Chapter 14: The Engineer
The Female Cenobite held two eagle claw boning knives in her hands, scraping them together incessantly as if sharpening a blade.
The ends of the boning knives were connected to chains, the other end of which pierced through her ribs and embedded themselves in her body.
She slowly walked to the two hearts, using the boning knife in her right hand to lift Frank's heart and hang it on the barbed pillar.
The Hell Priest, Pinhead, stepped forward and stomped on the remaining heart—Giovanna's—crushing it instantly.
A bloodcurdling scream erupted from the heart, a scream that pierced the soul, audible even to the deaf.
It was the sound of a soul being torn apart.
"Worthless trash,"
Pinhead said emotionlessly.
The heart hanging on the pillar reverted to Frank, though his body remained firmly hooked to the post, suspended a foot off the ground.
"Frank!"
Pinhead looked at Frank and spoke slowly.
"We need to hear your confession,"
The Female Cenobite continued.
"This isn't just for show."
Pinhead used his mind to control the chains, sending them flying toward Frank.
Countless chains hooked onto Frank, pulling at his facial muscles and forcing him to utter his final words:
"Jesus wept."
Then Frank was torn to pieces again.
After finishing this, the four Cenobites turned their gazes to Marcus and Kirsty.
"We need to complete the second confession,"
The Female Cenobite said.
"We still have many more experiences to show you,"
Pinhead added.
Marcus hadn't expected that Pinhead would cherry-pick from this bundled deal, breaking the contract after rejecting Giovanna.
"Oh, damn it,"
Kirsty cursed.
Marcus stepped forward, blocking Kirsty's path, one hand reaching into his pocket and clutching a photo of Pinhead, the other hand secretly slipping the puzzle box to Kirsty behind his back.
Kirsty took the puzzle box and quickly slid her fingers in a specific sequence.
"Go to hell!"
Kirsty shouted, restoring half of the transformed puzzle box to its original position.
"You shouldn't have done that,"
The Female Cenobite said, before vanishing with a flash of electricity, along with Pinhead and Chatterer. All the hellish instruments of torture dissipated.
Butterball removed his sunglasses, revealing eyes stitched shut, and instantly appeared behind Kirsty, about to unleash his gluttonous power to absorb her into his body and retrieve the puzzle box.
However, the unstable hellish passage had already blocked much of the Cenobite's power, and Marcus abruptly pulled Kirsty away.
His body was only grazed by Butterball's bulk, and his right side melted away, flowing into the Cenobite's mass.
He was missing a kidney again.
Kirsty endured the surging electric current on the puzzle box, ignoring the pain in her body, and used all her strength to restore the puzzle box. Butterball disappeared from the spot.
Marcus ignored his own injuries, and taking advantage of the passage's opening, he pulled Kirsty up the stairs and rushed to the first floor.
"Marcus!"
Kirsty cried out as she ran.
A corner of the puzzle box automatically rotated slightly again.
Cracks appeared once more at the top of the stairs to the second floor.
The monster Kirsty had seen at Marcus's apartment—a creature that looked like it had been skinned, resembling a lizard flying upside down—emerged again from the crack and began chasing them.
Seeing the monster appear, Marcus finally pressed the remote detonator button in his pocket.
BOOM!
The remote-controlled explosive that Marcus had left in the attic when he went to rescue Kirsty was detonated.
The second floor was blown to smithereens. Marcus, holding Kirsty, rushed out the door, avoiding the shockwave.
As he hit the ground, Marcus covered Kirsty's ears.
Marcus's ears bled from the blast, but three notifications rang in his mind:
[Story Mission 3: Kill the Cenobite (Mission Completed, 10,000 Survival Points Acquired, Exploration Progress 55%, Story Score Improved)]
[Exploration Progress Reached 50%, Unlocked Identity Retention Permission for This Story World.]
[Completed All Story Missions, Can Choose to Return Early.]
