Chapter 204 - Exchange

Hao Xuan smiled looking at the cute octopus, "Sever!"

His palm lit up for an instant, before returning to normal. The smile on his face froze as he saw Fortis wriggle around like jelly on his hand.

"Stop!.....tickles..." an immature, slightly high-pitched voice came from the octopus.

"T-Tickles?!" Hao Xuan repeated, shocked.

Fortis briskly moved his fat head up and down.

"I-I severed away a god's clone from right under him and there was nothing he could do, but it just "tickled" this b*stard?!" he thought inwardly. Not accepting the result, he tried again.

"Sever!"

This time his palm glowed like a bulb for almost a second. Fortis's eyes slanted in pleasure and his body jiggled around while his tentacles tightened their grip around Hao Xuan's hand.

The result was the same. Fortis seemed to be enjoying the sensation as he looked up at Hao Xuan, "AGAINN!"

".....get off my damn hand!" both angered and annoyed, Hao Xuan jerked his hand trying to get rid of the small white octopus but was unsuccessful. Instead, Fortis seemed to take it as a challenge and with a wriggle of his nine tentacles, he shot forward with incredible speed, planting himself onto Hao Xuan's head.

His tentacles wrapped around his forehead and neck, firmly cementing himself there.

"NO! AGAIN!" a little voice shouted again excitedly.

Hao Xuan turned black and blue when the tentacles tightened so much around his neck that they were cutting off the blood supply to his head.

He tried to force open his tentacles but they didn't budge an inch.

"O-Oi, stop, you're killing me you lunatic!" he screamed inwardly while flopping around like a fish out of water.

Fortis saw the unusual movements and quickly loosened his grasp.

Hao Xuan took the opportunity and swam back up, jumped out of the tank and took several deep breaths.

"What the hell is wrong with you! You almost killed me, you moron!"

"No! You!" Fortis retorted from above Hao Xuan's head. It seemed to be his go-to comeback.

"Whatever, get off my head," Hao Xuan repeated resentfully.

"No!"

"What the hell you mean no? Get off my damn head at once!"

"NO! Mine now!"

"Y-Yours? How is my head now 'yours'?!"

"Is mine now. New home!" Fortis replied happily.

Hao Xuan yanked and pulled with everything he had, only managing to rip off some of his own hair.

He was on the verge of crying now. He went in expecting to get a powerful new creature to serve under him, instead got this slimy b*stard in return.

He gave up and slumped down beside the tank to regain his strength. He still hadn't completely healed from the earlier interaction in the tank when all those tendrils entered his body.

Fortis didn't say anything either, simply laying on Hao Xuan's head lazily while playing with his hair. For such a strong and unique creature, he sure seemed to be amused very easily.

Hao Xuan took fifteen minutes or so to recover before opening his eyes again.

He then raised his hand near his head, "Oi, come down here, we need to talk."

Fortis was going to simply refuse yet again, but he heard the seriousness in Hao Xuan's tone and decided to comply just this once. He slowly wriggled over to his hand. Hao Xuan brought him down to look at him in the face.

Fortis looked back, blinked curiously.

"You went through my memories right?" Hao Xuan asked in a serious tone.

Fortis nodded.

"Then you know how the world works. You can't just stay on my head like that. It not only looks weird but is also a little uncomfortable."

Fortis reluctantly nodded yet again. Hao Xuan sighed in relief, at least he understood it wasn't a good thing.

"Earlier, I tried to sever your connection to the heavens and connect it to myself. It was for several reasons, but mainly because I need your help. You came from a very very far away place, a place you might never be able to return to. But since you have no memories of that place, it doesn't matter anymore."

He earnestly looked at Fortis in the eyes. He didn't want to hide anything or lie to him.

"You and me, we aren't that different. Both of us are far from home, alone. It gets boring out there you know, and quite dangerous as well. Why don't we team up?"

Fortis tilted his head in confusion.

"Go through my memories. Lookup a soul contract. I'll make one with you, on equal terms. I promise never to make you do anything you don't want to, but you also must help me out every now and then. Through life and death, we will always be together. Deal?"

Fortis closed his eyes for an instant before opening them again. Everything Hao Xuan knew, he did as well. He knew Hao Xuan was telling the truth and wasn't trying to trick him. Just the look in his eye was enough to relay those feelings.

"Okay, make, contract," he replied innocently.

Hao Xuan smiled, "Alright."

He closed his eyes and a small blob of purple light came out of his body. This was a part of his soul.

Fortis did the same. A blue blob of light came out of his body, but it was anything but small. It was at least twenty times as big as his. Floating in mid-air, it towered over Hao Xuan's soul shard.

Hao Xuan's eyes were closed but he could still feel the horrendous amount of power in Fortis's soul shard. It was just 1% of the actual soul but already so powerful. He understood why the Severing failed now.

Hao Xuan simply wasn't powerful enough.....

The purple shard went into the tiny octopus, while the gigantic blue shard went into Hao Xuan.

A connection was made between the two. They could both feel each other's presence and would be able to no matter the distance.

Hao Xuan's heartbeat quickened when he felt the vast energy within Fortis's soul shard.

One had to keep in mind that Hao Xuan's soul was already several times more powerful than a normal person's. But Fortis's was over twenty times more powerful than even Hao Xuan's.

Hao Xuan felt what Fortis was feeling. He was acting tough right now but Hao Xuan could feel that he was scared. Scared of this new world that had just opened up to him.

He smiled and rubbed Fortis's head, "It's okay. Don't worry, everything will be alright."

Fortis's tentacles moved back and forth, showing his merriment. A cute little blush appeared below his eyes as he covered his face with the tentacles, rolling up into a ball.

"Hahaha," Hao Xuan couldn't help but break out laughing. He poked at Fortis's balled up head teasingly.

Patting him gently and he whispered, "Alright, come, let's go outside."