All humans have weaknesses, and when so realize this, they find out what their weakness is and try to handle it so that it doesn't lead to their downfall.
But so are either unable to know their weakness or know it but just can't control it.
The forr was the case for Leon. Arin was sure that he didn't even realize how far he would go just to get girls.
This put Arin at an advantage because Leon was the only one he knew who could take the Shadow Seed.
The effects of the Shadow Seed only worked on soone who naturally had a low amount of Mana, and Leon was the only one Arin knew who t the requirent.
Together with his weaknesses, Arin already knew that getting Leon to take the Shadow Seed wouldn't really be a hard thing to do. He just needed to play his cards right.
********
Leon stared at the vial containing the seed as he processed what Arin just said.
"Give all those qualities?" he murmured as he squinted his eyes.
"Yes, Leon," Arin said.
A slight frown appeared on Leon's face. "I don't understand... So you're saying I should take this thing?"
Arin stared at Leon. 'This might be harder than I thought...'
"Yes," Arin replied. "And just like I said, you'll get what you want."
Leon's eyes never left the vial, still observing it as if it would disappear if he took his eyes off it. The frown on his face was also still present.
Tessa could sense Leon's uncertainty as she stared at him. She folded her arms as she walked towards him.
Leon's eyes instantly darted towards her.
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She was now standing directly in front of him, looking at him straight in the eyes.
"Leon," she began, her voice calm as she gave him a sweet smile, "I know you're confused, but it'll all make sense."
Arin watched Tessa, waiting to hear what she would say.
Tessa continued. "Just think of this as an amazing cult that does amazing things."
Arin tilted his head, staring at Tessa imdiately after he heard what she said. 'Cult, huh? I guess you can put it that way.'
"C... Cult...?" Leon stuttered.
The sound of that was sohow frightening to Leon, but at the sa ti, coming from Tessa, it beca less frightening.
Rembering the strange lady who ca to tell her about Chaos's training, Tessa decided to add sothing.
"Yes, Leon," she said. "And we also have more female mbers, not just ..."
Leon raised his brows the instant Tessa ntioned more female mbers. This was one of Leon's weaknesses, and both Arin and Tessa knew that.
Arin raised a brow, staring at Tessa. 'She's surprisingly good at this.'
For now, he decided to let her do the talking, to see if she would be able to convince Leon to voluntarily take the Shadow Seed.
But if that didn't work, then he had a plan B.
'If talking doesn't work, I'll just shove the seed into his mouth,' Arin thought.
"Y... You an you aren't the only girl in this... err... cult?" Leon asked Tessa.
"No," she replied. "There are others, and they're all hoping you join."
From what Arin was seeing, it turns out Tessa was on her way to becoming a pro liar like him.
'I'm still the best, though.'
The expression on Leon's face was slowly changing, turning from uncertainty to thoughtfulness. He stared at the vial again and glanced at Tessa.
"If I take this seed-like thing," he began, squinting his eyes, "it'll give those wonderful qualities, right? But how would it affect ?"
He asked this question because he had a feeling that those qualities wouldn't just co for free without sothing like a backlash.
Arin walked forward. "The only backlash is that you won't need to eat anymore because you won't be able to taste food, and secondly, you won't sleep anymore. You can be awake all the ti without getting tired."
Leon frowned slightly after hearing the first one. 'Won't be able to taste food...'
He didn't see the second one as too much of a problem. In fact, it was sothing he liked, but the first one...
Tessa walked closer to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, rubbing it.
They both stared at each other straight in the eyes before Tessa spoke.
"If you take it, you'll be helping so much, and I won't even know how to thank you enough for that."
'Ugh... This is so tempting,' Leon thought, confused. 'I have so much to gain, but the food part...'
Seeing the beautiful way Tessa was staring at him, he couldn't resist it anymore.
"Okay, fine," he said, "I'll take it..."
Tessa smiled excitedly. "Yes! Thank you so much, Leon."
Leon instantly looked at Arin. "Though, how can I be sure that the seed will actually give those qual—"
Before Leon could finish talking, Arin suddenly disappeared from his sight, and in the blink of an eye, Arin appeared in front of him.
The next mont, Leon suddenly felt sothing entering his mouth, followed by a slight pain in his chest.
Everything happened so fast that he didn't know how to react. Even Tessa was shocked by the way Arin suddenly shoved the seed into Leon's mouth.
Tessa stared at Arin with confusion written on her face.
Arin sighed. "He already agreed to take it, so..."
Arin knew that Leon was about to ask how sure he could be that the seed would actually give him all those qualities, but he didn't have the ti to start proving all that to him. Moreover, the novel only ntioned the effects of the seed, so since no one actually took it, there was no way he could transfer any sort of image to Leon's head.
Tessa just shrugged as her eyes darted to Leon, who was shaking uncontrollably.
Instantly, he fell to the ground, still shaking.
Without wasting ti, Arin crouched and gripped his body, reducing the way he was shaking.
"So what now?" Tessa asked, staring at Leon.
"Just wait," Arin said, his voice calm.
Leon continued shaking for a few minutes before, finally, he stopped.
Arin didn't know how long or what would happen before the seed would finally settle, so he could only continue holding Leon to see what would happen next.
'Doing this in the Academy isn't even such a good idea,' Arin thought.
But it was already done, so there was nothing he could do about it.
Suddenly, black smoke began oozing out of Leon's nose and eyes. Imdiately after Arin saw the smoke, he realized that it looked exactly like how the Nightmare Shadow was.
Arin didn't panic; he still continued holding Leon as the black smoke increased. Though, it still wasn't enough to spread out of their circle.
Seeing the smoke, Tessa suddenly rembered sothing.
"That reminds , Chaos," she began, "minutes before you ca out from the Portal, a mass of black smoke ca out. Though, it dashed past and Leon, almost as if it was running away."
"The Nightmare Shadow," Arin murmured. "I even forgot to ask them about it."
Tessa continued. "I got distracted by the seed you brought and the conversation with Leon, so I forgot to say it sooner."
"It's okay, Tessa," Arin said, watching Leon, who had completely stopped shaking, and the smoke was also reducing. "It's the Nightmare Shadow, but don't worry, I'll tell you about it."
Tessa nodded her head in response, drawing her attention back to Leon.
Nothing was happening anymore, and even the black smoke had stopped, but Arin still waited.
Suddenly...
WHOOSH!
Dark energy, similar to the one that shrouded Valtor's sword, burst out from Leon's body, forming a barrier around him.
Tessa shifted back a bit while Arin frowned slightly. Because of the barrier, they could no longer see Leon.
Arin turned back to look at Tessa. "Did Alex perhaps tell you where he would be today?"
Tessa was startled slightly by the sudden question, but she quickly replied. "Yes, he said he had a mission outside the Academy and won't be back till evening."
"He ntioned that he might not be back before curfew, but he already has a permit," she added.
Arin sighed. 'That's a relief.'
And he knew that the teachers had all gone ho, so there was no threat that soone might sense the energy.
Arin watched as the barrier began getting smaller, though, at a slow rate.
'At least, there's still so ti before curfew,' Arin thought, 'so I'll have ti to teach him how to hide the Dark Energy.'
'As for the abilities he'll get, I don't completely know them, but I'm sure he'll naturally know what he can do.'
Arin had already began plotting all the things he would do before curfew.
His mind drifted to the Nightmare Shadow. 'I rember that it started acting up a day after the Ceremony.'
'And well, tomorrow is the Ceremony...'
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