Why Did You Summon Me?

Baiyi’s attention shifted to the kitty plush toy. He wondered if it was this item that had attracted the angel to Lulu. Aegir had a lot of girls, and although they were not as pretty as Lulu, the angel had ordered the young cleric to look for Lulu. Could this have anything to do with the blessing Laeticia clumsily left on that plush toy? Mia had given Lulu the plush toy that sealed her fate; did this not make Mia the real culprit?

“What enchantment did Laeticia make?” Baiyi thought out loud.

“I don’t remember. I think it’s something to do with making sure someone awake and aware? Or, it could just be an anti-hex,” Mia replied.

“The main reason why Lulu can still hold that angel at bay could be because of whatever enchantment Laeticia placed on that plush toy. Another reason is Lulu’s deep attachment to you,” Baiyi said. “How else can the spirit of an average girl fight an immortal spirit? Now that I think of it: is it not weird than an angel is being repulsed by a theurgical spell?”

“Mr. Hope!” Mia frantically called out, visibly close to tears. “Please, can you think about all that some other time? Lulu needs our help right now! She’s so pitiful, and in so much pain…”

‘Yes, she is pitiful, but all I see is a girl curled up in a corner! She’s not having a convulsion, neither is she screaming in agony. How did you conclude that she’s in pain?’ Baiyi wondered. 

Even if Baiyi wished to help, there was nothing he could do. How was he, or anyone else, supposed to get involved in a fight happening in someone else’s mind?

“Any bright ideas?” Baiyi asked the Emperor, who was still messing around with the cat. This time, the man was rubbing it against his cheeks.

The Emperor coughed loudly and dropped the cat. He walked towards Lulu, covered her with his psychic sense, and frowned, “That plush toy is unusual. There is some sort of channel that keeps it connected to the girl’s mind. could feel a sort of channel connecting to that girl’s mind within it… What did you guys do?”

Mia quickly explained to the Emperor what she had seen Laeticia do to the plush toy. When she finished, the Emperor was silent for a while, after which he said, “I do not know what effect that theurgical spell has; I do know that this plush toy is a gateway to the girl’s mind. You know what that means, don’t you?”

The Emperor looked at Baiyi, who had gone wide-eyed. The Fifth Walker soon regained his composure and said, “You can’t seriously be thinking of sending me into that plush toy.”

“How else are we supposed to save her? This is the only method we have come up with,” the Emperor said. “Isn’t possessing the plushies of little girls one of your specialties?”

“Are you serious? When I did become the one that often possessed toys? You guys were experts are possessing that hammerhead shark plushie!” Baiyi replied hotly. “Besides, how much of my spirit can that bloody little thing hold? Definitely not enough for me to fight that angel, that’s for sure!”

Mia’s hope was re-ignited at the mention of the possibility of saving her friend. She hugged Baiyi’s arms and looked up at him with hope-filled eyes. “There’s no need to be scared, Mr. Hope! I will go with you!”

This was akin to a scene straight out of a war movie; a soldier pleading with a jaded physician to save his comrade from death. Unfortunately, this gesture had no effect on Baiyi. ‘If you were with me, what could you possibly do? No, how would you get into that plush toy? Can you possess a toy? I think not!’

He shook his head slowly, refusing Mia.

“We won’t know if it works if we don’t try, right? Plus, I don’t think the angel is as strong as you let on; after all, her opponent is only a little girl. The fact that the plush toy is too small to hold much of your spirit is a good thing — not a bad thing — because the angel would only be able to damage the bit of your soul in the plush toy,” said the Emperor, after which he crouched and began to draw a formation on the floor. This formation was for the Pseudo-Descend Spell!

“Is just this enough?” Baiyi asked in surprise.

“It won’t work as good as drawing the formation on the plush toy, but it will have to do,” the Emperor replied confidently. “Once you’re there, don’t introduce yourself as the enemy. Your mission is to guide Lulu’s spirit, helping it gradually seize control of her body.”

When the Emperor finished drawing the formation, he moved to draw the other half of it on Baiyi’s back. He looked quite eager to fire it up.

Baiyi had not yet consented to the plan!

Mia, who could sense her Soul Armature’s reluctance, gritted her teeth and exclaimed, “If you bring Lulu back to us, Mr. Hope, I… I’ll call you Daddy,  forever !” [1]

Baiyi shivered as though a bolt of lightning had just struck him. The urge to exclaim, “Yesssss!” in a singsong voice almost overwhelmed him, but Baiyi fought down the urge. Instead, he patted Mia’s head and chucked. “I understand your feelings, Mia, but that isn’t necessary,” he said, looking more pleased than he let on. “You know our relationship has long since passed the need for such silly addresses.”

