, hm?"

Lisa looked at him, silent and thinking for a good half a minute in shifting sona that was her entire body.

"Why so silent?"

"Read me. Perhaps everything will become fine afterward."

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"Ugh. Fine. Get back then." Murai gave up, snuggling his ass on Bagus, and wondered what she was going to do.

Lisa smirked and flew into his head without a hitch, disappearing as if she had jumped into the water. There, in his soul space, she woke up, cocooned before spreading her arms wide and feeling as if she had gone home.

It was a weird perspective for her as she curled her smile and watched that crazy picture ahead. It wasn't tricky. It made her shudder every time for several reasons.

Before her, Robust Spirit was immersed in a deep sleep, appearing like a planet-sized duck of unfathomable depth and patterns. She did not like to watch it. No matter how many times she questioned herself or pushed herself to make a choice.

"No matter how I see it, you won't hold me back," she whispered to herself. "But if he wants it, he can have it. My trust, that is. I see no point in myself after what has come, so you will have to bear with me as I do the same."

Something in her had changed since the start of the Resonance, and it crawled out of her in pieces.

Then, the duck flinched and moved from its sleep, revealing Murai's Will that exposed and clustered feathers in light and power that shook the entire soul space and this Robust Spirit.

Murai looked at her from his lofty position, which wasn't under his mind a lot of times. "Very well. You suggest something heavy, little ant," he spoke in his thunderous voice before a little ghost.

Lisa still held her confident smile as if it were the last bar of her cage. "All that farce is fine since we are something and we desire riches or actions. Wants are desires. It is natural. Judgments or curses are the same, and some aren't meant to make us worse or better. They follow us, however. No matter what comes or not."

"Worse?" Murai didn't like how it sounded. "What is good and worse? Here? There? Us or in souls? Don't judge me here, ant!"

Murai flared his mind, spreading his influence and figuring out one surprising fact. His Soul Read was doing something, but it was so vast or dull that it made his senses witless, or like a weapon far too small for his current form.

Still, he latched on to it like a giant holding a human fork, trying to seize what was right and look at this ant.

Lisa spread her arms, flaring in her sona and making her 'hair' wobble in his pressure. "Come at me then."

Murai hummed, unleashing a flash of a Read that was formless. Her form shuddered, and waves of her soul passed as glinting waves of her life form, revealing nothing.

She improved in a moment, smiling and turning her sona right, squeezing and hoping she wouldn't fall apart, but Murai spewed his Read again.

Lisa firmed her gaze and clutched both her fists, trying to overcome and work with this Read. "You think I will make it easy for you just because it's fine?"

"Pitiful attempt," Murai snorted and crashed her completely after the first feel was over.

Another surge made her sona quake, and even her head lost her focus, making her lose size and mind and touch over sona.

"So heavy..." she whispered. "But I was sincere... so... Allow me."

Another Read slapped her further, rushing her body like water away, but her body miraculously firmed up. She let herself go, suddenly growing like a tree and a waterfall. She grew in ways like a sponge, becoming bigger, thicker, and taller. Perfected. Finer.

In a bit, she was half Murai's size, vast in sona, and with a face and body that was rather shocking in perfected patterns fit for her size.

Murai didn't Read her anymore and rather watched her form in surprise. He still didn't figure anything out of her, yet what Soul Read was about was a lot about reality.

Out there, it worked rather strangely, like an interesting endeavor to the mind and feelings. Here? What was before him was more interesting than fraudulent. It seemed Lisa could influence her soul and act very well since the very beginning, so what did it mean?

"Who were you?"

"Soul Wraiths are nasty and not new to me, but I am that now and am not just that. I am not their native, the same as you aren't Anatidae." Lisa answered, taking on the form of her righteous ghostly form.

Almost all of her features remained the same, but her arrogance and demeanor changed like her size.

"That is what I am to you, or am I change or a chance, perhaps?"

