Looking at Marcus in bewilderment Mrazivý said, "I appreciate the offer and understand what you are getting at, but I do not have the spirit summoning skill."
With a devious smile Marcus said, "Yes but we can just fake it."
Still perplexed by what Marcus was saying Mrazivý wanted to know how he was going to fake her having spirit summoning magic when Marcus said, "I will simply possess you and then say a little chant and make a light show before popping out. Oh, and I have a number of forms I can take so do not worry about someone recognizing me."
"Wait do you honestly think that will work. Everyone knows I am a magic swordsman that can only use ice magic. Even though few people know my actual status, my family certainly knows I do not have a contracted spirit or spirit magic."
With a smirk on his face Marcus said, "If they ask just tell them you recently acquired it."
However, Mrazivý was not finished poking holes in Marcus' plan and said, "What if someone gets suspicious and has my status read. In that case they would see I do not have a contract with a spirit nor the skills to summon one."
But Marcus was still ready to alleviate these worries and said, "In that case I will possess you and using my false status skill, make it appear that you do have the right skills. Though I am going to need to see your full status to make sure I do not have any inconsistencies."
"Also, if anyone questions you be sure to deny everything. You never admit to your wrong doings no matter what. As soon as you do it is all over."
Soon Marcus had won Mrazivý over to his seemingly ridiculous plan, but in the end, she felt that it was her only hope.
"With the two of us working together I am sure that we can get you to be the victor of the tournament."
"Okay but what about afterwards. It is not like you can pretend to be my contracted spirit forever." Mrazivý said with a bit of concern.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtShrugging his shoulders Marcus said, "Just tell anyone who asks that you broke the contract or something. Once you have won it really does not matter."
"Got it and thank you for your help in advance. You do not know what it means to me that you are willing to do all of this for my sake."
Shaking his head Marcus said, "Well I am giving up a lot to help you, so you can do a small favor for me right."
"Sure, as long as it is something I can accomplish." Mrazivý said a bit hesitantly.
"Well since I am giving up on my chance to get some adamantine, you can get some for me right, you are a princess after all." Marcus said with an almost devious smile.
Gulping Mrazivý imagined her wallet being drained dry to accomplish Marcus' request, or she might even have to suck up to her father and ask for some.
However, it was still a small price to pay for all of the help Marcus was offering her and reluctantly said, "Yes but not too much alright. Even the power of a princess has its limits."
"Yeah, whatever you can get me is fine. I just need it to get my skill level up and make myself some higher quality gear."
With their plan now set, they needed to prepare to make their act convincing enough that people would not notice, or at the very least have a hard time making sure that it was being faked.
The first thing they tried was letting Marcus possess Mrazivý's body, but that was easier said than done.
Her soul instinctively fought back against Marcus and trying to take over forcefully was not going to work.
Even though Marcus had a higher spirit stat, Mrazivý's was not low and at best he could control her for a few seconds when she resisted him.
"I keep telling you to relax, and just let me in. I know that it is difficult to deal with the intrusion, but once you get used to it, I will back off and give control back to you."
Unfortunately, Mrazivý's honed survival instinct made it nearly impossible for her to simply let Marcus take over, as she felt her own will being repressed.
And on the other hand, Marcus at the same time was trying to simply dwell in Mrazivý's body instead of taking it over, which was proving harder than he thought.
Still the two of them kept at it until Mrazivý was able to control her own naturally defenses and let Marcus take over her body.
He then tried to give control back to her while still remaining in her body, but instead he just popped out.
"Damn, and it took us over two hours just for me to finally be able to possess you, just for my plan not to work."
"Oh no I worked to hard to finally get my head around the fact of you taking over my body. We are going to figure this out no matter what." Mrazivý said not willing to let her efforts go to waist.
Trying a bit more they kept having the same problem of Marcus simply unpossessing her when he ceded control back, but eventually he came upon an idea.
He remembered how the shadow demon had latched itself onto the soul of the kid Tyler and this time try to wrap his tendrils of shadows around Mrazivý's soul.
And it actually worked for a moment before Mrazivý fought back violently and pushed Marcus out.
She then looked at him in a disgusted manner and said, "What the hell was that. It felt so wrong and slimy."
Sighing Marcus responded saying, "Well if you want this to work you are going to have to deal with it. To overshadow your soul and then give you control back pushes me out, so I have to latch on somehow."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe two argued around for a bit, but Mrazivý eventually relented to dealing with Marcus' tendrils of shadows latching onto her soul, since she would rather feel slimy for a few minutes then have to feel that way for the rest of her life married to Marquis Krenston's son.
After Mrazivý forcefully pushed Marcus out a few more times, she eventually got used to the feeling of his spirit being latched onto to hers, and the two of them let out a sigh of relief that their plan was coming to fruition.
"Now we just need to work on the visuals and words for the fake summoning, and we will have everything we need to pretend I am you spirit down."
"Yeah, it has been hard and thank you again for all your help. I know I have been complaining about how unnatural it feels for you to possess me, but you have really put up with a lot for my sake."
Letting out a soft chuckle Marcus said, "Well that is what friends are for. If I am ever in a similar bind, I expect you will come to help me out."
"Yeah, something tells me if anyone ever tried to rope you into an unwanted marriage you would destroy them or simply disappear." Mrazivý said with a straight face.
Then the two of them started laughing profusely, when the door to the room slammed open.
Looking over both of them were surprised since neither her guardian knight nor mage had a key, but when they saw who was in the doorway it made sense how they could open the door.
"Great Grandmother what are you doing here."
Standing in the doorway was none other than Great Archmage Aria herself.
"Sir Heward here said that you had locked yourself away here for hours with Irene and were not responding to his calls. For some reason he told me that he thought you were in mortal danger and asked me to open the door for him, but it seems that everything is perfectly fine."
Aria then gave Sir Heward a glare since she wanted him to know she was angry that he wasted her time before going on her way.
Sweat could now visibly be seen flowing down his forehead, since he was afraid of what punishment he might receive for upsetting Grand Archmage Aria and interrupting Princess Mrazivý.
"I see it has gotten late and we both could use some rest, so we should go back to our respective abodes for now. See you tomorrow Irene and we can further work on what we have been discussing then. "Mrazivý said as she got up and winked at Marcus.
The two of them then exited Mrazivý's private box in the arena and went their separate ways, with Marcus heading back to the Twisted Cats' Tails Inn, and Mrazivý going back to the nearby royal manor within the outer city.