The calamities froze, their gazes locked on the alien head. Its eerie, unblinking eyes stared back, brimming with unnatural malice. For a moment, the calamities shifted their attention to where Scott had disappeared, noting that the nihilistic zone still lingered ominously. Yet there was no denying the considerable damage he had suffered, damage inflicted by the unsettling creature before them.

“Help me shake off this chain,” the head commanded, its voice reverberating with unnatural authority.

The calamities remained silent, their stillness a mixture of caution and defiance.

The creature’s glassy eyes blinked slowly, then roved over its surroundings, taking in the twisted, ominous expanse. When its gaze landed on the transformed water serpent, it spoke again, its tone eerily smooth.

“Do you not understand my words?” It tilted its head slightly, the motion unnervingly fluid. “Rid me of these chains,” it commanded once more.

The serpent’s narrow eyes glinted with disdain. “Who do you—”

The words had barely left its mouth when its massive body detonated in an explosion of water and viscera, revealing the lithe form of the water sprite within. The remaining calamities stirred, shock rippling through them. The attack—if it could even be called that—had come without warning, impossible to predict or avoid.

“Won’t you help me?” the head asked again, its voice now tinged with feigned desperation.

The Harbinger of Rot let out a guttural growl before unleashing a shrill scream. Corrosive smog spewed forth, rushing toward the alien head. Yet before the noxious cloud could reach its target, a muffled explosion rang out. The Harbinger’s cage-like frame imploded, and its massive form toppled backward, its own corrosive fluids eating away at its flesh.

The Calamities of Destruction and Disobedience froze, their eyes widening in disbelief as they took in the sight of the fallen Harbinger. The alien head remained still; its eerie grin unbroken.

“Help me, and I will spare you,” the head declared, its voice now dripping with malevolence. “This world, I shall conquer for my liege, and you—shall serve in his glorious conquest. What say you?”

Neither calamity dared to speak. The unspoken truth was clear: to answer, or to show the slightest hint of malice, was to invite a swift and inescapable death.

The head tilted, studying them with its unsettling, unwavering gaze. Seconds stretched into an eternity. Then, the Calamity of Destruction raised its hand, and its fiery spears began to spin—not in an attack, but to form holographic words with their blazing flames.

You ask us to speak, yet you kill those who do. Who are you?

“I haven’t killed anyone,” the head replied, mock innocence dripping from its tone. “Those consumed by animosity merely fell victim to their own hatred. But you two…” It grinned wider, its expression even more unsettling. “I like you two. You’ve suppressed your malice. You recognize the situation you’re in.”

Who are you? the spears wrote again.

The head chuckled softly, the sound grating and unnatural. “Of what importance is my identity?” it mused, its glassy eyes glistening. “I am but a servant—no, nothing—compared to my liege, he who shall conquer all planes.”

Confusion rippled through the calamities as they exchanged wary glances. The spears spun again, forming a new message:

Weren’t you summoned by that—

The spears shattered mid-sentence; their message unfinished.

“Don’t you dare confuse my liege with that abominable being!” the head roared, its voice shaking the area. Ripples coursed through the blackened earth, and cracks spiderwebbed across the air.

“That insolent creature, with these revolting chains, awakened me from my slumber. How it reached me, I do not know, but it shall suffer for all eternity—yearning for death that will never come!”

The head fell silent, its expression darkening. “I will not entertain any more questions until you answer mine. Tell me, what world is this?”

The Calamity of Destruction’s fiery spears spun anew, but before they could form a response, both calamities’ gazes shifted abruptly, their expressions twisting in shock.

The head, noticing their reactions, followed their line of sight. Emerging slowly from the nihilistic zone was an obelisk, its blackened surface radiating a violent hum. From its summit, a surge of eldritch energy shot into the sky, stirring the heavens.

For the first time, a crease marred the alien head’s smooth forehead.

“Do you think this is reality?”

Scott’s voice echoed through the chaos, cold and commanding.

All eyes turned toward him as he hovered midair, pristine and unyielding. The bloodstains and exhaustion that had marred him earlier were gone, replaced by an aura of terrifying calm.

A cacophony of arcane whispers erupted, deafening and incomprehensible. The calamities clutched their ears, their forms writhing under the relentless assault of the maddening noise.

Meanwhile, the floating head stared at Scott, shock evident in its eyes. It looked beyond the voidweaver, staring at the turbulent skies. The majestic, all-seeing eye stared back. This time, it was different. The eye was more detailed and piercing, exuding a regal yet oppressive might. What’s more, the eye now shimmered with blackened flames, and the sign in its pupil had been replaced with a cluster of numerous burning stars.

