Tatakau Shisho

Volume 9, Chapter 5: The Violet Girl and Dear Ruruta – Part?1

Acting Director Makia Dexiart conducted a thorough investigation about Ruruta. However, even he didn’t know of the connection between Ruruta and Nieniu. Everything about her had been concealed by the King of Meliot Vooekisal and known only by him and a few elite warriors.

Although records about Nieniu were extremely rare, Makia managed to find whatever scarce records there were. He also knew that Vooekisal had hidden something about Ruruta. However, he couldn’t link between the two.

If Makia had known about the connection between Ruruta and Nieniu, about what happened to her after the battle with the Beasts of the Final Chapter, perhaps his story would have gone in a different direction.

Three years passed after Makia drank with Ruruta and resigned as an Acting Director. It was quite the early retirement. The official reason was him having sufficiently trained the next generation.

His disappearance and seclusion afterward was not much of a topic. This only meant that everyone had already expected this of him – just as he planned.

He genuinely began to work towards killing Ruruta. He never told either the next Director or Kachua about his episode with Ruruta. Since if he made a mistake the world might be destroyed he couldn’t let this secret leak out so carelessly.

Makia thought.

A human can’t kill Ruruta. He’s already at the strongest position humans can reach. No matter the power, the numbers, the plan, he can never be killed.

Then how could one kill something like that? It’s simple.

It has to be non-human.

There was large building in the desert of southern Ismo Republic. However, what showed up on the surface was only one part of it. For people who didn’t know of it, it would appear as an old shack.

Going down the hidden stairs in that shack there was a vast research facility. They dug in the desert, used cement and bricks and arranged blue pyroxene as replacement for illumination and cooling. Including Makia, about fifty researchers lived there while concealing their every breath. The interior illuminated by the cold blue pyroxene was much like Bantorra Library’s Sealed Labyrinth.

The facility was built by Makia.

Building and maintaining such a facility in the heart of the desert required a vast amount of fortune. Even if he poured all of his income as a Director into that it would probably cover only about 50% of all expenses. When he was in the Director’s seat Makia gathered information on politics and economics, allowing him to secretly invest and sell stocks and trades based on that.

His methods of collecting funds all bordered on being criminal or actually were criminal. However, these were but the lightest crimes he had committed.

That facility was raising up two girls. An entire facility and over fifty researchers were required for the upbringing of two girls.

Raising these girls was Makia’s biggest sin.

“How’s Hammy doing?”

Chacoly Cocot was walking in a corridor of the facility. She was a small girl around ten years old with a round face. She had no particular features except for one point: she had violet hair. Only one of her forelocks was colored as white as snow.

Behind Chacoly was a man holding a steel club. Blood and tufts of black hair stuck to the weapon. It was used to hit a person just now.

The man was a former Armed Librarian. Makia pulled him out of the organization, counting on his tight-lippedness. He was entrusted with looking after and monitoring Hamyuts.

“She’s gravely injured so I think she’ll be quiet…”

“No way. If you only hit Hammy she wouldn’t even feel anything. I wish you’d understand her a bit more.”

The former Armed Librarian used weapons for Hamyuts’s upbringing. With just this one could imagine what his methods of raising the girl were. Yet neither Chacoly nor the caretaker felt any guilt for that.

Chacoly came in front of Hamyuts’s room. The thick iron door was like a prison itself. It had a giant lock that could never be opened from the inside.

“Chacoly’s coming in, Hammy.”

Chacoly opened the iron door. The inside was dark. The moment she opened the door, something flew with horrifying momentum, trying to stab into Chacoly’s brow. However, before that happened the man behind Chacoly protected her.

The thing thrown was a piece of pencil. It dug into the man’s arm.

“What an amazing power. You can already be not even a trainee but a full-fledged Armed Librarian, can’t you?”

Chacoly said calmly.

“Beat it.”

A voice responded from the darkness.

“Stop that already. No matter how much you rampage nothing will change after all.”

“Beat it, you tool.”

Chacoly smile wryly. Hamyuts would call Chacoly a tool when she wanted to insult her.

It was an insult right at the target, because Chacoly actually was a tool. Chacoly had been created by Makia only in order to defeat Ruruta. A tool that was born from a human, possessed bones and flesh and acted exactly like a human, but a tool.

But that was the same for Hamyuts. Both Chacoly and Hamyuts were tools created in different ways but for the same goal.

