𝒩𝑶𝑣ℯ𝓵xt.𝒞𝑜𝐌

Weird-shaped tentacles formed from the black walls as they extended from all angles, quickly surrounding Kai. The latter didn’t hesitate to quickly move away before they could touch him.

Using his senses and vision, he dodged the tentacle attacks skillfully.

‘Why does this feel familiar… Tsk…’ He cursed as he remembered his fight with the giant octopus back in the Frozen Plains. However, the black tentacles didn’t concern him at the moment, what concerned him was Grey who had vanished somewhere.

Kai felt slightly irritated considering how the situation shifted again without him predicting it properly. The only reason he didn’t swiftly kill Grey was that he wanted to know more about what Grey wanted from Eva’s talent. In hindsight, Kai was certain it had to do with weapons and perhaps it’s something related to Origin Artifacts.

But, Grey already had Origin Artifacts and probably the finest ones too. However, he seemed hell on bent on getting whatever Eva had. That didn’t sit well with Kai as he knew that Origin Artifacts weren’t simply weapons, they were far more dangerous than that.

For example, looking at Kai’s Wretched Heart, the sword is extremely strong. So strong in fact that merely touching it could cut a limb or slice through hard rocks. It was unbelievably sharp. What makes it even scarier, however, is the fact that the sword would only get stronger the stronger the user who was wielding it. Even more than that, most Origin Artifacts come with glaring, lethal flaws that could destroy the user as much as they could destroy the opponent. Those weapons don’t differentiate between friends and foes.

‘If Grey really wants a weapon… It won’t be a mere weapon… Tsk, I need to find him quickly.’ Cursing inwardly, Kai jumped in the air as he dodged another tentacle before landing on the other side.

Looking back, the tentacles had suddenly shifted back and interconnected again, closing the place Kai came from.

It seemed that Kai’s theory was right, whoever the Origin User who created this stuff was, they weren’t trying to kill Kai, they simply wanted to cage him away from Grey.

Looking at the wall, Kai approached it and touched it with his fingers. It easily sunk in as if he was touching pure rubber. Punching it, the punch couldn’t penetrate it. So, Kai pulled out Wretched Heart and tried to slice through.

However, even when he sliced it, it didn’t work. The sword attack was absorbed easily. So, Kai stood there, deep in thought.

This wall was certainly made out of shadows. However, for better or worse, these shadows didn’t seem to belong to any object or person as they exist alone. That meant two things, the first one is that they are technically not shadows and more of a formation of shadows using Origin. The second thing is that they don’t seem to need a light source to exist as the corridors of the castle are extremely dark.

However, that’s when Kai thought of an idea.

‘To how much extent do these shadows not follow the laws of physics?’ Thinking in his head, he quickly went into practical experimenting.

Opening the palm of his hand, Kai formed a blob of light from his Light Talent and then exposed it to the shadows. The moment he did that, a hole appeared in the black wall. The hole wasn’t big. When Kai got the blob of light even closer, the hole grew even bigger.

Seeing that his theory was right, Kai quickly increased the size of the blob as he quickly opened a huge hole that he could pass through. Then, without waiting, he dashed after Grey. He had spent too much time trying to figure out how to get out of that black cage. Letting that man run away would be troublesome.

***

“Hah… Hah… That bastard was at least helpful for once…” Grey groaned as he moved through the dark corridors of the castle. His injuries were heavy and he felt as if he was about to lose consciousness.

However, at the same time, his injuries were quickly healing as he moved toward his next target.

Quickly, he reached the conference room and walked inside. The place was completely turned into a black prison. Looking around, Grey put his hand on his ear and said.

“Where is the Lavine girl?”

“Hey, hey, don’t think I’m helping you, Grey. I just find your death happening this quickly a really bad ending to the show.”

“Just tell me where the fuck she is.” He responded.

“Hmm, what would I get in return if I do?” The mysterious figure asked with an amused tone.

“Tsk… You want ‘that’, right? I will give it to you. Just let me get what I want.”

“Ok, fine, fine. I will let you have what you want.” The figure replied. An instant later, the walls of the shadow prison started moving again as a human-sized hole appeared in one of them.

Eva noticed the hole and squinted her eyes feeling fishy from it. But, she still wanted to leave this place so she could only walk out of there.

At the same time, another hole appeared in another section of the black walls.

“Now, what is this?” Kaya, munching on some potato chips she had with her, stood up and walked toward the door.

The two women left the dark prison at the same time and looked at each other.

“Oh?” They seemed to be slightly confused as to why they were allowed out.

“How did you get out?”

“How did YOU get out? Did you kill the Executioners?” Eva asked back.

“Yes, you?”

“Done deal.”

“Good. Hmm, well, if we’re out…” As she was about to finish her words, Kaya noticed the presence of a man.

“Oi, fucker! I said only the Lavine girl!” Grey Cursed.

“But I never agreed to that. Well, good luck~” The dark figure replied before he cut the connection.

“Curse you…” Grey grumbled before cracked his fingers. It seems that he won’t be able to get what he wants that easily.

“Are you that ‘Grey’ guy?” Kaya asked coldly as her pressure increased slowly.

“It’s him,” Eva replied. “But, if he’s here… Where is…” Eva’s face changed slightly with worry. But, luckily, the mask hid that face.

“The Black Phantom… is dead. I killed him.” Grey said with a grin.

Those mere words alone made Kaya and Eva’s hearts stop for a second. Before their brains could even process what he said and determine whether it was bullshit or the truth, their hearts shuddered at those words.

But, it didn’t take them that long to realize that Grey was lying. Kai’s aura was still alive and well somewhere in the castle, they could feel it.

“Liar,” Eva said coldly as she felt even angrier now. How dare this imbecile talk about her beloved like that? Utterly unforgivable!

“Oi, fuckface. Who do you think you are?” Kaya said.

After that, Kaya crossed her arms and using her powers, summoned a huge tiger head. As for Kaya, she manifested a hundred swords around her.

‘Nobody will stop me from getting what I want… No one!!’ Grey’s eyes sharpened before he dashed toward the two. Screw his injuries, these two girls will go down!