"1"
Mr. Handsome created small cubes of flesh from Teyat's body with thin horizontal and vertical lines, which emerged from the dark flames originating from his right hand and formed symbols.
He walked coldly toward the stone that was very close to his right side.
As he walked with cold, slow steps, he looked at the stone with a blank expression.
On the coal-colored stone, there was a classic plastic chair with arms, gray in color.
Yes, Teyat didn't notice this plastic chair. Because the stone, which he thought belonged to him, was right in front of him, he didn't focus on the gray-toned, armrested plastic chair.
Mr. Handsome closed the short distance between himself and the gray stone with slow steps, approached the stone, and stopped just in front of it. He sat down on the ground, crossed his legs, rested his elbow on one of his crossed legs, opened his hand, and placed his chin in it.
With a hopeless and emotionless expression, he looked at Teyat.
The time he spent looking at Teyat with a cold, indifferent expression was brief. He shifted his posture, keeping only his legs crossed. And once again, strange symbols appeared on his right hand.
Black flames or smoke continued to emerge from the symbols. At that moment, Mr. Handsome used his right hand's index finger to cut the thumb of his left hand. However, he did this act right in front of himself. Because of the cut, his blood, black in color, flowed continuously toward the black liquid from which black flames were emerging, not in drops but in a seamless stream.
And suddenly, something changed in the black liquid. A thin current began to flow from where Mr. Handsome had poured his black blood toward where Teyat's body had been torn apart. When the thin stream reached Teyat's severed flesh, the same connection that had been formed when his body was split in two occurred, with the black liquid creating a bridge between the two bodies, now working to reassemble Teyat's severed flesh.
Oddly, nothing had happened to his decapitated head. It remained in place as if it hadn't been cut at all.
The black liquid formed a connection between Teyat's severed flesh and began to merge the pieces. Soon, the pieces of flesh completed Teyat's headless body.
The black liquid merged the flesh pieces. His headless body, complete except for his missing head, stood upright like a puppet for a few seconds, then suddenly, as if gaining consciousness, it came back to life.
Teyat, as a result of the pain he felt in an instant, found himself staring at Mr. Handsome, who was sitting cross-legged just in front of the gray stone, with his left hand raised, black blood flowing from it, his right elbow resting on his knee, and his chin propped in his hand, glaring at him with a mocking and condescending expression.
Traumatized and with uncertain eyes, Teyat looked at Mr. Handsome, raised his hands toward his abdomen, and turned his vague, traumatized gaze toward his hands.
"Huh?"
Hearing the sound, Mr. Handsome pointed his index finger, the one he had rested his chin on and from which dark flames and symbols were emerging, toward Teyat and directed it downward, tracing a line parallel to Teyat's body.
With a swift movement, he made a sharp cut across Teyat's legs with the thin line that emerged from his index finger.
"2"
Teyat, his legs now partially severed, suddenly collapsed to the ground like a stone falling forward and screamed in agony.
With eyes wide open in terror and pain, he stared at his smoothly severed, split legs and screamed in unbearable pain.
Mr. Handsome, not wanting to prolong Teyat's suffering, ended the excruciating pain after a few seconds. With a horizontal line cut precisely across the middle of Teyat's head, his headless body, already split at the legs, was now cleaved in two from the chest downward.
Again, Teyat was resurrected by the blood Mr. Handsome had spilled.
An unseen force pulled him to his feet. Examining his body in a state of trauma once again, Teyat faced Mr. Handsome, the one who had mercifully killed him a few seconds earlier to spare him more pain.
This time, Mr. Handsome paused for a moment, thinking of how to dissect Teyat's headless body in a way that would cause the most pain. And as if he had just come up with an idea, he smiled charmingly.
"3"
This time, Teyat's body was sliced into six pieces. His black blood mixed with the black liquid.
A long time passed.
"365"
Teyat had been dismembered, killed, and resurrected hundreds of times, sometimes enduring seconds, sometimes milliseconds of agonizing pain.
And as Mr. Handsome prepared to make him taste death once again, aiming for the thousandth repetition, a normal voice, which shook his soul, body, and mind to the core and filled him with fear so deep he prayed for his own annihilation, echoed.
"Enough."
This single word, spoken in a calm tone, altered the very nature of the 'Moon Soul' realm.
The magnificent gray-light-emitting moon turned blood-red. The black flames burned with even greater intensity, soaring upward. The black liquid began to ascend toward the dark sky with incredible speed, as if reversed and aligned in a cylindrical form, continuing its rapid ascent.
Meanwhile, countless souls, flying and hovering just below the height of the gray rock, which emitted faint red flames from their eyes, floated around.
In terror, he couldn't move a muscle. His eyes, overwhelmed with fear, widened in horror.
Sweat poured down his face, flowing in milliseconds. His teeth, shaken by the sound of that calm voice, began to tremble.
No, not just his teeth, his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
But it was as if an invisible force compelled him, despite his unwillingness, to turn his wide, fearful eyes toward the source of the voice. No matter how much he wanted to reject the owner of that voice with every fiber of his being, no matter how hard he tried to keep his gaze away from the person who terrified him, this force was stronger than him.
Shaking and drenched in sweat, he slowly turned his face toward the source of the voice.
Sitting on the simple, gray plastic chair, which rested on the coal-colored stone, was a figure whose whole body was made of darkness except for the fiery red flames blazing from their eyes, a flame that crossed their face diagonally toward their temples in a circular pattern. This figure wore a gray veil adorned with incredibly beautiful and intricate golden patterns that covered the back of their head, with a crown of sharp, thorn-like spikes burning in red flames, horizontally aligned with the figure's head. The crown perfectly matched the length and width of the figure's head.
