Dick walked in the underground facility, his footsteps echoing.
There was a heavy stench of blood prickling his nostrils.
As he turned a corner, his eyes widened in horror— a ghastly pile of lifeless bodies strewn haphazardly across the cold ground.
A surge of panic coursed through Dick's veins, his heart pounding violently in his chest.
"What... what the hell happened here?" he exclaimed.
He frantically searched for any signs of a struggle, but there were none.
The alarms, the very ones meant to warn of danger, had remained eerily silent.
Dick pushed forward, rushing from room to room, each one revealing more gruesome scenes of carnage. Blood splattered walls, dismembered limbs, and vacant eyes stared back at him. The nauseating scent of decay threatened to overwhelm him, and he fought back the urge to throw up.
A disquieting thought gnawed at his mind—what if they had already reached the surgeon?
He sprinted towards the operation lab.
Finally he arrived and pushed open the door with trembling hands.
The sight that greeted him was nothing short of a nightmare.
The surgeon lay lifelessly on the floor, his skull grotesquely crushed, exposing the gory remnants of brain matter, eyeballs out of place, and teeth scattered like discarded shards of broken glass.
Dick's mind struggled to comprehend the horrifying scene.
Then, a smooth and chilling voice pierced through the silence.
It was Sieghart, the artist behind the carnage, taunting him with cruel amusement.
"Took you a while to get here huh," Sieghart sneered. "If I'm being honest, I was starting to feel a little neglected."
Startled, Dick frantically searched for the source of the voice, his eyes darting around the room. Slowly, the swivel chair in the corner of the room began to turn, revealing Sieghart, seated with crossed legs, wearing a sinister smile.
The dim light cast haunting shadows on his pale face.
His eyes brimmed with a cold malevolence.
Summoning every ounce of courage, Dick retorted defiantly, "Who the hell do you think you are? Get up and face me!"
Amused by Dick's resistance, Sieghart let out a chilling laugh.
"Get up and face you?" he a short-lived chuckle escaped his lips. "I've been three steps ahead of you all day. I've outflanked you, outpowered you, and I haven't even been trying."
Sieghart stood up gracefully from his chair.
He took a step forward, his eyes locked onto Dick's trembling form.
"But maybe all that doesn't matter in the end," he shrugged. "Because I'll be killing you right about now."
Terror gripped Dick like a vice, his desperation driving him to turn and flee for his life.
But before he could take a single step, Sieghart said "Tag, you're it," and casually flicked his index finger, and his trademark slimy black substance extended through the air like a deadly whip. With a sickening thud, the whip-like substance solidified, slicing through both of Dick's legs with ruthless precision.
Agony coursed through Dick's severed limbs, and a bloodcurtling scream erupted from his lips.
His world spun into a nightmarish whirlwind of pain and terror.
"My...legs!" he shrieked.
Blood splattered onto the ground, staining it red.
Sieghart whistled as he saw the blood, "Take it easy, Aunt Flo."
Dick's vision began to blur as darkness closed in around him.
( Th... This can't be it...
I... won't... let this bastard stop me.
I have a duty... a duty to humanity, remember Dick...?
I can still hear his words, clear as day.
...In my darkest hours...
He saved my daughter... he gave me hope...
I can't let him down. No way!
I'm doing this for him, and especially for my daughter... Lilia! ) [Dick]
Although his body was weak and battered, he refused to surrender.
Desperate, he fumbled for the pocket of his lab coat, his trembling fingers finally locating the vial of dark red blood hidden within.
Sieghart extended his hand and a sinister black substance coalesced into a long, sharp needle-like projectile.
The projectile missed the hand with the vial, purposefully grazing the air in a menacing warning shot.
A weak smirk danced on Sieghart's lips as he surveyed the now legless and nearly lifeless Dick sprawled on the ground before him.
His deep voice dripped with both disdain and amusement.
"Do you really think I'm that stupid? That I'd let you gain a massive power boost and just watch...?"
Dick's grip on the vial tightened.
He muttered under his breath, "I won't let you win..."
Sieghart's voice carried sadistic enjoyment.
"Ha—! I could kill you twenty-five times before you could even raise that vial to your lips."
( This bastard...
...he's underestimating me... ) [Dick]
A twisted smile spread across Sieghart's face as he crossed his arms.
"I'm not... going to..." Dick hooked.
"How admirable," he chuckled darkly. "Yunno, since I'm bored nʼ all, I'll let you have your fun.."
Sieghart nonchalantly slipped his hands into his pockets.
"Come now, show me what you're made of. I'll be a gentleman and patiently wait... but please, don't keep me waiting too long."
Dick and raised the vial to his lips.
Without hesitation, he bit down on the glass, feeling the sharp edges lacerate his gum and tear his tongue.
Blood trickled down his chin, but he paid it no mind, pressing forward.
His mouth filled with fragments of glass, and he chewed them relentlessly, crushing them with his teeth until they dissolved into a gritty mixture of blood and liquid.
Sieghart raised an intrigued eyebrow as he leisurely observed the spectacle before him.
"Oh?" he uttered in a nonchalant tone.
With one final deep swallow, Dick felt a violent surge of energy course through his veins as the concoction took hold. His body convulsed, twisting and contorting in an agonizing display of transformation. Bones snapped and cracked, reshaping themselves into a twisted and grotesque form.
「Evolution: Middle ranking demon」
Horns sprouted from where his eyes had once been, now a window into the abyss. His flesh turned a dark shade of red, as if infused with the essence of a smoldering inferno. Fiery tendrils danced from the open wounds that marred his body, casting an eerie glow against the dim surroundings.
As the metamorphosis neared its completion, Dick stood tall.
With razor-sharp teeth bared, he snarled menacingly.
"With this power, I'll end you!"
Sieghart gave Dick a resounding applaud.
He chuckled softly.
"Well done."
Dick's grotesque arms stretched wide, summoning forth curses in the form of monstrous bats. With a menacing screech, the bats hurtled forth towards Sieghart, exploding upon impact in a dazzling display of dark energy.
Dick extended his hand, conjuring a sphere of searing fire.
With a deft motion, he hurled the fiery orb towards Sieghart, igniting another thunderous explosion that reverberated through the facility.
But Dick wasn't finished yet.
He channeled his demonic energy, shaping six spheres of crackling fire within his grasp. Dick launched each orb towards Sieghart, the smoke from the previous explosions obscuring his vision. The spheres collided with the ground, erupting a chaos that shook the very foundations of the earth.
As the smoky haze began to dissipate, revealing the formeless figure of Sieghart, an eerie silence came.
The once-fiery orbs left no trace of their wrath upon the seemingly unscathed Sieghart.
He was squeaky clean.
A faint smile curled upon his lips as he gracefully waved his hand, dispersing the remnants of smoke around him.
Stunned by the sight before him, Dick could only utter a bewildered "Huh? W... What did you do?"
Sieghart's smile widened as he approached the trembling demon, slotting one hand back into his pockets.
Placing a gentle hand upon Dick's spiky shoulders, he sighed.
"It's easy... high magic affinity. Some may even call it... plot armor."
Dick's eyes widened.
"But... I'm a demon! I shouldn't be struggling against you?"
Sieghart's expression softened.
"I mean, it's not like a I used a high level defensive magic."
Just the basics— 「Star Barrier」. A Progressive spell (Lv. 5) that took about 20 mana points.