Chapter 788: Backdoor

Benjamin dropped down onto the couch and buried his face in his hand, trying to think about what he should do next. He just threatened a swat team to run away like they were kids in a slightly too realistic haunted house.

"What did you just do?" Tony stood in front of his father, who slowly looked up, "...I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it. I reacted too impulsively, so I just..."

"No, that's not what I mean, dad. What... what was that? What you did, they were... was that some magic thing?" with a concerned expression, Tony sat down next to Benjamin, as the others slowly joined them as well. Everyone slowly sat down in the livingroom. Of course, most of them already knew what that was, but the fact that Benjamin had managed to do this in this world was still a shock to them. The old man tried to find the best words to explain it, but before he could, Nataly spoke up, "It was an effect of 'Charisma'. There are a lot of ways to affect people's minds... intimidating them, making them fall for you... having them listen to your every word... if just that. Sometimes a glance is enough to make them drop to their knees."

She looked at the ground with a solem expression, a frown slowly forming on her face, "It's basically like mind control when it gets to the point we're at... And Eisen, he has a lot of things going for him that build up his 'pressure', things that let him give explosive commands like that. He's a king and a true demon, both of those help with that immensely. Though even then it usually shouldn't have been that strong, but regular people here just don't have any sort of resistance toward it... It's dangerous. Ridiculously so..."

Benji sat down next to Nataly and rubbed her back. He could tell that she wasn't dealing well with some of these matters, the memories that she had recovered in the other world so far. None of them were.

Tony looked at her a bit confused, "So that means he's been changing even more? It's not just that mana thing, but also other abilities?" he asked with a worried expression, before glancing at the wall that Benjamin had caused to crack earlier, with just his bare hands, "Just... look at how strong he is as well, that... Dad, are you... going to be okay?"

Benjamin looked at his son, but didn't know what to reply. The taste of nickel and steel still lingered in his mouth, from when he simply bit through the handcuffs. Haruo and Andrew, too, they were both changing more and more physically. At a glance, they may now even resemble their bodies in the other world more than their original bodies over here.

"I don't know. It's not like this has ever happened to anyone before, son," Benjamin admitted. He wanted to comfort everyone, but he also didn't just want to lie to them either. Silence lingered in the air for a while, but Andrew soon let out a scoff, "Why're we just sitting here, pouting because of something we can't even change anymore?" he asked, as he pushed himself away from the wall he leaned against.

"The fact that bastard is still trying to do shit to us over here just solidifies that he can'to anything to us over there. We're too much for him. And as time goes on, we're getting harder to deal with over here as well. We've got money, we've got protection from Komer too, we just have to let him know we need a bit of security around here and we'll be good to go. He keeps offering it all the time, anyway. Not that we need protection, cause as you can see, we're fucking strong. I'm pretty sure I could bench-press your big-ass car right now, man," Andrew pointed out, his broad grin showing off his tusks even more. He was smiling the exact same way that he would in the other world, instead of hiding his tusks as he used to.

"Brody's right," Jasmin added, "Things are looking better and better for us. I've also started analyzing the meeting room a bit, and I feel like I'm pretty close to a breakthrough, to figure out how to block out Samuel's possessions. Rather... it looks like I might be able to figure out how to attack him through the process."

Everyone's ears perked up, particulalry Andrew and Nataly's, "Wait, what? I didn't hear anything about this..." Nataly pointed out, "Granted, I've been busy looking into the chromatic dragon situation in the central continent, but still..."

Jasmin crossed her arms smugly, "Hehe, yeah, sorry about that. Basically, Eisen found out that Samuel possesses people through a specific kind of divination magic, and with that knowledge, I started analyzing the meeting room's structure again. It's still a lot too complicated for me, but I'm getting there. Basically, this magic creates a link between two individuals. You can think of it as similar to the capsule, I guess? Though instead of linking souls, it just links consciousness. Since that's the case, if we use an attack that affects the individual's mind..."

"...Then it's going to just affect Samuel, but not the one being possessed," Benjamin finished with a broad grin, "That's a great idea, Xenia."

"Thanks, I know~" Jasmin replied smugly, before Nataly quickly jumped up, "In that case, shouldn't we provoke him to show himself? I can prepare something like... erm, a song, or an act, or something that can manipulate him enough so that he ends up taking damage through it!"

Slowly, Jasmin shook her head, "That's not going to work, at least not yet. We'll probably end up having to do something like that, but from what I can tell, Samuel's magic is nothing if not pristine. It's near-perfect and protected in nearly every way. It blocks out nearly every possible angle of attack... it looks like there are some very specific conditions that need to be fulfilled for something to go through, so until I have all that figured out, we can't let him know that we have a way in."

"Conditions?" Haruo repeated, "That sounds like... Ah, so that's what you meant earlier. You left a... what do they call it? Backdoor?"

"Yes! A secret way in, that Samuel can't even hope to notice. Heh," Jasmin replied, and Benji quickly looked at her, "Wait, you made that spell? Seriously? The spell that he's using to manipulate the entire world?"

Jasmin was a bit taken aback, but before she could reply, Nataly quickly told him off, "Benji, stop... that was pretty obvious."

"...Huh?" Benji replied, and his grandfather quickly nodded, "Samuel brought us into that world so that he can use us to shape it into what he wanted. He would give us tasks over the millennia, would reward us if we did what he wanted, and in turn would punish us if we didn't. We all did a lot of things for him... The moment that I heard that he was using a spell, it was pretty clear that it must be one that Xenia had been forced to create for him. I just didn't expect for her to have planned ahead for this situation."

Benji sat back down somewhat awkwardly. He got riled up for no reason. Though, after that explanation, a question popped up in his mind, "...If she put something like that into a spell that Samuel uses that often, then... what else did you guys plant all over the place?"

For a moment, everyone stayed silent again. The five people in question looked at each other and thought about that question.

Benjamin quickly spoke up, "Xenia, you're in Prototype, so could you-"

"I'll ask them, yeah. I mean, they've been around for as long as the city, right? They should know about at least some of the things we've had to do for Samuel," Jasmin replied immediately. Haruo also started to smirk, "I already have a few thoughts in mind, things I've been wanting to look into and such, to get some more memories back... I think there might be a few things here and there..."

"Likewise. There should be things scattered around here and there," Andrew nodded.

"I already asked Komer to look into some of the art that I made and who might have bought them over the years," Nataly added, "Some of the paintings' or sculptures' names looked a little interesting to me..."

Benjamin stood up from his seat, "Alright, then everyone try to do that. Let's gather every single tiny clue about what we can do against him," the old man grinned, "But for now, I should get back to 'him'... I'm sure he's still sitting there, waiting for me to come back."

"Wait, what?" Andrew let out, "Samuel is there with you right now?"

"Mhm, possessing one of the giants I'm dealing with right now. It's been twenty minutes since I came out of the capsule, so... yeah, I'm sure he's still around. Waiting an hour should be easy enough for that guy," the old man sighed, and before long, the five of them quickly returned to their respective capsules, eager to get back to work. Eager to figure out a way to shut Samuel up for good, and stop him from going through with all those ridiculous plans of his.

Benjamin dropped into his capsule and pulled it shut, and quickly logged back in. He opened his eyes, and saw the inside of the tent, while he was surrounded by the Dragon Knights, being kept safe from the man that was still standing near him.

"Ah, damn... I was sort of hoping that those guys might do something good for once," Samuel sighed, still possessing Hari's body, "So, how'd it go over there?"