Where did Magnus go with all of this?
The mysterious shadow had taken him. Abducted while bound.
He did not know where he would be taken, but that didn't worry him one bit.
Enveloped in darkness, Magnus' body still perceived the passage of time. But it was a convoluted perception.
If the other members of the Hivemind had been absent, Magnus wouldn't have known if a second or an hour had passed. Or if a day or a week had gone by.
All he would've known was that time was passing.
But... Blaze was wading through a dense forest in the Monster Continent. She was active, counting the seconds and watching the time. She was there to aid the suffocated Magnus from going insane.
Three hours.
That was how long it actually took before Magnus felt the chain unravel around his bound form.
What then greeted him was a dim light.
"He's awake," A female voice, sinister and sly, spoke. "I'm surprised there are still hints of sanity in his eyes."
"Hm?" Another voice perked up. This one was gruff as if spoken by a sailor who had smoked his lungs out. "You are most certainly correct... How curious. Being bound by the Nonsensical Chains usually isolates one's mind to a point of breakage. What kind of will does this kid have?"
"Don't start your questions with me, Chester. You've already completed your task. Hurry out and keep your flames away from me. It's evaporating my mist!"
Chester clicked his tongue.
"Screw your mist. Even if you can hide us, that's all you're good for. Don't forget that. I'm the fighter among us three."
Magnus raised his head and looked around.
What he saw made him dizzy. Two overpowering auras stood side by side, blending together.
An emerald-coloured mist floated like heavenly clouds and shifted throughout the area. The mist flowed like a river or crashed down like a waterfall. An entire landscape was crafted in emerald mist, coloured in different shades of green.
At the mist's centre, there was the figure of a slender woman whose long legs were crossed as she sat on a throne of green. Her eyes glowed with a paradoxical blazing red.
Magnus connected that figure with the one who spoke earlier. He looked elsewhere, to the other side.
Here, dark flames danced as little will-o-wisps in the air and shadows converged and spread. A familiar shadowed figure stood at its centre, looming and staring at him with his golden, draconic gaze.
The heat permeated the room and the will-o-wisps singed Magnus' hair.
Seeing these two gave Magnus the shivers. A palpable pressure could be felt in the air. Their powers overlapped and pressed down on his minuscule 2-star form.
Helplessness engulfed Magnus at this moment.
'At least, death would not be the end of me.' Inwardly, he chuckled wryly as the two beings before him stepped forward.
"'[Gatemaker]'... A title you are unworthy of bearing." The woman spoke once more. A growl was hidden in her tone.
"You are an idiot who cannot complete a simple task."
Emerald mist was swept up and swirled into a tendril that lashed out at Magnus. It whipped at his flesh and tore open a wound that was bone deep.
CRACK!
It was the crack of a whip that shook whatever room they were in right now. The Nonsensical Chains that bound Magnus fell to the ground. Fully unravelled.
Magnus controlled gravity and allowed himself to float. He grimaced, as if in pain.
The stench of his own blood filled his nostrils and reminded him of his reckless death-accepting adventures. The thrill of standing before monsters that were greater than him was still a vivid memory.
Now he was standing before two humans he couldn't hope to defeat at this moment.
"What... what do you want from me?" Magnus leered at the two Chaotic Individuals.
Initially, he thought he had been saved, but that whipping right now and the hostility hidden in their tones told him otherwise.
"Your title. Your essence." A new voice replied.
It came from behind him. And it was a voice that made something within him shudder in absolute terror.
Magnus did not know what was shaking in fear inside him at this moment.
But a certain fear of his own was beginning to bubble within his heart.
"My... essence?" Magnus whipped his head around.
And there, he found a man with eyes that could freeze over a planet.
"Yes... your essence." The man replied, before then looking towards the woman. "Mary. How many times do I have to tell you not to harm our precious guests? Heal him."
"...My bad, Charles. My bad. Stop looking at me like that."
The emerald mist shifted as the shadows and dark flames subsided and disappeared. It seemed like Chester had left.
That, or he simply restrained his aura and hid in the natural shadows of the room.
Magnus lacked the senses to tell.
The emerald mist then surged like a tide to engulf Magnus' body. A certain power came with this surge, and the orange-haired boy felt the wound on his abdomen sting.
