"Aaaavveshhh", Khorramzadeh called out Aavesh's name with almost manic happiness as he held Aavesh's head.
"Bring the Clone's body! Go boy", Khorramzadeh spoke to Mordred who then picked the headless corpse of the clone infant and brought it to Khorramzadeh while kneeling.
Coral watched on with utter disgust and horror, she had been slapped into the corner unconsciously by the excited Khorramzadeh.
Electric Blue Fluids spilt out of her Android Body, it was but a Temporary Body where she had been forced into by Khorramzadeh to inflict Corporeal Torture on her.
Coral hated this body and wanted nothing more than to escape it in her polyhedron form.
It was just a lot of neural blocks had been placed by Khorramzadeh.
She was actively trying to remove them, but it seemed to be futile for the Time Being.
She saw Khorramzadeh extending a nail and slicing through the clone corpse, as the blood dripped on Aavesh's forehead.
Due to the irritation, Aavesh slowly opened his eyes and saw red- he saw a smiling Khorramzadeh holding the corpse clone above him and letting the poor kid's blood drip on him.
Suffice to say Aavesh wasn't amused by this horrific act, but he wasn't extremely disturbed by it either.
Khorramzadeh lost his smile though as he watched those unsettling eyes gaze back at him- yes the feeling was extremely strong now.
It was like someone staring at your naked body, like you couldn't keep any secrets from them.
He almost impulsively plucked Aavesh's eyes out, but then thought- what if Aavesh had those eyes because he had succeeded in his Test against the 9 Elements?
Thinking about this made Khorramzadeh's throat dry- No mortals could understand the importance of the Absolute Abstract Elements in the Demigod Stage, especially for a Demigod like him who wanted to go beyond the realm of ordinary levels.
*Slap
He then simply slapped Aavesh with a smile and spoke," Good Very Good!"
Aavesh just spat out Blood and stared back at Khorramzadeh expressionlessly, but he could see an inkling of fear and awe in Khorramzadeh's Eyes and the absolute hatred Khorramzadeh had for him.
But Aavesh stopped analysing Khorramzadeh for now, as soon as his interest in Khorramzadeh's 'Truth' shifted, his eyes seemed to become more normal.
But it still retained a bit of that unsettling feeling albeit not as strong as just before.
"Are you feeling indifferent at your Clone's death?! GOOD! You are so close to having an excellent opportunity in your hands Aavesh Adhi- Embrace the Call of my Bloodline and accept the Devil Mythic Power, you might just live!", Khorramzadeh spoke with a smile.
'Indifference? He really had good imagination...', Aavesh inwardly shook his head.
For him to show emotions to such an enemy was foolish and dangerous now, only to be manipulated over and over again.
Truthfully Aavesh had changed the moment he'd seen that Hooded figure again, it was like this ability finally unlocked within him- with everything that had happened to him, he was gradually becoming more and more colder internally - to have recieved that enlightenment with a Gaze.
This was akin to an old Dam finally breaking.
He didn't know why it was that but now it just felt- right.
Sure he was now able to pause his emotions at will and parse them later- he wasn't unfeeling but he didn't feel the need to show them at every instance anymore.
Besides he would eventually let his emotions flow through him , even he understood the dangers of bottling up everything inside.
Now coming back to the situation where he was being drenched by his Clone's blood-
His face remained stoic, yes he comprehended the utter barbaric display before him but, it did not faze him now like it would have done before.
It turns out pausing ones emotions at critical Moments allowed one to think at logical extremes.
He gazed at the act like a machine and simply concluded that Khorramzadeh was attempting to rile him- and therefore he remained silent, expressionless.
Coral naturally caught this and gazed at Aavesh with a bit of surprise but then thought that it could be a slight side effect of the Extremely difficult trial he had just gone through.
He was probably shell shocked...
But Aavesh only spoke out a line of cold mechanical words to Khorramzadeh," What do you want to do next?"
"Interesting... I don't detect a hint of emotion in your voice - very well so be it", as if considering something Khorramzadeh surprisingly didn't make a fuss anymore.
