(The serialization begins! I will post 3 chapter a day till it get to chapter 16, and then I will post 3-4 chapter a week-- my usual upload rate.
If you want to check out advanced chapters, check out my patre.on.com/alittlepiggy33 . There's until chapter 28 there.)
We launched the plan at midnight after I finished making some preparations. I wore a simple red and blue wingsuit with some adjustments.
"Hey, stop there—" A fat guard tried to stop me and David, but I threw a needle at his neck. He lost consciousness almost immediately.
I crunched on an apple as I walked down the dimly lit hospital corridor.
"Why are you eating an apple?" David looked at me with disbelief, his hands sweaty from the prospect of a supernatural encounter.
"You know what they say, an apple a day… keeps me satiated since I forgot to eat dinner," I joked slightly.
A soft humming melody sounded as we were nearing the comatose patient ward.
"Swan Lake – Tchaikovsky… it's a ballet accompaniment." David gulped his saliva, and his eyes shook. I threw a talisman to him, opening his senses like I did George before.
He finally saw the dark, slimy lines crawling all over the walls. The stench of sulfur. He almost gagged, but he held it in.
I looked at him and smirked. "Are you sure you're up for this?"
He held the dagger I made for him steady and said, "I'll do anything to save my daughter."
"Don't worry. I'm 98% sure it will work."
David turned to me and asked, "What's the 2% factor?"
"Well, that is in case the demon went to you first." I shrugged. David froze, almost losing his composure.
Following the lines, we arrived at the single-bed ward. Working for a drug dealer had its perks; otherwise, his daughter might need to share a room with others.
"Stay back. Come in after I jump out of the window," I told David, stopping him from moving forward with a hand on his chest.
Then, I thought it was pretty funny that he was accepting an order from someone who looks like he's 11 years old pretty well.
As I entered the room, the music suddenly stopped. The smell of sulfur became stronger.
I took out a talisman with a witch's runes and then threw it to the bed. It lit up, and some black smoke came out from David's daughter's body.
Suddenly, a large hand came out of her mouth and grabbed the talisman inside its grip, snuffing the light easily.
"Oh, this is easier than I thought," I said as I threw two more of the evil-warding talismans.
The daughter's comatose body suddenly sat up, and she turned toward me, with the hand still coming out of her mouth.
Then, the hand tried to attack me, stabbing at me with its long black nails.
I parried with my spirit weapon, and in the lull before it could retract its hand, I dashed forward while cutting the hand from the wrist to its elbow.
The demon screeched loudly, and the windows inside the room shattered but were still intact. The vase containing the flower crumbled. The clock fell from the wall.
"Now I have successfully baited you," I said, heading to the windows immediately and cutting a hole with my dagger. The newly made spirit weapon tore up the windows easily, even easier now that they had shattered.
Everything went according to plan. The demon—a grotesque entity with three phantom masks—slowly emerged from his daughter's body, coming out from her mouth.
David almost pissed himself when he saw its full form. It was well-dressed in a suit, with long arms that reached its heels, and there were three masquerade masks on its three faces: a crying mask, a laughing mask, and an angry mask—the angry mask was in the middle.
Focusing my strength on my legs, I jumped out the window, smoothly through the circular hole I'd cut and spun a few times in the air. The demon shrieked and followed angrily. It slammed into the windows, taking parts of the walls with it too. A huge gaping hole appeared in the hospital, alerting all personnel there.
I opened my wingsuit and immediately caught the wind, gliding into the air. The demon almost grabbed me by my legs, but gravity pulled it down.
Why was I so confident these plans were going to work? I knew something definite: there was no flight ability in the Spirit Realm.
The demon plummeted straight into the bamboo stakes I had set up in the park earlier. I'd even carved the evil-warding runes into them so that it hurts extra bad.
They stabbed its abdomen and legs, but it didn't kill it.
I laughed out loud to taunt him. "HAHA! DUMB MUTHERFUC—" My voice slowly disappeared as the distance grew.
The demon understood me. It smashed through the bamboo, crawling on all fours with rage burning in its eyes. It dashed forward at high speed, wanting to capture me and rip me to shreds.
