With heavy footsteps and a heavier expression on his face, Zane slowly walked into the hall. "What..... What the hell happened here...." He looked around the hall in shock, his mind no longer able to comprehend what he was seeing.
*Squish Squish Squish* With each footstep he took, a disgusting squishing sound rang out. Finally taking notice of the sound, Zane looked down on the ground he was walking. A chill ran down his spine. The stone floor of the hall was now transformed into bloody mangled pink flesh, with faces of the cultists and other body organs sticking out of it. In fact, the whole hall was transformed in a similar fashion.
The huge stone pillars were now made of flesh, hands, legs and deformed faces sticking out from them. *Drip Drip* Blood was dripping from the eyes of the faces attached in the pillars. The flesh ground and pillars were pulsating every second, like a heart beat. The hall looked grotesque and horrifying, like something out of a nightmare.
*Sob Sob Sob* A faint sound of someone crying could be heard from towards the end of the hall. Hearing the sound, Zane's face stiffened. 'What the fuck!? Is it a fucking ghost?' He slowly moved his foot towards the source of the sound.
*Sob Sob* "Master... " *Sob Sob* "Why has your light started flickering... Oh Master..."
Zane got closer and saw that it was Alec who was crying. Knelt down before the chair made of human flesh and muscles, Alec was resting his arms and head on the seat, tears streaming down his face.
*Splat* As Zane focused on Alec and moved closer to him, he accidentally stepped on a face of a person, making a loud noise. Surprised by the sudden noise, Alec jerked his head towards Zane and stood up, taking a posture for battle. "Ohh.... it's you...." Alec looked at Zane and spoke in a low voice.
"Yeah... What the hell happened here?" Zane asked in a serious voice, staring right at Alec.
Alec looked around the hall, every inch of it covered with pink pulsing flesh, like they were inside the devil's stomach. "Haha" Alec laughed while looking around the hall. "Hahahahaha" He then started laughing hysterically, like a maniac. "What happened here?" He spoke through his laughter. "These ungrateful bastards! They got the opportunity to be useful to master! They only needed to stay quiet till the end!" Nerves started bulging on his forehead and tears started forming in his eyes. "But no, they had to ruin it all! Now master is in that state because of it!"
Alec turned his gaze at Zane, his face contorted with rage. "You..." He growled. "Master had no choice to use this method because of you!"
Zane braced himself in a fighting stance, starting to feel Alec's killing intent. "Me? What did I do? I haven't even understood anything you just said!"
"Feigning ignorance!?" Alec barked. "You bastard! It's because your useless barrier couldn't hold and the holy temple that master had built got destroyed. Master got angry because of that and chose to proceed with extreme methods! Look what you made him do!!"
"The Saint did this?" Zane looked around the hall. "You're right...No matter how angry, no person should do this to his own followers." Zane nodded.
"Not these bastards! Look at what you made master do to himself. Look at what he has become!" Alec clenched his fists and shouted at Zane, his spit flying everywhere.
"Sure, I'll look. Where is he?" Zane focused on Alec's every movement and readied himself.
"BASTARD!" In a flash, Alec disappeared from where he was standing and appeared in front of Zane, his fist flying towards him. "STILL MOCKING ME?" He punched Zane with all his strength.
Widening his eyes, Zane quickly stepped to the side, barely avoiding the punch, which still scratched his neck. Not giving him a chance to recover, Alec threw a flurry of punches towards Zane, each punch deadlier than the last.
Forehead filled with sweat, Zane could barely dodge the attacks aimed towards him. He blocked some attacks whenever he could, but blocking made his arms feel like they were going to break. Zane could finally back up, as the continuous attacks of Alec finally came to an end.
"Slippery little bastard!" Alec stared at Zane and cursed him out. Zane looked at Alec, bleeding from cuts all over his body.
A nerve bulging out his forehead, Zane finally attacked. "What the fuck have I done to you? Do I owe you money or something?" He dashed towards Alec and threw a punch. Alec easily blocked the punch and looked at Zane with a wide grin. "Is that all you can do?"
Zane turned his head and looked at him. "What about this?" He smiled and his shadow turned into a thorn, stabbing Alec's leg. "GAH!" Alec screamed and backed up, sliding his stabbed leg off the thorn. He looked down at his bleeding leg and back at Zane, his eyes bloodshot. "BASTARD!"
He flicked his arms to the side, making grayish scales grow on them. His hands now looked like a beast's, covered in gray scales and with sharp nails.
'Is he an Intermediate level?' Zane widened his eyes. The feeling Alec gave off when the scales appeared was totally different than before. He was fighting confidently as he assumed Alec was an Initiate Seeker like him. As he had reached the peak of Heart Core, he was positive that he could fight even Eye level seekers. 'Fuck!'
Zane backed away hurriedly, feeling a sense of crisis, but he was too slow. Alec caught up to him in an instant, swiping his claws towards Zane. Quickly rolling to the side, Zane dodged the claw, but Alec appeared in front of him, not even giving him the time to stand up.
Alec slammed down with his fists, aiming right at his chest. Zane quickly used his
*Cough* Zane coughed up a mouthful of blood from the impact. Gritting his teeth, he focused and changed the slimy barrier into small hardened spikes to impale Alec. *Tang Tang Tang* Alec crossed his scaly arms to block the spikes, which sounded like swords clashing. After blocking the attacks, he smiled and looked towards the ground, but Zane was not there.
Widening his eyes, he quickly turned to the side, bending his body. Zane was already behind him, using his shadow to make a thin spear, he tried to impale Alec from behind. But due to him turning at the last moment, the shadow spear barely grazed Alec's side.
Upon realizing his failure, Zane gritted his teeth and quickly turned his shadow into a slimy barrier again, but in his haste, he made the wrong move. Alec swiped his claw down on the barrier, easily tearing it apart. The slimy barrier was effective against blunt attacks, but it didn't do great against slashes.
Zane widened his eyes as the barrier teared into pieces and the black shadows dropped inside his own. He saw Alec dashing towards him and tried to block. Alec punched Zane right on his crossed arms, which tossed him on the ground, making him fall on his back again.
Beat up and tired, Zane could only watch Alec, who was already on top of him. With a wide grin, Alec looked at Zane like he was gazing upon a dead body. "Rejoice! As you are going to see the light!" Alec laughed, slashing his claws towards the defenseless Zane.