Words have power.
Everything someone says and thinks influences the spiritual world and that in turn affects the physical world. Especially spoken words.
And Ian's powers amplified the effect Ian's words had on others, on the world itself.
"Pest,
"Jump."
She jumped, strong fear evident in her eyes, as well as speakable agony.
"Crawl."
She fell to her knees and crawled on the floor in disgrace.
Unconsciously, tears that she could still control fell from her face. It wetted her makeup and caused all the mascara to liquid and slide all over her cheeks and face.
"Roll over."
Her body suddenly lost strength and collapsed to the floor. Once the boneless body fell onto the floor, it suddenly regained its lost strength and started rolling around on the floor.
Her hair was messed up, but because her hair was short, it wasn't as messy as it could have been, resembling a bird's nest rather than the rat's nest it could have been. And because the floor was regularly swept and moped as clean as new, she appeared no more unclean than she was before.
"Stand up."
A cold voice brimming with an inexplicable and irresistible power once more commanded.
The female body smelling of fear and dread instantly got up on its feet in one swift movement that would not have been possible with her own control.
Cold sweat uncontrollably broke out from Kari's body. Unstoppable quivers and trembles shook her body.
Deep purple peered into her, displeasure and anger spurted from them.
"Freeze."
All the trembling stopped instantly, as though they were only an illusion.
Kari's eyes widened. She felt suffocated.
With that one command, everything that was her froze in place. Even her heart stopped beating, hot yet frozen like a popsicle.
Horror and fear was lost to her as her life slowly slipped out from her fingertips.
Uncontrollable despair was all that remained of her cognition.
Ian watched with a pair of stone cold eyes, uncaring of her life and death. In fact, all he really wanted right now was to make her life worse than death.
Torment her, destroy her, let her taste what it's like to have one's heart torn to pieces the one they did to him when they took his family away from him forever.
Separated by the distance between life and death.
Ian, "…"
In order to stop thinking about the past that still drove him mad, Ian's mind uncontrollably thought up many good options.
Cut off her tongue so that she can never bring back any information to her organization.
Gorge out her eyes so that she can never use those filthy eyes to observe them.
Dismember her limbs so that she can never move again and act as a spy.
Skin her alive so that in her next life, she'll be more thin-skinned and never do such harmful things to another again.
His heart screamed to kill her right now, this instant.
A fiery feeling filled his chest, burning his rationality to ashes.
But Ian held himself back in the end.
She could prove to be useful to him.
After all, from her very own lips, she told him that the organization she belonged to… was theirs.
'So you have stretched your disgusting claws into my territory already. Truly fearless…' Ian sneered, hatred and blood churning in his heart, wanting to get out and go wild, but was heartlessly suppressed and trapped in place by Ian.
Ian breathed in and breathed out slowly.
…This will have to do for now.
The glowing purple in Ian's eyes deepened another level. Kari suddenly felt her mind going hazy before clearing up. For a second, she thought her mind was not hers.
'What was that?' Kari panicked at the unknown.
Restraining the rage and hatred in his heart, Ian stepped forward and said with a gentle smile that held an unnoticeable sarcasm.
"…We can't have you die just yet. You need to help me. I just thought of a wonderful idea—it'll be a whole new experience—you can even write it on your resume—if you're alive by the end. It's something you would never be able to experience otherwise. No need to thank me, it's what I should do. After all, I have the power."
Ian's polite and gentle smile blossomed like a spring breeze, yet it only sent a freezing wind towards Kari's heart.
Her heart raised into her throat. What was he up to?
"You'll be changing your career to that of a double agent."
The gentle and polite demeanor lifted from Ian's body as Ian tilted his head with an innocent smile and poked his side cheek cutely, blinking at the horrified Kari.
"Or more precisely, my agent now."
'Double… His… agent…?!' Kari wanted to shake her head, thinking of the horrors of her organization. But then, remembering her current situation…
She found herself between a rock and a hard place. As though given the choices of choosing between jumping into a volcano and burning to her death or jumping into the ocean and drowning to her death. Either way, she'll be in great danger and she won't benefit whatsoever.
Looking at her calculating eyes even on the verge of death, Ian felt contempt and boredom rising within him, as well as an icy ruthlessness.
'Did you think you had a choice in this matter? How laughable. What made her think I trusted her to let her go free… when she's still herself?' Ian thought coldly.
Ian glanced at her, but since his power sealed her mouth shut, Kari was incapable of making even a single sound let alone say anything.
The gentle and innocent-looking teenager watched as the face of his family's traitorous maid started turning purple and blue.
Ian continued, "Since you're not saying anything, I'll take that as your agreement."
His mouth opened and closed and then slowly morphed into a smirk.
"Breathe."
"Gasp—" Kari's chest violently heaved up and down as she finally took in that yearned for sweet breath. Humans naturally possess the ability to breathe, it's how they live, it's how they survive. At the same time, it was something everyone took for granted from the moment they were born into this world.
Just like how many people took for granted their ability to move their own body according to their own will and not others.
Now she finally understood what it felt like to be unable to dictate her own body, what it felt like to be unable to breathe when she wanted to, what it felt like to be alive and dead at the same time.
Her heart had stopped, but now it was beating again, all due to the mere words of one young man.
