Chapter 133: The Fool
The instructor didn’t move.
His eyes narrowed on the man in front of him as his hand tightened around the hilt of his greatsword.
"You’ve finally decided to show your true colors," he said, his voice flat. " So why did you bring us to this place?"
Adrian looked at him with something that resembled genuine regret, the kind one has when about to do something they would have preferred to avoid.
"Don’t worry. You’ll have answers to all your questions soon enough."
"Soon enough?" the instructor repeated. "What are you, some third-rate villain? Stop spouting nonsense and start talking, or don’t blame me for what comes next."
He said it and immediately a flash of light burst from the ring on his finger, quickly taking the shape of what appeared to be a greatsword. He had understood that this wouldn’t be resolved with words alone.
Adrian maintained his unsettling smile as he shook his head slowly.
"Such a brute. But that’s fine too, my master enjoys dealing with types like you," he said, and then took a step forward.
The moment his foot touched the ground, he vanished, only to reappear in the next instant directly in front of the instructor, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
’Wha-’
The instructor tried to react by raising his sword, but the blow reached him anyway, sharp and precise, as if Adrian had already known exactly where he would move.
He slid to the side, absorbed the impact, and immediately counterattacked.
What followed was brief and brutal.
The sound of strikes began echoing instantly throughout the underground cave as the two of them wasted no more time on words.
Adrian was fast, faster than his lean frame suggested, and his red eyes seemed to anticipate every movement by a fraction of a second. But the instructor had spent years in situations where losing meant dying, and that difference made itself felt.
Blow after blow, exchange after exchange, the margin narrowed.
The instructor read the pattern. And used it.
’Crazy bastard, you want to mess with me? let’s see how you handle this,’ he thought as he shifted tactics, with the ultimate goal of luring his opponent into a trap.
A feint to the left, then his full weight thrown to the right. Adrian followed the bait and found himself with his back against the earthen wall of the cave, the blade of the greatsword inches from his throat.
He was breathing hard.
For the first time since they had come down here, the smile was gone.
"Not so bold now, are you," said the instructor, his breathing controlled despite everything. "So, will you start talking on your own, or do I need to encourage you?" His expression was serious as he stared at the man before him. But the other didn’t speak. He simply looked back with an aggressive, furious expression. It was clear he hadn’t given up, but the instructor didn’t care.
"Well. If that’s how you want it, that’s fine by me."
He raised his sword for the final blow.
That was when Adrian’s expression changed.
The anger and panic on his face, vanished in an instant. And in its place, a wide, manic smile appeared.
It was no longer the expression of someone refusing to accept defeat. It was the expression of someone who had been waiting for exactly this moment.
The instructor understood immediately that something was wrong.
His danger instincts fired at once and he tried to turn, but it was too late.
A blade came out of his chest.
The pain followed immediately, without any delay. He looked down in disbelief at the sword emerging from his chest, and moved slowly, with great effort, until he managed to turn enough to see the person behind him, and the moment he did, his eyes went wide.
It was Percival.
He was trembling. A few steps back, hands no longer on the sword’s hilt, wearing the face of someone who had just done something he couldn’t believe he had actually done.
The instructor opened his mouth. The words came out with difficulty, along with the blood.
"Why."
It wasn’t a question. It was all he could manage.
Percival trembled again. His lips moved several times before the words came out.
"It’s... it’s the only way out of here. He told me. If we sacrifice someone we can leave. We can—"
"You... how can you be this stupid." the instructor said, struggling, but the anger in his voice was unmistakable.
Percival went still.
The instructor looked at him with cold, unwavering eyes.
The kind of gaze that cut deeper than any blade ever could.
"Can’t you see he just used you? We’re never getting out of here. We’re all going to die, you—" but he had no time to finish.
Adrian, already behind him, placed a hand on his shoulder.
Gentle. Almost affectionate, but enough to make him lose all strength in his body instantly, and he crumpled to the ground. He was still alive, but paralyzed.
Adrian straightened up, brushed off his sleeve, and looked toward Percival with a reassuring expression.
"You’re not actually going to believe what he said, are you?" he said. "Don’t worry. We’ll get out of here, I promise."
He picked up the instructor’s body and carried it toward the crystal.
The instructor moved his eyes in panic but could do nothing else.
Adrian dropped him in front of the crystal and waited, but nothing happened immediately.
A second passed, and just as Percival, standing behind him, was beginning to wonder what he was trying to do, the crystal seemed to vibrate.
From its jagged surface, strange tendrils emerged.
They were dark, silent, but they seemed alive and searching for something, which they found very quickly.
They shot immediately toward the instructor’s body, which by now had lost too much blood and could no longer stay conscious.
The panic in his eyes was still visible, something that hit Percival harder than he had expected, but neither of them moved.
The tendrils wrapped around the body. Tightened. And then, at the still free ends, mouths appeared, mouths that bit into the body without hesitation and began to absorb.
They were slow and methodical, but little by little the instructor’s body began to shrivel, until nothing remained but bones and cloth on the cave floor.
The silence that followed was a different kind from the one before.
The instructor’s words echoed in Percival’s head like a sound that refused to die out.
’Can’t you see he just used you.’
He looked at what was left on the floor.
He took a step back.
Then another.
Then he turned and ran.
Adrian watched him go, but didn’t move. Didn’t say a word. He let him leave as the crystal behind him pulsed with a crimson light, as if satisfied by the meal.
Watching Percival’s figure disappear down the tunnel, Adrian finally took a step forward, and a smile spread across his face, predatory.
"They always run..."
"...never realizing there was never a way out to begin with."
As soon as the last word left his lips...
He vanished without a trace.