The grand, ornate door creaked open with a slow, reverberating groan, its hinges protesting against the sudden disturbance. From the dimly lit corridor beyond, a young man stepped into the room—a figure clad entirely in obsidian black, his attire outlined with faint crimson streaks that pulsed like veins of molten magma.
His raven-black hair fell in slight disarray over a face too sharp to be youthful, too composed to be ordinary. Twin scarlet eyes glowed faintly beneath the chandelier’s flickering light—Einar Sanguis had arrived.
He smirked, calm and casual, like he had just strolled into a friend’s room rather than into the den of a corrupted god. Without waiting for an invitation, he crossed the chamber and settled into the chair opposite Ness, the God of Darkness—now known as Lord Skin.
Einar reached out and plucked the teacup from the silver tray, his movents deliberate, even leisurely. He took a sip, savoring the warmth, letting silence stretch thin between them.
Ness’s eyes, voidlike and unblinking, followed his every movent with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief. After a long pause, he finally broke the quiet with a soft chuckle. "So... you’re just going to sit there and pretend this is normal? Nothing to say at all?"
Einar finished his tea in a few slow, deliberate gulps before setting the empty cup back onto the tray with a soft clink.
He leaned forward, eyes half-lidded, his voice groggy with a tinge of mockery. "Honestly? I just ca to tornt you a little. Thought I’d enjoy watching you squirm." He yawned dramatically. "But... it seems you’ve grown. Not the shadowy blob I rember."
Ness leaned back in his chair, a grin tugging at the edges of his lips. His irises blackened further, twin abysses in his face. "You’re not wrong."
Einar waved a hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. That much was obvious. You’re not hiding in corners anymore, or twitching from sunlight."
A flicker of confusion flashed across Ness’s eyes. "You don’t look the least bit scared," he said slowly. "You did eavesdrop on our conversation, didn’t you?"
"I did," Einar said, his voice lowering to a whisper. "And I saw how you sent that girl—Leiruat—to her doom. Even if she was just a remnant, that was still cold."
"I didn’t send her," Ness replied evenly, his tone cool, almost chanical. His gaze turned to the open window, the moonlight illuminating part of his face in a ghostly glow. "She chose to go. There’s a difference."
Einar rolled his eyes. "Semantics. She went to help, and you knew she’d be crushed."
The God of Darkness gave a vague shrug. "She overestimated herself."
Einar tilted his head. "Iyra died, didn’t she?"
A flicker of sothing—grief or perhaps bitterness—flashed in Ness’s eyes. He nodded once, a slow and heavy movent. His gaze remained fixed on sothing far beyond the chamber walls.
"So, let get this straight," Einar began, his voice oddly level. "An immortal—a literal deity—got sacrificed? That’s one hell of a headline."
Ness let out a dark laugh. "You’re still as insufferable as ever." Then he paused, studying Einar’s face. "But no, not sacrificed. Iyra couldn’t be. Her nature—pure light—makes her immune to corruption. That’s the irony. Ebon didn’t sacrifice her. He captured her. He wants to study her."
"Let guess," Einar interrupted, smirking. "To save soone?"
Then he jerked, finally sensing a anomaly. "Then the Goddess of Light is alive."
Ness nodded solemnly. "Priscilla—Ebon’s wife. She’s infected with corruption, what type? I don’t know, corruption is always different for everyone. He’s desperate to cleanse her. So he’s using Iyra... experinting on her, hoping to reverse the curse."
There was a long pause, tension thickening in the air. Then Einar casually leaned back, a smug glint in his eye. "I kissed her."
Ness blinked. "You did what?"
"I kissed Priscilla," Einar repeated, watching the god’s expression warp from confusion to sothing bordering on horror.
"You kissed the Queen of Twilight?" Ness asked, nearly shouting as he stood up, the chair screeching across the marble. "Are you insane?"
Einar just smiled smugly. "I won a bet. That was my reward. She didn’t seem to mind."
"You’re lucky to be alive," Ness muttered, slowly sitting back down. "He would have turned your bones into obsidian had he known."
"Maybe he doesn’t know," Einar said with a chuckle. "Or maybe I’m just that good."
Ness rubbed his temple. He couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. But more than disbelief, sothing deeper clawed at his insides—unease.
Einar was still unawakened, and yet... there was sothing unnatural about him. During their previous encounter, Ness had used one of his more devastating abilities—existence erasure.
The only one he could use, as the only body part of his working, were his eyes. He just had to gaze at soone to erase them from the world.
He rembered vividly the mont Einar had crumpled, body writhing, mind buckling under the crushing void. And then—he had endured. As if his body had adapted, evolved, resisted divine obliteration. That should not have been possible.
"So?" Einar prompted, cutting into his thoughts.
Ness blinked. "So, what?"
Einar’s tone sharpened. "When are you leaving my castle?"
A stunned silence followed. Ness stared at him, expression unreadable.
"You... you’re asking to leave?"
"I’m not asking," Einar replied. "I’m telling."
Ness’s poker face cracked. A twitch of irritation bled into his features. "You dare...?"
Einar leaned forward, his voice cold. "I don’t care if you’re a god or a corrupted echo. You don’t belong here. And if you stay—"
"What?" Ness snapped. "You’ll kill ?"
Einar nodded slowly, eyes glinting. "Exactly."
Ness burst into laughter, dark and mocking. "You? Kill ? You’re still just a mortal brat!"
Einar’s smile didn’t falter. "Your attacks don’t work on . You know that."
Ness scowled. "They didn’t... then. But I’m stronger now. This form is stabilized, enhanced. You won’t survive another attempt. I would cursh you through sheer physical prowess."
"Then let’s test that," Einar said softly.
He leaned in close, his voice barely audible, yet it carried across the room like a dagger. "Tell , Ness... have you heard of the almighty—CHAOS?"
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