A Game Theory.

"The orb...It's completely shattered!!"

"Yes, As I told you before, every witch that works for me has an orb of their own to represent their Life.

As long as the orb is continuously glowing, it means that my witch is Alive, but if the Orb began flickering, it's a sign of danger and if it began cracking, it means they're dying."

"So if it's completely Shattered and doesn't glow anymore, it means..."

" They're are dead, Jasper."

"But Jihi, how come you haven't told me last time I came here About Tacito's Orb?!" Jasper asked pointing at the orb on Jihi's office desk.

"Many reasons...for one, look again here Jasper darling, Despite that the orb is now nothing but pieces, this shattered orb is still continuously glowing...

When I first found it, it was broken and glowing no more, but After the day you visited me in, it started glowing again." Jihi replied, "This has never happened before under my supervision, it was almost as if Tacito died but then was somehow brought back to life." they added.

"So you kept silent about it, hoping I come with some news and explain this to you... well this confirms the new body theory even further." Jasper spoke while scrutinizing Jihi with his eyes.

" Fucking hell."

"Did you just curse Jihi? what's wrong?"

"I'm worried about Yurei, is he awake yet? And how come the bracelet didn't work?" Jihi asked.

"Why don't you visit him yourself? you haven't seen him in person in so many years." Jasper suggested.

"With Mallory around, I shouldn't." Jihi replied.

"You didn't pay attention to him even when Mallory wasn't around, Jihi." jasper replied skeptically.

...Meanwhile...

"Ugh...where Am i?"

"You're in my home Yurei, welcome back to life...literally."

"Ned?"

"Yeah, that's me you disrespectful child... you've been in and out of sleep due to the anesthetics, so I suggest you don't push yourself Alot."

Confused, Yurei turned his head slightly from side to side, trying to see his surroundings, "There's only me here, for now." Ned spoke patting his hand.

Yurei touched his bandaged neck and suddenly his memories from that day came rushing back to him, he jolted from his bed "TACITO TACITO WHERE'S TACITO ?!"

"HEY LAY BACK DOWN! HE'S FUCKING FINE! JESUS YOU SPOOKED ME!...*sights* he came to see you earlier today in the hospital, before I moved you here." Ned replied while pushing Yurei back on the bed.

"Where is he now?!"

"Calm down lover boy, your boyfriend is okay! for now, and for the records we all know that he's the one who attacked you."

"He didn't want to! I swear! Tacito would never hurt me like this on his own!"

"Do you think I'm dumb?! I know he wouldn't! your boyfriend got a system upgrade that made him do that." Ned replied.

"What are you talking about?" Yurei asked.

...Some time later...

"So you're lying to Aroon As much as you lied to me?" Yurei asked.

" I'm not lying Yur, I'm hiding some details, that's different." Ned replied.

"Not telling Aroon he's actually involved in this mess, and that the two of you meeting back in the Victorian era wasn't a coincidence, isn't lying?

The dude will eventually know that Fernando killed him and his lover at some point!"

"Aroon knows that Fernando is a bad guy, he remembered him from that day where the mansion Lucius worked in went down in flames.

Fernando was Their Master's secret lover according to Aroon, and Pinkette and Fernando rarely ever interacted beyond small talks... Aroon is sure that he sensed the same Dark aura around Fernando the day everyone died in that mansion."

"So he knows Fernando is the culprit? Are you sure Aroon's not lying about what he knows about Fernando?

Also, it doesn't seem that Aroon remembers Lucius was his fiance, nor remembers Lucius's mother, why?"

Ned nodded, "Aroon gave away those parts of his memories to work under me, mainly to keep his sanity intact as well, he was grief-stricken.

He chose to forget Lucius and his mother's names and faces."

"So all of this mess, happened already Three time?...I want to know Wtf Fernando is after exactly, so far the only connection to this whole mess is Lucius." Yurei replied glaring at particularly nothing.

"Yeah, for some reason Fernando seems to want to get rid of Lucius and you too, any ideas about that?" Ned asked.

"Aside from being his son's mate? what else could make Fernando feel threaten by my existence?

Maybe he did that because he knows I'm smart and I'm still getting my revenge from him Sooner or later...but even with all of my brains, I ended up nearly dead! that heartless son of bitch used his own child against me!" Yurei replied.

"Fernando knows that you and Tacito are each other's weaknesses, so I understand why he used Tacito...but maybe Fernando is not after you because you're a threat to him, I'm starting to think that he's doing this for Tacito

Also, you're not as smart as you think you are in the first place, Yurei."

"HEY! take it back old hag!" Yurei said angrily.

"If I hear 'old hag' one more time, I'm going to finish what Tacito couldn't! remember you're in my house you disrespectful child!" Ned spoke furiously, it was a successful attempt to terrify Yurei into shutting-up.

The purple-haired doctor then took a deep breath, continuing to talk, "As far as I know, Fernando wasn't expecting anyone to survive from the party, not even you or Tacito.

Besides, when I met him today, he seemed heartbroken.

