You mull her words over in your head as you return to bed. Just find people to gather malice for you? Easy enough to say! It isn't like you are a crime boss or a gang leader. And there's no way a seven year old without Body modifications is ever going to become one of those! So then, how are you going to assemble a group of minions to commit your evil deeds for you? You aren't an evil overlord who could just summon them? The only group of people you have access to are your classmates. Would it be possible to do something with them? They should be prepared at least to listen to you, considering the effects of your Aura. Except even if you could influence them, there isn't much a group of kids can do, right?
Actually, now that you think about it, kids can be pretty nasty right? Their moral compasses haven't been properly developed yet, so it might actually be easier to convince them to do bad things. And you couldn't exactly toss a seven year old in jail. All you'd have to deal with is angry parents and teachers. Which would actually just net you more malice, right? It would all be indirect, but if you play it carefully you could be the sly puppet master, manipulating your classmates to do your dirty work for you without ever getting any dirt on yourself. And if you can insure your classmates's loyalty you can make sure they don't point any fingers at you. It might work...
You are awake before you even realise you were asleep. You still aren't close to an answer, but you at least have more ideas. Not just about malice, but about the soul storage as well. If it is possible to store souls in the Diary you probably don't need this jewel you were given. But you are still trying to hide its existance from everyone. So you should probably use this gem, just as a smokescreen.
For now it might be worth checking to see if you can move Zach's soul from inside your head to inside the Diary without the dagger devouring it. A few minutes of careful, tense experimentation later you determine that it is indeed possible to store souls in the Diary. You test this by moving one of your new souls into the Diary and then out again. Confident that it now works you try the same thing with Zach, moving him back and forth between the Diary and your own head. Perfect! Now, so long as you keep your valuable souls inside the Diary you shouldn't lose them when you die!
Congratulations you now have more souls! Hopefully this will keep our taskmaster off our back for a little while!
Congratulations! You've unlocked Tier 1 Body. Body abilities typically do not require Mana to activate. Instead you will be using Stamina instead. You'll start with a maximum Stamina of 20. Your Tier 2 Mind will allow you to transfer 10 Mana per day into Stamina but you are currently unable to do this in reverse. Heighten Senses (Level 1) Has also been unlocked. Try not to use it too close to something you don't want to be smelling or hearing!
After your free ability you still have 167 Malice in Reserve. Previously I mentioned that only Sleep (Level 1) was left to unlock in Mind. This is actually incorrect. Clarity is also available. This ability will allow us to examine what is going on inside our head. Do we want to use 100 Malice unlocking another ability?
You've now unlocked Clarity! The Tier 2 ability Clairvoyance is now available and can be unlocked with enough malice! While largely unremarkable on it's own Clarity is a valuable step for unlocking higher level Mind abilities! You can also use it now to examine the condition of your own mind. It might help make sure you don't end up acting without wanting to anymore. And maybe the creepy visions will go away as well, assuming you want that, of course!
You decide to take advantage of your new resources for a couple of upgrades. First you take advantage of your new souls to unlock your last category. Now you can finally start upgrading your physical abilities. Then you decide to use some of your saved malice for a Mind ability. Now you should be able to see what's going on in there. You immediately concentrate on your own mind to see what you can find...
To your surprise you discover that you actually only have full control over 25% of your own mental processes. The rest have been divided up amongst a number of other personalities, swimming around inside your head. That bitch really did a number on you! You actually count four other mentalities pushing against you, trying to influence you and sway in one way or the other. No, maybe only three... You would probably have already lost control if it wasn't for the apathy. This part had probably been the largest for a while, that part of your mind that just doesn't care about anything. Not concerning itself with anything means going along with what the reigning body decides. So at least you don't have to worry about this part at least, this part you'll name Sloth.
Another that was prominant at first but maybe less so right now is the RAGE! You've felt it coursing through you before, in fact both of your successful kills thus far have been because of this intense anger and hatred. It's proven itself useful, but you would rather it worked with you rather than clouding your mind and taking over your body. It might not necessarily work every time. You'll call this part of you Wrath.
