The other Fiends — mainly Cardinal Weiss, who had sensed some lack of movement behind him — stared at Kieran in surprise.
Cardinal Weiss approached, looking grim, but was delighted when he noticed a change in Kieran's sinister gaze. Beneath the clarity was a subdued and ever-present madness. It spoke to near instantaneous activation of power.
"You continue to grow at an astonishing rate. Are you okay?"
Kieran examined himself first, noting the changes that occurred.
Though suffused with thoughts of carnage and other madness only the insane would think to commit, Kieran's mind was remarkably clear — the most powerful it had ever been.
He continued defying a Fiend's natural progression, maintaining his self-awareness, but that was only possible because of two factors.
