New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Mr. Gu left the containment area with fear in his mind. There was a reason he was shocked when his swords disappeared.

The containment cells were all built with a mana-inhibiting glass that would reduce the impact of mana usage against it. But a second measure would also restrain their occupants even more.

Under each cell was a machine that siphoned away mana from its occupant constantly, to the point that it should negate the usage of their power entirely.

But Alexander had ignored those and suppressed him and Ms. Deveille from inside his cell. This effectively meant that the cell wasn't even restraining him.

He was only inside it to reassure them.

This attested to his current state of mind. But what if that changed?

What if he decided he had wasted enough time here? What if he lost control of his powers?

Mr. Gu didn't trust him to be in complete control. Not after what Jack had told him when they came back.

How the creature that Alexander had become had tried attacking them. What would happen to anyone in this compound if he lost control of that thing again?

Or worse. The rest of the city…

That… thing inside of him. It wasn't to be trusted.

Little did the assistant know, Alex agreed, regarding the demonic side of himself. Sadly, there wasn't a way to get rid of it now.

He would have to find a way to restrain it by his own means because he had a feeling that their tests would only show what he feared.

If the demon was really an integral part of him now, then a slight slip of his focus and could gain control of his body. And this was a less-than-desirable result.

He had already asked Geminae several times if there was a way to contain the demon. But Geminae was at a loss for ideas.

If he had been more powerful than the retched thing, then he could have exerted his strength to keep it contained. But that was no longer an option.

Since Psyche's soul fragment no longer acknowledged him as its rightful proprietor, he couldn't draw power from it anymore. This meant he was stuck looking like a teenage version of Alexander with wings forever.

Alexander could feed Geminae with some of its power if he so desired. But he still wasn't sure he could trust Geminae.

Not entirely, at least.

This left him in a challenging position.

On the one hand, if he looked away from the imp for too long, it could go on a rampage and possibly kill people he cared about. And he didn't want that to happen.

On the other hand, he fed Geminae with divine essence to make him powerful enough to restrain the demon. Still, he exposed himself to the possibility of a takeover from him instead.

He could think of a third option, but it felt like suicide to him.

Merging the remainder of Psyche's fragment with his own soul.

But just thinking about this sent all kinds of alarm bells ringing inside his mind. It was almost like the shadow of Psyche's presence inside the orb was advising him against this course of action.

'I guess those tests will tell me more about how stable I am. Maybe then I can decide whether I do something about this now or wait.'

***

Kary landed on the penthouse balcony and burst inside, almost tripping on her feet.

Although her control had improved tremendously in the last few weeks, her amount of mana was still minimal. And using Avatar of Flames form was mana-consuming, to say the least.

At least, she no longer singed herself or her hair when she changed into it. This had been a big problem at first.

As she dragged herself upstairs, Kary thought about the look that Alex had given her as she left.

'He seemed scared of something… What happened during his time away?' she wondered.

She carried herself to the bathroom adjacent to their room and quickly threw her clothes into the hamper before almost crashing into the shower.

She rushed to open the cold water as steam started escaping from her pores.

The second the cold water left the shower head and landed on her skin, a steam cloud burst out from her body.

She sighed in relief as her body temp cooled off.

This was another downside to her using her newest ability.

Her body did not appreciate all that heat.

Even if she covered her skin and clothes with a layer of mana, which kept the flames from burning her, it didn't mean the heat was dissipated entirely. Some of it seeped into her and had to come out, eventually.

If she neglected it for too long, her body temp shot up, and she could cause herself serious harm. She had learned that at her own behest.

As she felt her body cool down to a normal temperature, Kary swatted at the shower nob, turning the water to the hot side, before she pushed herself back to her feet.

She let the hot water wash away the sticky sweat her body had expunged while thinking about her meeting with Alex.

Aside from him looking reticent to let her near him, she also noticed something else about him. He seemed bulkier than before.

But that wasn't all.

His countenance had changed completely. He seemed more confident.

Which was contradictory to the fear she could see in his eyes. But his body posture breathed of confidence.

Like he instinctively knew that he was above the others in his presence. It was the kind of countenance she had seen in people like Aberon and Aravelle.

The aura of a powerful being.

Then there was also how he so quickly extinguished her flames from within the containment cell.

Since she brought a few young awakened people in, she knew those cells were built to prevent the people inside from using their powers.

Yet, it had seemed effortless for him.

"Just how much have you changed?" she murmured.

Only time would tell.