He simply dragged Aavesh from the Torture Chamber into a passageway that smelled of blood, materialized grief and Resentment.
Materialized Grief and Resentment, it would only occur when the grief of one person was too strong or a magnitude of people had been killed with immense grief and Resentment.
It was extremely baneful and particularly useful to those of Evil Mythic Alignments.
Aavesh saw below the hard glass like passageway -an endless sea of corpse of several Human Beings with varying ages, if it even could be fully determined.
He already knew who the corpses belonged to, he was able to logically analyse from the dismembered body parts and psychological analysis of Khorramzadeh and the people under him.
Mordred who was following them from behind, spoke in a mocking tone," My handiwork you see, we always keep a herd of Adhi mortals nearby to hunt them if we feel bored! You must have heard them before - hehe! They are our slaves and if he command them to by slaughter then what choice do they have?"
True- Khorramzadeh and the forces under him had a special thirst to torture Members of the Adhi Blood to the point, that they had even managed to capture and force breed the Adhi Clansmen like cattle, just to kill them for sport or something even worse.
From the slight Infernal features among the corpses, it seemed that this practice had been done for several Generations.
To only be slaves after each generation - they were truly suffering a fate worse than death.
If before Aavesh would have felt extremely uncomfortable and probably would gaze at Khorramzadeh with exceptional hatred.
But now-
He only silently gazed at the dead, as Khorramzadeh impatiently dragged him through the Transparent Passageway, not giving any reaction much to Mordred's disappointment.
Even Khorramzadeh felt something off about Aavesh but continue ld to drag him through countless torture rooms filled with several Prisoners and corpses from all sorts of people.
Eventually They entered a massive arena like room, where at the center an extremely large and horrific creature lay dormant - soulless.
It was a monstrous Hulking Humanoid creature , atleast 50 Feet Tall if not more, it had three Thick Giant Pillar like arms with claws for fingers,
It had 8 Eyes on its inhuman forehead, it had no nose or ears, just a mouth filled with Jagged Teeth that could send shivers down one's spine.
It had visible sharp spikes protruding out of its spine, while it's colossal legs had been formed in a unique shape to Ensure it's size didn't hinder it's mobility.
The Muscles around it's were exceptionally tensile and robust to look at.
But what was more terrifying was the fact that it unconsciously emanated pressure no less than a newborn Demigod.
It had currently curled up in a fetal position, hiding it's chest from others.
Aavesh analysed it briefly before realising it was an artificial Biological construct- most likely created by Khorramzadeh, for reasons he didn't know.
But he could smell that familiar feeling of extreme Resentment from this.
Aavesh gazed more closely with his Arcane Eye Augmentations and silently stood there on the spot.
Khorramzadeh stopped dragging him and simply grinned smugly, though in his eyes- immense pride could be seen as he gazed at the Abomination that was his creation.
Mordred however meekly entered the Arena while dragging Coral who Audibly gasped at the Creature.
"So how is it? Think you can guess what it is meant for?", Khorramzadeh asked Aavesh with a teasing tone.
Aavesh stood silent and then spoke emotionlessy," It's a biological mecha, you created it with the pure processes flesh essence equivalent atleast a Million Adult Adhi Clansmen"
" But the flesh is very pure and is untainted with any other emotion apart from pure Resentment- so you created this using more than a few Million Infants to be precise, to collect the pure Resentment essence- so it could essentially harm anyone, anyone below the Demigod Stage Will die in a single blast- "
"but it's odd, you used something on the processes flesh- sure you could have such devastating resentment energy but the flesh is too strong, almost a New Born Demigod- that is the anomaly-"
Coral could only gape at this, she was stunned at the answer- to kill at such large-scale, Khorramzadeh probably created womb factories using Living Adhi Women and she shuddered to think of how just many were kept in those places were living was worse than dying.
