Haan noticed Ryatt was utterly speechless by her behavior and words. This shocked her to her core, as she realized Ryatt could also understand Micky in this state. Micayle seemed genuinely sad and heartbroken after being taken from Luciano’s side. Hearing her so distraught made both Haan and Ryatt feel rather uncomfortable inside, although the latter didn’t understand why. Haan could tell he didn’t know what to make of any of it at all.

"Why would Luciano go through so much trouble just to hit Haan or Micayle with such a technique? How could he benefit from something like this?" I frowned as I asked my friends, unable to understand this plot.

"Lucky, Micky’s been cursed!" Haan told me frantically from Axel's back.

"A curse? Damn it!" I cursed furiously, no stranger to the terminology. I glanced at the pink collar tattoo on my friend's delicate pink neck, barely noticeable underneath the collar of her school uniform. I grimaced before asking, "How do we exorcise her curse, then?"

Cursed? I felt shocked in my heart. How could there be such terrible weapons?

Curses were extremely dangerous because they forced the victim to follow a particular set of rules, or the curse couldn’t be removed. The only other way was to exorcise the curse, but I had no idea how to do such a thing. My exposure to the world of power formulation had been relatively limited, after all. "It’s the Temporary Puppy Curse!" replied Haan, visibly surprised that I knew about curses. Noticing my suspicious gaze, she knew I was just as surprised with her. Haan decided to tell a white lie, as she couldn’t possibly reveal her identity, but she needed to help her friend somehow. "Don't look at me like that, Lucky. I'm not a slaver. I’ve only read about it…" Haan couldn’t save Micayle alone. So she decided not to withhold this information, even if she would make others suspicious of her identity. "Temporary Puppy Curse…" I furrowed my brow because this name sounded very familiar for some reason. I didn’t even wonder how Haan knew these things, preferring to reassess my memories at Wonder Corp. However, nothing came to mind. Defeated, I helplessly asked, "What is that? What does it do? How does it work? Does..." However, before I could finish my words, a thought hit me like a strike of lightning.

"Wait...that's right!" I suddenly remembered something. "This is gold rank voodoo, isn't it? So those really were Wonder Corp weapons. But all the voodoo tech is under strict supervision, and highly experimental. That lunatic Lucci used prototype weapons on his schoolmates?" "Prototype weapons?" Haan covered her mouth in shock. "So that's why so many weapons were required to activate the curse, it's still imperfect." Axel furrowed his brow as he listened to his two friends, but he remained silent as they ran. Axel couldn't help but feel a bit useless in this conversation, as he was the only one without unique knowledge that could save Micayle. Lucky was the stepson of a Wonder Corporation executive, and Haan was downright weird with her knowledge base. "This curse uses something called charm power to control the mind of the victim," Haan said anxiously. "Only profound life-forms should be capable of doing this, and all profound life-forms possess the ability to glamour the humble. It’s a slaver’s curse. Once the slave accepts the terms, the curse will sap their life-force, endlessly supplying it to the master until the set conditions are met…there is also another unique utility of this curse, and that is absolute subservience." "And those set conditions are what she means when she keeps saying she needs to play ten times?" I frowned as I quickly comprehended the critical details. Axel was once again stunned, as was Haan, though less so than the boy holding her. She had merely confirmed her suspicions about Lucky's disposition. "Lucky, you can understand what Micky’s saying? You can speak that weird language Luciano was using?" Axel asked in confusion. Axel felt completely puzzled by today's events. How could Lucky possibly know such a thing? Previously, Axel's best friend didn't even know about the profounder at the central plaza. Yet not he was well learned in some slaver language? And wait, did Haan also know this language? I nodded, oblivious to the oddity of understanding that ancient tongue. Actually, I had yet to notice I wasn't speaking in the world tongue. I continued calmly, not bothering to consider the topic, "What exactly is this play thing? What game does she need to play? If I play it with her ten times, won’t she be free?" "Ah, no! How could you do that?" Haan roared, blushing once she realized her reaction. She suddenly wondered what type of person this brat was really. Logic dictated that if he knew about curses, he had some knowledge of their users and the goals of such nefarious characters. Did Ryatt honestly not know, or was he feigning ignorance? Haan calmed herself before saying, "I mean, it is not the type of play you're thinking of, Little Luck. He wants to steal her purity and vital essence. The moment the curse became active, he started stealing her vital essence. It isn't so easy to steal her purity, it requires a separate act. Judging from her panicked behavior, I would say her vital essence is draining unusually fast. Could it be because of the weapons?" "Purity?" I cocked my head to the side in a bid to understand more clearly. I had an idea in my heart, but I didn't dare to accept it. Haan stared intently before deciding that I seemed not to be faking. "I don’t want to be the reason you lose your pure mind and heart," sighed Haan, shaking her head at how surprisingly naive this shockingly talented ten-year-old was in scenarios like this. 'Why is it that Ryatt understands the ancient devil tongue, but not this curse? Then again, boys are notoriously stupid in this way.' After thinking up to here, Haan said, "All you need to know is that if you want to help Micky, you either have to release her or find a way to serve her duties to her. Since Luciano can’t play with her, and she already consented to the slave contract, someone has to play with her ten times. However, to truly do such a thing would completely ruin her. It is not a solution for anything but saving her life. It was incredibly vicious and inhumane for him to say ten times, how could her soul even be able to endure that?" Requests that truly illicit fear or another powerful emotion would make a charm curse ineffective. Thinking up to here, Haan suddenly had an idea. "Is Micayle possibly as naive as you in that aspect? How could she not feel fear for 'that' as a young maiden? There is no way Micky wouldn't fear that. Is it possible for her to misunderstand the terms, as we are only ten this year? Could she really be oblivious to the wordplay, making her cursed mind flawed?

