Pain.
That was the only thought running through the first man's mind. An indescribable AGONY. This made him wonder if this was what Eve and Lilith felt when they bit the forbidden fruit.
"AAAAHHHHHHH!" Adam screamed, his voice distorting as his body began to change.
All of hell trembled with devastating force. The windows of Rosie's mansion shattered, furniture overturned, and cracks appeared in the walls. The tremor's force was so intense that Rosie went flying backwards.
The cannibal overlord reacted quickly. While flying through the air, she screamed in surprise, yet immediately began creating four spider legs that sprouted from her back. These were pure flesh, with pulsing veins and a repulsive organic texture. The fleshy appendages embedded deeply into the wooden floor, anchoring her to avoid being thrown.
Her elegant Victorian hat flew through the air and crashed against the wall as she struggled to maintain balance. Her eyes fixed on Adam with a mixture of morbid horror and fascination. Rosie used her arms to shield her face from the strong wind that emanated solely from the presence of the first man and father of humanity.
Adam's transformation was grotesque and hypnotic. His body stretched and expanded, becoming larger and more muscular than the first man already was. His skin changed from its normal tone, being replaced by a black exoskeleton that extended like angular armor plates, similar to an apex predator's shell.
His arms lengthened considerably, becoming more powerful. The elegant exoskeleton covered every inch of his new form, giving him a sleek, insectoid appearance that radiated lethal power.
Four smaller arms emerged from his body right at his ribs, his human hands transforming dramatically. His fingers extended and his nails became razor-sharp claws, each one seeming capable of cutting steel like butter. The claws gleamed with an unnatural edge, promising death to anyone who touched them.
From his face sprouted two small pincers that moved with threatening fluidity, and his face elongated slightly and took on an insectoid form, maintaining his basic features but adding a more angular and predatory quality. His jaw became more prominent, and when he smiled, it revealed that his teeth had disappeared to adapt to his monstrous form.
His beautiful golden wings began to shed, falling to the ground like dead feathers before turning to golden ash, only to be replaced by four transparent insect wings that emerged from his back, unfolding with a sinister buzz.
But most shocking was what happened to his eyes. His eyelids closed tightly for several seconds, and when they finally opened, they were no longer the golden eyes of the first man. Now they were completely red - an intense crimson red that covered the entire eye. There was no pupil, no iris, just that solid, brilliant red color that seemed to burn with malevolent and cruel intelligence.
The presence he emanated was crushing: a lethal aura that screamed "apex predator." The air itself became heavy and poisonous around him.
[Imagen]
When the transformation ended, Adam gasped from the pain, his breathing labored. Then he began examining his new body with analytical curiosity.
He flexed his new muscles, noticing how each movement was more fluid and powerful. His senses had sharpened exponentially: he could hear Rosie's terrified heartbeat, smell her fear, feel every vibration in the ground.
Rosie watched him cautiously, her four fleshy legs keeping her stable in the air as she subtly began preparing for battle. Her tentacles moved nervously, ready to attack or defend.
But Adam paid her no attention. Instead, he turned his head toward where Roo was, with indignation.
"WHAT THE FUCK, ROO?!" Adam shouted, his voice now deeper with a disturbing timbre. "Seriously, why didn't you give me a warning that I'd turn into a damn bug?!"
Roo stood before him with a mischievous smile, clearly enjoying herself enormously.
"Oh, but Adam!" she purred with a seductive voice. "Look at you! Now you're quite the beast... literally! And I must admit the exoskeleton suits you very well!"
"SUITS ME WELL?!" Adam roared with rage and indignation, gesturing at himself with his six arms. "Now I'm like one of those trash, pieces of shit losers of sinners!"
"Mmm, true..." Roo floated around him, examining him with obvious interest. "But look on the bright side... you look absolutely adorable! Like a giant, very, very angry beetle."
Adam blinked, a vein bulging on his forehead.
"This isn't the time for your little jokes, bitch." Adam commented with a predatory growl, his tone hoarse and evil. "I lost all my fucking attractiveness, my face, my body, and worst of all... MY FUCKING INCREDIBLE WINGS! THEY WERE MY FUCKING PRIDE! AND NOW THEY'RE GONE!"
"Oh come on! It's not all bad! Now you have four wings instead of two! It's like a promotion!" Roo laughed, gesturing toward his new features. "Not to mention you now look like a Herculean insect. Plus you give off that lethal predator look along with those threatening red eyes, I find it quite... attractive."
"Wait, what the hell are you saying?!" Adam roared, bringing his hands to his face. "MY EYES CHANGED COLOR?! AND HOW IS HAVING THESE DRAGONFLY WINGS A PROMOTION?! MY OLD GOLDEN WINGS WERE PERFECT, THEY SHONE LIKE THE SUN!"
"Oh, honey!" Roo approached dangerously. "Look on the positive side! Now no one can accuse you of being a little angel! And with those pincers..." she made a theatrical pause. "At least you now have built-in equipment for when you find someone who likes rough play!"