Anyways, the first time Fernando played with fire, there was only Lucius and Aroon involved, just like you said, those two are the strongest connection to him so far.

The first time Lucius died, Aroon possibly became an immortal somehow and was seeking revenge too, until Fernando killed him and then took his body.

I bet Aroon got saved by a contract witch the first time as well, just like it happened in Victorian England." Ned said.

"There's something else that seems to line up Ned." Yurei said.

"Hmm? what is it?"

"The method he used, Fernando burned down an entire household with whomever was unlucky enough to be there, regardless whether they meant something to his revenge or not, and using the same spell."

"Yeah but, why? why bother going through all of this trouble, building a life for yourself and all only to turn it to ashes, and why kill yourself too? it's too much!"

"Maybe he's resetting his game?"

"Resetting?"

Yurei nodded repeatedly, "Tacito plays Lotta of video games at home, he says it's better than therapy but that's a big lie."

"Get to the point."

"Alright! sometimes when Taci plays games, he resets a game after playing it.

Basically he starts all over again, as if he's playing the game for the very first time, but the experience isn't the same, because now he's familiar with the game's mechanics." Yurei explained, "What if instead of a video game, Fernando is playing with his life? and we're like extras in his life game... Fernando already played three times?" he added clapping his hands together.

Ned narrowed his eyes at him "if this really happened three times, it seems like it didn't affect his memories, how?" He asked.

"Idk for sure but something else I learned from watching Tacito play, is that some Role-playing and adventure games usually grant only one life while playing.

Aka if a monster killed you when you were fighting it, it's GAME OVER but not entirely game over! because these games allow the player to reload a saved game file afterwards."

"Saved game?"

"Checkpoint kinda? but the player has more control here!

Let's put it this way, if you save your game sometime before a boss fight, even if you get killed, you can load that saved game and start again from the point you saved in!

At this point, you have experienced the fight once already, have seen the situation and you're well aware of what's going to happen, which could be a great opportunity for you!"

"If true, this explains why Fernando doesn't have this amnesia that everyone else is dealing with..."

"The spell itself could be his saving mechanism."

"Shit, the spell he's using doesn't seem to be something easy to pull off, since Fernando is restarting from literally birth, it's obvious he went through the trouble of strengthening his powers in order to cast that spell over and over, it's a one time in a lifetime thing." Ned said.

...Meanwhile...

"I will only give you your freedom, if you promise me that you won't try to kill yourself again!"

"No."

"kiddo listen, stop breaking momma's heart okay! or I won't put you back together...

I'm ready to welcome Yurei as a son in law, Just take him and go back to traveling around the world, you like Thailand right? settle down there! get married, try for a kid even!

I know Yurei's a beta and particularly useless in baby making, but there's still a chance." Fernando said.

" As if... having a kid...made you... happier." Tacito replied.

"Tacito! Mi querido! (my darling) the first five years where I peacefully raised you in the woods, were the hardest but shockingly enough, the happiest years of my life."

"Liar... just put me...back...together."

"Nope! you kinda look adorable like this actually! you remind me of that witch from Hellboy, when she was sitting on the couch in front of the tv, complaining about singing competitions." Fernando replied as he laid back on the couch in His son's living room, careful not to hit Tacito's head.

"I haven't worked...in days... Jihi is... going to get...worried." Tacito replied, for the past hour or so, his pov of the living room didn't change, As Fernando placed Tacito's head next to him in the couch and facing the TV.

"Jihi? that's your boss right? seriously why did you sign up for a job you can't commit to?"

" I've been working...for 60 years...and I'm satisfied...not everyone wants...to be a... body-crafter like you." Tacito replied.

" Ah! Tienes razon mi querido ( you're right my dear.)"

"No me...llames querido. (don't call me dear)"

"Whatever kiddo, do you want to play a game with me? I want to play some fighting game!"

"You've hid away... my arms and...the rest of...my body you...sicko...how am I... going to play?"

"Oh right! let me find your arms for you! and remember, don't try anything funny you know that'll know...I left you for few minutes today and found you already kidnapping a guy!" Fernando said.

"You're the one...who told me... I needed his...blood."

"Yeah yeah I Know what I said, anyways here are your arms." Fernando spoke spawning the parts in his lap.

Tacito's arms were wiggling despite not being attached to him anymore, he was still able to control his arms as if they're still attached to his body.

"Oh the controllers! I gotta find them!" Fernando said getting up to search for them, he was still unfamiliar with the property.

Taking the opportunity that Fernando was distracted, Tacito took the chance to activate his witch's bracelet that was still around his wrist the whole time.

Fernando never suspected the bracelet to have a hidden power and If Tacito presses on the hidden button on the inside, He would be automatically transported into Jihi's office, and that's exactly what he did, using his mouth to press on the bracelet, which teleported only his head.

It was only after he heard a weird noise, that Fernando realized his son outsmarted him.

"Oh for FUCKS SAKE TACITO!" he shouted as Tacito's head was gone from his sight, nothing but his arms were left dangling on the couch, "Wtf are you going to do with just your head, fucking idiot."