The panel made the usual hum of something vibrating.
*Vhoom..*
==========
[You have completed - Level 87 Quest Series: Mending A Shattered Demon]
+505 Experience, Next Quest Available.]
[Performance Rating: A+]
==========
[Level 87 Quest Series: Mending A Shattered Demon (II)]
(Optional) Objective 1: Help Iovoi complete the ritual.
(Optional) Objective 2: Stop Iovoi from completing the ritual.
Note: Only one objective can be followed. Once an objective is selected, there is no changing back. Choose wisely.
Objective 1 Failure Condition: If Iovoi fails to possess the new vessel.
Objective 2 Failure Condition: If Iovoi successfully possesses the new vessel.
Objective 1 Consequence For Failure: N/A
Objective 2 Consequence For Failure: Possible Death.
Rewards for objective 1: +600 Experience, Unlock the next quest.
Rewards for objective 2: +730 Experience, Unlock the next quest.]
==========
[EXP: 729/800]
==========
A bunch of panels bombarded Owen with notifications.
The quest series has been updated and now, he has to choose whether he should help Iovoi or ruin Iovoi's chances of fully recovering.
Of course, Owen picked the one with more EXP as a reward. He had no plans of helping a demon who he can take advantage of.
Although technically, helping Iovoi would lead to a longer quest series, he wasn't willing to let such a threat go and kill random people. In another world he may be, his morals stay the same way.
Most of the time, that is…
Killing the bandits back then was very necessary is what Owen told himself.
But if the ritual fails, Owen can get a chance to kill Iovoi and gain a lot of EXP from them.
Or him, since Iovoi was originally male…
The appearance of the split personality of a young maiden might be his feminine side if one were to think deeply about it.
Pushing away irrelevant thoughts, when Owen saw that he leveled up, he made sure to put 4 points on strength and a single point on defense. He knew that the upcoming quest would surely be a boss battle.
Owen was familiar with quests like these. There was no need to question his decision-making process.
And the best part? He already had a plan.
The only thing that he needs to do is enact it.
Without any awkward steps, Owen approached Iovoi.
He asked Iovoi while the old man came to terms with occupying a female vessel. The poor old man really is patient, but that patience is running real thin.
"Is the necessary materials for the ritual ready?"
The young maiden's voice spoke enthusiastically, "Yes, this human prepared them a long time ago under our commands."
Owen narrowed his eyes at Luram.
"What other purpose does he serve to be here? And are you sure that he wouldn't do anything that would ruin the ritual?"
Iovoi could sense the thick scent of dislike from Owen's voice. The change of tone was very believable.
When Luram heard Owen's words, he tensed up, feeling the close scrutiny of a 'demon' seeing through him completely.
The young maiden responded after a second of thought, "We used a controllable death curse on this human that would kill him if he ever decides to betray us. As for your other question, he is here to assist us during the ritual to ensure that nothing goes wrong."
"A death curse? Of what level?" Owen was skimming through his memories to see if he already knew of it.
The young maiden did not answer right away, "Erm– it is not of the highest standards, yes, but surely it can suffice? Our arsenal of runes may be low, but I can at least attest to my ability to prevent mishaps."
Owen raised an eyebrow. 'Hold on a second, runes? The curse is a rune?'
Owen took note of this specific detail.
"Are his skills useful for any reason whatsoever?" Owen's body language clearly expressed his distaste for Luram.
"Not particularly… At least not anymore." Said the young maiden after thinking about it. "Why?"
"Then please restrain him immediately." Owen gestured towards Luram.
Luram was completely taken aback, he did everything that the demons told him to do, so why was there a need to restrain him?
The old man spoke up, "Is that necessary? He can still be useful in some way."
Owen shook his head, "No, during the ritual, your soul energy is weakened and it means that you are defenseless during that period. Although he cannot betray you directly, he can still do it indirectly…"
"After all, if you are weakened, a controllable death curse isn't as foolproof as an enslavement contract. I just think that any unstable factors shouldn't be in your premise." Owen's reasoning was sound.
