"Huh?!" Lucien erupted, confused as to why the demon had prohibited the infusion. He looked around himself, but only the cursed man was before him.
’I’m not in that endless abyss?’ Lucien wondered, standing up from the ground. "What will I do now?" Lucien muttered, his eyes wandering around.
[Does it even matter? From what I recall, you used to be somewhat emotionless. Where did all that feistiness go?]
Lucien was immediately hit by the deep voice of the demon. He fell to the ground, his head pounding from the deafening voice.
A-agh!
He rolled on the floor, his hands and legs twitching in despair. "Wh—what’s going on?!" He stared at his feet as a strange purple mark spread across them.
The black cloak from the demon disappeared into thin air, and his skin began deteriorating. A thick smoke poured out from every pore on his body, and all he could do was stare in utter helplessness.
[That’s right. Without me, you would be facing this already. If the curse wills, it can spread from one host to another just like a contagious disease.]
Instantly, the spreading purple marks on his body glimmered and disappeared along with their effects. Lucien lay on the ground for a while, his body bathed in the soil.
He turned his head to the man beside him, who had begun groaning in agony. The smoke from his body had begun growing increasingly quickly, covering his body in a thick wall of gas.
Lucien lay helpless, tears rolling down his eyes as memories of his past life flooded in.
A silhouette of a young woman, long white hair that glowed in the dark, and deep blue eyes. There was an intense blizzard, and Lucien could only see his hand stretching forward, but with every step, the woman seemed to move further away.
The memory hit his head like a rock, and the demon’s laughter immediately filled his head.
[Yes, wallow in pain. It’s the best for you. You’re no longer a normal human; you can’t grow stronger in the same way that they do.]
Lucien was immediately brought back to the reality before him—the deteriorating man. The old man let out his last scream, and blood spurted out from every direction, bathing Lucien in its warmth.
His eyes widened, covered with blood as the demon’s taunting laughter grew even louder.
"What?... What!... What have I done!!!" Lucien screamed on the floor, watching the smoke dissipate, revealing nothing but the bones of the man and a pool of fresh blood beneath it.
Lucien’s eyes moved in an erratic manner, his voice being swallowed by his loud heartbeat.
He had just watched a man die. He had numerous options that would’ve helped, but he just couldn’t do anything. He gripped the loose sand mixed with blood beneath him tightly and pushed himself from the floor.
"Oh, so now you’re able to stand up," Lucien told himself in a cold tone, tears trickling down his cheeks.
"This body is utterly useless. I could have dispelled the curse with my mana, but I don’t have any."
"And now, I think I have the right to cry in anguish?" He wiped the tears off his eyes, a faint residue of blood-bathed sand sticking to his face.
"I don’t even know the man, so why do I feel like I just lost a loved one again?"
The faint laughter of the demon still echoed in the background, but Lucien paid it no mind. He was preoccupied, trying to comprehend what had just occurred.
The demon’s power was solely for mass destruction, and Lucien was beginning to understand that.
Lucien walked up to the shop, picked what little food he had left and tossed it into his mouth. Then, he looted a few other items before heading off deeper into the deserted land with no destination.
"Knowing Division Captain Vaelion—No, just Vaelion. He probably picked up on my demonic energy from before. If he’s able to sense Demonic Mana from hundreds of meters away, only a fool would believe he couldn’t sense an even higher amount standing right in front of him." He muttered, dragging his feet across the sand while packaging the food he had looted and strapping it onto his back.
*****
Somewhere at the Division’s HQ
Captain Vaelion sat before a stone with his sword embedded deep into the earth. He squeezed his face and closed his eyes to soothe himself.
"I gave him one chance, and he threw it away so easily." He paused, facing directly at the setting sun. "Very well, he’s no better than a curse and must be purged from this earth."
The Captain stood up and walked to his sword, pulling it out effortlessly. "Tonight, he shall be exterminated. I can’t exactly let a calamity run wild," he stated, a look of disgust surfacing on his face.
Suddenly, Vaelion’s body degraded into speed lines, and then, he disappeared into thin air. The rock before him cracked open, its bottom half already submerged into the Earth’s crust.
A jetpack sticker suddenly appeared on the rock and fused with it, leaving what looked like a permanent drawing on the rock.
*****
Lucien walked in an unsteady gait through an open field, his legs already giving out. A cold wind swept past, carrying everything in sight, including a few portions of Lucien’s rations.
"Damn, my food." Lucien raised his hand into the air in an attempt to grab them, but they had already flown too far away.
Lucien hit his legs occasionally, trying to stimulate them to keep working, but his attempts grew less effective over time.
"I can’t collapse here. I’ll be too vulnerable," he muttered, slurring through his words. "Hey, Wrath, if I let you take over, would you still expend my energy?" Lucien asked, expecting an answer from Wrath.
It seemed they had grown closer into a singular being, and hence, communicating directly through their thoughts had become easier than before.
Lucien heard Wrath chuckle faintly. He immediately held his ears, awaiting its deafening voice to cut through his eardrums.
[If you wish to grant me control over your body, I won’t complain.] Wrath laughed once more, this time much louder and more painful.
Lucien was too tired to move his mouth, and his legs had begun failing as well. "Tch... do you take me for a fool? I won’t fall for your deceptive tricks," he muttered, his body falling to the ground.
[It appears there’s a misunderstanding here. I don’t need your permission to take control... at least not right now.]