Sorry, I'm Not Human Anymore

A few days later, Serika came to Murphy in high spirits. "I've already tested it. That spell is real, and it works! Use it on me and try it."

"On you?"

"Mm-hmm. Don't worry. For the caster, it can be lifted at any time, and I can also break it myself with a counter-curse."

That might be what she said, but look at that excited little gleam in her eyes.

You really are a masochist, aren't you?

"How exactly do I use it?"

"I say an oath, and then you just recite the spell. What kind of oath do you want me to say?"

Murphy had originally wanted to use an oath along the lines of "keep the secret forever," but when the words reached his lips, they became, "Swear that you will never disobey Murphy's orders."

Serika blinked both eyes, her face rapidly flushing red, but Murphy's old face remained calm and unruffled, as if this really were just a normal oath. "What's wrong?"

"O-okay..."

"I, I swear that I will never, cough, never disobey Murphy's orders."

"Thorn Oath!"

Murphy immediately cast the spell. A surge of magic gushed from his wand, shooting into Serika's chest like a sharp arrow and locking onto her as if it were an anchor.

Murphy felt that he now possessed a certain degree of control over the person before him.

He immediately realized that Voldemort's explanation of the spell's effect had been incomplete. In truth, it was not only that the other party would be punished for breaking the oath; rather, as long as he wished it, he could punish the other party.

What the hell kind of sadist spell was this?!

Too damn perverted!

But I like it!

"Now let's test the spell's effect," Murphy said. "First order: you are not allowed to use a counter-curse on yourself or use any other method to remove the Thorn Oath."

Serika: "Hm? Hm?!!"

Serika was stunned. You could play it like this?

In an instant, Serika became extremely frightened.

Have I been tricked?

If he does something to me, what should I do?

"Try it. See if you can use a counter-curse on yourself."

Serika took out her wand, pointed it at herself, and prepared to use Finite Incantatem. "Fini... Ah!"

Before she could finish a single spell, Serika felt a violent pain burrow out from within her chest, as if countless thorny vines were twisting tight around her organs. In an instant, all her strength left her, and she collapsed weakly to the floor, even her wand falling to the ground.

"It hurts, it hurts so much..."

Murphy was a little surprised as well. The spell worked that well?

Moreover, it could actually bypass its flaw this way.

Clearly, he had only cast the spell on the oath "do not disobey Murphy's orders," and had not used the spell on "do not use a counter-curse to remove your own oath," yet because the latter fell within the scope of the former's "orders," it had actually taken effect automatically!

Although this spell could still only control the person who made the oath and could not stop other wizards from removing it for them, Murphy saw in it a possibility similar to "stacking."

His imagination suddenly ran wild.

What would happen if he ordered Serika to obey another person's orders?

Would all of the second person's orders also automatically become Thorn Oaths and take effect?

Then what would happen if the second person's orders conflicted with his own?

Or perhaps, what if he made Serika obey her own orders? Could she remove the Thorn Oath?

But these were just thoughts. Using Serika for experiments right now was a bit too inhumane. If conflicting orders directly caused the recipient to die, wouldn't Alex fight him to the death?

He could try it later when the spell research institute was established.

Murphy waved his wand, withdrawing the magic that connected him to Serika.

At that moment, he realized that this kind of control was not without cost for the controller. The caster needed to allocate a portion of his own magic to maintain the channel of control.

And with his current amount of magic, he might not be able to control too many people.

"This spell is so scary!" Serika felt the strange magic wrapped around her dissipate. Still badly shaken, she looked at Murphy with a somewhat puffed-up, indignant expression. "You're terrible!"

"How is it? Are you hurt?"

"No, my chest just hurts so much." Serika pressed a hand to her magnificent pectoralis major, looking very aggrieved. "Just now, I almost thought I was going to die."

"This spell is indeed extremely dangerous. You need to remember to keep it secret. You can't let anyone else know."

"Of course I know that. Like I need you to tell me!"

"Mm?" Murphy glared at her. "What tone is that?"

"Oh, I, I know."

After obediently changing her words, Serika secretly glanced at Murphy again. Seeing that he was not angry, she asked, "Murphy, do you want to become the king of the Muggles?"

A king?

What era was this? Who still talked about kings?

"Do I look that bored?"

"But using this kind of spell on Muggles violates the Muggle Protection Act, you know?" Serika reminded him.

"The Muggle Protection Act, huh." Murphy's expression turned a little odd. "Serika, who do you think is stronger, Muggles or wizards?"

"Wizards?" Serika answered.

After all, wizards knew all sorts of spells, while Muggles couldn't use magic.

"Since that's the case, why is there an International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy? What are we hiding for?"

"Then Muggles are stronger?"

"Since that's the case, why bother with the Muggle Protection Act? If we can't even beat them, yet we're still protecting them, that's like endangered wild tigers thinking they're dangerous, so they pass laws to protect humans. Isn't that a joke?"

"But, but..." Serika instinctively felt Murphy was wrong, but for the moment, she couldn't find the flaw in his logic.

"Serika, wizards are the group that needs protection. Compared to Muggles, wizards are the weak ones. Don't forget that. If you rely on having fangs and claws and think that makes you stronger than humans, then sooner or later, you'll be skinned and stripped to the bone."

"But don't you want to use this spell to rule over Muggles?"

"Why would I rule them? How could a weakling—at least, a weakling right now—rule a powerful race? This spell is just a little trick to avoid unnecessary trouble. It's only so we don't have to face pressure from wizarding society or Muggle society too early."

"So you're still going to use this spell on Muggles, right?"

"Yes."

"That's not right. I thought... you were a good person..."

I wanted to be a good person too, but if being a good person meant getting the short end of the stick, then sorry, I wouldn't even bother being human.

"Think of it this way. If I use this spell on Muggles, maybe they'll suffer a small loss, but I'll be protected. If I don't use it, they'll be perfectly safe, and I'll be in danger. Between the two, who would you choose?"

"..." Serika was silent for a while. "Isn't there a way where no one gets hurt?"

"There is. As long as they can willingly keep the secret, that's enough. That's why I want Hell's Seed of the Mind. But whether we can find it or not depends on you."

Serika didn't realize at all that she had been manipulated. She felt the weight of her responsibility. "I'll definitely find that spell!"

Only after Murphy and Serika's boiling heads cooled down a little...

Uh, something seemed wrong.

Hell's Seed of the Mind seemed like an even more terrifying dark magic than the Thorn Oath, didn't it?!

Why did I believe Murphy so easily whenever he said something?

He was obviously lying, wasn't he?