Chacoly turned on the lights. She could see a girl covered in blood, shackled by thick chains.

“Really, everyone is so annoying. The research facility is about to be closed anyway, so how long will you stay incomplete?”

“I’m telling you to beat it.”

Hamyuts exerted power to her arm. The fatigued chains started creaking. She picked up a piece of chain and raised her arm. Without receiving anyone’s guidance, nor undergoing an official Magic Deliberation even once, she was able to obtain tremendous fighting strength. She used a Magic that allowed her to throw objects with overwhelming power.

She didn’t swing down her arm. Chacoly activated her own Magic Right before that. It was the power she was born with, symbolized by her violet hair.

“…I told you to stop. No matter how much you rampage, Chacoly’s here.”

Hamyuts stopped in place, not moving her arm. Her attack was sealed. Chacoly was above Hamyuts in everything. Both in her performance as a tool, her degree of completeness, and she was even above Hamyuts in battle prowess at that point in time.

“…Shit!”

Hamyuts quit attacking. At the same time Chacoly also absolved her power.

“Oh well, you’re still Hammy. To be honest, Chacoly is happy you’re not completed yet.”

Chacoly smiled.

“Chacoly won’t give Ruruta to Hammy. He belongs to her after all. Chacoly will definitely, definitely turn him into hers.”

Hamyuts tried moving again. However, Chacoly restrained her by using only a bit of her ability.

“Chacoly will take Ruruta. She won’t give him to Hammy.”

The fact that Hamyuts couldn’t move wasn’t due to any physical power holding her down. More fundamentally she was being controlled by Chacoly. Hamyuts’s will to move itself was being held down and sealed.

Chacoly’s ability was known as Soul Sharing. The one to name it had been Makia. This girl, discovered by Makia, was the only user of that ability throughout both the Age of Paradise and the Age of Humanity, the only one in history.

Applied to the Magical system, it could be said to be a superior version of Thought Sharing. Thought Sharing could only send one’s thoughts to other people, but Soul Sharing could transmit emotions themselves. The people receiving Chacoly’s feelings would end up harboring the same feelings as her.

Speaking frankly, it could be said to be a power to connect people’s hearts. However, this ability wasn’t so gentle as to make hearts communicate. It changed other’s minds. It made other people experience the same as what Chacoly felt.

Just now Chacoly sent the feeling “If Hamyuts rampaged Chacoly would be troubled” to her. And it trampled Hamyuts’s will of “I want to attack Chacoly”.

At the end of the effort done by the researchers gathered by Makia, as well as Chacoly’s diligent study herself she polished her powers to their extreme limits. She was already able to invade, conquer and freely manipulate other people’s minds.

“I dealt with Hammy, daddy.”

Chacoly talked to the old man living in the shack above ground.

“…Sorry.”

The old man responded weakly. He was once Bantorra Library’s Acting Director, Makia Dexiart. He carried himself as a dandy guy when he was young, but there was no trace of that now that he was old. He was simply an old, worn-out man.

“I did something… unforgivable to Hammy. And to you as well, Chacoly.”

“That again? Chacoly’s tired of hearing about it.”

Chacoly’s shoulders slumped. Makia was trapped by the consciousness of his own sins. He had taken the best path in order to defeat Ruruta. However, taking that path required him to step into a domain no human could be allowed.

“More importantly daddy, let’s talk about Ruruta.”

She had no interest in the sins made toward her and Hamyuts. In the first place she even had no interest in her raising father Makia. She didn’t mind whether he lived or died. Chacoly was interested in Ruruta alone.

“How does he look?”

“…He looks like a boy of about fifteen. His face is somewhat oval and he has neat facial features…”

Makia told her that for the umpteenth time. However, the more she heard about Ruruta the more her face lightened up with ecstasy. Ruruta’s appearance, his voice, his words, his life, the enemies he’s defeated… Her heart fluttered hearing anything as long as it was about Ruruta.

Chacoly loved Ruruta. She was convinced there wasn’t any love as pure and as passionate as hers in the entire world.

She was born in order to love Ruruta. So there was no way any other person in the world would harbor the same love as hers.

“Poor Ruruta.”

Chacoly shed tears from the bottom of her heart. The story of Makia moved to when he had conversed with Ruruta. Ruruta requested Makia to kill him so that he could give up on his impossible dream.