The old man inwardly stared at the young maiden who was currently weighing her decisions. "Any thoughts?"
"I believe that… Our friend Ivorius delivered valid points." The young woman was partially convinced.
But in Luram's ears, he was hearing his death sentence.
Luram didn't stay there anymore. Knowing that he would be killed if he stayed, he ran away immediately.
"Hel-!" Luram could only shout this much before falling down.
The poor fool forgot that the curse will be activated by Iovoi the moment he does something undesirable like betrayal.
Iovoi retracted his outstretched hand before putting it on his back.
The old man spoke as composed as ever and said, "I suppose what you said makes sense. Ivorius, you are truly a wise man."
Owen remained silent for a second until he forced out a smile.
"I don't deserve the compliment." Owen presented a delighted demeanor.
"No need to be humble, your presence reassures me." The old man chuckled.
Owen chuckled back as if Luram's death was inconsequential.
Even if he did not look like it, inwardly, Owen felt a bit of guilt because he was indirectly the cause of Luram's death.
He was only trying to restrain the man, not kill him.
'F*ck… I should have accounted for him running away in fear.'
Owen unknowingly tightened his jaw.
'I'm so stupid, I'm so damn stupid…'
Unaware of Owen's inner turmoil, the old man spoke up.
"Ivorius? Why the sudden pause?
"Hmm?" Owen looked over to Iovoi. "There was a slight problem on my end, we can resume." He said, acting nonchalantly.
The old man replied with a friendly tone, "Of course."
Owen walked over to the wagon and saw that there was a compartment in the wagon where various materials were placed in jars, neatly arranged in a line.
One jar was filled with dead centipedes, another with charcoal dust, there's even a jar with iron nails, a jar filled with liquid mercury, a jar filled with broken glass shards, one with wooden shavings, and the final jar was considerably larger than the rest. It was filled with sheep's blood.
"What should I do with these?" Owen asked the old man.
The young maiden was about to respond to him, but the old man shoved her away and said, "Pour the blood sparingly in a circle large enough to fit the woman inside. Do not finish it all in the first step."
"Next, pour the remaining blood in a cross inside the circle. In each end of the lines touching the circle, scatter the dead centipedes, charcoal, iron nails and wood shavings in four separate piles."
"After this, place the jar with glass shards in the middle and surround it with mercury. But before this step, the necessary symbols have to be drawn. But then again, that step is easy enough for me to do." The old man said without explaining the use for each ingredient.
Owen nodded. "I wasn't expecting it to be that simple."
"Although the preparations may seem easy, the procurement of materials is difficult… All of them, despite looking normal, are all imbued with energy from blank souls of a dozen humans." The old man's voice spoke out.
He added, "Truly, if they were ordinary, this ritual might as well be a playful activity."
"I… understand." Owen nodded with a deep gaze upon hearing about it.
He understood the implications very well.
Ordinary humans, or mortals in fact, all have souls.
Upon death, the soul containing the will and the mind dissipates and leaves behind a blank soul.
In other words, an acter.
Sweeping off unnecessary thoughts, Owen roughly imagined the length of the woman while lying down. He then walked to the wagon and took the jar of sheep's blood.
The woman looked at him with apprehension. She didn't let her sight leave him as Owen took the different jars one by one.
When Owen left to prepare the ritual, the woman still had her eyes glued on either him or Iovoi.
Owen poured the sheep's blood into the cold brown soil. He couldn't draw a perfect circle, but it roughly resembled one. He then used it to draw a long cross of equal length in the middle.
As Owen worked on the ritual, Iovoi watched the entire preparations. He looked at Owen placing each jar into their designated spots with various thoughts in his mind.
"Ah, wonderful.. Friend, please step back now, it is my part to inscribe the necessary symbols for the ritual to work." Iovoi stepped forward and called for Owen to move out of the way.
"All yours." Owen placed the empty jars just a few centimeters away from the blood circle and stepped back.