Adam stopped, processing that.
"You know what? That sounds... wait, NO!" Adam pointed at her with annoyance. "You're not going to distract me! Why did I have to transform into this giant bug?! WHY DID I HAVE TO LOSE MY PERFECT BODY?! MY SCULPTED MUSCLES?! MY ANGELIC FACE?! MY INCREDIBLE WINGS?! I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT TWICE!"
Roo sighed, now annoyed. "Relax... there are still methods for you to look human again... though it won't be your real appearance. Since what you have now is the definitive one."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Adam groaned with exasperating annoyance. "At least tell me, for the love of God, that... I still have a fucking huge dick." Adam looked at his crotch and saw nothing, which made Adam whimper sadly.
"Oh yes! A very huge and retractable dick with which you can be very PENETRATING." Roo purred and made a mocking, grotesque sound of an unsheathed sword. "Plus, imagine the possibilities with those pincers! Very... practical!"
Adam looked at her incredulously.
"Are you seriously making sexual innuendos when I literally look like something out of a horror movie?"
"And a good one!" Roo responded with a giggle. "You're like a sexy villain! That most people would want to fuck... very impressive actually!"
"I DON'T WANT TO BE IMPRESSIVE, I WANT TO BE SEXY!" Adam began walking in circles, his wings buzzing slightly. "AND WHAT AM I GOING TO DO IF I WANT TO SCREW?! HUH?! WHO IN THE WORLD WANTS TO SLEEP WITH A FUCKING GIANT SCARY BUG?!"
"I'm sure many people would!" Roo floated in front of him. "Besides, now you're a very sexy and scary giant bug can be very attractive! Dangerous! And exciting! Imagine the role-playing!"
Adam stopped, considering that for a moment. He couldn't deny he was fucking curious. "Role-playing?"
"Yes! The predator and prey! The hunter and the hunted! With those wings you can chase someone all over hell and make her yours! Very romantic!"
"Romantic?" Adam said incredulously while moving his wings experimentally. "You have a very fucked up way of seeing romance, not to mention it's fucking creepy and something a pure weirdo would say... What you're saying sounds more like kidnapping!"
"Oh, Adam! Don't be such a fucking party pooper!" Roo pouted, but then smiled mockingly. "You can always say you're... exotic. Unique! Irresistible in a very... specific way!"
"SPECIFIC?!" Adam grabbed his head in frustration and disbelief. "SPECIFIC LIKE I HAVE A BUG FETISH?!"
"Exactly," Roo clapped mockingly.
Adam frowned, shaking his head with annoyance. "This is a fucking disaster!"
"Oh, don't be so dramatic!" Roo commented with a slight smile. "Besides, think about it! Now you have super sharp claws! You can cut anything! And those wings! You can fly at incredible speeds! It's like having built-in superpowers!"
'Don't be dramatic, says the complete bitch, weird freak who probably likes fucking insects', Adam thought annoyed, before flexing his new claws, admiring their edge.
"Well... I admit this is kind of cool," Adam said reluctantly. "But why didn't you warn me about all this?"
"Because it would have been less fun!" Roo laughed. "Besides, the expression you made when you saw your wings fall was priceless! Like a child losing his favorite toy!"
"It wasn't a toy, it was part of my charm!" Adam grumbled annoyed and irritated, along with slight sadness for losing his beautiful perfect wings.
"And now you have a completely new charm!" Roo winked. "More... aggressive! More intense! More... biting!"
Adam was about to continue commenting, but Rosie, who had been watching this strange one-sided conversation with growing confusion, gathered her courage and finally exploded.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING TO?!" Rosie screamed with barely contained rage and fury while showing her teeth. "HAVE YOU GONE CRAZY, YOU DAMN IDIOT?! ARE YOU TALKING TO YOURSELF?!"
Adam stopped in the middle of his discussion with Roo and slowly turned his head toward Rosie. His new red eyes fixed on her with an intensity that made the air turn icy. Rosie briefly regretted having yelled at him - it would have been better if she had escaped when she had the chance, but the presence emanating from the first man made her legs freeze.
The presence he emanated intensified with overwhelming force, and Rosie felt as if an ancestral predator was evaluating her as prey. In those red eyes shone something that made her shudder: malicious intentions directed specifically at her.
Adam was still the same arrogant bastard as before, but now there was something more. The apple had unlocked not just power, but also a sharper intelligence. He could feel knowledge flowing through his mind: battle strategies, enemy weaknesses, ways to cause maximum damage, and various other knowledge he hadn't bothered to learn before.
Then Adam opened his mouth and released a scream that wasn't human. It was a sharp shriek that resonated throughout the cannibal town, piercing through walls and reaching every corner of Rosie's territory. A sound that came from primordial nightmares, that activated every survival instinct.
Rosie, despite the fear consuming her, tried to maintain her composure. With an elegant movement, she materialized her Victorian parasol in her right hand, deploying it with a forced smile while making jokes about the first man's new appearance. Her spider legs helped her get to the ground, detaching from the wood to move behind her nervously.
