Five long hours had passed since the start of the monster's torture.
My right eye had grown accustomed to the now disgusting appearance of my left arm and leg.
Although I was not the one in pain, the amount of effort required in order to stay concentrated and avoid causing any serious injury, was putting a large strain on my already tired mental state.
-I need to end it this soon
Of course, there was also the problem that the sun would rise soon, and if any doctor were to visit me and see the wounds on my body, they would definitely put me in a mental facility with the claim of them being self-inflicted.
{Devil's Speech}"You can speak again"
{...human...I give up...stop}
Its previous arrogant behavior was nowhere to be found.
The monster that seemed to rule the abyss had finally yielded.
-Didn't expect it to give up so quickly... It must have realized how futile it would be to continue its efforts in taking over my body
After all, with me being able to restrict its movements with hypnotic suggestions, I was holding the upper hand in every way possible.
"Then let's proceed"
"Who are you?"
Knowing my opponent was the first step in order to gauge the full extent of the situation and construct a suitable countermeasure.
{My name is Tsormug, I am a Dark One and the last survivor of the Darkness Tribe}
"The Darkness Tribe?"
{Ever since the universe's creation, the Darkness Tribe used to rule over all matter, and every living organism lived with the fear of us}
{Chaos and Darkness spread in every corner of the cosmos, and every species fought desperately for its survival}
{But we who had control over the Darkness, were the race that stood above all}
{Masters of Destruction and Harbingers of Death}
{Alas, all it took was one moment for everything to crumble}
{When from the ashes of the darkest parts of the universe, the brightest light appeared}
{Along with it, remnants of the myriads civilizations we had destroyed, emerged, and armed with the power to manipulate the Light, they attacked us}
{Ambitious and drunk on vengeance, they formed the Light Tribe, and aimed to take our place in the universe}
{On the other hand, we, who had never faced an opponent of equal strength, quickly succumbed to the fighting prowess of the Lightbearers, leading to the total annihilation of our Tribe}
"..."
No words could exit from my mouth.
The scale of what the mysterious entity was saying was not something a human had the ability to perceive.
What millions of scientists had spent their entire lives researching was unfolding before me.
-Could he be lying?
"How did you survive? Does it have something to do with you hiding in the shadows?"
{Upon witnessing the Light Tribe's superiority I could not master the courage to fight alongside my people and fled the battlefield}
{After using my entire power, I created a small dimension hidden from the outside world, and away from the eyes of the Light Tribe}
{For when there is light, there will always be a shadow looming on the other side}
{I have lived to see countless galaxies be born and destroyed, engaged in a pointless cycle of life and death, while constantly hiding from the Ligthbearers, hoping for an opportunity to arrive and take revenge}
"And this is where I come in I guess"
{Yes... you who willingly entered my dimension presented me with the perfect chance to venture into the outside world under the guise of a mortal shell}
-Hm, his reasoning, appears solid at the very least
-If it was me, I would have taken every opportunity to escape that hellhole
-I need to keep my guard up though
Despite the Dark One's willingness in providing me information about his origin, the matter of who would rule over my body had not been settled yet.
Thus, everything he said could have been a plot to make me let my guard down.
{Devil's Speech}"Tell me, what is it that you desire to accomplish by entering the body of a human?"
{...}
{Ever since my Tribe's defeat, I have become a prisoner in my own prison}
{The only driving force that allowed me to remain sane is my desire to slaughter every single member of the Light Tribe}
{Make them feel what my people suffered, make them feel the despair I felt, make them feel what I had to endure inside a realm of nothingness}
{For that I need strength}
{With the disguise of a human, I would not be spotted by any higher entity, and thus, I would be able to steadily increase my strength, traveling between worlds and assembling an army}
"Hm, it appears we can come to an agreement then"
"You see, I also have a strong desire for revenge, and getting stronger is my only means of achieving it"
At that moment, the faces of the people involved in the cover-up of my parents' death came to mind.
My calm aura subsided and its place took the heavy and sinister desire for vengeance.
