Chapter 29: The First Kill

Diablo’s POV

I stood silently behind my lord.

Hydra.

If I remembered correctly, Lord Chris had described them as a secret organization that operated from the shadows, manipulating governments, infiltrating institutions, and waiting patiently for the right moment to strike.

That meant we had been watched all this time.

The realization struck me like a hammer.

I allowed my lord to be monitored.

My expression never changed, but self-loathing spread through me.

What had I been doing?

If Hydra had decided to act sooner, if they had chosen assassination instead of observation, then my negligence could have cost Lord Chris his life.

The thought alone was unacceptable.

I would never allow such a mistake to happen again.

Hydra had to disappear.

Not immediately.

Charging blindly into an organization hidden across the world would accomplish nothing.

We first needed to uncover everything—its leadership, resources, safe houses, and the agents it had embedded across governments and corporations.

Only after understanding the full extent of the organization would we erase it from existence.

The problem was how.

Unlike my true self, this incarnation possessed no magic, no familiars, and no effortless way to spread my influence across the world.

Building an intelligence network would take time, and every day Hydra remained hidden was another day Lord Chris carried a target on his back.

My thoughts were interrupted by Lord Chris’s annoyed voice.

“What do you know about mutants?”

Silence answered him.

Malick kept his mouth shut.

Borzoff lowered his eyes to the floor, while the remaining guards exchanged nervous glances, each hoping someone else would speak first.

I could see Lord Chris’s patience wearing thin.

My lord stepped toward the nearest guard.

Before anyone realized what he intended to do, his hand shot forward.

Thump.

It pierced straight through the man’s chest.

A wet, choking cry escaped the guard as blood poured from the wound.

Lord Chris slowly withdrew his arm, revealing a human heart still beating weakly in his hand.

“You know,” Lord Chris said, his voice calm enough to chill the room, “there are many ways to keep someone alive while making them wish for a peaceful death.”

As if responding to those words, the heart gave one final beat before falling still.

His fingers relaxed, and it dropped onto the concrete floor with a sickening splash.

Only then did the guard’s body collapse beside it.

The warehouse fell into absolute silence.

Every pair of eyes remained fixed on the corpse lying at Lord Chris’s feet.

To the Hydra agents, the young man standing before them no longer looked human.

He looked like a demon wearing the face of a child.

Some guards turned deathly pale.

Others struggled to suppress the urge to vomit, while even Borzoff’s breathing became noticeably uneven.

They were terrified.

I could see it in their eyes, their breathing, the way their bodies had gone rigid.

The image of Lord Chris tearing a man’s heart from his chest had branded itself into their minds.

Even if years passed, even if they convinced themselves they had exaggerated what they witnessed today, their instincts would never truly forget it.

My thoughts drifted to the curse I had taught my lord only hours earlier.

A curse was never equally difficult to place upon every target.

The human soul resisted foreign magic instinctively, but that resistance weakened when the target had already accepted the caster’s authority.

Loyalty accomplished that.

Trust accomplished that.

Fear accomplished it just as effectively.

The less resistance the soul offered, the fewer Magicules were required to establish the curse, and the less energy it consumed to maintain.

Lord Chris understood that.

His objective had never been limited to forcing Gideon Malick to speak.

Every man in this warehouse was watching.

Whether they served him willingly or had only recently pledged themselves to him, each of them would leave this place with the same realization.

Defying Lord Chris carried consequences beyond death.

That understanding would remain with them long after today’s blood had been cleaned from the floor.

It was a ruthless decision, but an efficient one.

The fear born within this warehouse would not merely strengthen his authority.

It would also reduce the resistance any future curse encountered should these men ever need to bear one.

Even so, efficiency alone had not made this choice easy.

In the brief instant after Lord Chris withdrew his bloodstained hand, I noticed his other hand disappear into his pocket.

The movement lasted only a heartbeat, subtle enough that no one else in the warehouse appeared to notice.

I did.

His hand had trembled.

He was not shaken by the sight of blood or by the fear of retaliation.

He was confronting the reality that, for the first time in both of his lives, he had personally killed another human being.

Even so, he had not allowed that hesitation to stop him.

He buried it behind a mask of cold indifference because he believed his future demanded it.

The others saw only a ruthless man.

I alone saw the young lord forcing himself to walk a path from which there could be no return.

Lord Chris looked at Malick for several long seconds before speaking.

His expression had returned to its usual calm, as if the man lying dead on the floor meant nothing to him.

“Are you satisfied?” he asked evenly.

“Or do you want to see your own blood next?”

Malick’s face paled, but he clenched his jaw and forced himself to meet my lord’s gaze.

Whatever conditioning Hydra had put him through was stronger than ordinary fear.

He took a shaky breath before replying, “Kill me. I won’t tell you anything.”

A faint smile appeared on Lord Chris’s face.

It was not the smile of someone amused.

It was the smile of someone who had just accepted another person’s decision.

“Oh,” he said quietly.

“So you’re saying you want to die. Very well. I’ll grant you that wish… eventually. But before that, I want to play a little game with you.”

He took another step forward until only a short distance separated them.

“The game’s called Human Anatomy. Since you seem so eager to die, let’s see how much of the human body can be removed before death finally claims you. We’ll begin with your ears, then your fingernails. After that, I’ll peel the skin from your body with my own hands, and I’ll enjoy every second of it. Once that’s finished, I’ll remove your fingers, then your muscles, then your nerves. After that, I’ll take your eyes, and finally, one by one, I’ll remove every internal organ your body can survive without.”

Not a single person in the warehouse moved.

Even the men standing behind Malick had forgotten to breathe.

Lord Chris’s voice never became louder, yet every word settled over the room like ice.

“And only after all of that,” he continued, “will I allow you to die. But don’t worry. Before the pain can kill you, I’ll have the best doctors keep you alive. I have more than enough money for that. They’ll patch you up, make sure you survive, and when you’re finally stable…” He smiled again, the expression somehow colder than before.

“…we’ll continue exactly where we left off.”

He held Malick’s terrified gaze for another moment before speaking one final time.

“So think carefully about your next answer. I have all the time in the world. The only question is whether you do.”

……

Author’s Note:

So, first of all…

I didn’t know NovelPhoenix would make me change the warning notice because of Chapter 29, so I had to mark the entire book as Restricted in warning notice.

Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything that hardcore in it, but it is what it is.

Also, I won’t be taking my usual one-day break between uploads.

The reason is that after the 10th of next month, I might not be able to upload for a while because I’ll probably be busy with work.

I’d rather post as many chapters as I can now than disappear without leaving you all with anything to read.

Finally, thank you all so much for reading and supporting the novel.