While Greya tried to “savor” Sunders’ comment, Gragg was giving them a really surprised look. “YOU are here too, Sunders?!”
Sunders tossed the bloodline vial to Angor. “He’s ‘Little Imp’ Gragg, from Edge of Night. A rebellious and rowdy kid. Do not trust a single word he says.”
“Oi! Sunders! What gives? We used to be comrades who fought together during the Demon Blood War. Do you have to run me down like that?!”
The Demon Blood War was a small-scale war between wizards that happened inside Shallowtomb Plane. It started because people were fighting over a vial of demon blood.
“That is exactly why I know your nature,” Sunders replied nonchalantly. “How many folks fell for your lies back then? A thousand?”
“But I never tricked you, right?”
“You’re free to do so, if you can, that is.”
Gragg rolled his eyes but failed to think of any excuse. Yet he could not admit his plan either, so he thought about diverting their attention. “Greya? They called you Greya, right? But the Greya I know didn’t seem so... slim. Your soul doesn’t sit well with your body. Did you maybe rob someone’s body?”
Greya landed on the ground and glared at him. “None of your freaking business. Aren’t you thinking about the same thing just now? Don’t tell me you’re interested in taking the body of a little girl?!”
In fact, this was Gragg’s intention, and he wasn’t going to feel ashamed for it. “Heh heh, I didn’t mean it. Since you’re here, how about a little help?”
Greya shook her head. “Nah. I can’t deal with that thing.”
Gragg then looked at Sunders. “Come on, old pal. You aren’t going to watch me die, eh?”
Sunders lifted a hand and released an energy ray at him.
Gragg was terrified at first, but he was relieved to see the energy going for the golden string above his head, but not actually his head.
Bam!
The energy vanished, while the string shivered a little but was otherwise unharmed. Gragg screamed in pain as the small disturbance spread a chain reaction toward all the other strings that further cut into his body.
Unlike the white strings that imprisoned Greya, these golden ones inflicted both bodily and mental pain on their victims.
As someone who went through the torture before, Nausica frowned and looked away from Gragg so that she didn’t get reminded of the terrible experience.
As Gragg howled, the rainbow dragonflies moved in unison and prepared to attack Sunders. It seemed they were provoked by Sunders’ move.
Sunders lifted his hand again and was going to kill the insects.
Angor saw this and quickly told the dragonflies to go away by releasing his emotions.
He didn’t particularly like or hate Froggy and Fox, but he would like to prevent the dragonflies from dying since they helped him escape from a plane passageway before and saved his life.
The creatures had no problem listening to Angor’s “order” and instantly backed away.
Angor tried to do it in a concealed way. While Gragg didn’t notice his attempt, the other two wizards close to him, meaning, Sunders and Greya, all saw his plan.
Sunders canceled his attack and glanced at Angor, but he did not say anything.
Greya narrowed her eyes and gave Angor a meaningful look.
Gragg managed to recover from the shock, which obviously quickened his death. He was now breathing heavily while gazing at Sunders with unfocused eyes. “I can’t... Another hit and I’ll lose it. There’s something... whispering to me. It tells me to give in to darkness. But I don’t want to... Help!”
Gragg had given up his tricky and slicker way and was pleading for real now. And Sunders was his only hope.
Sunders dusted his gloves. “I just tried, and it failed. You should know that the attack was almost the best I can do. It has no effect on the strings.”
He saw Angor winking at him, as if the boy wanted to say something, and established a Spirit Bond.
“Um, professor? Spotty can break those strings.”
“Spotty?” Sunders frowned and glanced at the creature who deserved that moniker. “Are you sure?”
“I am.” Angor explained how they rescued Nausica earlier.
“I see.” Sunders pondered. “But we won’t need it here. And don’t tell this to others.”
Angor nodded but was rather puzzled at it. He thought Sunders and Gragg were friends, but it seemed that he was wrong.
“I have a question about this dog though,” Sunders continued, “do you know what exactly it is?”
Angor hesitated and decided to tell Sunders his earlier theory. “Maybe this is what attracted all the wizards to Sleepless City.”
“You mean...”
“It’s either a Mystery spirit or a Mystery item itself, but I can’t tell right now.”
Sunders didn’t question further, but he was giving the dog more curious glances.
Gragg was still looking for a means of escape desperately. He said, “Just give me a body to live on. Such as that hot-looking woman.”
They all knew that Gragg was referring to Nausica, but all females on the scene didn’t look pleased upon hearing his words.
Gragg suddenly looked at his bloodline vial, which was now in Angor’s hand. “That’s your student, Sunders? I thought about taking his body. But god damn he’s using his soul form right now, so I have to pick somebody else. I promise, as long as you get me out of here, I’ll swear under Dinya Merkel’s Oath.”
Dinya Merkel’s Oath was usually used by wizards as a comprehensive magic covenant. Those bound by this oath must satisfy one wish of the beneficiary, as long as the wish did not restrict their future freedom.
This meant once Gragg established this oath with Sunders, Sunders would be able to request anything that did not violate Gragg’s freedom, such as forcing Gragg to hand over all of his possessions and knowledge.
Sunders smiled. “That’s a tempting offer. Sure, I can agree. I have a container that protects souls so you can use it until I find a proper body—”
“No.” Gragg shook his head quickly. “I’d already done it if I can eject my soul and go look for a body myself. But these wires prevent my soul from leaving! Now I can only travel to another body by sending the root of my soul, if such a body is within my reach.”
Gragg looked defeated when explaining. His case was a lot worse compared to Greya. At least Greya could retain most of her power in a foreign body due to her soul. Gragg’s approach, however, meant to discard everything he had while keeping only his memory and consciousness.
He basically had to start his life anew.
Sunders didn’t seem surprised to hear about this—he expected such when he saw Gragg luring Nausica close to him.
The core of one’s soul was extremely fragile, and it would lose its form under a second when exposed to the outside. Gragg needed Nausica to be close so that he could make sure that he could invade her body in time.
“If so...” Sunders glanced at Nausica.
Nausica did nothing more than bracing herself with a determined look.
Sunders chuckled. He already saw through Nausica’s mind—she was going to resist and kill Gragg the moment she could land a hit on his soul.
Heh, good reflexes and promising potential. This one is likely to become a wizard of Brute Cavern and I probably should keep her alive as Angor’s friend.
“How long do you still have?” Sunders asked Gragg a question.
“Huh? Two minutes, maybe.”
“Okay. Wait here,” Sunders said as his form vanished.
Gragg more or less knew why Sunders suddenly left like that. He began to wonder who that lady was since Sunders went out of his way to go look for a body elsewhere.
Does that woman have a relationship with Sunders too?
While waiting, Angor whispered to Greya so that he could learn what happened to Yorkshire.
“It ran off to the city center. Sunders said we shouldn’t give chase because there’s something dangerous over there,” Greya explained. “Hey, when did that man find a new Mystery item?”
“Mystery item?” Angor was puzzled for a while before he realized what Greya meant. “Are you talking about the Cursing Puppet?”
Sunders won this item from Twilight Auction by paying seven million crystals. Later, Angor tried to borrow it so that he could observe the Mystery properties hidden in the item, but Sunders never agreed.
And Angor was still troubled by it somewhat.
“Yeah, a broken children’s toy or something like that. Cursing Puppet? That snake was scared away by it. I didn’t know that snakes could cry.”
“What about Fox? She has a Mystery item too.”
“That beast vanished as soon as Sunders reached for the Cursing Puppet. Oh, you should have seen Sunders’ face! He almost got his hands on that harp, and the fox slipped away with it under his nose!” Greya happily mocked at Sunders’ failure when the gentleman was not around.