Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

The insidious Devil of Secrets had created a vile and ancient form of magic known as Soul Puppetry.

This high-level magic allowed the caster to implant arcane parasites into their target's soul, threading invisible cords through their thoughts, emotions, and will.

The victim often remained unaware, believing every action was their own… until it was too late.

Or, in other cases, the soul body of the victim was completely replaced by the parasite, allowing the caster to gain full control over them.

The first step was to have the arcane parasite secretly burrow inside the target's spirit sea. From there on, the caster could choose to have the parasite operate in one of two ways.

Either, it could subtly influence the target to act in ways that would be beneficial to the caster. This method was a subtle for of manipulation where the victims would end up carrying out tasks without even knowing they're no longer free.

Or, the parasite would take a much ruthless approach by infiltrating the target's spirit sea, devouring their soul body, and permanently replacing them.

At that moment, no one around the victim would be even able to notice that the person had been replaced.

This mystic art focused on the School of Enchantment and the School of Summoning.

Soul Puppetry consisted of splitting a tiny part of the caster's soul, then converting the split soul into an arcane parasite through a methodical process, and ultimately having the parasite infest the target.

However, Adam could not afford to do that. Not when he was literally in the middle of a storm of warfare being covertly fought between the Twilight Brotherhood and the Cult of Bones.

Despite having the Eternal Soul Lotus, which would allow him to completely heal his soul and even strengthen it in the process, he would have to go through inhumane torture to even carry out this technique.

Furthermore, it would leave him incapacitated for a long, long time… possibly years.

Therefore, to counter this critical flaw of Soul Puppetry, Adam had created a technique where the parasite was made up of his spiritual energy instead of his split soul.

And thus, Adam's Spirit Parasite was born.

Although this spell countered the flaw of Soul Puppetry, it could never truly mimic the potency of the insidious art.

For example, Adam was only able to use it on beasts and insects. He could—maybe—succeed in controlling a mundane mortal.

However… a Magus?

Highly unlikely.

Magi had potent spiritual energy that protected their mind and souls. Moreover, their spiritual energy increased as they advanced in ranks.

More importantly, they would instantly realize when something—or someone—was trying to infiltrate their spirit sea.

Soul Puppetry made it possible, but only when combined with another form of magic. It was this mystical art that earned the devil his title: Devil of Secrets.

This form of magic wasn't something he created, but something that he found in an inheritance left behind in a primal ruin by an ancient, powerful Magus.

This magic had no name because it was… a secret.

The very essence of this form of magic revolved around secrecy. Applying it to other types of magic helped conceal them from prying eyes.

Furthermore, it could also be applied to tangible things, making their existence… a secret.

However, even if he did apply Secrecy Magic—as Adam had chosen to name this art—into his Spirit Parasite, he still wouldn't be able to manipulate or completely replace other Magi.

It paled in comparison to Soul Puppetry.

The vile magic art of the Devil of Secrets was just that good.

Why am I thinking of such useless things? Merling thought to himself.

Or rather… the wasp thought to itself as it flapped its wings and flew across the second layer of the secret plane.

It looked down, glancing at the blood beasts scattered through the crimson grasslands. Some of them were sleeping, while others were aimlessly crawling around.

He had confirmed two things. First, the scent of flesh and blood attracted them and turned them feral. Second, they did not attack their fellow brethren.

Considering their instinctual nature to devour flesh and blood to grow stronger, they should have naturally killed and consumed other blood beasts as well.

But it seemed that they were programmed not to…

Strange, strange, so very strange, thought the dead wasp.

Next time, I wish to be… a butterfly.

There was a very important thing that the wasp… no, Merlin… uhh, no, Adam… had realised.

The Spirit Parasite, and by association the Soul Puppetry, was not meant to be used on corpses!

The soul of a being consisted of three parts.

The Will held one's personality and individuality. The Vessel stored the memories and experiences. And the Spark consisted of the spiritual energy that tied the soul to the body.

When a being perished, their soul died as well—along with the three parts that composed it.

Soul Puppetry aimed to either manipulate the Will or replace the Spark.

But if the soul no longer existed, then what purpose did the Soul Puppetry serve?

Similarly, what purpose did Adam's Spirit Paratise serve?

Take, for example, at the moment, Merlin was controlling the wasp entirely through his spiritual energy.

The wasp was a dead puppet… hollow, obedient, and soulless.

But Soul Puppetry demanded something far more disturbing: a living vessel.

I should record my findings in the journal later when I have some time, thought the wasp.

As it flew through the second layer of the secret plane, he was starting to realize just how small this whole place was compared to the Soaring River Secret Plane.

Mathis the Free must have truly done that after he created the Soaring River Secret Plane, the wasp mused.

Or else, it just doesn't make sense why that place would be so enormous and so… stable.

Observing the state of this secret plane and comparing it to the one in Glassford, the difference was clear as heaven and hell.

Adam's speculation had more or less been confirmed at this point.

I wonder if the Joker will know about it…

Suddenly, the wasp's eyes lit up. The crimson grasslands were coming to an end, and in the near distance, the third layer of the secret plane had begun.

And across the terrain of the third layer, the wasp saw countless shadowy figures prowling in silence.