-----

  Paul set up the entire formation, rapidly gathering all the required materials and powers into a single pce.

  With the help of Emerlinda and his sister, he was managing something!

  “Brother! Hurry!”

  As Camil screamed as she noticed the Frenzied Dark Spirit began pushing back against her power, which was insane, as she had just Ranked Up and should be several times stronger now.

  Paul nodded.

  “Almost there!”

  He cpped his hands after that, activating a Skill he had equipped just retly, one he had ignored a bit before, but that has bee incredibly useful now.

  “{Spirit Mediator}!”

  FLUOSH!

  The power of speaking and even trolling Spirits activated within him; its power, flowing through the small Formation, rapidly covered Chris.

  Its radiant light began to bih the formation, modifying it.

  “Emerlinda, now!”

  “O-Okay!”

  And then, with Emerlinda’s Spirit Energy and her Light Spirit, Vd used Geomancy to bind everything together into a single Spell.

  “{Great Geomancy}: {Dark Spirit-Binding Spiritual Formation}!”

  FLAAASH!

  The entire formation ged, being pletely bright gold, its essences ged, and its eernal structure was rewritten and modified as Vd used the several elemental energies and magic avaible, shaping it as his Great Geomancy Spell allowed him to “shape nature” around him and turn them into new spells, and through further applying Alchemy’s Synthesis, to even merge these things into new spells.

  It was a pletely unique power he had developed, a teique that seemed difficult if not impossible for anybody else to copy! For some reason, only Vd so far has been able to push Alchemy to this point…

  FLUOSH!

  “Nooooo! Aaaarrgghh!”

  And as this happened, Chris groahe Frenzied Dark Spirit within him r, pining as it began to agonize before the s made of spiritual light started burning the darkness. However, the Frenzied Dark Spirit, as much as it suffered, was not going away.

  Paul khat from this point, it all depended on him.

  “Chris! You do it! Fight back!”

  Now it was all up to Chris to fight bad regain ownership of his body!

  .

  .

  .

  Darkness had engulfed Chris entire mind for a moment, making him drift through a sea of pure obscurity, of shadows everywhere.

  “Uuh… this is weird.”

  It was as if he were going through some sort of out-of-body experiehrough the game, something that felt really bizarre.

  “This game get really weird… and frustrating at times, huh?”

  The momeouched the dark spirit and the it ing around his body, he was sent here instantly.

  “It seems… I lost trol over my own Avatar, and… Uh, now my sciousness is trapped in this dark space? ’t I log out?”

  However, there was nothing answering his thoughts; no system messages showed up, nothing.

  There wasn’t a menu or anything.

  Just darkness, eternal, drifting darkness.

  “I ’t log out… This should be illegal; what’s wrong with this game?”

  As Chris pined, he sighed.

  The darkness…

  It felt eternal.

  He began to slowly grow desperate, sad, and a bit scared even.

  “T-This never ends… Where do I eveo go? Where am I?”

  He kept drifting aimlessly, endlessly.

  “No… why ’t I leave?!”

  And he slowly started falling into despair, as his perception of time seemed to be growing distorted and ed.

  It already felt like he had spent a whole day here!

  “Haaah… Uuuggh…!”

  Without realizing it, he started to cry.

  “Paul… Help me…”

  The only one he could think about was nobody else but him.

  Paul could always e out with crazy solutions to everything, right?

  “Paul…”

  And Chris…

  He didn’t want to admit it, but…

  Paul was slowly being someone really important in his life.

  Someohat made him happy.

  “Dammit, that dark spirit thing… Why did this have to happen?”

  Chris looked at his owhereal hands as his tears kept falling from his eyes.

  “And what the hell is wrong with this game? Why is it making me gh so many unfortable things?!”

  He kept pining, hitting the bck flrily.

  “Paul…”

  He didn’t really bme Paul for it; if anything, he felt stupid for ever thinking it could work.

  However, he k was still partially Paul’s fault too.

  “Please take responsibility and help me already… I… I need you…”

  As he rested on the dark, bck floor, he stopped g, closing his eyes.

  “Please…”

  He remembered his teouch, his warm hands.

  His cute smile.

  And his hoy and awkward friendliness.

  In parison, Chris thought he retty mean sometimes and not really a good persoher.

  “Do I even deserve him? I’m kind of a piece of work myself…”

  Chris still kept believing he would e.

  It felt like another day passed.

  “Ugh…”

  He rested over the floor, feeling tired.

  “Paul… I know that one day you will… help me…”

  Chris felt powerless; he couldn’t do anything at all.

  And then, ihird day…

  “I want to hug you…”

  He shed aear.

  “I want to kiss you…”

  He grasped the cold floor.

  “Please… I-I’ll stop being… an idiot… I’ll treat you with love…”

  Chris tinued g.

  “I’ll be ho with you…!”

  He hit the floor harder and harder.

  “So please… Help me!”

  As he begged in the darkness.

  Nothing.

  “…”

  Despite everything, Chris had a rather strong mind.

  He had yet to fall into despair amidst this endless, void-like darkness.

  It was so scary.

  Yet…

  His memories were his light.

  And they kept him there, sane.

  “What do I have to do to get out of here? Dammit!”

  He started hitting the floor harder, and harder, and harder.

  “Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Fug shit! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

  As he screamed furiously and hit the floor harder, and harder, and harder…!

  Crack!

  “Hm?”

  Crack, crack…!

  He saw it.

  A small crack through the darkness, it spread into three more cracks.

  It was so small, barely the size of his index finger.

  A…

  They were something!

  From these tiny cracks, he could see something.

  Light.

  White and golden light.

  “Ch… ri…!”

  “Ah!”

  Chris eyes widened, approag the crack, and then…

  “Chris…!”

  “Paul?!”

  He reized the voistantly.

  It was him!

  “PAUL! SAVE MEEEE!”

  He started screaming to the crack, but…

  “Chris! You do it!”

  “E-Eh?”

  “Believe in yourself, Chris!”

  “Wha…?”

  “The only ohat regain trol of your body is… you! Fight back!”

  “…!”

  Chris’ eyes widened as he noticed something.

  The cracks that geed light amidst the darkhis light illumi.

  And so he was able to see something he had never noticed before.

  The “darkness” wasly just the absence of light.

  It was a thing—a moving, slimy, muddy bck thing.

  “E-Eh?!”

  Chris felt shocked, stepping back.

  And suddenly, as the muddy bck thing realized it was being watched…

  TRUUUM!

  Two massive crimson eyes opened, gring at Chris.

  “Ah shit… shit! You’re the Frenzied Dark Spirit!”

  “Why won’t you DIE already?! Your mind remains…! For so LONG! Frustrating… FRUSTRATING!”

  The thing started screaming furiously; it seemed abnormal for a mind to remain intact for so long after being possessed.

  “You’re the fug spirit, aren’t you?!”

  Chris grew angry more than scared.

  Paul had opened a tiny crack.

  Yet this crack gave him hope and his beloved’s light.

  “That idiot… He really came for me…”

  Chris skipped a beat, blushing.

  “I-I think I really love him…”

  He couldn’t believe he was admitting that.

  Despite everything, Chris isn’t someone who believes in love.

  He thinks it’s something that people use for venience.

  Maybe because he had beebroken a couple of times before, maybe…

  Or perhaps because of different reasons.

  “I won’t waste this opportunity you’ve given me… Paul.”

  He smiled, and the light ing from the crack became stronger, like a ray of golden and white light.

  -----

  Pach