To the central city

Miko stretched out her hand and opened her subspace. She reached for a small bottle - no bigger than the size of her palm - and took it out. It was a strong sleeping powder, created by Asura in one of her experiments in the past. She had given it to Miko as a gift.

Miko poured some of its contents into her palm, careful to not breathe the powder in on this cold and windy night. She lifted the powder from her palm with some energy, and scattered it in the direction of the fourth stage guard. For the first few moments, nothing happened. Then, he began to get uncomfortable. He started to feel more drowsy and had trouble maintaining his balance.

Not long after, the drug came into full effect. He began to feel faint, and collapsed onto the floor, much to the horror of the guard next to him. However, before he could shout for help, Miko knocked the second guard out.

Miko carried the limp body of the guard to a collapsed building. All functional buildings would have been used for temporary shelter or residence by now anyway, so this would have to do. She concentrated in turning herself to a full spirit. As half spirit, half beast, spiritual beasts could convert to either form they liked. Miko, a bright, pink orb of energy now, flew in the air and circled around a few times before swiftly entering his body.

Like Miko expected, the spiritual energy and the body itself began to reject her. However, Miko held on, integrating her soul into his body. It was a tiresome, difficult and dangerous move. Even if they were at the same stage, and the human was weaker than her since Miko was at the peak of second stage, it was still dangerous and difficult as the energy was more concentrated in his body. However, Miko pushed her soul further into him, and eventually, settled down inside. On the outside, it would just look like the human appeared to be having a bad dream, his lips twitching and muscles spasming, since no one would know any better.

A long time had passed, probably a few hours. It was still night time, but dawn was breaking in about an hour or two. The man regained consciousness, or so it seemed. His soul was no longer in control of his body, but rather, a second fox spirit. Miko headed in the direction of the lake, using her own powers. She also needed to better understand his abilities later on in order to use them.

Under the light of the stars, the calm lakewaters sparkled. Miko tried to use his powers instead, conjuring a small orb of light to illuminate the waters further. Like she thought, the lakewaters showed the reflection of the man she possessed. She tried to manipulate his energy further, forming an illusion. However, it was much more difficult since it wasn't her own power she was using.

"Let me out. How dare you mere spirit dare control my body!" A voice rang out in her head. Actually, the man's head. It must have been the man's soul... Although he was not in control of his body, he could definitely feel all happenings experienced by his own body. Miko was not strong enough to completely supress his soul into a slumber, so this would have to do.

"Silence," Miko mumbled. He was being distracting. The soul began to protest, yelling as loudly as could in an attempt to annoy Miko so she left his body.

"If you don't keep silent, I'll force you out. Then, I'll see if you can return to your body, or even live," She whispered, her tone freezing cold. Of course, this was just a mere threat. She needed him in the body to cover her aura with his own, but as an amature, he didn't know any better, and shut up instantly.

Seeing he had quietened, Miko asked, "What's your name?" The soul did not response.

"Get on my patience once more and I'll drive you out the same. Choose," Miko continued. She appeared to be changing. Was this good or not?

"My name's Hitoshi..." The soul responded, his voice a little shaky.

"Mmm. Now, Hitoshi, I'm taking over your body for awhile. Once I'm done with you, I'll wipe your memories and give you your body back. As for reimbursement... hmm how about... a spirit stone?" Miko whispered. She could not communicate directly with his mind since they weren't linked that way, but he could hear her when she spoke aloud since both of them could feel what the body felt.

"Only?" The soul rang out in dissapointment.

"You should know when and when not to bargain," Miko answered, before she successfully covered her current body in an illusion. Since this wasn't her magic, there were definitely still some flaws and areas that could use improvement, even if they came from her own techniques.

"Good enough," Miko mumbled.

"You didn't say I have to become a woman..." Hitoshi mumbled, but it was not unnoticed by Miko.

"Another word of complaint and no more spirit stone," Miko replied, to which Hitoshi zipped up immediately upon hearing.

Miko hopped across the roof quickly hoping she could make it back by daybreak, and so she could tie up the lose ends before leaving. She tiptoed past the room to ensure that Tashi was still asleep, which he was, luckily. Miko then carefully laid next to him, although some considerable distance away. Even with her special techniques, this illusion from her host's power was brittle and flawed. It could easily be broken, and it would be difficult to maintain an illusion of sight, touch and feel all at the same time.

Day came quickly, with the first rays of dawn shining into the room. Miko awoke first, since she couldn't really sleep that comfortably. She washed up, and just like she suspected, the illusion was fading. It couldn't be as easily maintained compared to illusions by her own power, where she could be unconscious and yet her illusion will not fade as long as she had spiritual energy in her to maintain it. Miko rubbed her temples in frustration as she tried to think of a way. She could wear a veil on the pretext she was... sick! Then, she could also ask for seperate rooms, and the problem would be solved!

Miko fixed up the illusion, until she was sure there were no major flaws visible. She could just blame everything else on being under the weather. Stepping out of the bathroom, she was surpried to see Tashi in the kitchen outside.

"Morning," She greeted.

"Morning, you look... unwell..." Tashi greeted back, although he stared at her a little awkardly. There seemed to be something off about her today.

"No worries, I was just a little under the weather. Maybe its because I was still in shock from the attack," Miko answered, careful to keep up her smile.

It was not long before the two of them had set off. The journey took merely two days, and they had arrived at the city's gate by sundown on the second day. Due to the central city being the capital of the empire, no matter what time it was, it seemed that there would always be a long queue. By the time they managed to arrive at the front, it was already quite late. As they passed through the tall gate, beads of sweat began to form on Miko's temple. It was mostly out of nervousness, because the guards all had some level of cultivation much greater than hers.

"Halt!" One of the guards commanded, which made Miko jump in surprise...