The wound closed. The bleeding stopped.
And the gemstone screamed.
Not audibly—but Don felt it, a sound like feedback in his skull. The knight staggered back, his sword shaking in his hands as the gemstone flickered, unable to consume what it had taken.
Don's blood was regenerating faster than the sword could drink it.
The knight stared at him in shock. "What... what are you?"
Don didn't answer. His mind was a white haze of pain and terror and something else—something cold and clear and utterly focused.
[Madness: 8%]
[Warning: Approaching threshold]
[Emotional Suppression recommended]
His right eye twitched. Then burned.
Don gasped, his hand flying to his face. It felt like someone had shoved a hot coal into his eye socket. He blinked furiously, tears streaming down his cheek—
—and when he opened his eyes again, the world looked different.
His left eye remained brown, normal. But his right eye—
It glowed.
Brilliant, sickly yellow, like molten gold mixed with poison. The world through that eye was sharper, clearer, stripped of all unnecessary detail.
He could see the fear in the knight's eyes, the trembling of his hands, the exact trajectory of his next attack before the muscles even tensed.
He could see everything.
[Madness: 10%]
[Threshold reached]
[Physical manifestation: Active]
[Right eye: Transformed to Madness-touched Yellow]
[Warning: Further corruption will spread]
Then, cutting through the system's cold notifications, something else appeared. A single line of text in jagged, bleeding letters that seemed to writhe and pulse across his vision like a living thing:
[Hello, little seed. I've been waiting for you.]
Don's breath caught.
The voice wasn't the Source. It wasn't the system.
It was something else.
Something ancient.
Something that had been watching from the shadows of his mind, waiting for this moment.
Madness itself.
The knight attacked.
But this time, Don moved.
[Time Remaining on Quest: 05:43:21]
[Mana: 110/650]
[Madness: 10%]
[Right Eye: Yellow - ACTIVE]
Don's body moved before his mind could catch up.
The knight's sword came down in a brutal overhead strike, aimed to split his skull. But through his yellow right eye, Don could see it—the wind displacement, the angle, the inevitability of where the blade would land.
He stepped left.
Not frantically.
Not desperately.
Precisely.
The sword crashed into the stone where he'd been standing a fraction of a second before, sending sparks flying. The knight stumbled forward, off-balance.
Don's fist shot out.
It wasn't a trained blow. He had no martial arts, no fighting experience. But his Immortal body responded with raw, brutal efficiency.
His knuckles connected with the knight's temple with a sickening crack.
The man crumpled.
Don stood over him, breathing hard, staring at his own hand. The yellow glow from his right eye cast strange shadows across his skin.
What... what am I becoming?
[Madness corruption detected in motor functions]
[Combat efficiency increased by 23%]
[Warning: Prolonged exposure will alter personality]
[You're becoming what you were always meant to be,]
the bleeding text whispered across his vision.
[Stop fighting it. Embrace me. We can survive this together.]
"No," Don whispered, his voice hoarse. "I'm not—I won't—"
A scream cut him off.
Don's head snapped around. Across the pit, a woman was being backed against the wall by two men, both holding black swords. Their eyes were wild, their movements frantic. One of them lunged—
The blade pierced her chest.
Her scream turned into a wet gurgle as the gemstone drank. Her body shriveled, collapsing like wet paper.
And then the two men turned on each other.
All around the pit, the same scene repeated. People fought with desperation that had long since abandoned reason or mercy.
Some wielded the cursed swords. Others fought with bare hands, clawing and biting and screaming.
Blood painted the stones.
And through it all, Selene sat at her table, cutting her meat with slow, deliberate precision.
Don's stomach turned. His hands clenched into fists.
[Emotional Suppression available]
[Cost: 50 Mana]
[Current Mana: 110/650]
[Warning: Activation will leave insufficient reserves for extended combat]
[Activate? Y/N]
"No." Don said it out loud this time, his voice firmer. "I won't. I need to feel this. I need to remember—"
[Foolish boy,]
Madness interrupted, its tone almost amused.
[You think holding onto your fear makes you human? It makes you weak. It makes you vulnerable. It makes you DEAD.]
"I don't care," Don shot back, grabbing the fallen knight's sword. "I won't become a monster just to survive."
[We'll see.]