Dion stared at the sinister, 'human, non-human' thing, black saliva dripping from its mouth—no, not saliva, but poison. The leaves it touched instantly withered to yellow. A hissing sound emanated from its every orifice, assaulting Dion's senses and making his skin crawl.
"Definition of an abomination," Dion muttered, his throat dry.
"Take Karen and run," Dion whispered urgently to Liana. "I'll hold him back."
"Run? Where can she go? You haven't awakened your bloodline. How can you stop me?" Luke mocked, a mischievous smile playing on his lips, his voice laced with amusement. However, he watched Dion's body movement.
"Just do as I say," Dion growled at the stunned Liana.
Liana hesitated for a moment before lifting Karen from Dion's back and sprinting away, leaving Dion alone with Luke.
Surprisingly, Luke did not chase after them. He just stared at Dion with a playful glint flashing past his eyes.
"You know, you're a weird one. Your intuition is sharp and that baffles me. I thought the elf would be the first to see through me with her 'eyes of truth'. But you, without a bloodline, noticed me earlier," Luke, walking slowly around Dion in a circle, said while pointing at him.
"Maybe she noticed something off but wasn't sure," Dion said with his eyes fixed on the moving Luke while maintaining his position.
"You're right. Elves have the eyes of truth and she might have noticed something off. But what about you? How did you know something was wrong with me? And the way you reacted… like you were sure there was something wrong with me," Luke spoke, confusion evident in his tone.
"Sure?" Dion gave a short laugh. "I wasn't. You see, I'm a paranoid dude who always observes my surroundings, people around me, and things around me. Of course, I'm not trained, so I don't capture every wrong thing. But you gave yourself out."
"Me?" Luke halted in his steps from walking in a circle around Dion. "I don't know if you are buying time for that elf but go on. How did I give myself out?"
"And why should I tell you? If I tell you, I will die. If I don't, I still die. So, what's the need for a long talk?" Dion arched an eyebrow, his eyes glowing with fierce light.
"Because I learn from my mistakes. I learn to be better. Every error is a sign of imperfection and a flaw in my deceit. Flawed deceit is unacceptable for the Nagi. The serpents' deceit is meant to be flawless. If I can't trick a bunch of teenagers, how am I going to trick dark sorcerers, who have started dabbling with blood magic? I want to be the king of deceit!" Luke roared passionately with a deep voice under the dim moonlight of the night, his sharp fangs gleaming and his split tongue dancing and wagging in his mouth.
Luke turned calm. "As for the benefit of being my test subject and telling me the mistake of my deceit, I will grant you a quick death."
Dion sighed in resignation. "Fine. I will tell you. It was at the beginning. In the beginning, you began painting me as the ruthless demon while projecting yourself as the saint. You automatically became suspicious in my eyes. Do you know how they win elections in my village?
In my village, there is a fair amount of vote casting. So, every candidate — good and bad — projects themselves as the saint the village needs. However, in the dark, they are worse than the fiends, demons, and devils. That just shows me that in this world, a saint is just a figment of imagination, used as a mask to get support and control the public. That's what you did. To control Valka and get Liana on your side, you need the 'saint' mask to lead us to where you want. Unfortunately, Liana is an elf."
Luke narrowed his eyes at Dion while standing still in his position before he continued his steps in a circle. "What a nice philosophy. From what you are saying, all saints are hypocritical devils wearing masks in public. That means I never acted naturally. How about you–"
Luke didn't finish his speech before he lunged at Dion with an inhuman speed.
Dion saw him coming but didn't move.
'Let this thing work or I'm dead,' Dion thought while holding his breath.
Luke caught Dion by the throat and lifted him. "I guess Valka is right. You have no bloodline or you would have dodged that. Congratulations, you sacrificed yourself for Karen. You are now a saint and have broken your philosophy. Wait, did you think I would chase after them instead of you?"
Luke's tongue wagged at Dion's face, sending a nauseating smell that assaulted Dion's senses. Dion felt his breath shortening.
Dion swung the box at Luke's face in reply. Luke twisted his head to dodge.
