35 The Mark of Misfortune (1/2)
Tang Qi's special ability, what he temporarily named ”Omniscience”, allowed him to completely understand the nature of any supernatural existence, whether living or inanimate. It also allowed him to read the information fragments attached to it.
This naturally applied to the parchment contract in front of him as well.
If not for that, he wouldn't have chosen to sign it.
The trick to being able to successfully deceive others every single time lay in the imbalance of available information. This was the case this time too.
[Mysterious Object: Parchment Scroll of Fate]
[Status: Not in effect yet]
[Information Fragment 1: This is a unique parchment scroll. A contract of binding restrictions that are almost of the highest grade is recorded inside. The contracting parties respectively represent the power of misfortune and the power of the furnace. May they abide by the terms of the contract under the watch of fate. Otherwise, both parties shall suffer unimaginable penalties.]
[Information Fragment 2: To let the contract go into effect, the auras of both parties' souls are to be captured. Once the lines of the souls meet and jointly form the symbol of fate, the contract will take effect.]
[Information Fragment 3: Before the contract goes into effect, both parties hold the right to revise the content.]
This was what Tang Qi saw.
The witch sub-personality was also aware of the information in those few information fragments. But what she didn't know was that there was an issue with the aura of Tang Qi's soul.
The contract prioritized capturing the soul which best matched the contracting party's body — in other words, the soul of the original Tang Qi. However, that wouldn't be of any use here. It was impossible for souls whose essence was empty, even if they still had an aura, to enter into a contract.
On the parchment scroll, the two gray lines finally met. But the strange thing was that they didn't come together to form the ”fate” symbol. The gray line representing Tang Qi was dispersing rapidly, as if the fuse of a bomb that had been lit yet was snuffed out at the last bit.
Which resulted in the gray line representing the Witch of Misfortune retreating too.
”What's the meaning of…”
”Boom~”
Magic power of misfortune faded away rapidly in Sally's eyes. She was originally about to go back to normal, but in this instant, her eyes underwent another change. The grayish-black ink was about to pervade her eyes again, and a terrifying surge of magic power was on the brink of erupting.
She realized that she had been deceived. The power of misfortune rampaged violently and ominously. The fitting room that had just resumed normalcy seemed as though it was about to be completely destroyed.
The witch sub-personality wanted to rip Tang Qi into pieces. She would never give him another chance to save the situation.
Unfortunately, the amount of time needed for a poisonous snake that had already retreated into its vessel to spring out once more was just a tad longer than before, especially at this moment when the seal was about to be restored.
Before the witch sub-personality could succeed in breaking free, Tang Qi had already reached out an arm and grabbed the black-framed spectacles from Mrs. Hudson's hands. At the same time as he placed them on Sally's nose with one hand, the last vestiges of his power of the furnace burst into golden flames and enveloped the palm of his other hand.
Right under the gaze of the witch sub-personality, Tang Qi placed his palm abruptly on the parchment scroll.
At the blank space at the bottom, two gray lines started moving again with Tang Qi's true soul aura.
New information fragments flashed in the depths of Tang Qi's eyes.
Soul aura invalid!
Recapturing in progress!
Recapture successful!
Drawing of fate in progress!
Contract is about to go into effect!
…
As these information fragments flowed past him, Tang Qi's palm, as though a ”golden eraser”, slammed against the area that listed his contractual obligations and rubbed against it with great force. The moment the words formed from the magic power of misfortune came into contact with the power of the furnace, that scene from the past appeared once more.
In an instant, the lines of tiny text vanished without a trace.
Only those two brief lines of tiny text remained on the parchment scroll.
At the bottom, the two gray lines suddenly formed a symbol which Tang Qi couldn't see distinctly at all.
The parchment scroll burst into flames at once. With a loud whoosh, they transformed into a couple of gray light rays, one entering Tang Qi's palm and the other going inside Sally's body.