"Is... do you..." She stops again, then hisses with annoyance. "Do you want to be elsewhere. With a different one."

He blinks slowly at that. "I don't understand the question."

"... Okay. Uh. Are there improvements to your current situation that you might want to make? Like, not. Being in a haunted village all by yourself. With a bunch of murder ghosts."

He blinks again and doesn't answer, this time, because he still doesn't understand the question.

"Do you like it here????"

"No." At least that question made sense.

"Okay. You don't like it here, and you don't like your current master." Sigh. "How. Would I. Become your new one."

"You would need to find my heart and take possession of it. I do not know where it is."

The Soultaker didn't order him not to say these things, and... if Cyllian had still been under the General, or even the Shadow Priestess, he probably wouldn't have volunteered all of this information. He is not sure what exactly this means.

“Your… heart. Does it contain part of your soul?”

He shrugs. "I do not understand the particulars of the magicks the Shadow Priestess used to create me."

“Hm. Well, it’s worth checking.” She takes a ring off from her finger, then tosses it to him.

It’s a strange thing, made of strange materials. Shards of bone wound in what seems like a still living vine. It feels enchanted, though in a strange organic way he’s not accustomed to, and it’s not clear what it does without putting it on.

He is not going to just put a strange ring on that he's been tossed. Instead he will look at her and lift an eyebrow.

“… please put it on,” she requests, because he apparently needs prompting. “I made it for locating a distant piece of the wearer’s soul. It might help us find yours.”

He looks at the ring again and...

...she is not his master, but...

...

.....

Well, his master didn't tell him not to. And he has no reason not to.

He puts the ring on.

The enchantment is very interesting. If his own creations offer guidance or correction, then this one offers a magnification of the soul. It entwines neatly with his power, making it easier to grasp and direct, and… also making it apparent where all of it is. Like a flame that burns a little brighter, or perhaps hotter.

And one little ember, nestled under the floor.

His eyes are immediately drawn to that location and he has to boggle at the idea that his heart's been just... right there... all these years...

Not that he could've done anything about it, of course. But still, if it was going to be here, the Soultaker could've just, just, just let him use it in his forge? His enchantments are so much worse without his heart fuelling them, he could've made weapons even more beautiful and deadly if he could've, could've—

She can’t quite follow his gaze, but she sees his head turn. The mournful look on his face speaks volumes.

“It’s close by?” she confirms, offering what she hopes is a reassuring smile. “Good, then I can get you out of here sooner rather than later. Can you point out where it is to me?”

He points at the spot on the floor under which his heart presumably is.

It is, in fact, inside the tavern he has been ordered to protect.

Iovetra nods.

"And I suppose if I go and get it, you'll have to try to destroy me." She sounds remarkably cheerful about this; the prospect of needing to get past him sounds fun.

"Yes."

He doesn't contest the "try". The order is simple, but that also means it has wiggle room for interpretation, and Cyllian... is maybe less inclined to interpret it favourably towards the Soultaker than he'd probably like.

The vampire nods again, smiling a little.

Obviously, she is not going to be able to beat him in a direct fight. Especially not if she were to do something so stupid as attempt to use his own weapons against him, much as she likes the sword lessons. The lovely sword gets gently set aside somewhere it will be dry and off the ground, and she starts prepping her actual chosen weapon, her crossbow. She will not be having a direct fight with him, especially not in melee.

"If I accidentally destroy you while getting past you, you'll be fine, right? Just come back good as new?" she confirms. She doesn't plan to do so, but it could happen.

"...if you succeed at that, I will reform soon after, yes," he says, scoffing a little. But also he's maybe feeling a little bit excited about it.

Her eyebrows raise, and the smile turns into a playful grin.

"Noted."

And then without any kind of preamble, she shoots him.

That was extremely predictable and he dodges without trying very hard, moving in the direction of one of his piles of weapons.

Truthfully, she would have been disappointed if that had worked. But it was still worth a try. (Or a shot. Heh.)

So, she has several strengths in her corner. The first and most obvious is that she is, as mentioned, a teleporter. Being able to teleport is pretty bullshit, even if she can't multiple times in quick succession. Branching from that is that with a bit of magical finesse, she can leave realistic shadows of herself from where she teleported from. It's just leaving a bit more behind than she normally would when teleporting, really. What's left behind will find its way back to the rest of her, rather like her earlier problems of needing to rip a piece of her soul from herself. These shades will dissipate harmlessly when struck with any kind of force, but the deception is nonetheless very useful. On the whole it slows down her ability to do successive teleportations, but in many cases it's worth the delay. Especially if she swaps which type she uses.

Second: she is an alchemist, and furthermore, she had prep time. Admittedly it wasn't for him in particular, so she doesn't have anything special for countering a phantom, but they are having this contest of theirs indoors. Which means she can absolutely fill the place with mist from a little bomb she'd prepared earlier. After all, she's gotten used to fighting in these cursed woods. She's attached, and wanted to take it with her when it was running thin. The stuff that she's created (well, stored and then released) is exactly the same sort of mist that is outside. This is important, because she'd already long figured out how to let her see through the mist without too much trouble, with a potion she has taken to regularly imbibing for her outings. So, she can see in here just fine, but he might have some more trouble.

Third: she can infuse the bolts she shoots from her crossbow with magical ensnarements. Usually she'd also have poisons available to her, but, well. She doubts that any of hers will work on a phantom. Still, a spell that will slow him like he's fighting through molasses will work just fine. Such spells are not constrained to just infusions of bolts, mind, she is also fully capable of casting it without, it's just more expensive. It takes longer for her resources to recover so that she can recast it. The ability to switch between cheap physically anchored snares and more expensive localized areas of ensnarement is not to be discounted.

Add in vampiric speed and healing, and the end result is that she's an absolute nightmare to try to catch or kill. She'd have some trouble returning the favor, clearly - she tends to defeat things by a death of a thousand little cuts, not overwhelming force - but defeating or destroying him is not the goal here, now is it.