翁公和媛媛在厨房里猛烈进出

,em,pyr.

Desire?

Could Ruby have already read Alya\'s desire and noticed something was off?

The normal Alya\'s desire would be to protect her friends and possibly return home, so it would be quite unusual for her desire to suddenly switch.

Glancing at Ruby as I followed them, I tried to discern if she knew anything, but she was acting normal, her wand drawn and lighting up the cave with a bright fire while she was talking to Irene.

Returning my gaze to Alya and the corrupted figure, I was surprised to see Alya\'s pace actually slow down as if she were waiting for something.

Looking around, I also realized that we were just at right about the point that I had noticed something suspicious and turned around.

The path\'s end was nearby.

The green particles in the air were accumulating and showing up more and more often, and the number of twists and turns ahead was decreasing, the path actually going somewhat straight.

Unfortunately, there were still some obstacles blocking my sight ahead, so I could just peer to the very end of the path.

As we continued ahead at a slower pace, I glanced at my corrupted figure, which was walking side-by-side with Lily and right behind Alya.

The only requirement for a spiritual contract was for the contract to be signed between a spirit and a living thing.

As I saw with my raven earlier, the creations from my corruption were considered living things, so the corrupted figure definitely met the criteria.

There was just one problem... how was I supposed to know if the contract had been signed with my corrupted figure and Alya\'s contract had been terminated?

We couldn\'t just ask Alya as the spirit would realize something was off, making him possibly disappear, leaving us with no chance of escaping the loop.

Well, I guess that only left me with one way of determining the validity of the contract.

Since my corrupted figure didn\'t have a mind of its owner, if offered a contract by the spirit, it would, by default, accept as it would be unable to reject unless I ordered it not to.

Who knows?

Maybe the contract between my corrupted figure and the spirit had already been signed.

Only the corrupted figure and the spirit would know.

Even Alya could be completely oblivious to her contract\'s dismissal as it was clear that the spirit had some control over her mind by now.

If that had already happened, this entire plan would have been a bust... as we had already won.

To kill a spirit, one simply had to kill its tenants.

In other words, if the contract had already been signed, all I would have to do was dismiss the corrupted figure, dismissing and killing the spirit alongside it.

Wiping those thoughts out of my head, I noticed the frequency of green particles increasing further.

It was far too early to dismiss the corrupted figure.

If the spirit was not yet contracted with it, it would surely sense danger and possibly leave if a person just disappeared in front of it.

I also had only one chance, as I would have neither the time nor energy to recreate and mold the corrupted figure if I dismissed it.

"Crazy how I don\'t have enough time when I can slow time. I can\'t imagine what normal people feel like..."

There was also the question of what would happen if I simply switched bodies with my corrupted figure.

But that was not a risk I was willing to take.

What if the contract was transferred from the corrupted figure to me, making the spirit able to influence me?

Then, the only end to end this damn loop was for me to die as I would become its tenant and contractee.

Clearing my head, I crept closer towards the main cast as the accumulation of green particles grew larger and larger.

In reality, I had no intention of allowing the spirit to reach the end of the path.

What was at the end of that path?

I had no interest in knowing.

Using my last bits of corruption, I manifested two pairs of daggers, a bow with a couple of arrows, and a mask to cover my face.

If the spirit had not yet contracted my corrupted figure, I was going to make it.

Killing Alya was off the table, but coming close most definitely wasn\'t.

Fusing the blood-red substance and ocean-blue mana in my body, I manifested one dark purple, on the borderline of being black, wing on my right shoulder.

Using the wing to levitate in the air, I activated the grace period of dash before waiting for the perfect moment.

Just as Alya was about to leave the ten-meter range of my dash, I raised my hand to my eye, slowing time.

Finding a gap in between the group of main cast members, I calculated the perfect angle I needed to dash at.

Placing my dagger at where Alya\'s right hand would be, the hand holding her sword, I removed my hand from my eye before using a dash.

*WHOOSH*

Blowing away the green particles above me as I dashed forward, in real-time, I saw the expressions of the main cast members below me transform.

Liam, who was already on guard from his suspicions, immediately lit up his sword a light blue; however, he was still slow to catch me.

Liam swung his sword, just barely missing my legs, as I propelled forward with my dagger aligned straight with Alya\'s arm.

As Lily hesitantly raised her wand, a smile appeared on my face.

Bracing myself for the incoming attacks and spells, I stared at the blank-eyed Alya before lowering my daggers.

Giving an order to the corrupted figure, I further grinned, feeling a sense of relief as I flapped my wing.

Did the spirit think I was stupid?