The Damned Demon

Duncan noticed Asher's surprised look and said, "Tell me, when you took the trial, you were able to possess a human body with no effort, right?"

"Yes, of course," Asher nodded slowly as he remembered possessing that school teacher without doing anything.

"And because you were able to control a human, it was easier for you to manipulate your 'vessel' into giving into you. I can also assume that even after your 'vessel' gained some of your powers, the people around him didn't notice he was Demonized until it was too late," Duncan guessed based on what he knew.

Asher kept nodding as he said, "Yeah. My vessel was just an ordinary and weak human. It was easier than I thought," Asher said while wondering what Duncan was coming to.

"Yes, but don't expect things to be like this the next time you take a reaping quest. This time the Devils won't give you any helping hand except to help your soul travel to the other side and back. The rest you have to do yourself, which means you won't have any access to any human's body or mind. You will have to rely on your own abilities to influence your 'vessel'. But if you fail, you will forever be stuck in the Severed Realm and might even get found out by Hunters. This is why Reaping quests are, in general, harder than Raiding quests but worthwhile when you become an expert doing it," Duncan said with a strong hint of caution in his tone.

Asher subtly raised his brows, not expecting things to suddenly get difficult like this. Was Reaping really that difficult? Why would anyone take up such quests if the risk was too great?

"Don't get too worried. Even if you won't get any help, it doesn't mean there aren't ways to learn how to do things yourself. The interesting part is that reaping can be done in different ways, and it will be up to you to decide. But for now, I am going to teach you the easiest and fundamental method in the book…Possessing objects," Duncan said as he snapped his fingers together, and immediately, the floor surrounding him subtly moved as a few small cylindrical columns projected out with various small-sized objects like ring, bracelets, book, and watch on top of them. 

Asher could see that these objects were from Earth and asked, "But why objects? Why not directly try to possess humans?"

Asher didn't specialize in exorcism in his past life since he was the kind of Hunter who spent his time learning how to destroy demons head-on. He had made a vow when he was a small kid to destroy demons with his own hand after everything he went through. 

However, he did know that demons had the ability to possess objects which was actually pretty common. And now he couldn't help but be interested in how the whole thing worked. The idea of getting to learn it was kind of exciting to him.

Duncan subtly hummed as he said, "Living beings have souls which means they can resist any foreign force. Since you already got access to a human body during the trial, you haven't yet experienced how difficult it could be to possess or influence a human. They are intelligent beings, and their minds can be strong, especially Hunters. If you get caught in the process of trying to demonize them directly, then you will be in great danger."

"So that is why it is safer to possess non-living objects?" Asher asked with a shake of his head.

Duncan nodded and said, "It's not only safer, but it also helps you to understand the weakness and strengths of your vessel. If you don't know anything about them, how are you going to make them succumb to you?"

Asher rubbed his collar as he asked with a look of contemplation, "Is it by possessing objects that mean something to the human we want to possess?"

Duncan nodded firmly, "Yes, that is right. Everyone has at least one object in their life that they consider very dear to them. So if you manage to establish a connection or a mental link with that object, you will get to learn some things about the owner. And once you possess it long enough to learn more things about the 'vessel', that object will radiate an aura that will open a gate to its owner's subconscious mind."

"So that is how I enter the mind of the 'vessel'?" Asher asked as he couldn't help but realize the vast potential he could gain by learning to do this stuff. He couldn't help but think of certain people in his mind.

"Yes. But even if you enter the mind, it isn't over yet. You won't get access to full memories of the vessel like you got during your trial. You would only know whatever you learned from the object you possessed. So the part you should be very careful about is not letting the vessel realize that you have possessed them," Duncan stressed the last sentence as if he wanted to make sure Asher wouldn't forget it.

In his past life, Asher had never been possessed since no demon ever got to successfully possess him. Because of this, he had no idea how it felt to get possessed.

All he heard were opinions from experts since those who got possessed won't remember what happened if they managed to survive. Or even if they remember, it would be too fragmented and vague, which ends up not being useful.

However, he could understand why Duncan warned him not to get caught since he had seen Hunters realizing a demon had slipped into their minds and running to an exorcist to exorcize the demon out of their minds.

A lot of demons had been purged like that, and he also would have tried to learn exorcism only if he could try it on himself, which wasn't possible. It was just like how a neurosurgeon couldn't perform brain surgery on themselves despite having the knowledge to do so.

"But how do we do that if we want to make them succumb to their desires? We have to communicate with them, right?" Asher asked with a look of confusion.

"Yes, we have to communicate but not directly. We only 'whisper' in their minds at the right time to influence their thoughts and decisions. The more they listen to our whispers, the more they unconsciously give us power over their mind," Duncan emphasized the word 'whisper', making Asher ask, "But they will still realize a demon is putting thoughts in their head? Won't we get caught anyway?"

