As time went by, Elysian started to relax a little. Though moving, the snake didn’t seem to do anything other than slither curiously as it looked around. Whether it could see the boy and his companions, who knew? What was certain was that it acted like a newborn creature, seeing a new world for the first time.

‘This serpent is certainly alive somehow. It doesn’t seem to be moving because of my energy. No, it has its own energy somehow—its own aura. Also, when I channeled my aura into the tattoo earlier, the snake did not absorb any of it. My aura seemed to poke it, waking it up from its slumber.

Sh*t, hopefully, my carelessness won’t cause any problems again. Hmm… How do I make them sleep again?’

“M-Master, is that the g-ghost you were talking about earlier?” Bran stammered, clearly terrified, as he kept staring at the living tattoo.

‘What ghost?! Doesn’t he see a snake? Well, in his defense, this might be some kind of spirit, and in some cultures, snakes are related to the spirits of the deceased, so it’s not entirely a dumb idea.’

“No, big fella. This isn’t the scary ghost,” Elysian responded, noticing the older boy breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing this, he grinned and added, “However, this is a lot scarier than the ghost I talked about earlier—a lot scarier.”

“M-Master, please stop scaring me,” Bran replied, glancing fearfully at the younger boy.

‘Well, that wasn’t a lie. This creature is a lot scarier than BloodShade.’

Elysian chuckled, shaking his head. As his anxiety slowly faded, he noticed some kind of connection, like a string connecting him to the entity on his wrist. When he pulled at it a little, the two heads of the serpent looked at him, staring ominously at the boy. Having a bad feeling about it, he quickly ordered, “Close the door and stay back! Don’t let anyone disturb me!”

With concern in their eyes, the duo immediately followed their master’s command, locking the door and staying as far away as possible.

‘What kind of sh*t is going to happen this time? Hopefully, it’s not something like before; otherwise, else it will really… Damn it, I don’t want to experience that again!’

As the serpent’s eyes locked onto him, Elysian’s vision faded into darkness, transforming everything around him into something he was deeply familiar with. As he feared, the boy returned again to the accursed place where he had endured torture, experiencing the first horrific nightmare since his regression. He had nearly lost his life in this dreadful place—a fact that could easily be disputed, considering Eye’s presence, but it was undeniable that his mind could have been shattered into a mindless husk if he wasn’t who he was—an already broken soul.

Unlike before, however, Elysian was not bound to a tree, awaiting to be slaughtered. He stood free and on his own two feet. Strangely, he did not feel any dread he had anticipated. Instead, he felt oddly at home in this terrifying place, as if he had been a resident of this realm for a very long time, and now it was a part of him. He could sense the deepest recesses of this place; the once impenetrable darkness that had blocked his sight was now clear to him as if it were daylight.

The first thing he noticed was the lake of blood; it remained as still as ever—unchanging, yet beyond its stillness lies the horror it could bring. This was where his own blood once flowed and mingled before piercing his body like some skewered meat.

‘It still hurts just remembering how the blood spears impaled my body. Tsk, I did not expect to return here this soon.’

“Welcome,” BloodShade said, her voice echoing from all directions as before. Though soothing, it couldn’t be denied that no matter how many times he heard that voice, it still raised the hair on his body. Some things in this place really didn’t change. “And congratulations.”

‘It appears the main antagonist has returned, or is she?’

Elysian did not respond immediately; he quietly observed the woman in front of him. She still looked the same as before, floating in the air with congealed blood on her back like a rope, tethered to the obsidian pillars. The trees and their fruits—the screaming heads—were once again full of vitality. If there was such a thing as vitality in this case, this could be it, as the screams of terror were as frightening as before.

In the case of the woman herself, she was still as majestic as ever. Lady BloodShade still wore her black flowing dress, adorned with crimson poppy flowers. On top of her head, her crimson crown still pulsated with an aura of dread and torment. Though a shawl still hid her face, her beauty was undeniable, as her porcelain skin perfectly contrasted with the darkness that surrounded her. Wearing her sinister smile, the seductive allure it exuded was still as tempting to men’s wandering eyes.

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Though most remained the same, one part clearly changed. The missing portion of her right lip and cheek, which had previously revealed her fang and exposed her true nature as an inhuman creature to be feared, was gone. Her face was now that of a beautiful human woman. She could walk the streets in the daytime without anyone running away in horror—of course, if you ignored her razor-sharp claws, the blood on her back, and the screaming heads. Well, if you just focused on her face, she looked human-like.

“Stop it, child,” BloodShade muttered with humor in her voice. “You’ve already seen my face before. I know I’m beautiful, but you need to control yourself, or you’ll grow up into a degenerate.”

‘Though most things appear to be the same, they aren’t. She isn’t as terrifying as before. The malevolence that once emanated from her isn’t directed at me anymore. It seems she’s really working under me.’

When it finally dawned on him that BloodShade had chosen to serve under him, a satisfied and gentle smile appeared on Elysian’s lips. “Is it really wrong to appreciate beauty, my lady?” he responded, chuckling as he slowly walked around her, playing along as if he were still admiring the woman. “Isn’t it simply human nature?”

“Ah, it appears it's already too late,” BloodShade replied, shaking her head. “You’re already corrupted, fated to be a degenerate.”