The part of your mind that has likely been growing the most has been your desire. The part of you that wants so much of what you see. Not to be confused with sexual desire, this mindset sets ownership itself as the goal and isn't entirely sure what to do beyond that. Perhaps this is why it's contented itself thus far with sending you images telling you what you could have if you put your mind to it. Following the theme you'll dub this personality, Greed.
The last piece of your mind has largely been sidelined. This piece is your other kind of desire. Largely minimal now that you reside in a young body that doesn't have those sorts of desires it seems content to wait for now, biding it's time until it's chance arises. It may very well end up joining a coalition with Greed at some point, if the two of them ever build up enough strength to challenge you. You'll obviously name this part of you Lust. And keeping to the seven sins theme you've been using you'll refer to your own part of the mind as Pride. It's your pride, after all that has caused you not to bow down to that bitch and her hook and compels you to continue to resist her.
The current personality distribution inside your head are:
You (Pride) - 25% Lust - 5% Wrath - 20% Greed - 25% Sloth - 25%
You spend more time examining the workings on your own head than you expected. There won't be time to get anything else done this morning. You'll need to get ready for school now. You go about your regular morning duties. Your darling sister Lucy follows you around the entire time like a duckling following it's mother. She's completely attentive, staring up at you with her large eyes, just waiting. When you question her on this new behaviour she explains that she 'wants to help.' While a good sign of your dominating influence over her, this sort of behaviour will certainly be deemed suspicious. So you tell Lucy to continue as she normally would in the mornings. It's good to know that she'll obey you now but you aren't really sure how that is going to help you. Now to decide what to do for the rest of the day...
Your head spins with plans and schemes for the upcoming day. You'll start with the double whammy of Suggestion and Aura to influence your teacher and classmates. Then you'll scout around the school to see if you can find the school bullies. Once you know where and who they are you can formulate a plan to work out how to use them for farming malice. Then you can develop a plan. Either influencing the bullies and making them your subordinates or using them as an excuse to warp your classmates and friends in a direction you desire. Both plans have merit...
'Hey, you! Yes, you! Stop right there!' A powerful voice cuts through you, stopping you in your tracks. Almost automatically you turn and swivel your sense of danger ringing in your head intensely. You haven't felt this threatened since The Torturer. The woman standing in the school entranceway, now looming over you is dangerous!
You gulp, not even needing to hide your fear. This person, she resonates with power! But not the sort of power you are used to! No, this is power in the opposite direction! Holy, sacred, and yet also fierce and passionate! You can tell what she is without any further information. this woman can only be a servant of the Church! What the hell is she doing here, at a school for children? She sniffs.
'Yes,' she barks, 'I can smell it! The stench of evil! It lingers on you! Like a mold, a rot! Thick as sin! It will need to be excised as soon as possible!'
You have to struggle not to gape at her? She can sense you? No way! Your Soul is only at Tier 1! It shouldn't be possible for her to detect your corruption? But she certainly picked you out, so she must have sensed something? Was it Aria's familiar? She visited you last night, is that what this woman has sensed? Why is she even here? Your so fucked! Is she really going to kill you, a child right in front of the school? Or will she take you back with her and torture you until you confess? Is she allowed to do that? You're used to pain at this point but you'd still rather just die and place yourself in RNGesus' hands than suffer any further.
'High Priestess!' A man calls out to the white haired woman and runs up to you. It's the principal. Are you saved?
'What is the meaning of this?' he demands, outrage wrestling with his fear at the moment, 'why are you causing a scene in front of the school and harassing my students?' The woman seems unhappy to be challenged.
'That is none of your business!' she hisses, 'the servants of Hell hide themselves in the most innocent of places, it truly wouldn't be such a surprise to find them here! And if they can go where they please we must as well, otherwise how will we be able to fight them!' The principal presses a handkerchief to his forehead.
'What?' he gasps, 'don't be ridiculous! You haven't been given such powers! This is a primary school! You may be one of the most influential figures within the Acolytes, but even you...' The woman appears to be attempting to pierce the unfortunate man with her expression alone.