"I said, heal him." The man spoke. This time, a trace of annoyance could be heard in his voice.
"...I am." Mary's expression contorted as the emerald mist shifted in nature. It was a subtle change, but Magnus—who was within a thick cocoon of mist—could feel it clearly.
Now, he finally felt that his wound was subsiding. His flesh was pulled together and his skin was sealed.
It happened in an instant.
At the end of it, Magnus found no trace of such a deep injury on his body. The only remnants of its existence were the blood stains on his clothes.
"Good." The man replied, before putting his hand on Magnus' shoulder.
Magnus flinched. The grip was strong.
"My name is Charles, as you might have heard. I'm here to relieve you of your duties." Charles smiled an ominous smile.
It gave Magnus an awful foreboding.
"Relieve me of my duties?" Magnus stepped backwards in an unconscious reaction to flee.
His eyes darted between Charles and Mary.
The weaker one seemed to be Charles, as he didn't seem to have an all-encompassing aura like the latter. Mary's gaze was full of blades. So much hate filled it in a way that Magnus could not find an answer as to why she would harbour such malice towards him.
Charles chuckled, his voice reverberating throughout Magnus' ribcage.
"Do not be afraid, [Gatemaker]. I need you alive. At least for the process of transfer."
Charles then beckoned to Magnus, pulling the latter back to where he had been standing.
The emerald mist receded like Chester's shadows and flames. Mary seemed to disappear into the darkness of the dim room.
Snap!
Magnus watched as Charles snapped his fingers.
CRACKLE!
BOOM!
A lightning bolt came barreling downwards from the high, cave-like ceiling. It struck Magnus accurately at the crown of his head.
Magnus could not even react as an immense force coursed through him.
But he did not feel any pain.
'What—?' Magnus was shocked.
Literally and figuratively.
As all around him, illuminated by that momentary flash of light, were eyes upon eyes all looking towards him.
Different colours were arranged beautifully like a work of abstract art.
Those eyes were pixels of a screen, and Magnus saw power within each of them.
"Chaotic individuals..."
"Haha," Charles laughed, "That is correct. But pay no head to their presence, [Gatemaker]."
Charles snapped his fingers again.
BOOM!
Another bolt of lightning fell. Spirit Energy continued to surge through Magnus, rushing through his veins and arteries.
It was like a baptism of sorts, but the fear in him grew with every inescapable strike.
Charles' aura was seemingly nonexistent, but Magnus could not move at all. When he traced the Spirit Energy trail back to its owner, however, it led to Charles.
'At what level is this man at?' Magnus bit his lip.
The man was simply standing there, in his black suit, black eyes, and black hair. His shoes were reflecting the dim lights of the room.
Charles looked regal with the golden bits that decorated his tall form.
—Like a king standing before his subjects.
Snap!
Another bolt of lightning was sent to Magnus.
BOOM!
And this time, pain assaulted him.
It was an inexplicable sort of pain. He could feel it sear his soul. It felt akin to being dipped in the boiling cauldrons of hell. Tingly and unbearable.
It gave Magnus a heart-attack.
'No—! My soul!' He gasped in pain.
Not even the Hivemind could lock out this sort of pain.
Charles watched Magnus tremble with a small smile.
He then snapped his fingers once more.
Another bolt of lightning fell.
More pain came after Magnus.
This went on for another thirty-eight rounds. Each time, the pain got worse, tearing at Magnus' body.
But every tenth lightning bolt healed him.
It kept him alive, as Charles' smile grew with each strike connecting without issue.
After an hour of gruelling torture, Charles finally spoke.
"You're pure now, [Gatemaker]. Let us move on to the next task."
Magnus just looked at Charles with a blank look.
'This bastard!' Hate had blossomed in his mind. The thrill of being at the mercy of another person was nonexistent. All there was, was pain.
If only he was powerful enough to annihilate Charles at this moment...
Magnus cursed as much as he could inside his barely functioning mind.
"You really have an amazing will, child." Charles grasped Magnus' face. "To survive the Nonsensical Chains and even my Forty Two Bolts of Soul-Searing Lightning... What kind of mind do you have?"
Magnus couldn't reply.
"Nevertheless, you are at my mercy. Just accept what will happen to you from now on."