Iovoi arrived at the center of the blood circle. Reaching out both his middle and index finger imbued with his soul energy. A yellow colored light glowed from his fingers and dropped down, touching the blood and began to move under Iovoi's control to write the symbols with unknown meaning.
As Iovoi wrote, the young maiden whispered to the old man.
"Do you think Ivorius is trustworthy?"
The old man spared her a glance before going back to writing symbols.
"Since he knew who we were and our connection to Baron Praest, it is very possible that he has deep foundations within the Demon Gorge. Since we have indeed been absent for an extended period, it could only suggest a certain meaning given the fact that he easily recognized me." The old man stated what he thought about Owen.
"That is a reasonable way to think about it… I do not doubt that he is a demon. But why do you think he is helping us?" The young maiden still had lingering doubts in her mind.
"To establish connections with Baron Praest? What else?" The old man wasn't as cunning as her. He couldn't think of any ulterior motive at the moment.
The young maiden thought differently. "My intuition tells me that it isn't that simple… What if Ivorius wants to kill us?"
"If that was his objective, why did he stay behind to help? Would it not be a better plan to strike while we are still separated? In that way, our abilities are incomplete and we are more vulnerable this way." The old man spoke, completely without the skepticism that she felt.
"You saw earlier, this vessel of his is pathetically weak. What if his plan is to wait until the ritual weakens us in the Soul Consolidation Amulet, after that he will grab the opportunity to absorb us and go on to deal with his original mission here and be on his merry way?" The young woman's voice grew heavy as she envisioned the consequences of this risk if left unchecked.
The old man froze.
From an outside point of view, it could be seen that Iovoi stopped manipulating the soul energy streaming out his fingers for a good two seconds before continuing.
Partly convinced, the old man said, "That is a good point… It is not bad to prepare failsafes for our own– safety. Yes, that seems appropriate."
"So, what should we do?" The young maiden didn't have many ideas to ensure their survival so she turned to the old man.
The old man squinted his eyes.
"I will think abou–"
"Iovoi?"
Owen's voice abruptly cut out his thoughts.
"Hm–?" The old man willed for the body to turn around.
Seeing Iovoi looking at him, Owen acted reluctant to part with the sentence that he wanted to word out.
"Ah, now I feel stuck on what to say.. Hold on for a moment.." Owen awkwardly shifted in his spot.
"You can speak your mind, should I keep you from communicating, what little dignity would I hold?" The old man did not make the situation hard for him.
Owen seemed to have taken in some relief from what he said.
"If it's fine then… Since I want to establish cooperation between my master and Baron Praest, I figured that my presence might be alarming." Owen smiled brightly as opposed to the suggested meaning behind his words.
Iovoi's body shivered.
The young maiden took over the body and narrowed her eyes slightly. "You are willing to be so considerate?"
Like snatching away the microphone, the young maiden was able to take priority over speech.
"Naturally, I want to convey the clear message that I am not here to harm nor provoke you.. In fact, it is fine if you keep defensive measures against me." Owen opened his arms as a gesture, signifying his willingness to avoid a misunderstanding.
"Along the likes of what? A protective dome?" The young maiden wondered aloud.
"Yes, that is a wonderful idea.. Actually, I will even allow you to carve a controllable rune on my vessel's body that will destroy its soul core, preventing my connection to be stable and therefore, barring any means that I hold to interrupt if I show actions that are against your objectives." Owen seemed absolutely open to the idea.
The young maiden widened her eyes slightly in concealed delight and outward amusement.
In her point of view, it does make sense.
What will Ivorius lose if this puppet died? He could just make another, so offering it as a token for their trust is a rather kind gesture.
Tauntingly, the old man asked her, 'I assumed you doubted Ivorius earlier, didn't you? Why the sudden change?'
The young maiden did not like the taste of belittlement. 'My initial thoughts were that he managed to trick you. However, might I say… This Ivorius not only knows us, he also ascertained that we were doubting him earlier.'