'Abetters!' she cries, 'this cursed, sin drenched city is teething with abetters! Sinners and accomplices and apologists! If it wasn't for those fools in the government...'
'High Priestess,' another voice chimes in, it's Ms Erikson, 'your passion and your devotion does you credit. But you should understand your display here is not endearing anyone to your cause. There are proper channels for everyone, including you.' The High Priestess turns on your teacher, but here she has met her match. The other woman is a stern, immovable rock. There's a large crowd gathering now as well, students and their parents have assembled, unable to access the school by this obstruction and driven to remain by curiosity.
'This is one of my students,' Ms Erikson continues, 'whatever you may have sensed on him he's just a regular seven year old. Perhaps he encountered some fell beast of has been targetted by an unholy servant? You shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly, yes?' The High Priestess wavers. Clearly she isn't used to being challenged like this. She huffs.
'Very well,' she declared, 'I'll leave it at this, for now! I suppose if I rounded up every sinner in this city there'd be hardly anyone left. I'll commission a full investigation at a later date. As for our meeting...' The principal steps in, seemingly relieved to be back on familiar ground.
'Yes, of course,' he begins, gesturing towards the school, 'I must admit, we weren't expecting the Western High Priestess to attend herself!'
'I happend to be in the area, investigating a certain tip I received,' she replies, 'good information is difficult to come by in this days of liars and tricksters!' You remain where you are until the terrifying woman is gone. Then you allow yourself to collapse on the floor! Fuck, you almost pissed yourself! That was way too close! What was that? Some stupid coincidence? You can't be that unlucky, can you?
You just felt both your lives flash before your eyes! A direct exposure to such a high level Church authority will certainly cost you malice! Not as much as you might expect though! You lost 20 malice!
Reeling from your unexpected encounter you decide to lay low for the first part of the day, at least until you are sure that woman is gone. You have no idea how she managed to pick you out, but using your powers around her would just be asking for death. And you know that this isn't over. Even if she doesn't return herself you are on her radar now and she'll certainly send someone to speak to you, probably investigate you and your surroundings. Which means damage control. Is there anything at the moment that would be a clear indicator of demonic power or influence? Other than the Diary and the gem, not really, unless whoever comes can sense your hold over Lucy's soul.
But a particularly observant individual might be able to look at the various changes around here, your sudden improving grades and popularity, the changes in your home and in the attitudes of your friends and teacher and might point to that as evidence of some sort of interference. But there isn't much you can do about that. Your best option would likely be trying to convince the investigator that whatever had been sensed on you had come from something else and isn't actually coming from you. Make yourself out to be a victim, not a perpetrator. If you can point the investigator in a different direction they might not even bother investigating further. There must be a lot of people that have been briefly touched by a demon. Most of the people around you should count as that, right?
During a brief between class break you do a quick scout around and can determine that the High Priestess has indeed gone. It would probably still be a good idea to lay low, but for now you'll proceed as planned.
Having been unable to use your abilities during the first part of your day you are feeling pretty tense. While you are hopefully not in any major danger with your boss, at least for now, the lingering danger of a Church investigation looms over you. And so you still feel on the clock and wasted time irritates you. It's bad enough to have to spend so much of your time in this fetid place without even being able to do the minimum amount of tampering you are capable of! When the lunch bell rings you are a man on a mission! And a fierce determination takes over you! You are going to get something useful done today, damn it!
You decide to grab Roger to help you out and ask around. Your classmates don't seem to understand why you would want to find the school bullies but they accept a hastily made up story about wanting to make sure the school is safe for when your sister enrolls next year. Your best friend in hand you begin your hunt. Perhaps you've started to develop a sixth sense for this thing or perhaps you've finally been given a break but regardless of the reason you find the bullies you are looking for and are presented with an opportunity at the same time!
