"Why… are you doing this?" Ereskia growled through clenched teeth, one hand clutching her chest. Her entire body trembled, wracked with pain, but her blue eyes burned.

Not with fear, but instead, with anger and hatred.

Raw, seething, and unrelenting hatred.

But Lucian didn't flinch. If anything, her defiance only thrilled him further. His grin stretched wider, sick with madness, his fever-bright eyes gleaming as he drank in her suffering like wine.

Slowly, deliberately, he raised his hand, and clenched it into a fist.

Ereskia's body jolted.

The parasite latched to her core responded at once to Lucian's command, burrowing deeper, its cursed tendrils stabbing into her heart like molten knives. Pain tore through her in waves, white-hot and merciless, flooding her limbs, burning through her veins, her nerves.

"ARRRGHHHH!! LUCIAN!!"

Ereskia scream ripped from her throat, her fangs bared as tears streamed down her face, tears not of sorrow, but fury.

And Lucian?

He just laughed.

He laughed like a maniac. A broken, manic sound that echoed through the chamber like a chorus of devils.

And just like that, the more she screamed, the more he howled, giddy with the chaos and pain and torture he'd unleashed.

"SISTER!!" Larpard cried out, stumbling forward—

Only for Lucian to twist his hand.

Larpard dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.

"UGHHHH!!! F-FUCK—!!" he gasped, crumpling to the floor, his body seizing violently. His arms wrapped around his chest, like he was trying to hold himself together while something invisible tore him apart. His legs thrashed against the stone, tail bristled, his face contorted in agony, sweat pouring from every pore.

Now they both lay there.

Twitching, writhing.

Like prey on the butcher's table, helpless beneath the knife, laid bare before the monster in human skin.

Meanwhile, Lucian towered over them, power radiating from every inch of him.

And yet… not once did either of them beg.

Not for mercy.

Not for their lives.

Not even to make the pain stop.

Because even in this hell, they would not give him that satisfaction.

"UGH…!" Ereskia gasped, her breath ragged, pain surging through her like lightning. "My father treated you like a brother... like family! And this… this is what you do to him? To us?!"

Lucian froze.

At the mention of Ereskia's father, the twisted smile vanished from his face instantly.

And for a moment, something flickered behind his eyes. Anger. But suddenly, his hand shot up to his temple, clutching it, as if struck by his sudden migraine again.

"Tch." He clicked his tongue in irritation, then snarled.

The rage in his expression twisted, redirected, all of it toward Ereskia.

BAM!

His boot slammed into her gut with brutal force. A ruthless, powerful kick. The shockwave from the kick shook the entire chamber.

The blow sent Ereskia flying, crashed into a stone pillar with a deafening crack. The column shattered under the impact, dust and debris exploding outward.

"BLARGH—!" Ereskia coughed, blood pouring from her lips as she crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"SISTER!!" Larpard cried out. His claws scraped against the stone as he tried to rise. "You bastard! I'll kill you! LUCIAN! I'LL FREAKING KILL YOU!!"

Lucian turned to him, eyes blazing.

"Oh? Can you?"

CRACK!

The sound of bones breaking.

Another kick, faster than Larpard could react.

The boy was launched into the far wall with a sickening crunch.

"URRGHH—BLARGH!!"

Blood burst from his mouth as his body slumped to the floor, twitching, broken.

And then… Lucian stepped toward Ereskia.

He crouched beside her, cold fingers lifting her chin. Her face was smeared with blood and dust, but her eyes, those defiant, burning eyes, still glared up at him without flinching.

Lucian grinned.

Then he laughed.

A low, broken cackle at first. Then louder, into a shrill, deranged laugh. It cracked through the chamber like shattering glass.

"Your father?" he sneered. "Ha… HAHAHA! That fool! That pathetic, sanctimonious piece of shit!"

His eyes flared, budging, spittle flew from his lips as his laughter turned to a roar of hatred.

"He called me brother. Brother! And then he stabbed me in the back! ME! After I opened his eyes! After I shared the truth, the path, the way forward!"

"And what did he do? Not only did he rejected it, mocked it, he even threatened me! He insulted the very god I serve! That blind, pathetic man, too scared to embrace power, he spat in the face of divinity!"

"So, in the end, I did what I had to do."

"What..." Ereskia exclaimed, her body trembling. "...what are you talking about…?"

Lucian released her.

Thud.

Her head dropped, face slamming into the cold stone. Blood smeared her cheek. Grit scraped her skin. But still, she pushed herself up, her arms quaking under the effort.

And then, she saw it.

Lucian stepped back, stood tall, and with one savage motion, he tore apart his coat, threw it away. Just like that, the very uniform of the Guild he led, the proud mantle of Shadowfang, was ripped to shreds. Beneath it, his shirt followed, until bare skin met the dungeon air.

Ereskia's breath caught in her throat.

Her eyes widened, stretched in utter disbelief.

"...What...?" she whispered, frozen.

Because what she saw was beyond horror, beyond even the worst nightmares she could conjure.

There, burned into Lucian's chest, glowing with a sinister brilliance, was a mark, a jagged, black cross, crowned with six sprawling wings. Each wing shimmered with a corrupt, celestial gleam, as if the light itself had been tainted. The symbol pulsed, radiating waves of twisted energy.

Darkness and divinity. Salvation and damnation. All fused into one sacred, cursed emblem.

Lucian spread his arms wide, as if basking in the presence of unseen gods.

"Behold!" he thundered, voice echoing like a fanatic preacher. "The mark bestowed upon me by the Divine! The beginning of the end! This world—this rotting, broken world—will be purged in darkness!"

"All shall fall. The weak. The corrupt. The blind," He continued, his voice rose into a fevered crescendo. "Only we, the chosen, the blessed, the awakened, will remain to build anew beneath the gaze of the gods!"

Ereskia's blood turned to ice.

Her voice trembled. "Aphaeleon…"

That mark, that symbol, she'd seen it before. In wanted posters, in Adventurer's Guilds, everywhere in the entire world.

It was the mark of Aphaeleon.

An unknown organization that worshipped an evil god.

"You're insane, Lucian…" she muttered. "You've completely lost your mind!"

But Lucian only glared at her, fire burning in his gaze.

"No," he said, his voice a low, thunderous growl. "I've never seen clearer in my life. The truth, the way. It's only you who's blind. You and your father both!"