As though clouded by a thick mist of dread and veiled in the gloomy haze of the ever growing tides of hatred.
The room was overhauled by a dark profane feeling which hung heavily in the air as the void beast plagued the atmosphere with its melancholic cries of laughter.
"Did I strike a nerve there, oh great machiavellian trickster?" Oneiros asked mockingly, loud derisive jeers following closely behind his scornful words.
"Have my malevolent actions planted in your heart so great a fury that you quiver in the magnanimous rage borne by your soul?"
Like a myriad of echoes which clung onto one another, fore-running his words, Oneiros' voice thundered as though being resounded by an innumerable number of rambling mouths.
Though the multifarious voices uttered the same words, they all rang out in a crazed disharmony, with some overtaking others, while other voices fell behind.
The castle thundered in the horrific echoes of disorganised sounds as the void chief spoke.
"Right now, I can tell you hate me with everything in your being, Artifact hunter."
Astravan still remained standing, the walls of the castle cracking under the horrendous voice of the void beast.
"Your bleeding fist tells me that much!"
"Right now I can tell that you despise me with the very flames of your soul."
"Your furious quivers tell me that much. Oneiros' voice resonated even louder, causing Trick to hold onto his ears in order to cut off the ear bleeding noise.
"Right now, I can tell you detest my very existence with every thought in your mind."
"Your lowered head tells me that much!"
Oneiros then took a momentary pause, his voice revertebrating a light chuckle as he waited before speaking.
"And right now—" His disoriented voices then came together, every echo morphing concomitantly to become one loud statement.
"I CAN TELL YOU WANT ME DEAD!…"
"Your engulfing blood lust tells me that much."
The void chief finished his taunting words, leaving an odd feeling of tranquil silence to fill the room.
'Is he done?' Trick stared at every end of the hall's ceiling, waiting in expectancy to hear the grim voice of Oneiros.
But he didn't need to wait for long.
"Despite your unchained fury of emotions, Artifact hunter." Oneiros' voice rang out once more, this time adopting the calm nature the void beast normally adopted.
"You shouldn't be worried about killing me…" A sinister huff then escaped from the lips of Oneiros as he halted his words, taking a momentary pause.
"You should be worried about your very own survival!"
WHOOSH!
Trick's body immediately jolted in panic as a sinister wave of void essence billowed though the castle hall, washing over him in the process.
His crimson eyes shone with their red glow as his body burned with a familiar sense of urgency. His mind then overturned with a multitude of terrifying thoughts before deciding on one which summed up their predicament.
'This is bad!' In a flash of hurried speed, Trick turned around to look behind him, his face creased in horror at what he saw meters in the distance behind them.
Like a constellation of stars that shot across the unfathomable distance of the night sky, Trick saw a horrific sight, its constituents numerous in number.
As though being pulled from a horrendous horror movie, grotesque in appearance, a multitude of ghostly beasts emerged from the castle floor, phasing through the ground, till their sickening figures could fully enter the hall.
"What's that holiday you humans normally go mad over?" With a laugh, Oneiros' voice echoed the question.
"Ahh yes, Christmas." The void chief continued joyfully in remembrance.
"To all who stand in the hall." Oneirous' voice grew louder as the hideous monsters continued to fill up the castle halls.
"I'm giving you an early Christmas—" A low chuckle then echoed across the castle as Oneiros continued his words.
"I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE GIFT."
Trick stared in pure shock, observing the multifarious number of monsters that troped into the hall, all the monsters emerging some meters behind him, Athan and his master.
Their numbers only grew greater and their forms grew more and more sickening, some were amoeboid and shapeless, lacking any distinguishable form.
While others took the likeness of fabled beasts like large werewolves and headless husks of walking corpses. They are almost like…
Creatures from nightmares!
Trick paled in fright, his eyes wondering in observation until it landed on Athan who floated in the air beside him.
However, the mysterious bunny remained motionless, paying the now emerging monsters no mind. His gaze instead remained cold and emotionless, fixed into one thing—
ASTRAVAN.
'Isn't he seeing these horrendous monsters?' Trick wondered in bafflement at Athan's strange indifference to the calamitous show that was currently playing out in front of his very eyes.
'Am I the only one who can see—"
ROAR!!!
Trick tried to think and solve the strange puzzle which was now unfolding at a swift rate, but his thoughts along with his composure were gravely tossed aside by the thunderous roar.
Like an ant crushed by the magnanimous weight of a bison, Trick's face formed a frightful scowl as his eyes met the source of the loud screeching roar.
The most horrific and obviously most powerful monster that had emerged stood, its gaze unmoving from Trick.
The ground quaked violently and the walls of the castle hall shook in rapidly under the thunderous bellow of the monstrous beast.
It towered above above the rest of the monsters, stretching to a height of what looked to Trick like over 15 feet.
Its build was even more impressive.
The monster which seemed to command every other beast which stood in the halls was at the pinnacle of what the word "muscularity" represented.
Its muscular packs stood unclothed, appearing like two massive shields upon its wide chest, and its abs tightened against each other, numbering into eight chiseled layers of beastly muscularity.
The monster wore a silver armory which glistened with a radiant metallic luster. Its polished edges reflecting both status and pride.
And in two of its four large hands, laid a minacious looking weapon, a large wooden club whose brown surface was dyed at its end with the red stains of blood.
But two things set this savage monster apart from the rest. The latter being the most fearsome.
Its grotesque green skin, and—
Its three heads which looked in Trick's direction, a wicked smile stretching through each's face as the monster seemingly observed the boy with interest.