“…Poor Ruruta. He suffers the same even now. Chacoly wants to go see him as soon as possible.”

Chacoly gazed at the desert outside the shack’s window uneasily. She thought of Ruruta who was waiting for her out there. Chacoly wants to see him already. Chacoly wants to save her beloved Ruruta. She wants to control his heart with her Soul Sharing.

But there was still time. Hamyuts was yet to be completed. Even Chacoly’s ability was not flawless.

“I wonder what is Ruruta’s dream… why does he collect happiness and want to destroy the world?”

“Hmm, it doesn’t really matter.”

Chacoly said. She didn’t care about that part of him.

Ruruta being dominated by her was everything. She had no interest in his feelings. There would only be meaning in the moment they meet up. Chacoly was only born to be united with Ruruta. Ruruta was only born to be united with Chacoly.

Ruruta was everything to her. At the same time Chacoly was everything to him. Ruruta’s happiness would be uniting with her, and her happiness would be uniting with him. Neither logic, his past, nor his feelings mattered. Because that was what Chacoly had decided.

“Wait for me, Ruruta.”

Saying so, Chacoly smiled. That smile expressed bottomless eeriness that was different from malice. Was it a deep delusion closely resembling love or murderous intent closely resembling love?

“Chacoly will go. Ruruta, Chacoly will be coming for you.”

Chacoly kept laughing.

“Unite with Chacoly, and then, die along with her. Dying with Chacoly will be your only happiness.”

Makia watched her with a sad countenance.

Once, Makia Dexiart thought about the following.

Ruruta Coozancoona had a weakness impossible for him to bring under control. It was the fact of his being human. Although he had powers beyond the Gods, although he had lived for 2000 years, he was eternally a human.

As long as he was human he had a heart. That was the only thing that would never change.

The heart was Ruruta’s one and only weakness. So killing his heart was the one and only way to defeat him.

So how could Ruruta be defeated?

Makia came up with the victory condition of breaking his heart. However, making that happen was close to impossible. The ability to manipulate others’ minds was the most difficult of any Magic. Even Ruruta who had Eaten hundreds of thousands of Books didn’t possess such an ability.

A natural-born talent and an extremely distressful Magic Deliberation… a will to break down any and all difficulties, a strong will to act without hesitating… Makia needed all of those.

Gathering talent was not too difficult. However, giving humans a strong will was hard.

He had to raise them. Just like Ruruta had once been raised as a being that only worked to save the world. He would raise a being that existed only to kill Ruruta.

Makia Dexiart started researching one Magic. A Magic that allowed one to alter other people’s souls.

It was said that this Magic had been originally researched in order to raise Ruruta into the perfect savior. However, they didn’t make it in time. It was completed a thousand years after the decisive battle against the Beasts of the Final Chapter.

This Magic was treated as one of the biggest taboos and was prohibited by law of the Present Management Agency. Those who made use of it were supposed to be obliterated using the full might of the Armed Librarians. However, Makia still used it.

When Chacoly was a baby he had remodeled her soul. He made her embrace a single desire. More than a desire perhaps it should be called instinct.

It was the desire to “dominate Ruruta, love Ruruta, and commit suicide with Ruruta”.

She had nothing but those feelings. She possessed neither love for anyone else nor any humanlike ethics. She was born to love Ruruta and lived according to that.

However, Makia was worried. It was a Magic that would turn a person into a tool. Chacoly would have nothing else in life but loving Ruruta and dying alongside him. Even if one was the lowliest slave they wouldn’t be robbed of their soul. But Chacoly was born with it being taken from her.

Someone who had no free soul. They weren’t a human but a tool.

Chacoly loved Ruruta because she was a tool with that function.

Yes, Chacoly Cocot was not a human. Even her innocent, cherubic smile was only because she was designed that way. She was an assassination weapon in the form of a girl.

“Hammy. Is there no one anymore?”

Now Chacoly was twelve and Hamyuts was fourteen. They were walking around the research facility they were born and raised in.

Although Hamyuts had done nothing but run riot until a year ago, she was now mentally stable. It was because she had recently acquired a hobby. It seemed she calmed her feelings by moving a thread and needle. That doesn’t seem useful for anything though, thought Chacoly.

By acquiring that stability Hamyuts was able to more or less achieve perfection. Thirty years of research and experiments were a success. Meaning, this research facility served its purpose and its staff was no longer needed.