I glided through the night in my wingsuit, landing gracefully on a tree branch before leaping down into the kill zone.
I had set up a cubical formation in the park, carving my runes into the bark. It was a 20-meter by 20-meter formation, with some traps inside of it.
Back in the hospital room, the nurses were screaming. But David ignored them and counted.
"14…13…12…"
He didn't want to miss the 30-second mark. When the time came, he needed to slam the talisman onto his daughter's forehead.
The demon arrived at the trap and entered dumbly.
I placed two fingers in front of my mouth and whispered, "Close!"
A translucent blue barrier appeared, locking the demon inside the trap.
The demon turned scared. Its center mask swapped from anger to sadness.
"Slow!" I added, pointing my fingers at it. Some traps were activated, and a sticky formation erupted, locking the demon into sticky goo that connected to the earth.
"KUAAHHH!" it shrieked and tried to cut it off with its long nails, but it wouldn't work. I dashed forward and cut its hands off by the elbow, separating them cleanly from the arms.
"30!" I shouted.
A shockwave erupted from inside the hospital, knocking David and the nurses back. I could see the blue light coming from the hospital through the gaping hole from afar.
The nurses screamed as dark tentacles wriggled from the comatose patient's mouth, blasting through the window and racing toward the park.
"I already knew you were going to keep a part of you in her," I smirked, sweat beading from my forehead as I dodged its tremendous speed. Even with the restriction, it was still stronger than I was.
But this one wasn't like the doll demon. This one was dumber. The small demon flew into the trap willingly and merged with the 3-meter one, and its arm grew back.
Its nails and my blade clashed, producing fiery sparks. I lost the battle of strength and was knocked backward a few steps, causing it to laugh at me mockingly.
"Now, I can finish this." Suddenly, I threw the knife away, aiming it straight at its core that I sensed with my six senses.
It penetrated it cleanly with the sharpness, but it still wasn't enough to kill the demon.
On the end of the dagger was a thin fishing line that was connected to my hand.
"Burn, bitch. You made me waste all of the good things I've got for the two weeks!" I cursed as I sent my fire Qi through the wires, into the dagger.
The demon screeched as its chest was caught on fire. It kicked my chest in retaliation. I could barely block it with my hand, and the impact slammed me into the trees behind me.
Its mask turned into a laughing mask for a second before it turned sad again as it couldn't put out the fire even after it had pulled out the blade.
I smiled, wiping the blood from the edge of my mouth.
Taking out a Latin rune with ink made from my own blood, I pulled the dagger back and stuck the rune to it. A blue flame appeared from the talisman and coated the dagger. All of my Qi was sent to my legs.
[Phantom Swallow Footstep]
"Goodbye." I dashed forward and stabbed the mask with the dagger before it could react.
Its mask broke, and it screeched before it flopped down on the ground, with the fires licking its entire body.
When I realized I had done it, I collapsed, coughing up blood.
"Ah… I really need to get some proper sleep," I muttered, lying flat on the grass as I looked up at the moon.
"I wouldn't die suddenly, but if I'm seeking death myself, it wouldn't even matter if I could live to 18 years old, huh? I should change my habit a bit after this." I mumbled as I closed my eyes and tried to gather Qi again in order to regain my strength.
…
[General POV]
'Dad, it's going to eat me.'
Somewhere deep inside the mind realm.
A young Asian girl ran through the dark space alone. She limped as she ran, struggling with her left leg. She kept glancing behind her, crying as she saw the masks laughing at her.
'Dad! Help me!' she screamed, but no one heard her. She continued running, unaware of how much time had passed. Even in the darkness, she could sense that the space she had to run was slowly shrinking.
'I don't want to die!' she cried, her face wet with tears.
Suddenly, the masks stopped. They growled as they looked upward, then finally left her alone.
She stopped running and looked back, panting heavily.
Thirty seconds later, she finally saw the first light source in the dark space. It grew quickly, pushing away all the darkness inside her mind.
A humanoid figure appeared in front of the girl, offering his hand to her.
'Come with me. Your dad is waiting,' he said in a gentle tone.