She knew Khorramzadeh or atleast she thought she did - After all Khorramzadeh was Keva once, a hero -
But never in her wildest dreams she thought Keva would become this- this Khorramzadeh.
She could only watch as he descended into the pits of Evil and even she wasn't aware of everything he had done.
She would never know why he descended into this path and it would haunt her forever, for after all she saw him do, she wished she could have simply snapped his head the moment they met.
But sometimes, some things- even if they are worst outcomes, even if they weren't supposed to happen - They will happen and will remain unchangeable.
She could only try to find a way to escape with Aavesh now, hells be damned.
" Good, if you caught that- you will truly be a formidable Devil, heh heh, now you should know- You should know the Cause of your great suffering, the Causality I bred your Gene Line for! The core Reason why I was willing to let the Adhi Bloodline inherited the Mind Breaker Genes!", Khorramzadeh spoke with a cruel voice, yet solemn as he devoted so much time to this.
No rest for the Devil after all.
He then pointed his fingers to an invisible object in the arena and so it revealed itself.
*Whirrrr
*Whizzzz
An intricate Metallic Box appeared yet it gave off a tremendous amount of Evil Mythic Power.
Pure Evil Mythic Power.
Neither Lawful, Chaotic or Neutral - Just Evil at the atomic scale.
Dew drops of a vile glowing purple liquid formed with a black hue.
The box then floated slowly to Khorramzadeh before suspending on Khorramzadeh's palm.
Khorramzadeh gazed at Aavesh with immense Authority and seriousness, " Place your palm on it- or I will erase Coral, I know you have some inkling of what it could be- but if you don't obey me, I will Erase her and her pathetic Soul, AI like her son need one but care about her- I will use that, I will also then feed you the pure flesh of Adhi Infants infront of their mothers, I will drown in such self loathing that you will beg for death but I will never let you go, that illusion you saw, I will make it a hundred- No a thousand times worse and I will keep you alive for as long as this Universe Exists! So what will it be? It's an easy choice right?"
Khorramzadeh gazed at Aavesh predatorily.
Coral didn't speak because she knew the moment she spoke something things would get worse for Aavesh- although she could not understand what that box was , she knew it was a seriously dangerous artifact, given Khorramzadeh's sudden yet controlled shift in behaviour.
Aavesh gazed at Khorramzadeh for a moment and then spoke mechanically," You want me to make the choice, you want me to live with consequences of this decision"
"Exactly - though I can't detect any emotion or intent in this answer- Make your decision NOW!", Khorramzadeh spoke with an even more intimidating tone.
'Don't do it!', a pleading female voice entered Aavesh's mind.
'This is how he wins- child, our Clan is the only one who can do this, it's why we suffer- forever imprisoned in this hell- Child, I can help you- don't give this to him, He will be one step closer to gaining the Sword of Adhi! With both of these - he will be unstoppable!', She pleaded further.
Aavesh didn't reply back.
'Child...'
He then placed his palm on the Runic Box and tiny needles pricked his palm- absorbing his blood and now a Terrifying Ancient Voice spoke to him," A Mortal Cultivator with the Ultimate Prime Soul Trinity blood - Also called the True Primal Blood now huh- the last time someone released me was an Autarch, Blood was spilt, Insanity and Tyranny followed for epochs! Do you wish to inflict the same on this Universe? Hehehe"
"The man devil who commands you to release me- He will use my power to become an unparalleled existence! Not immediately of course! I have my own requirements but I can help you - I can help you become equally Powerful! You will never need to cultivate ever again!", The ancient Voice spoke in such a convincing tone- trying to tempt him.
"No"
"I only need to survive this"
'I don't need your power yet"
Aavesh replied back to the ancient voice within that ominous box.
"Release", He spoke calmly.
*Sshhhhhh
A soft dagger like hum erupted from the Box and the Universe Trembled.
----------------------------------------------------------
"I didn't think this possibility would occur so fast", the Goddess of Fate gazed at the book.
