As Gaston's vicious laughter reverberated, Zack observed his colleague's demise and steeled his heart.
Through immense pain and gritted teeth, he moved his clenched fist to point his wand towards his chest.
In a noise of shattering bones and shredded muscles, his dark spell punctured his heart, bringing his agony to a bittersweet end.
"Tsk. A bunch of weak peasants with zero mental resilience."
A snort escaped Gaston's mouth as he observed the two dead dark mages, twisting his lips in annoyance.
Then he turned towards the puppet, a calculative glint flashing in his blue eye as he felt Adam's soul tug at him.
"I can't hide myself anymore. Who would have thought that fool would drop his guard?"
He shook his head, his lips raising in a displeased grimace.
If not for that stupid blunder, he could have accumulated knowledge and delved into mana control for much longer. Yet, he had to interfere or risk wandering the world alone, vulnerable to his own impulses and any mage greedy to get his remaining eye.
"No choice. I'll negotiate even if I must swallow a loss."
He exhaled a powerful burst of mana as a headache threatened to assault his mind.
As he pondered what he could promise, Adam's mind gradually emerged from the darkness, and his soul reabsorbed Gaston's spectral form.
"What the heck happened?!"
Mind on high alert, his eyes darted between the two stiff corpses sprawled on the blood-painted grass, confusion creasing his brows.
Then, an icy shiver ran down his spine, making his wooden frame tremble in dread as he remembered Gaston's voice.
'How? I killed him twice already! He can't be alive.'
Yet, there was no way he'd dream about this nightmarish man he hated more than bears!
"Where are you, bastard? Show yourself!"
A cold command left his lips as he scrutinised the forest ahead, wondering if he hid in it.
"In your soul sea. Come to the mountain."
'How is he there? What is happening?!'
His mind spun in disbelief as he closed his eyes to enter his soul sea.
Without wasting time on the plain he always appeared on, he blurred to the mountain he had never explored.
And at its foot, he saw him.
The handsome man, wearing his worn-out traveller's coat. The one-eyed bastard who almost killed him and Julius. The nightmare who murdered his first friend.
His teeth almost shattered in anger as he saw him sit on a rock as if nothing had happened.
"I destroyed your soul, then your consciousness. Why are you alive, and what stops me from annihilating you this instant? You have sixty seconds to answer before I'll divorce your head from your torso."
He summoned and gripped his threatening Macuahuitl and drew it towards Gaston, showing he would tolerate no bull shits or lies.
"The man in Julius' soul sea. He tried to merge the soul essence you gulped from me forcefully by adding his into the mix. But he had no mastery over the process... yet."
Gaston took a deep breath and pushed his blade aside before continuing.
"I want to negotiate. I'll tell you everything first, and trust me, I'm not up to anything."
His first nemesis words made him explode into laughter. Trust Gaston? It was the best joke he had heard since he awakened in Alina's house.
Then, his eyes narrowed into slits wafting purple lightning arcs.
"I'd rather trust the demonic cleaver than you."
Meanwhile, Gaston shrugged, unfazed by the predictable reaction.
"You had thirty percent of my soul roughly grafted onto yours. When Morgane used the ghost king's essence to save you, she purified and awakened me simultaneously. But I was too weak, so I hid and awaited an opportunity."
He lingered, massaging his eyes before resolving himself to speak the truth when faced by a tier seven weapon and its hate-fill wielder.
"At first, I thought about overtaking your soul once the balance tilted in my favor. But I changed my mind after observing you for months."
He paused again, struggling to say words he never considered. A grimace twisted his face as he finally managed to do it.
"Even if it pains me to admit it, I recognised you and only you as an equal. Even if my first defeat still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth each time I remember that spear you used, your determination and defiance beat me fair and square the second time."
He nodded, feeling a burden flying off his shoulders as Adam's eyes enlarged but sparkled with suspicion. Yet, he remained silent, waiting for the explanation to end.
"Therefore, I changed my mind despite the perfect opportunity after your defeat against the Dullahan. Maybe you influenced me, but I started to seek an alternative solution. And it came a few hours later."
Jaws bulging and fingers tightening on the blade's pommel until they turned white as the realisation he had been at Gaston's mercy without suspecting anything thundered in his mind.
"Yes. He couldn't heal your soul because it had only been a half since the beginning. However, mine? He helped me recover entirely. I seized the chance and controlled his soul energy to hide and separate myself from you. I ensured he would heal the damages the process created.
Gaston's voice trailed off, making him frown. If he separated himself, why was he still here?
"I changed my mind and left five percent connected. I could leave anytime I wanted, yet delayed for over a year. Do you know why?"
"Your sixty seconds are almost gone. That's the only thing I'm focusing on right now."
Despite the harsh words, he wanted to know. But Gaston could keep his mind games and questions for himself. His motivations didn't matter that much, anyway.
"Because you're an interesting fool! Everything you do makes no sense yet yields results no one ever expected. Look at you. An apprentice with adept mana control. A tier six enchanter who crafted a tier seven weapon. A kid who always thought to be an adult and resurrected a rogue archmage's ritual.
And finally, the one who'll become the ultimate anomaly."
A tense silence lingered as his eyes narrowed in confusion, pride, and anger.
'Yes, I did all that. But why does it matter to Gaston? What's his goal? And you're the fool, bastard.'
Fortunately, Gaston's lips parted into a smile he had never seen on his face.
Far from the evil one he used to wear all the time, this one was genuine and wistful.
"I believed we were two different sides of the same coin for a long time. Like me, you can grasp other's emotions. But you never used this ability to manipulate them. Even more bizarre, you never lied... Is it because I was made cruel? Is it because I enjoy other's sufferings?
I don't know, but I feel strange ever since I lost one of my eyes. Many questions hustle in my head, ones I would have dismissed without second thoughts six years ago."
Gaston's face hardened, turning somber as his voice lowered.
"I want to see if your path can lead to the ninth tier. I want to see how you'll get a body and endure nine mythical body parts influencing you... because no matter what you believe, power corrupts the kindest souls. Just look at the Magus. Only a few rules were in place during Selene's age. But now?
They suffocate us. He regulates everything down to the smallest bit of knowledge. So, show me how you'll resist power's influence and if you'll keep your sanity after holding the world in your grasp."