It was easier said than done, but I still had a chance. Leaving my body in a spectral form after transferring control was something I could manage even now. If I expended all my cursed energy reserves, there was a shot at breaking through Marcus’s energy frame, despite the massive difference in our power. I mean, am I a demon or not?!
No sooner thought than done. Without wasting words, I conveyed to Dima what I needed from him when we switched places. Then I essentially forced him to take control of the body. That’s just how it works—normally, only one person can steer the body at a time. All I needed to do was temporarily relinquish my authority.
The sensation was far from pleasant. It was like I had ripped my soul out of my body, leaving only a tenuous connection through cursed energy. I could still charge the cores to use my gift, but I couldn’t tap into the body’s mana.
There wasn’t time to adjust to this form or test my capabilities. I barely slipped out of the body, ensuring the gnome wouldn’t notice me, and prepared to make my move.
As soon as Marcus reached for the remaining crystals, with a significant risk of grabbing the detonation-ready one, I sprang into action. Diving into the ghostly rubbery mass, I approached this “doctor” without giving away my presence.
I was just in time—Marcus had already picked up my glowing grenade and was about to continue drawing power from it. At that moment, Dima and I began executing the hastily cobbled-together plan simultaneously.
Dima, still not fully aware of himself and struggling to adjust to his significantly altered body, lunged toward the gnome’s statue with all his might. We were lucky that the liquid rubber wasn’t solid, allowing Dima to break through—albeit almost blindly, given his barely functional magical vision.
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Marcus, momentarily stunned by this unexpected turn, hesitated. Who wouldn’t? The “victim” had spent the entire day showing no signs of resistance, so the “doctor” reacted too late.
Marcus deactivated his gift and prepared to bind “me” with basic magic. But by then, I had gathered my strength and attempted to invade his body. In the first second, I lost more than half of the cursed energy I had just accumulated, but I managed to seize control of the gnome’s follower.
“What are you waiting for, idiot?! Grab him…” came the irritating, gurgling voice I immediately recognized.
It wasn’t hard to guess who Marcus was speaking with. Heh, as if that gnome wouldn’t be screaming right now, given that Dima had grabbed onto its cracked grin and was skillfully maneuvering behind the statue. This was exactly what I’d been waiting for!
Ignoring the furious shrieks of the enraged deity, I clenched the "bomb" crystal tightly in my hand, triggering an immediate detonation. The explosion was so powerful it threw me out of Marcus’s body and back into my “passenger seat.” Then the chain reaction set off the other remaining charged crystals…
Marcus was instantly incinerated, along with the examination table and every other object in the room—except for the gnome statue. The statue didn’t even wobble, despite enduring a blast comparable to a veteran’s magic or perhaps even a magister’s. Divine focal points—stubborn bastards. But for the first time, its resilience worked in my favor.
Our shared body with Dima survived, though temporarily deafened and not in great shape. A blast wave is still a blast wave, and while we avoided direct impact, our body didn’t escape unscathed.
Not even a minute passed before the room became crowded with guards pouring in from all directions. Understandable—an explosion like that could have been heard by the deaf. Some of the guards even had blood trickling from their ears, clearly having been too close to the blast themselves.
Dima promptly passed out, relinquishing control to me and giving me a chance to begin emergency recovery. As the humans say, *“If it hurts, you’re alive.”* And oh, I was very much alive—*everything* hurt!
In this state, resistance against the incoming guards was out of the question. I probably couldn’t even stand without help, and all the cursed energy I had went into those brief moments of control over the now-late Marcus. My only hope now was that I had accurately gauged the gnome’s character and that he wouldn’t kill me outright. If he decided to prolong his revenge, he’d be in for a veryunpleasant surprise soon enough!