Upon witnessing the serious state of his colleague, Rick Sullivan froze.
His worried expression vanished, the agony in his eyes disappeared, and his posture lost its elegance.
Now that no one was around, he needed not to care about anyone uncovering his true self, which was the polar opposite of a cheerful and kind person.
The shrewd and calculating man coldly stared at the bloody body of Jay Riemman.
He slowly approached the collapsed person, and with the aid of a handkerchief, checked for a pulse
-He is alive
Upon checking around the man's head, no entry or exit wound was visible.
-Strange...It seems to be an internal head injury... but what could have caused this degree of blood loss?
-He can't die yet, he has the capability of becoming an important chess piece later on
Rick reached his silver vintage watch and pressed a small button imperceivable to the naked eye.
For a couple of seconds, nothing happened...
Then suddenly, the entire building was overwhelmed by the sound of heavy leather boots clashing against the marble stairs and heading towards the second floor.
Prior members of one of the most successful assassination squads, Rick's hand-picked personal bodyguards had arrived at the scene ready to eliminate anyone who was an obstacle to their boss.
Leading them, was a woman in her early 30s with short blond hair and a 4-inches deep scar on her face, who immediately inquired about the prince's condition.
"Sir, are you okay?", with beads of sweat running down on her face, she inquired about the prince's condition.
"Yes Laya, it is not I who is in trouble this time, this person needs to go to a hospital".
Laya Kusnetsov, one of the few survivors of the Russian Empire before its great collapse to the World Government, was the closest person to Rick Sullivan, handling all matters related to his well-being and safety.
"I understand. Grolly, Bosnov, Rescue Protocol 6, Alert Level 2", with a heavy voice and a sharp tongue, she ordered the two tall and strong men next to her, who proceeded to rip out the door in order to use it as a carrier for the wounded man.
"No... increase the Alert Level to 4... he may prove useful in the future", Rick prioritized the order to the second-highest level, meaning that they should treat the unconscious patient in the same way as they would treat any other member of the Royal Family, with the highest being his safety of course.
Although momentarily surprised by the command, the head bodyguard quickly opted to change the frequency in her earpiece and made contact with the headquarters.
"Headquarters, prepare us a Tier-A Taxion Drone ready for take-off on the rooftop of this location"
With a capacity of 20 people, a state of the art AI to pilot it, and a max speed of 300 kilometers per hour, the Tier-A Taxion Drone provided the best mobility in traversing the highrise buildings of the city.
With the bodyguards escorting the patient to the extraction point, the only people remaining in the room were Rick and Laya.
"Sir, the extraction will arrive shortly, do you wish us to join them?"
"Wait outside, I will be there in a second", facing his back against her, Rick dismissed Laya from the room, and stood still, his gaze deeply fixated on one of the mirrors.
Worried about his reaction and deeply concerned about his physical and mental health, Laya looked at her Boss with a caring expression...
After being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, Sullivan's frail body could not survive without the constant supply of nanobots, and as such, the likelihood of him collapsing into a coma was an eventuality that was always present in her mind.
She wanted to help Rick in shouldering the heavy burden he carried...
Alas, being a killing machine with no individuality had made her incapable of showing such emotions, and thus, she remained quiet.
However, the situation was not at all what it seemed...
-How intriguing
Rick's mind was trying to interpret all the traces of the paranormal event that had no doubt taken place inside the room.
Despite the humidity in the air, no water droplet was to be found on any surface...
Despite the sunlight bathing his skin from the open window, no warmth could be felt...
Despite the active light source above him, no amount of shade could explain the lack of any shadow in the objects around him.
And the most important of all...
Despite the presence of a mirror in front of him... no reflection could be seen on the other side of it... with only the dry and mundane brick wall behind it being visible...
-It is as if the mirror lost its properties and turned into a transparent glass...very strange indeed.
-What more secrets do you hide Jay?
....
A stinging sensation could be felt on the back of my head...
Loud voices could be heard around me...
-What is this noise?
"Doctor, how is his condition?"
-Who is speaking?
I opened my eyes and tried to observe my surroundings, but everything was blurry...
-Why is everything moving so fast?
Above me were numerous lights that were passing by in quick succession
-Where are they taking me?
"We did both CT and MRI scans, and I am afraid we still haven't pinpointed the cause of such horrific injuries"
-Who is hurt?
"What do you mean doctor?"
-Doctor? Am I in a...
-...
-I don't remember... what is it called?
"Sir, this is the first time I have seen such a case."
"To go in more detail, it appears that the patient's corpus callosum...has been ultimately severed."
"Meaning that... the nerve connecting his two brain hemispheres has been cut off... Although that might not be the proper expression in this case..."
-Where am I?... I ... it is not the first time I thought of that... I think...I don't remember...
"What? How could this have happened?"
"To be more precise, it is more accurate to say that the nerve linking his hemispheres suddenly exploded..."
"Given our medical knowledge, we can only assume that this is a case of severe brain aneurysm"
-Brain...explosion...I... remember I had to do something urgent...what was it?
"Is there anything that can be done about his condition Doctor?"
"We performed an incision in order to let the blood out...but this is all we can do with our current technology. Not even nanobots are capable of reaching the center of the brain and fixing such an injury"
"But Sir...did you know that this man is one of those people? Challengers they call them. I suspect that his injury has something to do with that"
-Challenger...Rifts...what am I forgetting?
