Lucius cast his gaze toward Sarah after hearing Nikolai's words, noticing that she showed no reaction to the rotund young man's revelation.

"You knew about this?"

Sarah nodded firmly in response, glancing toward Nikolai with indifference.

"Nikolai could have used his familial connection with the leader to strive for power and take advantage of others, but he didn’t. I have never seen him treat another human being poorly. However, he also didn’t use his position to try to help anyone. He focused on his own survival, standing by as the innocent people around him suffered."

Nikolai's round cheeks sunk deeper and deeper into a frown from the words Sarah spoke. The young man didn’t reject the claims she made about him, but it was obvious from his clenched fists that hearing someone bluntly speak about his failings evoked a strong emotion within him.

"You don’t understand. Uncle... was not always this way. He is the only family I have let, everyone else is lost..."

Nikolai turned his gaze toward the ground as he continued.

"Before the Abyss descended, Uncle was a kind and generous man, he loved God and volunteered at our church every weekend. Something… happened to him."

Lucius' brows rose as he listened carefully to Nikolai's words. Any information he could glean about his foe might mean the difference between victory and defeat.

"Explain. What exactly happened to turn your uncle into a sadistic criminal?"

Nikolai took a couple of deep breaths, unclenching his fingers as he did his best to gather the proper words to help them understand.

"It was… soon after the Abyss attacked. Uncle and I were the only ones at our family home when the anomalies began opening, sending our world sinking into the pits of hell. In those early days, he selflessly protected me from the terrible monsters of this new reality one after another. His rapidly growing abilities gave us hope for the future, and he promised to help rebuild a society where people could feel safe again. One day, Uncle left to search for food, as he had many times before. When he returned, I could hear the strange laughter of an old woman in my mind when I walked near him. It frightened me so badly I couldn’t move. I asked Uncle what was happening, but he simply told me he made a new friend, refusing to speak anymore about the topic whenever I brought it up."

Nikolai's hands began to tremble as his story reached this point, he clenched them together in an attempt to hold them still as he continued.

"After that, his eyes carried a strange and dangerous feeling that was never there before, and he began acting cruelly for reasons I couldn’t understand. From that day onward, Uncle would often invoke strange powers that I had never seen before. Eerie black magic that Uncle would have once considered the work of evil spirits. I would wake in the night and hear him carrying on a conversation, but he was all alone, for hours and hours he would sit and speak to no one."

Lucius rubbed his chin as he considered the story he had just been told. It seemed the leader had come into contact with some form of powerful mythical creature. For some reason, however, instead of him controlling the myth, it was controlling him. Looking back up at the unsettled Nikolai, Lucius continued his questions.

"What kind of spells has your uncle become capable of?"

"I'm sure he has abilities that I am not aware of, but I can tell you for certain that he is capable of creating vivid illusions, casting curses that cause his enemies great pain or bad luck, and knowing things that it should be impossible for a man to know. Those are the powers he gained after the change, before that he already possessed an aspect that allowed him to take on a ghostly form to avoid damage."

"I see. That’s valuable information. Can I ask why you’re telling me all this? I will almost certainly kill your uncle. You know that... right?"

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Nikolai’s eyes became moist as he rubbed his sleeve across his face, sniffing hard a few times to prevent the snot from spilling out of his nose as the young man fought to hold back the tears.

"I know that! Until now... I always hoped that uncle would come back to his senses! He was always so strong, he was my hero. He could... do anything. I fooled myself into believing that he would find a way to overcome the evil spirit that has possessed him. But all I’ve done is allow a monster to use my uncle for evil. If my real uncle could be here now, I know he’d be ashamed that his body was being used this way. He would want me to help you put an end to it."

Lucius was surprised by the young mans determination, realizing in that moment that he had underestimated Nikolai. With a firm nod he reached out to grab Nikolai’s shoulder, looking him in the eye as he spoke.

