Gah!
The fainted figure of Dullip convulsed violently before regaining consciousness. Immediately, he got up and sat cross-legged, focusing on the Faith streaming into him. A few seconds later, blood began to drip out of his pores, painting a bloody figure.
The blood was just Iota's though and not a single drop of Dullip's oozed out. In a matter of seconds, all of Iota's injected blood had been ejected as Dullip made a complete recovery.
He stared at the wall, observing the pin-sized hole that had formed there, smiling as he recalled that he had successfully fired a syringe—Iota's ability. The syringe seemed to have disappeared though, just as he observed the syringes do when Iota first unleashed them.
'But it seems I cannot easily use them.' Dullip frowned, 'It felt like my internals were being ground into paste while that power circulated in me.'
It was half a success. He figured that by using the same method in which Iota temporarily gained the strength of others, he could make the reverse also possible. And it worked. 'Eventually, I'll figure out a method to make this process stable. That way, I can store a lot of power for later use.'
He patted Iota on the head, "Cough up another, will you?"
"You sure about that?" Iota stared calmly, "I can only make three of them per day."
"Why can't you make more?" Dullip asked.
"Who knows? Ask my body. It's exhausting to make three. I feel too tired after that to attempt making a fourth." Iota shrugged casually, as if he was unconcerned about the entire ordeal. He then stared at the bulge on his pant, asking, "Can you do something about this already? You're not getting the other two without that, you know."
"Sure," Dullip said as he took out a candle from his pocket and lighted it, causing a soothing scent to waft out.
As Iota inhaled it, his little brother calmed down. And over time, his pent-up desires subsided.
"Now, cough up." Dullip said as he took out another candle and lighted it, watching Iota's desires flare up once again, "The aphrodisiac I fed you is special in that until it's used up, it'll remain in your body. And these two candles serve as a trigger. One will calm you while the other will excite you."
"Basically, you won't be giving me a woman. I got it." Iota coughed out a second syringe, acting partly exhausted already as he seemed disinterested, "Fine, you got me good this time."
"I was expecting you to put your pimp nature to good use. Unfortunately, you're a big disappointment, Dullip."
"What did this bastard say?" Dullip felt blood rush to his head upon being called a pimp. He was a respectable individual that garnered a lot of awe everywhere he went. So to be associated with such a derogatory term pissed him off; he almost killed kill Iota out of impulse.
'No, he's my golden goose.' He eventually managed to calm himself and patted Iota on the cheek, "Come on, one more. Out with it. You can do it! Push! Push harder!"
"I'm not delivering a baby to need such encouragement. You only need to ask." Iota rolled his eyes and coughed out the last syringe, watching Dullip carry the two empty syringes and walk away.
Unfortunately for him, just as he was about to open the door, he stared incredulously at the two empty syringes vaporising, "What the heck?"
"Did you do something?" He glared at Iota.
"Don't you remember?" Iota let out a burst of disdainful laughter, "All my empty syringes vaporised after a few seconds had passed. You can't expect them to just remain as is and take them with you for a stroll."
"Seriously! You have a pair of eyes and a brain attached to them. Use it, okay?" Iota taunted.
"One of these days, I'll murder you." Grumbling as such, Dullip exited the cell and commanded the stationed subordinate, "Take care of him."
"Okay," Only Norda was there now. Yakone was resting upstairs. Dullip didn't wish to leak Iota's existence to others, and hence, he could only use the three subordinates that were involved in the whole Devil Summoning process.
With one of them blinded by Iota, only two subordinates were left. And hence, Dullip told them to take shifts, warning them to never remove Iota's bindings no matter the reason, "If someone were to intrude into our hideout, just kill him. He should never fall in the hands of anyone else."
"As you say, sir." Norda nodded in response, "Do you need me to prepare anything else for your next visit?"
"Just keep him fed and rested. I'll come around evening tomorrow." Finishing his piece, Dullip left. As a Spirit, he was a busy man.
Norda waited at the entrance, watching Dullip board a boat and leave. Soon after, he locked the entrance and rushed inside, hurriedly undoing Iota's bindings, "It took longer this time."
"I never expected sir to stay this long."
"It's fine. I learned many things from him." Iota smirked. The aphrodisiac indeed worked on him, making him frustrated. But, that didn't kill his braincells.
A normal guy would have coughed up everything just for a release, but Iota still had room for thought. Or rather, he acted like he gave in long before his actual tipping point. Otherwise, had Dullip been patient for a couple more hours, Iota would truly have been desperate and revealed everything he was hiding.
Thankfully, he had been throwing off Dullip's focus from the start with his crappy, over-the-top acting, making it seem like his actual character. That was why the latter failed to see through him.
After all, even though he became exhausted the more he used his powers, the limit wasn't three syringes. Heck, he had used dozens on Yohra and still had room to spare.
Moreover, by making the two empty syringes vaporise, Iota made it seem like an empty syringe could not exist for more than a few seconds, which was untrue.
But this way, if Dullip planned to accumulate the strength of others, whether a Priest, Shaman, or a normal person, he would have to do everything before Iota. And this allowed Iota to do nothing but still gain valuable experimental data.
Moreover, what he hadn't revealed was the fact that any of his syringes filled with blood could be retracted and turned into a tattoo on his body, without touching. It only needed a thought from him.
It might seem like he had become Dullip's golden goose.
But in reality, Dullip was a bird laying down eggs while he was a snake, waiting to gobble them up once there were enough eggs.