“Who are you?” the head questioned; its brows fully creased.

Scott, his eyes filled with disdain, motioned with his hand, and the chains of the abyss stirred. They rustled fiercely, coiling around the head instantaneously—their flames burning the floating summon. Yet, the summon neither screamed nor winced. It stared at Scott in defiance, its eyes brimming with murderous light.

“You dare look at me with those eyes—those eyes filled with disdain?!” The head trembled, its rage distorting its features as it gritted its teeth. The chains clattered louder than ever, competing with the ominous voices plaguing the area. “An abomination like you dares to look at me with those eyes?!”

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The chains constricted around the head, but it could do nothing against the bulging veins distorting its features. Yet, Scott remained silent, staring at the summon with cold mockery.

The creature parted its teeth, and its eyes shattered into tiny fragments. There was no roar, no sound, no blast—just nothing.

The whispers of the void plaguing the region instantly disappeared, and an eerie stillness fell, as if time itself had been vanquished from the area. The chains binding the head and Scott’s form disappeared, erased from existence. The same fate befell the oppressive all-seeing eye. Half of it was erased, the other half gradually fading away.

The calamities stared at the destruction in stunned silence. They knew the head was a creature of immense power, but even they could not fathom what they had witnessed.

The shattered pieces of the summon’s eyes fell back into place, while its parted mouth sealed once more, its eerie smile remaining. The creature’s bulging veins had long vanished, disappearing along with the whispers and Scott’s form. This time, the nihilistic zone crumbled, disappearing into the dusty earth below. The towering pillar shattered along with it, and the pulsating blast it emitted vanished too.

The summon turned its attention back to the calamities. “You may speak. That abomination will no longer interrupt us.”

“You’re lost. Accept it,” Scott’s voice echoed. “The harder you resist, the deeper you fall. Madness beckons—embrace it! Yearn for it. Seek it! Entertain it. Maybe, just maybe, you too shall become whole!”

The summon’s gaze sifted across the area, but neither Scott’s form nor any trace of the voidweaver could be sensed. The calamities, too, panicked. Like the head, they had heard the ominous declaration, but they could not find any traces of the voidweaver.

“Ponder!” Scott’s voice suddenly rang out.

The calamities stirred, their faces contorting in fury, especially that of the calamity of destruction.

“You dare use mere confessions on me!” it roared. But barely seconds after the words left its mouth, the head of the calamity exploded. In its moment of rage, it had forgotten about the backlash from speaking in the presence of the floating head. The calamity’s headless corpse fell straight to the dusty earth.

The calamity of disobedience stared at the headless corpse as well as the spears lying next to it, then turned her attention toward the floating head, which stared back with indifference. Like the calamity of destruction, fury distorted her visage the moment Scott initiated his confessions, but the fallen calamity had beaten her to voicing its rage.

“I see what this is,” the head began, its eyes roaming the area with a hint of enlightenment. “This is all an illusion!” It laughed in realization. “You think a mere illusion will hold me? Never!”

The creature’s eyes shattered once more, and its teeth parted a second time. Silently, it began to wreak devastation on the surroundings. Unlike the void being, the calamity of disobedience simply hovered in place, silent and unmoving, watching as the creature wreaked havoc across the territory. The land and skies bore multiple fractures—fractures that only grew the longer the creature’s mouth remained open. Then, they heard it. Whispers, deafening and incessant. Guttural and alluring. Enchanting and ominous. The whispers of the void had returned. This time, however, it was different. Specters, arcane in their wisdom and features, slithered in their ethereal forms, their voices rummaging through the territory.

Their numbers were infinite, like the scattered sands plaguing the dusty earth, and the combination of their voices shook even the heavens themselves.

The calamity of disobedience shuddered, clawing at her ears as the ancient wisdom drifted into them. Thick, bulging veins distorted her childlike features, giving the water sprite the look of a water devil. Yet, the whispers festered. Unrelenting and incessant.

Amidst the cacophony, a spiderweb of cracks fractured the skies, spreading like an unyielding plague. A thunderous crack followed, silencing the whispers as Scott’s form flickered back into view.

The Calamity of Disobedience, who had barely stifled her scream moments earlier, now panted heavily, her gaze fixed on the Voidweaver. The illusion was gone, shattered into nothingness. But the instant it dissolved, Scott’s body had vanished beneath the imperceptible strike of the floating head. Even now, the water sprite wasn’t certain if he had truly been defeated.