"Bigger than a shoe, huh?" Murai chuckled. "For you to handle something like your soul to this extent, you joked about us far too much. At yourself too. You should be sincere, or have you always doubted me and turned stupid because of that? Well, I doubt myself a lot nowadays, so..."

Lisa shook her head. "You are wrong. I am merely observing the right chances and deciding on the go. Why? My words carry my past, and my acts do yearning. You have your head, so what does it make us? Pitiful comrades in crime, I reckon."

"That," Murai hesitated, "seems right if we carry crimes. We don't. You haunt me, and this world isn't like the others. I don't detest it, however. It just makes me question some matters—especially when Gods can be involved... or worse."

"Yeah, so? None of my concerns come at me like your curses. Hence, Read me already, or do you want me to crawl for your sake?" Lisa said in defeat, as if angry and disappointed after she let him see her true size.

Or was it even the full size? Murai thought of it first, but it seemed like a lofty idea. Why? Even her previous size wasn't that small. Murai was simply too gigantic, so seeing her half as big as him made many questions apparent and doubts clearer.

He had no idea who she was, as even some words and expectations did not matter. He was getting to know her current self instead, and it wasn't wrong to expect that.

Murai smiled like never and flew close enough for her to touch him. Looking at her, his spread wings and insane beak and eyes felt oppressing even with her change.

She pressed her hands around her body, looked away, and tensed.

"Are you nervous?" Murai asked in a delightful perspective. It wasn't very often he felt this good.

"I am. Get on with it. You want to Read my sincerity. If so, let me have your Fragments!"

"I refuse." Murai flashed his Read, causing his eyes to glow like the sun, and Read submerged deeper, causing the entire soul space to tremble.

Unlike reality, some changes happened with the Soul Read in this place, either caused by his form or space. It was no longer passive. It was a force with weight and pressure to fit a king.

Like the gaze of a true powerhouse, Lisa felt invaded, so she firmed her resolve and spread her hands before closing onto Murai's feathers.

"Don't underestimate me!" She shouted, gripping that beak with one hand and his neck with the other.

Murai Read her anyway, uncovering a weight and class that was undeniably within her eyes. He was like this for a long time, Reading and thinking.

He saw and felt a very strong resolve, confidence, and time that felt old and very potent indeed. It had no malicious intentions, laughable ideas, or something improper like hesitation.

"You," Murai said, "are ridiculous."

"Like you. Everyone does things unreasonably well or terribly. I grew up in faraway places, you see. I am still myself to the very core and some shitty old world won't change it. I am older than it anyway."

"Yet you ended up before me, watching me and... hope? Your resolve is acceptable, while this trust is odd. You see, what I Read is curious." Murai forced her hands away and floated around her, circling her in undeniable curiosity.

"Not as if it's weird, but it is suspicious, isn't it? I don't think there are many souls bound to such size, or is it a joke on your part? Is this your reality, or are you making my senses tingle because of your current race? Wraiths are accursed creatures that oppress and follow no specifics. They don't make sense because they are lost pride of previous or current Epochs, looks like a ghost lost in history, and hoping for nothing."

Lisa smiled. "I don't do shit like that. Frankly, there is no point in regarding races in the slightest. As long as it's me and mine, who gives a shit? You are the same. You work with ancient blood, and even Resonance accepted you because of it. Then your soul crashed it... I suppose."

Murai paused, still hovering around her.

"Read me enough?" she demanded.

"You've struggled with my Fragments."

"It was no joke," Lisa said with a frown, trying to appear proud as she genuinely felt the Read touching her core. "You are a heavyweight. I am nothing but feeble objections without anything worth mentioning besides my soul. However, like many other races, I can grow in practicality and almost like a tree. Like Anatidae, you see, growing through time and eating and in powers!"

"Why do you offer yourself to me like this? Now? Why?"

"To offer my sincerity and work together. You brought respect ahead that I cannot forfeit or wait for."

"In what?"

"Let's become powerful together," Lisa said firmly and folded her hands to herself, floating in firmness that flexed her sona. "What else!?" She shouted and quivered part of the soul space.

