"Why did you do that?!" I screamed, horrified. "You had to let them go! You made a deal!"
"Oh, that?" The man tilted his head. "Why let them live if they're no use to me for my ritual? It wouldn't make sense."
"You're insane! You've lost your mind!"
"Come on, you can't deny that deep down you deeply desired their death," he smiled. "I know it."
"No! That's not—"
"I know the trash you are. That's why you let Darius die in the first combat."
I froze.
How...?
"I saw you," he continued calmly. "When he was wounded. When he was bleeding. You didn't lift a finger. You just stood there, paralyzed, watching your friend die little by little."
"I... I was scared..."
"Coward would be the right word." His smile widened. "You're pathetic, Blake. You always have been. Your father is right in every word he says to you."
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know everything about you, more than you know about yourself. I've been watching you for a long time, from the first moment I saw you, I knew you were the perfect candidate."
That chilled my blood. If everything he was telling me was true, then from the beginning my destiny was already set. He had committed those atrocities just for entertainment.
"You... are worse than any monster that could exist in the underworld... You're evil incarnate..." I said that as I started to step back.
"And you're only realizing this now?" He responded, with a smile.
I tried to run. But he grabbed me by the neck easily and lifted me.
"Where do you think you're going? It's time to begin the ritual."
"Ghh...!"
Then we heard it. A moan. Weak. Dying.
It was Darius. Crawling. Parts of his body were missing from the previous pressure explosion, but he was still alive. That made me happy.
"Well," the man laughed. "How lucky you are, boy." He released me. "I'll give you an option. If you go get him and bring him to the center to kill him, I promise to let you go, just make sure his blood falls on the star, okay?"
"What? I won't do that! No way! He's my friend! Besides, I know perfectly well you're lying!"
"Then you'll be the sacrifice."
The man grabbed me by the arm and began to take me with him toward the star.
"No!" I screamed, writhing. "Let me go!"
I dug my feet into the ground. I pulled with all my strength. I hit his arm desperately, but nothing bore fruit, I even felt how he tightened his grip on my forearm more.
"I don't want to die!"
Then I bit his hand as a last resort.
I managed to make him release me, but it wasn't because my bite caused him pain, but rather he was already too angry with my attitude, I could see it in his face.
"Fine, that's enough!" his voice exploded. "I'm seriously starting to lose my patience! If you don't want it to be you, then it'll have to be him, but you both won't leave here alive!"
Silence fell. I looked toward Darius, then toward the man.
"So what are you going to do?"
My breathing accelerated. My mind screamed.
"I can't do it. I simply can't. This is Darius. My only friend."
"Friend?" the man's voice whispered in my ear. "The one who voted for you to die?"
"He... he just wants to save his grandfather..."
"Ah, how noble," he mocked. "But you also want to live, don't you? Tell me, Blake... why is his life worth more than yours?"
"Because he... he's good. He has purpose. I'm not—"
"Trash?" he completed the sentence. "That's what you think of yourself, right? What your father told you. What everyone told you."
My father's words echoed in my head.
"You're nothing but a useless parasite, Blake."
"Stop..."
"And you know what's worst," the man continued, "is that they're right. You're trash. You're worth nothing. You'll never be worth anything. Your younger sister is better than you at everything. Your father hates you. Darius, your 'friend', just condemned you to death."
"Stop already..."
"So tell me... why does he deserve to live and you don't? Just because he's 'good'? Just because he has noble dreams?"
My hand closed around the dagger that lay on the ground.
"Exactly," the man whispered. "You also want to live. There's nothing wrong with that. It's instinct. It's survival. Didn't Darius do the same? He sacrificed you to save himself. To save his grandfather."
"But I..."
"You what? Are you different? You're not, Blake. You're exactly the same as him. You're just more honest about what you really are."
And without realizing it, I began walking toward Darius, with my gaze lowered.
What was I doing...? I didn't fully understand it, my legs simply moved on their own.
"Very well done Blake! You made the right decision!" He shouted at me.
I reached Darius. He turned his head and looked at me, hyperventilating. The dagger trembled in my hand.
"Blake...?" his voice was barely a whisper.
I grabbed him by the neck. I began dragging him.
"No! No, please!" Darius struggled. "Blake! What are you doing?!"
"Excellent, Blake!" the man applauded. "You're finally showing your true nature!"
I kept dragging him.
The memories came mercilessly.
"Don't get discouraged about not connecting with your ring, Blake."
Darius was twelve years old. We were sitting in my house's garden.
"I'm sure you'll do it one day. And when you do, you'll be extremely strong. You'll attract many girls. You'll be very famous."
He smiled. That genuine smile that only Darius had.
"After all, nothing less can be expected knowing which family you come from."
I kept dragging him toward the star.
Another memory. Darius crying. He was fourteen years old.
"The treatment is too expensive, Blake. Too expensive."
His tears fell uncontrollably.
"I'll become a Sentinel. If I have to risk my life to extend my grandfather's, I'd do it without hesitation."
He looked at me with determination through the tears.
"I'd do it a thousand times."
"Traitor!" Darius screamed, bringing me back. "You're a damn traitor!"
I dragged him to the center. To the carved star.
"After everything I did for you!" his words broke between sobs. "I defended you! I protected you! I almost died for you!"
I raised the dagger over his neck. Which trembled violently in my hand.