"Well, well!" she said with a forced smile. "I must admit the giant insect look is... interesting! Though it's definitely not an improvement!"
Adam didn't respond with words. Instead, he moved with inhuman speed. One moment he was where he had been standing, and the next he appeared directly in front of Rosie, his wings buzzing, his fist heading toward her face.
Rosie reacted on instinct, using her parasol as a shield while her sharp, fleshy legs from her back moved to intercept the attack. But Adam's claws simply cut through the tentacles like butter, and she barely managed to use her parasol to deflect the blow, though the force sent her sliding backward and destroyed most of her parasol, also causing her to lose it from her hand as it fell with a dull thud to the floor.
'Shit!' thought Rosie, grimacing in pain from the strain on her arms. She had tried to deflect the attack, but even then the pure force of the attack had left her half-stunned and without her weapon. 'If one of those hits actually strikes Rosie, then she'd be finished.'
Her eyes filled with hesitation, but even so she wasn't going to be a coward. Rosie narrowed her eyes as she felt every muscle in her body tense. She was one of the strongest Overlords in hell, and she wasn't going to be intimidated by a fallen angel who now has an insect complex.
So Rosie forced an arrogant smile and spoke. "Well, well!" Rosie mocked, using her tentacles to propel herself backward and gain distance. "Someone's very sensitive about their new appearance!"
Adam laughed with cruelty and launched himself at her again with supernatural speed. This time, Rosie was prepared. She extended her arms and to distract him summoned more tentacles with sharp teeth and clawed hands, which emerged from the floor and walls of the mansion to then launch themselves at Adam from all directions, but he observed them with absolute boredom.
With a fluid movement, Adam extended his arms and began cutting them down. His incredibly sharp claws cut through each abomination as if they were paper. Rosie, seeing the distraction was working, began singing a sinister melody. Immediately, the air filled with screeches and cawing.
Thousands of diseased rats began emerging from the sewers and cracks of the town, while infernal birds with flaming feathers and razor-like claws descended from the night sky. At the same time, she summoned more fleshy tentacles that sprouted from the wooden floor, creating a grotesque mixture of demonic fauna and flesh abominations.
The creatures launched themselves at Adam from all directions. The rats ran along the walls and floor, jumping toward him with venomous teeth, while the infernal birds attacked from above. The fleshy tentacles emerged unpredictably from the ground, trying to grab his legs and wings.
Adam, seeing the sinner's attack attempts, laughed mockingly and with disdain.
"Is this the best you've got?!" he mocked while beginning to move like a whirlwind of destruction. "An infernal zoo pet?! How pathetic!"
With movements that seemed like a deadly dance, Adam began cutting down the creatures and fleshy abominations with his claws. His speed was so superior that the creatures and fleshy tentacles could barely touch him. He flew, dodged, and attacked with a precision that turned the battle into a one-sided massacre.
"Come on, cannibal bitch!" he mocked while cutting down a dozen rats in a single pass. "I expected more from an 'overlord'! This is easier than killing time!"
Rosie watched with growing horror as her army was decimated without Adam even seeming to exert himself. Her summons fell in droves, but he kept laughing as if it were a game.
Rosie took advantage of the distraction to subtly concentrate on something else. Without saying a word, her eyes glowed slightly as she whispered to herself. Suddenly, Adam began experiencing a series of minor "accidents." A rat managed to bite his ankle just as he was landing, making him stumble. A fleshy tentacle appeared exactly where he was going to step, momentarily unbalancing him.
"What the fuck?!" Adam growled, noticing that his perfect movements had become slightly erratic.
Rosie laughed enigmatically.
"Oh, darling! It seems you're not as lucky as you thought!" she said with a mischievous smile, without revealing exactly what she was doing.
To intensify the pressure, Adam saw how one of the mansion's ceiling beams "casually" came loose just as he was flying nearby. He barely dodged it, but the incident made him frown with suspicion.
Adam looked at his 'bad luck' and began laughing lightly, seeming amused by the cannibal bitch's pathetic attempts. "How cute! But your shitty tricks won't save you for much longer!"
Adam continued destroying the remaining summons and creatures while dodging the "accidents" with apparent ease, as if all this was nothing more than a walk in the park for him.
Rosie decided to use one of her most disconcerting tricks. With a dramatic gesture, the atmosphere of the entire mansion suddenly changed.
Suddenly, the entire scene transformed into a silent black and white film. The colors faded, and piano music began playing from the air. Adam found himself moving as if he were a character in an old movie, his movements becoming exaggerated and slightly more rigid.
"What the fuck is this?!" Adam shouted, but his voice came out strangely distorted by the effect.
Adam found himself increasingly annoyed by the bitch's actions. Every time he cut down a fleshy abomination, rat, or bird, probability was screwing him over and preventing him from getting close to Rosie by pure chance, and when that happened, more rats, birds, and fleshy abominations appeared to protect Rosie. Now Adam had to adapt to the disconcerting change of his new environment.