That was the moment Dion was waiting for. He kept the box unlocked all this while. While throwing the box at Luke's face, he pushed the cover open with his thumb. His other hand swept through the interior of the box, grabbed his previous shackles and clamped them onto Luke's wrist.
The empty box flew past Luke's face and smashed into a big behind Luke and shattered into fragments.
Luke was lost for a second before swiftly turning to Dion.
Dion instantly bashed his face with a punch, breaking away from Luke's grasp. He quickly scrambled away from Luke.
Luke's mouth was still agape from the turn of the event.
"You're not a regular human. How? Valka wouldn't lie to me. Did you guys plan it? I doubt that," Luke rambled in confusion with his eyes fixed on the shackles.
Then he raised his head and gazed at Dion, who just stood up. "Is this your plan? Locking my hand with a white crystal shackle to seal my power and then kill me? Unfortunately, this is a low-quality white crystal shackle. It can only seal a portion of my bloodline and powers. But do you know what you granted me?"
Dion just stared at him with emotionless eyes.
Luke shook the shackles which clinked in response. "A weapon!"
But Luke felt a restraint in his arm when he tried to raise the chain. When he bent his head to look at the origin of the restraint, Luke saw that the other end of the chain shackle was clamped to the root of a tree. When Dion fell, he also locked the other to the protruding, thick root of a tree.
'He's distracted!' Dion thought.
Dion grabbed the fallen thick branch of a tree the moment Luke's eyes left him and lunged at Luke. When Luke raised his head, Dion was already in his face like a sprinting tiger seething with controlled aggression and bestial wildness.
Luke crossed his two arms to shield his face.
'That's it!'
Dion instantly activated his newly awakened eye intent with a thought.
[Eyes of Dread activated!]
A glowing red eyes abruptly greeted Luke. It sent a chill down his spine. All his nerves trembled. Even his brain short-circuited in fear. Luke's eyes widened in shock and his arms faltered for a moment. That was all Dion needed.
Dion slammed the stick with all his strength into Luke's head through the gap of his arm. The stick snapped into two and Dion crashed behind Luke.
Luke's skull caved in and his arms drooped aside. He fell slowly with wide eyes. He still couldn't believe the simple and coordinated way he died. Instant death!
Dion scrambled from Luke.
When Dion eyes Luke's dead body, fear still assaults him.
From the beginning, it was all a game of wit to him, the weaker being. When Luke choked him, he already just verified Luke was many times stronger than him. Dion felt like he was trapped with a chain collar even with his improved strength. The rune he saw on the back of Luke's wrist was the final glaring proof; Luke had already entered the level of a runic body.
That's why he had to use his intelligence in an insidious manner which depended heavily on seamless execution of his running plan:
From throwing the box to veil Luke's vision, to swiftly opening it and strapping the white crystal shackle to his wrist which sealed his bloodline. Then anchoring him sneakily to a tree root during his stunned state. Lastly, scrambling close to a strong fallen tree.
Location and smooth execution, two indispensable necessities in the plan. Or to be precise, he made use of his surroundings to his advantage.
Luke getting distracted and not noticing the root shackle was a plus.
While he was talking to Luke, Dion formulated the plan. From Ella's book, he already read that the shackle from the cave prison is a 'white crystal shackle', used to seal bloodlines and dark sorcerers and there are different grades.
Dion exhaled deeply and looked around.
An abrupt, slight itch on his arm made him stretch and brush it casually. But the itch just became intense. Dion shifted his cloak aside and looked at his arm; a three-line scratch from three nails that was oozing with black blood lined up on his shoulder. A black blight spread from it, creeping over his shoulder.
'Damn! Poison.'
He suddenly felt dizzy. Dion tried to shake it off but it wasn't going. His vision spun and turned blurry. His head became heavy and clouded.
'I can't sleep now. It's still night. If I sleep now, I will wake up on the other side. Worst of all, I will never wake up from it — a death sleep from poison.'
Dion staggered and held onto the trunk of a tree for support. He shook his head crazily but that didn't help. His eyes abruptly shut and he crashed on the floor.
'There are two ways I will die: death from the poison or being eaten by a beast.' That was his last thought.