The disparity in strength, though not so evident at first, grew increasingly obvious with the passing of time and with every successful attack. It was an expected outcome, after all, since the two derived their newfound strength from two starkly different sources.
The figure in light took her strength from the antibodies coursing through Jean's body. In understanding and deciphering the way they worked, she pushed her affinity towards life and healing. The figure in dark used the cultivation borne of the Rat King, which was already matured and interpreted through the creature's short yet eventful life. The concepts of the pestilence that prevailed in its cultivation helped push her affinity towards death and disease.
#Useless!# A heavy fist coated in a deathly mist hit the other woman square in her jaw. Her pristine and serene appearance had grown ragged and near death. Though technically no blood was being spilt, the entity on the losing end looked like she was on her last limb.
#Just!# Punch. #LET!# Punch. #GO!#
The woman coiled her arm and ejected a roundhouse elbow that cracked against her kneeling opponent's skull. In turn, the woman in white spun and fell onto the ground with a gruesome bounce.
#Your presence is no longer needed,# the woman in the black mist mocked with a cheerful grin while approaching her opponent. #But fret not. Your contribution will go a long way towards our future.#
She licked her lips in bliss as she grasped the white woman by her skull and proceeded to thrust her thumbs into the woman's eye sockets. She looked towards the trembling little girl and chuckled with malicious glee. Slowly, the white woman's body started to disperse and turn into gas that was inhaled voraciously by the woman in black.
The little girl collapsed as the thought of her imminent demise registered within her mind. There could only be one - it would either be the gigantic woman with black mist adorning her form or her measly self - and the odds did not seem to be in her favour.
As the white woman dissipated, the giantess grew bigger and stronger and wore a satisfied expression of immense elation, # It's amazing how quickly one can turn a healing salve into a poison capable of irreparable grief. One must know their enemy before waging a war - what this wretch has gifted me with her death will ensure that the retribution that I will bring to this world will be unchallenged and unopposed.#
"Y-You can't do this-"
#I can. And I will,# the woman reaffirmed with a maddened glare. #The world will feel my righteous fury. It took everything from me! And it should be prepared to lose everything in turn. But first-#
The body had finally disappeared, absorbed completely by the giantess. The woman stood up from her crouch and approached the little girl with lithe steps.
#The one that caused me the greatest grief stands before me. You will die now.#
At that moment, the area between the girl giant rippled. From nothingness, a personal, circular portal materialised. Through it, a person familiar to the little girl stepped out. Just as it came, the portal disappeared after replenishing the number of live persons within the area back to three.
"Jean," Mister Larks greeted the little girl with unparalleled surety.
"And you must be the interloper causing grief to one of my dearest pupils," he derided after turning towards the much larger entity.
The giantess moved into action almost immediately. Her fist coated in death and disease hurtled at Mach speeds towards the new Sect Leader. The little girl wished to do something, but her body refused to yield to any of her demands.
"Stop," a muted voice escaped from Mister Larks' mouth. The girl could not hear it, but the lip movements were easy enough to translate. With unparalleled obedience, the attacking giantess ceased and froze almost immediately.
Further, the region all around them started to warp and ripple. The darkness dissipated and shifted into a warm ethereal glow, before settling at a library with a rather pious atmosphere.
"Now, my child. Why would you take such an action and perform such a blunder upon yourself?" Mister Larks gently chided.
"I-I-"
"That's right. You weren't thinking," Mister Larks declared with a tired sigh. "I hope you realise that you have put yourself in a very difficult situation. What you did was equivalent to offering a knife to a murderer seeking to kill you and then turning you back to them so that they have a clear shot."
"I just wanted to save Josie," the little girl confessed amidst whimpers and tears. Mister Larks approached her and pulled her into a warm hug.
"I know you were," he said with a gentle shush. "You have a warm and gentle soul, even with this thing-" he nudged his chin backwards in the giantess' general direction, "-trying its best to poison your thoughts. You held strong. You survived. And I will make sure that you get through this ordeal, better than ever."
"H-How?"
Mister Larks wore an astounded expression that implied that the query had an obvious answer.
"You lose if that thing absorbs you. To win, you must be the one to absorb her," Mister Larks responded matter-of-factly.
"But I'm... weak..."
"Maybe here, sure," Mister Larks affirmed while pointing at the little girl's abdomen, implying her cultivation. But then he moved his finger and thrust it against her left chest, "But not here."