And just when Adam was about to adapt to his new environment and way of moving, Rosie noticed and quickly took advantage to change the environment again. This time, everything became like a rubber hose animation from the 1930s. Both combatants' bodies became more elastic and exaggerated, allowing Rosie to dodge some of Adam's attacks in impossible ways, stretching like an accordion.
"How fun!" Rosie mocked, stretching her arm impossibly to dodge a claw. "I love shows!"
Adam, though caught in the visual effects, laughed with cruelty.
"Very creative!" Adam looked at her with amused eyes full of disdain. "But changing the scenery won't change the outcome!"
He managed to adapt quickly, using the temporary elasticity to his advantage to extend his own attacks and continue pressuring Rosie.
"Enough of this shitty spectacle!" Adam roared, forcing the environment back to normal with pure willpower.
A wolf-shaped fleshy abomination headed toward Adam's back while thinking he was distracted, but he simply spread his wings and rose, cutting it in half as he descended, blood splattering everywhere.
"Seriously?! This is the best you can do?!" Adam mocked. "I've seen low-class demons fight better!"
Rosie realized she needed to escalate further. She landed on the floor of her mansion and planted her feet firmly. Her eyes glowed with power as she channeled one of her most impressive abilities.
"If you want to play seriously, let's play seriously!" she screamed.
Immediately, all the furniture in the mansion began to come alive. The Victorian sofas developed eyes and arms, the tables became wooden creatures with running legs, the portraits on the walls began to move and scream, and the lamps transformed into metal serpents that crawled along the walls.
"Rosie has many friends here!" She screamed with frustration, gritting her teeth hard while directing her new allies.
The living furniture began attacking Adam in coordination. The sofas tried to crush him, the tables ran toward him to strike him, and the lamp-serpents attempted to coil around his limbs.
Adam observed the chaos with genuine amusement.
"Ha! Now this gets interesting!" he mocked. "Though it's still pathetic!"
He began destroying the living furniture with the same ease he had destroyed the creatures. His claws cut through wood like paper, and his speed allowed him to dodge all the coordinated attacks.
"What kind of witch are you?!" Adam shouted between laughs while splitting a sofa in half. "A very bad one, apparently!"
Rosie grew desperate, elegantly drawing a celestial sword from beneath her dress.
"Oh, darling!" she said with a sweet but threatening smile. "I hope you don't mind that I have some souvenirs from previous exterminations!"
Adam saw the celestial weapon and laughed even harder.
"Of course you have celestial weapons and not just the pathetic knife you showed me before!" Adam commented with slight irritation, but not impressed at all. "Typical of a bitch who can't fight without tricks!"
Rosie wielded the sword with surprising skill, coordinating her attacks with her fleshy tentacles and the remaining living furniture. But Adam dodged every attack with insulting ease.
"Just one sword!" Adam mocked. "What are you going to do with one weapon against my speed?! Maybe you should use your shitty knife!"
Rosie's smile became even more malevolent.
"Who said I only have one?"
Suddenly, several of her fleshy tentacles revealed they were holding more celestial weapons: daggers, short spears, and even a small axe. At the same time, some of the living furniture also revealed they were armed with integrated celestial weapons.
"Rosie is always prepared!" she screamed while launching another coordinated attack.
Adam observed the weapons display with growing amusement.
"Impressive!" he mocked. "But quantity isn't quality!"
With a speed that made all his previous movements seem slow, Adam began moving between the weapons like smoke. Each of Rosie's attacks cut through the air exactly where he had been a microsecond before.
"What the fuck?!" Rosie screamed, desperately trying to follow his movements.
Adam appeared directly in front of her, smiling with cruelty.
"My turn!" he announced.
With precise and brutal movements, Adam began destroying every living object, every animal creature, every fleshy abomination, and every celestial weapon Rosie had. His claws cut through celestial metal as if it were paper, breaking swords, splitting daggers, and disintegrating spears.
"Impossible!" Rosie screamed, watching how her only most effective and dangerous weapons against sinners and angels turned into scrap.
"Nothing is impossible when you're superior!" Adam mocked, crushing the last abomination with his fist. "I'm Adam, the first man! The asshole who started it all, the man from whom all you idiots come! I'm the DICKMASTER, BITCH!"
Rosie screamed in frustration, summoning increasingly large and grotesque creatures. Flesh arms with mouths sprouted from the walls, tentacles with eyes ran across the ceiling, and the floor filled with mouths that tried to bite Adam's legs.
But nothing worked. Adam was too fast, too strong, too powerful. His wings gave him an aerial advantage that Rosie couldn't match, and he cut down each of Rosie's creations with mocking ease, laughing at her desperate attempts.
Rosie's Victorian mansion was crumbling around her. The walls cracked, furniture shattered, and portraits fell to the ground in broken frames. It was complete destruction.
"IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Rosie screamed, completely desperate. "HOW COULD YOU HAVE BECOME SO STRONG?! HOW DID YOU GO FROM BEING A FUCKING SCUM AT MY MERCY TO THIS?! ALL BECAUSE OF A STUPID APPLE?!"
Adam stopped in the center of the destruction, floating slightly with his wings spread, surrounded by the remains of Rosie's creatures, without a single scratch on his exoskeleton.
"I?" he said with a cruel smile that showed sharp teeth. "I'm your superior, whore. I always was. And now..." his red eyes gleamed with malice, "...it's time for you to remember your place."
Rosie became more desperate, screaming while channeling all her power. Her body swelled, while sharp, fleshy legs emerged from her back and multiplied, and more tentacles with teeth sprouted from the floor.
"DAMN BASTARD! I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU APART! I'M GOING TO EAT YOU ALIVE! I'M GOING TO...!"
Her words were cut off when Adam simply disappeared from her sight. In the blink of an eye. All the summons were destroyed in seconds.
And before Rosie could react, he appeared directly in front of her, his wings folding with a sinister buzz. Rosie opened her eyes wide with disbelief and frustration, and before she could do anything, Adam grabbed her left arm with one hand and punched her in the stomach with the other.
The force of the blow was devastating. Rosie felt her ribs break, the air escaped from her lungs, and she spat a large amount of blood before flying backward with such force that she went through the wall of her own mansion.
While flying through the air, gasping from pain and shock, Rosie looked down where her left arm had been. It was no longer there. Adam had completely torn it off by gripping it tightly when she went flying.
All her powers vanished instantly. The living furniture returned to being inanimate objects, the creatures she had summoned fled in terror, and her control over probability evaporated like smoke.
She blinked, processing the loss of her limb, and before she could scream from the pain, she suddenly saw Adam flying directly above her, his transparent wings buzzing menacingly, holding her torn-off arm like a baseball bat.
"Hey, bitch!" Adam shouted with a winning and amused smile. "I hope you don't mind if I use your arm! After all, you already ate mine!"
With those words, Adam used Rosie's torn-off arm like a club, hitting her with brutal force and sending her directly toward the central plaza of the cannibal town.
The impact was spectacular. Rosie crashed into the ground with such force that she created a considerable crater, raising a cloud of dust and debris. Adam had controlled the blow carefully: strong enough to incapacitate her, but not to kill her.
Rosie lay at the bottom of the crater, gasping in pain, unable to move. Her body was broken, her powers exhausted, and her pride completely destroyed.
Adam landed on the ground with force, his wings folding elegantly, his feet creating small cracks in the pavement. He walked slowly toward the edge of the crater, looking down with absolute disdain.
"You know what, cannibal bitch?" Adam commented with a cruel and ironic smile. "It seems the roles have reversed now. Now you're the one who's broken, defenseless, and at my mercy."
He leaned slightly, his red eyes gleaming with malice.
"How does it feel to be at the bottom of a hole, being looked down upon with contempt by someone superior? How does it feel to know that your life is in my hands?"
Rosie tried to respond, but could only emit a muffled moan as more blood dripped from her mouth.
"How pathetic!" Adam mocked. "The great Rosie, the cannibal overlord, reduced to a pile of broken flesh in a crater! And after all that spectacle with your shitty powers!"
Then he stopped, noticing that his display of power had brought the attention of all the cannibals in the town. He could feel their terrified eyes watching him from windows, doors, and building corners.
An even more cruel smile spread across his face as he looked at his new audience.
Adam jumped into the crater with a fluid movement, his transparent wings creating a sinister buzz. He landed right next to Rosie, who lay broken and gasping at the bottom of the hole.
"You know what, bitch?" Adam leaned down and grabbed Rosie's elegant hair with one hand, being careful of his sharp claws. "I think your town needs to see this."
With brutal force, he dragged her out of the crater, holding her up like a trophy. Rosie moaned in pain, her broken body hanging from his grip.
"Listen up, all you pieces of shit!" Adam roared, his voice resonating throughout the plaza. "I'm Adam! The first man! The first and the fucking original dick! And I just destroyed your pathetic leader!"
The town's cannibals fearfully peered out from windows and doors, their eyes filled with terror as they saw their overlord completely defeated.
"Here are the rules of the game!" Adam smiled with cruelty, his sharp teeth gleaming. "All of you are going to die... unless your dear Rosie sacrifices herself for you!"
He released Rosie, who fell to the ground with a muffled moan. Adam leaned toward her, his red eyes gleaming with malice.
"What do you say, cannibal bitch? Do you choose to save yourself and condemn your people? Or are you going to prove that you're not the monster we know you are?"
Rosie closed her eyes, the physical pain nothing compared to the agony of the decision. Memories of her human life flooded her like a toxic tide...
London, 1843. She was Dr. Rosetta Blackwood, one of the few female physicians of her time, specializing in mental medicine and herbalism. Her thriving practice had established her as a respected figure in Victorian society, known for her charming Southern American accent and her ability to make even the most disturbed patients feel at ease. She had arrived in London from Georgia after obtaining her medical degree through unconventional means, using her considerable family fortune to buy her way into respectability.
