Chapter 35: The Grand Confrontation

In that instant when the System’s voice burst forth with those malicious orders, a wave of severe panic and cold shivers ran through every joint of Michael and Elliot, who were residing in the dark corridors of their consciousness; for during the desperate rounds of resistance they waged over their entities, they reached the realization of a terrifying and extremely dangerous truth..

The possessing soul, despite its immense ability to impose its authority over standard motor functions like walking, talking, and breathing, stands completely helpless when it comes to inducing deep magical changes in the body’s genetic and anatomical structure without the presence of total connection, complete submission, and absolute surrender from the body’s structure and its original consciousness!

In clearer, stricter terms, the gender-swapping process necessarily required the host’s original will to be completely subdued and paralyzed for the reshaping to center and complete itself. However, the command of the demonic "Alliance", thanks to its deep expertise, had anticipated in advance the possibility of rebellious remnants of original consciousness remaining inside the body’s depths, capable of raising riots and obstructing control. From here came the role of that suspicious yellow liquid; it was nothing but a magical substance designated to numb the original will entirely, neutralizing consciousness and preventing it from showing any kind of mental resistance!

Now, the two found themselves before an arduous battle; their current resistance was already crumbling, and if this communication continued to deteriorate and their consciousness became further numbed—even if not entirely—their will would commit a fatal error, and the gender swap would reach completion at the hands of the souls, at which point everything would end and there would be no point of return or repair for what was ruined!

The possessing souls swayed in their steps, then rushed toward the wooden table where the ceramic cups rested. The souls raised those cups and tilted them under the room’s dim lighting to examine the bottom; there were a few sticky remaining drops that had not yet dried. The souls felt a kind of strangeness and suspicion toward the instructions of this suspicious interactive "Guide",

Yet they possessed no other choice but to follow it.

So they pushed the cups forcefully toward their mouths, running their tongues along the ceramic walls to drink and lick the last remaining bit of that accursed liquid.

In those very moments, inside the dark suite of consciousness’s prison, Michael and Elliot felt a sticky, gelatinous pressure wrap around their perception like a robe of tar. A sharp, black dizziness attacked them, and a compulsive urge to yield to sleep and lose consciousness at any cost ran through their joints! They tried with all the mental strength they possessed to reject this manufactured drowsiness and resist until the last breath, but things spiraled out of control; for the internal vision that was monitoring the glowing magical pathways began to margin, and most of the luminous strands vanished from before their eyes as if they had completely lost their nervous perception of that network!

On the other side, things were not good for the possessing souls; for the taste of that steeped liquid was the most hideous and filthy thing that had ever touched their tongues in their whole lives! The soul residing in Elliot’s body failed to pull itself together, gripping its stomach with its palms from the severity of disgust, on the verge of emptying everything in its belly from nausea, intending to run toward the water basin to wash its tongue and get rid of this nightmarish taste.

However, the System’s screen popped up immediately in the air, glowing with a strict text filled with threats:

[Do not you dare spit it out!.. Swallow it entirely and endure this taste, otherwise you will fail abysmally and ruin the whole test!]

The soul gasped in terror and horror before this imperative tone, fighting the mounting nausea in its throat with extreme difficulty until it swallowed the last drop, then questioned in a trembling, shaky voice: "What.. what must we do now?"

The System’s mocking text spread over the luminous panel once more:

[Try again immediately! Even if you feel it is of no use, do not despair.. continue imposing your will and summoning the transformation, no matter how strong the resistance directed against you is!]

The souls swallowed their saliva with difficulty before the direct tyranny exercised by the System, hastening to gather and focus their minds anew to repeat the physical-swapping commands. This time, because of the deep numbness that afflicted the original hosts’ consciousness, the response was much faster and the changes were occurring with higher density; and although the physical forms shuddered and rebounded to their origin several times as a result of the corroded remnants of Michael’s and Elliot’s will, the persistence and continuous pressure made the results approach final realization at a terrifying speed!

During this nightmarish fray, Elliot—who was undergoing extremely difficult times—was fighting with unmatched ferocity and resilience. Despite his deteriorating position and his feeling of dizziness, he was able to manage his situation cleverly; for he noticed that as time continued and he observed those luminous pathways resembling strands of pasta, his understanding and decoding of the magical mechanism running through the physical structure increased. After careful observation of the interconnected patterns that repeated with every swapping attempt, Elliot finally discovered the pivotal points from which the illumination begins, knowing exactly how to sever the magical line with one decisive strike of will!

Hope mingled with terror in Elliot’s soul, and he immediately hastened to use the spiritual telepathy link to inform his friend:

{Michael!.. Michael! Listen to me carefully! I finally understood how we disable this damned process entirely! I know how the magical flow runs now and how we stop it from the roots.. quickly, listen to me and do what I order you to do immediately!}

However.. no matter how many times Elliot repeated his calls, no response reached him from Michael’s side!

Elliot continued screaming through the link with all the power he possessed, and when he tilted his visual perspective to see what was happening in his friend’s body, his mind bound and his blood froze in his veins! Michael’s body was transforming in a rapidly accelerating and completely unexpected manner, bypassing all stages of resistance!

{Michael!.. Michael, damn you! Where are you?! Wake up, Michael!}

In truth, Michael was listening to Elliot’s panicked and burning screams in the depths of the telepathic link, but he was completely incapable of speaking or issuing any response! His consciousness was bound entirely by heavy, gelatinous shackles that paralyzed his ability to move and think, and before his eyes in the blackness, that luminous bar resembling a loading bar was advancing at a mythical speed toward the end, with the morphological change on the verge of absolute completion!

Michael remembered the sequence of events with bitter pleasure; for he had not thrown the liquid away entirely like Elliot did, but had drunk it whole in the beginning and then tried to vomit it later.. he was thinking.. whether that liquid he vomited had not been fully thrown out.. or somehow affected him in a way before he brought it out entirely..

And suddenly.. in the midst of Michael’s helpless thoughts and Elliot’s hysterical screams echoing in the void.. the fatal tragedy occurred before Elliot’s eyes through the line of sight!

The magical transformation reached one hundred percent completion; and Michael’s hybrid body turned before Elliot’s shocked eyes into a fully built male body, with all its clear masculine traits and details!

The soul residing in Michael’s body broke into a booming laugh and a sick ecstasy, inspecting its organs and its new male body with hysterical joy: "Hahaha!.. Yes! This is exactly what I am talking about! I succeeded!"

At that moment, Elliot raged with boundless anger and indignation, cursing bad luck, the System, and the entire demonic plan in his secrecy, as he watched their first line of defense shatter completely, and his friend’s body fall entirely into the hands of the possessing soul!