"That’s an old joke"
Cindy comnted before turning her attention towards the child before them.
What was once a young adult woman was now a little girl who was calling out towards Richard believing him to be her father.
It was a truly mystical mont, even for a witch like Cindy, the scene before her was truly a first and she’s the witch who brought to life urban legends!
"I... I gave Maiko so of my flesh and blood... just a little bit- should I have given her so sen instead?"
Richard comnted as he stared at the little girl not knowing what to say or do.
His sen was really effective in transforming Maria, while it did need so rather specific conditions to work, that exactly was the reason why Richard was doing this experint.
Moreover, he didn’t really need to use sen, so long as it contained a bit of his life essence, anything was possible.
He didn’t tell anyone about the full scope of his plan except for Maiko but now that sothing weird happened-
"You gave Maiko what?"
Cindy quickly reacted to his comnt and confronted Richard who raised his hands in surrender while explaining.
"Hey, you really think I like fucking every hour? Even dicks get sore and... I think I’m getting a rash- hopefully it’s just a friction rash..."
Cindy rolled her eyes at Richard, "A rash? Really? Soone who could heal lost limbs with magic is worried about a rash?"
The sarcasm in the young witches voice was strong but Richard did not let it get to him as he shot back-
"Hey! You can’t prove that!"
But Cindy too was unperturbed, instead, her gaze looked down at Richard’s chest.
"..."
Richard went silent and turned his gaze away, while answering in a subdued tone-
"It was supposed to be a surprise... also, you wouldn’t allow to do such a test if you knew..."
He was like a kid who got caught lying and Cindy, like a mother who was tired of her son’s bullshit responded-
"And? What did that lead to?"
Richard didn’t want to take this all alone, there was a reason why he got Maiko to do it...
Aside from the fact that he tried to hit two birds with one stone- a bad idea since he was unlikely to find out where the problem ca from.
The scientific thod focused on isolating factors to quickly and efficiently point out cause and effect.
But Richard was not doing an experint that had zero oversight and that he had full control over.
He tried to add multiple factors in hoping that he could isolate them when shit really hit the fan.,
"Maiko! Help out here! Where are you?!"
Richard called out and the female yokai appeared from the kids shadow-
But what none of them expected was the words the kid spoke-
"MAMA!"
Upon seeing Maiko, the kid imdiately lunged at her, hugging the tall yokai and declaring Maiko as her "mom".
Seeing this, everyone turned to Richard who raised his hands and shook his head as he said-
"Wasn’t ... wait! She was transford into a kid! That’s not natural!"
"Magic is not natural"
"..."
Richard’s words were quickly refuted leaving him in silence.
For so reason, Richard found it harder to fight with Cindy, especially in this situation and now he was left waiting for Cindy and the rest to piece things together.
"So? What happened?"
Cindy turned to Maiko and asked, her face was serious as she demanded an explanation and Maiko turned her gaze aside as she hesitate for just a mont before capitulating-
"Richard taught a thod based on the technique that you used to create your pets. Using that thod, he believed it would be possible to dominate, control and reshape not only the body but also the soul of a living being... we won’t make undead or robotic homunculi... the goal was rebirth..."
Maiko’s explanation made Cindy want to puml Richard to the ground but she held back as she asked Maiko-
"Then why was she turned into a child?"
Cindy could grasp what had happened, the reason why Richard was called "Dada" was likely a result of his flesh and blood being used as a dium.
That mystical connection of flesh and blood created a subconscious connection between Richard and the kid.
Moreover, since most of the work and mystical energy ca from Maiko herself, the resulting connection the kid had towards her was nothing more than a consequence of the experint.
But... Cindy still wanted to know, if rebirth was the goal, why did she turn into a kid?
Richard was not an idealist, he was a realist and his goal for such a spell was obvious.
When talking about "rebirth" Richard did not an "turning back into a baby", what he ant was the recreation of the body.
In other words, the goal of the spell should have been for the adult woman to turn into a subservient puppet, completely human with so adjustnts for magic but ultimately a blank slate that could be imparted with a desired personality or consciousness.
Yet for so reason, the woman regressed into a child and Cindy knew that whatever problem occurred, only Maiko would know.
Cindy pressed the yokai, her expression severe enough to cause the little kid to hide behind Maiko.
But Cindy could care less about the idiot adult who was now a child. What she wanted to know were answers and she wasn’t going to let a complex problem cause her to waste ti and energy.
