A tense silence engulfed Theodor's old shop for a moment as Adam stood frozen before the ominous button. Dust particles floated around his ethereal body in a gentle waltz as his facial features shifted.
Gradually, his lips curled into a smirk, and his eyes blazed with a fire that had always burned in his heart: the fire of defiance.
He had defied death thirteen years ago on that tree, using madness to overcome the bear. Then, in Gaston's dreadful cave, choosing mutual destruction over defeat. Against Ignatius, Shepard, Vivian, and the Beast Emperor. Finally, he defied his own madness with Misha's help, leading him to become who he is today.
'That's who I want to become,' he thought, Misha's image flashing before his eyes as his smile broadened to reach his ears.
Simultaneously, his mana hummed to life in his circuits. An ethereal glow encased his hand the next moment.
"I don't want to!"