"Then why?!" his voice broke completely. "Why are you doing this to me now?!"
"Sorry, Darius." Tears ran down my face. "I'm so sorry. But I don't know what else to do."
"Go to hell, Blake!."
I cut.
Blood gushed instantly, falling directly onto the star. Darius's body collapsed.
The coliseum began to shake. The candles went out, then lit up with red flames. The man and all the puppets jumped to the top of the coliseum.
Darius's corpse began to convulse. His body twisted in impossible ways.
"Now comes my favorite part..." the man said.
"Mor'khad! Rise and devour Blake! Make him your slave!"
Darius's skin tore. Something emerged—something amorphous, dark, with writhing tentacles. A creature without definite form. A giant stomach with teeth. Eyes that appeared and disappeared.
"Make him part of your stomach! Let him now be the one who takes care of satisfying your voracious appetite forever!"
The creature roared.
I stepped back instinctively. The dagger fell from my hands with a metallic clatter.
"But what is this about?!" I screamed. "Wasn't your damn ritual supposed to only need someone's death?!"
The man ignored me completely.
I ran. I didn't know where, just away from that thing.
The creature moved. A tentacle struck a column.
Crash.
The stone exploded. Fragments rained around me. I dodged, stumbled, kept running.
Another strike. A wall collapsed.
Boom.
The dust blinded me. I coughed, covering my face. Something enormous whizzed past my head—a piece of ceiling.
Then I saw it.
The monster's back. Exposed. And there, pulsing with a dim light... a core.
My mother's words echoed in my mind.
"The core is a monster's weakest point. It doesn't require great strength to destroy it. It's too fragile."
I looked around desperately.
The dagger.
It was on the ground, several meters away. The monster's senseless movements had pushed it there.
I ran. My feet pounded the stone. I dodged a tentacle that hissed past. I threw myself to the ground.
My fingers closed around the handle.
I stood up. The core was still there. Exposed. Vulnerable.
I ran toward the creature. My heart hammered in my ears.
I jumped.
I closed my eyes.
I plunged the dagger with all my strength.
I opened them.
The dagger was stuck between the monster's teeth. Its mouth had turned. It was looking directly at me.
"Nice try, Blake!" the man laughed from above. "You almost made it!"
I released the dagger then.
"Rawwwww!"
And the monster roared.
Then I ran.
But a tentacle caught me. It lifted me into the air and slammed me against the ground.
Wham.
"Aghhhhh!"
Pain exploded throughout my entire body.
Then against the wall.
Crash.
"Does it hurt a lot Blake, Blake?!"
Again and again. My bones broke. My skin tore. My blood flew through the air.
"This is what happens when you refuse to accept your destiny!" the man's voice resonated with amusement.
Finally, the tentacle threw me upward. High. I spun in the air, bleeding, and began falling directly toward the creature's open mouth—full of sharp teeth, as time seemed to slow down.
So that's how it was going to end? Devoured by a monster... like trash?
But I... didn't want to die.
I don't know why I clung so much to my life. To my miserable life. I had no purpose. I had no path. No bright destiny awaiting me.
The teeth almost touched me.
And yet... I refused to die.
I know it was selfish. I know it was pathetic.
But I would do anything to live!
The mouth closed. My scream was drowned by the darkness.
[Critical System Alert]
◈ Host vital status: Critical
◈ Body functions collapsing...
[Threat Detected]
→ Entity identified: Mor'khad
→ Classification: Extraplanar invader
◈ The entity demands immediate integration...
[Pact Proposal]
"Swear eternal loyalty… and deny death's embrace.
Feed me when I hunger.
Exist only while my appetite is satisfied."
◈ Mor'khad offers you a blood contract
→ Condition: Absolute loyalty
→ Obligation: Satisfy Mor'khad's voracious appetite upon demand.
→ Benefit: Complete restoration of lethal wounds
◈ Accept the pact?
▸ [Yes] / [No]
What... what's happening?
A strange glow flickered within the darkness.
Floating before me was an impossible-to-explain window.
I could barely see it—my vision was soaked in blood.
Deny death's embrace...?
[Last Warning]
◈ Time remaining to decide: 5 seconds
→ If you choose [No] or don't respond: the digestion process will activate.
▸ Estimated death: Slow and extremely painful
▸ Process duration: 3 hours, 47 minutes
That was enough to convince me.
Even without having any idea what it meant, if there was the slightest chance of getting out unharmed, I'd take it—no matter what.
With my blood-covered finger trembling, I extended my hand and pressed [Yes].
The window disappeared. The darkness returned, swallowing everything once more.
[Pact Completed]
"It's excellent! It's perfect! It's done! I knew you'd accept!"
The man shouted, ecstatic.
Even from inside Mor'khad's stomach, I could hear his crazed voice.
But it no longer seemed to matter—drained of blood, covered in wounds and completely exhausted, I simply lost consciousness.
[System Integration]
→ Parasitic infection: Successful
◈ New host confirmed
▸ Initiating body restructuring protocol...
▸ Rewriting cellular structure...
▸ Modifying neural consciousness...
[Process Completed]
→ Body restructuring: 100%
→ Residual free will: 0%
→ Permanent role assigned: Servant
◈ Status: Confirmed and Irreversible
"Bon appétit, Mor'khad!"