"Does that mean that as long Micky acknowledges an activity as playing, then it will count?" I asked incredulously, only vaguely understanding what Haan was mumbling to herself. Heating Lucky's conjecture, Haan didn’t dare to guarantee such a thing would work, and they didn’t have time to experiment. However, how could she convince two kids to do those things inappropriate things? It was completely unethical. "Didn’t you want to play a game, Mick? I’ll play with you," I looked at the girl in my arms, who stopped flailing as soon as I said the words ‘I’ll play with you.’ Micayle looked at me with extreme anticipation. Seeing this, I laughed while saying, "This game is called count the steps. The first one to ten wins!" "OH!!! AH, WOOF WOOF!" Micayle’s eyes lit up excitedly as she clapped her hands and barked like an excited pup. "I want to play; I want to play!" I grimaced when Micayle barked at me, but this made her sad. I quickly replaced it with a smile, and Micky immediately looked happy and excited again. Resigned, I started playing a game I just made up with my cursed friend.

"1, 2, 3…10! I win!" "Darn, you won again." "10! I win for the fourth time, hehe! You only won twice." "Oh great Plato, you already won five times." "Okay, let’s play one more time," after several minutes, I finally heaved a sigh of relief that this seemed to be working. "Okay, you played with me the mostest, now. You have to be my daddy now and play with me for real this time." Dong! I suddenly heard a strange bell-like sound in my heart, and then I had the feeling that I was looking at my pet when I gazed at Micayle. Such a sensation made me feel a little sick and felt terrified for my friend. Is this what it was like to own a slave seal? At the same time, a black puppy glyph appeared on the back of my left palm. Along with its appearance came a rush of a pure, refreshing, and warm stream of energy that seemed to melt into my body automatically. It filled me with ecstasy and power. I became rendered instantly baffled, my face changing from horror, to ecstasy, to bewilderment. Seeing my childish face continuously change and the black puppy tattoo on my hand, Haan realized something. She immediately asked, "Did Micky sever her connection with Luciano and hand ownership of her contract over to you? How is that possible? Is it a secret rule?" "Secret rule? What’s that?" Axel asked the girl on his back in confusion. He was curious as to how Haan knew so much about the world of magic and voodoo refiners, but now wasn't the time to ask as they were desperately fleeing. "Curses are a profound and dark form of mana manipulation known as voodoo. It’s voodoo that follows the principles of death and order," Haan said excitedly. "Most curses have secret rules, or back doors, tricks that the caster can use as a backup solution to certain situations. Now that Ryatt found the back door to this curse, we don’t have to worry about Lucci being able to track us through her. We can really escape!" "Good! Let's get to my mother's...hey. Wait, where’s Mikey?" I said, suddenly noticing Mikah wasn’t running with us now that I had stopped. "Crap," Axel also only noticed now that Mikah wasn’t with them. He immediately came to a stop and lowered Haan from his back. The latter stepped down on one leg unwillingly, grimacing as her injured ankle supported some of her weight. Axel smiled at the pretty chocolate girl apologetically and said, "He must have gotten stopped by Luciano! He’ll be toast by himself. I’m going back." "Axel…" Haan wanted to stop Axel, but my voice cut her off. "Go, make sure you bring him back," I also stopped, mainly because Micayle wouldn’t stop licking all over my face now that she had acknowledged me as her master.

