Huff… huff…
I panted like a beast cornered, both hands clutching Enkris as if it were the only thing keeping me alive. My body screamed in agony—the flesh melting, the bones trembling, everything breaking down under the weight of my own burning life force. My mouth, ears, eyes—sealed shut by the searing pain. Only my nose remained open, protected by the last shred of aura I could muster.
Enkris was buried deep in Dikargo's throat. His guttural growls were reduced to silence, yet his will refused to die. His voice crawled into my skull, a mental transmission, hoarse and unsteady.
[Who… are you?]
[You don't need to know who I am,]I transmitted back, my will piercing into his mind. [You'll simply do what I ask.]
I couldn't see his expression, nor hear his voice—my senses were burned away. Yet the trembling of his body told me enough. He was listening.
Good.
[You're one of the Seventeen High Demons, aren't you?] I pressed the question into his mind, watching for cracks in his will.
[…Y-yes.] His voice faltered, reluctant.
[Then what kind of authority do you possess? Is it tied to your body?] I pushed further, recalling how his wounds had closed, how lightning coursed through him as if it belonged to his very blood. He could have wielded other powers, yet in the heat of battle—when his life was at stake—he had relied only on this. Which meant it wasn't a choice. It was his nature.
[…] His silence was all the answer I needed. My guess had struck true.
[From this moment on, you will remain as my servant,] I demanded, my words sharp and unyielding, testing the limits of his pride.
[Watch your tongue, human. I could crush you with a single finger.] His mental voice rumbled with suppressed rage.
[You should think of your current situation before dreaming of the future.] I shot back coldly.
[…I don't need you to remind me. But I'd rather die than bow to a mere human.] He snorted, his defiance bleeding through the link.
[And besides, you're going to die in just a few moments. But if you pull that sword out, I'll personally heal you—with the life force of another being.]
He tried to bait me into releasing him, but I only snorted.
[Do you take me for a fool? No one can replace life force with another's.]
[...] His silence stretched before he finally conceded.
[What do you want?]
[You're right—I don't have much time left. But if I gain the same authority as you, I can survive. And so will you, because if I fall here, I'll crush your neck—and your soul—using the last of my life force.] My voice in his mind was cold, edged with threat.
[Hahaha… so that's what this is. You want my physique. You even endured this long, burning your life force, just for that?] His tone shifted, mocking yet tinged with something else. [From your condition, I can tell—you've been clinging to life this entire battle against me and Rikel Kael, holding on with nothing but raw will. Such guts, for someone at First Severance… and so young.]
[Hehe. Don't try to act calm. I'll make this simple: I've got two minutes left to live, and you have one. Decide how you'll survive. And if you think I don't have the means to erase your soul, then you're gravely mistaken. Because if I can endure this battle while still at First Severance… then destroying your entire existence is well within my reach.] I transmitted in a calm, measured tone.
[Then release me… I have to make the arrangements,] he transmitted in a low, defeated tone.
I sighed. [You must really think I'm an idiot just because I'm young.] Saying so, I twisted the blade still buried in his throat. His whole body trembled. I couldn't hear whether he screamed or cried—but I could feel the pain ripping through him.
[Okay, okay! I will pass you my physique. Just… tell me how we proceed.] Finally, he conceded.
[You have to form a soul oath with me,] I replied coldly.
[Soul oath? You even know about that? Who the hell are you? For a kid your age to—]
[Cut the crap.] I cut him off mid-sentence. [The contract will follow my next words.]
[[I, whatever your name is, give my authority—whatever physique it may be—to the thirteen-year-old human named Vern Kael.]
This time, he cut me off. [Kael? You're from the same family as Rikel Kael—]
[Will you shut the fuck up?] My voice sliced through his thoughts like a blade. [I'll explain everything later so you can satisfy your curiosity. For now, follow the oath.]
He took a deep breath to steady himself, then began. [I, Dikargo Retrakes, twelfth son of the Demon King of Vengeance, swear upon my soul that I will share my authority—also known as the True Lightning Physique—with Vern Kael, and that I will help him fight against someone he commands me to in the future.]
He paused, then continued. [Until then, I can't even put a scratch on him. If I do, my soul will shatter that very moment.]
I transmitted as I pulled the sword out. [You and I both have one minute, so hurry up.] I demanded hastily, my condition worsening—just taking a breath was excruciating at this point.
[Alright… you've to drink my blood, but judging by your mouth, I don't think it's possible.] he said reluctantly. Maybe he had just seen my face—I could tell he wasn't wrong. My mouth was sealed shut by the melting flesh, like a glow sticking to cracked stone.
