He thought of things that he has yet to achieve, of all things that still need to be done. How could he die in some tomb when he was able to live through corruption brought upon by Mother Tree of Desire?
He expected the last moments of lucidity as his soul would be taken. But nothing happened.
While Hector could feel some force trying to consume his soul nothing happened. What he felt was like trying to take air from the vacuum of space, there is nothing to take.
He was surprised and relieved at the current situation and from the shock on the face of the man he could see that he equally did not know what is happening. It brought him joy to see that the man failed, but he had no time to think about what his not getting his soul eaten meant and thought about what to do to get out of this situation.
While the crown was still trying to consume his soul he could feel that thorny vines started to respond. They responded to his emotions and desires. He could feel his heart stop beating while vines started to move from his heart to his lungs then neck, mouth, and eyes, and then the vines started to exit from the head and started to envelop the crown in its entirety.
He felt as if parts of himself were invading into the crown, shaping, changing, and corrupting its existence so it would better suit his desires.
"Noooo!"
The man screamed as vines started to fuse themself into the crown. He tried to jump at Hector so he could take the crown away from him but was stopped when his legs started to wither and vines started to grow from them. They enveloped his legs making him fall to the ground. It did not stop there as when his legs were fully trapped the thorny vines started to move up the body, burying into his flesh and enveloping his bones from the inside.
The man now paralyzed from the waist down tried to crawl to him, but soon even his hands were bound leaving only his head.
"How... " Those were his last words as thorny vines spread from his eyes spilling eye juice on the ground. When the body was fully trapped he became withered as if all nutrients and life energy were sucked up. Vines started to bloom as black and gold flowers grew on them. When they fully opened in each flower bloodshot eyeballs stared at the world around them. From then sweet mist spread to their vicinity. When Hector breathed in some of it he could feel rejuvenated.
Hector could feel as his perception grew greater, he could perceive all around him as if those eyeballs belonged to him. As if they were part of his body... No. They were so much more. They were not part of him they were him, his true self.
But then he realized that Anna was still there and so he hurriedly turned to her if she is alright. When he looked at her all the eyeballs that grew on the vines did the same. He could see that she was no longer bound in place but was shaking on the ground sweet mist entered her lungs. She was smiling and crying at the same time.
Her eyes became blood red and were filled with desires and emotions of all types. Hector realized that the mist was some type of corruption that influenced the desires of all that got close.
After a few moments of uncontrollable shaking, she looked at him and started to crawl toward him at great speed. But then she stopped herself and Hector could see the spark of lucidity in her eyes.
He started to think of how to stop her corruption, 'Mist originates from the eye, which originates from the thorny vines, which are part of me. And as that sweet mist isn't influencing me there should be a way to control it.'
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Hector tried to control the corruptive influence of the mist but lacked something, after a few tries, he realized that it is beyond his ability for now. And so he thought about another way to stop the mist.
Then he tried to close the flowers to lock the eyes inside. He closed his eyes and imagined that his expanded perception did the same. After less than a second, he feels them closing, his perception returning to normal.
He sighed in relief when he saw that Anna lay down no longer influenced by the mist. Hector too calmed down from the emotional roller coaster that this room had brought him.
"So... How do you feel?" Hector asked.
"...Could have been better. There are some things that we need to talk about, but for now, let's leave it for later as we need to get out of the tomb. And after Bella and Walter's deaths, I don't like our chances of getting out." She told him and Hector was relieved as he didn't need to explain to her what happened yet, as he himself had only a few guesses. Waiting until they would get out will get him some time to think about what happened in greater detail.
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After some time of rest, Hector stood up and went to the bodies of Bella and Walter. Then he laid them next to each other and closed their eyes.
He felt no guilt of any kind for his inability of saving them and for that he was grateful as he knew that if it would happen before he became sequence 8 he would be filled with sorrow.
Hector did not carry for Edwin as he naturally has a low opinion of people of the Audience pathway. But Walter was an interesting person, he did not think he would meet someone who would bring a frying pan into the tomb exploration.
Bella wasn't a bad person so he was not planning to kill her, but to ask her for an apprentice potion formula. But now that she is dead he will happily take her beyonder her characteristics.
He then stored apprentice and hunter characteristics in his iron box. He also took Walter's bullets and rifle. Then he took their revolvers and gave one to Anna as they no longer needed them.
"We should move forward." He said to Anna
She nodded but then she looked at top of his head and spoke, "What about that."
Hector understood what she meant. Black crown now with engravings of thorny vines still rested upon his head.
When the vines fused with the crown he was able to gain knowledge about it.
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Black Crown was a sealed artifact that was born from a wraith that went out of control, and upon his death, the crown was formed.
Its powers are that the user can transform into a wraith with its original abilities, but they were weaker than normal sequence 5.
As a wraith he could use Wrait shriek, an attack that directly affects the opponent's spiritual body, it can affect a huge area.
Wraith possession is when he gains the ability to forcefully invade and take control of the enemy's body using the reflection of the opponent's eyes.
And mirror jumping, he would be able to hide in the mirror for a surprise attack.
It is a great artifact with amazing abilities but it has side effects.
-user is filled with overwhelming guilt after performing any actions, leading to despair, and degradation of emotions. After continuous use user's mind can become a hollow shell of the previous self.
-when used under the light of the blood moon user's mind is filled with a desire to consume human souls or become weaker, and for every soul consumed they become more corrupted
-After putting the crown on one head their soul will be forcefully consumed by the crown only demigods can resist pulling for some time.
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Its side effects are for normal beyonders under sequence 4 where they become demigods unusable without being sealed. While the first two effects can be managed with spare use and avoiding the light of the moon, the third side effect makes it unusable.
'It was actually what killed Bella and Walter. But it looks like it can't take my soul... It seems like I don't have one...
'It is a perfect item for me as the first side effect is negated by me being an Unwinged Angel. I only need to be careful about the blood moon. But it is only when used under blood moon so with selective use there should be problems.' He thought before answering Anna.
"Yes, while I wear it there should be no problem. That man was actually formed from the crown, he was part of it as it tried to consume more souls and desired to create puppets as to be closer to the higher sequence.
"That is my guess at least." He knew for sure that what he told her was true but he preferred to say it this was at to not make himself more suspicious.