“Why won’t you give in? Why resist the inevitable?” Scott’s voice echoed through the stillness.

The water sprite’s expression faltered. The voice didn’t come from Scott—but from the gaping mouth of the floating head.

The head snapped its jaws shut, its hollow eyes flickering back to life. It had heard Scott’s voice escape its mouth. How was that possible? The chains coiled around its teeth pulsed ominously, a likely culprit for the grotesque trickery.

Scott’s form materialized once again, this time suspended between the floating head and the Calamity of Disobedience. His voice rang out, cold and oppressive, cutting through the residual tension like a blade. “Illusion or reality—why bother separating them? In madness, reality becomes illusion, and illusion... reality.”

The chains of the Abyss recoiled and surged around the floating head, their links swelling grotesquely as they constricted tighter. The whispers returned—sharp, unrelenting. They drowned the air with their oppressive noise.

The Calamity of Disobedience clutched at her ears in vain. Her webbed hands tore at her own flesh, water spilling from her fingers in desperate attempts to block the sound. Yet, not even the rippling droplets could halt the relentless voices.

“Ponder!” Scott’s command erupted, cutting through the whispers.

“I will not be—!” The water sprite’s defiant words halted mid-sentence. Her eyes widened in realization a split second before her head exploded, her body spiraling downward like a broken doll.

Scott turned toward the bound head, meeting its gaze—a swirling maelstrom of malice and incomprehension.

“You think these chains can hold me?” the creature hissed, its voice laced with venom.

Scott’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t care,” he replied, his tone frigid. He stared into the creature’s eyes—this time, no response came.

The creature blinked, momentarily stunned.

“I know not what you are,” it hissed after a beat, its voice trembling with restrained rage. “But your existence must end. I will not allow a creature like you to reach my liege!” The head’s grotesque features swelled, its form trembling with the effort to defy its bindings.

Scott took a step forward, his feet pressing firmly against the air. “You don’t understand, do you?” His voice resonated deeply, carrying an undeniable weight.

The head faltered. Its swelling form deflated like a punctured balloon; its rage siphoned away into the oppressive silence that followed.

“Nothing bound by these chains escapes eternal servitude,” Scott continued, his words cutting through the stillness. “Nothing.” Another step forward. “This liege you speak of… it doesn’t exist. Your thoughts, your memories, your very essence—I shaped them. Your emotions and your actions, I control them. Now, tell me…” He stopped just before the massive head, his piercing gaze locking onto its glassy eyes. “Am I not your liege?”

The head stared back in confusion; its malice dampened by an undercurrent of fear. “What are you?” it whispered at last.

Scott didn’t answer. Instead, his eyes turned skyward. Reluctantly, the creature followed his gaze—and froze. Suspended in the void above, the all-seeing eye stared down at them, regal and inscrutable. The summon’s pupils dilated. Illusions, it could handle. But this... this defied comprehension.

“Ponder!” Scott’s voice thundered.

The chains constricted further, and an eerie compulsion surged through the head, wrenching words from its mouth. “The empty throne... destined for our lord,” it murmured, its voice trembling.

“Wonder!” Scott declared again.

“The grace of he who is tormented by the flames of madness!” the creature cried, its eyes igniting with a maddening glow.

“Bask in!”

“The fervor of the king!” The creature’s voice rose to a fever pitch. Its form trembled violently as the chains tore through its essence.

“Eternal,” Scott whispered, his voice barely audible.

“Is the madness of the throne!” the head roared, its cry twisted with deranged joy. “Only madness is eternal!”

The chains of the Abyss tightened one final time, ripping the head apart in a violent burst of energy. A deafening crack echoed through the air as reality itself distorted.

When the dust settled, the scene had reset. The floating head hung in its original position, pristine. Around it, the slain Calamities stirred, alive and untouched, exchanging uneasy glances. Each of them had clearly perished. And yet, here they stood.

Scott was nowhere to be seen. The whispers had fallen silent.

The head lifted its gaze, trembling. The unblinking eye stared back at it, vast and unyielding. Slowly, the Calamities turned their heads skyward, and they too saw it.

Amidst the silence, Scott’s voice thundered again. “Is what you see... considered reality?”

For the first time, fear rippled through the Calamities and the summon alike. They finally understood: Madness did not simply lurk. Madness walked among them.