"There he is," Moriyana said, pointing towards Haruki walking into her office.
Seated opposing her, Fay turned around to address the duke. Getting out of her chair, she moved to the side and bowed to show respect towards the land's ruler. A bit thrown off by her sudden formal behavior, Haruki stopped in front of the desk and glared at her bowing her head.
"I think we're both past the point of formalities, so it's best we treated each other the same way we treated the same way as on our journey back home," pulling up a chair for himself, Haruki sat down before holding his hand towards the chair beside him. "Relax a bit, I'm not here for any diplomatic reason, you don't need to be so tense."
Still a bit reluctant to let off the mask of courtesy, Fay teetered over to the offered seat. As Fay settled down on it, knowing what to do, Asuka moved around the desk and placed her hands on Fay's shoulders.
"Charm!" Activating the spell, Asuka had managed to weaken Fay's mental fortitude.
"Wha…what are you doing?" Fay asked, turning to look at Asuka.
Having expected the skill to be not as effective on her, Asuka clamped her head between her hands and turned her face around to face Haruki.
"Hypnosis!" Attacking her psyche further, Haruki managed to break through the mental barrier protecting her from being controlled by someone else.
"Here," placing the love potion Fay had been waiting for on the table, Moriyana explained the rest of the plan. "Have her drink it from your hands, and she will be madly in love with you."
"You sure this won't be as extreme as the priestess?" Remembering back to yesterday night, the face of Serena watching him from the window was still haunting him today. "She won't collapse either, right? I need her awake, the priestess was knocked out after I instinctively used that love spell on her."
"She won't trust me, the mistress's spells are extreme and my potions are balanced," although he was still worried that Fay might turn into a stalker like Serena, he decided to go along with the plan.
Uncorking the bottle, he held its neck by her lips. Slowly as the potion trailed into her mouth, a deep red glow could be seen coming from her beating heart.
"Why the hell did she need this anyway? And how did the minotaurs come into play to make it?" Haruki asked, purely out of curiosity.
"She likes to collect rare items, as for the later question…" Pressing her lips together, she shied away from looking at Haruki. "I had to milk-ahem! Get their essence for the potion!"
"Great…" Knowing exactly what she meant when she mentioned milking the male minotaurs, Haruki quickly put aside the emptied bottle. "Did it work?"
"Let it digest you idiot," letting out a chuckle, Moriyana leaned onto the table flaunting her chest. "If you were expecting some action so soon, why don't you try it on me?"
Pulling the front lace of her blouse open, she had her breasts almost powering out of the dress. Squeezing them together with her arms, she bit her lips trying to seduce Haruki.
"I've gained plenty of levels turning those chattery citizens into servants, you can drain those levels out of me if you want," as she drew herself closer to Haruki, Asuka placed her hand on Moriyana's face and forced her back into her seat.
"Master is planning a small vacation once we're done dealing with Rose, so until then keep your lips tight shut, and I'm talking about your upper and lower lips both," glaring at her with a frown, Asuka wasn't holding back on showing their rivalry.
"Ughh, whatever," shrugging her shoulders, Moriyana pulled herself out of the desk. "Just make her crush the rest of Snow's soul while she's hypnotized, the love potion effect is gradual so don't expect it to kick in just yet."
Making her way into the back room, Moriyana left the two to handle the situation. Hearing her explanation, Haruki hoped he could still use Asmodia's abilities so he wouldn't have to rely on the potion and could simply copy Fay's ability with just a touch.
'I guess there's no point in thinking about that.' Opening up a dungeon portal, Haruki took out a small jar. Turning back to gaze into Fay's now empty eyes, he took a deep breath before giving her the command.
"Take out whatever part of Snow's soul is left inside me and put it in this," as he commanded, Fay's hands began moving on their own.
Reaching for Haruki's collar she began unbuttoning his top until his naked chest was completely visible.
"What is she doing?" Asuka asked, feeling a bit threatened by her action.
"We'll have to see," following his words, Fay began chanting a spell that conformed two pale astral hands hovering over Haruki's chest.
Pushing in against his skin, they plunged deep into his body, and as their fingers disappeared inside him a pained groan left Haruki's lips.
"Master?!" Asuka yelped in horror, but before she could reach forward, Haruki held his hand towards her to stop her from interrupting.
"I-it's okay…this is nothing compared to Rose's flames," he tried to chuckle to make her feel more comforted, but it only ended up with him wheezing out in pain.
"Don't speak," Asuka advised, her worries apparent on her face.
Keeping his mouth shut, Haruki's fingers clutched tighter on the glass jar. As Fay's chants continued, a purifying beam of light emanated throughout Haruki's body, making his flesh, his nerves, and even his skin glow up from the inside and strike out shadows of his bones and organs around the walls around him.
"Healing touch!" Unable to keep watching, Asuka grabbed onto her screaming master. "Healing touch! Healing touch!"
With his very soul deeply combined with Snow, Haruki was feeling his existence being torn into as Fay kept trying to untangle Snow from Haruki.
"Amarylissia Freya," uttering those words, Fay snatched the untangled soul of the real duke by drawing the astral hands out of Haruki's body. "In the jar."
Heeding her command, the hands confined the blinding spear of light inside the mason jar. However, the very moment she was done with Haruki, her eyes stopped beaming a silver glow and her body flopped sideways onto the table.
'I don't think I can…' His vision growing blurry, Haruki too fell victim to exhaustion.
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