Violet hit the marble flooring face first after being devoured by Gill’s beast and falling in darkness for a few minutes.

  She pulled herself up to her feet, and perfect copies of herself were everywhere, imitating her every move and exact facial expression.

  So, it turned out Gill’s monster didn’t have a digestive system, just a portal inside of it that transported food to somewhere else.

  There was no visible exit in the world of mirrors she dropped into. Violet looked up, and there were just more reflections of her exhausted expression looking down on her.

  The person she saw multiplied all around her was no longer someone she could trust. She studied her pathetic face, heavily charred and lined with black goo like runny makeup.

  Looking down at her hands, she noticed black blood still leaking from her fingertips. She continued inspecting herself. Gill’s demonfire did a number on her Container and clothing. The blood was barely noticeable on her burned black shirt, but the same couldn’t be said for her scorched purple jacket and messenger bag. Additionally, she suspected that beneath her ruined leather pants, she’d find black marks all over her legs from the burns and the Tainted ichor oozing from her body.

  Violet turned her head to the side to focus on her reflection, and intense emotions simmered behind her unique cobalt-blue eyes. She balled her fists, and her chest rose and depressed in an irregular rhythm.

  All she saw was a failure.

  Failure to save Rachel.

  Failure to get Ezequias over to her side.

  Failure to put a stop to the angels.

  Violet turned her body to the mirror, pulled her disheveled dark hair back, and frowned, her nostrils flaring.

  A sudden surge of Black Magic energy had Violet look up.

  In an eye blink, a yellow portal formed over one of the ceiling mirrors, and a tall figure dropped.

  Violet groaned as she watched Ashlin, clad in her whorish Healer’s Garb, slowly rise and then strike a pose with a hand on her hip as if she were in the middle of a photo shoot.

  “How?” Violet asked, hating how much her voice shook due to the pain and exhaustion.

  “Don’t you know Gill has eyes and ears everywhere, dura?”

  Violet resisted the urge to snap back after being blatantly called a “dumbass” and thought about how Gill got the opportunity to learn about her meeting with Isaac.

  It didn’t take her long to realize that she had been off her game ever since losing Rachel… since the last time she saw Ezequias.

  The Blood Call was a gray magic spell that permitted one to enter contact with anyone as long as their blood was accessible. It simply required a bowl where the subject’s blood would be put, and the duration of the call depended on how much blood was used.

  Violet fisted her thigh, realizing the last time she made the Blood Call to Isaac to arrange a meeting with him at the Kek Lok Si Temple, she had forgotten to overlay it with an encryption spell to prevent outsiders from listening.

  Ashlin wagged her finger. “It’s not just Mind Channels you need to encrypt. You have to do the same with Blood Calls.” She lowered her hand and placed it back on her hip. “It’s sad that I have to explain this to the Neurologist, master of the mind and all…”

  Violet bit on her lower lip until black blood oozed out of it, tasting its metallic and sulfur-like flavor.

  How could she have been so stupid? So careless? She already knew about Gill’s demonic spies and regularly made sure to keep them in the dark, which is why she did most of her affairs in her Sub-Realm—her lab.

  But preemptive measures would’ve been twice as necessary if a spy had listened in on a Blood Call from wherever Isaac was. Since she made the call, encrypting it would’ve been up to her.

  And she forgot to. Handling sensitive information to them like a child who didn’t know any better. It was an easy win for Gill and his demons.

  Violet raised her hand and made her hand sign—lifting her thumb, pinky, and index finger. “Neurpa—”

  She collapsed.

  Her enervated body wasn’t listening to any of her commands as more black blood streamed out of it like a shower head left on. A cold feeling was taking over, and she could feel it in her soul as her purity levels continued to plummet, nearing the state of demonification.

  “Isaac is so delusional that it was obvious he was going to show up, even if he knew it was a trap,” Ashlin said, “and you wouldn’t have arranged for a meeting like that unless you had some sort of plan, which is what we were sure of, but Tainted Mana?” Ashlin shook her head as she let out a laugh. “We didn’t think that you’d do something that stupid.”

  Violet made desperate grunts as she tried to move her hands but nothing. It wasn’t just the blight of the Tainted Mana, but the spell she was performing on Isaac was dangerously interrupted midway. If only she had finished the incantation quicker, he would’ve become her puppet for a few hours.

  More than enough time to order him to break his own neck.

  Dammit, Neurpatia! Help me! Violet thought, but her Healer’s Garb was not responding.

  “Oh, you’re so puny that it’s actually a little cute,” Ashlin said as he walked up to Violet.

  Violet looked up and couldn’t see the Container Specialist’s face. She wondered how Ashlin could possibly see anything under those ridiculously large balloons of hers. “Do you really think you look ‘good’ with all those modifications? You look like you belong in a circus.”

  “Careful with your words, Viola,” Ashlin said and bent over, showing her face to Violet. “You’re in no position to make threats. Try apologizing and begging.”

  ?Neurpatia! ?Viola! Violet urged in her head. ?Andalé! ?Levántate! ?Por favor!

