Game changer

The slim candidate with dark brown hair and number XLVIII burned on his left hand moved the letter from the desk onto the bed’s pillow, making sure Rexar wouldn’t miss it again. It had been upgraded to version 2.0 and now contained a long paragraph explaining the unplanned intervention in the judge’s study.

“I’m quite the hypocrite.” Murmured Teacher, but his only recent regrets were that he had put his pupil in danger and that Rusalka had been turned into an item worth fifty points. Still, as long as he acted accordingly, neither of those issues should escalate into something that could never be repaired.

Teacher went through the options available to him, thinking where to start. Among them was interacting with other candidates, but Faust was already suspicious of ‘the thing inside’ and creating more troublesome situations could change this suspicion into antipathy or worse. There was also the option of giving control of the body back to Faust and waking him up, which should naturally lead to the discovery of the letter, but Teacher didn’t feel like going back to the bodiless state right after freeing himself from it. Though that state wasn’t that bad, spending the significant part of the last seventeen years in it was a true test of perseverance. Luckily, the contract was close to being fulfilled.

Besides, before establishing any sort of contact with Faust, there was another problem Teacher had to deal with.

Sipping wine from a wooden mug and eating herbal hardtack, he focused on the ticking time bomb of negative emotions which Faust compared to a frozen lake. There was no need to search for the cause behind them as he already knew it. Rexar’s subconsciousness had erupted in a fit of blind fury right after the memories connected with the two most important people to him had been sealed - the memories of his younger sisters. Though Teacher understood it fully, as he would do the same if their roles were reversed, at that time he had no other choice than to do the thing his pupil hated the most and directly mess with his head and feelings. It had been an emergency situation, nevertheless, breaking a given promise wasn’t sitting well with Teacher, and he wanted to apologize for it personally at the first opportunity.

The only positive aspect of that smoldering fury had been the unexpected unsealing of a small portion of Rexar’s memories, but keeping those restrained emotions around and hoping that something like that would happen again simply wasn’t worth the risk. Teacher continued to remove the previously placed constraints, and the sizeable pocket of anger kept steadily decreasing, it was like releasing air from a balloon and was a way better option than waiting for it to burst without any warning. This process might give a nasty nightmare or two to sleeping Faust, but that was all.

Two hours later the time bomb had been disarmed, and Teacher sighed heavily. From now on Faust’s emotions would remain more stable and balanced, which should make him less irritable and more open to others. Teacher also made sure that everything else was adjusted exactly as it should. Faust’s lust remained toned down to safe cuddly levels, fear was never going to paralyze his actions, despair would never rob him of motivation, and a dangerous situation would practically double their physical abilities thanks to the perfect hormonal control. Those four points were the ones Rexar had agreed on thanks to Teacher’s subtle suggestions, they aimed to help in keeping a clear head at all times and survive life-threatening situations.

There were also a few things Rexar had accepted even if he hadn’t liked them, like the fact that Teacher had been the driving force behind Rexar’s body developing in the best possible way during his earlier years. Although he had sworn not to do that ever again without permission, some features and many minor adjustments obtained due to it remained, like the improved reflexes, or the effective lungs that allowed this body to survive in a low oxygen environment and hold breath for nearly ten minutes. However, this also meant that Rexar’s average look was the pinnacle of his potential... or that Teacher had screwed something badly when he had been learning how to control everything.

“Now then, let’s test my luck.” Teachers stretched, bones crackling, and shifted from sitting position to kneeling in front of the bed. Next, he put his hands to pray.

He stabilized his breathing, making sure every breath in and out was as even as humanly possible and prepared himself for what could come. This part of his life was shrouded in mystery he refused to explain even to Rexar, except for telling him that it was connected with the reason why this body housed two souls.

‘Let’s hope Desti’s in a good mood.’ Thought Teacher before he started reciting.

“Spiritus Dei, qui custos es mei.
Anme, tibi commissum pietate superna,
illumina, custodi, rege et guberna.”

Each word was said slowly and carefully while making sure it had the right intonation. Teacher paid attention to maintaining the correct mental image as there were two guardian spirits interested in his soul, Destivatre and Asvodean, and while the former shouldn’t mind covering the cost of creating the connection between her dominion and this place, in the latter’s case it would be strange if he didn’t demand a hefty compensation even before listening to his request. Although the conditions were far from perfect, it was rather long since Desti last saw him and he counted on her desire to meet.

Luck was also an important factor as to which one of them would answer, if any at all, but even Asvo’s high price was something he was prepared to pay in order to survive the stay at the Imperial Academy of Adjudication.

