6 Contracted Himari

Livia carried me in her hands as she dashed around the corners of the buildings and shrines. We would hide behind some Buddhist statue each time just to avoid a soldier. It took about an hour to separate from the main house of the Sugawara Clan. It was worth it since we saw a small wooden house with a furnace.

Noticing no more soldiers nearby, Livia smiled and said, "Master, the coast is clear. Shall I show you the house?"

"Of course. Also, I want to live in your room. You did say that your parents sleep in the same bed, so have me sleep with you under a blanket or something." I sprouted a mouth from the blindfold and answered Livia.

As she opened the door, we were greeted by an old man with dark hair and sunken cheeks.

He smiled and asked her, "Livia, do you know how worried I was? Your mother was about to start dinner without you. Quickly come inside and get ready."

"Of course, father." She answered with an innocent smile. As she walked up to the room, her face blushed as she looked at me in her hands.

"What is it? Did something special happen?" I asked her, genuinely curious.

Livia's face reddened more, "It's nothing... It's just that we are going to be living together. I wonder if Master will ever need assistance And, um... Please feel free to ask for help, I don't mind..."

I suddenly burst out laughing from the fabric, "Hahahaha! You're too funny! Don't worry, I won't keep you waiting any longer."

With that, my arms sprouted from the depths of the blindfold into reality. I smirked and decided to let loose.

...

...

After giving her a "reward" like usual, I sprouted my legs and walked to her bed to lay down. I ordered Livia to rest in another room temporarily before dinner starts. I believe her mother makes it for the entire family.

Livia brought me to her house, without anyone noticing us, which means I am safe for now.

The Sugawara Clan would definitely never let an outsider enter the main house and steal me away without noticing. Escaping would also notify them that someone was helping me and I would be caught sooner or later.

However, I have already thought of a countermeasure.

If I was at least a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, I could form a binding vow to turn Livia into my vessel and escape without anyone noticing. Unfortunately, my cursed energy has never risen even once for some reason. Even my pinky has not regenerated on my hand. This is also why I am hesitant to pass out more fingers to others, since I might run out of body parts if they don't regenerate.

Anyway, due to that lack of cursed energy, I cannot use binding vows, but Contracts were always on the table.

I must admit that I did abuse the function. Out of the four possible contract types, I decided to use every single one except Hybrid Transformation Contracts. That's because they would make me lose my consciousness and be permanently asleep inside Livia's body.

Instead, Devil Transformation Contracts are better since I don't need to lose my ability to think and I don't even need to be near Livia. It will just automatically give her my cursed spirit abilities through our Contract's connection.

Livia and I are bounded by three contracts of different types. They are to ensure loyalty and preserve Faith. I created the conditions a few years ago using the limits of what Contracts are allowed to do.

Summoning Contract: Gabimaru can be summoned during emergencies by calling out his name. In exchange, Livia must follow all of Gabimaru's orders with utmost devotion.

Supernatural Object Contract: By holding a piece of Void Fabric infused with Gabimaru's cursed energy, Livia will be able to track all Void Fabric with Gabimaru's cursed energy. In exchange, Livia must pray to Gabimaru during each meal.

Devil Transformation Contract: Livia will transform into a perfect vessel for Gabimaru, becoming a cursed spirit in perpetuity. Lets Livia draw negative energy from the environment and use all abilities of a cursed spirit. In exchange, Livia must always love her master and be near him periodically to feel calm.

...

Just thinking about it makes me realize that Contracts are too useful. Of course, now that Livia is a curse/human hybrid permanently due to her Devil Transformation Contract, she can now use cursed energy. Since our forms are similar, I can rest assured she won't look any different from a regular human in physical appearance.

I can safely say that I have a loyal, money-generating bodyguard. Isn't that the dream of anyone?

Staring outside the window near the bed, I see a small group of armed soldiers walking through the village. I jump down onto the bed and retract my body back into the fabric.

Then, I slowly try to circulate the negative energy surrounding the room. It's like trying to attract the wind into your body. But, instead of absorbing air, I try to take in the dark vapor around me. Slowly, a spark of blue light radiated as the vapor vibrated.

Unfortunately, after a few seconds, the negative energy barely even moved before it froze again.

"This sucks. Although my physical strength is growing with my age and rumors being spread, my ability to use cursed energy is negligible. Why is that? Even Livia can use it better than me." I sigh to myself.

Once more, I try again to circulate cursed energy, but feel a massive headache and stop. There was no use in rushing the process after failing for over five years.

But just as I stopped, I heard footsteps and hid under a pillow. I even felt the cursed energy in the room start to vibrate slowly.

"Master... I heard you were here waiting for me." A soft voice called out, revealing a woman in her 30s. She had dark green hair and clear eyes.

What would surprise most was that she was completely naked and had tattoos and scars with words like gluttony, Gabimaru, and Yama's Court.

Moving out from the pillow, I introduce myself, "It's me, the one who speaks in your mind. Kneel at once and show your loya-"

Before I finish, she drops to the ground to kneel.

I quickly test her loyalty again to be sure, "If I were to force you to kill yourself now, would you kill your daughter to save yourself?"

"No. Since your majesty wants me to die, I will die with gratitude. Killing my daughter would also only serve to cause further implications to your plans. Please rest assured Master, I have marked my unworthy body with words of your grace daily to remember who I belong to. I will serve you until you grow tired of me." She answered, without moving a muscle of her body from the ground.

