“What, is the Void Decree not valuable enough for you?” Percy asked back, a little surprised by the Denyte’s nonchalance.
Zurvanai shook her head. “It’s not that it’s not valuable. I just don’t see why you’re in such a hurry to get it. Can’t you wait until next year? With your skills, I’m sure you’ll earn it after a few attempts, without having to break any rules.”
“I have my reasons,” Percy replied vaguely. “Will you help or not?”
The female Denyte appeared genuinely conflicted. On one hand, she didn’t seem to realize that helping him get the Decree was as big of a cri as he knew it was. On the other, she clearly didn’t want to get in trouble over nothing either.
“Define what you an by ‘generously compensated’,” she said after a few monts of silent deliberation.
Percy briefly considered how to phrase his response. “I’m not sure that either of us will receive what I hope we will, but I promise you that you’ll walk away with at least as many gains as .”
He didn’t go into detail, but he knew that Zurvanai was getting the better end of the deal. If the Void and Moirais’ Decrees didn’t stack, neither party would obtain a third mana core, yet the female Denyte wouldn’t really lose anything.
On the flipside, she was more likely to end up with a new core if the Decrees did stack, since she and Percy would be using her body. Percy already knew that he could pass the Moirais’ Decree to his hosts, though he sadly had no idea whether the Void Decree could be brought back to Remior.
“I’m struggling to see what could be valuable enough to match the Void Decree or be worth the risk, though I have no reason to decline if you’re willing to guarantee the truthfulness of your words as part of our contract,” Zurvanai conceded with a shrug. “How is this going to work?”
Percy couldn’t help but tense up. This was another major turning point in the negotiations.
“My bloodline allows to place a piece of my soul in another’s body, possessing them. I’ll need to inflict a few… rather painful… cuts on your soul first, but I’ve done this thousands of tis and I swear that you’re going to be completely safe. And that’s it. You just have to acquire the Decree with my clone inside your body, and hope that it spills over to . I’ll give you sothing equally valuable back simply by possessing you, but you won’t know what exactly it is until after you accept my terms.”
“Possession?!” Her eyes widened in realization as she leapt back. “You! You’re not Kassorith!”
“Kassorith is still in here, alive and healthy,” Percy hurriedly said. “He’s a little annoyed that he got eliminated from the tournant, and even more so since I’m negotiating with a new host, but he’s otherwise fine. Better off than when I first t him, even.”
“Who the fuck are you?!” Zurvanai demanded, sounding genuinely hostile for the first ti since the start of the conversation. Percy hadn’t felt anything off yet, but he could tell that she was barely holding herself back from activating her bloodline.
Sadly for her, she had already agreed not to attack him, regardless of what information he revealed. Lifting even a single finger against Percy would be the sa as forfeiting her life.
“Calm down. I’m only offering you this deal because you said that you’re open to working with outsiders. Was all of that just a bunch of hot air?” he asked.
The Denyte frowned, Percy’s words having clearly struck a nerve. “Are you honestly going to talk to about cooperation after deceiving , possessing one of our people – like a parasite – and infiltrating our alliance?”
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Percy shook his borrowed head. “Like I said, Kassorith was more than happy to participate in the tournant and earn a bunch of Decrees with my help. He’ll get to keep them and resu his life after I leave.”
Obviously, Percy conveniently left out the part about his host fleeing to the Vault, along with the spy who had escorted him here. This was a whole other complication that didn’t need to be brought into the discussion.
“That just makes him a traitor! It doesn’t make you an ally!” the woman protested.
“Fair. But I haven’t hurt anyone either,” Percy argued back.
“What about all the contestants you’ve disqualified?” Zurvanai asked. “The way I see it, every prize you have claid should have belonged to sobody else.”
“Not really. There’s no limit to the number of participants that can get through the preliminaries, and Remlat told that he doesn’t care about the rewards that much anymore. There’s only one person who would have made the top half of the group if not for .” Percy sighed. “I’m sorry about that, but you said it yourself: most of the void tournant’s participants can try again next year. I only had this one chance, so I did what I had to. Not everyone gets to be born in a peak faction, princess.”
Zurvanai’s gaze eased, but only slightly. Percy had practically admitted that he had originated from a world that wasn’t a threat to the alliance, which had probably played a big role in that. However, it didn’t seem like she was going to let him off the hook that easily.
“Be that as it may, we aren’t a charity. I’ll only ask you once: where are you from?”
“It doesn’t matter how many tis you ask. I won’t tell you,” Percy said, leaving no room for debate. “If you are worried about the threat that my people may pose on yours, don’t be. I’m from a much weaker world that you’ve probably never heard of. We’re worse off than even Kassorith’s planet, though I’ll have to keep the details to myself for our safety – whether or not that ruins any chance of striking a deal with you.”
Percy extended his host’s hand again, and Zurvanai grabbed it after a mont of hesitation. As soon as their palms connected, he activated Kerfyl’s Decree to volunteer an additional clause into their contract, stipulating that everything he had told her had been the truth.
The Denyte finally seed to calm down. “Let’s say I believe that you’re just an opportunistic scavenger who snuck past our defences and gathered a bunch of our scraps. I still don’t see why I should willingly leak our most precious Decree to an outsider, regardless of how insignificant your origins may be.”
Percy shrugged. “What is there to be scared of? You’re one of the alliance’s most promising mortals. How many mages do the Moirai or Sixiang have who are more talented than you? Even if this had been one of them, they wouldn’t necessarily gain more from this deal than you – let alone a random person from so backwater planet.”
“That only works if you genuinely give sothing of equal or greater value to the Void Decree. I have yet to see any proof of your claim,” the Denyte corrected him.
“Let the contract take care of that. I promise to provide adequate compensation. If I’m lying, I’ll be dead and no longer your problem. If I’m not, you just have to give a ride until you acquire the Void Decree, and we can both go on our rry ways.”
Zurvanai fell silent again, hopefully considering his offer seriously. Percy had revealed as much as he could, painting everything in the best possible light, all while avoiding any blatant lies.
Thankfully, Percy wasn’t obligated to reveal that he wasn’t as beholden to his vows as the Denyte thought, nor that he genuinely believed himself to hold just as much potential as any of the peak factions’ mortals.
‘The worst she can do is say no,’ Micky spoke through their connection, clearly trying to relieve so of Percy’s stress. ‘She can’t touch us until we’re gone, and we’ve earned more than enough rewards to celebrate.’
‘Only if the alliance doesn’t have the ans to free those under the influence of a contract,’ Percy replied. ‘I don’t think she’d be able to do it in short order, but we may have just made it harder to infiltrate the Void Hand again in the future.’
Despite saying that, Percy didn’t regret trying. Even if he had postponed his attempt to claim the Void Decree, he would have still had to trust one of the alliance’s people later, so the situation wouldn’t have been any different. Zurvanai seed like the sort of person he could work with, she was already just a step away from the prize, and Percy had taken every precaution possible.
The Denyte sighed. “You will only possess right before the ceremony, to minimize the odds of anyone noticing. You won’t get to interfere in my battles or earn any rewards besides the Void Decree with my help, and you’ll only survive long enough to bring it ho if you give sothing genuinely valuable enough. Furthermore, you are not allowed to force your will over or do anything strange to my body, unless I act against you first.”
Percy’s borrowed heart skipped a beat as Zurvanai offered him her hand once more. Activating Kerfyl’s Decree, he anded the contract one final ti, figuratively signing the agreent into existence.
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