"It was meant to be an impossibility, but Asmodeus - your protege sure knows how to make trouble, We all have observed your actions of late - if you think this "Heart" will let you find the Primordial Mythic Shard so easily, we will join in the fun as well, since he and you have dared to create the 'Key'- then face the consequences, for often the 'Key' that opens such boxes must never be underestimated "
"You think he will die?"
"He is the Variable "
" He won't die by your little schemes"
"You think this Causality serves you? No this is but the start and the Variable will become my rightful Blood Kin- No matter how much you scheme- No matter how much fate you distort- In the end , it will fix itself"
"Now that you have broken the Balance - It is rightful that I send your protege his worst nightmare"
With that the Goddess then left Duat and entered the Far Realms.
------------------------------------------------------
"You broke the Balance - So be it, I will intervene as well Asmodeus ", Irolin gazed at the Trembling Universe fabric and spoke a single sentence before leaving from his throne.
----------------------------------------------------------
Kronos frowned in the Space-Time Junction as he guarded a sleeping Sara shielded by Translucent Ethereal Mythic Essence.
Kronos gazed at Naraka and simply shook his head.
" The Great Dance of Mythic Powers begin once again - It's just the first now, but what will happen once all 4 are opened?"
" They really think the Key to becoming an Autarch lies in the Primordial Mythic shards"
"But how can it be so simple, the "heart" of Evil exacts a horrifying price on it's own - Asmodeus do you really think you can control it?"...
...
------------------------------------------------------------
In a Foreign Realm within the Hidden Pockets of the Space Time River, An Extremely Old Entity gazed at the Event on Naraka with an inhuman gaze.
This Incomprehensible entity then uttered," So it begins- I wonder how many you will Not Save, your existence is pointless as it always was Nomos"
It then simply wiped at mysterious places in spacetime and multiple Eldritch Deities kneeled in Terror before him.
----------------------------------------------------------
In his Hellish Infernal Throne, a massive Red skinned Devil, donned in Burning Golden Armor simply chuckled at the sight and watched on with interest.
"At last"
----------------------------------------------------------
The Specter of an Elegant Middle-aged woman gazed at Aavesh sadly as he lay down prone- Bloodied and physically broken down.
His eyes almost lifeless, barely managed to catch a glimpse of her while Khorramzadeh held the Beating "Heart" with an almost reverent smile.
Aavesh barely remembered what happened when he uttered "Release".
He only remembered it releasing a warning soft hum but before he could get back -it exploded.
At that moment, He felt an extremely Vile power sink into his soul, causing extreme agony as his eyes bled.
The Specter approached him and made a soft glowing white mark of a Trishul on his third eye and the agony in his soul stopped.
Aavesh was almost tempted to unpause his emotions to interact with her but she simply shook her head and sighed.
" I don't blame you, But it will only get harder- Khorramzadeh has something even more Vile planned for you child, The children you saved that day, the souls of your predecessors shall heal your wound today, But what comes next for you is something even we do not know how to help- I can only say- Stay Strong, Stay Human", She softly muttered and Vanished.
Aavesh tried to open his mouth but exhaustion kicked in and his emotions unpaused as his eyes slowly turned black as he let out an unintelligible whimper before fainting.
--------------------------+
Current Time,
Aavesh gazed at the chained people with a sad smile full of grief as he remembered everything now.
He then muttered with a weak voice,
"Hi Anya"
"My name is not actually Anya Ya Know-"
The cheeky girl is Truly the Greatest Trickster, he'd remembered in his memory as he slightly smiled and spoke back," I know Anya Jinx Salome is not your true name"
The pink haired girl grinned brightly back at him and spoke," Hey- that's a cool Alias though"
She then crawled to him, still chained until her bruised face met his as he hung from the rack pillars.
"I remember you"
Upon hearing these words, tears fell from Aavesh's Eyes as he stared at Anya with indescribable Emotions, he could feel the Truth within it from the depths of his heart and the hopeless situation didn't seem so hopeless anymore.
Those three words, he'd long wanted to hear them one day and now he'd finally heard it from her.
'Thank You Trickster'