[You don't need to think about it. Just get your blood ready.] Saying so, I pulled a dagger from the scabbard of Enkris. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I cut open the flesh that was sealing my mouth.
Cheek.
"…ah…" The pain was unbearable—so intense that even the demon groaned at the sight. But I endured it.
Now, I acted in a hurry.
He didn't mutter anything; he just shoved a piece of his flesh into my mouth. I gulped, swallowing the demon's flesh. It was disgusting—but even in this situation, my sense of taste remained.
That idiot… he said I'd drink, but he just shoved the whole piece in. I cursed internally.
[I, Dikargo, in the presence of Heaven and Earth, hereby declare that from today onwards, my true Lightning Physique will be shared with the human named Vern Kael.] He swore in his mind, then said, [Repeat after me: I, Vern Kael, in the presence of Heaven and Earth, hereby accept your authority, also known as True Lightning Physique.]
I repeated the same words, sealing the oath.
As I finished repeating the words, a pain erupted through me that dwarfed anything I had ever experienced. It tore through every fiber of my being, deeper and sharper than the agony I had felt in the void of darkness. My body convulsed violently as I collapsed to the ground. Bones felt like they were on fire, my muscles liquefying under a heat that had no name, and my blood seemed to betray me, streaming away in rivulets I could feel rather than see. Every heartbeat reverberated like a hammer striking my skull from the inside, a rhythmic agony that made me scream even before I realized I was screaming.
That fucker… did he do something funny? I thought in panic. No… that's impossible. If he had… his soul would be destroyed. The thought barely registered as my mind struggled to cling to clarity amidst the storm of sensation.
[You just have to endure for thirty minutes.] he transmitted back, the words piercing through the haze like a cold wind.
Pain became everything. There was no up, no down—only the fire that consumed my bones, the weight of my body pressing into the ground, and the sensation of my own blood sliding across skin that felt alien, molten, almost alive. I couldn't see. I couldn't speak. I couldn't hear. Darkness and silence wrapped me like a coffin, leaving only the raw, unfiltered world of touch and taste. Every nerve screamed. The air—or rather, the absence of it—burned against my lips. My tongue, my teeth, my mouth… every inch of my inner senses felt scorched.
Then something strange—something almost alien—brushed across me. The blood pooling around me began to shift, sticky and hot, forming a dense, viscous shell. My hands brushed against it, and I could feel it hardening, wrapping around my limbs and torso like molten amber. It clung to me, binding me, a pressure that was at once suffocating and strangely protective. The touch was constant, oppressive, unyielding. Every shift of my body against the blood-shell sent tremors of fire through me, and yet I couldn't move freely. I could only writhe, claw, and push, feeling the hardening layer seal me inside.
"…Ahhh…!" My scream was nothing more than a trembling vibration within my throat. No sound emerged. My world had been reduced to pure sensation: the burning pressure, the sticky resistance, the nauseating metallic tang of my own blood pooling and thickening around me. I could feel my limbs twisting beneath the weight of the shell, my bones threatening to splinter under the relentless compression. It was agony amplified a hundredfold, every nerve ending on fire, every heartbeat a hammer, every inch of my body betraying me.
Time ceased to exist. I could no longer measure seconds, minutes, or hours—only the endless burning, the ceaseless pressure, the inescapable suffocating cocoon. My mouth tasted iron, salt, and copper; the molten flesh I had cut open still clung to my lips, sticky and cloying, blending with my blood. It was nauseating, but there was a strange clarity in it: the world had been reduced to nothing but touch and taste, and in that, I clung to the smallest thread of awareness.
Was that… a failure? I thought, though it barely felt like thinking. No… that can't be right… Let's wait. I had no choice but to surrender to the torment, to feel every moment without comprehension, seeing nothing, speaking nothing, hearing nothing—just enduring.
And slowly, imperceptibly at first, the fire began to dull. The pressure of the blood-shell remained, but the unbearable heat that had consumed me like a forge started to ebb, replaced by a strange, almost alien heaviness. I couldn't open my eyes, couldn't speak, couldn't hear—my world still entirely limited to touch and taste—but I could feel the shell solidifying, encasing me completely, molding to every contour of my body like some monstrous cocoon. It was tight, suffocating, alien… but it was also a sign that the pain had not destroyed me entirely.
I could only wait. I could only feel. I could only exist within the prison of my own body, wrapped in my blood, tasting the iron tang, feeling the relentless pressure, and hoping that endurance alone would see me through whatever nightmare this truly was.