Still, what Cindy heard from Maiko was truly unexpected-
"Well... most of it should be because of -"
"Explain"
"Magic is governed by will, right? Even the most complex spell would still be affected by the caster’s own mind."
"What does that have to do with- wait... did you?"
Maiko showed an expression of sha and guilt as she nodded.
"The situation in Japan’s not getting any better, moreover, the yokai are all starting to split up the land. As you are all aware, mystical beings like need a few things to survive, while I don’t mind the changes in Japan... I saw a path that was... easier..."
Maiko continued on to explain how she planned to use the woman as a dium to incarnate herself into the world.
Through that thod, she could gain a body that was capable of magic, likely had great potential as it received Richard’s flesh and blood while still having access to the forr powers she had as a yokai.
If all goes well, Maiko would end up under Richard’s care, she would have access to various knowledge and abilities.
She would have the protection of Richard and escape the fate of being constant war with her fellow yokai.
There was nothing negative about it and even the life she was going to take was one that really deserved to die.
But Maiko’s plan failed, she was unable to incarnate herself in the body and all the power that should have been there for her nearly destroyed the mortal vessel.
Yet, in the middle of the near destruction, the power of Richard’s flesh and blood erged.
The vessel was kept stable but it ca with a cost-
The previous woman had her whole existence taken away.
Everything about her that was within her body was taken away.
All that was left for the body was an empty vessel and before Maiko could even make a move to reincarnate, the world had corrected the error and a new personality had sprung up within the body.
It had nothing to do with the deceased athlete but it had the ability to grow and develop.
The body did not start at infancy and because of that, mories were taken from the previous soul that owned the body, so from Maiko’s own mind and a smaller part from Richard.
Maiko’s explanation made it sound like the issue was solutionable-
But the reality was different.
Everything happened quickly, so could even say that it all happened in a flash.
While Maiko was busy trying to keep things stable, the whole rebirth process had been completed and the new personality that erged to take over had already rooted itself within the young body.
When that happened, it was basically impossible for Maiko to even try and wrestle control over the boy from the newly born consciousness.
Not because Maiko was weak mind you, the reason why she couldn’t really do anything had more to do with Richard’s desired creation than it did with Maiko’s power.
The spell was a recreation of not only the physical body but the spiritual vein.
While Maiko had expelled the original personality which should have removed the protection that was in place for the soul evolution process- the lack of a soul is what triggered the cascade of occurrences that led to the birth of the child.
Maiko’s act of completely expelling the previous owner of the body led to the developnt of a blank soul. This blank soul was then affected by the spell of transformation.
Unable to impose its own will and born from the essence of life carried by Richard led to the soul having a frightening level of talent.
The soul already had a natural instinct to protect itself the mont the evolution was complete.
At that point, Maiko could only resign herself and watch as the vessel she tried to prepare for herself beca its own person and developed an ego.
The get rich quick sche that the tall yokai cooked up went down the drain before it could even be started.
"So that’s it huh..."
Richard who was tuning into the whole conversation interjected while nodding his head in understanding.
"Am I fired?"
Maiko asked Richard, she knew that she had fucked up but Richard was not going to let go of a talent because of sothing that small.
"Nah, you’ve given us good data, this may have even saved a lot of lives you know? In any case, Maiko, you stay here. I’ll leave the duty of caring for the kid to you. All you need to do is live like a housewife, I’ll handle the rest"
After getting a good understanding of what had transpired, Richard imdiately had a sudden "EUREKA!" mont.
He gave Maiko his decision, he won’t kick her out and instead giver her that easy life she was scheming to get.
After he gave his decisions to Maiko, Richard imdiately rushed out of the dungeon, the epiphany won’t last long and he wanted to keep as much of the sudden thoughts as he could.
Cindy sighed at the sight of Richard escaping in a rush.
"You heard what he said, I’ll give you the bonus job of dealing with these worthless guys. I’ll help Richard and make SURE he doesn’t do anything crazy again"
With such a declaration, Cindy quickly followed Richard’s steps leaving Maiko unable to do anything but watch.
The last person in the basent was Maria but even she-
"Good luck"
Rushed out following Cindy’s tail leaving Maiko truly alone with the prisoners and her new kid-
"Well... at least I got myself a al ticket... yeah, that’s going to be your na, understand? al ticket?"
"MAMA!"
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