"Why my face?"
Ross asked. The request was strange indeed. In every story he'd ever heard about people making deals with spirits, it was always about selling their soul in exchange for whatever they desired.
"Hmm… does that matter?" the being replied. "I won't even be using it for bad things. It's a good deal—just waiting for you to tell me if you agree."
He spoke confidently, unmoved. Ross could see it in his eyes; the deal wasn't stable at all. And if he wasted time thinking too hard about it, he risked it changing.
"All right then!"
He locked in.
"Deal."
He said it firmly, just like he did when he made that promise with his father long ago.
SATORI's grin shone bright behind the mask covering his face. The strange deal had been sealed.
"Let's begin then!"
He raised his right hand, reaching for the mask. He held it at a single point, slowly, almost dramatically, pulling it off.
Suddenly—
Ross's hair stood on end, stretching the way it does when something dangerous is about to happen.
The building vibrated violently, shaking up and down. The air tightened and compressed, as if something invisible was squeezing it.
Cracks tore open across the ground, splitting the floor apart piece by piece—only for those pieces to rise and float into the air.
Ross felt like he stood inside a tornado, but without any violent wind. Just turbulence, and a raw, crushing force making his entire body tremble. He was confused, but one thing he knew for certain:
SATORI was behind all of it.
"I don't always wear a mask like this," SATORI explained.
"I only do it to keep my powers limited so I don't kill you. But now that we are one… you can finally see my full capability."
He pulled the mask off.
BOOM!
A burst of energy—swirling in multiple colors—erupted from him like a raging storm. It spiraled with enough force to knock an adult elephant off its feet, leaving bruises behind.
But somehow Ross didn't move. Only his eyes reacted, narrowing on instinct to protect themselves. He raised his arm to shield his face as he stared through the storm at SATORI, whose transformation had begun.
Piece by piece, SATORI grew. His legs stretched, his body rising higher and higher—yet his clothes never tore. He looked just as neat and composed as before.
It was a sight out of a movie: a normal-sized being becoming something unimaginably inhuman. A massive shadow engulfed Ross, drowning him in its enormity. Even without seeing SATORI's face—now far above—Ross felt insignificant. His life felt like something resting on someone's fingertip, and at that moment, it truly was.
Then
GUUUU!!!!!
The ground stopped shaking instantly. As if SATORI commanded it to obey—and it did.
Ross gasped.
"Ah…"
Relief washed over him.
"That's much better," SATORI said, still faceless above the blur.
But something had changed—his voice. Deep, terrifying, echoing. Maybe it was because of his size, or maybe that was his true voice all along. Either way, the being had fully revealed his real form.
Just the sight of him made Ross shiver, overwhelmed by a mix of fear, awe, and emotions too strong to name.
"What in the heck am I looking at?" Ross thought, staring up at the massive being standing before him.
"He's taller than anything I've ever seen. Not even the tallest buildings or mountains could reach that height. He could top them without any effort…"
He looked at the enormous foot beside him.
"The size of that nail… it's the size of my whole body."
"Now I get it," he thought, trembling. "There really are forces in this world beyond our understanding."
His fingers shook. His head shook. Veins bulged in his face like he was lifting a weight too heavy for any human to bear.
"Ross," SATORI called, his face still blurred.
Instantly, a surge of electricity shot through Ross—rushing from his feet into his blood, blasting up into his heart, then into his brain, spreading everywhere.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
Ross screamed in horrifying pain. It felt like someone had shoved a hand through his chest, breaking every bone on the way to his heart—grabbing it with crushing force, enough to make it burst but somehow not letting it.
Then another hand reached into his head, tearing through his skull to grip his brain with the same merciless pressure.
Then both tried to pull them out at once, like it was some kind of twisted game.
"Make it stop! Please—make it stop!"
He begged, tears pouring down his face.
Behind the blur covering SATORI's face, a grin glowed. He was enjoying every second of Ross's suffering. Anyone would question whether his motives were truly to help… or simply to torture.
"It's pretty simple," SATORI said, his voice slicing through the pain and somehow making it worse.
"For centuries, great men have risen—super-abled, with terrifying power. And they all have one thing in common."
His tone shifted.
He smiled.
A villain's smile.
"Great men are created through pain."
Then it got worse.
Ross's face started burning—skin melting away, exposing bloody wounds, and in the gaps his skull shone through. Steam rose from his flesh.
His vision blurred. His eyelids drooped. His body couldn't handle the strain. He fell forward, face-first, beams of mist surrounding him like fading consciousness.
"Am I dying…? Yeah. I am," he thought.
"That's what I get for making a deal with something I didn't understand. I was obsessed with getting Dad's legacy back… and I forgot about my own. How ironic life is."
His face was half-gone—one side nothing but exposed bone, the other still intact. His hair remained. His ears too. But the rest… fading.
Suddenly, in midair, SATORI spoke—no, commanded.
"Now… say it with me."
Ross froze in place. His eyes snapped open. Words spilled from his mouth—words he had never heard before.
S – Seraphine, Goddess of Stillness.
A – Arkon, God of Arms.
T – Tethra, God of Twilight.
O – Ophir, God of Order.
L – Lirion, God of Light.
I – Ithos, God of Instinct.
SATORI!!!
Ross's arms ignited with burning light. Wounds formed fast—but not painfully this time.
And then, beneath it all, he heard a woman's voice echo inside his mind:
[Stats and Power Sync Complete]
SATORI smirked.
"Now rise… rise and be my champion."
Ross disappeared in an instant—vanishing like he had never been there.
The blur covering SATORI's face cleared… revealing Ross's own face on SATORI's head, curled into a grim smile.