Teivel looked flustered as he said, “Oh, stop sticking your nose into my business, young one. I’m leaving, so you’d better get out of here as quickly as possible. If he finds out you’re playing dead in his world, you’ll be dead meat.” After that, he disappeared with the book.Darius narrowed his eyes—the way Teivel had disappeared differed from before. He put his hands behind his back, wanting to know more about these two old men, but this evidently wasn’t the right time. He sat down and crossed his legs. Even though he didn’t know what had happened earlier, he knew there was something different in his mind. It was both terrifying and curious—the fact that Teivel could easily plant something that didn’t belong to him in his mind meant that it was easy enough to tamper with someone’s memories. As he pondered this, he sensed the outside world quaking. Once again, he felt smothered.This time, Darius wasn’t as panicked as before. In fact, it felt like the last time he panicked was ages
“What are you standing there for? Absorb the life force! The more you absorb, the less he’ll have! It may not have been obtained through the most innocuous of ways, but we’d be doing the public a favor by absorbing it,” Teivel said.Darius smiled, then sat down again and shut his eyes to start meditating. However, he opened them again almost immediately and asked, “Where are we? I’ve been meaning to ask for a long time now.”Teivel sounded impatient, saying, “Quit asking questions, or he’ll discover you’re here before you get anything out of this! This is a world built from your consciousness, but another world outside of yours belongs to him.”Darius raised an eyebrow. He’d never heard of these things before, and his hands paused in mid-air. He was so surprised that he forgot all about absorbing the life force, and his eyes widened. His gaze swept over his surroundings, but nothing seemed familiar to him. Teivel’s words were becoming more and more believable to him…and it seemed lik
Darius’ gaze sharpened. The old man put his hands behind his back and looked at Darius appraisingly, allowing his gaze to travel over Darius. Darius didn’t say anything. Instead, he calmly lifted his head to meet the old man’s eyes. In that instant, he felt dazed, but he soon returned to his senses and enveloped himself in his life force. This time, the old man was the one who looked dazed. Similarly, he also returned to his senses a second later. He looked shocked. “I can’t believe I still share the same tastes as that old fart—we both chose you to take after us.”Darius frowned, a complicated look flitting across his face. He thought the old man had only discovered he was still alive; he didn’t expect him to also know about Teivel. Darius slowly retracted his arms and got to his feet. The old man frowned and stared at a spot on Darius’ arm, following it wherever it went. It made Darius’ hair stand on end. It seemed the old man was more powerful than he expected—from the moment he
Teivel smiled; it had been a while since he’d last smiled so earnestly. He sounded joyful, saying, “I’m glad to hear you refer to me like that.” After a pause, he continued, “He looks like that because he spent far too long in my body. Besides, he’s always done his best to imitate me.” He started to sound proud. “I’m sure you can now tell how exemplary I am.”Darius’ lips twitched. He didn’t expect Teivel to be in the mood for self-praise now. He turned to the old man and said, “You’ve imitated my mentor for many years.”The old man didn’t even blink. A few seconds later, he suddenly stretched out an arm in Darius’ direction, immediately obscuring Darius’ vision with his life force. Unfortunately for him, Darius had already shut his eyes and allowed the life force to push him backward. He knew he couldn’t fight fire with fire when going up against the old man, so he’d prepared himself for this.The old man’s eyes widened when he saw Darius being sent flying. He thought Darius would
Darius felt like he was going to freeze over. He was dazed when he opened his eyes and saw that his vision had recovered. At the same time, he realized he was floating in mid-air. Teivel was standing before his body, and the old man was standing before Teivel. The old man’s face was as twisted as before—none of his features were in their original spots, which meant there was no way of telling what exactly he looked like. Darius’ lips twitched as he walked—no, floated—over to his body.He frowned, reluctant to take his defeat lying down. He knew he had to be dead this time. However, the moment this thought popped into his mind, he knew he was wrong. When he floated over to his body, both Teivel and the old man turned to look at him, but their expressions were completely different. The former looked worried, while the latter looked murderous.Teivel said, “Get out of here. Lie down in your body; you’ll return to normal soon enough.” Darius looked surprised but still did as he was told
“It all boils down to one thing—you and I are on opposing sides!” As Teivel spoke, his gaze landed behind the old man’s spirit and on his body. His face turned frosty, and his breathing sped up. He turned back to look at the old man and said, “However, since we’re both still alive, we should leave the past behind us. Now, it’s time to settle new grudges.”The old man narrowed his eyes. “You mean like how you stole my disciple?”Teivel’s lips twitched. Then, he shook his head. “No, like how you stole my body.”An ugly look crept onto the old man’s face at his words. He glared at Teivel as his face started to twist with rage again. He roared, “No, this is my body! It’s mine!”At this moment, Darius could still hear what was happening. He wanted to do something but could only watch as his body and soul slowly merged. He’d never been this impatient for something to happen, and he tried to take a deep breath to calm himself. It didn’t work. Suddenly, he felt something warm drip onto him,
Darius’ eyes were red, and they were tearing up ever so slightly. He didn’t say anything; instead, he tried to channel all the gold life force he possessed into Bridget’s body. Soon, she felt like she’d recovered. She opened her eyes, looking more spirited than before. She frowned at him disapprovingly and tried to push him away, but Darius stopped her immediately. He looked more relaxed than before, but his tone was grim as he said, “You’re not completely okay yet, and nothing’s more important now than your recovery.” Bridget didn’t say anything. Darius continued, “Besides, you must get well as soon as possible. I still need your help with plenty of things.”Bridget looked at him with a smile and nodded. She was a little choked up as she said, “Yes, sir.” She had many questions but didn’t have the nerve to ask them at the moment. When Darius was sure she was fine, he reached out and pulled her to her feet. They stood atop a pile of debris that used to make up the Anderson family’s
Edward blinked, his eyes zeroing in on Darius and focusing. Then, his lips started trembling as he said, “Mr. Reid, I never would’ve expected to be able to see you again.”Darius rolled his eyes. “By that, do you mean you’d die, or were you afraid I’d die?”Edward faltered, then shook his head. “That’s not what I meant, sir.”Darius smiled. “I know that, of course. I just find your way of putting things amusing.” They shared a glance and saw the relief in each other’s eyes. Bridget was still standing atop the pile of debris as she watched the two of them chatting away beside the tornado, and she shook her head helplessly. Then, she cupped her hands around her mouth, channeled her life force to her throat, and said loudly, “Come on down! Mr. Reid, your mentor and that old man have left. We have to go after them.”Darius frowned. He thought Teivel and the old man had been transported somewhere else, similar to what had happened to himself before. It turned out they’d actually left. He