"Yes...I would prefer you kept it a secret Doctor"
"No to worry Mister Sullivan, after spending my entire career to become the Head Doctor of this Hospital, I've learned when to keep my mouth shut."
"By the way...is your body fine? Is the pain bearable?"
"...Yes"
-I need to get up
No response came from my muscles...
-I feel weak...what did they give me...I...tired...
My consciousness could not handle the sudden urge to close my eyes, and thus I entered a state of deep sleep.
....
{You!?}
{Why are you still here?}
{How did I not completely assimilate you?}
{ku KU KU}
{It's a smart one this time...}
{Very well then, entertain me as you try to escape from your inevitable end...ku ku}
....
"GASP!!! Pant! Pant! Pant!!"
-Where am I?
A soft bed, a room twice the size of my apartment, an IV inserted into my arm, and a window with the view of the crystal clear night sky.
-I am no doubt in a high-class hospital...how did I get here?
Suddenly, a stream of memories flooded my brain, causing my head to feel like it was pierced by a thousand needles.
-I am still here? Did it succeed? It must have.
"EAT THAT MOTHERFUCKER!!!"
I yelled out loud, elated that my dangerous gamble had paid off.
After realizing that the mysterious entity in the abyss was coming to take over my body, I did not have much time to act.
I knew that if I were to have faced it deep down in the abyss, a place I absolutely had no control over, then I would have stood no chance against it.
But, its decision to come out and take control of my brain was what allowed me to set my own rules.
Given that I had no means of resisting its control, I realized that I instead needed to minimize the damage it would cause me.
And thus I acted accordingly...
With the little time I had left, I used my inner magi to carve a very small Lesser Exposion Rune on the nerve linking my two brain hemispheres.
Then, I hypnotized myself to enter a trance where I would dream of creating a painting, stimulating the creative part of my brain.
In that way, only my right-brain hemisphere would be active, and thus, when the monster arrived it would start taking control of the right hemisphere first.
When it had finished taking over it and would try to advance to the left hemisphere, its magi would inevitably activate the explosion rune, effectively cutting off its path to the rest of my brain.
-But to think I managed to survive all this...
There was another issue at hand now, which was negotiating with the unwanted visitor.
-If my guess is correct then it probably can't hear my thoughts
Since our brains were in fact entirely separated from each other, no signal could be transferred between the two.
Before engaging in a conversation with the monster, I examined the state of my body.
I had no control over my left eye, arm, and leg.
Looking towards where my left arm rested, I was met with the bizarre sight of my fingers making weird movements and my wrist slowly contracting in an uncanny manner.
-It appears that the unwanted visitor has yet to learn how to properly use the muscles in my body...Good
I looked around my surroundings and discovered an empty syringe inside a plastic package.
-Time to get started, it seems
Pulling out the needle on its tip, I was now armed with the best tool I could hope for in order to proceed with my plan.
"You can hear me right?"
Five...Ten...Twenty seconds passed, but no reply came.
-This ain't going to work if this bastard doesn't talk
After pulling out the bedsheets, I tied the arm controlled by the monster to the hospital bed's side rail.
With frim resolve, I took the small needle and slowly inserted it in my middle finger.
{ARGHHHH!!!!}
A loud shriek emerged from my mouth, but it was not I who suffered the backslash of the pain.
"I expect you to respond when I call you"
{Foolish human, do not think that you hav-}
{ARHGHHGHGHGHHGH!!!!}
I pressed the needle even deeper into my skin, to the point it reached the middle of my fingernail.
"Do not expect me to show you any mercy"
{I WILL MURDER Y-}
{ARGHHGHGGHGHGGGGG!!!!}
"I do not enjoy your tone"
By this point, the needle had dug into my entire fingernail, slightly deforming its appearance.
"Let's move to the next one, shall we? We have plenty of body parts to play with"
{I WILL SAVOR THE MOMENT YOU SCREAM IN PAIN AFTER I-}
{ARGHHHHHHHHGHGHG!!!!}
"Now tell me, what are you?"
{YOU THINK I WILL EVER SUCCUMB TO A HUM-}
{ARGHGHGHGHGHHGH!!!!!}
"Wrong answer"
"What are you?"
{PULL THAT NEEDLE OUT OR I WILL SLAUGHTER EVERYTHING YOU LOV-}
{ARGGGGGHHHHH!!!}
"Very unoriginal"
"You are getting a bit annoying with all the screaming, let's try something else"
{Devil's Speech}"You will forget how to speak"
{YOU THINK SUCH TRICKS WILL WORK ON M-}
{....}
{!!!}
"You see, there is one detail you are forgetting"
"You are in MY body and occupy My brain. Therefore, YOUR bodily functions are susceptible to MY hypnotic suggestions"
-The effectiveness of Devil's Whisper on the user certainly has great applications...
"Now that I have gotten rid of your annoying voice, let's continue"
{!!!!!!}
{!!!!!!}
....
The deeper I inserted the needle, the more my left arm squirmed in agony.
Even if the monster had decided to answer my questions, it would have no means to do so.
All it could do was regret... regret the moment it decided to aim its fangs at me
By trapping it in an act of endless torture, I wanted to destroy its will to live.
Witnessing its silent agony and futile efforts to escape, I could not help but laugh hysterically
"HA HA hA Ha Ha tHiS is ExHilaRatiNg, eNterTaIn mE, mOrE MoRe MORE!!!!"
-Be it Abyssal monsters or corrupted humans, I will make them all suffer...
....