'Whatever do you mean by that?' The old man was confused where she was coming from.
'Ergh' The young maiden explained with a heavy dissonance of wanting to do so out of necessity, 'If you were more sensitive to crucial points, the most likely reason why he offered his puppet is because he knew that we had an inkling of a doubt aimed towards him.'
'So he managed to read our thoughts just from us keeping silent?' The old man held Owen's cunning wit in a new light.
'Exactly.. Maybe I have overreacted a bit, but given his sincerity, we should at least honor it.' The young maiden did not have much of a defensive stance against Owen now.
Iovoi's conversation with well…. themselves, took only a few seconds.
"Since it is you who said so, I shall not stand on ceremony then." Iovoi, carrying the bearing of a graceful mannered maiden, reached out her hand to Owen.
"May I?" Iovoi's beautiful silver eyes shone through her metal mask.
"Of course." Said Owen.
'Why does it feel like a marriage proposal?' He thought to himself.
But then, that was still a weird thought.
'Wait– why am I even thinking that?'
Ignoring his intrusive thoughts, Owen gave his right hand to Iovoi.
Iovoi gently pulled the back of his hand towards her right before stretching out her left index finger to draw a precise rune using small symbols and parameters.
Her slender fingers under the white glove created small movements, inscribing the Effari letters on Owen's hand.
If one were to describe the feeling, it was akin to being gently tickled playfully by a person that you have a romantic relationship with. Not that Owen had one before.
It wasn't painful at all, maybe because Iovoi wanted to remain on good terms with him.
Iovoi let go of his hand and spoke, the young maiden's voice apparent. "There, it is done now.."
Owen inspected the rune on the back of his hand.
It looked like a cluster of micro printed letters on his skin that when pressed against each other formed a map of a convoluted maze with three points of the rune being heavily populated by symbols.
"I see. I shall not disturb you any further." Owen nodded his head once and stepped back several meters away.
Iovii was very pleased to see that Owen was this cooperative and quiet.
The two of them went back to discuss with themselves while finishing the writings on the blood circle.
'Ivorius has the best manners that I have been witness to. That human servant of ours was much more incompetent in my opinion.' Said the young maiden.
'So your fears have been alleviated?'
'Naturally so~! In fact, once we return, I would like to offer Ivorius a favor for helping us out.'
The old man sighed, abandoning his disgruntled appearance, he now looked solemn as he spoke,
'Just remember, the concept of 'us' will no longer remain once we merge into one.'
The young maiden nodded understandingly. 'It is inevitable, but I will not lie that I enjoyed being an individual of my own. And as much as I dislike the notion, 'Iovoi' is only true when the two of us are one.'
The old man turned, a hint of surprise and pride for her in his eyes. 'I did not expect to hear such words from you.'
The young maiden crossed her arms and turned her back away. 'Tch, even if I seem to scold you a lot, it is in its core, a form of self reflection.'
Knowing her antics by now, the old man merely laughed. 'Haha… I believe I will look back into these days once we have reformed.'
Slowly, Iovoi finished writing all the symbols.
He retracted his soul energy, gave Owen a look then said, "It is now done. We will now enter this amulet through our souls. Place it inside the jar of broken glass and put the jar in the middle of the circle. And once you do, quickly pour out a small circle of mercury around the jar to prevent our aura from leaking while we merge our souls together."
Now that Iovoi mentioned it, the amulet in their neck was quite unassuming at first glance.
But looking at it further, Owen was unnerved.
He recognized the amulet. Not the amulet exactly, but the design of it.
As opposed to the jagged and corrupted appearances of demonic items as popularized by fantasy media on Earth, the amulet that he was seeing here was rounder in shape and had smooth ridges. It was silvery pink in color and the three diamond shaped gems were dark purple.
"Will do." Owen gave them a simple nod.
Seeing Owen's confirmation, Iovoi knelt down on the ground with both knees.
Iovoi's body began to twitch as cold air began to circle around them and Owen. The branches rustled noisily as the strong winds pushed them against each other.
The two halves of Iovoi's soul escaped from the body as two masses of black mist escaped from the body's chest. These thick plumes of black mist began to take shape resembling an old man and an alluring young maiden.
They circled around the body before quickly entering the silver amulet on their neck. After a few seconds, the dark purple crystals darkened even further.
Changing the material of one object to another is a feat of alchemy. But following similar principles, the crystals morphed into something else. Somewhat like pieces of gray stone.
The crystals began clattering against the silvery pink metal, the surrounding temperature slowly but continuously dropped as gusts of cold wind filled the forest.
Four seconds later, the atmosphere regained its calmness. The amulet seemed to have quietened down as well.
"Ivorius, you may now place the amulet inside the jar." The overlapping voices of the two spoke out loud from the amulet.
Owen walked towards Iovoi's original body that was now an empty shell. He took the amulet from its neck and checked out the details of the item.
==========
[Level-76, Demonic Soul Consolidation Amulet (Master) - A tool specifically designed to stabilize damaged souls of demons. Recuperating the soul by using external soul energy to fix many underlying issues. Though the method is crude, it acts as a remedy.
[Currently Occupied By: Level 43, Iovoi (Split Personality) & Level 44, Iovoi (Main Personality)]
Note: The soul inside can be consumed. It is through the user's choice if they wish to consume it all at once, or through small portions. The soul inside the amulet can still regenerate.
Charges: 4/4 - Effect (Demonic Soul)
Additional Effects: (Active) If character is a dark type class, +30% Soul Energy Regeneration. If not, -40% Soul Energy Regeneration, -10% Fortitude.
Note: Additional Effects will only be active whenever the equipment is fully charged.
Durability: 1,594/2,500]
==========
'Well I'm certainly not going to wear this any time soon.' Owen knew that the additional effects did not affect him in reverse like debuffs. Only special effects did.
And since the additional effects were negative, they will stay negative even for him.
However, he was more interested in the item itself.
From what he knew from his experience playing Garden of the Gods, this amulet was practically an infinite source of the [Demonic Soul] effect. If he consumed one charge from the amulet and let it regenerate for a few days or so, he could use it again if he was in a dangerous situation.
In the original game, this was very hard to get because to get the status effect, one must have access to demonic locations filled with dangerous mobs and terrain.
The fact that he was holding one that could give him unlimited amounts of said status effect so early on was exciting.
He knew how valuable this was not only to dark type classes, but for current self as well.
He involuntarily smiled.
"…"
The two souls in the amulet can still see outside though.
The moment Owen showed his smile, they saw it.
"Curse it all! I knew Ivorius had other plans in mind!" The young maiden began lashing out in anger when she saw the change in Owen's expression.
"Calm down, I will try speaking to him. Do not assume things so quickly.." The old man wasn't sure why Owen wasn't following the instructions he gave.
His energy seeped out of the amulet, letting his voice reach Owen's ears.
"Ivorius, can you place the amulet inside the jar to complete the ritual?" The old man was trying to see if Owen truly intended to betray them.
This was the last chance Owen had to maintain their trust.
Owen laughed, completely disregarding him. "What about no?"
The old man's expression darkened. "What is this about?"
Dropping the pretentious act, Owen replied.
"Oh, nothing… I just realized that this amulet is more precious than I previously thought." He didn't bother explaining his side.
The young maiden couldn't take it anymore. She screamed at Owen, the amulet vibrating from her loud voice, "Ivorius! You have made a big mistake! Say goodbye to this vessel of yours!"
She then activated the rune on his hand, powering it up to a hundred percent.
However, the unexpected happened.
Owen's grin did not leave his face.
"W- What?" The young maiden was stupefied.
==========
[Iovoi (Level 87) - has activated the Level 59, 'Isatref Uminionate Soul Crushing Rune' on your body]
[Special Condition: Effects can be modified remotely at any time.]
[Effects: -100.00% Soul Core Stability]
Note: Because of your class ability, all rune effects will be inverted.
[Effects: +100.00% Soul Core Stability]
Duration: 49 Days, 3 Hours, 54 Minutes, 9 Seconds.
==========
"If you think that I would intentionally take measures that could kill me, you are looking down on me too much." Owen shook his head.
The old man acted quickly and shot out a ball of black mist from the amulet. Within the mist was a collection of glowing white Effari symbols that flickered brightly for a split second.
Owen saw this and immediately consumed three charges of the amulet while moving out of the mist's direction.
Clenching his fist tightly against the amulet, Owen growled,
"Consume.."
Not knowing what Owen was trying to do, the two split personalities of Iovoi tried escaping the amulet before they suddenly felt a great wave of weakness washing over their souls.
Because 75% of their soul was consumed in one go, their presence dimmed quite significantly.
Inside the amulet's silvery pink enclosure, an incorporeal wave of black mist left the two halves of Iovoi's soul. Forcefully pulled off their bodies composed of the mass of mist.
This thin veil of black mist entered Owen's body by converging in the middle of his sternum, or more specifically, his soul core.
"What's…. happening to me….?" The young maiden became dizzy and heavily disoriented. Her soul fell down on the silver room that was the amulet.
The old man gritted his non-existent teeth and gathered all his strength, "We have to… get out! He's consuming our souls!"
He looked up, the dark crystalline dome above them was the exit to leave the amulet.
It was more difficult to escape the consolidating effects of the amulet than it is to enter it. But given that they had no other option, the old man knew that they had to leave.
Gathering all the soul energy that he had, the old man turned into a shapeless mass of black smoke and flew towards the dark crystal dome.
However, as he was about to leave, he hit something unexpectedly hard.
The old man bounced back inside the amulet, dumbstruck.
When he looked up, he couldn't see Owen or the forest's scene any longer. Instead, there was a strange barrier in place of it all.
The barrier was made of blue, glowing hexagons that didn't exude any kind of presence.
It was like a honeycomb of turquoise walls and sturdy light blue linings. It looked holographic, somewhat digital and yet, also mystical at the same time.
When the old man's black misty body struck this ghostly blue barrier, he did not think much of it.
With a cold snort, he casted several thorns of black smoke out of his body and tried to destroy this barrier.
The black thorns adjusted their aim and began shooting out against the wall.
Upon impact, the thorns merely slid off as if being reflected, causing zero damage to the blue barrier.
The old man's mind eventually regained its clarity. He was truly clueless as to how to respond to this development.
"What is this…??" He muttered at the incredulous nature of the barrier.
==========
---Inventory---
[Woodcutting Hatchet]
[Black Scarf]
[Bandit's Map]
[Simple Knife]
[Plunderer's Iron Sword]
[Iron Battle Hatchet]
[Nulmiap Water Jug]
[Nulmiap Water Jug]
[Nulmiap Water Jug]
[Nulmiap Water Jug]
[Nulmiap Fruit] (39x)
[Nulmiap Fruit] (39x)
[Demon Soul Consolidation Amulet]
==========
After stuffing the amulet in his inventory, Owen didn't even close the panel.. actually, he couldn't at the moment.
When the black demonic soul entered his body, he received a debuff of the third level from it.
==========
(Effect) "Iovoi" Demonic Soul-3
(1) -25% Soul Vigor, -36% Soul Energy Regeneration, +40% Soul Energy Consumption, -70% Learning, -43% Soul Defense, -36% Magic Damage, -20 Soul Energy, -10% Acid Resistance.
(2) Character will attract nearby demons with 435 Detection.
Duration: 20 Minutes.
(Class Ability Activated)
(1) +25% Soul Vigor, +36% Soul Energy Regeneration, -40% Soul Energy Consumption, +70% Learning, +43% Soul Defense, +36% Magic Damage, +20 Soul Energy, +10% Acid Resistance.
(2) Character will remain uninteresting to nearby demons with 435 Detection.
==========
[You have completed - Level 87 Quest Series: Mending A Shattered Demon (II)]
+730 Experience, Next Quest Available.]
[Performance Rating: S]
==========
[EXP: 800/800]
[You have leveled up!]
[Level 3 > 4]
==========
[EXP: 659/1,600]
==========
Owen did not celebrate just yet.
The unrelenting weight of weakness assaulted Owen's soul, making his mind slightly dissociated with its link to his body.
A weak soul is a weak mind, a weak mind is an incapable body, and an incapable body results in a weak soul.
"Ngh…."
Owen was forced to kneel down on the ground. However, the ball of mist that the old man shot out from the amulet was still there.
Earlier, when he dodged the spell from the amulet, Owen quickly absorbed three charges of the amulet and hid it inside his inventory.
Although he was aware of the fact that he would receive a three second period where he can still be affected by the debuff of the [Demonic Soul], he still absorbed three charges because he was familiar with the Effari symbols that the sphere of black mist contained.
Meaning, the battle wasn't over.
The black ball of mist turned around like a boomerang and shot towards Owen once again.
His body was still desynchronized with his mind because of his soul being restrained by the debuff, but Owen gritted his teeth and rolled away from it regardless.
This simple action was taxing on his already shaky mental state.
Because he dodged out of the way, the black orb flew unhindered towards Iovoi's body.
Owen regretfully looked at the orb but in the end, sighed as he knew that he couldn't have received it using his body because of how squishy he was against mind attacks.
The ball of black mist was special.
When it was only a few centimeters in front of Iovoi, the runes in the mist gleamed wildly before phasing through Iovoi's silver mask, the black smoke entering through the body's nostrils, eyes, ears and mouth.
Like lighting up a fuse, Iovoi was jolted awake.
The body jerked its head back like being in a whiplash of sorts. Then, the eyes opened, Iovoi's pale red irises reflecting confusion, recognition and then hatred.
This wasn't Iovoi though.. at least, not entirely.
The body of the demon slowly stood up with its back bending and head lowered while it moved in a sequence of sudden movements akin to a rusty marionette rising up to try and stand.
After getting on its feet, Iovoi, or whatever it was in the body, corrected its posture and looked at Owen, still on the ground.
It spoke in a choppy and strained voice, "Iv- ori- us…. Why? W- hy did you- betray us…?"
Owen glanced at the panel that showed its information.
==========
[Mental Recollection (Iovoi) - Level 87]
[Affiliation - Demon Baron Praest]
[Skills - Unavailable] (You do not have the necessary detection skill/s to view the following information.)
==========
Owen slowly stood up under the demon's watchful gaze.
What the orb did just now, was a common spell used by demons in the game to deal with getting their souls stunned or incapacitated. Lorewise, it's a rudimentary move similar to a basic punch in a martial art of sorts.. more specifically, a spell that generally all demons learned to keep their minds active despite the soul damage that they have sustained.
It can be harmful for others to receive because it forcefully implants thoughts of the caster into the body of what is struck by it.
That is why Owen avoided the smoke.
It is considered as a mental damage type spell when received directly but the main purpose that it has was that of a recovery spell.
Answering the demon, Owen said, "Nothing personal… you doused me in acid, remember?"
Whatever remained of the demon's mind appeared confused, it pointed at Owen with a shaky finger, "Did- you…. not want- to estab- lish…. a rela- tionship…?"
Owen did not elaborate. ".... I lied."
Iovoi pulled its arm back and nodded its head. "I understand…. I- under- stand…."
Then, the demon glared straight at him, his blood red eyes strangling him in a fixated form of hatred.
"Then there is- nothing…. to speak about- any- more…"
Iovoi reached into his white cloak, then pulled out a red knife similar to a karambit. The karambit's handle was meant to work as brass knuckles.
With a masterful flick of the knife, a red crescent arc of lustrous blood was flung out of it and flew towards Owen's head.