Judas was progress.

He was the only positive thing this accursed word could accommodate long term.

He was limitless.

He was inevitable.

Of course, all this was in his head, mostly fiction or self deception made up to allow a normal human to withstand the experiences he had to.

It was also those experiences that made him mad, really really mad right now.

That audacious brat Raphael dared to spout such nonsense with such a straight face, it was nauseating and infuriating at the same time.

In a fit of rage, as soon as Raphael entered the bedroom, Judas activated his control magic and stared intently at his target, eyes shimmering and all.

-----

As Raphael entered his lodgings, hefound a pretty girl getting up from her bed and staring intently at him.

But she didn't start a conversation or anything, she just stood there rooted in place.

Her diminutive figure suggesting she was but a couple of years older than him.

For a moment, he got distracted by her lustrous black hair, barely reaching her neck but smooth enough to be allowed to wave at the slightest movement even at such short length.

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-----

It worked. It worked!

Of course it worked, how could the owner of that dumb now dazed face ever amount to anything!

Of course only a failure like Judas would ever think something like this. A true powerhouse of control magic would have an unwavering belief in themselves, not only because of all the experiences they came through and their resulting power, but also because their will itself influenced the power of their magic.

Fortunately for him, the backlash he was about to receive for having failed his magic, that is, being controlled by his target itself, would be less exactly because his magic was weak to begin with.

Unfortunately for him, the absoluteness of his target's will was such that it would be neverending.

-----

Well, the pretty girl wouldn't speak.

She must have been amazed by the grand sermon Raphael had dished out a couple of minutes earlier and came to him in the fit of the moment, but now obviously didn't know what to say to her new idol.

It was time for chivalrous Raphael to step in.

"Greetings! May I know your name pretty lass?"

Cringe.

But Raphael had never been more serious, or rather, he was always serious, or rather, he always liked putting on airs, but that didn't mean he didn't believe in what he said. Only the weak would need to disguise their true self.

Almost mechanically, with the hint of a subsided struggle within, the girl answered.

"I'm Judas."

What came after was said in a much more natural way.

"And I'm not a girl! Not even young! I'm a two century old man!"

But Raphael couldn't be stumped.

"No, that's impossible, you're a pretty lady of barely any years older than me."

And again came the struggling voice, this time much more strained than before.

"That's right, I'm a girl!"

Judas almost shrieked the last world as tears started gathering at the corner of her beautiful eyes.

"I have to go now."

She started for the door, but was caught by the firm hand of Raphael on her way.

"You don't have to worry, I can share more of my belief in God's gospel."

But such strong suggestions couldn't work anymore for now, so Judas quickly snapped out of it and used her barely superior strength to break free to leave as suddenly as she had appeared, still unaware that the suggestion implanted in her wouldn't end anytime soon.