Standing there before her, watching Kari follow his commands like the puppet she was, he smiled as gently as always. His attractive, innocent-looking face and flawless skin gave everyone who looked at him a good first impression of him. He looked like a little angel who could never possibly do anything wrong.
However, at this moment, Kari felt as though he were the devil. Staring at her with those dark glowing purple eyes of his that lacked human warmth. He no longer seemed human to her.
'How deeply he hid himself…' Kari thought to herself tremblingly as fear and regret swallowed her mind and her spirit. Her will to fight never appeared once throughout this entire farce, from beginning to end, she had given up her resistance.
Helplessness weighed her down as hopelessly killed her will.
And as her own will weakened and her heart wavered, Ian's control over her strengthened.
Unlike Levi whose powers were naturally weak and limited—just using it on one person was strenuous—Ian's powers had no cap and it overbearingly bends everything to Ian's will no matter what.
So just using it on one person was a piece of cake for him.
It was so easy and effortless that it was like Ian was not using his powers at all.
Leisurely and relaxed, Ian's spell-like words sealed the other's fate.
"Sleep. And when you wake up, you will remember everything that you have done in the past, but your loyalty will be to me and me only. Everything you do and find out about your organization, you will report to me.
"Whatever I ask, you answer.
"Whatever I order, you do.
"Until your death will my powers release you."
Suddenly, Ian paused. He almost forgot about something important in his rage. While he is having fun, he shouldn't forget about his mother's inheritance that the other stole from his territory.
"Give me the item you stole."
Kari stretched out her arms reluctantly, finally starting to resist at the thought of her mission failing.
However, it was futile.
In her open palms sat a small jewelry box.
Taking it, Ian placed it securely in his own pocket.
Then he snapped his fingers.
Kari calmly closed her eyes. All fear gone from her eyes. They were the only part of her that could show her inner feelings and struggles whilst the rest of her only listened to Ian.
Ian snapped his fingers again.
Snap!
Kari dropped to the floor in a heap.
Indifferent, Ian left her there on the ground and walked away.
Leaving two shocked and stunned men behind.
Ian never forgot that his two subordinates were present. He had purposefully shown them his powers for he never intended to hide his special abilities from them.
Although it wasn't quite as Ian had planned it, they were bound to know of his secrets someday as his close, loyal followers.
Not to mention Shade who's always following him around.
So he decided he might as well make that "someday" "today".
Sling and Shade watched their liege calmly walking away without a care in the world after the shocking things he had just shown them.
While Sling was more shocked and confused than anything, Shade felt the same excitement and fanaticism arising inside of him now as it did that night.
His heart pounded in unreasonable extreme emotions that he cannot describe.
His instincts screamed for him to bow down to the ruler of darkness and pledge his undying loyalty.
Ever since that night when Ian showed him his powers for the first time, Shade knew that there was something special about Ian. Special as in not just about his powers, there was something inside of Ian, inside his soul, that attracted him to the point of losing his mind.
His inborn instincts acknowledged the other as his master.
Shade had always known about Ian's abilities from the moment he met him, though he hadn't been sure of his guesses.
But Sling never knew. Nor did he ever dream that Ian would have such an ability.
However, when Sling thought back to the day he met Ian where his body unconsciously moved by itself…
It turns out Ian had been using his power!
This was a huge thunderbolt in the clear skies to Sling who never believed in the supernatural or something as unreal as a special power.
Aware of the chaos running through his subordinates' minds, Ian said nothing to them regardless. He just waited for them to process everything.
Anyways, if they aren't able to accept it and continue to give their loyalty to him, Ian can always erase their memories. Since he grew somewhat fond of them, Ian decided against controlling them and turning them into his soulless puppets in that case.
Plus, if they choose to leave, it also goes to prove that Ian can still misjudge people. And Ian believes that he can never be wrong about anyone. He can understand and grasp the essence of every human's heart that he meets.
It wasn't just his naked eyes and brain that tells him things.
Ian's eyes flashed.
Truth be told, Ian had never shied away from using his powers in front of everyone, though most of the time, nobody notices.
The only reservation he could possibly have was using his powers in front of Levi. How was he suppose to explain the origin of his powers that came from Levi's family to Levi?
It's not like Ian could tell him that he died and was reborn, and that in their past life, everyone except Ian died and before Levi died, he passed down his family's blood-inherited powers to Ian.
There's no way Ian can tell him that, and Ian didn't want to let anyone know of the tragedy of the past. Because it will never happen again. Not on his watch.
In this world, Ian will never care for another other than his family and close ones.
Ian was never afraid of people thinking he was a monster because of his powers. To him, people were the real monsters, and… he never did deny that he was a monster.
But more than a monster, a vengeful ghost, who came back from hell to take revenge on the living, would be more fitting to describe him.
The only hassle would be if people tried to attack him and annoy him because of his special supernatural powers.
Even then, Ian only thought of that problem once and tossed it out of his mind easily. After all, there's really nothing he couldn't do with his powers.
If Ian wanted, he could go for world domination.
But it's a pity Ian wasn't interested.
Ian approached the open balcony, placing his hands on the cool iron railings, Ian leaned forward and looked up at the spot in the cloudy sky where the moon usually resides.
A soft, quiet whisper left the immature lips. Like fragrance, it swirled and drifted in the wind before dissipating.
"Brother…"