
The black void that Anna felt herself get ripped through was unlike anything she had ever felt before.
Mana typically made a slight static feeling engulf her body—a tingle. She felt that whenever Alisha activated her ability and again when Zeruphirin pulled her into his cave. Although Zeruphirin’s pull felt much more violent, the basic feeling was the same.
But the feeling that roared through her body while she fell into the void was like something was directly grabbing her mana with a python’s grip.
Her being was constricted, and that quickly turned into what seemed like tens of hands pulling her in a single direction.
It was like she was being dragged to hell.
The color was darker than the night sky without a speck of color. Anna couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t see anything, and couldn’t scream—even when the terror made her want to.
And for a brief moment, she couldn’t breathe.
Her limbs flailed around like she was drowning in an ocean, her burning lungs begging for air. She couldn’t even hear her own sounds. There were no senses save for the vision of black. Her thoughts were swallowed by panic as she desperately sought any escape.
But there was none.
The only sensation that she could find was her desperation for air and the hands forcing her downward.
Until it stopped just as abruptly as it had started.
Sensation hit her all at once, and life returned to her world as a hole appeared beneath her that rained color into black.
Anna fell into that hole and hit the ground hard, the impact jarring her senses into focus.
Grass.
She felt grass beneath her hands, soft and cool.
Air rushed into her lungs as she gasped, coughing and choking for breath.
Her ears rang, and her head spun, but it was real. She could hear again—the faint rustle of leaves, the faint, distant sounds of marching.
She lay there, staring at the sky with its familiar yellowish hue. The grass beneath her was familiar, too—the grass slightly darker than common on Earth.
The scents of dirt and greenery filled her nose like medicine.
Her body trembled as she pushed herself up onto shaky hands. The black void was gone, but the terror was still there.
“W-where… am I?” Even hearing her own voice was jarring.
It was an open field somewhere slightly beyond the Titan Forest but not far enough that she couldn’t hear the army marching. To her left were those towering trees.
Beyond those trees was the Library of the Lost, still visible from where she stood.
There wasn’t any corruption in the vicinity, either.
Even while thinking and collecting herself, Anna took deep and heavy breaths like she feared it would happen again.
“Human, what are you?” came a distorted, broken, and eerie voice. It was like a demon was talking to her from hell.
Anna whipped her head and body around to find that familiar, accursed Elf staring at her with his soul-piercing grey eyes.
In his hands was a long, black octagonal box—a black as dark as the void she was just in. Runic inscriptions surrounded its body.
“What…” Anna paused before she ended up stammering. She took another deep, focused breath. “What do you mean?”
They would find her… right? They were pretty far from the tower, but they were all such strong people. She just needed to stall.
Jaxon would definitely be there.
He stepped closer.
Anna almost stepped back, but she stopped. If she gave an indication of an attempt to flee, he would attack.
She was utterly helpless, and he didn’t seem to want to do anything…. yet.
“We had hoped for the Elf to be the target, but you worked well.”
“W-what?”
Actually, no.
There was only one thing he could mean by that.
“We intended to use this on the Elf, but you have become a greater threat,” he said, raising the octagonal tool. “So, we marked you—an artifact meant for carving a torturous path through impossible locations for those marked.”
That brief burning sensation and the poke between her eyebrows when she and Aria first encountered him.
It wasn’t a tracker at all!
“But… but why?”
He couldn’t have known his corruption would fail!
“You returned because we let you,” he said. “The chains were not meant to be instant; the mark would allow us to corrupt her. She would then open the gate herself. However…” He stepped closer, his gaze narrowing and his voice deeper. “To feel them disperse at the same location meant we underestimated you… We ask again. What are you?”
Of course. Her existence trounced every other plan he had because she was a threat to their existence.
Anna felt like she had been played like a damn fiddle.
She was stupid.
If the chains disappeared in a different spot, he’d have known that his corruption succeeded. But since they were still on the island, he knew something happened. Furthermore, he could probably tell how far along they were once his chains progressed.
They should have known something like that was possible when the chains didn’t immediately disperse!
His grey eyes continued staring into her own, demanding an answer.
She needed to calm down.
It was already done; she just needed to keep things moving away from her instant death. He didn’t know about Alisha or Bastion—he was only interested in her.
Fighting wasn’t possible.
Stalling was key.
What would someone like him be able to do when Alisha came?
Nothing.
She needed to control the conversation.
Act.
Pretend to be frightened—don’t give anything away.
“My… my name is Annabelle…. Annabelle Frost, heiress to the Frost family,” she said, avoiding his gaze.
He took another step forward, and Anna took a small step back. Her eyes darted from the black tool in his hand to his gaze, then to the ground.
“A human name,” he said. “We had thought all left when the heart was destroyed. Why are you here, Annabelle Frost?”
His saying her name sent a shiver down her spine. It was like a reaper was there to collect her soul.
She knew not to go overboard—she didn’t act like a meek child the last time she saw him.
“The expedition left without me,” she said, forcing her gaze to meet his. Then, she shakily pointed at the box. “What is that?”
“An artifact,” he said. “Tell me, Annabelle Frost. Why did our chains have no effect on you?”
There it was, already.
What should she say?
Her mind went into overdrive, thinking of all the things she could say to extend the conversation.
