Marcus immediately began feeling a wave of unceasing rage coming over him the moment he successfully began possessing Zaila.
The barbed, pitch-black stake that had been lodged into her body was releasing thin dark tendrils that attacked the soul of whatever came in contact with it. Driving them into a fury that painted the entire world as their enemy.
For a moment Marcus almost added his strength to Zaila's rampage, but before he was overcome, he managed to keep a steady head.
He was still experiencing the intense desire to rampage, but thanks to his Still Mind unique skill he was able to resist the effects that would make him lose himself.
'Damn, this thing is way nastier than I was expecting.' Marcus thought as he used his spiritual energy to fight off the tendrils trying to warp his perception.
While his unique skill did say in its description that it gave him an immunity to mind altering abilities, it was not truly perfect. The magic item that had been used on Zaila was incredibly powerful, to the point where it was almost overpowering his unique skill.
Of course, Marcus had always known that his immunity was not actually perfect. In the case of someone else with a unique skill or Supreme Skill that affected the mind, he would not be guaranteed to resist their power.
'This is not enough to beat me though.'
Pushing through the torrent of fury that had consumed Zaila's soul, Marcus made his way towards the epicenter of it all.
His goal was to destroy or remove the barbed stake and bring Aezam's guardian beast back to her senses.
However, this was not going to be an easy feat as the close he got to his goal, the more resistance he felt from Zaila's soul.
While entering her body and soul had been easy enough the constant waves of rage that were washing over her soul pushed Marcus back the closer he got to the center.
It also did not help that he was being attacked by more and more dark tendrils that required more focus to keep at bay. If he let his guard down for a moment, he could find his unique skill not sufficient to protect his mind.
'Damn it. I can't go any further.'
He could not see where the magic item had anchored itself to Zaila's soul, but he was unable to reach it to either destroy it or force it out.
For an instant Marcus let his frustration get the better of him and he attempted to force his way through by unleashing a burst of his spiritual energy. Except this only caused the pitch-black stake to flair up and attack him with greater vigor. Trying to latch onto the momentary lapse in Marcus' calm.
Feeling the assault coming for him Marcus had to back off and calm down. He could not allow himself to let his emotions flare for even a second or he would find himself entangled by rage.
'There must be something I can do. I do not have much longer.' Marcus thought, running through each of his powers and finding one that would help him in this situation.
Unfortunately, the answer that he came to was not one he wanted to consider. He did have some abilities that would likely help, but he was loathe to use them.
It had been a long time since he had used his Soul Devour unique skill and life drain specter power, but he could not think of anything else he could attempt that would weaken Zaila's power enough for him to reach where her soul was being afflicted by the pitch-black, barbed stake.
'Control. All I need to do is siphon off a bit of her strength. I can do this.' Marcus thought, attempting to psych himself up.
Frankly he was not sure what was going to happen, he had nearly lost himself to his Soul Devour unique skill before. Nevertheless, he felt he needed to try something. Killing Zaila just because she had been forced into an unending frenzy did not sit well with him. Plus, he was not sure if they would be capable of killing her in the first place.
Like putting a key into a lock, Marcus once again brought out the powers he had kept sealed away and never wanted to use again.
Immediately he felt an intoxicating elation come over him as he began draining Zaila's soul and lifeforce. The strength of a phoenix was flowing into him, and he wanted to drain it all until he had it all.
It had been quite some time since he last used these powers, and he had forgotten how amazing it was to devour not only life, but the very soul itself.
Faster and faster, Marcus opened up and absorbed more of Zaila's Soll and lifeforce. Taking in the power of a being at Zaila's level was far different than when Marcus had used this power before. The energy flowing into him was greater than ever before.
There was a reason he kept his Soul Devour under lock and key and it was because it was so easy to be consumed by his own ability.
'MARCUS! What are you doing!?'
Suddenly hearing a shout in his head, Marcus snapped out of the daze he had gone into and realized that he was not in control at all. He had been draining Zaila's life and devouring her soul at full force.
Coming back to his senses, Marcus reined his abilities in and managed to prevent himself from going too far.
'Sorry Mraz, I need to weaken her a bit before I can reach the stake. I promise I am still in control.' Marcus responded.
He knew that she must have been checking Zaila's status frequently with her dragon eyes and certainly noticed that she picked up more status conditions from Marcus' life drain and Soul devour.
'You know you should not be taking risks like that. Those powers consume you just as much as your target.' Mrazivy said over telepathy with a chastising tone.
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