8 The Truth About That Night

"I think that fellow, Austin, really deserves an award for making you this restless, young miss," Eris teased, her cold face brimming with a slight smile.

"Are you siding with him now?" Alysia rolled her eyes in response.

"How could I? I only have one person I would always stand by forever, and that's my young miss," Eris blinked her eyes innocently.

"Enough with the flattery and get to the point already." Alysia shoot her a glare. 

"Have you not noticed? Since you met that guy, you've been losing your temper and composure more than in the past years," Eris explained. 

"Even when you listed our weaknesses, you placed extra emphasis on many aspects. Those who heard your explanation might think you were just being naggy, but as a person who has stayed with you for a long time, your anxiousness can't escape my eyes. It's really unusual for you to behave this way." Eris's voice took on a more serious tone, filled with genuine concern.

"You want to know the truth?" Alysia sighed. "Actually, that prick's life is now entwined with mine," she confessed in frustration. 

"What?!" Eris exclaimed in fright.

"This is all thanks to that darned, fake magician, Merlin! He always boasted about once being a Royal Advisor to a supposedly powerful King in Camelot, a kingdom which was said one step away from possessing its own plane." 

"If he's truly as high and mighty as he claimed, why did the ritual go completely astray? The ritual totally deviated from the intended Master-Servant relationship contract into something that looks more like a contract between lovers, willing to share burdens and pain with each other, and adamant about not being separated, even in death. How absurd is that?"

Alysia grumbled incessantly for a full minute, her chest rose and fell with frustration. She couldn't fathom how she had ended up in such a preposterous predicament.

Initially, the night unfolded just as planned. She successfully refined the ghost spirit she had been pursuing for quite some time, and in the process, stumbled upon a man that piqued her interest.

Later, she joyfully drove back home and was welcomed by Eris, who had just finished preparing the ritual stage.

The first ritual she'd perform was transforming Austin into a demon. It was a relatively straightforward and simple ritual, as it only required her to gather a set of ingredients and a subject she wished to transform.

Another requirement was that the subject must be deceased, as the entire process of the ritual resembled a form of rebirth. However, the subject had to be recently deceased; otherwise, the ritual would fail due to the soul had likely departed from the body.

The entire ritual lasted just a few minutes before coming to an end.

Afterward, the second ritual commenced—the Servant Contract.

To gain full control over the subject she had just transformed, it was imperative to establish a Master-Servant contract between them. Without this, she would be left with no control over her subject.

This is where things suddenly went awry. Initially, the contract establishment seemed to progress without any issues. However, when she reached the stage where she had to draw both her blood and Austin's blood, injecting them inside the magic circle to form the bond between them, something unexpected occurred.

The magic circle shone brightly, and its pattern began to change abruptly. The alterations happened so swiftly that she only discerned the changes once the ritual concluded. As the magic circle dimmed, and the ritual came to an end, she discovered that she had successfully forged a connection with Austin.

However, that connection didn't feel like the typical bond shared between Master and Servant. It seemed more like a bond shared by two individuals willingly giving each other consent, almost as if they were in cohabitation.

That night, she suffered from a massive headache, an experience she hadn't had in a long time.

...

"Is it that serious?" Eris asked, finally realizing the dire circumstances her young miss was in. The previous night, Alysia was too absorbed in her shock to provide a clear answer. When she finally regained her senses, she skipped any explanation and immediately went to the study room with a somber expression.

When morning arrived, Alysia's complexion had improved, so Eris refrained from asking further, assuming the problem had been resolved.

"Well, on second thought, I felt like it wasn't that serious. I stayed up late to study this contract, and I made some interesting discoveries about some of its features," Alysia explained.

"Firstly, there's a feature called Sensory Sharing. When one of us is injured, we naturally share the pain. That means if I get stabbed in the stomach, Austin would similarly feel the pain of being stabbed in his stomach." she went on. 

"Huh? Is there a contract that works like that? Does it literally split the pain between the two of you in halves, or..."

"I believe the pain would be divided. It's just a theory, though, I haven't tested it yet."

"Dividing the pain by half. This type of attribute sounds too good to be true. Can this be applied to more people? If so, we could divide the pain by a much larger percentage, and we'd become invulnerable!" Eris exclaimed.

"You're overthinking it. This contract isn't as simple as you think and might have been only created due to some unknown conditions that both Austin and I met. Do you think if there were such an amazing Soulbound Contract, we would never have heard of it?" Alysia poured cold water over Eris's excitement.

"That's true. Anyway, it's reassuring knowing that Austin can help alleviate your pain if you're in a predicament, But since it also works the other way around, it might become a double-edged sword for you, young miss. For instance, if someone discovers that injuring Austin inflicts harm on you, they might exploit it by targeting him instead of you." Eris expressed her concern.

"That's exactly what I'm most worried about!" Alysia cried.

"What about cutting off the Sensory Sharing? Can you do it?" Eris inquired.

"There might be such an option, but I don't know how to do it at the moment." Alysia shook her head in dismay.

"What about terminating the contract?"

"I've tried it, and I failed. To make matters worse, I also suffered some backlash from the contract, causing direct damage to my soul. Haven't you noticed I applied makeup today to avoid looking pale?" Alysia replied.

"Ah! Why didn't you mention this earlier!" Eris puffed up her cheeks in anger. "Stay here, I'll brew you some elixir."

Alysia failed to stop her as Eris immediately dashed away from the room.

"That girl, I was about to explain that the injury was no longer threatening due to the second feature of the contract, but she didn't even wait for my explanation." Alysia shook her head and mumbled to herself. "Looks like I have to pay a visit to Merlin soon. Although his attitude was kind of annoying, he didn't seem to be the type of guy who would sabotage his own business. Hence, it leads me to one conclusion. Something must've been wrong with either me or Austin."