Chapter 17: Doping
As a torrent of mana rushed throughout Vincent's body, his strength recovered rapidly. As he was now, he could easily overwhelm the doll with just sheer volume of energy at his disposal.
Stepping on the immobilized opponent, he looked towards Bell who was preparing a spell. The spiritualist had been constantly casting spells for the past few minutes and didn't have much strength left. Still, he pushed himself as much as he could. Breaking two wooden sticks, he animated four snake plants.
Vincent saw the snakes circling around him from the corners of his eyes but ignored them. He reached out for the severed head lying on the floor and lifted it gently. While he had no idea why the evil spirit and the dagger wielding man were both going after the head, he didn't need to worry about it. Since they had put so much effort in trying to keep it, it meant that it was valuable.
The snake plants approached him from tricky angles and attempted to strangle him. However, just as they touched him, they would be blown away by electric explosions. The part that touched him got blown to pieces while the rest caught fire.
"Don't be hasty now. I still need to figure out the relationship between you and this guy here." Vincent spoke calmly as he pointed below him. Seeing Bell raise his hands in defeat, he scrutinized the head.
He couldn't find anything special about it. No matter how he looked at it, it was just a decapitated head of a little girl. A little annoyed that he couldn't figure it out, he looked at the guy he was stepping on and asked. "Hey, if you tell me what's so special about this head, I will spare your life."
"Hahahahaha." The man laughed loudly and fired back. "Don't get cocky kid. I would rather die. And do you seriously think you can make me speak?"
"Noisy!" Vincent commented calmly and fired another bolt of lightning at the man. The poor guy flopped like a fish out of water and planted his face on the floor.
Bell looked scared and given how nervous he was, Vincent reckoned he didn't know the answer to his question. So, he poked at the possessed arm and offered the same deal. "I am willing to extend the same invitation to you too. If you don't want to answer me, I am always more than willing to treat you to some shock therapy."
The evil spirit didn't reply. Instead, he controlled the arm to grab Vincent's ankle.
'Oh shit! Not again.' Vincent screamed in his heart as he was flung away. He had thought that the arm too wouldn't be able to move because of the shock. The possibility of it being able to exert such strength was out of his expectations.
His entire body was moving through the air quickly. At this rate, he would slam against the wall once again. Vincent hurriedly used the Force to push the wall and slowed his speed. As he landed safely, he let out of breath of relief.
During the time, the evil spirit managed to extend his control to more parts of the body. When he was finished taking control of the entire body, he forcibly suppressed the periodic twitches caused by the electric attacks and got up in a robotic manner.
Opening and closing the palm of the possessed body, the evil spirit stared at Vincent. "You got some balls kid. Unfortunately, your time is up."
The evil spirit charged towards Vincent. He could already reach insane speed when he was inside a small doll. Now that he was controlling the body of a silver ranking warrior, Vincent almost couldn't follow his movements.
Certain that he wouldn't be able to lock onto his opponent with Force in a short time, Vincent did the first thing that came to his mind. With his body as the centre, whips of lightning lashed out in every direction.
Robert had thought that he had completely figured out the hooded man. After all, he had already forced the opponent into a completely defensive position earlier and all Vincent could do at that time was cover himself in lightning. He just needed to maintain a little distance and feint attacks to force out exhausting moves from the man.
Sadly for him, the Potion of unlimited power increased Vincent's strength by almost a quarter. Additionally, it had refilled his tank, making him full of energy and vitality. He could easily afford to cast such wide ranged attacks without taxing himself. And because of that, the evil spirit was down on the ground before it could even approach close.
"Give it up and answer my question. You can't beat me." Vincent struggled to contain the excitement in his voice. It felt good to bully an evil spirit that was acting high and mighty. Besides, the expression of surprise on Bell's face when he exploded with such power stroked his ego greatly.
Robert backed off immediately. Though he could use possession to control the body despite the heavy damage sustained, lightning was still very effective against spirit bodies. If he got hit by two more of those attacks, he would perish for sure.
He made a beeline for the stupefied Bell and grabbed him by his temple. Spiritualists fared very well against ghosts and spirits but Bell was completely exhausted right now on top of being much weaker than Robert. He didn't have any mana to cast a single spell causing him to be a sitting duck against the evil spirit.
He watched in horror as a splitting pain came from inside him. He flailed for a while before going limp.
Robert let go of the lifeless body. Thanks to the energy he had sucked from the spiritualist, he now had recovered a lot of his energy. Still, it was a bad idea to go against the hooded man. He took one last glance at the head of the girl and shouted. "Stay smug for now. I will be back for her."
Leaving those words behind, he headed for the mirror and passed through it, disappearing from the room.
Vincent didn't give chase as the effects of the Potion of unlimited power would wear off in about two minutes. After that, he would be in a vulnerable state as the weakness would begin to settle in. He had to get to a safe place before that happened.
*****
As soon as Robert stepped out of the mirror, he was shocked by what he saw. Everyone including Simon and the servants were in a deep sleep. He could immediately tell that this was the handiwork of a strong individual.
Just as he began looking around to locate the culprit, he experienced extreme drowsiness.
'Huh, this is weird. I haven't felt sleepy since I died. I have missed this feeling....'
Before Robert could complete his thought, he too fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up, the evil spirit found himself seated on a chair opposite a man and a woman. The woman was dressed in green and smoking from an elegant smoking pipe. Her wavy hair cascaded down her shoulders and reached halfway to her waist. She took a deep puff and stared curiously at Robert with her intoxicating eyes.
As for the man, he was shrouded in shadows and none of his features could be made out. He was using the same martial art as the dagger wielding man, but with just a single glance, it was obvious just how much better his mastery was.
Robert could control any object or body he possessed even if they were lifeless or functioning faultily. But right now, he couldn't move the body at all even when he was in complete possession.
"Who are you two?" Robert questioned calmly as he looked at the two in front of him.
"We can get to know each other later on. But for now, how about you leave the body of my subordinate?" The man spoke in an icy tone and pointed at a doll he had prepared beforehand.
The woman looked at the generic doll and teased the man. "You really have bad taste. Couldn't you have chosen a better doll?"
The man looked at the woman and replied coldly. "I wouldn't have to have chosen a new doll if you did your work right and retrieved both the doll and the girl's corpse."
"Awww... don't say that. The man inside was scary you know. He was shooting lightning as if they were cheap. How could you expect a frail maiden like me put myself in danger for a creepy doll and a corpse that had been preserved for over four years. Besides, I wouldn't have brought him here if he hadn't burned Bell's life to restore his strength. I am very curious about that forbidden art."
Robert looked at the two bickering and had a hard time wrapping his head around the situation. The woman had rendered him unconscious and bought him here without him being able to put up any resistance. And it looked like the man was the woman's superior. Understanding that he couldn't put up much of a fight, he obediently transferred over to the doll placed on a table beside it.
"Good. Mr. Robert, I would like to invite you to join us." Seeing the evil spirit leave his subordinate's body, the man in shadows spoke warmly. "I represent the sixth lord of the court of Jesulm, lord Bennet."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone