Beryl flew through the skies following the route Lily gave him " That seems complicated " " Yep , it might be possible for them to find a way to get rid of the death apparitions , but there are some people back then that held the deaths and planned to use them to kill "
" I would love to send a team to acquire it , maybe I can absorb them " " Wait you actually wanna do it ? " " Why not ? Maybe I can get another death like you and you can be buddy buddy with them , or we can have them all killed and make a life so she can have a buddy "
" Yeah yeah , but don't you think its about time you take those goggles off ? it looks ugly on you " " I never thought you were one to complain about looks " Lily told Death " Well if you look like a child , you would naturally look good on anything but when you're growing it would be different "
Death said and Lily held the pendant staring at him ' I always wanted a father and Death sounds like one , probably a dad who dresses his daughter with all kinds of clothes but later becomes more selective ' ' He sounds more like a mother " Life said .
Lily takes out her goggles and focused on the seals on her eyes giving her bright green colour a cover of a drawn seal " Radiation levels are fine " " Arriving to destination " Lily waits for Beryl to halt at a nearby mountain and lower his head so she can leave .
" Alright make sure to stay safe Beryl " " Bye Papa " Beryl waved his hand before leaving " That should attract a crowd " Lily opens a door , moving to another hill and watched a big army marching towards the mountain .
" Care to give us a short introduction of this candidate ? " Lily walks towards the candidate's base with her cane's hiding capabilities " You'll like it , they're a bunch of body possessing beings . Possession helps them get a corporeal body , they're basically like souls or those death apparitions "
Death was intrigued by this candidate's nature " It's a kingdom ruled by them from the looks of it , these body-changing ghosts may have possessed the entire kingdom and taken control , I guess whoever banished them here had to use whatever the descenders had offered "
" So is this the reason you bought us ? " Life asked " Not the clone isn't necessary now since I'm destroying a candidate out of my violation . But at least I can prove that I won't need an alliance and maybe go up to search for those death apparitions "
" You know it's nothing compared to me right ? " " I know , but if these death apparitions gain a self like you , wouldn't that be good ? " Death thought about the possibility " That could be nice , I'll be like a senior to them "
" Yeah , you would " Lily said as she walked across the fields , which seemed strangely normal despite being near a strange settlement " So where is the lab you talked about ? " " I'm following wherever the chain goes , it looks like all of them are still alive "
" They have value or something ? " Death asked and Life answered " No , according to their memories , these apparitions keep some useful people unpossessed to use them as servants for menial tasks like keeping up with the building's quality and the like "
" Which means I have a lot of people who can be indebted to me , but I'll have to get some information , I've only seen a little information from the cameras "
Death was thinking about Lily's curiosity of the apparitions and became curious of why they refused to listen to whatever the lab had to offer , which Life answered .
' The lab is filled with data , only it has a few cloning devices which is what they are using to create perfect bodies to possess " ' What about the population ? " ' They're all scientist , most of the results made in there are sent to Valley's home "
' that should make everything much easier right ? ' Lily reaches a hut where she sees a young woman cradling her baby , she ignores her and continues her search for a much better target and watched a moving carriage without a horse .
The wheels had a gaseous and glowing substance which turns it ' Looks like a target is found , Death do you think you could cast that enchantment you used for the death apparitions inside the carriage ' the carriage stops and out came the food collector .
" Here is the amount " " Good " they loaded the food into a pouch and returned in the carriage . A light shines between the life and death pendant as the magic of the possessor started to let the wheel turn in the direction of the ruined kingdom .
" That was tough enchanting things that fast " Death said while Lily removes her disguise as the food collector " It really , so how is it going with the information Death ? " " It's amazing they have a full society with the obvious lowest rankings , which they call unpossessed "
" Amazing " Lily takes some fruits to eat " They have specialized magic that recognizes their soul " " Do they just call themselves possessors ? It sounds very anti-climatic " " Oh you don't have to worry about that , it's just an umbrella term actually , these possessors are categorized to different kinds "
" Tell me more " " Basic stuff like necromancy , living body possession , puppetry , using different catalyst like mirrors , shadows , dreams, etc. There's a lot of them , the most common thing they all have is that without a suitable body they can't interact beyond their domain and they're mostly soul based "
Lily looked at the body tossed over at the side " So can we just say I'm the new body ? " " You still have to talk like this guy even if you do " Death said grinning internally " Fine , I do have to avoid leaking information that I can disguise myself "
" I finished getting the info you want , it seems this guy has a lot of money embezzled , you'll have to avoid getting caught " Lily thought of the suppressor on her .