Sarah cried again and slowly took his hand. Then he pulled her out—after a long, long time of being lost in her own mind.
In real life, Sarah's body fell flat on the bed again as the darkness was exorcised. The talisman burned itself out, having fulfilled its purpose. The nurses were shivering, on the verge of a mental breakdown from what they had just witnessed. One of them clutched the cross on her necklace and began praying.
Sarah sat up again, this time opening her eyes. She looked around in confusion and saw her dad on the floor.
"Dad?" she muttered.
"Sarah." David's eyes grew teary, and his voice shook.
Sarah grimaced, almost crying as she called out, "Dad—BLUERKK!!!"
She vomited dirty, mud-like blood onto the white hospital blanket. The nurses became frantic and immediately called the doctor. Their duty to help the patient overrode their fear.
"Puke it all out! He told you to get everything out," David urged, moving closer to her.
She puked for about a minute before it finally slowed. The doctors had now arrived. The nurses wanted to clean up the mess but hesitated and looked at David.
"He told me you can't touch it with your hands. Use tongs and burn all of it," David explained.
"Burn what?! What are you doing here?!" the doctor yelled at him.
The nurses, however, followed his instructions. They couldn't explain what they had seen, but they knew following David's words was the best thing they could do now.
After being moved to a different room, Sarah finally regained her clarity. She was confused at first, but after her dad explained the situation, she hugged him and cried in his arms.
"Dad! I was so scared!" she cried, even though the doctor told her not to. Her entire body was so weak and dehydrated, it would be dangerous, but she didn't care and only wanted her dad.
…
[Owen POV]
The cops came, but no one could explain the hole in the wall. The nurses kept silent, and no one reported David to the authorities—mostly because no one could describe what they had seen.
I went home alone, catching a bus after sleeping in the park until dawn. The driver probably thought I was a homeless kid.
After the fight, I didn't bother David; I knew he'd be busy reuniting with his daughter. Besides, keeping my weakened state out of sight helped maintain the mystery of the "supernatural kid."
When the lift to my apartment floor opened, I saw Jessica and George standing outside my door, Maya holding Jessica's hand.
I'd entrusted Jessica with the youngest kid first—it was better for Maya to have stability than to live with the older ones.
Maya pointed at me and shouted excitedly, "O's back!"
"Owen! What happened? You look awful!" Jessica hurried toward me as I walked up, picking leaves and grass out of my messy hair.
"Well, the fight took more out of me than I expected," I said, unlocking the door. Inside, Elena was standing just past the doorway, fidgeting nervously. Her shoulders finally relaxed when she saw me.
"Oh, there's someone inside." Jessica blinked in surprise. "Why didn't you answer the door? We've been knocking for twenty minutes." George sounded irritated.
Startled, Elena grabbed her sketchbook and wrote: Owen told me never to open it, even if it's him knocking.
"In case I lost the fight and the demon took over my body," I explained. "It's a precaution."
"You can't speak?" George's voice softened as he noticed Elena's condition. She simply nodded.
George sighed. "Owen, I don't know how you live your life, but I appreciate that you're taking time to think about my offer. I don't want to be the one who stops you from doing your work."
I stared at him, confused by his tone. "I'm going to say yes, though," I said, surprising both him and Jessica.
"Really? You're going to become an actor?" Jessica's face lit up. She turned to Elena and signed, Nice to meet you. Elena brightened and signed back, starting a conversation.
I told George, "You don't have to worry about interfering with my obligations. I don't have any. And right now, I need some time to recover, so I'm going to take things slow. That's why I'm saying yes to your movie."
George went still, his hands trembling slightly. Then he pumped a fist and shouted, "YEAHHH!"
Maya and Elena plugged their ears as his voice shook the entire apartment.
Jessica jabbed him in the stomach, making him gag and clutch his abdomen.
"What—Why'd you do that?" he asked, looking betrayed.
Jessica ignored him and faced me. "Owen, before you take that job, I have to ask– even if you don't want to be a movie star, do you want to keep acting after this movie?"