“Throwing a stone barehanded isn’t too strong. I have to think of another way.”

Saying so, Hamyuts played with a stone in her hands. She had already perfected her fighting style of battling while hurling stones.

“What, Hammy? You want to become even stronger than this?”

“Yeah. Got a problem with that?”

Chacoly just shrugged as an answer. Chacoly thinks that Hamyuts is strong enough, but oh well, she can do as she pleases.

They both came to the shack above ground. Makia wasn’t there, and instead there was a switch. A fuse was extended from it, connected to the underground facility.

“Well then, let’s blow it up. But how do we use it though?”

“Just press it normally? I’ll do it. You wait outside.”

Just like she was told Chacoly left the hut. As Hamyuts pressed the switch, the floor at her feet shook and dust blew out of the entrance to the underground.

“That does it once and for all.”

Saying so, the dusty Hamyuts went outside. None of the thirty researchers exited after her. Without being aware the facility was being blown up, they were nowhere around.

They were now inside the ground. They were robbed of any intention to resist by Chacoly’s Soul Sharing and their heads were shattered by Hamyuts’s stones.

“…Is it really over?”

“Yeah, it’s over, once and for all.”

Chacoly answered to the voice from behind. A blanket was laid atop the sand and on it was Makia Dexiart.

The elimination of the researchers was not something devised by him. He planned on making people promise to protect the secret, and those who couldn’t he would make drink the water of Argax.

Chacoly was the one to scheme this slaughter. Hamyuts also agreed with it. For Chacoly, the lives of people other than Ruruta weighed less than paper. And Hamyuts held a grudge that couldn’t be satisfied even by killing them. It could be said that this was the natural result.

Even if it was a desperate moment for Makia.

“Hey, Makia.”

Hamyuts sat down at the feet of the worn-out, exhausted old man and spoke to him.

“Did you think it wouldn’t turn out like this? You actually knew it, right? Since you were trying to defeat Ruruta, isn’t it obvious other monsters would be born?”

“…I…”

Hamyuts continued without listening to his reply.

“You are the worst man in existence. You plan on being a proper human being even after creating monsters like us? I can’t allow you to even feel guilty.”

Hamyuts mocked him. As if she was rejecting his entire life.

“I won’t kill you. If you’re killed you’ll be saved. I’ll have you die of sickness like this. We can’t allow you to atone for your sins.”

“You sure are taking this leisurely, Hammy.”

Chacoly’s shoulders slumped. She also wanted to leave there as soon as possible. She wanted to see Ruruta as soon as possible. However, it wasn’t bad playing along with her silly older sister before parting. Also, caring for the man who had created her until the end was probably not a waste of time either. She would go to Ruruta after that was settled. Thinking this, Chacoly waited.

Makia died ten days later. Chacoly cheerfully set off to see Ruruta.

Chacoly and Hamyuts left the laboratory on camels’ backs, heading towards town. Once there, they had their probably final farewell.

Just as they parted Chacoly was slightly worried. Was letting her go like that fine? If she wanted to be united with Ruruta then Hamyuts would probably stand in her way. Besides, even if Hamyuts kept living like this, she didn’t think she would be able to attain a happy life. Could she not remodel Hamyuts’s mind using her Soul Sharing and allow her to live as a normal person?

Although Chacoly couldn’t love anyone but Ruruta, she was able to have somewhat of an affinity only with her poor elder sister.

“…Chacoly will give up for now, Hammy’s her spare after all.”

She muttered and turned her back. For example, if Chacoly were to trip down some stairs and die, Hamyuts would have to protect the world instead. Protecting the world didn’t matter at all, but Makia had once wished for it.

Chacoly continued her journey farther and reached a port town.

Using her Soul Sharing ability, she spoke to a coachman.

“Chacoly wants to go to the harbor. Take her there.”

She invaded the man’s heart with her ability. What Chacoly wished for now became what he wished for as well. ‘Chacoly wants to go to the harbor’.

“…Sure, I don’t mind.”

Chacoly got on the stagecoach. The other passengers looked strangely at the girl who was clearly riding free of charge.

“Young lady, riding for free isn’t a good thing, so please pay for it next time.”

Said the coachman. Chacoly thought it would be better to do so.

They reached the port town. Chacoly went to the bank and spoke to the receptionist.

“Chacoly wants some money. Please.”

