New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

As the night progressed, the team surveilling him changed, and everything seemed fine. Alexander was deep into a soft dream, where he was back as a teenager, enjoying his mother's breakfasts and his father's jokes.

Life was devoid of stress or life-threatening situations. World-ending games and wrathful demons were not something his thoughts even went to.

Simpler times, with simpler lifestyles.

But inside his soul, two beings were in a heated argument.

"I'll be free of your restraints soon enough, angel boy. And when I am, I'm retaking control. I deserve to be set free once in a while, too. It's unfair that he let you free rein last time and not me."

"Shut up, you filth. Even if you break free of the restraints I put on you, do you think I'll let you control the body? You are out of your right mind. I will not let that happen."

"Rhakhakha," the imp snickered.

"You think you can stop me? I've been recuperating all this time. You can no longer grow stronger. How long will it take me to become stronger than you? Days? Weeks? Maybe months? What then?"

His face turned to an arrogant grimace. His confidence in his words was absolute.

Geminae could feel the anguish rising inside him.

The demon was right. Since he couldn't get stronger anymore, eventually, it would surpass him, and he would be unable to restrain it anymore.

And if it became strong enough, what was to say it wouldn't consume him entirely? Or Alex.

And Psyche forgive his sinful thought, but what if it consumed the divine soul fragment? What would happen then?

He could already feel the demon struggle against his magic restraints, which were close to breaking.

'I can't let it go loose. How will he trust me if I can't even keep my promises to him?' Geminae thought.

Geminae reached out to Alexander's sleeping mind, prodding it with mana, trying to wake him up. But Alex was fast asleep.

Unbeknownst to him, the fatigue of the last month had still accumulated within his body, and even though he felt fine while awake, the moment his mind felt the call of sleep, his body shut down, allowing itself some much-needed rest.

Geminae tried and tried to wake Alexander up, to no avail.

Snapping sounds started resounding behind him, and Geminae knew he was out of time.

'I'm sorry for breaking your trust. But I would rather take an earful than let that thing be in control again. I don't want it to sully our body anymore…' Geminae thought.

As the last restraint on the demon broke, he burst into laughter.

"Rhakhakhakha! Finally free! Let's take this sack of meat for a joy ride!" he exclaimed.

But before he could even think further, the crushing presence of Geminae expanded in the soul space, sending him crashing into a wall.

He'd been taken by surprise, and his face turned to shock.

"No! NO! It was my turn!!!"

But it was already too late.

Outside the soul space, the readings on the mana detectors suddenly shot through the roof before the machine turned to zero again. But it had already sent the alarms blaring inside the monitoring room.

The scientists and mercs jumped up, ready to react, but it was useless.

A loud explosion rocked the room as the bulletproof glass shattered outward.

Alex, or rather, Geminae, who was in control of the boy, walked out of the testing chamber and stopped before the mercs.

They already had their weapons raised, one with an axe, another with a wand, and the last with a sword and shield.

Geminae looked at them with a severe gaze.

"I wish not to fight with mortals. Your blood would sully our hands further. But I do not intend to stay here. Everyone will die if my control slips and the other one takes place. Let me pass."

The three mercs and four scientists looked at Alexander, who now had grand white wings behind his back, as his skin glowed golden and his irises matched in colour.

But they were supposed to keep Mr. Leduc in the chamber under observation. So, the mercs took a step forward.

With a deep sigh, Geminae shook his head.

A voice echoed over the speakers, and Geminae turned his head toward them.

"Get back into the chamber, Mr. Leduc. You asked us to keep you under observation, and we will do just that. Don't force my men's hands."

This was Mr. Gu, who had taken a brief rest during the day to keep an eye on Alexander during the night.

But Geminae tilted his head.

"Alexander is not here right now. And I have no intention of harming them. But if I stay, they will be at risk. Tell your men to stand down," he replied.

Four turrets descended from the ceiling, whirring to life and locking on the winged figure.

"I am not asking you, whatever you are. Get in the chamber."

Geminae frowned.

Were they not going to accept a reasonable outcome?

Seeing as the winged figure wasn't moving, Mr. Gu sighed before pressing a button on his tablet.

Instantly, a loud thrumming echoed in the testing room, where the four Gatling turrets suddenly rained bullets on Geminae, who covered himself with the two massive wings.

The bullets bounced off the feathers, barely tickling the being. But that did cause dangerous ricochets, which put the other people in the room in danger.

Quickly, the mercenaries pounced into action, the shield wielder jumping before one of them and shielding him. In contrast, the axe wielder used his enormous body to cover another one, positioning his axe to protect his head.

The wand wielder erected a shield before him and the scientist beside him, bullets flattening up visibly on its surface.

But this let the last one to fend for himself as he scrambled to take cover behind a desk.

Sadly, the piece of furniture barely protected him, as a few bullets pierced through it, one finding purchase through his back and left lung.

When the turrets had exhausted their magazines, after thirty seconds of continuous firing, the room looked like a beehive, with holes everywhere.

The scientist, who had been unlucky, was already choking on his blood as the crimson liquid had entered his lungs. Gurgling and wet coughs could be heard in the room.

"He—*Cough cough* Help. Please," he whispered, coughing up blood.