  “If you comply, there’s still a spot for you in Gill’s beautiful new world.”

  She’d rather slit her own throat. The disgusting thought gave Violet the fuel she needed to force herself back on her feet.

  She searched her messenger’s bag and pulled out one of her special Netherworld guns—a black flintlock with a smoky aura breathing out the muzzle marked with demon teeth.

  Ashlin remained still with the gun pointed at her. “Do it,” she said. “Please, oh please, do it!”

  Violet grabbed her wrist as her aim got shaky. Ashlin’s attitude was overly confident, even for her standards. Something was up.

  She focused on assessing the situation and noticed the sources of Mana emanating in the room aside from Ashlin.

  They were coming from the mirrors.

  “Finally noticed that you’re surrounded by Gorgon Mirrors?” Ashlin said.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Violet scoffed. The methods behind creating Gorgon Mirrors were peculiar. It involved having a gorgon stare into a mirror as it activated its power, thus turning itself into stone. The action alone turned any mirror into a magical one that could deflect any magic.

  She wasn’t sure if her demon bullets were classified as pure magic.

  Maybe before everything that had happened, she would test it for herself, but the current Violet wasn’t as headstrong…

  “We had to make sure you couldn’t use your mind spells, not that you can in your current state anyway. It’s a shame. I’d like to see what would happen if you put a charm on yourself.” Ashlin removed her pointy hat. “Following Gill is a way better choice than that sorry excuse for a man you choose to follow.” She threw her hat forward with the bottom facing up. “Little Zeke…” she said with a groan.

  Violet cringed at her comments and their immediate failure in the Bechdel test.

  “It would’ve been smarter to reach for a Mana bottle instead of a gun,” Ashlin said.

  Violet froze for a moment, and then, as her hand was about to go back into the messenger bag, Ashlin fired a beam of concentrated Mana right at her hand.

  “Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy!” Ashlin shouted and laughed as she lowered her lace mask. Next, as Violet was recovering, the Container Specialist brought her hands up in front of her, pinched her left thumb with two fingers, raised both pinky fingers, and lowered the rest.

  She cited a spell in her native tongue, too quick for Violet to pick up, and the inside of her pointy hat released a cyan-blue glow.

  A white marble stone coffin shot out from the hat and hopped forward, landing vertically. It was carved with Slavic reliefs.

  As it opened up, revealing nothing but pitch-blackness, Violet succumbed to the instincts of her reptilian brain and did something she never had before.

  She turned to run away.

  Although, Violet didn’t make it very far with her exhaustion. Multiple strips of linen wraps shot past her from behind, then curved back—snaking around her mouth, wrists, and ankles.

  She hit the marble flooring with her forehead, and as her head throbbed, she was dragged back to the coffin like a savage animal. More wrappings shot out from the coffin to aid with her snaring.

  Violet was hauled to her feet, and extra wrappings pulled her wrists close together and looped around her hands until they became a large ball of fabric. Her mouth received a similar treatment.

  She was slammed into the coffin, and Ashlin stood with one hand on the lid, smiling devilishly.

  It was a frustrating reminder to Violet that sealing spells were one of Ashlin’s specialties. Sealing spells were different from encryption spells due to how they required a specific condition to be broken, while the latter was locked with codification that could be mathematical, philosophical, and so on.

  Some weaker sealing spells only required a certain magic output to break through, but Violet doubted Ashlin would use that.

  Even if Violet were to increase her intellect a hundred times over, if the condition set by the spell wasn’t met, there was no way to break the seal.

  The increasing smile on Ashlin’s face looked like she knew exactly what Violet was thinking.

  “Don’t worry, you won’t be in the dark for too long,” Ashlin said, slowly pushing the coffin lid. “We’ll take you to your new home soon. You’re tired. So, try to get some rest.”

  Muffled screams came out of Violet as the lid was closed on her.

  Darkness took over, and sound was no more.

  She struggled in the sealed space for a couple of seconds until her body gave up, and then…

  So did her mind.

  ###

  Isaac plodded forward on the grounds of the mostly destroyed temple while nursing his sixth Mana bottle after the Manifestation did its job.

  The Manifestation was necessary to deal with Mac and to cure himself of the Accursed Blessing.

  His Garb’s Manifestation process worked similarly to many of the other Healer’s Garbs, in which his Container was destroyed for it to be substituted with Vistrea’s physical form and then rebuilt once the Manifestation technique ran its course, thus curing himself of any prior supernatural diseases.

  Aside from the massive strain on his soul, the biggest risk was wrestling back control from Vistrea.

  He succeeded, somehow, someway.

  Isaac was left with the painful side-effect of the powerful Mana-draining technique. His eyes were blighted with an agonizing case of pink eye.

  The condition left the white of both eyes coated with a deep red. It felt like a thousand fire ants were moving about inside his eyeballs, and every time he blinked, it felt like all those ants bit on various nerves at once.

  The Mana bottles did nothing. His Gauge wasn’t filling up. He would have to do something akin to jumping in the Mana River in the Fairy Realm to fill it again.