Duncan shook his head and said, "Not if you don't go overboard with it. That is why I called it 'whispers'. Any mind has thoughts flowing in all the time, and the same goes for humans too. So if you disguise your whispers as thoughts of their own, they won't become suspicious. Why would they if they believed these whispers were their own thoughts? Humans know they hold hidden desires and hear thoughts born from those desires, no matter how deep they might be. So even if they hear 'whispers' that make them feel like indulging in their deepest desires, they won't think too much about it most of the time."

Asher nodded as he felt that made sense. That was the whole point of this thing. Reaping works because everyone has desires they have hidden deep within their minds. What mattered was how deep they were hidden because the deeper they were, the harder it would be to make them act on it.

"But it goes both ways. The more they ignore your whispers, the higher the chances you will expose yourself," Duncan warned, making Asher feel as if Reaping did indeed seem harder than something as straightforward as Raiding.

"Now that I have introduced you to the idea, it's time for you to test what you have learned so far. Reaping only works when you are in your spirit form, and so the tower is going to help you do that. Just close your eyes, and the tower will do the rest," Duncan instructed.

Asher didn't expect this, but thinking about it, he felt this mysterious tower was surely capable of such things.

Without further ado, Asher closed his eyes, and the next moment he felt a strange sensation of his entire being getting sucked out.

But then his vision was no longer dark, and he felt weightless as if he was floating and he, indeed, was in the hall.

However, he could see his own spirit form, which was a shimmering and translucent gray-white hue, giving off a subtle dark glow. It resembled his original body, but just like how it was during the reaping trial, his spirit body couldn't interact with anything.

'Damn…' Asher mumbled as he looked at his own body sitting before him in a cross-legged position. His real body was still breathing but motionless.

"Don't worry about your mortal body. It is as if you are sleeping since your spirit form is still connected to your mortal shell. That is why any kind of injury to your spirit form will severely reflect on your mortal shell as well," Duncan said with a strong hint of caution.

He then gestured towards the objects placed on the cylindrical columns and added, "Now decide which one of these objects you want to possess."

Asher looked around and decided to pick a ring that seemed like it belonged to a woman, "I think I will try to possess the ring."

"Hmm, focus your mental energy on the ring and visualize it as an extension of your body," Duncan instructed as Asher floated closer to the ring.

Asher began to focus all his mental energy on the ring, just like Duncan said. He furrowed his brows as he felt a faint vibration coming from the ring but nothing else.

Duncan noticed Asher's expression on the outside and said, "Don't try to force it. Let your thoughts drift, and imagine your spirit form gradually fusing with the ring…your mind fusing with it until you become the ring itself."

Asher's expression relaxed as he took a deep breath, allowing his thoughts to relax and settle down until he was only thinking of the ring before him. He pictured himself merging with the ring, and the more he did, the stronger he felt the vibrations coming from it.

These vibrations were spreading through his mind and creating a resonance throughout his entire body. He was new to such a feeling, but he kept picturing his spirit body enveloping the ring, embracing it completely until he finally felt like he ended up becoming the ring. 

At that moment, he felt a strange sensation. He could sense the texture of the ring, the faint metallic scent of its body, and even its weight as if it was his own while seeing everything from its perspective.

As he concentrated, he felt a subtle shift in his awareness and began to see blurry and indistinct images in his head. It was like a dream that was slipping away as he woke up. But as he concentrated, the images became clearer and more vivid. He saw a woman who was feeling sad after losing her mother in a car accident. 

Asher could guess these images were nothing but the memories of the owner of this ring.

'He should die for killing you, mother, but…I am too powerless to do anything…'

Asher heard the sad voice of this girl in his head and knew it was probably one of the thoughts that echoed in her head at that time, expressing her deepest desire which she couldn't act upon.

It was obvious what happened to her mother was more than just a simple car accident, but what fascinated Asher was how he got to learn all this by just holding a ring she probably considered special to her.

How was this possible?

Duncan was blinking his eyes from outside upon seeing that Asher had managed to connect with the ring without any difficulty so soon.

Was he a reaping prodigy too? Anybody else of his level could have lost connection because of how hard it was to maintain the focus on a foreign object that was not their own body.

Even if that was not a concern, there was a good chance that their mind could get disrupted by the energy of the owner of the ring.

If it was an ordinary human's ring, Duncan wouldn't be surprised at all. But the ring he gave to Asher belonged to a woman who was a D Rank Hunter. He purposefully picked objects of Hunters who were nearly as strong as Asher to prove a point. However, it seemed as if he underestimated the mental fortitude and focus of this boy.

Maybe he should up the stakes since this boy continued to astonish him.

"I think I got the gist of it," Asher said as he looked at Duncan though he was surprised when he saw Duncan gesturing him to enter the teddy bear in front of him, "Why don't you try connecting with this doll as well before we proceed to the next part?"