Chapter 553 – Contract

Witch Aiko felt weird. The connection between them was not fully severed, but she could estimate the Blood Fox condition.

In short. It was not good.

Witch Aiko stored her into the tails before storing the [Primordial Devouring Fire-Fox Glass Vessel]. That way, she wouldn't be able to see that ugly mug of his.

With that sorted, she had to get out of here. This was just a small squad that was a part of a bigger group, and that bigger group was from the mainland.

Aiko didn't know what to expect of them, but the Table Map sure was blaring when it came to their bosses. The dots were 3 times the size of anything she encountered before! That is also counting the Sacred Realm!

She would get strong enough that she could impale all of them later, but speed was more important for now.

Leaving this place was top priority, so she could do something about the scent beads and the Blood Fox.

The Blood Fox should take priority, but Aiko was unsure how to go about it, so she would first do the beads and think about it in the meantime.

...

Witch Aiko left that place as quickly as she came, but she also used the [Jaws of ####], which was situated in quite a faraway place and would erase all her steps there.

This would make it too difficult to track until she was finished with her business, and when she was...

Hehehehe...

...

Witch Aiko worked for a week before stopping. She had to finish in too many places. It was too slow, and she worried about the Blood Fox.

Witch Aiko pulled out the Blood Fox from her tails.

She was now awake, but her eyes seemed strange. She seemed weirdly docile and cuddly.

This angered Witch Aiko even more, so she pulled out that Vessel and observed both of their Souls at the same time.

It took her a while, but she was able to eventually see how the whole Contract thing worked.

It was similar to how the 'vessel' is possessed by the Soul. The contract would make tethers around the victim's Soul and connect it to the foreign Soul. This naturally gave them the ability to freely command the restricted Soul, and if they didn't listen, their Souls would burn.

Witch Aiko smirked. It was only a matter of snipping... or at least that's what she thought.

Upon further inspection. The tethers had both the outer layer of the Soul and the inner layers.

She could not snip it, but she would have to carve it, which had a whole new slew of issues.

Witch Aiko pursed her lips nervously. She turned towards the Blood Fox and gently caressed her face.

The Blood Fox leaned in and let herself be touched freely.

Witch Aiko's heart was pained, but she would definitely figure out a way out of this situation.

Witch Aiko focused on the tethers again. The human Soul was important, but it actually wasn't.

The tethers were used from the Beast, and then the human Soul was connected.

In other words, she just had to maintain the Blood Fox Soul as she would slowly carve the human Soul.

She didn't need the human Soul at all, so it was no issue for her to damage it.

With this new plan, Witch Aiko got to work.

The first would be cutting the connection as a whole, so that she could focus on the Blood Fox.

The cut connection would bleed the human Soul, which was fine. She was not 'consuming it', so there shouldn't be that harsh retaliation.

Witch Aiko then slowly carved it until it was the Blood Fox Souls with the tethers and a few human Soul pieces at the end.

Witch Aiko picked one tether and slowly carved it, and carved it, and carved it.

'I have underestimated this sinister Contract.' Witch Aiko's face was distorted again. The contract was much worse than she expected, for the like tenth time.

This time, the endings of the tethers were exposed, so even if the Beast ran away somehow, their Souls would bleed until they crumbled.

She could see tears streaming down the Blood Fox's cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Witch Aiko panicked. She gently caressed the Blood Fox's face as if trying to soothe her.

She then plucked a bit of her Soul to plug that exposed part, making the Blood Fox flinch.

The exposed part was covered, and the Blood Fox would no longer bleed.

Witch Aiko breathed a sigh of relief.

The Blood Fox recovered some of her mind and noticed someone was in front of her.

Her unfocused eyes focused once again, and she cried even more.

She was stupid and overestimated herself, but she also didn't expect so many powerful humans to ambush her, as if knowing where she was.

She already understood the predicament she was in, but she refused to be separated from Aiko...

*Bite*

Witch Aiko could feel something biting her. She turned around to see the Blood Fox with focused eyes, biting her finger.

"Wh-" Witch Aiko was confused when sudden shock coursed through her body.

She felt dizzy and immediately collapsed onto the Blood Fox's bosom.

'My head hurts...' Witch Aiko groaned, but those soft pillows were great for her tired mind and body.

As Witch Aiko fell asleep, the Blood Fox regained some motor functions and gently caressed her.

...

Witch Aiko recovered her mind.

