Demon balled his hand into a fist, collectively crushing the hearts of everyone around him. Hundreds of Light Legion bodies dropped to the ground, dead. Not a single soul survived.
Syndicate Dust covered the area around him, making the ground seem like a mirror for the sky. Pitch black nothingness on the two worlds.
While time passed and night continued to carelessly drift, Demon stood still. He was hunched over, looking at the ground. The mysterious abomination remained in this position for hours.
Until a thought crept into his corrupted mind.
"To the Nine, is there a difference between Light Legion and Infinus Legion? Is that why I was able to kill these men without being scowled?"
Corruption cleared, allowing the Nine to see through his eyes once more. That question interested him enough to have an urge for an answer.
"A question for us to answer?" The Ninth Rule asked with great interest.
Demon didn't respond, he wanted to hear a direct answer from them. But they were too far ahead of him, they knew everything about Demon. Even his response.
"The complexities of kindred evils is beyond our fathom. Those who swore to seek evil for cleansing often end up with a cruel twist of fate. Yet those that carry the vile burden cease to exist," Nine replied.
[What does that mean?]
"To put it simply," Nine's voice quickly transformed into a welcoming Yomie voice. "Infinus sees Light as an evil, while Light sees Infinus as evil. We applaud you for playing between the lines and fighting for both sides."
Suddenly, Demon felt himself get lighter. It was the feeling of a leeway for freedom, something he has been hoping to find since his rebirth.
Dust tainted his brain, connecting him to the Distorted Mind once again. There, he celebrated. His plan was going accordingly.
Now with this in mind, he prepared to continue his operations. With night overhead, and morning slowly creeping closer. It was time for him to 'train' his siblings once more.
-Inside Jakery's mind-
A sickening stench woke Jakery up. He sat up on his bed, confused about what that smell was. But he couldn't think about it for long. With every passing moment, the smell got worse and worse.
He quickly got up and rushed out of his room. Wooden floors creaked under him as he paced down the hall in search for Pearl and Orako.
After turning a corner, Jakery saw the fireplace was lit up. And two shadows painted the walls away from it. Those two were Orako standing next to Pearl with both arms raised.
"Hey, do you guys smell that?" Jakery called out.
No one replied. Those two shadows remained incredibly still, as if they were paused in time.
"N - no..? Okay. Well, why are both of you standing still?" Jakery tried talking to them again.
But with the same result. It slightly annoyed him getting ignored, while also smelling that horrid stench.
He walked into the living room, expecting to see Orako and Pearl in that same position. But instead, what he saw felt like a dagger to the gut.
Pearl laid on the floor, arms spread out. Blood oozed out of her nose, eyes, ears, and mouth. She was also shirtless. Her entire upper body completely naked, allowing Jakery to clearly see her stomach.
Which was cut open. Organs all over her open wound. But that wasn't the worst of it.
Jakery turned his attention to the fireplace. He noticed Orako was in a balled up position, burning inside. His head was buried into his lap, as if he was trying to look away from something.
That entire sight shocked Jakery. He stumbled back, mortified of what was in front of him. Whatever did this, whoever did this, had no heart.
It had no emotions. Nothing inside the shell of a Variant.
Faint weeping and whispering caught his attention. He turned his attention to the opposite side of the room. Right next to the door of the closet, another figure was balled up.
Jakery narrowed his eyes, trying to get a better look at who this was. The flames were in his favor, allowing him to see clearly. And right there, sitting in the corner, was Ether.
He wept uncontrollably, frightened by something while whispering something to himself.
"E - Ether, what the hell happened? Why are you crying and why is Pearl and Orako dead?!?" Jakery cried out.
"I couldn't..." Ether whispered in return.
Jakery pressed on his brother harder. "Answer the damn question!" This time, he yelled at Ether.
"I COULDN'T STOP MYSELF!" Ether yelled back.
He got back on his feet and charged at Jakery. A blind rage took his mind, it was now his goal to slaughter and butcher Jakery just as he did with his family.
Jakery tried to stop Ether, but he was overwhelmed. Ether pinned him down with his knees, then proceeded to bite down on his face. Ripping pieces of his flesh with every bite.
The struggle was too much. Everything felt too real, the feeling of having someone over him and the feeling of being bitten over and over tortured him.
Causing him to let out a single loud scream. Which was enough to wake him up from his sleep.