Obviously, the man controlled by her Soul Sharing obeyed. And he even took care so that Chacoly wouldn’t get into trouble.

“Chacoly-chan, if I give you money then you’ll become a mere bank robber. So how about I lend it to you?”

“Okay then.”

Filling her satchel with banknotes, Chacoly left the bank. On paper she was in debt. It was free of interest and indefinite, with only a blank in the name column of the loan records, though.

With that money she bought the ticket to an airboat and headed to Past God Bantorra’s Island. She entered the main street from the harbor, heading in a straight line towards Bantorra Library. She spoke to passersby.

“Where’s the Acting Director? How can I meet him?”

“…The Acting Director? He’s probably at work… I don’t know how one can meet him either.”

With her Soul Sharing she was able to read the mind of the man she was talking to. He seemed to be a clerk who worked at a facility related to the Library.

“Okay then. I’ll talk to someone else.”

Saying so, she canceled the Soul Sharing. And she searched for another person to speak to.

Chacoly was trying to meet up with Ruruta directly. She would meet the Acting Director – the person known as Photona – then control him with her Soul Sharing and let him guide her to Ruruta.

Even her ability wasn’t almighty. In order to activate it she had to see the face of her target once. In order to activate it on Ruruta she had no choice but to step herself into the Second Sealed Labyrinth.

And the only one who would be able to guide her there was Photona.

“Where’s that Photona person, I want to see Ruruta as soon as possible…”

Muttering this, Chacoly was looking for Photona.

She would meet him, control him and go to the Second Sealed Labyrinth. If she gets there, she would be able to meet Ruruta. She would become one with him. She was excited.

Ruruta, Ruruta, Ruruta, Ruruta, Ruruta. Rurutarurutarurutarurutaruruta.

Chacoly kept calling his name inside her heart.

At that moment she realized – perhaps she didn’t even need to meet Photona. She had read Makia’s Book and saw Ruruta’s face through it. Then it wouldn’t be odd for her to be able to use her ability right away.

Thinking so, she was unable to contain herself. She was going to meet Ruruta.

Chacoly sat down on the road to the Library. Some people asked her what was wrong with her, but she silenced them using her ability.

She closed her eyes and activated her Soul Sharing. Her violet hair wriggled and shone like a firefly. Then, her heart connected to the one sleeping deep underground, to Ruruta.

“…!”

The next moment Chacoly was in a desert. She realized immediately that she was inside the Imaginary Entrails. She didn’t anticipate this situation. Was the user of Soul Sharing able to use the power of Book Eating or did her desire to become one with Ruruta accomplish this?

Her Soul Sharing was invoked normally – she could feel her heart being connected to Ruruta who was somewhere in the desert. Yet she couldn’t see him. It appeared she was in the beginning of the vast Imaginary Entrails.

However, an unbelievable emotion was transmitted to Chacoly.

It was “rejection”. Realizing there was an unfamiliar intruder, Ruruta recognized her as an enemy.

In addition, when she tried using her Soul Sharing Chacoly felt danger.

“You can’t attack Chacoly.”

She threw this feeling at Ruruta with all of her strength. A lightning strike fell in front of her. If she was late with her Soul Sharing it would’ve probably erased even her soul.

“…Who is this?”

She heard a voice from far away. Hearing Ruruta’s voice for the first time in her life made her heart throb. At the same time the sense of danger gave her goosebumps. Chacoly named herself with these confused emotions.

“Chacoly Cocot. We finally meet, Ruruta!”

Her hair shone in a violet color. She activated it in full throttle, connecting her soul to Ruruta’s.

“You belong to Chacoly. You will love Chacoly and become one with her. Come, Ruruta, let us die together.”

Chacoly’s mind encroached Ruruta’s. She could feel a fierce rejection coming from him.

In addition, blind attacks assaulted her. Hundreds of needles were produced from inside the sand. Fire fell from the sky. A sharpened wind grazed her.

He was somehow being desisted from hitting her. However, Ruruta’s rage intensified.

“Perish.”

A full-powered attack came. Chacoly had an intuition – she would be killed by Ruruta before controlling him.

“This is… bad.”

For the first time in her life Chacoly shook. She desperately absolved her Soul Sharing. If she couldn’t leave the Imaginary Entrails she would be killed.

At the end she heard Ruruta’s voice.

“The only one I love is Nieniu!”

“…”

When she opened her eyes, she saw the townscape of Past God Bantorra Island.

