Autophagy

"Mmf..!"

Song Lei struggled but couldn't back off because of his wounds. This was his first kiss. He had spent almost all of his teenage life working in construction. Because of this, he never had the chance to experience a romantic relationship. He wasn't sure what was happening. He at least knew that there must've been a reason behind Isabel suddenly kissing him.

As Isabel's lips disconnected from his, Song Lei's head went dizzy. He felt like something had been sucked out of him. Isabel licked her lips with a wide smile on her face.

"That was tasty," she said.

Song Lei, who was dumbfounded at the moment, felt a weird sensation rising from his chest.

"AAAAAAHHH!" He started screaming at the top of his lungs. He was feeling unbearable pain at the moment. He started rolling on the ground while clutching his head. Both Alan and Amber stopped fighting and turned to look at Song Lei who was rolling on the ground. After a few seconds, Song Lei stopped screaming. He was still quivering on the ground while clutching his head though.

Meanwhile, Isabel pushed herself out of the wall. Rubble fell out of the place she got out. Her wounds were healing quickly as she started walking towards Alan and Amber. Small pieces of flesh ripped themselves out of her body and started flying around her.

"You..!" Shouted Amber. She was clenching her teeth so hard that you could hear her clenching them from every part of the room. "How did you recover from that state!? And even your soul power is back to full..." She said.

"Hah! Did you think that you were the only one who had a soul battery with them?" Isabel said with a smirk on her face. "And mine is much cuter than all of yours'! He also has a lot more capacity than them!"

"You're a bitch! A bitch! You were supposed to be mine! How could you kiss that wimp!?" Alan started shouting while pointing at Song Lei. His face was getting redder and he was sweating. Alan's veins bulged out of his skin as he looked like an angry pig. "I will make both of you suffer!"

He started charging at Isabel. Isabel, who had gotten almost all of her soul power back conjured a flesh bullet almost the size of a fist and shot it at Alan. The flesh bullet penetrated his arm and ripped it off. Alan, who was in a frenzy, didn't even flinch and continued running at Isabel. But before he could reach her, he was shot with a few more bullets and collapsed on the ground.

"How did you even let a pig like this run free in the mansion Amber?" Isabel asked condescendingly. Amber didn't even answer and started backing off. Isabel kept walking towards her without batting an eye at Alan's corpse.

Eventually, Amber's back hit the wall. She didn't have any space to walk backward.

"Do you know the mistake you've made Amber?" Isabel asked. Amber looked at her face.

"What do you mean?" She asked with a sour face. All the power, all the achievements she had gathered in the latter half of her life was crumbling in front of her eyes.

"You let me live, Amber. As you were basking in the glory of victory, I was suffering. Every single day you didn't kick me out of the mansion because you wanted to keep me as a trophy of your victory would get you one step closer to your demise," Isabel said in one breath.

"Every day, my hatred would add up. How much I hate you, How much I hate myself. Those all add up to become a big pool. And all I needed was a little bit of courage to ignite it," Isabel said. she took a glance at Song Lei for a second and stopped in front of Amber.

"Do you have any last words?" Isabel asked. Amber was sweating like never before.

"I...-" Amber stuttered while looking at her hands.

"You..?" Isabel said while raising one of her eyebrows.

"I've lost..." Amber said. Things were slowly settling in for her. "I've really lost..." She repeated. "Haha..!"

Amber started laughing frantically.

'Did she go crazy?' Isabel thought.

"I've really lost to you, Isabel! Good job! Now kill me!" Amber shouted.

Isabel scowled and said, "Really? Are you really not going to let me be happy killing you even in your last moments? Do you really hate me that much? Is making me experience negative emotions your sole reason for existence? You won't beg for your life? You won't get scared of death?"

Amber didn't answer her and just kept laughing.

Isabel took a deep breath.

"Well... This will leave a sour taste in my mouth but... Bye."

