Work Text:
Izutsumi appears! She tells her backstory!
Marcille stammered, "Black, I mean, Ancient Magic comes in all sorts. My research is mainly about drawing energy from another dimension..." Izutsumi scoffed, and took a book out of her pack. "You think I came unprepared? Read this." Marcille blinked, took the book, and read out the title. "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Mixing Souls (and How to Undo It) by Deus X Machina." Her jaw dropped. "WHAT?! WHERE DID YOU... Table of Contents, table of contents... How to Undo It! Page..."
Marcille gathered up the shattered pieces of her dignity, cleared her throat, and began to read. "You made a mistake! That's ok, making mistakes is part of the process of learning! Here's how to get rid of the foreign soul(s). Imagine a pouch covered in egg bits. The pouch is the original soul, and the egg is the soul you mixed it with. But now you want to clean the egg off, and try something else. No problem! Just turn the pouch inside out, and tie the pouch shut. The foreign soul inside will starve to death, and you are left with just the original soul. Illustrations of the spells... Oh, I see, the spell to 'tie the pouch shut' is a vampiric seal... I... I can do this! We can save Falin! Hey, new girl! Come here!"
One magical circle later...
Marcille proceeds to lecture. "Laios, you pay attention too! Ok, so imagery is important here. You have to remember what it was like to have a human body. This part of the spell is supposed to help with that. Then, I'm going to trap and seal the 'cat soul' inside you. That's this part of the spell, which is going to put a seal on your body. Right now, the cat's soul is pretty strong, so the seal might cover most of your body. AND NO MOVING!" Izutsumi hissed, but nodded.
Chanting ensues. "I'm a human, I'm a human... Uuuuugh... I feel like throwing up," Izutsumi complained. "No moving! Yeah, I'm moving your soul around, it's bound to feel a little uncomfortable. Just bear with it." Gradually, fur and tail shrank, ears relocated to the side of her head, and Izutsumi started to look more and more like a human girl... With a giant seal on her body. Marcille beamed with satisfaction as the magic circle on the ground burned away. "Ok! The first part of the process is done! Feel free to throw up, if you want." Izutsumi looked ill, but shook her head silently, not trusting her stomach enough to talk. Instead she just looked at her smooth, furless skin, touching it, feeling nothing where ears and tail used to be. The party took a break so Marcille could restore her mana. She had risotto and some Undine Water, of course.
The next part was rather anti-climatic. "This part is optional, as it's really to eliminate the possibility that the foreign soul fights back before it starves to death. I'm going to feed magic into the seal, which is kinda like crushing the cat's soul with your soul. You'll know when I'm done when the seal shrinks to nothing." Marcille poured mana into the seal, accelerating the process of draining the cat's soul, while Izutsumi resumed chanting, "I'm a human, I'm a human... Ughhhh, I'm dizzy and seeing funny colors!" Marcille tsked, "No moving! Yeah, the seal is eating the soul inside, and turning it into mana. You've got mana sickness, sorry." Izutsumi glared at her, then her eyes bulged as she threw up. Laios looked sympathetic.
Gradually, the seal shrunk, and disappeared. Izutsumi had stopped begging for the sweet release of death, and just shivered on the floor. "All done! Congrats, you're cured! Now I've got practice for when I do this to Falin! She probably won't suffer mana sickness, cuz she knows how to cast already..." Izutsumi did not reply. Laios tried to comfort her, but got his hand swatted. "Good thing she doesn't have claws anymore..."
Epilogue: Marcille and Falin cooperatively cast the spell to turn her back into a human, and everyone lived happily ever after. Well, except for Thistle, but honestly, fuck that guy.
