Chapter 355: In His Full Form

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Sitting in the quiescence of his tent, Ivan read through the book and made sure no one interrupted him while he did so, not even Herbert. However, his wife was an exception, but he really hoped she wouldn’t come at an inappropriate time like this, cause right now, getting distracted was the last thing he sought.

He knew how doubtful Tobias looked when he said he was going to read the book page by page, and if he tried, it would take at least a week to finish, but thankfully, his skills had opted, and the records in the book was nothing new, as he had given it some read back in GreenHollow. He knew what each page entailed, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was missing something regardless of how many times he brushed and skipped to the end.

Another five hours had gone by with him trying to piece the puzzles, it was that serious he took a pen and circled each phrase that looked vague, or structurally ambiguous to him. He hated every complex phrase his eyes landed on, and he couldn’t help but circle it with the hopes of returning back to them.

"Whoever wrote this must be some unhinged philosopher." He muttered, eyebrows furrowed with exhaustion. He even found himself dozing off a couple of times, but he shook aside the sleep and steadied himself.

Another hour went by, and the story was still the same. After obliterating Marius from earth, his kind seized the green orb he refused to let go, even at death. The green orb channeled his strength, he was a power-hungry demon, basically everything in the book shared some sort of diabolical connection with the orb, and that made Ivan’s eyebrows crease whenever he read through the lines he circled, again and again, and again.

"What if..." Ivan’s eyes snapped wide, and he stopped chewing at the bottom of the quilt. As if timed, he heard someone call his name.

"Ivan!"

"Huh?" Averting his gaze from the book, he subconsciously jerked his head at the tent flap to see his wife rush in, her enchanting green eyes wide with urgency. He could literally hear the sound of her heart pounding in her chest as she stopped at the entrance, and that made him set the book aside.

"Sam?"

In no time, Samantha was on her knees on his bedspread. She shifted his book further away and crawled closer, then she said, "we need to talk."

"Did I do something again?" His expression shifted, unsure of why that word always made him feel like he had committed something he wasn’t supposed to, but to his relief, she brushed it aside with a mild shake of her head.

"No, not you, I mean about Marius." She looked around and whispered softly, as if to avoid other ears from eavesdropping.

"What about him?"

"I think I understand why Marius has been obsessed with the green orb, or me, or my soul, whichever one it is, but, there’s actually a way to get rid of him, for good this time!" She exclaimed the last part in a low whisper, sounding resolute about what she was about to reveal to him.

"Go on..." he prompted, waiting for her to spill the beans.

"I don’t think Marius is obsessed with me because he owns me, the reason he’s always out to get me is because I’m the one with the power to end him." She dropped, "That explains why he was so interested in taking control over my senses before the blood moon, because during the blood moon, my powers become strong enough to wipe even his soul for eternity, but instead of killing me himself, he wanted to use me as a tool to accomplish his other goal of seizing this world for himself."

Samantha turned her gaze away from Ivan’s, pondering on the mishaps that have happened so far. "That explains everything, I wiped out my race because he wanted to confirm if truly I was the one said to have more powers than him. The rise of GreenHollow happened on a blood moon, and the earthquake, my powers had gone unstable and was affected by the blood moon. Do you know what this means Ivan?"

She held both his hands, smiling at the thought that there was indeed a way to break off Marius’s spell and get rid of him for good, but she failed to notice the worry etched on Ivan’s visuals.

"Finally, we can be free from his influence."

"Who... how did you know about this?"

"Viney told me."

"Listen, my love, I completely understand that you feel the need to..I mean you feel happy to..." Ivan hesitated, unsure of how to place his words to sound meaningful, but when he saw her smile fading slowly, he sighed and poured his thoughts out.

"I can’t let you face Marius, not this time." He freed his hand from her gentle grip, "what if he tricks you? Manipulates you all over again? I nearly lost you to that bastard and I’m not willing to let you face him this time either. That can’t be the only way."

Ivan shook his head in disagreement, and he chose to stand by that decision, however, his wife was giving him the same gentle look that tugged at his heart strings everytime, he would never get used to this feeling, and that was his weakness.

"I can do this," she said with determination, "I need you to trust me on this one, and now that I know that I have the upper hand, why should I relent when I know that there’s a way we can both finally be free from this? I don’t want to prolong this more than it should, or don’t you trust me?"

"It’s not that, you know I trust you more than the heavens most people worship." He sighed again, combing his fingers into his hair, "I love you more than anything, it’s just, I don’t want to risk losing you in the process. Can’t we find a safer way?"

"We don’t have that time, and besides, this is our only chance to reclaim our lives." Samantha cupped his cheek, making him gaze directly into her unwavering eyes, "I’ll be careful, and we’ll make sure every precaution is taken."

"You still don’t understand," Ivan managed a smile, but it was conflicted, "if you’re going to do what you have to do, it means we’ll have to bring Marius back, in his full form. If you have to get rid of him, you’ll have to get rid of ’all’ of him."

"Doesn’t matter." Samantha still remained unshaken, but Ivan could see right through her bold facade, her hands were already trembling. He noticed the slight hesitation in her eyes when he reminded her of this, but it was fleeting.

"I’ll... I’ll be fine." She reassured him, taking his palm to her cheek and leaning her face into it, "and you’ll be with me every step of the way, won’t you?"

Her eyes looked hopeful, it was obvious she had no intention of changing her mind, he could see she was desperate to escape Marius’s bondage, and that’s what he equally wanted. Exhaling in defeat, he met her eyes and brought her face closer to his, dropping a soft peck on her forehead.

"Always." Unable to resist his wife’s charms, Ivan wanted to pull her closer for a kiss, but then the head of an intrusive plant popped out from behind her shoulder.

’you two had it going all night, spare my virgin eyes!’ complained the plant, who literally had no eyes to begin with.

"Come here!"

In one swift move, Ivan grabbed the little plant that tried to escape his grip, but failed miserably. He held it by the head, and watched as the rest of its dangling body trembled and curled around itself protectively.

’Master, save me!’

"Stop being dramatic." Samantha rolled her eyes. For a plant that eats human or other creatures alive, only to digest them afterwards, it sure knew how to cry out for help like a lady in distress.

"Viney, is it necessary to end Marius in his full form?" Samantha questioned the plant who was still dangling mid-air.

"I’ll tell you if you tell your husband to be much nicer to me.’ it folded it’s little Viney arms.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read