The morning after the failed mission, the halls of the Devil's estate were silent except for the sound of footsteps. Enzo walked through them, guided by Darius, his body still trembling from the weight of last night. The truth of his uncle's betrayal echoed in his skull, but it was no longer a chain. It was a wound that Lucius promised to turn into strength.
"First lesson," Darius growled as they stepped into the underground training chamber. The room was a cavern lined with weapons, bloodstains, and the scent of sweat. "Forget who you were. The boy who cried over family is dead. From now on, you are reborn under the Devil."
Enzo clenched his fists, his voice steady despite the storm inside him. "Then kill the boy. Teach me to become what he would never dare."
Darius's grin spread, cruel and approving. He tossed Enzo a blade. "Then fight me. Survive five minutes, and maybe I will believe you are worth training."
Enzo raised the knife, sweat dripping down his brow. The moment Darius lunged, the weight of his presence crushed him. Each strike felt like a hammer, each block rattled Enzo's bones. But he did not fall. He bled, stumbled, and gasped, yet he kept his footing.
When the five minutes ended, Enzo collapsed to his knees, his knife shaking in his grip. Darius stood above him, not disappointed, but amused. "Good. You are not strong yet, but you are stubborn. I can work with that."
Far away, in another wing of the estate, Selene's screams pierced the air. Chains rattled as Veyra dragged her across the floor, her blade tracing lazy patterns along Selene's arms. "Poor little viper," Veyra cooed, her eyes wide with delight. "You thought yourself clever, but clever snakes still lose their fangs when the Devil commands."
Selene's eyes burned with defiance, though fear lingered beneath. "Lucius will regret giving me to you."
Veyra laughed, a sound sharp enough to cut glass. "Lucius regrets nothing. He wants you broken, and I will make you sing until you worship him again." She pressed the knife just deep enough to draw blood, savoring Selene's hiss of pain.
Meanwhile, Darius continued drilling Enzo, beating him to the ground again and again. "Pain is your teacher," he barked. "Every strike you take is a lesson. Every scar is proof that you survived."
Enzo spat blood, forcing himself up. "Then I will survive them all."
Hours stretched into what felt like days. Darius's brutality never softened, but each fall made Enzo rise faster, each cut steeled his will. The boy who had once sought vengeance was beginning to transform into something harder, colder.
That night, Lucius watched from the shadows, his crimson eyes gleaming. He saw Enzo stagger to his feet after yet another blow, his chest heaving, his knife still raised. A smile curved across the Devil's lips. "Yes," he whispered. "Break him, Darius. Break him until only loyalty remains."
Selene's defiance began to falter under Veyra's torment. Each scream she released echoed down the dark halls. Yet Veyra's cruelty was not aimless; she whispered Lucius's name with every lash, forcing Selene to associate her pain with her master's will. It was not just punishment. It was reprogramming.
Enzo, unaware of Selene's suffering, lay in the training hall that night, his body broken but his spirit alight. He whispered into the dark, "Uncle, you betrayed me. But I will not betray myself. I will rise higher than you ever dreamed."
Darius looked down at him, nodding in grim approval. "Good. Tomorrow we begin the true lessons. Tonight was nothing but a taste."
In another chamber, Selene's voice cracked as Veyra leaned close, whispering into her ear. "By the time I am done, you will beg to crawl back to Lucius. You will beg to be his viper again."
As the estate fell into silence, two paths unfolded under the Devil's watch. One was being forged into a weapon. The other was being broken into obedience.
And in the center of it all, Lucius stood smiling, his laughter quiet and poisonous, already plotting how both would serve him in ways they could not yet imagine.