262 POSSESSION
Aseran's desperation grew as he tried to break free, but the tentacles held firm, their grip unrelentingly strong. Electricity coursed through his body breaking his defense.
"Is this my end?" Aseran asked himself.
But Lord Aseran wasn't without a backup plan. He remembered something that Lady Dassa gave to him.
"Damn you! You force me to do this!" he screamed, his voice filled with rage.
Suddenly, a bright, blinding light enveloped Aseran's body.
At the same time, his soldiers on the ground began to collapse, their chests constricting as if gripped by an invisible, devious curse. Their bodies writhed in agony before bursting into flames, their essence transforming into streams of magical energy that flowed toward Aseran.
"Moron, you're using the bitch's spell again?" Petunia shouted, her voice laced with disgust.
"Damn, Why didn't see the suicide codes in the soldiers earlier", Leo complained, "If not I could have stopped the sacrifice."
Leo didn't expect the Aseran guards to be cursed with the same magic as the Temple of Hera assassins, so he didn't check for those codes on the guards.
General Nahum was stunned. "I didn't know Lord Aseran commanded this kind of forbidden magic. What is this devious sorcery?"
"It's a sacrificial summoning," Leo explained, stepping out from the shadows finally.
His calm demeanor contrasted sharply with the chaos unfolding around them. "By using the blood and lives of his soldiers as a sacrifice, he can summon something powerful to aid him."
Lord Aseran, though not versed in forbidden magic himself, was given this dark art as a last resort by Lady Dassa.
Like the magic she bestowed upon Unna, the assassin from the Temple of Hera, this spell linked the lives of Aseran's soldiers to his own, allowing him to sacrifice them in his moment of need to call forth a formidable summon.
"You, Lilleo Gullee! Aren't you supposed to be possessed by demons?" Aseran shouted, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and anger as he noticed Leo's presence.
"Ah, those bloody demons," Leo replied with a faint smile. "They're nothing a Soul Vessel can't capture with ease."
"A Soul Vessel? Why would the Temple of Assassins give you one of their most powerful artifacts?" Aseran cried, his confusion and desperation mounting.
"Idiot," Petunia muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes. "The Assassin Workshop was with us right from the start."
As the sacrificial magic reached its peak, the air grew heavy with dark energy. The ground trembled, and a monstrous figure began to materialize, summoned by the lives of Aseran's soldiers.
The figure of the Goddess of Union, Hera finally appeared.
-----
[some time ago- at the branch of Court La Mood, after Dassa left Leo]
Once Dassa stormed out of the room Petunia swiftly locked the doors and turned to Leo.
"How are you doing?" she asked.
"Demon spirits are trying to take over me", Leo replied as he was surrounded by dark presence gnawing at him.
Leo sat upright on the edge of the bed, his demeanor calm and composed, as though he had been expecting this moment all along.
Leo wasn't unfamiliar with evil spirits who planned to take over the bodies of players or other living beings, transforming them into true demonic beings. Last time, he managed to expel Lusifar from his body.
"Let me help you expel those creeps", Petunia said.
In her hands, Petunia held a crystalline artifact, its surface glinting with an otherworldly light.
"Alright I'll begin now," she said.
She channeled her magic into the crystal, and in an instant, an intricate magic circle flared to life around Leo, its glowing lines etching themselves into the air.
Suddenly, the shadow of a demonic rooster materialized before Leo, its grotesque form twisted and terrifying. "Finally, I am back!" it screeched, its voice echoing with malice.
Leo's eyes narrowed as he recognized the demon.
"What the fuck!!!! Lusifar," he said excitedly. "I was wondering where the hell you'd disappeared to."
"I shall reclaim my prized body!" Lusifar roared, his essence writhing as he struggled to invade and take control of Leo's form.
But something was blocking him, preventing his advance.
"Any luck this time?" Leo asked Lusifar, his tone laced with amusement.
"Why is your body so resistant? I've been inside it before, there was no such resistance!" Lusifar snarled with frustration in his voice.
"You managed to infiltrate me before when I hadn't even awakened my magic. Did you really think you could overpower the body of a mage at the peak of Svad now?" Leo replied, a smirk playing on his lips.
Lusifar's expression darkened as he realized his situation. "Peak of Svad??"
Leo was far stronger now than before and his power was far beyond the demon's reach.
But Lusifar wasn't without his tricks.
"It doesn't matter how strong you are," he hissed. "Your body is still mine! …eventually," His cry was echoed by the eerie wails of the other demons accompanying him.
Lusifar did not come alone.
When Dassa came close to Leo earlier she cast a sinister spell, one that opened the door for demonic possession in him- she marked him for possession.
"Mark of Possession."
Even a mage at the peak of Svad couldn't resist its dark influence.
Slowly but surely, Lusifar and his demonic entourage began to seep into Leo's body, their corrupt essence spreading like a plague.
"Did the demons get inside you?" Petunia asked, her voice tinged with worry.
"Yes, they did, and they are spreading," Leo replied but his tone was calm.
"The artifact will need time to power up," she said, her hands already moving to activate it.
"Take your time," Leo said with a teasing grin. "The demons won't devour me that quickly."
"Argghhh!" Leo growled, his body convulsing as the demons clawed at his very essence, attempting to break him down bone by bone, flesh by flesh, to transform him into one of their own.
"You're a tough one to break," Lusifar complained, his voice strained.
"Why are you working for the Godmother?" Leo asked, catching the demon off guard.