He sat up in the real world, sweat pouring down his body like a waterfall. Right as he was about to deliver a kick to the attacker's face, Jakery stopped.
Orako balled himself up like in the nightmare. The sudden reaction frightened him, causing him to stand back out of fear.
"O - Orako... Orako, listen, where is your mommy?" Jakery shakingly asked.
"Neddy went to get food for our breakfast. And my other Neddy went to beat bad guys!" Orako confidently replied.
Jakery brought a hand up to his cheek, checking to see if he was bleeding from anywhere. "Wait, why were you biting me?"
"Neddy left me without a chew toy. Your fingers disappeared and your nose seemed hard. So I bit your cheeks instead," Orako answered.
Hearing that reply called him down. That nightmare was too much for him. He couldn't sleep the rest of the night, so he tried forgetting about it by playing with Orako.
-Inside that same nightmare, Ether's perspective-
Cheerful laughter filled his ears. His mouth chewed the Abako meat they got from the Eterra pack. It tasted great, it felt like true victory food.
Until he stopped chewing. Ether glanced over at his family playing in the background, when a murderous urge took over. He didn't pay attention to this feeling, so he ignored it.
At least that's what he thought. While his mind came back to his meal, his body went for the sharp knife resting beside his right hand.
He looked down at it, causing sweat to go down his forehead. Ether tried not to think of it, and instead tried using that knife to cut the meat. Until he realized he wasn't in control.
Now, he was a prisoner in his own body. Something or someone else was in control. He stood up, making sure to place the knife on the left side of his waist.
Once it was concealed, Ether calmly walked up to his family. Except, Ether wasn't calm. Mentally, he was afraid. He had a strong suspicion of what was going to transpire, but he didn't want it to happen.
"Hey Pearl," his playful Yonie voice said. "While Jakery is sleeping, and Orako is drifting to sleep. Can we.... you know... mate?"
Pearl smirked. "I mean, you did go on that journey. You deserve a reward. I'm all yours, Ethie."
Ether watched her take off her shirt. He admired her body. Seeing his partner without any clothes on seemingly attracted him.
But inside his mind, Ether was screaming at Pearl to run with Orako. He was their biggest threat, but also his own.
While slowly walking up to Pearl, Ether reached down to his waist. Pretending to grab his pants to pull them down, but instead, he pulled out the sharp knife.
Pearl jumped in shock as Ether stabbed it into her gut. While the Ether inside bursted into tears. Those same tears rolled down the physical Ether's face.
It broke him to be the very thing that was killing his family.
Orako heard what was going on and opened his eyes to see Ether dragging the knife down her stomach. Eventually opening a wound, then ripping out her organs.
"NEDDY!!" Orako screamed in anguish.
Catching Ether's attention. He turned to look at Orako with the unaltered, murderous feeling. Which caused him to cry even more.
Orako tried to run away, but Ether blocked his every move. Forcing Orako in front of the fireplace. He stared into the flaming well right behind him as his own father slowly approached.
Being out of options and desperate, Orako climbed inside the fire and balled up. The burning melted his skin and slowly drained his life.
While Orako was suffering, Ether turned his attention to Pearl. He climbed back on top of her, placing both hands on the opposite side of her head.
Then he crushed it. Blood oozed out of her eyes and ears, joining the bleeding mouth and nose.
After she stopped struggling, he regained control of himself. Traumatized and broken, Ether quickly retreated to the corner of the room.
***
"E - Ether, what the hell happened? Why are you crying and why is Pearl and Orako dead?!?" Jakery cried out.
"I couldn't..."
Jakery continued to push Ether. "Answer the damn question!" This time, he yelled at him.
"I COULDN'T STOP MYSELF!" Ether yelled back.
He got back on his feet and charged at Jakery. A blind rage took his mind, it was now his goal to slaughter and butcher Jakery just as he did with his family.
Ether jumped on top of Jakery, then began taking chunks out of his face using his teeth. All while being caged inside his own body once again. He was crying, desperate for a way out of this nightmare.
Until Demon granted him that mercy.
With a blinding light, Ether reawakened. The sound of armor clipping into place and Ferals chirping woke him up.
"Good morning, Ether," Tinzor grabbed him by his collar and brought him to his feet. "You appear to have gotten a rough night. You alright?"
"Y - yeah... yeah, I'm good - I'm good. Don't worry, I'm fine... just - just don't attack a Distorted I'm going to call upon. It's Demon, my brother. I want to ask him a question," Ether replied.