Silence spread… a strange, heavy silence, like black smoke pressing on the lungs.
Korval did not move, not even blink… he only raised his hand slightly toward Ashen.
Korval said:
"Ashen… give them a light strike.
To their bodies… and their souls.
Without killing them."
At that exact moment…
Ashen's crimson eyes lit up with a faint glow… then grew brighter… then exploded.
From above… and from below… the two giant eyes made of pure killing intent began circling the hall.
But they were not circling horizontally… they were spinning vertically.
As if the world twisted and began rotating around a strange axis.
Each rotation produced a sound like grinding bones, mixed with an echo that felt like the universe groaning.
The upper eye rotated clockwise.
The lower eye rotated counterclockwise.
Crimson light spilled from both eyes, bending and twisting like a river of boiling blood flowing through the air.
Suddenly—
— Tkkkrrrrrrrk!
Everyone's bodies
began to crack.
Skin split open along their arms…
Red fissures appeared on their chests…
Their eyes, noses, and ears burst with blood.
One of the leaders fell to his knees, choking with a sharp voice:
"W-what… is he doing… to us…?"
But no one could move.
Even the air had become heavy… sticky… filled with the smell of hot iron and blood.
The giant abomination moved slowly… its hybrid steps shaking the ground.
It turned its wolf head toward Korval.
Korval nodded calmly.
At that moment…
the massive vertical eye on the monster's forehead ignited.
A bloody, rotten light leaked from it like a living curse searching for victims.
The light spread through the hall like a hellish lantern.
It touched every wall… every face… every human soul hiding inside.
Everyone began trembling uncontrollably.
Some collapsed, vomiting blood.
Others started clacking their teeth in fear… without control… as if they had lost ownership of their bodies.
Then…
The human faces on both sides of the monster's head opened their mouths, one after another.
A mouth smiling.
A mouth screaming.
A mouth crying.
A mouth laughing.
And one mouth… making a sound like a child calling for his mother.
From each mouth…
a bloody spiderweb emerged.
The webs flew through the air…
Wrapped around the broken bodies of the guests…
Stuck to their skin…
Sank into it like wet paper sticking to hot flesh.
Screams.
Sharp inhalations.
Hallucinations.
Cut-off words.
A complete hell breaking loose…
Suddenly…
the bloody webs pulled something out of their bodies.
Something transparent.
Something that looked like smoke…
but wasn't smoke.
It had their features, their outlines, their faces.
They were souls.
The souls of sect leaders,
the souls of clan heads,
the souls of nobles,
and the souls of merchants.
Their bodies remained where they were.
Their souls were ripped out and lifted… hanging in the air above their heads.
The screams of the souls were not human.
They sounded like a storm moaning inside an ancient cave.
One of the souls cried out:
"Korval… cur—"
But the web choked the rest of the word.
Korval didn't even look at them.
He was enjoying it… as if watching an artistic performance.
A mad smile split his face.
Then he whispered…
in a low voice…
in a language none of them knew.
A language like glass scratching…
like footsteps echoing inside a grave…
like the heartbeat of a creature being skinned alive.
Suddenly…
bloody runic circles opened around Korval's body.
They hovered… spun… expanded…
Then their lines stretched like the veins of a demon.
The runes began transforming.
Their edges elongated…
Separated…
Then solidified.
They became…
blood stakes.
Long, sharp stakes that breathed… and screamed without sound.
Korval let out a loud laugh:
"Your souls… will not be wasted…
They will become… mine."
He pointed his finger.
— Fshhhhhhhhh!
The stakes shot toward the hanging souls.
They pierced their chests…
their heads…
their eyes…
their hearts.
The souls began trembling.
Then screaming.
Then burning.
Bloody flames rose from the stakes.
They devoured the souls slowly… as if savoring them.
The souls began to melt.
From transparent…
to liquid…
to pulp…
then reshape again…
But this time…
they were red souls.
Faint copies of Korval.
Like servants without will.
Korval looked at them like someone admiring a new masterpiece.
Then he signaled to the giant monster.
The spiderwebs quickly returned…
and forced the red souls back into their bodies.
The bodies erupted with massive bloody flames.
The fire covered the hall completely, like a hellish furnace devouring the world—
then extinguished suddenly.
Everyone opened their eyes.
But they were no longer themselves.
Their eyes were…
empty.
Faded.
Dead—except for blind obedience.
Korval took a deep breath.
As if he had completed a perfect piece of work.
A mad smile appeared on his lips.
His eyes glowed with limitless insanity.