It was not certainty.
It was hope.
A stubborn, unyielding hope that his father was still alive sowhere on this cursed island.
William wanted to believe the Devil had imprisoned him the sa way it had the others. Sealed inside those grotesque pods for whatever twisted purpose it served.
But earlier, while searching the island with his telepathy, reaching outward with his mind to grasp even the faintest whisper that might belong to his father, William had found nothing.
Not a voice.
Not an echo.
Nothing.
Still, he refused to accept it.
That man had crawled through hell before and survived. A place far worse than this. If anyone could cling to life for a few more minutes, it would be him.
And that ant William had only one task.
Remove every obstacle standing between him and his old man.
"Persistent bastard!" the Devil growled in irritation.
The horn on its forehead flared with crimson light.
Instantly, the ground cracked open.
From the fissure, an abomination leapt forth. It had the muscular body of a lion, but its head was that of a stag, crowned with jagged antlers that twisted unnaturally. Its red eyes burned with pure bloodlust, and the pressure it radiated was heavy enough to disturb the air around it.
The creature roared and charged.
William watched it approach without expression.
He raised a single hand.
"Cleave."
The beast lunged toward him with murderous speed.
And then its body passed through him.
Not intact.
By the ti it crossed William’s position, the creature had already been divided cleanly into two equal halves. The severed pieces crashed to the ground behind him with a dull, heavy thud.
DHAK.
William turned his attention back to the red Devil, his finger lifting as a Droplet of Oblivion began forming above it.
But before he could release it—
Several massive tentacles erupted from the depths of the Death Sink below.
They shot upward like black spears, writhing violently as they reached for him.
William clicked his tongue and ascended higher, slipping out of their grasp just before the dark appendages could coil around him.
With a flick of his hand, he released a barrage of Cleaves.
The slashes tore through the air and shredded the tentacles into dozens of pieces.
Chunks of dark flesh rained downward.
But the victory lasted only a mont.
The severed fragnts writhed and fused again, regenerating faster than they had been cut apart.
"REGGGGGHHH!"
The fissure in the ground split wider as sothing forced its way out from the other side. A grotesque, green face surfaced from the darkness. It resembled a squid, but horribly deford, its flesh swollen and twisted as though stitched together from nightmares.
Its massive tendrils clawed at the edges of the crack as it roared toward the sky.
The creature pushed upward, struggling to free its enormous body from the depths below.
William’s expression hardened.
His fist clenched.
Nyx surged through his arm, coiling around the telekinetic force that already reinforced his strike. The energy compressed, layering over itself until the air around his fist trembled with violent pressure.
Then he moved.
From high above, William shot downward like a falling star. His body spun once in mid-air, montum tightening around his fra before he drove his fist forward.
The impact ca a heartbeat later.
DOOOOOOM
His strike slamd into the creature’s skull with catastrophic force.
A massive crack tore across the monster’s head. Its flesh split open as blood erupted upward like a geyser, drenching the battlefield and splattering across William’s body.
The blond man did not stop.
While the creature reeled, he began chanting.
One Droplet of Oblivion ford.
Then another.
Then another.
Four of them hovered around him, dense spheres of annihilating force. Nyx wrapped around each orb, amplifying their power until the surrounding air warped violently.
The island itself began to tremble.
The sheer surge of energy shook the land beneath them, the pressure growing so intense that even William’s body strained against it. For a brief mont, the power threatened to destabilize the very space around him.
But the attack had never been ant for the mortal plane.
William thrust his hand forward.
All four Droplets shot downward in unison.
The creature shrieked and collapsed backward into the depths of the Death Sink, retreating in blind terror.
But the orbs followed.
They plunged into the darkness after it.
What happened beyond that chasm, deep within whatever abyss existed beneath the island, was sothing no one would ever witness.
William turned.
The red Devil had moved. It had slipped closer again, stretching its arm toward William’s chest, trying to repeat the sa strike that had damaged his circuit earlier.
But this ti its fingers stopped short.
Just inches away.
"Why... can’t... I touch you!" the inhuman creature roared.
Nyx exploded outward from its body in violent surges, tearing through the air like dark waves. But raw power ant little now.
