Chapter 27: Passing of weeks

Time slowly passed and weeks went by as Tom focused on his new research.

The only two usable things he had when it came to prospects of cheating the system to get stronger were the knowledge of the Evil Pieces... which was a dead end since it was usable to enhance devils but it wouldn't work much for humans unless they were turned into the devils first, and then there were the Old Contracts.

It was plainly obvious which of them had more potential to work in Tom's circumstances.

A contract in which a devil can trade souls, powers, bloodlines, energy...

What was not to like?

But still, Tom was stumped on how to trick devils in a way that wouldn't bring the entire Devil Society down on his head.

Imagine the mayhem if a human who can steal their bloodlines, demonic power, maybe even lifespan and souls, appeared.

It was a no-brainer what the devils would have done once they found out.

That would have been an instant RIP for him.

Worse yet... imagine if they realized the potential of the Old Contracts because of him. That would have been RIP for the whole world.

And while the first option was infinitely more disturbing to Tom, he didn't intend to bring about either of these two scenarios.

Alas, remaking the Old Contract in a way that would prevent devils from realizing what was going on while signing the deal, and on top of all that made them remain clueless after they lost the traded thing? Now that was proving to be a very hard, if not impossible, task. Tom tried to screen the contract he got from Sarael with his Sacred Gear, over and over again, slowly building more understanding on how it worked but...

His Sacred Gear was not perfect and could only help him so far. It could only show him things. As for understanding the concepts and features of the contract that even its creators had no idea about? He was totally on his own for that.

The problem was not even in his understanding. Tom was just hoping that with understanding, he would find a way to exploit it in a safe way, but so far, he had no luck.

Fortunately, Tom had Natasha who was ever-so-eager to provide a momentary distraction for him whenever he became too frustrated for his own good.

During these weeks, their relationship was steadily progressing and they became closer to each other. Tom found himself actually enjoying the time spent with the redhead. So much so that he even picked up cooking via alchemy a bit more seriously, making meals for both of them and spending his time with her this way while not losing much time from his own work.

After all, improving his alchemy cooking did still count as 'research'. Tom's meals full of mana were capable of helping a mundane human gain a greater constitution and he was certainly liking this little hobby of his so far.

For now, it wasn't anything special in the supernatural world but at the very least, it helped Natasha in her own training and kept Tom entertained while he was relaxing. Tom also thought his alchemy cooking had great potential if he found better ingredients and became better at alchemy... but for now, he didn't really have the necessary time to put much attention into such a trifle.

But not everything was all sunshine and rainbows.

Natasha... demanded to help Tom in the kitchen.

And that's exactly how one nice afternoon, she was helping Tom with baking a pie when he quipped something ridiculous and totally misguided about her cooking prowess that was definitely not as bad as he said.

Or so she claimed and Tom could only stare in wide-eyed shock when he was involuntarily forced to sneeze as his mind registered what Natasha did in retaliation for his remark.

His face was all white, covered in a copious amount of flour that Natasha threw at him.

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And she was now provocatively smirking into his face.

That... wasn't nice.

"Oh, you are on." The white-faced Tom whispered, his eyes gleaming at the challenge as he grabbed flour from his own bowl and...

Needless to say, the kitchen did not survive the ensuing glorious battle that repainted it completely white.

The intense showdown between the two lovers only ceased when they were both covered in flour from head to toe, panting as they lay next to each other on the messy floor and widely smiling.

"That was fun." Natasha giggled, taking Tom's hand into hers and warmly squeezing it. "But I won."

"Nu-uh." Tom gave her a look full of disagreement, "You have more white stuff on you than me."

"You wish." Natasha jovially retorted. "You lose by default for using magic, darlin'."

"I knew I shouldn't have given you those books on thought acceleration." Tom wistfully complained, looking toward the ceiling, pretending to be wronged as he mused, "Your arguments became harder to counter. Especially that 'darling' part." His tone contained an undertone of mockery as he added, "Call me that again."

Natasha rolled her eyes at him, "Ass."

"Huh? You can't have it both ways, girl. Am I your darling or an ass?" Tom tilted his head, his lips twitching as he barely restrained his smart-ass smirk.

His goal of making Natasha speechless was accomplished!

It didn't last long, however, and eventually, Natasha grinned and pecked him on the cheek, "You are my dear ass."

Now it was Tom's turn to be unable to find a retort.

Really, what was he supposed to say to that!? He didn't even have an idea if he felt insulted or flattered and that was making him feel weird.

"I'll... take what I can get, I guess?" He helplessly shrugged, but it was obvious who the winner of this argument was.

Natasha smugly smiled at her victory and in a pleased tone she... "Up for some hot chocolate?" offered.

Tom turned his head toward her after not hearing any gloating he expected from Natasha, and by doing so, he met her calm green eyes. One could lose himself in those shining emeralds and his mood was instantly improved as he chuckled, "Sure. I'd like a cup... or two."

Who was he to refuse one of the very few things she actually could prepare in the kitchen?

That day, they had a copious amount of hot chocolate for lunch...

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