Murai paused his thoughts. "Let's go back. This irks me."

At that moment, the gigantic duck sizzled and curved, twisting its neck and back to form the cocoon of a sleeping duck.

Lisa remained still, secretly trembling and dreading some tones she left out and untouched. "All is worth. Nobody will stop me... nobody..."

***

Back in reality, Murai let her out on a whim, and watched bright sona flicker to form Lisa as before, looking small and forthcoming.

"Can you be big in reality?" he asked her with his Will.

"Impossible. Didn't you hear what I said? My growth and race are like yours."

"Forget it then. It could be an illusion."

Lisa grunted and felt angry. "I was sincere and you doubt me. What else do you want?"

"If it weren't for this change of heart, had you planned to remain in that previous stupid loop forever? We fight for opportunities, you stupid moron."

"Same like what?" she barked at him.

"Annoying..."

"Not... really. Plans change like hearts. For me, it is complicated because of you."

"Me?" Murai sounded confused. "Why are you excusing yourself because of me? Is this your sincerity or a bunch of lies?"

Lisa didn't flinch her gaze. She looked straight at him, oblivious to the curious gazes of Itrosh and Bagus, who stopped walking the moment they came back from the soul space, noticing a change and some tricks.

Both Lisa and Murai didn't realize their acts weren't sporadic at all, though they were silent as they spoke to each other. Occasionally, Murai quacked or trembled and made various annoying noises.

"You are ridiculous, Murai Hisagi! I want my life together. Not be hunted like a ghost over yet another ghost of old terms."

"Oh, shut up for Creator's sake! You spout nonsense after nonsense, even with such a soul, and you want to play with me? Oh, this sincerity..."

Lisa, at last, snapped and charged at him, bending her body and crunching her arms against his beak as she slapped him.

Murai wasn't so nice to let her be so free. This time around, his beak glowed, and his eyes glinted in pure whiteness. "What is it that you want, Lisa? Wait, is that even your name? It doesn't sound etched into your soul, so..."

"I want my revenge," Lisa said, hands pressing against his beak as they tried to reform and go against his provoking Layering Peak and unhindered and intense mana that kept changing like a new storm.

"But revenge isn't everything all the time. I saw my mistakes in acts and wants. Weakness or the overall picture grants no remedy. It is more like a curse that followed me twice because... well, reasons. You ask what I want. I want to handle my own life."

"Aren't we all?" Murai inquired.

"Is that wrong, or easy? No. Does power grant that? Almost. It is all such a lackluster belief and desire that it caused my downfall twice over many heights. That's that... so what is it then?"

"You have nothing to prove," Murai said, sounding far loftier than Lisa thought.

"What I had were connecting memorials and ideas. I am me. They remain like a curse and a part of my pasts. What do I want right now? Aspire for that past. Fix something... and, eh, that doesn't seem fair to you, right?"

"What if I say it does?"

"Then you are the most ridiculous liar," Lisa said, chuckling as she relaxed her grip. "Who are you, after all? Is Murai even your real name?" She smirked and countered with quite a haughty tone.

Murai laughed out loud, causing Lisa to flinch backward and drop her grip.

"That is your mistake. You think so?" Murai asked, sounding calm and collected after he stopped laughing.

"Mistake?" Lisa wavered, not knowing even why she was talking heart-to-heart with him this much. She became so agitated that her sona glowed like a storm, and her fists were splintering in their physical forms.

She didn't mind this too much, but the way Murai made her feel was always peculiar. She knew why; he was like someone she wished she were, yet this whole perception was much more distant than this world or their souls. There was no way it was right or wrong.

This Companionship and Blessed status held a strange power dynamic over anything she had witnessed. They were connected, relying on other methods that no one might expect, yet strictly speaking, it was quite defiant.

If Lisa was honest, she didn't know what she wanted with him or what was bound to come. It had been like this for a very long time because the beginning was rough.

Helping him was just an unavoidable path of her haunting lives. Or was it for revenge? That wasn't a weak resolve, for Murai definitely sensed something within her that made her boil and his mind thoughtful.