You find the group behind one of the school buildings, away from prying eyes. There's five of them in total, all older boys, and they've dragged a couple of boys from the class opposite you over here and are in the process of shaking them down for their lunch money. A very typical and cliche scene. If you were the protagonist of an anime this would be where you step in, all heroic like and try to save the day. Of course, if you tried to do that here, in real life you'd most certainly get your ass beat! You have only just dipped your toe in the water as far as Body is concerned and what you have learned so far will likely not be any use to you.
Still, allowing yourself to get beat could provide you with advantages. It could allow you to present an entirely natural reason to take time off, out of fear. It could allow you to gather the favor of your schoolmates and promote your image of a good student trying his best. It could also allow you to establish yourself as a victim, perhaps setting the stage for further actions later.
Or you could try to take some other action. You could secretly report them to the teachers, take a photograph as evidence and then use it to try and get in with them if you pretend to know who told on them. These trouble makers could be a smoke screen for you. Then again it might be easier to use them to motivate your own classmates into a confrontation. By encouraging them to 'fight against' wrongdoing you could inspire a vigilanty attitude in your friends that you could easily warp into something completely different. After all you'll be the one dictating to them what is 'just.' They could quickly go from policing bullying to being the very problem they thought they were solving. So many intriguing possibilities...
You make your decision. You'll have these guys run interference for you. If you can get in their good graces you might be able to 'direct' their activities and get some indirect malice off of the back of them. Maybe you could even have one of them take the fall for you when the investigator arrives, though you'll likely need to understand exactly how they were able to sniff you out before you can plant a decoy. For now though, making a good impact on the bullies is key. You tell Roger to run and get a teacher while you try to stall them. As he hurries away you have to decide how to approach them.
Activating your Aura you approach the group.
'Hey,' you call out to them, 'I just saw someone going to get a teacher, you should probably get out of here.' The boys start and look around at you, frowning at this intrusion.
'Who are you?' one of the boys, possibly the leader demands. You shrug.
'Does that matter?' you ask him, 'unless you want to get caught taking someone's lunch money you should probably leave. Come on, this way!' You make your way casually past the boys without showing any fear. As you draw level with the leader you mutter a Suggestion under your breath.
'Better do as he says for now.' The Suggestion takes hold and the leader spares a menacing glance and a threat for the two victims before he gestures to his gang and they follow after you. You lead them around the outside of the buildings to anothe spot out of the way and settle down. They gather around you, wary and somewhat confused.
'The name's Zachary,' you introduce yourself, 'you can call me Zach.' The leader steps forwards again.
'Dereck,' he replies, 'what exactly is your problem here?' You shrug.
'My problem? If I had to put a finger on it, it would be that you guys are wasting your potential.' They all stare at you nonplussed. Of course they are confused. They may be older than your current body by a couple of years, but they are still kids. Their methods are childish and unimaginative.
'You could be getting so much more than some kid's lunch money!' You explain. 'Besies, the way you are going now is just going to make everyone angry with you. Sooner or later you'll pick on the wrong kid and they'll realise that if they just stand up to you then...' An idea presents itself to you as you talk to them about possible ways to 'improve' their methods. You could actually play both sides of the conflict here. 'Encourage' the bullies to step up their game while also encouraging your classmates to take a stand against them.
Push the two groups into clashing and use said clash to prove to the bullies that everything you said to them was true. Once they've had the tables turned on them they'll be far more likely to listen to your ideas. Then you can warp them into something more potent. Whether they can be used to distract the person coming from the Church you don't know. But you've made progress, at least. Now you just need to speak to Roger and make sure he doesn't mess anything up.
You take a chance and leave your Trust Aura on as you make your way hastily back to class, doing your best to avoid affecting anyone you don't currently want to. Another dull afternoon of lessons and another Suggestion planted into your teacher as you are leaving for the day.
'It isn't weird to feel attracted to Zachary,' you push on her. You actually feel her resist this one, perhaps you're trying to go past the limitations of your current level of Suggestion. You suppose it would be impressive if it actually managed to work. Trying to create attraction between an adult and a child isn't going to be so easy... Nevermind, you still have your private sessions starting next week so you can always try something else.