{Ku ku, human, I can sense your murderous intent}
{You and I are not so different in the end}
{If it allows me to exact my revenge on the Light Tribe, then I am keen on forming a Spirit Contract with you and bestowing upon you my power}
{Let's proceed th-}
"No"
{What?}
"I do not want you to lend me your strength"
{What do you mean human?}
-Why would anyone willingly place their life in the hands of some higher entity
From what I had witnessed, Spiritual Power allowed the user to borrow the strength of a higher being.
But such forms of borrowed strength are by themselves flawed
-For what reason do humans seek strength? Is it so they can find a stronger master to serve?
-No
-The reason one seeks strength is so that he does not bow down to anyone
"I want you to give me your ability to manipulate the Darkness element"
{Prepostorous!!}
{You, a human, one of the weakest races in the universe, dare to even think that you can control the Darkness element?}
{It is impossible for you to handle such a volatile element, you will be consumed by it}
"That's why it is you will show me how to do it"
{Ku ku ku}
{Your arrogance knows no bounds human}
"Also, I want you to give me full control over the Shadow Realm"
{...}
"Those will be the terms of the Spirit Contract we will form"
...
~Klak klak klak
The sound of high heels resounded through the medical corridor.
A woman with blonde short hair wearing a long doctor's coat and glasses was nearing the entrance of the VIP medical ward.
A resident and a nurse assigned to the reception noticed her and quickly straightened their backs and seized their small talk in order to greet her.
"Good morning Doctor Joanne, we did not know you had any rounds to do today"
"What brings you here?"
"I have some important meetings with one of our VIP patients"
"Tell me, in what room is the patient named Jay Riemman?"
"Ah, yes let me check"
"He is in room number 608, but I see that he is one of Doctor Samuel's patients."
"Well, it would be wise of you two not to ask any further questions, unless you wish to be sent to the Emergency Services Department"
"No Doctor, we are sorry, please excuse us"
"That's a good response"
Saying her final words, the woman proceeded to the aforementioned patient's room, leaving the two medical personnel in fear.
After she had covered a sizeable amount of distance, enough that her footsteps were barely audible, the two found the opportunity to finally breathe.
The pressure that the woman was excluding by her presence would always make them nervous.
"Hey, did you notice?", the nurse asked her coworker while carrying a curious expression.
"Notice what?"
"Since when has Doctor Joanne been wearing heels on the hospital? Let alone ones that are that high"
"True, by the way did you see that necklace she was wearing? It looked super expensive. Never thought she was into the high-class look"
....
"Idiots, I can hear you.", the woman muttered upon listening to the two gossiping about her style.
"Just because this doctor had such a bad taste does not mean I have to suffer the same fate"
"It's not like that will ever compromise my disguise"
Upon reaching the door to the patient's room, she briefly stopped and pondered on the mission that she was tasked with.
"Let's see, Mister Sullivan wants me to extract information from this man"
"Damn, I really shouldn't meddle with challengers but it just had to be my best client to request it"
"Well, worst-case scenario, I will immobilize him and call it quits"
Hiding behind the disguise of a Doctor from the Hospital, lied one of the world's most competent spy.
Having a master's in social engineering and able to speak more than 10 languages, Xiang Li was the most proficient in getting her hands on classified information and selling it to the highest bidder.
Her cunning nature and talent for manipulating others had made her a renowned force in the corporate espionage field, with her playing a major role in the ascension of Rick Sullivan to one of the most influential people in the business world.
In the end, all her efforts had been rewarded, with her being granted the skills [Paralytic Needle] and [Doppleganger] from her employer, who paid a sizeable amount of money in order to acquire them for her from the black market.
Although she had never previously entered a Rift, she was amazed by her newfound abilities and was now eager to try them out in a mission.
"Let's go"
Slowly opening the door to the patient's room, she wore a relaxed expression and loosened the tension on her shoulders, befitting for a veteran Doctor doing her rounds.
Sunlight was bathing the room, the smell of flowers was present from the air freshener, and a man wearing a patient coat was sitting with his back straightened in the hospital bed.
His head was facing the window and was showing no signs of activity.
