Shin froze for a moment—just a flicker—his grin trembling as he stared at our blood‑splattered eyes."You…" His voice thinned into disbelief. "You carry the body of our creator. Are you the chosen one? The dark lord… the abyssal monster who will swallow this world whole." His gaze darted between us, fingers cracking. "But there are two of you."He tilted his head, reattaching his severed one with casual clicks."No matter. Two or twenty… I still have questions."
Adam hurled a sphere of red energy, the air hissing as it spiraled forward. Shin lazily caught it with a smear of darkness, letting the power sink into him as it twisted back toward us like a warped reflection.
Soldiers collapsed one by one, breath stolen straight from their chests. Their skin shriveled, bloods being drained out, their bodies sinking in on themselves—Frank, the man who laughed earlier and spending time together back then, reduced to a drained husk. Adam clutched at his hair with both hands, panic tearing through him in raw, jagged bursts. That manic feeling he feared most crawled up his spine.
"No… no—stop—"The curse crept through the formation.Garfield and a handful at the rear braced themselves in terror, barely touched of how the power seems to be weaker at the farthest.
Then Adam's vision tunneled. His pupils narrowed to burning red slits.
He lost restraint.
Even if he bled out, even if he was cut into pieces, he wanted this man dead.
"RUN!" he screamed. "Karrin—move!"
The back ranks stumbled, scrambling running through the mud.
Karrin drank every vial of blood he carried, wiping his lips with the back of his hand, pupils sharpening. Together, they charged. Steel flashed, limbs blurred. Cultists swayed unnaturally, drifting like shadows, but Karrin tore through them with teeth and claw, ripping one apart mid‑air.But new things lunged from the swarm—razored mouths, floating jaws—biting down on them as the fight devolved into chaos.
Adam's skin burned where the fangs clamped. Karrin leapt over him, hurling a spear into another cultist and tearing open a second with a feral scream. They forced themselves toward Shin, drawing his attention away from the dying soldiers.
Shin blinked, genuinely or acting surprised.Karrin's spear punched through his torso, leaving a gaping wound and spraying his own blackened blood—but he only smiled, head tilted as if admiring the view.
And then Adam felt it—something cold, countless hands bursting from within him, reaching outward.
"Oh?" Shin chuckled. "A hero standing against a villain?"He pointed at Adam and announced to the cultists, "Look! He really wants to be the chosen one!"
Adam grabbed Shin's head and smashed it into a stone over and over, dark arms binding the man like chains.Still, Shin laughed.He always laughed.
A moment later, Adam was snatched from the ground by an invisible force. His neck cracked sideways with sickening ease.
"Not so mighty, are you? AHAHAHAHA!"
Karrin lunged again. Shin caught him effortlessly, dragging him into existence a rotting beast that clamped onto Karrin's body.Karrin screamed—raw, animal terror—as the monster chewed him slowly, savoring every inch.
"Come on!" Shin taunted. "DO. SOMETHING."
He tapped Adam's skull with two fingers.Crack.Crack.Crack.Snapping his neck again and again until the world flickered in and out.
Adam gurgled, clawing at Shin's face, teeth clenched through broken nerves.
"That's it… that's right…" Shin whispered, delighted.
Then the cult descended.Floating teeths of a razor.They tore into him, hundreds of gnashing mouths chewing him down to bone.
Adam felt himself fading his body was failing at regenerating—an empty, terrified pit hollowing out inside him.Karrin was crying and sobbing, still being eaten alive, pushing uselessly against the swarm.The world around Adam slowed, then quieted. His body was a ruined shell—bones showing, skin torn, organs failing.
Shin grew bored.He stepped on Adam's skull, grinding him into the dirt."So this is what you are? The 'devourer? How pathetic."
He crouched and wrapped his fingers around Adam's nearly detached head, scooping mud from the ground and shoving it into his broken mouth.
"Eat it," he whispered. "Come on, my king. Eat."
The cult floated behind him, silent witnesses.
Adam could barely breathe as he choked on soil.
[I… I…]Rehan's voice trembled, horrified.[I…]
Shin laughed maniacally and kicked and grovelled Karrin, who let out a broken whine."Oh, those who ran? Maybe I'll go kill them now."
Adam trembled. Hatred and fear spiraled into something darker.He couldn't move.He couldn't fight.He was nothing.
If only… if only I had power.If he could, he would have erased this person and nothing would ever become of him.He would have ended this worthless, meaningless man. Killed him .Crushed him. Eradicated him a thousand times.
His consciousness flickered like a candle dying in the wind.
[This isn't working…]Rehan's panic burst.[NO—NO—please don't die, Adam!]
[ACTIVATING FULL LEAVING RESPONSE.]Every part of her poured into his fading mind.[forgiveme—forgiveme—forgiveme—forgiveme—]
Then—His hoodie darkened like ink.A white halo expanded behind him, soft and silent.Power—old, buried, refusing to sleep—rose.
Adam lifted his hand, voice barely a breath but absolute.
"Dream."
He pointed at Shin, a broken finger still dripping blood.
"The existence of your power…disappear."