(A/N: please do bring any typos or grammatical errors to my attention, either by chapter or paragraph comments so I can immediately fix and attend to it.)
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Reo cried.
There was no hesitation in the blades' path. It ripped and twisted into the very heart of the girl, an insurmountable amount of blood burst forth like a fountain, splattering across the air.
The blood poured into a pool on the ground, the blade of the black dagger was driven even deeper into the heart.
The little girl's expression was filled with horror as she was forced awake. The tears pulled in the corner of her widened eyes, her mouth flooded with the thick metallic taste of her blood.
The girl's gaze remained on Reo. Her lips trembled as if she struggled to say something, then they fell still. The light in her eyes lost for good.
The blood continued to spurt out the lifeless body of the girl was dropped down to the ground like a broken doll.
"One down...," The hooded man noted, he slashed the dagger through the air, blood splattered across the whole place meeting Reo on the altar.
"...one more to go."
The hand that held the dagger dripped from the thick coat of blood surrounding it, and in the other, something thumped.
Reo's expression stiffened.
The little girl's heart thumped weakly in the hooded man's grasp. That sound resonated deeply in Reo's throbbing head.
"Ah...! Ah..." Reo's mouth parted, sounds he had never heard before left his lips.
He grabbed his head and locked it in a tight grasp, his fingers digging into his skin. His heart raced and his head throbbed more fiercely. There was a strange jolt through his previously lethargic body, but it was a feeling Reo would do anything to get rid off.
Reo's expression broke down. Strange moans continued to spill out his lips.
At the very moment Reo watched the little girl's heart get carved out, his strained mind was assaulted by the full brunt of the accumulated pressure throughout the day. His mind was fracturing and his broken body wasn't helping matters either.
He thought he was fine, his adult mind automatically offset all of the mental scarring and trauma, that was why he could keep going. That was what he truly believed.
But Reo — Trevor had never once watched a person die before him before. Much less a kid who had her heart carved out right in front of his eyes.
The tears were flowing uncontrollably.
He was going to save that girl. He was going to get her out, no, he was going to get everyone out safely. No casualties and all in one piece, himself inclusive.
But everything went wrong. Right from the beginning, it was all wrong.
They shouldn't have gone down the forest, but they did. They shouldn't have explored the cave and tunnel, yet they did. None of it, none of it should have played out this way...
...But they did.
Reo let out an unintelligent voice, a strange moan that held his rupturing emotions raw.
Then he quickly thought back to Don and the others.
He couldn't protect them either!
The hooded man watched Reo's seemingly exaggerated display with an exasperated scowl under his hood and spotted exasperatedly.
"What's this?"
He repositioned the dagger in his hand as he glowered at the boy in a dreads scowl from above the altar.
"Was she someone you loved?" The progression of the ritual had been deeply delayed, but yet, the hooded man still felt there was still maybe a little room for a little chatter.
Watching the boy's tantrum had stung a certain string inside of him.
He wanted to see how far he could break him.
The man glanced at the barely thumping heart in his hand and began.
"Well I'll have to admit, it was a little difficult carving this out. Took some skill too."
Reo continued to moan. It was at the point the man seriously doubted he was even listening to him.
But involuntarily, he was.
Reo listened, he heard everything the hooded man uttered and his head throbbed more.
Reo gritted his teeth so hard his gums bled. He ripped out pieces and lumps of his hair, the tears continued to flow.
The man chuckled, watching the little boy grovel in his own tears and saliva.
The brats had given him a hard time today, he was going o make it up to them by slowly enjoying breaking their wills and minds, just like this.
Reo's mind continued being assaulted. He hadn't realized he had suffered this much scars. His mental fortitude couldn't hold up any longer. His mind cracked, then fractured into crevices towards the first step of its collapse.
But this was obviously too much. It was strange.
Something deep inside of Reo heightened his current emotions stringing them on... taunting them.
Reo felt wrath. It wasn't anger or rage, it was pure hatred, and disgust directed at himself. These tainted emotions whispered foreign thoughts into his fracturing mind.
'it'll happen again...! They'll — they'll take everything from me again..!'
Reo heard the voice of his and was contradicted.
'What...what will happen again?' he struggled with his mind
It was strange...it was painful.
It was like his mind was splitting in two...one harboring tremendous hatred at everything, it was incredible how someone...or something... could hold such intense feelings and dark emotions like this. The sensation alone was more than enough to make Reo's stomach to churn and twist. It was sickening. He didn't want it.
The other just felt anger, sorrow, sadness...and traces of the same hatred.
'What?! No I don't!'
'Yes you do!' the same voice rebuked. It was his.
'You just want everything to disappear don't you?! You want it all to end— I want it!!' the voice continued to persist, and in the depths of his mind, Reo could hear something slowly crack.
"Aaargh!" The intensity of his emotions overflowing, Reo let out a pained groan.
Seeing this, the hooded man stoped his taunting.
'Something... something's strange...' he couldn't shake of a very unsettling feeling he got from just watching this boy.
On the other side, Reo continued to struggle with himself.
'I...I don't want it! This feeling, it's not mine! Who are you?!'
Then his mind automatically thought back to something.
'That little girl died...she had her heart carved out right in front of you. We were going to protect her, Don, Lia and the others weren't we?!'
'Get out... Get out...!'
'Well look closely, she's dead!' as if in response, Reo moved his head and glanced at the still body of the dead girl.
The sound of glass slowly shattering resounded in the back of his head once more.
The pain in his head throbbed more painfully and Reo tore a painful scream, squeezing at his head tighter.
At the same time, the unsettling feeling the man got only grew in each passing seconds.
Something was wrong... something was deeply wrong somewhere.
But what was it?
The hooded man began to sweat, strangely.
There were slight fluctuations permeating the air. Something was being distorted. As a mage he could tell.
The atmospherical mana...it was reacting to the boy's feelings.
"What, what's happening?"
'it'll happen again...!'
'What will?! No, it will!'
'This isn't me!
'Yes it is!
'This... doesn't belong to me!'
Then the whispering voice , like a devil on his shoulder fell silent.
'...'
The back and front between himself seemingly came to an end with this, and Reo heard something from the back of his head. It was the final sound of shattered glass.
And the devil whispered once more.
'...then just get rid of it.'
"Aaaargghhh!!!" Pushed to the very edge, Reo let out a loud cry.
And as if in resonance, the space shook, the walls of the chapel trembled as the whole underground structure, spanning from the chapel to all of the network tunnels, was drowned in a rumbling shudder.
The mana erupted and fluctuated. An immense pressure descended, crushing boulders and pebbles. The space around Reo's kneeling body was warped and distorted. It enshrouded his whole body like a flowing curtain. Strange wisps of black shadows rippled, permeating the air.
The sudden pressuring shift in atmosphere forced a shudder through the man as he dropped to his knees from above.
"Th-this is...!" It wasn't just a shudder, the man's whole body visibly trembled feverishly. Even if his understanding didn't fully grasp, his body, mind and innate survival Instinct recognized the feeling all to well .
It was fear.