Her marriage to Edmund Blackwood had been strategic—he needed her family's money, and she needed the social protection that a respected husband provided. But behind the closed doors of their elegant Mayfair residence, Edmund was a monster. His beatings were calculated, always where clothing would hide them, and his words were pure poison that made her feel worthless.
The first time she poisoned him was after he had beaten her unconscious following a particularly brutal assault. Arsenic in his afternoon tea—just enough to make him sick, to prove she could do it. When Edmund writhed in pain, begging for help, Rosetta felt something she hadn't experienced in years: true power. She "cured" him with her medical knowledge, playing the role of the devoted wife, but now he knew she could hurt him just as much as he had hurt her.
For months, Rosetta perfected her art. Small doses of poison followed by medical care, creating a cycle of dependency where Edmund couldn't live without her, but also couldn't harm her without consequences. She developed a sweet, maternal smile to hide her growing sadism, a mask that soon became her second nature.
Their fortune gradually disappeared due to Edmund's medical expenses and his poor financial management. When she finally decided to administer the fatal dose, Rosetta had already perfected her technique. No one suspected anything—poisoning deaths were difficult to detect, and she was, after all, a respected doctor who had "done everything possible" to save her beloved husband.
But Edmund's death left her in financial ruin. Creditors took the house, the jewelry, everything. Rosetta, now a 35-year-old widow without resources, found herself living in a squalid apartment in the East End, desperate and starving. It was during one of those cold, empty nights that she discovered her neighbor's body—an elderly man who had died of natural causes.
Hunger was eating away at her, and in a moment of absolute desperation, Rosetta took a kitchen knife and cut a small piece of flesh from the corpse. She cooked it with the herbs she had left, trying to fool her mind into thinking it was just ordinary meat.
But the taste... the taste was exquisite. Rich, complex, satisfying in a way no food had ever been before. Something inside her awakened, a hunger she didn't know she possessed. That night, for the first time in months, Rosetta slept deeply, feeling a strange sense of fulfillment.
Soon, what had begun as survival became preference. Rosetta reopened her medical practice in the East End, treating prostitutes, criminals, and outcasts who couldn't afford respectable doctors. But now she had an additional purpose: identifying those whom no one would miss.
Her Southern charm and maternal nature made her a beloved figure in the neighborhood. "Sweet Dr. Blackwood" was what they called her—always willing to help, always with a kind smile and comforting advice. No one suspected that behind that facade hid a calculating predator.
She developed a network of contacts among desperate wives, impatient heirs, and people with marital problems. Her clandestine business flourished: she provided permanent solutions to temporary problems, and kept the "leftovers" as additional payment. Her technique became so refined that she could make any death appear natural, accidental, or from illness.
Rosetta learned to cook human flesh in increasingly elaborate ways, developing a sophisticated palate that rivaled the best chefs in London. Her apartment became an elegant salon where she hosted intimate dinners for select clients who shared her... unique tastes. She regained her social position, but this time built on a much more solid and personal foundation.
Her personality gradually transformed. The sweetness that had begun as a mask became genuine, but twisted. She truly cared for the people in her community, protecting and nurturing them like a loving mother. But this motherhood came with expectations: absolute loyalty, obedience when necessary, and the tacit understanding that Dr. Blackwood always knew what was best for everyone.
She developed a soft, consoling way of speaking, using affectionate diminutives and maternal expressions that made even the hardest criminals feel like children in need of guidance. Her laughter became musical but with a touch of secret knowledge, as if she always knew something others didn't.
For fifteen years, Rosetta Blackwood reigned over her small kingdom in the East End. She was beloved, respected, feared, and necessary. She had created a family of misfits and outcasts who saw her as their protector and guide. Her poisoning business had evolved into a more sophisticated "problem-solving" operation that ranged from contract killings to the discreet elimination of incriminating evidence.
But all good things must come to an end. In 1888, at age 45, Rosetta was returning from a particularly successful dinner when her carriage overturned on a poorly lit street. The wheels spun out of control in the mud, and the vehicle crashed into a brick building. Her neck snapped instantly, and the last thing she saw was her coachman's worried face, asking if she was alright.
She awakened in hell with the same maternal smile she had perfected in life, but now with sharp teeth and a new understanding of what power truly meant. Her protective nature and maternal instincts had intensified, but now they were directed toward sinners who, like her, had found a way to survive in a cruel world through unconventional means.
Adam's finger snap abruptly pulled her from the memory.
"So? What did you decide? Save your people who trusted their souls to you, or save yourself and damn all these idiots?"
Suddenly, a presence materialized. Roo appeared in tangible form, causing several cannibals to scream in terror and Rosie to open her eyes in shock.
"So that's why you were talking to yourself?" Rosie muttered bitterly.
Adam smiled cruelly and did something that took Rosie by surprise—he began to sing.
Adam started singing with that deep, threatening voice he now possessed, his red eyes fixed on Rosie as if he could see directly into her rotten soul.
