Enter the Masked Man

While the sudden appearance of a third party surprised Vincent greatly, it also eased the pressure on him. He was almost running out of mana and if no one had intervened, he would be easy picking for the creepy doll.

Deactivating the spell to conserve his strength, Vincent moved away. He had no intention of engaging in combat further. The evil spirit inside the doll still hadn't shown much of its ability and it was unclear if the newcomer was hostile or friendly.

Ignoring the hooded Vincent, the figure shrouded in shadow like smoke slashed towards the doll with his dagger.

The evil spirit who had introduced himself as Robert dodged the attack with ease and tried to grab the severed head currently in its opponent's hand. Having anticipated its action, the dagger wielding man continued kiting the doll.

Both the combatants were incredibly fast and moved around the room in a blur. While the man moved in an elusive manner, the doll was constantly on his heels. This went on for a while until six snake like plants broke through the floor and wrapped themselves around the doll.

It tried to break free of the restraints but was interrupted by the man. He seized the opportunity and attacked the doll. But just as his dagger made contact with the skin of the doll, his arm froze stiff. No matter how much he willed it, he could not make it buzz.

The doll which was flailing to break free of the plants dropped to the floor powerlessly. Seeing the scene, Bell heaved a sigh of relief and undid his spell. Similar to the doll, the plants lost signs of life as well.

Meanwhile, the smoke covering the dagger wielding man thinned out, revealing a clean shaven chin. The upper portion of his face was covered by a venetian mask with black and gold patterns. As for the parts that could be seen, they were taut with stress as he struggled to make his hand respond to his will.

"You destroyed the body I was preparing for so long. I am going to have yours as compensation." Robert's demonic voice sounded out from all the walls of the room. It was overflowing with anger and malice.

Following those words, the hand began trembling uncontrollably. Going against his control, the hand flipped the dagger and slowly brought it closer to his face. As the cold tip of the weapon grew larger in his vision, he was left with no choice. Letting go of the severed head, he grabbed his wrist with his now free hand.

Vincent watched the masked man struggle to defend himself from his own hands with great interest. 'So this is possession. Looks cool. I have to work hard in improving my Force so that I can replicate such scenes.'

He pushed the thought aside and focused on the scene once again. Despite the efforts of the left hand, the possessed arm was inching closer to his face and the tip of the dagger was just a little distance away from the man's eyes.

Just a little bit more and it would pierce his eye through the mask's eye hole. Things didn't look good as the dominant arm was the one possessed and the left arm that was still under his control was slowly losing the competition of strength.

Bell was preparing to use another spell to even out the situation but it would be too late by the time he was ready.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the masked man mustered all the strength he could and altered the position of the dagger by a little bit. The small deviation caused the dagger to dig into the mask instead of his eyes. The surface of the mask cracked but managed to remain in one piece.

Robert had failed to finish the masked man and he had managed to buy enough time for Bell's assistance to arrive. The spiritualist's preparation was complete and golden light emitted from his body, covering the entire room. The possessed arm shriveled as it got bombarded by the rays of light. It twitched in pain and eventually let go of the dagger.

The weapon bounced on the floor giving off metallic sounds. The masked man hurriedly used his martial art, covering his body in dark smoke once again. As the light dimmed out, his entire existence seemed to blend into the shadows.

Immediately afterwards, he used his belt to constrict his arm. As the blood flow got cut off, the amount of strength the arm could exert reduced drastically. The masked man breathed a sigh of relief. While the feeling coming from his restricted arm wasn't pleasant, it was a tradeoff he was willing to make if it meant containing the threat of the evil spirit.

But before he could catch a breather, a bolt of electricity struck him on the back. A hole had been burnt into his cloth and his entire body froze because of the shock. He felt as if millions of ants were crawling on his body. Accompanying the strange sensation was an excruciating pain that made him sweat profusely.

When it finally died down, he realized that he couldn't control his body properly. He had never expected that the hooded man would attack him just as he was done dealing with the evil spirit. If it were any other time, he could have neutralized the effects of the lightning. But right now, he was busy suppressing the spirit that was trying to gain control over more of his body.

"Bell! Stop this bastard. Cover my retreat." The masked man shouted at Bell and reached out to grab the severed head slowly. His body refused to listen to him and he couldn't move properly. Still, he was slowly getting the hang of it.

Just as his hand grabbed the head, a foot landed on his elbow, pinning it firmly to the ground.

"Since you want the head so bad. I will be keeping it." Vincent spoke as he retrieved a syringe from his pocket. Inserting the needle on his arm, he pushed the plunger. As the Potion of unlimited power was injected into his bloodstream, he could feel his entire body filling up with strength.