"Give me back my body!" a voice rang, loud and clear.
Ning who had left to help Saphandra was surprised all of a sudden. Saphandra stood up on her own, and the spirit that always remained hidden behind her flew out and looked at her threateningly.
"Little blue, please listen t—"
"My name is Aimee! Don't call me Little blue," the spirit spoke out loud. "Give me my body back right now, you liar!"
"I-I will," Saphandra said. "Please, calm down."
"I won't calm down until I get my body back," the spirit said. "You said you would give it back as soon as you finished saving the humans. Why did you not return it?"
"I… I was too late," Saphandra said. "I couldn't save them at all, neither could I fight the demons. They had already left by the time I was there."
"Liar!" the spirit shouted. "If they're dead, then what is he?"
"What's going on?" Ning asked from the side after the spirit pointed to him. He wondered if the spirit had improved after gaining the spiritual energy from the Origin, but then when he took into account the words that were being used here, he understood a whole different concept that hadn't even ever occurred to him.
"She took my body to save you guys, and yet she never went through our deal to return it after she saved everything," the spirit spoke.
"Little blue, are you… a human?" Ning asked.
"I'm not Little blue. My name is Aimee," the spirit said. "And yes, I am a human."
"Little b— I mean, Aimee, please listen to me," Saphandra said. "This is not our world. Our world is somewhere far away. I was taken away a year after I took over your body, and now I'm here."
"I know I was wrong to take over your body and not return it to you, but I promise, I never broke our deal. I stuck to my words," Saphandra said.
"Wh-what? This is not our world?" she asked. "Wh-what about my sister? My friends? Are all of humanity really dead?"
"I'm afraid so," Saphandra said.
The spirit's face turned into one of fear and despair, and suddenly she broke out into a loud cry.
Ning looked at her pitifully, and then at Saphandra. "So… you're a spirit?" he asked.
"Yes," Saphandra said.
"That was the secret you were keeping to yourself all this time?" Ning asked.
"Yes," she said. "I knew you'd judge me if I let you know. Well, not like I don't judge myself. I know I'm a horrible being for doing something to such a poor person."
"I suppose it's hard not to judge," Ning said as he heard the spirit in front of him cry his ears out.
They quietly watched Aimee cry for a long time as they stayed together in what were most likely Saphandra's final minutes as human.
Suddenly, a group of people arrived after hearing the cries of someone. When they saw the spirit, they were immediately surprised.
They turned around to look and saw that Saphandra had violet hair. With Ning's dyed hair still not changed, they didn't know that he had bonded to spirits as well.
Instantly, a few of them prepared attacks to throw Saphandra's way as they shouted at her. "Release the spirit from your bond or we will kill you."
Saphandra chuckled. Any other time, she would have been angry and knocked a few of them far away. But instead, she was filled with melancholy this time.
She turned to look at Ning and grabbed his hands. "I was always alive in solitude for probably thousands of years. I never had a friend I could talk with, and as such, I had always envied humans."
"Thank you for being my friend for such a long time," Saphandra said.
"Of course," Ning said. "I would do it all over again."
Saphandra smiled and let his hands go.
"Do what we said now!" the people cried out.
"Okay, I will," Saphandra said and looked at Aimee.
"Aimee… little blue, thank you for letting me use your body. I free you from this bond."
Suddenly, two different summoning circles appeared below Saphandra and Aimee. Then, their bodies went back to each other.
The crying spirit stopped all of a sudden and instead put on a somber face.
At the same time, the human with a sad smile suddenly turned miserable and started crying loudly.
"Good!" they said when they saw the bond being broken. After that, they all started chanting out conditions like they had planned it all along to try and get Saphandra to bond with them.
"Leave, I'm not bonding with any of you," Saphandra said.
However, the people didn't listen. Instead, more people arrived and they started shouting over each other to bond with Saphandra.
"Didn't she tell you to leave?" Ning's voice boomed through the crowd, shocking them all.
"W-we are trying to form a bond with her. What is it to you?" the people asked.
Ning slowly stood up. "She's my friend. Now leave, or else."
His hair slowly turned violet, and 3 different spirits floated out of his body, all different from one another.
Seeing 3 different spirits at one place, even the most greediest of them didn't dare try their luck.
"Thank you," Saphandra said quietly.
"Of course," Ning spoke to the now spirit Saphandra. "Anything for a friend of mine."
She smiled and said nothing else for a while. "I… I guess I'm back to being a spirit again," she said.
"Do you want to become a human? I might have ways to do that," Ning said.
"Really? I—" Saphandra stopped. "No, no need."
"Really?" Ning was surprised.
"Yeah, it took me a while to realize, but as it turns out, I wasn't looking to become a human at all. I just wanted companions so that I didn't have to live my life in solitude," she said.
"Do you still want it?" Ning asked. "If you still want companionship, I will be your companion until the end of time and afterwards."
