An odd feeling stirred in Gary’s body as he watched Daphne walk toward him. She had her hand raised and was wiggling her fingers. There was even an odd smile on her face, which made Gary feel like those fingers might end up somewhere else.
In the end, his natural reaction was to take steps back as she came forward.
“What are you doing?” Daphne asked. “If you move back, then I can’t help you sort this out.”
“That’s the problem,” Gary replied. “I don’t even know what you’re going to do. What do you mean by shortcut?”
When Gary thought about it more, what if this was some type of strange plan from Daphne all along? What if this was a way to get the Howlers to lower their guard? Then, with her powers, she could take over Gary and cause him to go on a rampage in his own city, fighting those he cared about.
It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“I know what you’re worried about, and I wanted to keep some of my powers a secret, but I guess there needs to be some trust between us,” Daphne claimed. “The stronger a person’s will is, the harder it is for me to control them.”
“It’s easy to control direct animals or beasts that lack intelligence. I can control Altered when they’re transformed because it seems to lower the person’s will or intelligence.”
“Most people who are Altered aren’t the brightest in the first place. But usually, the stronger an individual, the stronger their will is.”
“I can control strong beasts that only have the thought to kill, but I doubt I could control Harvor. For you, it’s the same, Gary. You’re most likely too strong for me to control.”
“So, for this to work, you have to let me take control of a part of you. See what I can bring out. If you want, you can fight against it, and I’m sure you’ll be able to break free,” Daphne explained.
The explanation did settle Gary slightly, but it meant he would have to believe Daphne’s words, that everything she was saying was the truth.
‘I guess, if Kai believed her enough to allow her to be alone with me, then I should trust her as well. He’s a much better judge of character than I am.’
Gary let out a big breath and took a step forward toward Daphne. They didn’t have a lot of time, so what other choice did Gary have?
“There’s a chance this might not work,” Gary said as he looked down at Daphne’s face. The two of them were relatively close.
Strange thoughts began to enter Gary’s mind. If he just leaned forward, he could even kiss her.
‘No, damn it, you have Xin!’ Gary thought, shaking his head.
“I know… You’re not exactly an Altered, right?” Daphne said, pressing her hand on Gary’s chest.
“How did you—ugh!” Gary felt something strange activate in his body, and he fell to his knees.
“Remember what I said,” Daphne said, grunting as she kept her hand on his chest. The veins on her arm were moving, and sweat started to run down her face. “You have to let me in, you have to let me unlock it inside you.”
Experimenting with her powers, Daphne was able to do a number of things. For one, she could force other Altered to transform back into humans.
She could also make it so they fully turned into an Altered as well. In fact, there were times when people struggled to use their Altered forms, and they would pay large sums of money to the Bree family to help them with such things.
After all, not everyone could fully transform into their Altered form even after becoming one.
Taking this a step further, she could use her power to draw out an Altered’s abilities even further, and this was what she was trying to do with Gary as well.
[Interference with the system detected.]
[Interference with the system detected.]
[The user is strong enough to block the interference. Would you like to block the interference?]
Gary felt strange. His mind was somewhat foggy, and he couldn’t think straight, but when he saw the system screens, he realized what Daphne said had to be somewhat true.
‘I guess this is my only chance to reject it… but I have no choice!’
[You have declined to block the interference.]
[Your system has been adjusted.]
[New transformation has been unlocked.]
At that moment, Daphne no longer felt any resistance. Her powers had flowed into Gary, and she quickly pulled her arm away. She felt faint and nearly fell over backward, but her eyes were locked on Gary in front of her. She couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“What… is this?” Daphne said, this time it was her who was taking a step back, and she knew if she didn’t get out of the way, she might be caught up in it all.
Half an hour had passed, and in that time, Daphne had lost control of Gary. At the same time her powers had ended, Gary’s transformation had also come to an end.
He lay there, no longer wearing any of his clothes, his bare body lying among the dirt on the ground.
“It worked,” Daphne said. “The shortcut worked… with this, I think you might have a chance to beat him.”
Gary lifted his head, still crouched on the ground. Noticing that his clothes were gone, he looked at the forest. In a one-kilometer area, there was nothing but destruction.
The trees had disappeared, and the ground looked leveled.
“Maybe… this will be enough,” Gary said.
***