Soon, Damian entered.
The mont Isla saw him up close, she grinned instinctively, hoping the familiar gesture might spark recognition.
But she quickly realized how monstrous that smile must look now.
’There is almost no chance he knows it is .’
At the sa ti, Damian narrowed his eyes. From his perspective, the zombie king radiated a dangerous, oppressive aura.
Yet he reminded himself that this was rely a human infected by a common virus found on his planet.
His expression remained calm, almost indifferent.
"I am here," Damian declared, his voice echoing through the chamber, "to make a deal."
He did not expect much.
’This creature probably does not even understand human negotiation,’ he thought.
Still, he had co this far.
It was worth trying.
As for worrying that he might be infected by the zombies, the superior being occupying the demon’s body felt no concern at all.
To him, this virus was insignificant, sothing crude and primitive that could never affect a being of his level.
That confidence alone had given him the courage to walk straight into this decaying domain without hesitation.
Isla, seeing that the Damian only stared at her in silence, felt a flicker of agitation.
A low growl escaped her throat, raw and uneven, reverberating across the cold stone hall.
The sound carried the stench of rot and dampness with it, echoing like the cry of sothing trapped between life and death.
She tried again, forcing her ruined vocal cords to cooperate.
"Brother..."
The word ca out jagged and broken, but it was clear enough.
Damian’s eyes narrowed instantly.
’Brother?’ he thought, suspicion sharpening his gaze.
From his perspective, the zombie king standing before him was clearly male, and even with all the mories he had inherited from the original Damian, there had never been a brother.
Not one.
Isla’s attempt failed once again.
Damian repeated his purpose, his tone colder this ti.
"I can help you rise in rank. I can make you stronger... far stronger than you are now, as long as you assist in destroying Ivy’s base."
The mont Isla heard the words ’Ivy’s base’, she froze.
She had never imagined that even her own brother would harbor such ambition.
Shock gave way to excitent, and she nodded imdiately, almost eagerly.
Damian blinked in surprise.
’It understands gestures?’ he wondered. He had not expected such awareness.
Yet sothing about the way the zombie king looked at him felt... strange.
There was a familiarity in that gaze, an unsettling warmth, as if it were looking at soone dear.
Taking a slow breath, Damian asked, "Do you know ?"
The zombie nodded repeatedly.
Now his guard rose even higher.
He forced a faint smile onto his lips, though alertness still lingered in his eyes.
"Then tell ... who are you?"
anwhile, Isla was far too excited to notice anything unusual about him.
She simply thought, ’Brother has changed... he feels colder, more distant.’
To her, it seed like maturity born from hardship.
She grabbed a stick lying nearby and crouched to write on the dusty ground.
Her hands trembled as she scratched symbols into the dirt.
Damian frowned when he saw the aningless scrawls.
Isla stared at what she had written, stunned.
She could not rember how to write her own na.
A surge of panic rose within her. Her fingers clenched, dirt crumbling beneath her grip.
Then, with all the strength left in her broken voice, she shouted, "Isla!"
And she rushed toward him.
Damian misunderstood completely.
From his perspective, the zombie king had suddenly lunged to attack.
His expression turned glacial. "So be it."
He struck.
The punch landed hard.
Isla staggered back, shock flooding her face.
She looked at him in disbelief, unable to comprehend why her own brother would attack her.
But then mories surfaced, her father’s blows, her mother’s hatred.
’Even... he wants dead?’
Pain twisted into fury.
She fought back.
Realizing she wasn’t physically stronger than Damian in this state, she let out a sharp howl and motioned for the surrounding zombies to attack together.
Damian had never expected to be surrounded.
Growling under his breath, he muttered, "Damn it."
He leapt into the air, trying to escape.
Below, Isla burned with rage. She grabbed whatever she could find and hurled it at him.
Stones, broken wood, scraps of rusted tal.
The other zombies followed her example.
Soon, the sky itself seed filled with flying debris.
Garbage, rubble, anything their decayed hands could grasp, rained toward him.
Damian dodged most of it, until sothing soft struck his face.
A rotten tomato exploded across his cheek.
He froze midair, nose scrunching in disgust as the sour sll filled his senses. Slowly, he wiped it away and glared downward.
Before he could leave, another projectile hit him.
An egg.
It smashed against his forehead, forcing his head to jerk forward.
His patience snapped.
With terrifying calm, he raised one hand... and clenched it.
Far below, the zombie who had thrown the egg suddenly lifted into the air, invisible force crushing around its body. When Damian closed his fist fully...
The zombie exploded.
The sound echoed like a burst of wet clay.
The surrounding zombies recoiled in fear. Even Isla stood frozen, dread seeping into her anger.
She realized sothing then.
If Damian truly wished to kill them, he could have done so long ago.
So why attack her?
Why had he not recognized her?
Confusion overwheld her.
.......
anwhile, Damian had already retreated far from the base. He landed in a sparse area where only a few wandering zombies lingered.
With a casual wave of his hand, he erased them, their bodies collapsing like puppets with cut strings.
He moved beneath the shade of a crooked tree and exhaled slowly.
’I did not expect this body to struggle against such trivial creatures.’
Since taking over this vessel, he constantly needed to test its limits. And today, he had reached one.
Yes, he could have killed Isla.
But afterward, he would not have had enough strength left to fly, let alone deal with the remaining swarm.
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