As I put this puppy version of Micayle down, Axel had already shot off back in the other direction. "Play with me, daddy, I need it," Micayle begged softly in the ancient voice, whining. The sound was so soft and alluring, giving me goosebumps that were creeping me out. What the heck is wrong with her? When she says play now…it feels completely different from before. There's some type of bell in my mind as if...she's summoning me or offering herself to me. I feel a strong desire coming from her through the strange tingling from the tattoo on my hand.

I explained this to Haan in resignation.

Micayle's words from before gave me a feeling I was utterly unfamiliar with, and I didn’t particularly care for it. It felt forced, artificial. I honestly didn’t know what to do with this version of Micayle. I looked pleadingly at Haan for answers, asking, "And why do I feel as if she’s slowly becoming a part of me?" "What?!" Haan exclaimed, her expression betraying her bewildered heart.

"I don't know how to explain it," I started. "Ever since this tattoo appeared, I can detect her presence everywhere inside me. It’s very…strange." "Sigh…I was afraid of this," Haan released a deep breath of frustration, temporarily ignoring the fact that I could sense energy waves despite my humble status. Instead, she offered me an educated guess "By following her definition of playing and almost completing the curse, you were able to override her previous master. However, you didn’t end the curse, so now you would still have to end it. Now that you are her master, it could only be you who finishes the contract. There is no other way to end it other than force, and we aren't strong enough for that. It would also end if I killed you. Maybe. It might just transfer back to the original owner." "How am I supposed to play with her, exactly?" I growled in frustration, ignoring the line about my death. Since when was it so hard to play with someone that you had to risk your very life? Haan stared at me quietly for a couple of breaths before leaning forward and whispering in my ear. Hearing what this girl said, my face immediately turned scarlet. ------- Haan's Heart:

"W-w-w-w-what do you mean to do that? With Micky? W-wait, that's… No, no, no, I can’t do that, I absolutely can’t do that! I mean, we’re only ten. How could I do that to her?" Ryatt completely lost his composure in a panic. He clearly never expected to hear such words. I giggled involuntarily because this previously overbearing fighter was still a rather cute little boy. I felt internally relieved that it wasn’t all an act, like my own act. However, my immature face quickly became severe.

Should I push for two preteens to have sexual intercourse? In my heart, I knew Micayle would die otherwise. However, I also knew that MIcayle might kill herself as a result. Such a thing would hardly be unusual. Could Ryatt bear that guilt for a lifetime? Not to mention they were mere children. No matter how I thought about it seemed like a completely wicked solution that would solve less than it caused.

What I told Ryatt was simply the truth. I really didn’t know a better way out of the situation. What else could they do with their meager power? Even I was helpless in this reincarnated body. After all, I hadn't even awakened my elemental awareness yet. How could I help them? "Lucky, you can feel it, can’t you?" I spoke honestly, my pretty eyes carrying nothing but sincerity and urgency. "I don’t want you to do it either. Absolutely not. I wish I never had to tell you about this method. But now that she acknowledged you, her vital energy is slowly flowing into you through your respective curse seals. If you don’t do it…she’ll die by giving her life to you. Is that what you want? To absorb Micayle's everything and let her drop dead in your arms?"