Jack heard him loud and clear, and for a fleeting mont, his hand froze mid-air, the blade trembling in his grasp. His gaze shifted toward Naon, the skeletal figure cloaked in shadows, whose cold, calculating aura sent a shiver up his spine.
The air seed heavier now, as if the entire world was holding its breath. Jack's mind raced, processing the unexpected turn of events. His initial plan—to sever the tenuous bond between life and death for Naon's hostages—now seed precarious at best, disastrous at worst. Discover stories at My Virtual Library Empire
'What's wrong with this useless servant? Could he be any more of a headache than he already is? Just when everything was falling into place, he decides to pull this stunt.'
Jack tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade. He wasn't foolish enough to continue his attack just yet. Naon's threat hung in the air like a storm cloud, and while Jack felt no attachnt to either of the captives, their survival served a purpose. Alisha, for all her fiery resilience, was an asset—a pawn to be used, a cow fattened for slaughter. As for Missy, her presence in this world raised questions that Jack needed answers to.
'If she's here, does that an others have been dragged into this cursed realm as well? Could there be more like her... like ? And if so, what are we ant to do here? Are they allies? Enemies?'
These unanswered questions only complicated matters further. Jack couldn't let Missy out of his sight until he uncovered the truth. Yet, none of that changed the reality of his current predicant. Naon held all the cards—or so he thought.
Jack's eyes darkened, a cold fury blazing within them. If looks could kill, Naon would have crumbled to dust. The skeletal servant stood there, his bony fingers twitching, as if eager to crush the two won to prove his point. The tension in the room was palpable, the silence punctuated only by the strained breaths of Alisha and Missy as the shadowy tendrils around their necks tightened.
Suddenly, the system's screen flickered to life before Jack, glowing ominously with its relentless warning:
[1 minute remaining.]
Jack's heart pounded. A single minute. That was all the ti he had before Zamazo's curse claid his soul, leaving him at the rcy of his enemies. He had already pushed Zamazo to the brink, and he knew there would be no rcy waiting for him on the other side.
'This is it. I've played my hand, but now the stakes are higher than I bargained for.'
Yet, even with the weight of imminent doom bearing down on him, Jack's resolve didn't waver. Instead, his lips curled into a wry smile, one that didn't reach his cold, calculating eyes.
"You know what?" Jack's voice broke the tension like a blade slicing through taut string. "Go ahead. Kill them both. After I kill your master, we'll be at a stalemate. No hostages, no leverage. Seems fair to ."
Naon's glowing eyes flared, the shadows around him quivering in response to his anger. "Wait! Don't—"
But Jack didn't hesitate. His blade moved with deadly precision, thrusting forward in an arc of shimring steel.
Alisha's eyes widened in horror. Her voice caught in her throat, unable to scream. Missy, too, could only stare, her mind numb as reality twisted into sothing unrecognizable.
'He wouldn't... He couldn't...'
Yet he did. Jack's cold-hearted decision cut through whatever fragile trust they had in him. Alisha's shock quickly morphed into rage, the fire of betrayal burning in her chest.
'I was a fool to think he was different. He's just like the rest of them—a demon wrapped in human skin. How could I ever...?'
Her thoughts faltered, drowned in a wave of resentnt. Missy, on the other hand, could barely process what was happening. She felt sothing inside her shatter, a deep crack that left her hollow.
Tears welled up in Missy's eyes as she struggled to breathe against the tightening grip of the shadowy hands. She had thought Jack was different. In this cruel, unfamiliar world, she had clung to the hope that he could be her anchor. But now that hope crumbled, leaving her adrift in despair.
Even as her vision blurred, a faint glow began to emanate from Missy's eyes—a golden light that flickered weakly before dimming. Her lips moved as if to say sothing, but the words never ca.
Jack, however, was already in motion. His blade flashed once more before he disappeared from their view entirely, his speed too fast for the eye to follow.
Naon barely had ti to react. One mont, Jack was in front of him; the next, a cold, nacing voice spoke from behind, sending chills down his non-existent spine.
"You know," Jack growled, his voice as sharp as the blade he wielded, "you demons have a real knack for pissing off. No one—NO ONE—touches what belongs to . Not you. Not your master. Not anyone."
Naon froze, his skeletal fingers trembling. He turned, or at least tried to, but the world around him spun unnaturally. For a mont, he glimpsed his own body, still standing, as his head tumbled from his shoulders.
The flas in his hollow eye sockets flickered with fear and disbelief as they t Jack's dark, unfeeling gaze.
'This... this is no human... He's... scarier than... the master...'
That was Naon's final thought before his head hit the ground with a hollow thud, the eerie glow in his eyes snuffed out like a candle.
The room fell deathly silent. The shadowy tendrils dissipated, releasing Alisha and Missy from their suffocating grip. Both won collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, their eyes wide with disbelief.
Jack stood over Naon's lifeless body, his blade dripping with dark ichor. He turned slowly, his expression unreadable as his gaze fell on the two won.
For a mont, none of them spoke. The weight of everything that had transpired hung heavy in the air. Jack finally broke the silence, his voice calm, yet filled with an unmistakable edge.
"Get up," he said. "We don't have ti to waste."
Alisha glared at him, her chest heaving with barely contained fury. "You... You were going to let him kill us!"
Jack didn't flinch. "And yet, here you are. Alive. You're welco."
Missy's voice trembled her lips parted, but she couldn't speak as she now had a rough idea that the Jack in front of her was different.
Jack sheathed his blade, his back to them as he walked toward the exit. "Survival isn't about kindness or sentint. It's about doing whatever it takes. If you can't accept that, then you're dead weight. And I don't carry dead weight."
His words were cold, final. Alisha and Missy exchanged a glance, their emotions a mix of anger, fear, and sothing else—sothing they couldn't quite na.
For better or worse, they knew one thing: Jack wasn't their savior. He was a storm, unpredictable and devastating. And they were caught in its path-or say they thought.
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