The silver dome quivered, holding steady against the endless tide of shadows, but Babasaheb's words still echoed in the silence:
"It will seek to unravel everything you've fought for—and it will begin with Devil."
A heavy stillness pressed against them, thicker than any battlefield silence they had ever endured. Rick's knuckles whitened around the hilt of his blade. Piu's chest rose and fell in quick, shallow breaths, her staff glowing faintly as if afraid of the dark pressing against it. Sun sat on his knees, golden fire simmering low but unstable, flickering like the heartbeat of a fading star. And Devil—outside the dome, his crimson eyes shook violently between fury, despair, and the last fragments of humanity he still clung to.
The void trembled again, deeper this time. It wasn't just an echo—it was a pulse. Like a monstrous heartbeat, slow and inevitable, resonating from a presence that had not yet revealed itself.
Rick swallowed hard. "It's here… isn't it?"
Babasaheb didn't answer at first. His eyes were fixed beyond the dome, scanning the shadows that slithered and pulsed. At last, his calm voice came, sharp and certain:
"Not here. Not yet. But it is watching."
A whisper drifted across the void. No tongue shaped the sound, yet every soul within the dome felt it. Words without voice, intent without sound:
"Hunger remembers. Hunger waits. Hunger takes."
Sun stiffened, his breath catching as the golden fire within him flared violently for an instant before dying back. "It… it knows me," he muttered hoarsely. "It remembers the fire… the demon inside me…"
Devil slammed his fists against the barrier, his roar tearing through the suffocating silence. "TAKE ME INSTEAD! Do you hear me?!" His crimson eyes burned, not with demonic rage, but with desperation. "If you want hunger—if you want corruption—then take ME!"
The dome shook from his strikes, though Babasaheb's magic held. Still, the silver aura flickered faintly, betraying the strain.
"Devil…" Rick whispered, his throat tight. "Don't do this…"
But Babasaheb raised a hand, silencing him. His eyes never left Devil. "He is already chosen. The abyss marked him long before tonight. The question is not whether it will consume him…" His gaze darkened. "…the question is when."
The void pulsed again. This time the shadows stretched, reaching tendrils toward the dome, not striking, not attacking, but tasting. Testing. Each tendril recoiled at the silver aura, hissing like steam against steel, but their persistence grew.
Piu gripped her staff tighter, her voice trembling. "If it breaks through… if it takes Devil… what happens to us?"
Babasaheb finally turned his gaze back to them. His calmness was a fragile mask, but his words were clear.
"Then the war begins sooner than we hoped."
---
Hours—or perhaps mere moments—slipped by in that endless void, time warped by the oppressive presence circling them. Sun leaned against Rick, his exhaustion dragging him toward unconsciousness. Devil remained outside, shoulders heaving, crimson eyes fixed unblinking on the shadows around them, as though daring them to take him.
And then—something moved.
Not a whisper, not a tremor. Movement. Real, deliberate.
From the farthest edge of the abyss, a figure emerged. Taller than any human, yet its form was fluid, constantly shifting between shadow and substance. Its "face" was an ever-changing mask of hunger—sometimes skeletal, sometimes monstrous, sometimes blank and eyeless. Its presence pressed against the dome like the weight of a thousand storms.
Piu gasped, her knees nearly buckling. Rick felt bile rise in his throat. Even Sun, still weak, forced his eyes open in terror.
Babasaheb alone stood straight, silver aura blazing brighter. "The Watcher of Hunger…" His voice was grave. "It has awakened sooner than expected."
The creature tilted its head, as if amused by recognition. Its form stretched, tendrils of shadow curling lazily, each one pulsing with the hunger of worlds consumed. Then, its attention locked onto Devil.
Devil's chest heaved, his fists clenching until blood dripped from his palms. "Come then," he growled through clenched teeth. "If it's me you want, then TAKE ME!"
The Watcher's "mouth" formed—not a smile, not a snarl, but something in between. A maw without end.
The shadows struck.
They didn't crash against the dome. They slipped through. Not breaking it, not shattering it—but phasing through as if the barrier had never existed for them.
Rick shouted, drawing his blade. Piu raised her staff, silver light trembling as she tried to summon wards. Sun staggered to his feet, golden fire sputtering alive. But it was too late.
The shadows bypassed them all and wrapped around Devil.
His scream tore through the void, raw and agonizing, as the tendrils sank into his flesh, into his soul, feeding on every drop of corruption within him. His crimson eyes flared brighter, then darker, as if a battle was raging inside him.
Rick slammed against the dome, desperate. "DEVIL!"
Piu cried out, tears streaking her face. "NO! DON'T TAKE HIM!"
Sun's flames erupted, golden arcs searing against the inside of the barrier. "LET HIM GO!"
But Babasaheb's voice cut through, steady and grim. "Do not interfere. This is not possession. This is a claiming."
Devil's screams grew hoarse, guttural. His body convulsed, every muscle straining, as the shadows dragged him slowly backward toward the Watcher. His gaze snapped to Rick, to Piu, to Sun—eyes burning with desperation and something worse: resignation.
"Forgive me…" he whispered, voice breaking. "If I become… what it wants…"
Rick's fists slammed the barrier, blood on his knuckles. "DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP!"
But Devil only shook his head, a broken smile tugging at his lips. His final words echoed through the dome as the shadows tightened their grip:
"If I fall… then kill me before I kill you."
The Watcher's maw widened, swallowing Devil's form in a tide of writhing black.
And then, with a single pulse of hunger, Devil was gone.
---
The dome held, the silver light still burning. But inside, silence reigned—shattered hearts, trembling breaths, and the knowledge that their friend had been taken by something far beyond their power.
Rick fell to his knees, blade clattering beside him. Sun stared blankly at the spot Devil had stood, fire flickering weakly at his fingertips. Piu collapsed, sobbing quietly.
Babasaheb closed his eyes, his voice heavy with grim certainty.
"The true war has begun."
From the depths of the void, the Watcher's voice seeped into their souls, a promise wrapped in hunger:
"He is mine now. And through him… so shall you all be."
The dome trembled. The abyss pulsed.
The real test had arrived.