“Spiritus Dei, qui custos es mei.
Anme, tibi commissum pietate superna,
illumina, custodi, rege et guberna.”

Repeating the same words for the second time already proved effective. The distance between each piece of the furniture slowly increased until it grew to twice its normal length. Thin cracks and black ruptures, from which a dark red substance began oozing out, appeared on the room’s previously pristine walls and ceiling. The blood beast's fur rug kept twitching and wobbling as if something was moving beneath it.

Teacher had already spent Rexar’s entire pool of radiance simply to call out to his guardian spirits twice and was now burning through his own reserves when he felt that it was no longer necessary. Something else took over and began providing the required energy, considerably speeding up the entire process.

Those were the first signs of a true manifestation, which was way more than Teacher was planning to achieve. He had only wanted a small opening through which he could enter the respective guardian spirit’s place, now everything got ten times more complicated. The thought that using this solution might not have been the best idea appeared every five seconds, but the one telling him that his guardian spirit would be furious if he forcibly shattered the already forming manifestation easily kept it at bay. However, when the air’s smell changed to a one of mold in which a particular musty scent with a hint of decay could be smelled, Teacher considerably calmed down.

It was Destivatre’s true manifestation, not Asvodean’s.

She must have really wanted to meet because the amount of mana required to manifest a portion of her dominion in this dimension was huge. The whole thing was going to leave a lot of problems behind, and Teacher realized that it was her way of punishing him for ignoring her for so long.

“Spiritus Déi, quí cústos es méi,
Anme, tíbi commíssum pietáte supérna,
illúmina, custódi, rége et gubérna.”

When he repeated the same words for the third time, there was something unearthly mixing within them the moment they left his mouth. The light coming through the big window got dimmer and dimmer as grey tarry substance continued to bleed from the transparent glass, quickly covering it with a thick layer until the whole room’s interior was shrouded in murky eventide. If one listened closely, then it was possible to hear disturbing whispers coming from inside the unnaturally deep shadows. Shivers went up and down Teacher’s back like waves in a stormy night.

Eerie sounds of something heavy being dragged on the floor, that always came from outside his field of view caused Teacher to search for their source. But every single time he looked, he only found his chair standing in different parts of the room, even on the table, although when he checked its original position next to the desk, the same chair was standing there as well. With a quiet tinging sound, the door’s handle fell to the floor, cutting off the last escape route.

The lid of the chest placed in the corner rose slightly, and as soon as Teacher noticed the rotten bony fingers holding its edge, he lowered his head and closed his eyes. From now on, he had to watch himself and keep them shut until everything was over. He also switched to breathing through the mouth, the stench of decay was already hard to bear, and it would only grow worse.

*Squelch* *Squelch* *Squelch*... the sound of someone’s bare soggy feet was coming from the chest direction. Slowly, it moved behind him and stopped.

“Nonne tu me deesset?” She whispered sweetly into Teacher’s ear, which reminded him of a wet rag being dropped on the stone floor.

“Yes, I missed you a lot.” He replied to the Destivatre’s question, and a pair of cold, squelchy arms touched him from behind. Teacher knew it was his guardian spirit, but feeling up close as tens of fat maggots crawled beneath the patches of rotten meat was incredibly hard to tolerate. Especially when those maggot-ridden rotten arms were affectionately embracing you.

“Opus est auxilium?” Desti asked if Teacher needed her help, unhappy that he only called for her when such was the case.

“You know me too well, but in exchange, I promise to visit your place and stay for a while as soon as possible.”

“Promissum!” She exclaimed and happily rested her small chin on top of his head because while he was kneeling, it was at just the right height to do that.

Despite her grimy and terrifying manifestation, he just couldn’t bring himself to detest this girl starved for affection.

“But let’s talk first. I’m curious as to how are things on your side.”

“Ut bene, pauci sunt velle miscere in me apertis rationibus. Eo tempore corpus habetis ipsius colligere multum potest utrumque simul totum mundum vincit. Ego potest non expectare! Alia experiri incipit, sed puto suus immaturum.” Understanding some of the subtleties hidden within the language used by Desti wasn’t easy for Teacher, but she had more or less reported that things were progressing smoothly and that she couldn’t wait to conquer this world with him at her side. There was also something about others acting too fast in her opinion. “Sed lets loqui non est. Quomodo tibi opem feram?” It was only a small portion of all the things she wanted to say, but she realized that her time here was limited and put a priority on the thing Teacher required help with.

All the time she remained glued to Teacher’s back and enjoyed his warmth, while he in return was being soaked with various disgusting liquids and started shivering from cold as his body temperature was being absorbed.