-This must be him
-He doesn't really give off any noteworthy aura
-Neither does he look strong
The man's well-toned muscles were visible due to his low fat-to-weight ratio, but his body paled in comparison to most athletic people on Earth, let alone the impeccable physique of challengers.
-Even more, I can't tell anything from the magi he is excluding
Xiang Li, who despite not having entered a rift, had a very high starting Sense stat which she had trained until it had reached the 3 point mark.
For that reason, she felt confident in her ability to gauge a person's strength by using her sixth sense.
-Why would Mister Sullivan want me to investigate this man?
-Anyway
"Good morning Sir, are you feeling well?"
With a soft and soothing tone in her voice and an outward and free spirited posture, she tried to make the man feel relaxed in order to open up to her.
However, no answer came from the man.
Even after the woman spoke, his body did not move, as if he was uninterested in the person speaking.
"Excuse me, Sir? Is there something wrong?"
-I read in the file that he suffered some form of brain injury but I didn't expect him to stay unresponsive.
-How I am supposed to extract any information from him if I am not able to converse with him.
Xiang Li slowly closed the distance between her and the man, unaware of the danger that she was getting herself into.
"Sir?"
She gently raised her arm and was about to touch the man's shoulder when he unexpectedly twisted his head and stared right into her eyes.
"Gasp, you scared me there!"
-Something's wrong
The man's cold-blooded eyes made her feel nervous and the lack of any human expressions on his face caused her to get second thoughts about her mission.
"Sir can you hea-!!!!"
Suddenly the man extended his left arm and grabbed Xiang Li by the neck.
With a strong grip, he squeezed her throat, halting all oxygen flow to the brain, and causing her to enter a state of asphyxiation.
-Can't breathe...
Panicking, Xiang Li rallied her minuscule amounts of magi in order to break free from the man's hold, but to no avail.
-Can't break free!? His magi!? How strong is it!?
"Let's get you out of that measly excuse of a disguise then shall we?"
The aura surrounding his left arm turned into a black fog, and began to assimilate with Xiang Li's magi.
Upon coming in contact with her body, it rapidly began to eat away all the magi that enveloped her skin, destroying her disguise and revealing her true self.
A woman with long brown hair and sharp eyeline eyes was revealed from beneath the black smoke.
With her jawline and nose akin to that of a goddess' sculpture, her navy blue eyes the shade of the crystal clear ocean, and her curvy but lightweight body putting even models to shame, this was the appearance that Xiang Li had undergone many surgeries and strenuous amounts of exercise in order to achieve.
"Now, speak"
The man's grasp weakened and the woman collapsed on the floor.
-I need to get away, I can't stay any longer with this psycho
-I will take this opportunity to paralyze his muscles and then escape
In the face of danger, Xiang Li transformed her right arm fingernails into sharp long needles coated with paralytic poison and lunged at her opponent.
However, what she failed to comprehend, was the terrifying prowess and constant sense of alertness that the challengers developed from fighting horrific monstrosities.
With swift movements, Jay Riemman deflected the needles' trajectory by redirecting the woman's wrist with his right arm before immediately using his momentum to strike the center of her thorax with a palm reinforced with magi.
"Gasp!!!"
The woman spewed out blood from her mouth, evident of the internal damage caused by her ribs compressing and lightly injuring her airways.
"Don't try any more tricks now"
"You will not escape this place alive if you do"
Riemman roused his aura and unleashed his violent killing intent fully directed at the wounded woman.
Xiang Li, due to the devastating pain in her chest and the dense sinister aura that shrouded her, could not resist any longer and lost consciousness before slamming her body on the cold floor.
"Ha...maybe I should have toned it down a little...", Jay Riemman exclaimed, with a grin on his face after witnessing his overwhelming victory over his opponent.
{See human? This is how you properly use the Darkness Element}
"Yes indeed, your control over it is truly marvelous."
~Clap... Clap....Clap
Outside of the room, the sound of someone clapping in a slow manner resounded, followed by the sight of a figure wearing an expensive black suit and a watch that was oddly familiar to Jay.
It's owner entered the now dark room, devoid of all light, and his face became visible.
"An excellent performance Sir Jay"
"You!?"
....