Chacoly gritted her teeth and her body trembled with anger and humiliation.

“Who’s that Nieniu anyway? Chacoly doesn’t know that woman.”

Then she stood up and smiled. She looked at the sky while walking and kept laughing alone.

Once, Makia Dexiart was thinking.

I acquired a user of Soul Sharing. I remade her so that she would live as tool meant to make Ruruta commit suicide with her.

But will that really be enough? Is she complete as a tool?

No. Simply moving according to her design wouldn’t help her win. I must endow her with the composure to retreat when she loses, reflect on herself and try again.

A tool that schemes by itself and improves itself. I have to make her that way.

And Makia designed her that way.

Three years passed since her encounter with Ruruta. Chacoly was at a town far away from Bantorra Library.

After failing her first contact, Chacoly immediately left Past God Bantorra Island. Since she was rejected by Ruruta there was danger to her life. No matter how much she loved Ruruta, everything would end if she was killed by him. Even while pouring blind love for him, Chacoly also had rational judgment. She wasn’t a mere 12 year old girl. It was because Makia had designed her that way.

Chacoly was currently lodging at a small village in the mountainous region of the Principality of Meliot that made its livelihood from dairy farming. The population was less than three hundred. She spent her days lazily there.

Without going to school, without working, she would idly watch the clouds every day, or play around chasing butterflies.

However, she wasn’t troubled by her daily necessities. When it was meal time one of the residents would come and ask her what she would like to eat. When she became sleepy someone would invite her to sleep at their place. She had neither money nor any family, but as long as she had the power of Soul Sharing she was able to live without any inconveniences.

While spending her time like this, she was one day approached by a man who seemed like a postman. She was engaged in staring at a trail of ants.

At the time Chacoly had a certain title: she was a True Man.

“Chacoly-sama, a message came from the Overseer of Paradise. Thanks to your help, the biological weapon Vend Ruga nears completion.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Vend Ruga is no more than a prototype model. One day it will be further improved and open the door for further weapon development. At that time we would like your assistance as well.”

“Chacoly doesn’t really care though.”

It was Kachua who had brought her into the Indulging God Cult. Apparently a spy from the Cult had noticed her by chance when she was on Past God Bantorra Island.

He supposedly intended on using Chacoly as a trump card in the fight against the Armed Librarians. Chacoly was completely uninterested. Her goal was to control Ruruta and then die with him.

She entered the Cult only because it seemed to be a good place to hide in and because it seemed they had some utility value. Even the Indulging God Cult was no more than a tool for her. She obviously didn’t disclose anything about Makia, Hamyuts or her real goal to Kachua.

“Also, we have sent people that would become Chacoly-sama’s soldiers. Please make use of them.”

Chacoly who was staring disinterestedly in the ants smiled thinly.

“I see, thank you. Let’s keep them in jail for now.”

When night came Chacoly went into action. She entered a magic facility disguised as a water mill in the edge of the village. There were several men and women inside. They were Meats sent to her by the Indulging God Cult. It was said they were refugees captured from the battlefields to the west.

“Don’t be afraid, Chacoly will make all of you happy.”

Chacoly invoked her Soul Sharing. She read their emotions.

They were thinking, I want to escape this place, become free, and return to my hometown.

“Denied. Chacoly wants you all to be here. That’s why you’re here.”

Chacoly denied their feelings of running away with her Soul Sharing. They stopped thinking of becoming free.

They were thinking, I want to live peacefully.

There was no need to reject that. Being under the Indulging God Cult and serving Chacoly would be peaceful for them.

They were thinking, I want to live with my loved ones.

“Denied. You can only love Chacoly.”

Her Soul Sharing erased any trace of love other than that for Chacoly from their hearts.

“Say you guys, do you like Chacoly?”

They nodded.

“Yeah, you all like Chacoly right? So you can all die for her.”

Chacoly said while smiling brightly. She rejected the fear that arose in the Meats at that moment with her Soul Sharing. They were forcibly made to nod their heads.

Several hours later, Chacoly absolved her Soul Sharing. When they’re released they would also revert back to their proper minds. However, this didn’t mean they would completely return to themselves. Some remains of the part modified by Chacoly will remain. Repeating this many times, they would become tools that move according to her will.

“Keep them tied until tomorrow. It will probably be all over in about a month.”

Telling this to her False Men attendants outside, she left the facility.