Underneath the house in a well-concealed basement, the sound of whistling echoed throughout the entire area. The smell of chemicals was extremely strong but the whistler didn’t seem bothered about it.

At each corner of the walls were talismans hanging loosely with fresh ink dripping from them.

In the middle of the room dimly lit by red crystals, was a surgical table, just beside a pool of bubbling black ink.

On the table was a naked man with gray hair, lying peacefully. His eyes were closed, and it could be inferred that he was unconscious, but from time to time he would twitch as if he was in extreme pain.

Old man Kodu wasn’t fazed by this as he kept on whistling. He sat in front of the surgical table with a needle in hand. He carefully placed a talisman on the back of Fester.

With surgical precision, he sewed the talisman into the chief guard’s body.

The process was a long one and after close to two hours the talisman was directly embedded into Fester.

Old man Kodu let out a sigh of relief as he took a bottle of clear liquid and poured it into the talisman. That same instant, the talisman seemed to fade away, become completely indistinguishable from normal skin. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

A triumphant smile appeared on his face. Even though he had used up a doppelganger talisman, he wasn’t at a complete loss. After all, Fester himself was worth more than a doppelganger.

He waited for a minute or two, before Fester’s eyes opened. However, instead of the rage one would have expected to be hidden behind his pupils, there was nothing. His eyes were completely dull.

"It’s a pity I wasn’t able to preserve most of his memories. It seemed his master had taken precautions against that," the old man lamented, observing Fester from head to toe

Fester sat up, his gaze drifting about. "Not too hard to control," the chief guard said.

He looked at his hand before punching at the air, and a powerful shockwave was released from it.

"An Evolver, quite weak, but I’ll manage."

Fester now completely possessed by old man Kodu looked at his original body and chuckled.

"I guess my mind is still in good condition."

His original body nodded in the wheelchair. "It is, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to split my consciousness."

Fester’s body stood up, stretching its limbs.

"Do you think I’ll be able to kill Earl Vontera?" The possessed Fester asked.

The original shook his head. "Not at all, just try to cause as much damage as possible. If possible cripple his forces. His enemies will take care of the rest."

Fester, now Kodu, nodded. Before walking out of the basement. A large grin appeared on his face as he moved to cause carnage.

*******

In the Vontera household, the Count sat on the Balcony of his quarters. He dropped the glass of wine in his hand as his eyes kept glossing over a newspaper article.

"Is Fester back?" He asked the maid a few meters away from him.

She jerked a little, as her mind ran in circles looking for a reply.

He chuckled slightly, before turning to her. "Don’t fret, am I that scary?"

"No– no, my lord." She stuttered, bowing her head down.

"Relax." He waved at her.

The maid finally calmed down as she stood back upright.

"Mmm, about Fester, I haven’t gotten any news of his return."

The Count nodded. At that same moment, his gaze was drawn to the gate.

It was opened and from afar he could see Fester walk in.

"Speak of the devil," he whispered.

The maid also noticed the new arrival as she spoke, "Should I send for him?"

The count didn’t answer her question at first, as his eyes narrowed. He then peeled his gaze from the approaching Fester and turned to the maid.

"Don’t bother about that, I’ll go meet him myself."

The maid’s eyes widened as it came as a surprise that he wanted to meet him. But what even stood out more was the change of tone in his voice.

The count stood up, his slightly bulky frame moving with ease out of the room.

A bad feeling suddenly welled up in the maid’s mind as she followed behind him.

*********

Kodu had gotten the hang of the new body. He entered the Vontera Estate and everyone looked at him with respect, so as not to attract suspicion he didn’t talk with anyone, moving calmly to the door of the mansion.

When he finally got there he felt a faint aura behind the door, he didn’t think much about it as the mansion had too many maids and guards.

However, when he opened it, he froze. Behind the frame was Count Vontera himself, with a smile on his face.

"Welcome back Fester." He said, spreading his arms apart.

Kodu immediately regained his composure and went on one knee. "My lord," he said mimicking Fester’s voice.

"I’ve told you quite a few times that you don’t need to kneel."

Kodu frowned. There had been no instance in Fester’s memory of him ever telling him that. But Kodu didn’t say anything, he just calmly stood up.

"I’ll take it that you weren’t able to get the boy."

Kodu placed an arm on his chest and held his head low.

"My lord, it seems he has fled from his current residence. When I got there the house was already burnt to the ground."

"Is that so?" The count raised a brow, his gaze tracing the drop of sweat rolling down Fester’s face.

"Yes, I shall bring him before you before the end of Tomorrow."

"Good."

The count then let out a sigh.

"Follow me."

Kodu did as he was told and calmly followed the Count out of the mansion.

They stood side by side in fine grass, and the Count’s eyes were fixated on the sun.

"You know, I didn’t expect night to come this early." He let out another sigh

Kodu’s eyes narrowed. "My lord, what do you mean by that?"

The count didn’t reply, he just stared intensely at Kodu. Then his mouth opened. "Your real body isn’t that far away, is it?"

Before Kodu could say another word, the world suddenly turned black.

Right before his consciousness faded, the last thought on his mind was, ’I guess I underestimated you.’