When Damon channeled mana into his eyes and cast a spell that helped him peer through the unseen, his heart was gripped by dread.
What he saw wasn't a bloodied and broken dusk-skinned youth who had been tortured brutally.
No.
What he saw… was nothing.
There was no one sitting on the chair.
There was no blood on the ground.
There was nothing.
Nothing at all.
For the last two hours, the Wardens and Agents inside this interrogation room had been put under a highly complex illusion spell.
In that split mont, only one thought echoed inside Damon's mind:
Just how strong must the caster be to be able to sustain an illusion this potent for hours?
The answer soon beca clear.
The mont Damon was able to see through the illusion, he saw sothing else, too, at the corner of his vision.
On the other side of the room, a figure draped in a dark robe stood calmly. A hood covered his head, and a dark silver mask hid his face.
No one had noticed his presence until now.
How could they?
This figure was a being far more powerful than the Agents and Wardens who had gathered in the room.
He had always been there, silent and still.
Waiting…
Yes.
Waiting for him.
The mont Nyle Damon realized that he had walked into a trap, it was already too late. He saw the masked figure weave a series of hand seals so fast and so fluid that it was over in an instant.
And then, Damon heard that dreadful sound.
The call of a predator.
And then, Damon heard that dreadful sound.
The call of a predator.
HIISSSS!
From the edges of the room, sothing ominous began to rise.
Thick coils of serpentine flesh pushed out from the walls like living vines. They spread fast, climbing upward and outward. The stone walls were swallowed first. Then the ceiling vanished under layers of pulsing, dark red tissue.
The flesh kept growing. In seconds, the room lost its shape. Corners rounded off, flat surfaces warped and folded, and the air filled with a heavy, sour stench.
The walls were no longer walls. They were wet, ribbed mbranes that flexed slowly, as if… breathing. The ceiling sagged overhead in thick folds of muscle and tissue. Purple veins throbbed beneath the surface, and viscous sli dripped down in slow strands.
The floor turned soft. It sank slightly underfoot, like… standing on raw at. A yellow-green liquid seeped up through cracks in the fleshy ground and pooled across the surface. It bubbled faintly. Wherever it touched tal or stone, it hissed and ate into it.
The space kept expanding. What had been a small interrogation room beca a massive, cavern-like chamber made entirely of living flesh. The walls curved inward. The ceiling rose higher and higher until it vanished into darkness.
Damon started to realize sothing when he looked around at his new surroundings. And soon, the truth beca clear.
This wasn't a room anymore.
It was the inside of sothing!
Seeing the look of realization on the Councilor's face, Adam let out a light chuckle.
"We are inside the stomach," he said in a gentle voice.
That was indeed the case as Adam and the rest were standing inside the stomach of a giant serpent that he had summoned into existence.
Not the whole creature. Just this part of it. Just the stomach. The rest of the serpent wasn't here, but this was more than enough.
Nyle Damon's panic and apprehension were instantly replaced by a cold, calculating deanor. He was a veteran Mana Core Magus, after all. Once he realized there was no escape, he cald down and began to analyze the current situation.
"…Who are you?" He asked as he stared at the mysterious figure in the dark-silver mask.
From the masked figure's voice, he sounded young. Too young, actually. But Damon didn't believe it for a second. There was no such thing as a youthful Mana Core Magus in this world.
So he assud it was just another trick, another layer of deception ant to hide the figure's true self.
Beneath the mask, Adam's lips curled into a smile.
"I am… no one."
Adam didn't have to hide his na and appearance at this point in ti. He was certain no one was going to divine it, anyway. Besides, he was looking at a dead man.
So then why did he choose to hide his identity?
Because he was faceless.
Not literally.
But in the sense that he no longer belonged to a single identity or faction.
Yesterday he was Henry, today he was Kenny. Yesterday he was a bastard son, today he was an orphan again. And yesterday he was a mber of the Brotherhood, and tomorrow he might be a Cultist.
Nas were tools. Faces were masks.
Both could be discarded when they beca inconvenient. Besides, he didn't feel the need to disclose his true identity, anyway.
Tonight, he wasn't Adam Constantine.
He was just the hand that had closed around Nyle Damon's fate.
Damon's face darkened. "You don't wish to disclose your identity. Fine! Tell , what you want!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Adam said with the sa smile. "I want to butcher every Cultist off the face of this planet. You've committed far too many evils. I'm going to wipe you out and erase the devils' sches from this world. That is what I want."
Damon's face twisted into a ferocious scowl. He, obviously, didn't take the "devils' sches" literally and assud Adam ant it taphorically.
After all, even he wasn't aware of the Cult Leader's true plans for this world.
"Wipe us out from the face of this world?!" Damon coldly muttered. "Aren't you too full of yourself?"
"Who knows?" Adam shrugged, his voice playful. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not."
A sudden sizzling sound echoed around them.
Without even turning to look, Damon already knew that was the sound of the other Magi's flesh and bones lting under the gastric acid soaking the stomach floor.
These Wardens and Magi didn't even get a chance to call out for help. The toxic gas poured into their mouths and tore through them from the inside, while the acid corroded them from the outside.
Quite a painful death. Probably as tornting as the pain they had seemingly inflicted upon poor Kenny.
"Alright then, let's get this over with." Adam bounced on his feet, rolling his shoulders and loosening his arms. "We don't want to upset the big guy's stomach now, do we?"
Damon didn't need to be reminded. This was a very special type of summoning magic and required quite the finesse. To revert the area back to normal, he had to defeat Adam and force him to cancel the summoning.
And so, without hesitation, he vanished and reappeared in front of the masked man like a shadow and struck with his dagger!
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