I smirk and remember that this woman is different from Livia. While Livia serves with sexual pleasure always in her mind, Himari serves without any emotion. She is the mother of Livia, but due to my constant orders and Livia's assistance, Himari has become an absolute slave that serves my orders. The strange thing is that her loyalty should give more than a single Faith per day.

Through my long-range orders, I have created a Contract with Himari. It was just a regular Contract to create a stronger connection between us when I was trapped in the main house of the Sugawara Clan.

Summoning Contract: Gabimaru can be summoned during emergencies by calling out his name. In exchange, Himari must follow all of Gabimaru's orders with utmost devotion.

It's the basic Contract that Livia also has, but improves the loyalty of Himari more for some reason. It's always strange how they differ so much from the same Contract.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to talk to her in person for the first time was to give another Contract, the Devil Transformation Contract. Since they can create a scene in public, it's best if we are in a private room together, so I can monitor the situation like with Livia.

Slowly, I visualize a parchment appearing in front of us. I write the conditions using my mind and sign it using my unique mental waves.

Devil Transformation Contract: Himari will transform into a perfect vessel for Gabimaru, becoming a cursed spirit in perpetuity. Lets Himari draw negative energy from the environment and use all abilities of a cursed spirit. In exchange, Himari must always love her master and be near him periodically to feel calm.

"Himari, sign it using the method I taught you before." I tell her while she kneeled.

She smiled, "Of course. With this, I can serve Master beyond just my imagination."

Instantly, I see a signature with Himari's mental waves and smile. Slowly, the parchment rolls from the bottom to the top and disappears.

Once it's over, I feel a strange connection to Himari. Even more, I feel something like a black hole all around me.

It feels like a tornado of wind is slashing around the room as the sunlight fades. Shadows are cast all over the room as dark vapor floods into Himari's body. Like the sun being ripped from our eyes, the room became filled with darkness until we couldn't see.

After a couple more seconds, the light from outside penetrated the room again. The final bits darkness were going to the places where scars and marks were on Himari's body. Her body faded and became more pale as small handcuffs with chains appeared on her wrists, disconnected.

She was sweating, with arteries pulsating like they were going to burst. Still, she remained expressionless while biting her lips.

Dark energy from the handcuffs traveled like visible black veins to her neck and face. A pair of horns with small chains above her eyes started to protrude on her head. Then, a blindfold became material around Himari's face, with small feathers connecting to the horns.

After the black blindfold materialized, darkness bled into her hair, corrupting it from its original green into a much darker inky color. Her dress started to disintegrate and become a small nightgown.

That's when I noticed all the darkness fade from the room and Himari's cursed energy rise into such a high amount, even I felt a bit threatened for my life. It kept rising until the transformation finished, leaving me feeling that Himari was many times stronger than I was.

Still kneeling, Himari finally spoke, "Master, I seem to have awoken to a strange pathway inside my body. It's like an instinctual feeling of something I always had inside me was just discovered."

Hm? Is this what I think?

I ask her, "You can rise. Also, is there a way to stimulate that pathway?"

"I believe so. I can sense three balls of darkness resting near my heart. But if I slowly move it toward the pathway near my brain, I feel like something will happen. Should I try it?" Himari responded, while getting up from the ground.

Nodding my head, I saw dark veins leave Himari's blindfold and spread across her entire body. After a few seconds, her body grew deathly pale before the veins returned back into her blindfold, just under the two long horns.

Himari smiled for once and said, "Master, I've awoken to one of those cursed techniques. It's called Resurrection and it can revive me no matter the injury. I can use it three times, and it uses my environment's cursed energy to recharge each revive."

I summon my mouth through the fabric and ask her with curiosity, "You just used a charge, right? How long would it take to naturally recharge the one you used?"

"Based on my current absorption, it would take at least a few months. However, I do sense a few weaknesses." She answered while touching her horns.

I asked her quickly, "What weaknesses?"

Himari touched her horn and sighed, "A colossal amount of cursed energy which I cannot hold was sitting inside my body dormant. When I stimulated one the the balls of darkness, a large portion of that energy exploded and healed me, but my body feels anemic. I feel very faint and thirsty for some reason. Another weakness is that it takes about three seconds for me to use Resurrection."

"That means that if you are assassinated or killed too fast, Resurrection won't activate." I replied, thinking back to how quickly Dragon murdered Monkey.

I sighed and realized that Himari won't even be able to go outside with such an appearance. Like Livia, she was no longer human. Unfortunately, Himari's appearance was changed too much. This was a problem and could definitely create suspicion, so I would need a plan.

Biting off a pinky from my normal hand, I gave it to Himari and ordered, "Give half of this to your husband during dinner. You cannot leave the house from now on. Continue spreading letters of Gabimaru to surrounding regions. Also, you must practice Resurrection until you can transfer a revive to me."

She bowed and left, as her pointed horns got stuck on the side of the doorway. With embarrassment, she turned sideways and shuffled out of my room.

Sprouting an arm from my blindfold, I say to myself. "It's also time for me to get to work..."

[Cult: Yama's Court, Level: 1, Marks: 1, Followers: 3, Faith: 2910]