I thought about it. With two years ahead of me, maybe I could. "Sure. I just want to have some fun. I'm not aiming to become an A-lister. It will be nice if I can make my little mark in this world." I said honestly.
Jessica and George exchanged glances. George nodded. "Well, if you want to act more, we should build you a cushion."
"Cushion? What cushion?" I asked.
Jessica smiled wryly. "If you take the role for Serpent's Son, it's pretty much a career killer. It might be hard to get another role if you start with that movie."
George added, "Thankfully, I'm submitting it to TIFF, so it won't be released until June. That gives us four months to get you into other projects. If we don't find a distributor, you'll be fine. But if we do, we need to be prepared."
I frowned. "Why? No one's explained that part yet."
Jessica grimaced. "I told you—it's a career killer. If you have a few solid roles before it comes out, it'll cushion the blow when your career takes a hit."
"Oh." I raised an eyebrow. "You really have no confidence in this movie, huh?"
Both of them nodded. George said, "It's based on a real case involving child abuse and starvation. If it gets an R rating, it'll be a miracle—we're expecting NC-17."
Jessica added, "It's an auteur art film. With an NC-17 rating, very few people will see it, and it might never get a wide theatrical release."
"I get it, I get it." I waved my hand to stop the lecture.
George smiled awkwardly. "So… should we sign the contract now? Or did we just talk you out of it by telling you we're pretty sure the movie won't succeed?"
I smirked. "Yeah, we can sign it this afternoon. Let me rest first."
"Great. We'll come by at four," Jessica said. They left with Maya—Jessica adored her. I'd even asked if she wanted to adopt Maya, but she said she needed to discuss it with Lenny first. Still, I could tell she wanted to.
I napped until David showed up around three.
As soon as I opened the door, he dropped to one knee. "You saved my daughter. I give you my full loyalty. You can use me however you want, until I take my last breath—"
"Stop." I pinched his lips shut. He blinked in confusion.
"You don't need to work yourself to death," I said.
We did just that. After he signed the subordinate contract, I gave him the cure for the poison. He agreed to 39 moon cycles instead of the 13 I'd asked for.
In fact, he wanted it to be permanent—but that wasn't possible. The longer the contract, the heavier the burden on my soul. Thirty-nine was my current limit—about three years.
David became my first subordinate in this world. He helped me review the movie contract with George. David's body was filled with the demonic taint, so the contract would fail if I hadn't killed the demon before.
Now, he could sign on even with the taint on him since the demon was dead, it was just counted as him having a dark energy instead of a third party energy on him.
Jessica and George came with the contract. They gave me really great conditions so David's presence wasn't even necessary there. In the end, I signed on for $250,000.
Filming began the next day.
As David helped me sign the paperwork, he leaned in and whispered, "Um… My daughter wants to meet her savior. Could you stop by the hospital to see her?"
"No," I replied curtly. David quickly became deflated.
Jessica, overhearing him, perked up. "Wait—I heard 'savior.' Did Owen help you too?"
"Help? Depends…" David replied cautiously. "What kind of help are we talking about?"
The clauses in his contract prevented him from revealing my secrets without permission. But I hadn't signed anything with Jessica.
She blurted out, "He helped us get rid of a parasitic demon—"
George immediately clapped a hand over her mouth. David's eyes went wide, and he smiled, but since he couldn't say more, his expression fell.
Then he looked at me with pleading, puppy-dog eyes.
I sighed. "Fine. You can tell them about your similar experience."
And nothing else. Nothing about the cartel, the drug lord, the esper serum, or the kids. He got the message without me having to say it.
Jessica listened to the story of the hospital demon, her eyes shining. I had the distinct feeling she'd just found inspiration for her next script.
A few hours passed by, and I overheard Jessica whining childishly to Lenny.
"Babe, I think I saw another age spot on my body."
I thought of something, but I didn't tell Jessica about it yet. I remembered I was an apothecary in my past life.
And when I was a prince consort, my wife made me learn everything– from creating makeup and skin cream, in order for me to serve her better.
'Maybe…' I thought about the possibilities of bringing the formulas to this life.
And then, three weeks had passed.