[You have established a Soul Contract with a Beast.][####]

[Intimate Soul Contract: [Passion Fox (Affection: Intimate Obsession)]]

Witch Aiko blinked a few times. She still lay on those soft pillows before regaining her stability.

In the meantime, the Blood Fox kept caressing her head like a doting mother.

It made Witch Aiko want to sleep and bite the Blood Fox, but she controlled herself.

Witch Aiko's fingers gently diving into her hair as she moved it aside.

Checking the connection, Aiko's Soul was used as a plug and control centre that ruled over the Blood Fox Soul.

It was less restrictive, but also broken, probably because the Contract was forcefully altered.

Thankfully, since Aiko already had a Contract with the Blood Fox, this rewrite was not completely baseless and thus didn't hurt her as much.

'Evolution would be nice, but we would have to first rob the Empires.' Witch Aiko narrowed her eyes.

'Wait.' Witch Aiko's eyes widened. 'There is no way that there are no Movement Arrays in the capitals, right?' This would greatly speed the spreading of the delicious beads.

'But first...' Witch Aiko turned towards the Blood Fox and gently caressed them.

The Blood Fox's eyes were now clear, but her behaviour didn't change at all, no, it might've got even worse now as she willingly leaned and even tried purring.

"Since when did you turn like this..." Witch Aiko sighed, but all she got in return was a playful smirk.

"Wait, you can't talk?" Witch Aiko realised that something was wrong with her.

The Blood Fox tilted her head and smiled wryly.

"Gotcha, I will see what I can do about it..." Witch Aiko paused her words. 'Evolution and naming, probably some revenge too...' Her list of things to do was suddenly erased and replaced by these things.

She then released her soothing scent, which was a wrong move.

While it would make it less painful for the Blood Fox, she also grew much more obsessed with Aiko.

Even Witch Aiko was startled by those obsessive eyes.

She coughed awkwardly and then asked gently. "Can you walk?"

The Blood Fox smiled gently and stood up along with Aiko. She was one step behind her, not because she was forced, but because she wanted to enjoy Aiko's backside and remind herself of her position.

As cruel as it was for herself, this was the best idea if she wanted to stay with Aiko. She also realised that Aiko was the only person who was truly kind to her, not counting her brother, of course.

Aiko gave her anything and everything she needed, which pained her even more when she was avoiding her...

Witch Aiko walked with the Blood Fox towards the nearest Capital city, where they would place the beads all around and then use Movement Arrays to move to other capitals and repeat the same steps.

That way, Aiko wouldn't take years and years executing this plan.

This would also allow her to focus on the Blood Fox more.

'I want to form a central system, something like a puzzle cube, that would allow me to alter the rules of the Contract freely.' Witch Aiko licked her lips. This would allow her to remove the Contract freely.

[Very well.][Estimated time: 30 days]

Witch Aiko nodded. This was not too long for her and would be perfect for her current plan.

"Can we speed up?" Witch Aiko asked, and the Blood Fox smiled again.

Aiko kept a certain speed so that she could carefully watch over the Blood Fox and not make her too tired.

The Contract would force her to go until breaking, which was far from ideal, so Aiko had to be very careful about this.

Nodding her head, Witch Aiko noticed that the Blood Fox was doing well.

She then started to think. 'The revenge plan would have to wait until we get materials for Inscriptions. The Inscription Association would be the perfect place for that. As for the name...' Witch Aiko pondered on it, but she just couldn't find a good name.

'I will think about it along the way. Maybe even get her input.' Witch Aiko nodded her head. This way it would be for the best, since it would allow them both to think about it.

Satisfied with her conclusion, they arrived in a meadow.

A perfect place for them to set up a camp.

Witch Aiko also realised that she couldn't store the Blood Fox inside her tails until she solved a lot of rules. Otherwise, the Blood Fox would just drift there without moving at all!

That was not good.

Witch Aiko pulled some food out of her tails and warmed it up with her Grandpa Flame. Today, even he was quiet and obedient for some reason, so the time passed peacefully and without any noise.

The Blood Fox's eyes slightly widened when she saw Aiko still eating her food. This warmed her heart greatly, making her even more devoted to Aiko.

'I wonder if Aiko knows that she has sealed memories...' The Blood Fox was able to find this out through their connection, and she also knew 'Aiko's' preferences.

'That 'maid' outfit was quite cute...' The Blood Fox thought. She wouldn't be able to wear it all the time, but~...