Chapter 376 - 374:The Great Devourer.
The castle doors posed no hindrance as we made our way through, well, considering Shulvan had blown them to kingdom come, they didn’t have much of a choice anyway.
The inside of the eerie castle was as one would expect from a vampire stronghold. Gloomy statues stood like sentinels along the hallways. At the very end of the main corridor were rows of stairs that led upward for what was probably going to be a very troublesome climb.
"So? Who’s up for an adventure?" Salazar chirped.
"Absolute. I don’t like this guy," Paku, now back to his chibi chipmunk form, complained.
"I don’t like him either, but he’s with us, so we can only endure for now."
"You know, I’m starting to think you guys don’t like me being around," Salazar’s irritated voice interrupted us.
"Now, what could have possibly given you such an idea?" I sneered.
"You know what? Fuck you, Dante."
"Heh! You’ve got nerds cussing you out now," Leo laughed.
But before I could retort...
"Umm... guys, can we maybe focus on the task? Please?" Aegon had to butt in.
"Haa... fine. Let’s get this over with," I sighed as I covered everyone with my aura.
"What are you doing?" Leo asked.
"Getting us to the end of this bullshit trial without putting up with some stupid-ass tests."
My eyes changed as I overlaid both Collapse Vision and . The world shifted and my view changed, the combination of these two being marvelous as I could see far more than what I could have with only a single one of them.
"Now, this is more like it." I couldn’t help it, my own genius was quite frightening sometimes. "Heh. Now, where are you?"
I looked toward the one direction anything like a final test could possibly be within a castle like this. Up.
"Hmm? Nothing?" There was nothing there. "But..."
The stairs. My eyes landed on them, and then I saw it.
"Sly motherfucker." I grinned as I snapped my fingers.
SNAP!
"Huh?"
"Where are we?"
"Dante! What the fuck?"
The disgruntled voices of the others filled the space as we appeared within a dark room devoid of any source of light, save for my glowing eyes, of course.
"Let there be light!" I declared boldly, and then...
WENG!!
The entire place brightened up instantly, and they finally saw... them.
Coffins. Everywhere.
Lined up neatly. Meticulously. Almost as if they were the handiwork of a very intentional being.
"Wha..."
"What is this?"
I smiled as I looked around. "Welcome, people, to the final test," I declared boldly.
"Dante, where the hell is this?" Salazar, the curiosity-driven freak, asked as he began to inspect the caskets around us.
"Hell if I know," I shrugged.
"Then how and why did you bring us here?"
"Because this is the only place with anything worth mentioning in this whole place. The steps leading upward lead to nothing but troublesome and pointless trials that will end up being for naught, since the top of the castle is empty anyway."
"So, you’re saying..." Aegon asked, realization finally settling in.
"Yup. We’re underground. At the very bottom of the castle," I answered.
"Fascinating..." His voice held a hint of awe. "I couldn’t even see anything," he added.
"Well, with the massive concentration of entropy in this place, I’d be surprised if whatever you had allowed you to see shit," I clarified as I felt the suffocating concentration of blood and entropy within the confined space. "Alright. Enough talking, get to opening. Let’s see if the dean was delusional or if that old vampire actually hid something here." I clapped.
Everyone made their way toward a sarcophagus of choice, with Salazar being a bit too excited for my liking. Ignoring the madman, I focused on the burial box before me.
CREAK!
Pushing the lid, it slid away with a slight creak as the inside presented itself.
"Nothing." It was completely empty.
I turned, eyes glancing toward Leo.
"Empty here as well," he answered without me needing to ask.
One by one, everyone answered the same thing. All empty.
"Huh? Alright. Keep checking, there must be something here," I instructed.
Multiple empty caskets later...
"Arggghhh... fuck this shit!"
BANG!
The funerary vessel before me exploded into splinters as I punched it.
"Hehe... someone’s frustrated."
"Shut it, Paku!" I snapped, frustration coloring my features as I looked around, trying to figure out what I’d missed. There was no way they were all empty. Secret basements don’t work like that.
"Hooo... breathe." Taking a deep breath, I activated once more. If there was anything I was missing, it was sure to show me, and true enough...
"Heh... there you are."
Right there, hidden in plain sight, was a little cove dug into the wall. To the naked eye, there would be nothing there, but the moment my eyes landed on it, I could see a sinister black form of energy leaking from it.
I took a step, appearing right before the cove, fingers reaching in and pulling...
HUMMMM!!!!
A strange humming filled the entire underground space as, suddenly, a pitch-black portal spawned from the cove, and then...
WAP!
I was gone, the shouting voices of the others fading behind me.
...
...
"Ahhh... been a while since I experienced something like this." I couldn’t help being amused.
I had opened my eyes to pitch-black darkness once more. Unlike the other area, something was hindering my eyes here, so it was indeed absolute darkness.
"Should be anytime now." I waited, sure of something happening.
I didn’t have to wait long, as soon enough...
Woosh. Woosh. Woosh.
The place slowly brightened up, one crimson lamp at a time. The lamps lit up in a straight line leading toward a raised platform at the very end.
And right there, floating with its eyes closed, was the translucent figure of a man. He had bright red hair that reached all the way down his back, his arms crossed before his body as he stayed in suspended animation.
My curiosity was piqued, but before I could even bother making a move...
WOOSH!
His eyes opened, twin orbs of blood-red jewels that radiated madness and power. Without so much as a word, the figure dove straight at me, sinking into my head before I could react.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! FINALLY!!! FREEDOM!!" I could hear the mad cackles of a man in my head as, suddenly...
"Huh?" I lost control of my own body.
"FASCINATING. SO MANY LAWS. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE? WONDERFUL!! IT SEEMS ALL THOSE YEARS OF WAITING WEREN’T IN VAIN! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! GUARDIAN, O GUARDIAN, WAIT FOR ME!" The voice kept babbling words I was too distracted with my body’s state to care for.
"Well... this is sure to cause trouble."
The thought hadn’t even finished settling when...
"Ahh... well, here we go again."
With that thought, the world went dark as I lost consciousness completely.
*************
A/N: Well, the Devourer has got good news and bad news.
Good news is, he’s found the perfect host.
Bad news is, the perfect host has a terrible temper.
Too bad. But as always...
*************
Thanks for reading...