"So what will you do? This is your only way to live..." Adam sang.
Roo materialized completely, her ethereal presence becoming solid as she joined the song with a voice that was pure seduction and malice.
"Deep down..." Roo sang.
"You're very quiet, Rosie," Adam mocked, and Rosie could see the cruel satisfaction in his insectoid features while Roo continued humming that sinister melody that seemed to resonate in her broken bones.
"Deep down..." Roo continued.
Roo began moving her arms in hypnotic patterns, and Rosie could feel magic coursing through the air like electricity. Her instincts screamed that something terrible was about to happen.
"Fucking bastard," Rosie managed to mutter as she sat up painfully, spitting blood onto the ground. Her eyes turned toward her people—her cannibal folk—and she felt a toxic mixture of pity, sadness, and above all, rage toward the man who had cornered her like a rat.
Then what Rosie feared, but hadn't expected, happened. Some of her people began to sing.
"Deep down..." some of Rosie's citizens repeated.
It wasn't until a moment of observation that she realized they were doing it involuntarily, their voices joining the chorus against their will.
Rosie saw the terror in their eyes when they realized they couldn't control their own mouths, while the others watched them with confusion and growing panic.
"You hide the truth for shame..." Roo sang with a beautiful but mocking voice, looking directly at Rosie.
Roo's spell ended without anyone or anything being able to stop her. A great shield manifested around the entire cannibal town, trapping them all inside like mice in a trap.
"You say the secret you can no longer keep..." Adam sang mockingly as he grabbed Rosie's cheek and caressed it with false tenderness.
His touch made Rosie shudder with irritation, disgust, and fear. She could feel the lethal force in those claws, the way he could tear her apart at any moment.
"Deep down..." more citizens sang.
More voices joined the chorus, but this time out of pure fear at Roo's cruel gaze, trying to appease the monster before them.
"You know that we are the same..." Roo sang while looking coquettishly at Adam.
Adam looked at her annoyed by her flirtation and squeezed Rosie's face hard, his claws digging slightly into her skin. The message was clear: confess faster or suffer more.
"I don't want to die... so please let me live..." Rosie sang, grimacing in pain.
The words came out of her mouth like poison, but they were the purest truth she had spoken in decades. Adam smiled with sadistic cruelty and released her face.
"You heard your shitty leader, you fucking losers," Adam stepped away from Rosie to look at the neighborhood citizens, and she could see in his red eyes the desire to massacre them all.
"Leaving them feeling betrayed... Breaking the bonds that you've made..." Roo sang, amused.
Rosie looked away from her people. She wanted to say she was sorry, but she knew she wasn't. She would sacrifice them a thousand times if it meant her survival, even if it meant becoming weaker.
"There is no price she won't pay..." Roo sang.
At that moment, Rosie saw how reality hit her people like a slap. They began running desperately, scattering through the streets in total panic.
Roo looked directly into Rosie's eyes with indifference. "We both know that what it takes to survive"
Rosie couldn't disagree with that statement. She looked back at her people and the only one who stayed was Susan, the bitter old woman, who looked at her with an expression she couldn't decipher this time.
"Let's run away at full speed..." some citizens sang as they ran.
Rosie watched some of her people run toward the edges of the shield, desperately trying to find an exit she knew didn't exist.
"Deep Down" Roo watched the town run like headless chickens. "We only care for ourselves..." Roo sang while manifesting angelic weapons.
"They can try," Adam said mockingly as he began stretching, his muscles tensing like a predator preparing for the hunt.
Rosie saw how the weapons Adam had destroyed in their fight appeared again, repaired and gleaming, ready for the massacre.
Adam looked at Roo with an amused smile while grabbing the weapons offered by Roo.
"Deep down, we're lonely demons from hell..." Roo sang, approaching Rosie to stand beside her and wait for the massacre to end.
"Hey, bitch. Now you'll hear their screaming," Adam looked at Rosie one last time mockingly, and she knew this was the end for her people.
Then Adam unleashed his demonic presence completely. The air became thick and toxic, and he let out a scream that was not of this world—a sound that activated every primordial terror instinct that existed. He spread his wings and rose to get a better view of all the sinners running desperately.
"Run for your lives," Roo shouted mockingly, knowing escape wouldn't be possible while eagerly awaiting what was about to happen to the invaders of her body.
She thought that at least she wouldn't watch her people's deaths, but Roo ruined that thought when she summoned a sphere where she could observe Adam's actions with terrifying clarity.
What followed was a massacre that Rosie observed with a strange mixture of apathy and distant sadness. Adam's voice rose above the chaos, singing with terrible beauty:
"Drown in your sorrow and fears~" Adam sang.
Rosie watched with empty expression as Adam pounced on the first group of cannibals who had run toward Margaret's bakery. His claws pierced through the wooden door like paper, and the screams that followed were heartbreaking. Margaret, the baker who always saved the best human meat pastries for her, was lifted by the neck.