*Plop

Amber's head was sent flying. This marked the end of her life and the suffering of others. Countless souls were haunted and tortured by her. In this dream space where a lot of innocent beings were being held captive, Amber took her last breath. The whole mansion shook as if it was saluting its master for one last time.

And everything went still. Song Lei got up from his place as the pain had gradually lessened to a bearable degree. While he was suffering, a few system messages had popped up. Now that he had the chance to read them, he didn't want to miss it.

[Warning! Your soul power is being drained!]

[Warning! Your Soul stat has fallen to 3 temporarily!]

[Congratulations! You've managed to exorcise the Domain-bound Mental Demon Alan with the help of your friendly Spirit Guardian Isabel Fraser and Spirit Guardian Mia Fraser. You've leveled up! You've gained two stat points!]

'Oh fuck! Where the hell is Mia!?' Song Lei shouted in his mind and stopped reading the system notifications. Just after that, he heard weak footsteps coming from behind him.

"Are you okay mister?" A soothing voice said. Song Lei smiled and turned to Mia.

"Yes, I am. Where were you all this time?" Song Lei asked.

"I was hiding in that corner," Mia said while pointing at a corner of the room. There was a room service table with a white tablecloth spread on it. "I thought that I would be a hindrance if I just stood there. Did I do something wrong?" She asked with puppy eyes.

Song Lei ruffled Mia's head.

"No. You've done the best thing you could possibly do," Song Lei said. He wasn't lying. According to what Isabel had said, her being in the same room with Mia was enough to strengthen her. Mia didn't have a lot of fighting power on her own and furthermore, she was just a child. There was no need for her to fight head-on with others as long as it wasn't mandatory.

"Hey! Are you not worried about your mother at all?" Isabel asked with a wide smile on her face. As opposed to her words, she was really happy that her child was getting along with Song Lei.

Mia ran to Isabel and hugged her. Song Lei turned back to his notifications.

[Congratulations! You've managed to exorcise the Domain-Master Mental Demon Amber with the help of your friendly Spirit Guardian Isabel Fraser and Spirit Guardian Mia Fraser. You've leveled up! You've gained two stat points! As you've overcome an incredible hurdle, your 'Tri-force I' skill has progressed.]

[You've successfully cleared a Dream Space by overcoming countless trials. As you've cleared the Domain, Isabel and Mia Fraser will be freed from their shackles. You'll be ejected from the Dream Space shortly...]

Song Lei swiped the notifications away and took a deep breath while closing his eyes.

"Thank you, Lei..." Isabel said. Song Lei turned around and looked at Isabel who was smiling at him. The mansion was slowly disappearing, getting mixed with the nothingness. The walls and the ceiling were crumbling as they faded away into pure white.

"I will accept that thanks," Song Lei said with confidence. This time, he really had worked hard. "So? What will happen now? Will you disappear? Or are you going to heaven?" He asked.

"Neither. I'm going back to the City of Horrors with you. It's just that..." Isabel said. She glanced at Mia and continued by saying, "... It's just that you'll probably not be able to perceive us there. The reason why you can see ghosts so easily is that because you're in the dream space. When you're out, things will be back to normal."

Song Lei nodded and asked, "And? What will you two do?"

By now; the floors, the furniture, the ceiling, everything had disappeared. They were standing in an infinite, white space.

"We'll keep protecting our floor. But now, we will do it for you. You can come and go as you want. Know that I won't be able to interfere with the things that happen inside the houses though," Isabel said. "You're really lucky that you've got two beautiful guardians like us working for you."

"Well... I've paid for it using my first kiss and half of my soul," Song Lei said while smirking. Mia and Isabel were getting blurrier and blurrier.

"Ugh... Sorry about that. I didn't have any other choice at that moment," Isabel said. Song Lei laughed out loud.

"I know..." He said. He took a deep breath and looked at the silhouette standing in the white space in front of him. "See you on the other side."

"See you..."