"How do I get rid of it?!"
"I'm afraid you can't." "But really, you can't,"
As Hikaru lay there unresponsive, her mind had found itself lost in a flood of her own thoughts. The moment she found she could no longer register what was going around her, she knew something had happened. Lucky for her the fact she could even think meant whatever he had done did not result in making her unconscious and for the most part did not seem like a true coma. This meant it had to have been something he had done with her soul that had caused this. The question was... Was it continuous? A spell controlled to keep it in check or a programmed spell left to be possibly broken?
At this point, with no magic and only her spirit energy left to her, Hikaru was unable to decipher the mans exact method which left her with only one choice; Try everything in the book until something worked. Unfortunately there weren't many immediate things she could try which left the Sage searching her own mind for every spell she head learned, memory she had experienced, and information she had gained throughout her long lived life in an attempt for just some small sliver of an escape. Anything that would help her break free of the current predicament she found herself in.
Eventually for what could have felt like days as she had no concept of time in this state, Hikaru had come across one very specific memory that she had, in an attempt to forget it, repressed down to the deepest depths of her mind.
It had taken place on as ship...
It was just after she had been released by the Aralangs and had went after Kurai in an attempt to free Koty and her brother from the Virus. The Virus had recognized her as its master and turned against Kurai, when those idiotic Aralang Leaders had showed up to take their revenge on Kurai. But that was irrelevant.
It was what Kurai had said after that, that had resulted in a fight with one of the leaders, Gaserlake, and had caused her to abandon all emotions and infect even the Sages and her own children. But that too was irrelevant...
Pushing the rest of the memories aside, Hikaru focused her thoughts on trying to bring up the part of the memory she needed, closer. It was harder to remember without magic. With magic she could simply snap her fingers and recall anything, but without, it was fuzzy.. And if she hadn't been lost within her thoughts and away from the outside influence of sounds, it would have been nearly impossible to dig this far into her subconscious.
She knew this memory held what she needed as she could feel it, but at the same time due to the contents of the memory, it was one Hikaru had forcefully attempted not to recognize before and thus made it even more difficult. Finally, after clearing all the rest of her thoughts to the back of her mind, Hikaru was able to just focus on that particular part of the memory.
The relevant part, the actual topic of the conversation that Kurai had brought up. It was something the Aralangs had done to her, no, something Kurai had claimed they had given to her, a type of power not of magic... Something only they had....
"It connects to your spirit, soul, mind, and body, basically," "It's fastened to you."
That was no good. It was too far. The later line of the memory flooded back to her as Hikaru pushed it aside and concentrated her focus on recalling what had been before it. She needed to know the beginning. She needed to know what it was...
"It's a type of technological energy." "It makes you stronger, and faster, and makes you heal faster. Of course, you can control it with just will. Why did I do this? The Plex Virus was inside of you and we had to get it out."
That was it! Hikaru's thoughts went back to the start of the memory, running her mind through it and replaying it over and over. Of course in the memory her response had been a demand of how to get rid of it and in response to that why she could not, that's where the former memories had come from and she had learned it was attached to the Spirit, connected to it... Just like her... SOUL!
Control it with just will
just will
will...
Immediately Hikaru's thoughts focused and the entire memory flooded back to her, the entire conversation and the events surrounding it, and even more so the parts about the energy, and the line that struck out the most, WILL! This technological abomination that had been forced upon her was no different than just artificial magic. It was controlled through her will and tied to her Spirit, in the same way as her Soul!
This meant, she could probably... No she could DEFINITELY use it to block the connection between her soul and her spirit for the time being enough to put a stop to whatever spell or magical effect he had used. And if the Aralang leaders words had been true, it should work as her Phoenix blood abilities did and work to heal her and bring her senses back if she willed it to. But... Hikaru's thoughts paused. It was technology.. If she did this she would doing exactly what that fool Gaserlake had tried to trick her into doing so many times.. relying on technology to save herself.
Mentally shaking her head, Hikaru dismissed the though thought against it. At this point it was her only seen hope and besides, after merging with her counterpart, unwillingly, all of her memories had flooded back to her, though hard to recall without magic, she could remember having used technology far more times than she would like to admit to. With that forced on her conscience, there was no way she could afford to be against it when it was her last option now. Survival fell under higher priorities than her own feelings.
Her mind set, Hikaru pushed away the memory before her and and all other memories and focused on sensing this 'Elite Energy' as it was called that she had refused to acknowledge she had had for so long and willing it to block the connection between the tie her soul had on her spirit while at the same time, willing it to heal her mind of the effect as well.
...Would it work? Blocking the connection would, that she knew. But for healing herself she could only hope the effect he had used was merely a spell or a forced pseudo-coma signal to her mind.