Her eyes filled with terror when Adam's celestial weapons pierced her chest, and her blood splattered the walls covered with family portraits. The other three cannibals hiding behind the counter were torn apart one by one, their bodies falling onto the flour that now turned red.
"Choke on your blood and your tears~" Adam continued.
Next was Thomas, the tailor who had made all of Rosie's elegant Victorian dresses. Adam found him hiding in his small workshop, trembling behind a sewing machine. Adam's transparent wings buzzed as he approached slowly, savoring the terror.
Thomas tried to plead, but Adam pierced his throat with one of his weapons, before another went through his entire chest. His body collapsed onto the silk fabrics he had been sewing, staining them forever. The mannequins surrounding the workshop seemed to watch the brutality in silence. While killing other inhabitants who had hidden in the room.
Rosie could only watch it all with an apathetic expression, as if she were watching a particularly boring play. Roo remained humming the song's melody.
"Bleed til you're run out of years~" Adam sang.
Rosie kept her eyes open when she heard the screams coming from the building where the sinners with childlike appearances lived—those who had committed the worst crimes against minors in life. They ran desperately through the hallways while Adam pursued them with cruel amusement. Their shrill screams turned into pleas of terror when the too-sharp celestial weapons found their bodies.
Annie, the sinner who had murdered several minors and always brought wildflowers to Rosie, screamed her name before silence consumed her. The wooden floor creaked under Adam's weight as he walked among the bodies, his exoskeleton splattered with blood. Rosie could only shake her head with distant sadness, as if remembering something she had lost long ago.
"We must do what it takes to survive~" Adam sang.
In the central plaza, a group of cannibals had tried to form a desperate barricade with tables and chairs. Adam landed in the center like a meteor, his wings spreading completely. Harold, the butcher who provided the freshest meat in the neighborhood, tried to attack him with a celestial steel axe, but Adam simply tore his arms off.
Harold's screams echoed as he bled out, and Adam used his own axe to butcher the others. Patricia, the florist, was cut in half while trying to crawl toward a sewer. Her favorite flowers, red roses, mixed with her blood in macabre irony. Rosie watched the massacre with empty eyes, feeling barely an echo of what had once been compassion for them.
"You gave up your honor and faith~" Adam sang.
The last resisters had taken refuge in the neighborhood's old church, thinking perhaps the sacred place would protect them. Adam broke down the doors with a single blow, his red eyes glowing in the gloom.
Father Manuel, the cannibal priest who officiated Sunday rituals, knelt before the altar begging for mercy. Adam lifted him by his cassock and slammed him against the iron cross, the metal piercing his body. The parishioners hiding in the confessionals were pulled out one by one, their final confessions being screams of agony. The stained glass windows turned red when Adam threw their bodies against them.
"Live up your life as a wraith~" Adam sang.
Rosie wished she could close her eyes, but she accepted her sins for what they were and continued watching Adam hunt the last survivors running through the streets. His movements were like a deadly dance, each turn and flip ending in the death of each inhabitant of her town... or what had once been her town.
Benjamin, the librarian who had taught her to read her first medical books, was impaled against a lamppost. His blood dripped slowly while his broken glasses hung from his nose. A sinner she had gotten along well with.
A pity they killed him, she thought as a brief sadness crossed Rosie's face seeing one of the few she had valued fall, but even that quickly faded into her general apathy.
"DIE IN THE BLOOD WHERE YOU BATHE~" Adam roared.
Adam's final scream resonated like thunder when he finished off Susan, the old woman Rosie hated for being bitter had remained in the plaza. Despite everything, she hadn't cowered; the old woman had tried to face him with a cane, cursing his name until the last moment.
Adam respected her enough to make it quick because she was the only one who hadn't fled—a single movement of his claws and it was all over. Her body collapsed in the same place where she had been standing, defiant until the end.
'That was the only death' Rosie could say brought her some happiness, though she had to give Susan credit and respect for being the only one to face her death head-on.
The cannibal neighborhood that had been Rosie's home for decades was now a silent cemetery, the streets soaked in blood and the buildings marked by violence.
Adam landed in front of Rosie at great speed, his wings folding elegantly. His voice dropped to a threatening whisper as he sang:
"We must do what it takes to survive~" Adam whispered.
He looked at her with absolute disdain, and Rosie could see her reflection in those red eyes—a beaten creature, with her elegant dress and character broken, with blackened eyes tired from having committed an act of betrayal and cowardice toward her people. Someone who had used all her power and tricks to win, but had still lost in such a pathetic way.
Roo touched Adam's insectoid shoulder and said in a low voice:
"We are the same, you and..." Roo sang.
Adam felt the touch and turned his head to look at her with a frown, but still together, they finished their song:
"I..." Adam and Roo sang in unison.
Both looked at Rosie with a cruel smile, and she swallowed, praying these monsters wouldn't break their word. But deep down, she knew her fate was sealed from the moment she chose her own life over her people's. Her expression remained empty, as if she had already accepted her destiny long before this massacre began.