Adryan's troubled mind was in turmoil. The Devil's words echoed in his head.
How is it possible that Joseph was still alive after all this time?!
The churches were supposed to have exterminated the entirety of the Black Skull... but it seems they failed to wipe out the most dangerous one.
'How useful they are. Not only do they abandon an area that is the best possible breeding ground for an evil god to descend upon, but they fail to wipe out this scum.' Adryan thought wryly as he glared daggers at the man touching him.
He never felt more disgusted than when that pale hand touched his face. Not even the horrible scenario in the fishing house came close to this!
But swallowing his disgust, he could see how behind that horrible imitation of human emotion, and deep in those black eyes something was baring venomous fangs at him.
A barely contained wrathful anger danced deep within Joseph and now that it was touching him, Adryan noticed that he was trembling a little.
The Provoker in him noticed this and quickly a plan formed in his mind to take advantage of this horrible situation!
Flashing a bloody toothy grin, Adryan spat blood into the fallen leader's face stunning him.
"How could I forget such a disgusting face? I bet not even your bitch of a mother is capable of loving it!"
It took a few seconds for Joseph to come out of his trance. Pulling his hand away from the redhead's face, he raised it to his face, touching the warm blood with a stunned expression.
Lowering his hand and seeing that it was stained red, the mask the man had been wearing to hide his anger had completely shattered.
Red clouds of fury blinded him and Joseph raised a clenched fist.
"Son of a bitch!"
Pum!
A powerful punch connected with his face and his head twisted to the side, a bloody tooth rolled on the cold cavern floor.
Joseph's enormous strength left him seeing stars for a second but just as quickly as the first one fell so did the second, and the third... and the fourth...
Pum! Pum! Pum!
"Do you have any idea how much work I lost?! How many years of work went down the drain because of you!"
Pum! Pum! Pum!
"My experiments! My studies! All because of you!"
Pum! Pum! Pum!
Red blood bathed the fists of the man who did not stop his assault. More teeth flew, his face swelled and Adryan felt his skull cracking under the assault.
Pum! Pum! Pum!
But despite how much it hurt, and as his mind fell further into the darkness of unconsciousness. Adryan maintained a smile as he looked directly into Joseph's eyes without blinking.
"Really?! That's it? And you call yourself a man? Even my piss falls harder than your baby punches!"
The red cloud blinded him further and Joseph placed much more force on his arm.
"Shut up!"
PUM!
A blow harder than all the previous ones whipped his head backward, his head hit the wall and for an instant, all Adryan could see was white, but he still didn't stop smiling.
He could still use his fire and attack Joseph by surprise but Adryan refused to do so. Even if by a miracle he managed to finish off the Devil with that attack he still had to worry about the Zombie and Werewolf!
And then there was also the possibility that the companions of these wretches would arrive.
With such a damaged body fighting was not an option!
Feeling like his life was coming to an end, a huge satisfaction grew inside him, calming a little the pain he felt.
It wasn't that he wanted to die to escape this beating but he wanted to use the regeneration that came with resurrection to heal his battered body and be able to fight!
Whatever happened in the time it took him to revive he would deal with it later!
The priority now was to die!
Watching as Joseph's bloody fist rose to deliver the final blow, it was clear that the man's mind had been completely blinded by hatred and anger.
Adryan gave a bloody, almost toothless grin. His face was swollen and completely covered in blood, his nose was crooked, his right eye was so swollen he couldn't see and he could barely see out of his left.
Watching as the fist descended on him, the red-haired man's smile grew madly.
'Just wait till I get back from limbo you son of a bitch! I'll rip your arms off and shove them so deep up your gaping ass you'll be able to clap!'
Before Joseph's fist reached his face, black, spiky ivy wrapped around his body, binding him in place. The sharp thorns sank into his skin.
The angry expression on Joseph's face disappeared as if it had been a mirage and he stood completely still, even a statue moved more than he did. Sweat fell from his forehead and Adryan could see fear shining in the man's eyes!
Seeing that his plan to have Joseph kill him failed, Adryan immediately tried to slam his head against the sharp rocks of the wall but the same ivies wrapped around his neck and body stopping him in place.
The black ivy thorns sank into his skin and he could feel his spirituality being drained quickly!
"Tch tch. Joseph dear, was that all it took for you to forget what I told you? A few simple words got you like a rabid dog, I'm disappointed." An unknown male voice spoke with clear disappointment but there was a hint of satisfaction dancing on his tongue.
"...Forgive me, My Lord. I lost control."
Without moving and feeling the ivy wrap tighter around his body and the thorns sink deeper into his skin, Joseph gave a deep nod of his head as he sweated harder.
"Huh...?" The words barely left his lips as he heard the new voice.
He wasn't surprised by the fact that it was obvious there was something wrong with the voice that seemed to have an echoing and delay that made his skin crawl...
What stunned him was that despite that the voice was very familiar!
With blurred vision and using what was left of his strength, he turned and watched as out of the darkness and blurriness of his limited vision, a young man walked.
Pink lips turned up in a small smile, brown hair slicked back, and bright crimson red eyes. The man was wearing an elegant black suit that signaled the wealth he possessed.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
The same instinct he felt when he saw that strange charm returned with such force that any pain and discomfort he felt vanished as if it was never there.
His pupils shrank until they almost disappeared and the instinct inside him screamed with an anger so great that Adryan could feel his whole body burning.
The anger was accompanied by an enormous sadness that stabbed his heart with cold blades.
Disappointment with himself, anger, hatred, sadness. All the emotions he was feeling, each and everyone screamed one thing in a chorus of death.
The man who did not look older than 23 years old turned his crimson gaze away and focused it on him and as if he could feel what he was feeling, his smile grew even bigger but he kept the elegance that someone like him should have.
"Oh! Excuse my manners Mr. Kenway. It's been a while since we last met, I hope you can forgive me for not responding to your letters but I've been so busy it was impossible."
It was his face, it was his voice, it was his hair and Adryan was sure it was the body and even if it didn't look like it, the eyes too...
But in spite of that...
Something primal screamed inside him and Adryan felt it with all his being... He knew that whatever was standing there was no longer him.
So with a voice cold and void of any emotion, he asked.
"What are you?"
Blood red eyes glowed and an amused chuckle rang out. Keeping his smile, the man walked to stand in front of him and looked down at him.
"You offend me Mr. Kenway. Am I so forgetful?"
Dutch Wilson asked amused as his crimson eyes glowed like the moon.
Before the red-haired man could say anything, he felt his strength being drained and despite how hard he fought against it, his vision dimmed and he fell unconscious.
Staring at the sleeping body of the man, Dutch's grin grew monstrously wide from ear to ear. A dark, delayed laugh filled the cave.
Joseph kept his head down and said nothing knowing that ruining the moment for his Lord was a horrible idea.
After a while, the nobleman's lips returned to normal, and with a small smile, the ivies released both men's bodies and returned to the ground.
From the wall behind them, a man with greasy hair came through the wall like a ghost and stood next to Joseph.
Wearing a black tuxedo along with a simple tunic of a dark blood red, Wraith Steve looked down at the unconscious body on the floor.
Grabbing the man's red hair and turning around, 'Dutch' dragged Adryan over and without looking at the newcomer, he gave an order.
"Help those good-for-nothings, we already have everything we need."
Giving a deep bow, both men turned around and quickly began moving the rubble to get Zombie Jason and Werewolf Tyre out.
Walking deeper into the cave, the disturbing smile returned to Dutch's face.
Adryan Kenway has been captured.