" That's true , as far as the descenders can tell , I have a strong will but not strong enough that I purify the lands I'm just someone with good connections , I'll have to keep this fact clear so I can move more freely "
Lily takes the identity of Edore , an apparition with knowledge of possessions and arrives at the gates ' Noble Edore , I should submit the harvest first , then I'll go to their home to figure out a plan with Death '
She walked into the receptionist in a building submitting the harvest and took some with her " Thank you for your service Noble possessor " ' Looks like they don't question my looks at all as long as I have Edore's soul '
Lily walks to the estate that Edore owns , which was near the walls that oversee Edore's land ' So , these are the activities they have , at least I can assume different identities , but the thing is I have to hide my identity '
She looked at the window and Death said " You know you can use your body as an afterlife space " " Oh you did mention this before , didn't you " Lily hears a knock on the door " Noble Edore I'm here for cleaning "
' Allow her to come in " Death said " You may enter " the maid was surprised to see that the noble Edore has a new body and she quickly goes inside , suppressing her fear while cleaning up the room around Lily without disturbing her .
' I should also wipe out the memories of the unpossessed ' ' Valley , she can hear your thoughts " Lily's neck snapped to the maid and the door locks with telekinesis . Death quickly seals the room permanently and lily forced her hand to cover the maid's mouth .
" Is she loyal to Edore ? " Lily asked and Death answered " Most unpossessed don't have that kind of loyalty " " She's one of the low quality unpossessed according to this banished settlement's standards "
Lily lets go of the maid " So she can read minds right ? " Lily asked , looking at the maid gasping for air " Yep you have to fortify your mind if you want to keep her from reading it " Lily looked at the maid .
' I could wipe out her memories with the debt chain , but I can't do that to every telepath I meet ' " I'm not Edore " Lily watched a chain form and later the maid leaves without any recollection of Lily's thoughts .
Life helps Lily hide her thoughts and used Edore's soul to create a layer of false thoughts " There now , anyone who tries to read your thoughts will only hear Edore's " Life said " That should help in disguising , but I also have to be consistent right ? "
" Or you could say you have been pretending all this time as Edore and when it leaked , you can just say "Ahh secret's out" and do whatever back up plan you got " Death said " That suggestion makes sense , I'll take it "
Lily reads Edore's memories following their lifestyle and eventually one day passes " I'll have to finish this thing quickly , I've only got a few days now until the team arrives " " Are you that in a hurry ? " " Yeah , I have to head back to prepare for a few days , so this isn't a vacation like last time "
Lily looked at Edore's schedule , finding a way to drill down this kingdom in her way " No way would I waste my time with the unpossessed , but I do have to wipe out all the possessed " " You could easily do that " Death mentioned .
" Remind me how ? " " So you do have an idea ? " " I do just waiting for your confirmation if it's the right solution . Life relays the information to Death " That could work , but you'll need to connect to all of them , you already managed to connect to a great soul like Beryl's the problem with this is the souls are spread out "
" I don't like to walk , around any solution to that ? " " You could use the city's infrastructure " Death said and elaborated " but how would that work ? " " There is a clever printing art which some eccentric business man invented which was used to print a lot with precision the clearer the thoughts the better "
" You want me to spill ink out ? " " Oh no , that kind of catalyst could be detected , cut yourself while taking a bath and let the blood run its course " Lily looked at the window " I could go for a hot bath right now "
Lily walked into the bath and proceeded to do exactly what Death needed her to do . Her blood streamed into the pipes with seals added to ensure that it spread without destroying the pipes that deliver water .
" So what do you think will happen ? " " A few might get out of the way but I'm sure you won't have a problem with that " Death said " You will have to selectively target the possessors " Life said " I know I can't let the unpossessed die . I might get hit by a surge of memories that way "
" Done " She leaves the bath , gets dressed and heads to the dining table ' Won't this take a while ? " ' It normally would , but if you were looking at the memories , you would notice that they have a reward system "
' Is that why you made me cast those sealing arts into my blood ? " ' Yep that specific art is very useful , it seals away your blood's ability to kill but not the ability to give life , which would mean that Edore's crops will receive a boost , you can just say that your new body was an outsider which has excellent body usage "
' Are you scheming something ? " ' I had an idea , okay " ' I'll let you have your fun then tell me what to do " she goes back to the office and looks writes a letter , before using Edore's soul to send it away .
