Rudius has arrived at the forest's outskirts and he feels the jagan energy more vividly. He is going to enter before someone stops him. This person is wearing a black robe and a mask that covers their face. Rudius is confused and just tries to move past them, thinking that it might also just be someone who wants to look at the forest. The masked individual pulls out a blade and slashes at Rudius. Rudius barely dodges the attack because it caught him off guard. "Why are you doing this?" Rudius asks this question in confusion, not understanding why the person is attacking him. The masked individual says nothing and slashes at Rudius again. Rudius activates his Jagan energy and it starts to surge violently around him. He is surprised because this is the first time he is actually using it for combat. He gains back his senses when he feels an attack heading in his direction. Rudius grabs the blade and breaks it. He then dodges a kick that was aimed at his skull. The masked figure had a hidden dagger and slashed Rudius across his eye. Rudius is in shock because of the pain, it doesn't necessarily hurt but just feeling it makes him remember his trauma and this causes him to stumble. The masked individual noticed this instantly and aims an attack at Rudius' throat. Rudius grabs them by the wrist and looks right into their eyes. Rudius' eyes are light red in color and he looks emotionless. Rudius kicks their stomach and grabs the blade out of their hand. Seeing the blood makes Rudius realize an ability that he physically couldn't use before and this is because he was holding on to his trauma to tightly. Rudius touches the cut on his eye and starts to manipulate the blood from it. He uses the blood to send blood needles at the masked individual. The masked person parries them all but doesn't notice that Rudius is right behind them. Rudius stabs the knife in the back of their head. The masked person becomes motionless instantly. It takes some moments for Rudius to process what he has just done. His eyes become marron again and he feel like he is about to throw up. The fact that is really messing with him is that the masked person was a human. "What are you doing, take the soul" Bob tells Rudius as soon as the deed was committed. Rudius is hesitant but he knows he can't keep this weak mindset if he wants to survive. "I'm sorry but you attacked me first" Rudius says this before taking the soul of the individual. Bob doesn't need it because of the promise he made to Rudius so Rudius just decides to put it in his soul core. He starts to feel the effects instantly. His jagan energy feels twenty percent purer and it increased by twenty percent in volume. Rudius decides to go further into the forest.
*With Jefferson* Jefferson is slashing at Carrance, his form is becoming more refined with every swing of his blade. Jefferson's eyes are flashing a light red while this is happening. He has a reached a level of mastery that Carrance can't even comprehend each slash. Carrance is getting angrier as time passes, his hatred is only growing. Jefferson dodges a slash from Carrance and counters with a spin kick. He has been looking at something else for a while now. He has been looking at how Carrance's jagan energy increases with every passing moment. Jefferson is slowly replicating the technique without feeling any hatred in his heart. Carrance notices that Jefferson's Jagan energy amount is slowly rising as they continue to fight. Jefferson is somehow copying his ability and improving it to get rid of its drawbacks. Carrance doesn't even know what to do, his heart is full of hatred but he knows that he can't even kill Jefferson. He also knows that the longer they fight, the stronger Jefferson would become. Even though Jefferson is able to do all this, his previous wounds before transforming didn't go away. He is starting to feel them again and his body slowly becomes sluggish. His fluid movements pale in comparison to how they were just a moment ago. Jefferson decides to finish this fight before he succumbs to his wounds. Jefferson stops purifying the air around him and instead decides to focus all his jagan energy into his blade. Carrance sees this and he does the same, he doesn't want Jefferson to outdo him. They both rush at each other, exchanging blows rapidly. Carrance tries to grab Jefferson's arm but Jefferson avoids the attempt and slashes in Carrance's direction. Carrance blocks the attack and immediately throws a punch aimed at Jefferson stomach. Jefferson goes to block it but it was a feint, Carrance's real target was Jefferson's legs. He breaks Jefferson's balance and does a vertical slash to hit his falling body. Jefferson quickly turns around and blocks the attack while falling. Carrance kicks Jefferson's body and sends him to a tree. This makes Jefferson vomit out blood. He proceeds to stand up and rush towards Carrance again, catching him off guard. He is able to give Carrance a massive wound in his back. He proceeds to also stab through it, putting Carrance out of commission. Jefferson grabs the mask off of Carrance's face and puts it on, he proceeds to walk out of the poisonous air with Carrance on his shoulder. Once he left the radius of the poison, his body falls down unconscious. His hair turns back to his original black color and his eyes become gold again.