“You’re right, your place is better for long conversations anyway. And I really need your help. You see, Rexar’s memory has been sealed, and there’s-”

Teacher’s words were stopped by a half-rotten hand that covered his mouth. A bit of decaying meat got inside his mouth, and one of the fat maggots tried to bite his lower lip - the hardtack he had eaten found itself inside his mouth once again, submerged in gastric juices and wine, but with some difficulty, he managed to swallow it. Desti realized that her playful gesture might have been a bit too much and quickly removed her hand, then she gently patted his head to apologize.

“Labem remota.” Destivatre’s words were quiet, but the meaning behind them shocked Teacher, she not only helped but resolved one of his problems on her own by removing the tainted power affecting Rexar’s memories. “Ego modicum tempus.” She informed with regret that her time here was running short, this action ate a big chunk of mana she brought to this place.

“Thank you, this will help a lot, you’re the best little sister I could wish for.”

“Um! Soror ad numisma.” She happily confirmed his words and sat down on the floor, back to back with Teacher, confident that her task was over and that now she could just relax together with the person dear to her.

It was definitely less relaxing for Teacher and involved a lot of enduring the cold while trying not to show any signs of disgust and constantly fighting back his gag reflex, but he would sooner knock himself out than admit any of that. Being treated like a normal girl was the thing Desti loved the most, even if the whole thing was just a perfectly obvious farce. Not to mention that he owed her more than could be repaid even if he gave her his entire soul.

“... but could you help me a little more?” Since his debt was already this big, nothing stopped Teacher from asking for more.

The response he received was a short, cracking noise that sounded almost like breaking of a wet, weathered stick. A second later, Desti began to strongly poke his side with something that easily tore through his uniform, draw a few droplets of blood, and had a sharp tip that couldn’t belong to her rotten fingers.

“Auch! Auch! Sorry, sorry! But may I remind you that stabbing someone with own rib isn’t something a young girl should do?!” He could only guess what was happening, but Desti most definitely armed herself with a sharp bone weapon taken out from her own body.

“Hmpf.” She grumbled unhappily, unwilling to shorten her remaining time in this place. Whispers coming from the shadows grew more intense and aggressive, and some sticky substance began oozing out of the floor, soaking Teacher’s clothes even further.

“Don’t be angry. You know that I also want to spend more time together, but there’s this little girl I want to help. She suffered a lot, and if I don't do anything, she will never learn how it feels to be loved. Don’t you think it’s too sad to leave her like that? And I’m in a place where I may be killed at any moment, I would prefer to defend myself with my own hands instead of relying on your shadows or, god forbid, Asvo’s devils. I know that each time you have to save me, it costs you a lot of power and weakens your position.” Teacher turned around and tightly hugged the small girl sitting there while making sure to avoid touching anywhere below her shoulders. “None of the things you gave me could be brought here, and I just need a weapon or something so I won’t be a burden to you.”

“Ehh… suus 'unfair’.” She lightly stabbed him one last time and stood up, freeing herself from his arms. “Et relinquam te et auxiliatus sum ovum fae. Apprehende arma et esse utiles.”

Two items were placed on top of Teacher’s head, one of them was Desti’s rib, the other was very small and ice-cold. She had said that it was a fae’s egg but didn’t explain anything else. However, unlike Asvodean’s, Destivatre’s gifts were relatively safe to use. Teacher grinned widely, those two items were the powerful options he needed the most.

“... ‘kiss’.” Desti demanded in a tiny voice.

“Of course.”

The source of small squelching footsteps moved to stand in front of him and leaned forward, while he put aside the two gifts. The moment her soft lips touched Teacher’s forehead in the briefest of kisses, he screamed, unable to withstand the soul-wrenching pain that threatened to devour his entire existence - a mocking version of this scream reverberated from every shadow inside the room. The pain felt by Teacher was physical, as if he was thrown into a hole filled with boiling tar that instantly burnt through his skin and attached itself to his muscles; as well as mental, depression and anguish filled every corner of his mind telling him that never again he would know warmth and rest; and finally it affected his very soul in a way that couldn’t be described other than ‘eternal suffering’.

This kiss was the goodbye ritual that Destivatre had to perform in order to fool her true nature and maintain their relationship in its current form.

“‘Bye, bye, Charles.’” She spoke softly and gestured one of the shadows to carry his unconscious body to the bed. She stood next to it, watching over him silently with a small smile until her mana run out, and the dominion’s manifestation began to dissipate.

Left behind in a ruined room was Charles Werner in the body of Rexar Gaure.