Murai Read her resolve that was no weaker than his, so what fueled it? There were no lies in what he was reading because of her previous pledge and words. He knew she was no farce, but her depths were still unknown territory.

"You see," Murai started, "our little conversation after this Resonance proved to us something. For me, nothing is like it used to be. You feared how it would go, right?"

"What exactly?"

"Your sincerity and truth. Have you ever had someone or something before you became close to your previous goals? Did it poof like a cloud by a storm and make you helpless?"

Lisa grunted, turning completely around and screaming to appease her mind and nerves. Itrosh and Bagus were right in front of her, watching them.

Murai noticed them on top of his mind, of course, but didn't mind their interest or eyes.

"What is going on between you two?" Bagus asked, worry filling his tone.

Itrosh nodded thrice, holding some pages.

Murai patted Bagus's feathers and stepped closer, eyeing Lisa, who turned her head.

"Why not figure out what you want to do by pieces while following them aside? It seems to be like a path, you see. A chance without particular order is still something. Worries or stakes go afterward or between them, but not like an End. Some could come again, however. It needs resolve and safety. Giving up is the mindset of a loser." Murai said to her, not one bit annoyed by her right now.

Lisa flickered her head, unwilling to watch this damned soul of all beings. "I might try exactly that. I plan to try some openings."

"Is that so?" Murai chuckled. "Then what about the Brightlife? How much do you know about it?" he changed the subject masterfully, gathering that even Lisa could change, even if it wasn't easy at all.

It came through her willingness, which pointed to some answers, or problems along the way to her knowledge, or... well, whatever her personality was, there was something useful there for sure.

Murai figured she was mightier and heavier than he would ever give her credit for. At some depth, it shocked him.

Lisa calmed down, deducing she was abnormal today. This whole thing about the Resonance and feeling him up made her unusually upset, open, and interested. She exposed herself, stealing something precious to her: ammo and argument.

Lisa shooed the pair of curious Helpers away, barking orders to get going or she would snap them in half.

Neither trusted her; she was capable of that, obviously, but they knew their journey was to go deeper, which worked in their unwilling favor.

Razmund was digging, yet his target shifted. That meant much more digging. Honestly, Lint found it hilarious and laughed at his back for hours under every flinch of his Dice and movement of his claymore or mana.

Lisa cleared her mind, glad that no Hunters were coming. Wasn't that odd? Itrosh told her what had been happening, and there were, allegedly, some nasty problems on the surface of this Gate. After judging it further, Lisa chose to ignore them and rather sought her interest in Murai's previous question.

"Brightlife is an interesting topic. It's not all about Laws, isn't it? One should always think about what is there or what used to be somewhere, or on some occasions, or memories, the Origin of Everything is like a legend."

"It's really hard to take things away from you, you know? I can't do it against you. It is annoying." Murai scowled.

"That's just how this race of mine works. I am like your slave anyway, so don't think about some frustration. Well, I am still not your slave if you want to think about it, and it isn't the same as the master. You can't Read me like a book unless back at home, Hmph! Serves you... right," Lisa chuckled and returned to her usual self.

"If I can't Read you like you can't wish to read me, then all I have to do is forget about it. It sounds fair when I think about it, but so what? Do you think you watched me enough? Nah. NAH!" Murai retorted.

"No shit, Murai Hisagi. I won't care about you at all. You've Read me, so that is a start for our respect. And the fairness is nowhere, so curse you back!" Lisa replied, thinking she wasn't on the wrong or right side of the argument. The living went between Life Companions or Blessed, and she was trying to fit right there and then.

"Universe isn't fair, huh?" Murai reckoned, accepting that this discussion mended something between them. It wasn't right to call it a refined connection, so he called it a respectful part of a fruitful agreement.

Her past slave wasn't like that, so Lisa had to remind herself and show her face. Then, her goals will come, unless they end up dead or stranded in Chaos Space for all eternity.