“Well… what if I let you cuddle me to sleep at night, like your very own human-sized pillow?” Mia said, making a more appealing offer.

The offer left Baiyi speechless. When did this girl become so sly? She had to know that as a Soul Armature, Baiyi did not need to sleep; he had never needed to sleep his descent to the world!

“Fine, fine ! I’ll go, so you can stop coming up with these ridiculous offers,” Baiyi helplessly replied. “Just promise me that you’ll listen to what I say from now on, and not act on a whim anymore, okay?”

Without waiting for a reply, Baiyi gave the Emperor a nod. He was ready.

The Emperor activated the formation, and a fragment of Baiyi’s spirit was transferred into the plush toy.

Baiyi felt a strange sensation, but this was not something he was not already used to. He was in two bodies at once; a bit of his spirit was in his regular suit of armor, and another bit was in the plush toy. Baiyi could see through the plush toy’s beady eyes, and he could control its limbs.

This was no different from what Baiyi had done in the past. He used to teach students in class at Da Xue, all the while exploring distant micro-realms with other fragments of his spirit.

Past experiences allowed Baiyi to adapt quickly to his new state. The kitty plush toy waved its short arms at the Emperor and Mia, indicating that the spell had succeeded. Then, Baiyi’s suit of armor said, “It’s kinda fuzzy in here, but what you detected earlier is true; this plush toy is linked to Lulu’s psyche. I can actually cross into her mind from here. It’s just like going through a door…”

Baiyi walked down the channel within the kitty plush toy. As he ventured deeper, the world around him brightened, and soon, it got so bright that he could no longer see. When Baiyi came to, he was in a different location: Lulu’s mindscape.

It was an eerie sight. The world was split into two. On the left was a vast expanse of blue and white clouds slowly soaring by. It made one feel as though they were standing in the sky. On the right was a rustic town that looked really familiar.

Both sides had merged, but they still appeared crude and were split down the middle. It was like a very bad collage. Standing right in front of the line that split both areas were two girls, who stood facing each other.

They were identical in every way, except for their countenance. The girl on the left glowed faintly, and she had a blindfold over her eyes. She exuded a cold, holy aura, which made everything around her seem small and unimportant.

The girl on the right was timid, making her seem small. A golden circle, which emanated from the kitty plush toy she was hugging tightly, protected her by the cold aura surging from the girl on the left. This made her look meek and feeble, but she stood her ground and did not give in to her adversary.

Baiyi could already tell who they were. What surprised him, though, was the fact that the girls were at a stalemate. He had expected the timid girl to be at a disadvantage, struggling intensely not to submit. However, despite the difference in power, both sides were evenly matched.

Lulu was not that strong. It was the angel who had not made any attempt to wrest control off Lulu. The angel’s spirit was hundreds of times stronger than Lulu’s, but for some reason, she was holding back, allowing Lulu to resist. Something struck Baiyi as odd: why did the angel choose to look exactly like Lulu?

Everything he had seen saw was narrated by Baiyi’s suit of armor to the Emperor and Mia. As Baiyi spoke to them, his spirit kept moving till it got into the plush toy Lulu was hugging tightly.

The plush toy in Lulu’s arms stirred and began to struggle.

Lulu gasped. She looked down at the plush toy and said, “Did you just move, Kitty? Are you Mia, here to save me?”

“Sorry, kid. It’s just me,” replied the plush toy. As this was Lulu’s mind, Baiyi and Lulu could converse telepathically.

“That voice… Is that you, Mia’s father?” Lulu gasped even louder. “How did you get here?”

“It’s a little complicated. It’s better to take care of the current situation first. Raise me, kid — yes, a little higher — so that I’ll talk to that one.”

Lulu placed the plush toy on her head. It got to its feet and waved its short limb to the girl on the other side. “Yo!”

The blindfolded Lulu raised her head in surprise at the plush toy’s emergence. “An intruder?”

“We have met before, but not under these circumstances?”

Noirciel stiffened. As the memories of previous events resurfaced in her mind, her expression became more unsightly, and her voice turned cold. “You! The heretic who tainted the Law with forbidden power! You… You…!”

The angel heaved, trying her best to suppress her rage, after which she groaned weakly. “You… bear the crest of Lord Nehemiah. You’re his chosen one! Why have you treated me as an adversary?”

‘What. The. Hell did you just say? Who the hell is Lord Nehemiah? Since when did I become someone’s messenger?’  Baiyi thought in shock.

Without allowing the plush toy to reply, the angel continued, saying, “You are Lord Nehemiah’s messenger, and she is the one beloved by Our Highest Lord. Why then did you obstruct me? Why have you treated me as an adversary?”