"I understand. Whatever has taken over your uncle’s sanity ends tonight. Please lead the way, Nikolai."

From that point on, the companions continued through the night in silence, making good speed as Lucius helped them avoid the many Abyss creatures prowling through the forest. They traveled for hours like this, following Nikolai through the cold night air. The young man eventually stopped, earning questioning looks from Lucius and Sarah. The rotund young man turned to look at them, speaking in a hushed tone with his heavy accent as he moved his gaze back and forth through the surrounding forest warily.

"We’re very close now. If you follow that road ahead for a few miles, you’ll reach the area of the main camp. There will be lookouts hiding in the woods. If Sarah and I go any further with you, they’ll certainly see us and notify uncle."

Lucius pulled a spare tent he had received from Tiber out of his storage ring, handing it to his two companions as he spoke.

"Wait here. You can set up the tent for some shelter if you wish, but I don’t sense any creatures nearby. You should be safe here until I return."

Lucius began to turn away but stopped himself, turning his body back toward his two companions.

"If I’m not back with David by morning, assume I failed and make your way to the farm without me."

Lucius handed Sarah a piece of paper, on which he hastily scrawled some directions. This way she would have a chance to make it back to Maryanne if the worst should happen. Sarah accepted the paper with a solemn expression, grabbing Lucius’ hand with both of hers before he could move it away. Lucius looked up at Sarah in confusion as she began to speak.

"You have to win, Lucius! If you lose... even if we run It won’t take long for the leader to track us down. With no one strong enough to stand against him, everyone at the farm will be doomed along with us. You just have to win, no matter what!"

She released his hand after saying the words she needed to. Sarah began biting her nails anxiously, she could feel her heart pounding hard against the inside of her chest as she watched him turn to leave. This was it. The next few moments would determine the direction of their future—a life of freedom and hope on one side, suffering and tragedy on the other.

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After stepping into the darkness, out of sight of Sarah and Nikolai, Lucius called upon his companion to activate Mythification. He had decided to go all out from the start, and attempt to end the fight before it began.

"Whisper!"

The tiny creature appeared in front of him with a jubilant grin, its glowing purple eyes shining brightly for a moment before swiftly disappearing into a pool of shadows that flooded forward to overtake Lucius. When the wave of shadows covering his eyes dissipated, the darkness of the night disappeared from his vision along with it, allowing him to see just as clearly as when the sun was high in the sky above. Examining his sharp black claws as he moved his tongue around inside his mouth, Lucius frowned as he asked Whisper a question.

"Is there something I can do about these teeth? I can’t stand this awkward feeling in my mouth."

"The powers of Mythification are yours, Father. You can freely summon or dismiss any aspect of them at will. If you had bothered to spend even the slightest amount of time practicing with my powers, you would be aware of that."

Lucius raised an eyebrow as he listened to Whisper’s rebuke, questioning the creature repeatedly for the next few minutes until he had a good idea of how to dismiss an aspect of the transformation. After a few fruitless attempts, he eventually succeeded, focusing his willpower just the right way to make the sharpened teeth in his mouth melt away.

"You should have told me that earlier. I would’ve used your power more freely if I’d known I could do so without scaring everyone around me by growing claws and teeth!"

Whisper briefly appeared from a clump of shadows, shrugging his tiny shoulders before melting away once more. Lucius shook his head as he refocused his attention on the task at hand. Ensuring his aspect was fully activated, he approached the area Nikolai had specified. He could tell he was moving in the right direction when Sense Danger began picking up one target after another—the closest being the couple of sentries scattered throughout the woods.

Lucius passed the sentries without issue, normal humans had almost zero chance of seeing through his aspect. When he was close enough to see the dancing light of the bonfire in the distance, a powerful surge of warning suddenly filled his chest. Sense Danger was sending a signal that was strong enough to make the hair on his arms and the back of his neck stand up.

Warning! Sense Danger has detected a D-Class threat!