You leave school for the day somewhat nervously, expecting agents of the Church to ambush you again as you try to leave. But no, only your mother is waiting to pick you up. And you are certainly pleased to see her. The confrontation this morning has really cast a pall over your entire day. It really feels as though you barely achieved anything of note all day. Cosidering your achievements of the day before it's somewhat depressing, reminding you of the first day you'd arrived back in this world. At least compared to then you have a roof over your head. But it does make you consider, assuming your current body doesn't last, then what would your ideal one look like? It probably isn't really worth considering right now, but having a vague idea of your long term goals might be helpful for building some early foundations.
What would your ideal posession target be? Someone with authority or influence, certainly. Someone who could use said influence to get away with nefarious acts would be better. Maybe someone in good physical condition, though you'll likely be able to modify your own body at some point so that likely won't matter too much. If you can take over the leader of a criminal organisation that could potentially be ideal. Or perhaps a spouse of said person, meaning you can direct their bad deads while avoiding any potentially nasty consequences.
Then again, why the need to choose at all? Once you finally get on top of your possession skills and can steal a body at will you won't need to limit yourself to just one! With the ability to take control of people's souls you could build yourself an entire 'catalog' of potential bodies. These bodies would essentially be meat puppets, the soul inside obediant to you and merely 'pretending' to be the person they were before, simply awaiting the times where you leap in to the body to make changes or give orders. You could spend your days jumping back and forth between them all and as such noone would ever be able to find you!
Yes, that would be perfect, you could become anyone and everyone. Perhaps it would be amusing to make sure the entire city was made of nothing but your loyal thralls, though you'd probably be stopped by a major power before you managed to get that far. For now you'll have to just do what you can.
You already have something you need to do this evening, so you get to work. The malice from Lucy's lost pet is starting to dry up so you'll need to act now. Maybe it is a result of your own tampering or just a small child's mentality but it doesn't matter. Her soul will be yours, in time, but it wouldn't help to speed it up one last time. After this you'll likely be able to simply wait for the passive corruption to tip her over the edge.
For this plan to work you need to make yourself scare for a few hours. You pretend that you are popping round Roger's house and head out. Roger doesn't live that far away and your meddling in her dreams is clearly affecting your mother as you are able to convince her to let you go without having to use any abilities. Now you just need to decide what you should do for the next couple of hours so you can successfully fake 'finding' Sprinkles. You'll be limited, of course by the need to lay low.
It's certainly more difficult to look for trouble in this small body. You can't really walk casually down the street or you'll draw attention. So instead you search Zach's memories for a nearby swing park. A small, unassuming spot with a couple of swings, a slide and a climbing frame. Nothing major. You sit yourself down on one of the swings and try to blend in while keeping your eye out for trouble. A young couple arrive with a small boy. The boy runs over to the slide while the couple take a seat on a nearby bench and start to get handsy with each other. Uck! Fucking normies! You guys going to start making out in front of a group of children?! Get a room!
Well these scrubs are asking to be messed with. You approach the pair who are far too busy giving each other 'the look' to bother you. They must have it pretty good. You had understood that a young child often smothers the flames of young love but these two seemed to be continuing on regardless, desperately fanning those flames. You manage to get all the way up to the two of them without them noticing you. They are at this point full on making out. You climb onto the bench next to the boyfriend or husband, your eyes looking him over, trying to work out where he keeps his wallet.
'Hey mister,' you chime in, making the two of them jump, 'why are you trying to swallow her face?' You get up close. Way too close. While they are distracted you slip a hand into the man's pocket and fish out his wallet. You'd learnt already that a lost wallet can cause quite the bit of malice without any real way of pinning anything on you, assuming no one sees you take it. You aren't even really concerned with the contents, you'll probably just drop the whole thing into the rubbish before you leave here.