"Strength of soul," Mister Larks vocalised. "It is something only you have, not her."
"I don't understand."
"She is only a creation of your mind - your will. Why is it that the remnant core of a deceased Tesseract Transformation realm mage persists forever, while that of anyone from realms below ceases to exist after some time?" Mister Larks questioned.
"Without a soul, the will cannot become 'real'. And that which is not real, has no place in reality," Mister Larks answered. "This is how you will win against her."
The little girl looked at the exhorting man with a dubious gaze. Just as she was about to voice her confusion, Mister Larks' expression started to warp awkwardly.
"Stop speaking in riddles and give it to her in a way that she will understand." The voice belonged to Mister Larks, and it came from the movement of the man's left half of the face.
"I expressly warned you that I needed complete silence when-" The right side spoke with haughty consternation.
"Yeah! Yeah!" The left half interrupted. "You are just wasting time by going about it in a roundabout manner. If you want her to understand that, then break down the solution into manageable chunks."
"This is something that she needs to do herself," the right half emphasised. "No external help may be provided."
"We won't be spoonfeeding her the solution. But she at least needs to have an idea of where to start," The left half refuted. "Look, even if she absorbs the other half through whatever means you have in mind, the merging of two personalities (especially if one is many orders of magnitudes stronger than the other) can cause adverse and unwanted effects. For all we know, the woman may completely contaminate Jean's personality. You are trivialising an extremely sensitive and dangerous process! How different is it to the actions of the misguided rube who split her mind in the first place?!"
The right half growled and the right arm rose to scratch the right forehead in frustration. "That's what I meant when I told her to reinforce her soul and let that act as the catalyst towards merging."
"Excellent idea!" The left half said with excess sarcasm. "If only the girl knew how to do that. Heck, even I don't know how to do that! Do YOU even know how to do that?!"
"How does a fish know how to swim?" The right half shot back with an equal amount of sarcasm.
"Well, neither Jean nor I are fish - or whatever the equivalent of a fish would be in this situation," the left half rebutted.
The right half frowned contemplatively, "I may have made a preemptive leap here..."
"Whatever the case, maybe you are on to something. We just need to find a way to assist Jean," the left half encouraged.
At this point, both sides released into a thoughtful hum. "There is an option, but it is dangerous," the right proposed.
Noticing the little girl's expectant eyes, Mister Larks' left half elaborated. "It's about restricting the soul with a contractual lock. That there are certain things a person must never do which, if broken, can cause the soul to shatter irreparably. Needless to say that this process causes the instant demise of the person."
"A slave contract," the little girl affirmed with a thoughtful nod. "Except I would be both the master AND the slave."
"A WHAT?!" The right half exclaimed. "No! Absolutely not!"
"But what the right Mister Larks' said makes sense," the little girl confirmed. "A slave cannot think poorly of their master or else it will cause them immense pain."
"That is just conditioning through pain. It is inhumane!" The left half denied.
"Yet it will ensure that this cretin's murderous behaviours can never manifest. Furthermore, we are overlooking a key fact," the right half paused and smirked as if to show that he was trying to amplify suspense artificially.
"Jean and this thing here share the same soul but are two different manifestations of thought. What this cretin thinks and believes isn't shared by Jean here. This means that any vow that is taken which runs counter to what this giantess believes will cause pain only to this giantess," the right half finished the thought. "We can weaken her until she becomes a shell of herself, ready for Jean here to take over."
Without pause, the right half snapped his finger and prepared to take action.
"WAIT!" The left arm reached forward and caught the right arm in place. "We haven't decided the nature of this vow. This is an irreversible process."
This caused the duo-and-a-half to descend into a bout of brainstorming.
"I think I have an idea..." The left half suddenly murmured. "Wait for me for a second!" He added with certainty, and then the left half turned limp.
A few seconds later, he returned, "Alright! I have something with me. It is perfect for you! Make sure to repeat everything I say, exactly as I say it."
The little girl nodded in affirmation. She trusted Mister Larks, even if the last few moments of interactions seemed a bit kooky. He had only done right by her since their first meeting. If it hadn't been for him, she would never have reached this far in her journey into magehood.
At this point, both sides of Mister Larks' face coordinated as one. He coughed to accentuate the start, and then spoke the vows that would forever change the little girl - Jean's - entire life!
"I swear to fulfil, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will first do no harm.-"
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