Aiden's smile had the effect of a slap on Corvus. The Puppetmaster Scourge froze completely, tilting his head as if he couldn't understand what he was seeing.
- "You... you're smiling?" he asked in an incredulous voice. "You're smiling while I just explained how I was going to drain your essence?"
Aiden kept his serene expression, even though inside, terror was gnawing at his guts.
- "I'm smiling because you just made a mistake," he said calmly. "You think I'm afraid of dying. But I've already been dying, Corvus. I've already said my goodbyes to life. So your little puppet therapy doesn't impress me as much as you think."
It was a total bluff, but Aiden hoped it would be enough to destabilize Corvus, to make him lose his calculating composure.
The raven mask leaned slightly forward.
- "Interesting. Very interesting. You think you can play games with me, little boy?"
- "I think you're pathetic," Aiden replied, forcing his voice to remain steady. "A father who can't accept his daughter's death and massacres innocents to play dolls with their souls."
The change was instantaneous and terrifying.
Corvus's aura exploded like a psychic bomb. All his composure, all his mannered politeness evaporated at once, replaced by something so monstrously furious, so brutally malevolent, that Aiden felt his knees give way beneath him.
His resistance to fear, though reinforced, was useless against this wave of pure hatred. It was like being struck by a tsunami of corrupted emotions—the rage of dozens of victims mixed with Corvus's sick obsession, all amplified by years of growing madness.
Aiden became livid, then pale, his lips taking on a bluish tint. He trembled in every limb, unable to look away from the glowing red eyes that shone behind the raven mask.
- "PATHETIC?" roared Corvus, his voice echoing throughout the chapel with supernatural power. "YOU DARE CALL ME PATHETIC?"
He turned abruptly toward Martha, still tied to the table. Without warning, without hesitation, he placed both hands on her head and made a brutal twisting motion.
CRACK.
The sound of the breaking neck resonated in the chapel like a thunderclap. Martha died instantly, her eyes remaining wide open, staring into the void with an expression of terror frozen for eternity.
- "This is what happens when you disrespect me!" screamed Corvus, throwing Martha's lifeless body around like a rag doll.
Aiden was in shock, paralyzed by the horror of what he had just witnessed. She's dead. My God, she's dead because of me. Because of what I said.
Corvus picked up the syringe he had dropped earlier and threw it toward Aiden with surgical precision. The young man didn't even have time to react—the instrument flew along his right cheek, opening a thin line of blood that immediately began to flow.
The pain was searing, but it was nothing compared to the revelation that hit Aiden like a sledgehammer: I'm bleeding. I'm really hurt. This isn't like in a video game or a book—here, I can really die.
He instinctively brought his hand to his cheek, feeling the warm, sticky liquid staining his fingers. Real blood. His own life flowing out, even if it was just a few drops.
In stories, you can really die, he understood with terrifying clarity. The system never told me I was invincible. Just that I didn't need to sleep.
This realization froze him completely. He stood there, hand on his bloodied cheek, unable to move, unable to think, overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he had undertaken.
- "NOW YOU UNDERSTAND!" bellowed Corvus, approaching with great strides. "Now you realize how insignificant you are!"
He grabbed Aiden by the collar of his jacket and lifted him off the ground with superhuman strength, holding him at arm's length like a recalcitrant child.
- "You thought you could play hero? You thought you could defy me?" His glowing red eyes were so close to Aiden's face that he could smell the stench of decay emanating from the mask. "You're just an arrogant kid who understands nothing!"
Aiden struggled weakly, his feet kicking in the air, his hands clawing vainly at Corvus's arms. But the man was far too strong, nourished by the Vital Flames of dozens of victims.
- "Now, you're going to behave nicely, and maybe I'll kill the others quickly instead of making them suffer!"
It was at this precise moment that Thomas emerged from the shadows like an avenging demon.
The old man had waited for the perfect moment—when Corvus was completely absorbed in his rage against Aiden. He had circled around the puppets who, in their rigid programming, had all turned toward the main scene without maintaining their peripheral vigilance.
Thomas charged with all the fury of a man who had just watched someone he considered his own sister die. His massive club crashed into Corvus's ribs with an impact that resonated throughout the chapel.
CRACK.
This time, it was Corvus's bones that were breaking. The Puppetmaster Scourge was thrown against the stone wall with incredible violence, releasing Aiden who crashed heavily to the ground, breathless.
- "YOU MONSTER!" roared Thomas, already rushing toward Corvus who was trying to get up. "YOU KILLED MARTHA! YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!"
But Corvus, despite his broken ribs, was far from defeated. He straightened with supernatural agility, his eyes burning with demonic rage.
- "Old fool!" he spat. "You're nothing but a failure! A pathetic leader who couldn't even protect his own wife!"
The two men faced each other in the center of the chapel, Thomas brandishing his club, Corvus with bare hands but radiating an aura of malevolent power.
And it was at this moment that Aiden's system exploded into activity.
[STORY PROGRESSION BY TRIGGERING COMBAT BETWEEN PROTAGONIST AND ORIGINAL ANTAGONIST: 99%]
[VITAL FLAME AWAKENING: 100%]
The sensation was so intense that Aiden thought his chest would explode. His Vital Flame, until then contained and measured, completely unleashed itself. A burning heat spread throughout his body, transforming each of his cells, rewriting his very essence.
He was still on the ground, stunned by his fall, blood still flowing from his cheek, but something extraordinary was happening within him.