"Holding out? Better for me" Mary said with the same sadistic smile.
Each time Mary tugged at the mask, Nathan felt as if his skin was being pulled, as if he was glued to the mask with glue. But there was little essence left, and when it ran out the mask would surely peel off his face.
But Mary wasn't planning on letting his essence run out and began to pull harder. No matter how much essence Nathan had left, or how much the mask was stuck to his face, the strength of a third rank was greater than all that resistance.
A thin crack began to appear on the mask's forehead, to which Mary smiled and used more force, seeing that it was about to break. Instead, a muffled scream came from inside the mask.
'Ughh, why does it hurt so much?!' With that crack, Nathan felt as if it was his own face being ripped in half.
The crack in the mask became more and more obvious and with-it Nathan's suffering and pain grew greater and greater. Then, overcoming the resistance of the mask, it cracked and split in two.
Mary suddenly felt the mask separate from Nathan's face as the other part fell to the ground. "Finally. You sure put up a fight" Not being helpful, Mary threw the part of the mask she was holding to the side and let go of Nathan, who fell to the ground gasping in pain.
On the ground, Nathan writhed while holding his face in pain. It had felt as if his own body had been torn in half, and now that he was free of the mask, it felt like a phantom pain.
It no longer existed, but it had registered on his nerves.
Vcansire, who watched silently from the top of the red-covered stairs leading up to the throne, first noticed the mask that Mary had broken. But after a glance he lost interest in it and focused on Nathan.
The duke raised his hand with all his fingers contracted except for his forefinger and at the sight of Mary and Nathan, who barely calmed his breathing, a drop of his blood began to float to Vcansire's outstretched finger.
Floating slightly, the drop came to rest a couple of millimeters from the tip of the duke's finger. He watched the drop carefully and then sent it to his mouth, closing his eyes to savor it.
For a couple of seconds, Vcansire stood silently with his eyes closed savoring the taste of Nathan's blood. "Pretty good for someone from this world, it tastes exotic, similar to that girl from a couple of months ago" The duke opened his eyes and watched Nathan with more curiosity.
"Her brother" Vcansire began to walk down the stairs until he reached Nathan's front and looked down from above without even bothering to bend his neck.
Nathan understood Vcansire's behavior. The man was interested but not enough to bother lowering his neck, he was like a human watching an animal in a zoo.
"Enough trouble it causes me, fortunately this is for me to let off steam" The Duke's eyes went from Nathan to the silver bracelet in his hand, then his eyes widened slightly and a smile that even Mary hadn't seen before appeared on his face.
"Wow, what a surprise. I never thought you'd be in this place, my beloved Amelia"
Nathan froze as he listened to Vcansire, then focused on Amelia, who had been silent for a good while now. All he could feel trying to read Amelia was a deep fear, so deep that she had not been able to hide it.
This time, Vcansire bent down elegantly and held Nathan's arm where he was wearing the bracelet. Then a red line began to circle Nathan's forearm, before it was completely detached from his arm.
Nathan howled in pain as he felt his forearm disconnect from his arm. He held his stump with his other hand and looked with tears of blood on his face at Vcansire, who had already turned his back on him and was walking back to his throne.
"Amelia, I thought you had died. That some calamity had devoured you long ago, it's good to see you well" Vcansire removed the wrist bracelet from Nathan's forearm and then tossed it aside.
His forearm flew into the air and before his bewildered gaze, it dissolved in a white but mysterious light.
Not caring less about Nathan, Vcansire sat back on his throne as he enjoyed the texture of the bracelet where Amelia's soul resided. "Are you mad at me? I get it, it was my fault you went through all that. Surely you were disgusted by being with an inferior being like that for so long"
Nathan's vision began to blur but the pain and fury he felt inside forced him to stay awake, listening to Vcansire's bullshit.
Seeing that Amelia didn't answer him, Vcansire sighed amusedly and placed the bracelet on his wrist. "You don't have to worry, from now on I'll make sure to take good care of you. A superior being like you doesn't have to worry about anything else" Vcansire's eyes landed on Nathan again, then drifted to the half-mask next to him.
"Hand it over" Vcansire ordered, to which Mary quickly picked up the mask and handed it to the duke.
Taking it curiously, Vcansire began to study it. Nathan, who was getting more and more tired, saw how the man's face went from one second to the next through various emotions.
Curiosity to surprise, surprise to anger, and finally from anger to terror.
Vcansire dropped the mask halves and as it fell to the ground, he stepped on it, destroying it into hundreds of pieces. He looked up and saw the other half of the mask that Mary had thrown aside.
The duke disappeared from the throne and came in front of the other half of the mask and did not stop to admire it but stepped on it.
A great cloud of dust rose on the other side of the throne room, and Mary, who had been watching everything in silence, could only stand still when she saw that the person standing next to the mask was not her king but Nathan.
Vcansire fell down from the wall and rejoined while wiping away the trickle of blood that came out of his mouth.
"You!, how are you here?!" Vcansire shouted as he saw Nathan pick up half of the mask on the floor.
'How is that possible? He was about to faint. He didn't have the strength to get up, and I wasn't even able to see him move' Vcansire thought as he carefully watched Nathan's body place the half mask on his face.
Slowly Nathan turned his head and looked at Vcansire with half of his face uncovered. His eyes were covered with a deep darkness, his sclera was completely black, and his iris was blood red.
His facial features were slightly more tender compared to before, as if his face had been reshaped, although it still retained the essence of Nathan's own face.
When he turned completely around, Vcansire could see how the mask seemed to melt and merge into his face. The other part of the mask which had been destroyed by Vcansire began to rebuild itself directly on Nathan's face, covering those eyes filled with darkness.
"You, do I know you?" Nathan tilted his head slightly, looking at Vcansire.
A light appeared in the duke's hands, and then this light spread to his whole body. From this light, a majestic golden armor was created out of thin air, covering the duke's entire body.
Nathan snapped his fingers. "I already remembered you, you are the son of Vsire Hembiurg. One of the four dukes of the Rysha Empire" Nathan scratched his neck with the only hand he had, making an ugly wound with the long nails that had appeared on each of his fingers.
Feeling the blood trickle down his neck, the being that possessed Nathan's body sighed. "How weak"
"Answer me, how could you possibly be here, you were supposed to be dead!" shouted Vcansire summoning a golden sword like armor, preparing to fight.
"Oh? If you know me, how many years has it been since then, two, three hundred?" The being possessing Nathan lightly ran his index finger across the wound that had appeared on his neck, and it disappeared in an instant.
"Answer me! Why are you still alive?! Demon of corruption, Orion!"
Orion, stopped as he heard his name come out of Vcansire's mouth, then snorted. "An ancient name" Orion surveyed his surroundings and folded his arms. "We're not in Hysteria are we?"
"Answer me!" shouted Vcansire as he disappeared where he was and appeared swinging his sword in an arc parallel to the ground towards Nathan's body.