Kain floated into the air and phased through the wall. Once again, he found himself in front of the naked statue. He thought for a bit and tried something. Grabbing the statue with a tentacle, he was able to put it into his void dimension. Hmm, guess that its current petrified form means that it is considered an inanimate object. Normally living things can't be placed in void dimensions.
There was no point leaving the person here. He planned to hand the statue over to Sylvia and hope that she knew who it was. Sylvia might not know, but her father might.
Kain floated to a safe area and landed on the ground. He was about to head to the door leading underground, when Mexxle popped out.
-Kain, before you go down, Daemaus would like to meet with you in your VIP lounge. He has something to give you. (Mexxle)
That was pretty rare. What did Daemaus have for him? Curious, Kain headed back towards his VIP lounge.
When he entered his room and closed the door, the air shimmered and Daemaus appeared in the same position as when he first met him: on his one knee. His figure still towered over Kain even in the kneeling position. This time however, he was not offering the body of Mexxle.
Daemaus looked at Kain and smiled as he lifted one of his arms. Kain watched as the muscles around his elbow twitched and then seemed to spread away from the elbow joint. Eventually, the arm got really thin at the elbow and a confused Kain watched on.
Suddenly, Kain's eyes widened because he saw a blur and Daemaus' arm was severed and landed on the ground. Picking up the severed arm with the remaining arm, Daemaus presented it towards Kain like an offering.
"You…why would you do this?" asked Kain.
-Do not delay long. You must devour the arm before the cells die out. Do not worry. Look, his arm is already regenerating. (Mexxle)
Only after confirming that Daemaus' arm stump was indeed regenerating at an observable speed, did Kain's shock subside. Kain looked at Daemaus one more time to confirm, to which Daemaus nodded and smiled.
Kain didn't delay any more and reshaped his jaw to chomp down and swallow the severed arm. However, Daemaus' arm up to his elbow joint was massive and was almost as long as Kain's body. As Kain was busy trying to finish eating the arm, he noticed to his dismay that Daemaus' arm had already regenerated.
Seeing the same phenomenon where the muscle cells were spreading away from the elbow, Kain knew Daemaus was planning to sever his arm again. Kain waved at Daemaus to stop and gestured for him to wait till he finished chewing what was in his mouth.
Finally, Kain said, "Hold up. I have so many questions to ask. Don't go so fast. After I finish the remaining part of this arm, I want to ask you some questions before you cut off another arm."
Daemaus acquiesced and nodded as he waited for Kain.
While he continued to chomp away, thoughts were flying through Kain's mind as he wondered about the origins of Daemaus. At the same time, he felt a flood of power entering into him and the figure of Daemaus was solidifying in his psyche.
After about 10 minutes passed by, Kain finally consumed the entire arm. Checking his strength with the disk, he became wide-eyed as he was now sitting at 800x strength. He had jumped another 100x strength with just one feeding.
Before Daemaus could cut off another arm for him, Kain sent a mental question to Daemaus.
-Daemaus, why are you doing this? There was no need to go to such extremes. (Kain)
-DAEMAUS WORRIED FOR MASTER. CAN SENSE MANY ENEMIES DOWN BELOW.
-Did Mexxle order you to give me your arm? (Kain)
-NO. WAS MY DECISION. WANT NO MISTAKE TO HAPPEN.
Kain was floored by how protective Daemaus was towards him. He truly was a bodyguard that kept Kain's best interests at heart.
-Mexxle, I think it is about time you tell me more about Daemaus. You aren't mind controlling him at all, right? (Kain)
-…No. He was with me when I came with the wave, but I became corrupted due to travelling for such a long duration without a proper host body. The body of the previous zombie king was not adequate to prevent my mind from corrupting. During my insanity, my mind control ability went haywire, causing Daemaus to also go on rampages and attack humanity. (Mexxle)
-Since Daemaus is no longer affected by mind control, why does he refer to me as master and also treat me so well? It seems rather illogical unless there is something else…(Kain)
-I will reveal a little to you now, but there is no sense in knowing more until you are adequately powerful. As it is, you are still as weak as a baby. Daemaus' sole meaning for existence was to locate you and protect you. Don't ask anymore. (Mexxle)
Seeing Mexxle disappear, Kain was flabbergasted. He was still considered as weak as a baby? Who was he being compared to?
Daemaus promptly cut off his arm again when Mexxle disappeared and handed the arm over to Kain. Before Kain began to feast on the arm, he walked up to Daemaus and patted him on his leg and said, "Well done, you are more than I can ask for in a companion."
Daemaus' eyes glowed in happiness and his tail wagged furiously in the air. Thankfully, he had perfect muscle control and did not hit the ground or the entire room would have been obliterated.
Kain decided that Daemaus was much more than a trump card to play in times of desperation, but a friend and ally to protect. He would do his best to find a way to repay his kindness and try to improve upon Daemaus' strength in the future.
Kain no longer concerned himself over anything except to feed on the arm.
---
Tessa watched the retreating forces of Death and felt that something was wrong. Did they just come here to duke it out? Weren't they retreating empty handed?
Recalling the earlier battle, she realized that Death never pushed the limits and was actually striving to maintain a stalemate.
Her suspicions were rising just as a panicked cry was heard from a running figure.
"Madam Tessa! You must come see this. Felgin has escaped and…and…please just come quickly!"
Tessa had a sinking feeling as she followed the woman into HQ. Being apprised of the situation as they were moving towards the interrogation room, Tessa finally realized what Death's primary goal was. She gritted her teeth in anger for misreading Death's intentions. Unfortunately, she attributed much more importance to protecting Darius and sent the majority of her forces to defend him.
Between the success of rescuing Darius and learning about Kain, she had forgotten that Felgin may have been an important player. This was a costly mistake and she had to figure out why Death went out of the way to rescue him. Her intelligence agents would have to work overtime.
Arriving at the interrogation room, Tessa pushed open the door. She ignored the covered corpses on the ground since she already heard the details of how the girl's heads were decapitated and left on the table. The wounds on their bodies were just as horrific according to the reporting woman.
No…her focus was on the blood smeared message on the walls of the room:
"I WON'T STOP UNTIL I LEARN THE NAME OF THE MAN WHO STOLE MY POWER! CONSIDER THIS A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME! HAHAHA!"
Tessa did not blanch from the threat implied by Felgin. No, she blanched because she truly underestimated Kain. He could steal powers?! Was it permanent or temporary? If it was temporary, the damage could be controlled. However, if it was permanent, then Kain was irredeemable. He would be the bane of every power user and no one would be willing to go near him.
Her dreams of a faction full of multiple power users was slipping through her grasp. Her eyes dimmed down visibly as she ordered the message to be wiped clean and the bodies of the girls be properly buried. The families of the dead would have to be compensated fairly as well.
As she left the room back to her office, a thought came unbidden into her head. If Kain can steal powers, can he gift them too? Suddenly, she grabbed onto the possibility and once more a bright light suffused into her eyes. She realized that Kain was someone far more important than Darius. She couldn't fuck things up and get on his bad side. She would have to send another message to Elsa to stop her from doing something stupid.
Tessa decided that she would have to move personally to meet with this mysterious Kain and try to figure out what his aims and goals were. She had to figure out what made him tick, and what made him happy. The fate of Penta faction…no…the fate of Bastion may very well hinge on this man.
Tessa hurried her steps towards her office to make more arrangements.