Not in front of an enraged William.
William raised his hand calmly and closed his fingers around the Devil’s wrist.
The creature froze.
For a brief mont, the two of them simply stared at each other.
William’s voice ca out low and steady.
"Are you the anchor of this Death Sink?"
The red Devil snarled, its grin twisting into sothing far uglier.
"Don’t wish to see that being," it hissed. "Or you will regret it for the rest of your life."
The mont the words left its mouth, flas erupted across its body.
Crimson fire burst outward, swallowing its small fra completely. The heat distorted the air as the inferno roared violently around it.
William’s brows knit together.
With a sharp motion, he swatted the creature away, sending it skidding across the broken ground.
"So... this is your ability," William murmured under his breath. "To steal others’ skills."
First the teleportation.
Now flas.
Sohow this creature had taken Dennis’s ability without ever laying a hand on him.
The Devil rose slowly, its entire body now wreathed in blazing crimson fire. The flas twisted around its limbs like a living serpents.
Then it laughed.
"You are quite smart for soone who looks like a dumbass."
In the next instant, the Devil answered not with words, but with fire.
A massive volley of crimson flas erupted toward William.
The inferno surged like a tidal wave, swallowing the battlefield in violent heat.
William raised his arm over his face as his telekinetic force wrapped tightly around his body. The invisible barrier coiled over him like armor, shielding him from the raging sea of fire that crashed against it.
The heat was suffocating.
Flas roared in every direction, twisting wildly as if alive.
’Agh... I can’t see anything.’
The firestorm was too violent. Too chaotic. His vision was completely devoured by the blaze.
William tried to reach out with his senses, searching for the Devil within the storm, but most of his focus was locked on maintaining the defensive barrier protecting his body.
He prepared to rise higher into the air—
Then a voice spoke.
Calm and very close.
"Why don’t you try controlling it?"
William froze for a split second.
Even without turning, he recognized the voice instantly.
Lamb.
"Control it?" William grunted, frustration creeping into his tone. "I can’t control flas."
He thrust his hand forward, releasing a telekinetic wave that shoved through the inferno. For a brief mont, the pressure created a small opening in the burning chaos.
But the gap vanished almost imdiately.
The raging flas surged back together, devouring the space once more.
Lamb spoke again, his voice steady despite the roaring inferno.
"Well, you can do it. After all, isn’t it just a variant of energy? Why don’t you at least try?"
William frowned.
Those words made little sense to him.
He could not control elents. That was never his ability. Especially not sothing he hadn’t even produced himself.
Still, he raised his hand and closed his eyes.
The flas surrounded him from every direction, roaring like a living ocean that longed to devour him whole. The heat pressed against his barrier while waves of crimson fire twisted violently around his body.
William focused.
He tried to connect with it.
Sowhere beneath the raging flas, he could feel Nyx. The dark energy woven through the fire like veins beneath skin. But no matter how he reached for it, he couldn’t quite grasp it.
Then he felt it.
A hand resting lightly on his shoulder.
Lamb leaned close and whispered softly, "It’s your domain. Nothing shall disobey your command."
Sothing flickered through William’s mind.
A mory.
A fragnt of understanding that had once seed aningless.
And suddenly—
The flas stopped.
The raging inferno froze mid-motion, like a violent ocean halted by an impossible force. The roaring blaze trembled in place, suspended unnaturally in the air.
From a distance, the red Devil frowned.
It had felt the shift.
William slowly raised both hands.
The flas moved.
Not wildly.
Not chaotically.
They obeyed.
As though so invisible authority had seized control of them and forced them to submit.
William exhaled slowly and opened his eyes.
He was controlling the fire.
Actually controlling it.
Lamb’s voice ca again, quiet and certain. "Don’t lose your emotions. If you do, you won’t retain control."
William nodded faintly.
His heart slowed. His mind sharpened.
He clenched his fist.
The endless crimson waves began to collapse inward. Fire spiraled through the air, converging toward a single point under William’s command.
As the flas receded, the battlefield slowly ca back into view.
Scorched soil.
Ash-covered trees.
And beyond all...a kneeling red-skinned devil who watched all this with his eyes stretched wide.
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