" Are you planning to use that illegal debt chain technique ? " Death asked " Why not ? " " Because if you do you have to separate the chains , first chain you would receive links to be the one inflicting suffering onto them and the second is freeing them from the suffering . You have to destroy the first chain which means damage to the soul "
" You'll handle it right " Death wondered if Lily was going to overwork him " Actually there is technique to make sure you don't get the bad ones " " You should start with it next time " Lily said with a laugh .
" Sigh I really should've " a letter burns into existence beside Lily "Elaborate this body's ability and bring proof" Lily looked outside and picked an apple " Death can you use Edore's soul to make a door to this location ? " " Sure "
Life arrives at a building and walked to the receptionist " You there , where do I submit the verification of the bodies ability ? " " Over here " Lily smiled as Edore and presented her body's ability .
They recorded Lily's ability and filed it putting it at a very high priority list ' Okay now you should give them a bribe usually it's wrong but since your bodies ability scaled at the highest ranking according to the unpossessed body evaluation , they shouldn't care about it "
Lily handed the bribe , getting her priority up ' Then what ? " ' you wait the ruler of this kingdom is interested in getting more support from the descenders they had failed to possess bodies already , but the descenders had advanced technology like usual so they would want to develop as fast as possible moreover they already know that the selection of candidates is over and heard of the danger of the Labyrinth "
' But won't that take awhile ? " ' Usually but you paid a hefty bribe , this should show that to the ruler that Edore had found something worth using the money for , a lot of the possessors know each other because they've been in this world for a while and had gotten to know each other before they were banished " Death said .
' So I just have to return to Edore's office and wait ? " ' Yep " Lily looked forward to the result of Death's scheming and returns to the office and have lunch before hearing the servants " Noble Edore the king has come asking about your body's ability "
' Wow , Death you're good " ' It's your body that is " Life said and they went down to meet the ruler ' Hey won't it be hard for me to disguise my thoughts ? " ' Don't worry I took care of that already , I updated Edore's soul to make the right thoughts and this guy is such a bootlicker " Death said .
They went to a room and see the ruler Lily could make up a vivid reflection on the window revealing what kind of true form the possessor was " Hello your majesty " " I've heard the news , I'm amazed of your new body's capabilities "
' Now follow my lead " " You can have it if you like your majesty " Lily said with Edore's attitude " Offering it to me straight out already ? " " Of course your majesty , if it serves a good purpose to you , it will be more useful in your hands " Lily said .
" I'll take it " Death conceals Lily's soul and throws Edore's soul into an unpossessed controlling it to act just like Edore . The servant brings a mirror and the ruler put the bodies close together .
Lily gets up with a smile , feeling the Mirror possessor's soul inside her , screaming from the pain of her body " Day two and I already got the ranking of the king " " Shouldn't you take a pill by now ? " Life said " Oh that's right no wonder they're so loud "
Lily popped a pill into her body " With the speed of our ascension to the ranking of the ruler , it feels like one of those OP MC novels " " You could've easily done the same before , but you had a very complicated goal " Death said .
" That is true , you wanted to send out messages , make a deal with the Labyrinth , most time-consuming of all goals was a vacation you had with mother " Life said " But this time you were very straightforward in the goal , destroy the kingdom and make them pay "
" I'm still kinda disappointed though , I feel like some giant monster " the two silently chuckled while Lily looked outside " Now that I got the ruler what should I do next ? " " You could bind all of their debt chains to you "
" You mean just take it out of the ruler ? " " Why not it's extremely fast ? " Death said " You're flexible with your plan aren't you ? " Lily said " What choice do you think I have ? Work endlessly with the debt chains ? I ain't doing that "
" Then I'll head towards the castle , they should have some libraries that we can use to learn the past of this kingdom " Lily heads towards the castle with the ruler's soul disguising her as many saluted her .
Death was busy reading the ruler's soul while Lily walked through the streets ' It's so disappointing that the trip was this short , I didn't even get to learn about the possessor's society ' ' It wouldn't be good for your health Valley " Life said , hearing her thoughts .
' Why not ? " ' It's very cruel and doesn't have much value , the history is extremely dull only before the Possessor's was it actually interesting " ' I can get that from the libraries and read it on my own leisure time tell me about the possessors' first "
' According to Edore's memories , as soon as the Possessors took power , there was no longer any need to record their history , since all possessors essentially take any bodies to possess and live , so it's very biased towards Edore "
' Not complaining " ' It's nothing very important but there is a history of the possessors' before they came to power , it starts with their creation some came from the unpossessed and gain abilities to possess others like a ghost , others came from more natural sources like catalyst collecting souls overtime and became that or artificially created ones like the strings "
Lily listened to Life's history lesson of the possessors learning about their ability to exert power through their catalyst , the secret cults that worshipped them because of the possessed ability to enhance they're power and the death of a mad genius .