One wrong answer would make him kill her. But there was another route she would rather have—corruption.
“I… don’t—”
“Silence,” he growled, making Anna flinch as black chains launched from his palm to smack the ground below. “We know you pretended to be unconscious when the chains bonded you.” The chains squirmed like snakes in his hands, his gaze never leaving Anna. “Do not lie to us, Annabelle Frost. We will remove your limbs and force you to watch as everything you care for bends to our will.”
Bends to their will?
That was it.
Those words were a magic spell that completely erased any trace of fear and hesitation in Anna’s mind. Instead, an anger.
How dare that disgusting being filled with an abominable power threaten her?
That wasn’t Anavel’s emotion—that was her own.
But she kept it from showing.
It wasn’t the first time someone threatened her or people close to her, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. And every time, those people disappeared. They all acted the same, too. The accursed wasn’t all that different from a standard fiend.
“I…” Anna clenched her teeth as she stared at the squirming grey chains. “I was born with very high immunity against the Taint.”
Technically true.
She wasn’t actually resistant to it until recently—she was just immune to it because of Anavel. But there was a line, too.
“That does not happen, Annabelle Frost.” His voice was dangerously low. “We have purified more lives than you can fathom, and we have never encountered this.”
Of course, he wouldn’t believe it.
Anna expected that doubt.
“I was the result of an experiment,” Anna quietly said.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
His chains rose. “Annabelle Frost, you—”
“If you guys can evolve, so can we!” Anna exclaimed. As though gaining courage, she glared at him. “There’s a reason you haven’t been able to take the universe!”
“We can see you believe your words to be true,” he said. “Delusion, as is common in lesser people—but that will matter little when you join us.”
“But why?” Anna clenched her fists. “Why do you want to corrupt?”
“Why do you breathe?” came his immediate response. “We will not entertain your questions, Annabelle Frost.”
“You don’t even know,” Anna said in disbelief.
Unless it really was completely natural to them. She wasn’t looking at a villain with some kind of grand plan—like it was necessary for the universe or some nonsense.
No, she was seeing pure, natural evil.
And that made it worse.
“We have a purpose, Annabelle Frost,” he said. “But you will soon find it as well—your immunity will soon be rendered obsolete when you join us.”
That was bad!
But before Anna could react, the chains had already shot at her. She didn’t even have a chance to twist her body to flee before a sharp impact hit her forehead.
“Ah!” she exclaimed as her ring formed around her head and enhancements ran through her body at maximum capacity.
It wasn’t enough.
She fell to the ground with a grunt as grey chains emerged from the ground to wrap around her legs.
No matter how hard she pulled, she couldn’t move. The chains tightened enough to be painful, pulling her into the ground until she had no choice but to fall.
“L-let me go!” Anna helplessly shouted. But none of her resistance meant anything.
A glow appeared in her hand, a hum that gave way to a crossbow bolt. She imbued it before it fully formed—the whole process only took a second.
“Useless,” the sentient accursed said. “You will fall here.”
No, she wouldn’t.
Anna released her arrow the moment it positioned itself forward.
As she expected, it didn’t even reach him. A chain materialized like it was cloaked, smacking it out of the way in a flash of grey.
It was just a test.
“You truly are resistant,” he said, the shock growing in his tone. He didn’t care about the arrow at all. “But we will surpass that.”
The chains glowed brighter, but Anna still didn’t feel anything other than a tingling sensation.
Good—stalling.
She gave up on resisting the chains. They seemed to get tighter with every burst of movement Anna attempted, but stopping made them loosen.
Anna activated her appraisal.
“Oh?” he instantly reacted. “A sensory ability. But you will find nothing, and we look forward to having it.”
On the contrary… it told her precisely what she was looking at.
The man before her was an accursed that didn’t seem to have lived a difficult life. There were no past injuries in his body, and his mana was above average. He had five sigils, one of them being the Shade Chains. In fact, he had multiple abilities linked to those chains.
But that was all she could gather on his powers.
What actually mattered was a small detail—he was part of the hive.
Hive.
That was why he referred to himself using words like we and us.
No accursed Anna had ever analyzed told her that.
And another thing—his mana was abnormally fragile. In other words, his soul was weak. It was likely because of his sentience. A flaw that no one else would be able to use…
Except for Anna.
“Still resistant,” he said, his voice more resounding and grave. “You are a threat to us, Annabelle Frost. But perhaps it will change if you are near death.”
Oh, no.
Anna’s heart fell as she renewed her struggle. But it was utterly useless—she had no significant combat ability to activate.
Chains shot out from his open palm like an army of snakes.
Struggling was pointless.
One hit her back, sending an immediate ripple across her body as it sounded like steel hit a solid wall.
Another followed, cracking her barrier.
Fine.
She hadn’t stalled for long enough—he wasn’t that stupid.
If death or corruption was the only other end… then she’d do what she hadn’t done before. There was always someone to save her before it happened.
But not that time.
Anna activated her apex sigil as another chain rose.
Hive... ooooh, so this is one of those things where the hive mind members start to become sentient when it has sufficient members?
How does absorbing a grim soul taste? Burnt and bland? Seasoned with too much Hive and greed? Chicken?
I wonder what overtaking a corrupted soul will do to Annabelle; I mean, it's not like she has much choice, but still
TFTC!