You continue to bother them, playing the annoyingly curious child, refusing to allow them to get back to what you were doing before you interupted them. They know you aren't doing it on purpose, that you are just an innocent, inquiring child and you aren't really doing anything wrong. And that probably makes it even worse, they are going to have to internalise their irritation without being able to express it properly. Eventually they give up and leave, the husband too irritated to even bother to check his pockets. The youngster is angry as well, clearly unwilling to leave early. His screams as he's dragged away are music to your ears! You just nailed yourself a malice hattrick!
As it turns our kids really can be annoying! 15 malice from the woman, 20 from the man and 30 from the child! Plus more once he realises his wallet is gone!
Remembering to ditch the guy's wallet before you leave you make your way back home. You let yourself in without announcing yourself and sneak upstairs. You head into your room and retrieve Sprinkles, who doesn't seem particularly distressed by this little escapade. Then you go to visit your little sister.
'Lucy,' you exclaim as you enter her room, 'look who I found!' Her little face gaping in amazement and lighting up at the sight of her pet returned to her is a treat for even your warped heart! She's so happy to have Sprinkles back she doesn't bother even asking how you found him! Your mother does ask, but you make something up and manage to wave her off. You spend the rest of the evening in the living room with your family. The television is on, Elisa sits on the sofa watching it, with you on sitting on her lap. Lucy is at your feet, feeding Sprinkles lettuce. You're a happy family again, how sweet... Now you just need to decide how to take advantage of this.
You retire to your room. Lucy's corruption is well underway and now you really only need to leave it for a few days. As such you'll need to spend some time working on your mother, you'll need to make sure she doesn't notice any strange behaviour. Unless of course you'd rather use it to torment her instead. You find yourself somewhat reluctant to do this, perhaps this warm and loving family situation is working away at you. Great, just what you need. But before you can decide what to do about Elisa you'll be spending some time with Roger, your 'best friend.' You'll have a good amount of time tomorrow to work on him, so perhaps you should start planning exactly what you want to do with him!
Your thoughts are cut off by a sudden tug as though a hand has closed over you and pulls you into the air. You have been expecting this but it's still equal parts disorienting and terrifying. It's finally time to face the heat! You can only hope that you obtained enough! A small part of you reflects on your summon and ruminates. It actually could have been resisted, your Soul Anchor would have given you a remote chance of keeping her from summoning you in this way. But it hadn't occured to you to do so. Firstly because the chances of it happening are so remote that it isn't really worth trying. And secondly because even if you did attempt to resist her, even if you succeeded, she could simply try again. And then she'd be pissed!
So you don't bother as you are once again deposited roughly before your 'mistress.' As you have been expecting this you have the jewel in your hand, with the souls you obtained from Aria.
You don't bother waiting for her to make the first move. You simply hold out the jewel. Now how to handle this?
You make sure to avoid looking at her, knowing she doesn't like it. As much as you hate having to act like this towards this awful woman who has caused you so much pain you care more about your soul and your ability to continue as you have been. Anything to avoid ending up back on that fucking hook!
'The souls you requested, Mistress,' you simper, biting down on your own lip so hard it draws blood, 'I'm afraid the Church have been active in my area so I wasn't able to gather any more. I'm sure once they leave things will be easier!'
'I'll listen to your excuses, after I see your offering, maggot!' she hisses, and the jewel flys out of your hand and into hers. Banking on her being distracted by your offering you sneak a peak at her from the floor. You see her extract the seven souls left in the joy and see her face light up with glee, a tongue gliding quickly across her full lips. Shit she's hot for a torturing maniac! You quickly avert your eyes again before she looks back up to you, throwing the jewel back at you so it hits you on the head. You quickly grab it.
'Is this it?' she barks, though you can still sense the joy in her tone, 'such a meagre offering is only barely satisfactory! I'll expect at least ten next time! No excuses! Five more days! See that it gets done! And no excuses about the Church! What are you scared about? That they'll kill you? You know about the power I gave you, right? I know you've already used it! You can't die, moron! Just do what needs to be done and no more complaints! Now clear off! Watching your filthy carcass makes me want to throw up! And next time, don't bring me something that smells of some other demon! You're supposed to be doing this yourself! Useless blockhead!' A wave of your hand and you are gone. Fucking demon woman!