The ringing in Marcus's ears gradually faded. Seeing the mission completion notification, he knew he had succeeded once again.
This blood-red lizard monster had made a brief appearance in the first Hellraiser film.
It was actually an Engineer of Hell, responsible for the daily repairs and construction of Hell. Their modifications were highly specialized.
Engineers had strong regenerative abilities, but they weren't endowed with the same power as the Cenobites, nor did they wear Leviathan's blessing, so they could be killed by ordinary weapons.
If the Cenobites summoned by the puzzle box to harvest souls were like soldier ants in an ant colony, then the Engineer was like a worker ant—but undeniably, it was also a modified demon.
Marcus originally thought that by capturing Frank early and altering the plot, he had missed the Engineer who rarely appeared and would be unable to complete Mission Three.
Carrying the remote explosive was just a precaution, but unexpectedly, the plot circled back to square one. When he sensed Kirsty was in danger, he planted a bomb in the attic beforehand.
This monster, which appeared at the very end of the plot, still showed up.
After studying all the plot points, Marcus had calculated that if he really wanted to complete Mission Three as an ordinary person, he would probably only be able to seize a fleeting opportunity to kill this Engineer who made a brief appearance at the end.
Unfortunately, when a Cenobite dies, the power and soul bestowed by Leviathan return to Leviathan, and they can be resurrected.
Marcus couldn't even absorb a drop. Even the weakest Cenobite was still a Cenobite—he couldn't even imagine what it would feel like if he could just take a taste...
"Marcus, are we safe? Are you alright?"
Kirsty, as she collapsed, had already restored the twisted corner of the puzzle box.
The half-ruined house finally fell silent, only the ruins still emitting black smoke and flames.
Kirsty stared with heartbreak at Marcus's wound, wanting to bandage it with her clothes but afraid of making it worse.
Marcus heard the sirens of police cars and fire trucks in the distance and saw a crowd gathering.
"Back to my place. I have a way to recover."
Marcus turned his perforated leather jacket inside out, covering the wound on his right side, and walked several dozen yards with Kirsty before hailing a cab to head back to his apartment.
Back at his apartment, Marcus opened a custom-made refrigerated cabinet, inside which were neatly arranged sealed blood bags.
Kirsty followed Marcus, watching his actions with worry. In her mind, someone with such severe injuries would have died long ago, but Marcus remained calm and showed no signs of weakness.
She watched as Marcus took a sealed bag of blood from the freezer, cut it open with scissors, and the blood quickly disappeared. The wound on Marcus's side visibly healed.
"This! Marcus, you..."
Kirsty's eyes showed a hint of fear.
"Kirsty, actually, I also escaped from hell."
Marcus touched his healed kidney, which felt strong and intact.
He turned to look at Kirsty and said seriously.
This couldn't be hidden.
Since Kirsty was already being targeted by the Cenobites, she would eventually continue to come into contact with hell and learn about the Cursed Ones.
So Marcus might as well make things clear to Kirsty in advance, so that at least she would be able to react when she encountered these things again.
"Marcus, all I know is that you saved me, and I was terrified."
Kirsty gently wrapped her arms around Marcus's waist, stroking his healed wounds and pressing her head against his chest.
Marcus breathed a sigh of relief. At the last moment, he almost called out Butterball's human name to awaken its memories and escape, but thankfully he restrained himself.
The photo of Pinhead and the true identities of the four were a bargaining chip that could allow him to return from hell to the human world, and he wouldn't use it unless he was truly facing certain death.
Marcus was fully prepared for this ordeal—the worst-case scenario was dying in hell, then awakening the four's memories, and escaping from hell again.
Kirsty wasn't just a damsel in distress—she was the real protagonist, an indispensable part of his future plans.
If Kirsty died prematurely, he wouldn't dare enter this world again. Having a trump card would be useless then.
So he definitely had to take the risk!
Fortunately, he still had his trump card and his ally. This time, he had scored big!
(End of Chapter)
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