Elysian suddenly burst into laughter, followed by the woman. The eerie and dreadful environment they were in was a complete contrast to the mirth and levity of their mood. It seemed even the dreariest of places could not dampen their spirits. These were strange people, indeed. Well, they were crazy and broken; what did you expect?

“I’m glad to see you again,” Elysian finally said as their laughter mellowed. “More so that we are on the same side,” he continued, raising his brow. “Though, I still couldn’t forget that last one you pulled. It hurt f*ckig bad.”

“Well, I did warn you,” BloodShade responded, smirking at the memory of the boy screaming. “Look, you succeeded. I serve you now. Isn’t that a worthy exchange?”

“It is, and I don’t regret it,” Elysian stated, pondering for a moment before glancing at the woman again. “Hmm… Why did you bring me back here?”

“Bring you back?” she asked, confused by his question. “I didn’t. You came here yourself.”

Elysian studied the woman for a moment, considering her answer before remarking, “There was a tattoo on my right wrist of a double-headed serpent. It stared at me, bringing me back into your realm. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about?”

“Ah, that one,” BloodShade muttered, sighing in resignation. “Yeah, I know what you’re alluding to, but the truth is, I don’t really know much about that creature.”

The lake of blood suddenly turned transparent like a mirror. Below it, Elysian sensed the colossal double-headed serpent, like the one he saw in his vision, coiled together, frozen in time. Despite looking similar, and even though the sizes were alike, the boy could feel the power that emanated from it was different, somehow smaller like it could fade with time. Let’s just say it didn’t have the presence of the divine.

BloodShade quietly observed the boy’s reaction, watching as it shifted from shock to confusion. “Hmm… It appears you’ve noticed it too,” she remarked as the boy glanced at her. “Well, the truth is, you might know more about the creature than I do.”

“Really?” Elysian said skeptically, questioning the validity of the woman’s claim. “That’s hard to believe, considering that creature is within your realm. Not to mention, the two of you have been together for ages.”

“You’re right,” BloodShade responded, nodding in agreement. As she did, two chairs, crafted from obsidian—the same material as the pillars—suddenly rose, one below her and the other positioned in front. “Before we continue, let’s take a seat first. I would be a poor host if I left you standing, don’t you think?”

As the woman floated down to her seat, Elysian smiled gratefully and strolled forward, easing himself into the chair. “Finally, I can take a rest,” he muttered, exhaling with satisfaction. “Do you know how hard it is to keep standing in my current state? I thought my knees would buckle at any moment.”

“Brat, your body right now is formed by your mind,” BloodShade stated, snorting at the lie the boy attempted to spin. “Given your willpower, I doubt that simply standing would cause you any mental strain.”

“I wouldn’t be sure about that,” Elysian countered, smirking at the woman. “Remember, my mind was just tortured,” he stated, pausing for a moment to emphasize the words, before raising a brow in challenge. “I saw one of the vilest things done to another human. To top it off, I witness for the first time the ascent of a divine, the god of one of the most wretched cults in Creation,” he continued, before quickly correcting himself. “Well, it failed, but still, it nearly succeeded. Each of those three could’ve easily broken a normal human’s mind.”

“It seems you really did see my past,” BloodShade muttered, smiling at the boy, as a hint of sorrow and pain passed through her eyes. “Some of what you saw, I can’t remember. The last thing I could recall…” she remarked, pausing for a moment as she tried to control the rage burning inside of her. “The last thing I could recall is when my hus… when that vermin revealed himself to be alive. After that, I totally blackout.”

‘Yeah, I can see that happening. With all the suffering she went through, it’s quite reasonable that her mind shut down after that incredible shock.’

Studying her reaction intently, Elysian nodded at her revelation. “After you were incorporated into the knife, they use it to break the egg of Xipilcoatl.”

“Xipilcoatl?”

“Yeah, that’s the name of the serpent—their god. They summoned it from the deepest recesses of the Abyss,” Elysian responded, glancing at the ground as he tried to sense the snake below. “Their first attempt actually failed. It seemed that even with their preparations, it wasn’t enough to break the defenses of the egg,” he recalled as he continued to recount what he saw from the vision. “Yeah, that’s what happened.”

“I’m glad to hear that they died, and more importantly, they failed to attain their greatest wish,” BloodShade stated, chuckling at the fate of his most hated enemies. Even though she laughed, it carried no joy or satisfaction in her voice. If you really think about it, she had lost everything she held dear; the demise and misfortune of the cultist wouldn’t bring back her children. “D-Do you think that vermin has also died?”

“Even though I did not see his death, hmm…” the noble muttered, looking into the woman’s expectant eyes. “Yes, I do believe he died. I can’t imagine he would survive the collapse of that place.”

‘Even by some miracle that b*stard survived, he should’ve died by now, of that, I am sure.’

“Good, good,” she muttered, smiling at the boy. Suddenly, an obsidian table rose from the ground between them. “Now, to celebrate that great news,” she quipped, a screaming head suddenly materialized in front of them. “Why don’t we have a toast?”

‘What the f*ck!’

Elysian’s mouth suddenly fell open when he saw the screaming head of Grimscar in front of him.