' maybe we should check on that mad genius first " Lily told Death ' Sure I'm checking it now " Death searched for the mad genius " Uh Valley I'll need to send us to somewhere more private " Death uses Edore's soul to bring them back to the office where he started to talk about the threat .
" So the mad genius is amazing , he's dangerously extremely curious " " So like Scyan then ? " " Yeah , like that guy , but with a lot of power , I don't think you can bind them " Lily thinks about Death's worry in his voice .
" So what's the problem ? " " The only reason the mad genius is staying is because they let the possessors do it , they don't care about the unpossessed since he's lived long enough and has no kinship or care towards them " Death said .
While Lily wondered what his worry was " What I'm saying is , even though you now rule the kingdom after taking its ruler's soul , you'll have to deal with this mad genius " " So you're saying this is going to be complicated ? because no matter what I do or have done , he'll be in the way ? "
" Yeah , they don't care about anything because nothing new is popping up , he isn't looking beyond the room , he stays voluntarily because of the new knowledge he is given , which is how the ruler has been keeping them in check "
Lily nodded , understanding the mind of the mad genius more " They get more material for him to spend his time on because of your lab , they got more and they've been spending a lot of the sponsorship to keep him in check "
They both looked at Lily and watched her make a greedy smile " So in other words , he's extremely useful right ? " " Yeah . but the cost of having him around is expensive and you have to deal with his curiosity "
" That much is necessary I have Scyan , who had collected a lot of data I'm sure he'll enjoy it " " But you should at least prepare for it first " " What do you mean ? " " You'll have to make sure that there is already some knowledge about your body "
Lily thinks about what Death means , understanding the idea " So that he doesn't turn me into a lab rat ? " " Ehh , you'll be fine , but it's that you will lose more if you face him rather than take a different approach , you'll have to sit this one out , give him information about your body "
" but that would take a while won't it ? " " Not really , he consumes knowledge much faster when there's more . So you would need printed copies and try not to get so close to the castle " " I guess the excuse is that the lord of the ruined is using the body's ability to develop it then "
" Yeah , I even have some excuses prepared , I just need to use Edore to get in . It should make the most sense , you just have to write a letter stating Edore's promotion , so that they can go in the castle and tend to Birch " Death said .
" That should be it right ? " Lily finishes the preparation for Edore's soul while Death brainwashed and updated Edore . Edore's body was placed on one side with their knee down and Lily stood at the window .
" I will take care of the mad genius Birch your majesty " " Good , I'll send some knowledge for you to bring to the mad genius , I will take care of this body " " Thank you for this opportunity " Edore leaves and Lily smiled .
" You're looking forward to getting the mad genius " Life said " Of course I am , if someone like them were to be by my side , I'll have boosted knowledge factor now and I have much better knowledge digestion that can be used "
" So you'll send the knowledge of you tomorrow ? " Death asked " Yeah that's going to be the case , since it takes a while for them to be able to get in " " It's a good thing this mad genius has yet to touch some fields of knowledge " Death said .
Lily looked at the window , thinking about the type of person Birch was " Are you comparing yourself with Birch ? " " Not really , he's just like Scyan but with power " " Do you know the story of all your residents ? "
Lily nodded " I thought you were a cold-blooded tyrant or something " " It's more like I can't be bothered to do something like that . There's more benefit to having subordinates like them than killing them , Heroes fight villains to keep society intact , but I keep them because they have use to me "
Life looks at Lily's thoughts as she continued to describe why she keeps the residents " Anyone who has no place in society is basically a thrown-out ax , so I keep them " " But you know what they're past is like ? "
" Yeah , that's how I even got to them in the first place , assassins , freelancers , criminals are very easy to take because society never cares . However sometime later , the darn government realized the problem of sending the worst criminals to my arsenal and stopped doing it "
" Would they keep sending you unwanted people when they know that you're going to make use of them even more ? " " Yeah that's why I have to pay a price everytime I need more residents "
" Why do you need more though ? " " A bigger sample size means more people are likely to be compatible with my special investment " Lily said and waited until she received data of her body and submitted it to the castle for Edore to give to Birch .
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