  Isaac halted in the once beautifully landscaped gardens that surrounded a still intact, 30-meter-high Pagoda known as Ban Pho Tar.

  It was a structure with an octagonal base that blended Chinese, Thai, and Burmese elements.

  Isaac wasn’t standing in the scorched gardens alone. Aside from the multiple molten rocks, Gill was there, too. Looking effortlessly dashing in his gray suit and Healer’s Garb over it.

  “You really are one mad son of a bitch, eh?” Gill said and stroked one of his triple chins. “Holding off two of the Archangels on your own.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that, mate,” Gill said. “What you should be asking is what I’ll do with Azaekias once I get you two out of the picture.”

  Isaac stood up and rubbed the corner of his eye. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m going to kill him,” Gill said with a smile.

  Isaac sighed. “Now, why would you do that, Brother?”

  “You know why, you bastard,” Gill said. “So, what are you going to do about it—?”

  Isaac ran to Gill and crossed his fingers on both hands. They, to his disbelief, turned translucent. Maybe it was what Gill said that helped him find a speck of Mana within him to use one last spell, or perhaps he was tapping into his reserves and using Tainted Mana.

  He didn’t know, and he didn’t care.

  “You’ve gone too far, Brother,” Isaac said, pushing his translucent hands into Gill’s chest.

  Gill grunted and jostled forward.

  And so did Isaac.

  It was the first time he had ever touched Gill’s soul, and it felt… abundant. His soul felt vast and… endless.

  Isaac had to double down on his focus, using as much White Magic energy as possible. He managed to only release a measly spark of holy fire.

  And that’s all it took.

  A red demonic mist discharged from Gill and settled over him.

  Then, a horned demoness emerged from the cloud.

  Her body was that of a regular female human, clad in a red and dark blue suit, but her face, although mostly human, was ghostly pale and had black goo oozing from her small nose, eyeless sockets, and toothless mouth.

  It floated limply in the air over Gill as a long sheet of paper rolled out of its mouth in place of its tongue.

  Isaac noticed Gill’s signature at the end of the document.

  It was a Contract Demon.

  Beings used by humans for centuries to get whatever they wished for in exchange for their souls. Contract Demons, through their means, could cross over to the Human Realm, even before the Great Seals were broken and outside of Halloween, to complete solicited contracts at crossroads.

  Isaac got the sudden urge to pull away and did as he felt something crucial inside of him getting weaker.

  He looked down at his hands as they turned back into flesh and bone and then realized something terrible had happened.

  Vistrea was silent and unfeeling. He couldn’t feel Gill’s Garb. He couldn’t feel Gill’s Mana or even his own.

  Isaac’s Mana Pores had been sealed.

  “You gave up your soul for this?” Isaac said, looking at the smiling Gill.

  No, that wasn’t right, Isaac realized. The effect only happened after he touched Gill’s soul. There were many kinds of contracts the demonic entities offered, one of them being the conditional contract.

  The desire was granted only if a condition was met within an agreed-upon period.

  But these Contracts’complexity didn’t stop there.

  The Contract Demon pulled a giant feather pen from her eyeless socket and stabbed Gill in the back.

  As Gill let out a puff of air, the Contract Demon faded away with manic laughter lasting a few seconds after it fully vanished.

  With Conditional Contracts, the terms were completely up to the contractors’ will, and, like the monkey’s paw, it was always unfavorable and, most of the time, messed with what the contractee asked for in the first place. These terms were only disclosed after the condition was met.

  Ask for the power of flight, and the Contract Demon will put in an irreversible charm of crippling acrophobia, ask for supreme intelligence, and a curse will be attached that’ll reset one’s memory from zero after learning 3 new things.

  That wasn’t the end of it. The demon will collect the contractee’s soul if the condition isn’t met within the established period. Plus, the contractee had to promise to deliver a bundle of souls, the quantity and types determined by the contractor, at a specified time or else... you know the rest.

  And yet, Gill decided to take that risk anyway.

  “To think you’d go that far…” Isaac said.

  A ghostly chain shot out of Gill’s gut and into Isaac’s. It halted, making a loud clunk, and then vanished.

  Gill laughed. “She put a curse on me…”

  “A soul link curse...” Isaac said.

  The Demonologist gave Isaac a look. “If you are hurt by my own hands, then it is reflected to myself. A fate worse than death if I kill you.’”

  “The whole point of you doing the contract was for you to kill me,” Isaac said and laughed. “Contract Demons being nuisances as usual. I’m sorry things didn’t turn out as you hoped, Brother.”

  Gill glanced up for a moment and smiled. “Oh, but no need to worry,” he said, opening a yellow portal behind him. “You’re completely defenseless now. I don’t have to do the dirty work.” he jumped back into the portal, and it vanished.

  Not a second later, Zakiah dropped to Isaac’s side and turned to him as his parachute furled back into his backpack.

  “I’m sorry, but you’re coming with me,” Zakiah said.

  Anderson’s Supernatural Medical Fun Facts: Encryption Spells can also be used on oneself to confuse anybody attempting to read their mind and on top of Mind Channels to prevent others from listening in on the conversation.

  This is called Layering.