A being with an overwhelming aura, who exuded sheer terror, appeared on the chair—a being whose mere presence made Mr. Handsome's breath stop.
"Just do your duty."
And with that, the figure vanished, leaving behind a trail of dark smoke.
The Moon Soul realm returned to its original state.
Mr. Handsome continued to stare in terror at the chair, which now appeared empty and plain.
•
"Oh, come on, when will I die again? I'm running out of patience for my next dismemberment. Haha."
Still in shock, Mr. Handsome stared at Teyat, trembling.
What he saw was the dark figure, now reveling in the pain, smiling as if they took pleasure in the agony. Standing tall before him, looking at him with a tired but faintly smiling expression, Teyat had become the monster hidden in the darkness.
"Huh? What's wrong? You were just laughing at my dismemberment earlier. Now you're trembling like a coward, unable to do anything. Come on, come on, let's go."
Teyat said with a calm, gentle tone but laced with mockery.
Mr. Handsome remained silent.
"Oh, okay. If you won't come, I'll come to you."
Teyat, cold-blooded and calm, took slow steps toward Mr. Handsome, the heir of the darkness, who was trembling in fear.
"Did you enjoy it? Oh, by the way, I forgot to thank you. Thank you for fulfilling my wish, Mr. Handsome. So, did you enjoy it?"
Since the distance between them was so short, he stood right in front of him.
"STAY AWAY!"
Mr. Handsome broke down. His realization of why he feared Teyat so much was because of the unimaginable pressure, the unknown force that came with his presence. From that moment, he understood the meaning behind the actions he hadn't seen, understanding fully that Teyat was indeed the heir to the darkness.
And suddenly, he began pleading.
"Darkness' last heir, my lord, I apologize for my disrespect! Please forgive me! Forgive me!"
His act of groveling was exaggerated and full of desperation.
Teyat's mocking face twisted into an even more terrifying and condescending expression.
"Oh, sure, you're forgiven. But the task you discarded like garbage for your own pleasure… I'm sure the God of Darkness is ashamed of you."
Mr. Handsome's eyes widened in horror.
"H-Huh? No! No, he can't be ashamed! My God can't be ashamed of me! Oh my God, no! What have I done?! I want to disappear, I'm so ashamed! I've become a disgrace just for my own pleasure... No, this can't be!"
He acted like a madman, moving around frantically. At that moment, a hand touched his shoulder.
Teyat's dark face offered a sincere smile.
"It's alright; there's a solution for this as well. And I know the solution."
"Ah? A-are you serious? Are you telling the truth? Is there really a way to make up for it?"
"Of course. All you need to do is complete your final duty, reject this task, and resign. That's it. And everything will be fine. Trust me. I was personally inspired by the Darkness itself."
Mr. Handsome's eyes shone with hope. He trusted him because he knew very well that the God of Darkness had always made a distinction with the last heir of the Darkness, separating him from other souls. Be it through the powers he received or other distinctions, it was undeniable.
In a burst of joy, he shouted.
"A-alright! Let's get started!"
Suddenly, he snapped his fingers twice, and thin, coal-colored stones appeared, rising toward the plastic chair, though not touching each other.
Then, he suddenly pressed his thumb right in the middle of Teyat's forehead. A black droplet of liquid appeared in the exact center of his forehead, and a similar black droplet shape appeared on the surface of the coal-colored stone.
"Huh? What just happened?"
As Mr. Handsome, eager to fulfill his final task with hope, clapped his hands once more, a flood of unknown and new knowledge rushed into Teyat's mind.
Then, with another snap of his fingers, a book enveloped in dark smoke suddenly appeared. The book, as if seeing a long-lost friend, opened itself and, with its blackened pages, rushed toward Teyat's chest, embracing him tightly.
"Yes! You are the last heir of the Darkness. Now I am fully convinced."
"Then let's do what we need to."
Mr. Handsome gave a sincere and reassuring smile. Without hesitation, he took Teyat's hand. In that moment, within the realm known as the 'Moon Soul,' everything except for Teyat and Mr. Handsome began to be absorbed into the book as though it were a vortex, pulling in everything.
Most of the realm, conquered by darkness, vanished. Only a simple, plain void of darkness remained. In this void stood Teyat, Mr. Handsome, and the floating book, still emitting dark smoke, beside Teyat.
"Now, I will send you where you need to go. Good luck, and thank you for giving me the solution."
"Alright, let's begin."
For the final time, Mr. Handsome snapped his fingers. The white space began to fade away slowly.
"Thank you for everything, heir of the Darkness. And... Oh mighty God of the Darkness, I reject the sacred duty you have given me and hereby resign, resign, resign."
In his final moments of duty, he smiled at Teyat. However, he noticed something was wrong. The once reassuring, sincere face of Teyat now held an expression of cold detachment, but beneath it, there was a mocking grin of crushing superiority.
"Oh, whoops, seems I gave you the wrong solution. Right now, the God of Darkness is probably furious that you rejected your duty as 'the guide of the Darkness.' I'm sure he's angry that you disregarded the order he gave you so completely. Ahh, how unfortunate..."
Teyat chuckled mockingly.
"Hehe, stuck in an endless cycle of suffering... Well, good luck to you too, Mr. Fool."
The expression on Mr. Handsome's face, right before he entered the eternal cycle of agony due to the curse he received from rejecting his task—manipulated by Teyat—was the same as that of someone whose trust had been shattered by betrayal, a moment of pure, bewildered shock.
" I... don't understand?"