Chapter 231 On A Chilly Night, Shadows Lurk Behind The Curtains 2



"Kekekekee... It's working," the man with the cloak whispered, his voice dripping with eerie satisfaction. A sinister shadow draped over the lifeless body as he retrieved a black vial from his concealed stash. "At long last, the time has come to utilize this..." A malicious grin stretched across his face, revealing rows of gleaming white teeth beneath the cloak's hood.

/PUFF/

"But it seems the quantity is still insufficient," muttered the man as he poured more of the viscous black liquid onto the motionless form sprawled upon the slab. The dark elixir cascaded over the corpse, pooling around it in macabre patterns.

As the liquid seeped into the ground, wisps of smoke began to rise, swirling and coiling like ethereal serpents. The room was soon engulfed in a dense, impenetrable shroud of black gas. Visibility vanished, rendering even one's own hand an invisible enigma.

Yet, as abruptly as it had materialized, the smoke dissipated, urged away by the man's commanding gestures. Dark mana crackled and swirled in his hands, drawing the dissipating gas into a vortex of darkness that materialized before his face. As the obscure void unveiled a faint semi-transparent silhouette in front of him, the smile on the face of a man with the cloak widened.

"Kekekekeke….. It really is working... HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" A creepy laughter filled the dark room, as with each second, the lights that were illuminating buried under the darkness that was spreading from the new silhouette itself. "Now, I need to do this." The man mumbled to himself as he grabbed a notebook from his hands, approaching the ghost-looking silhouette.

"In the realm where darkness reigns supreme, Where twisted desires intertwine and gleam, With whispers vile and wicked decree, I chant the incantation, born of depravity." His voice resonated with a chilling resonance as the room filled with a surge of dark mana. Glyphs and symbols materialized beneath the spectral being, etched into the air with ethereal luminosity. 

"Through veils of anguish and sorrow untold, I summon thee, a creature cursed and bold; breathe once more in this realm of despair, Reanimated by my sinister snare." With each word spoken, the power of his invocation intensified. The incantation's cadence wove a web of twisted energy, binding the essence of the shadowy figure to the mortal realm. 

"I offer my blood, as a sacrifice true, For thou who shall be my servant anew."

A drop of crimson welled from his fingertip as the man pricked his skin with the sharp needle. A single crimson droplet fell, merging with the arcane markings beneath the ethereal form. The air crackled with anticipation; the room was alive with potent magic.

As the drop of blood kissed the ground, the engravings encircling the silhouette blazed with newfound brilliance, illuminating the once-shrouded chamber. A vibrant pillar of crimson aura surged forth, bathing the figure in an otherworldly radiance. Gradually, the ethereal form began to solidify, each detail taking shape with exquisite precision.

From the arms to the legs and, finally, the face, the silhouette manifested its true nature. Sinew and bone formed a vessel draped in shadowed attire. Eyes, gleaming with an otherworldly intensity, stared back at the man who had summoned it.

The man's grin stretched wider, his voice filled with ecstatic triumph. "Rise, servant of the shadows. Unleash the darkness and state my deepest desires. Let our pact be sealed, bound for eternity."

As the man with the cloak finished his words, a grin was plastered on his face. However, that was not the same for the silhouette at all. With a face filled with no emotions, the silhouette stood still as he just looked into the man.

"Cat, bite your tongue?" The man with the cloak asked as he slowly approached the silhouette itself. "Speak." A simple but authoritative word echoed inside the room as the smiling, cloaked man was no longer smiling.

"…" However, nothing happened as the silhouette just stood there without doing anything, looking mindlessly around.

"Is the soul still not returned? The spell is incomplete?" The cloaked man could not help but question his magic itself as he was looking at the silhouette whose eyelids were fully white without any irises. "Then, he should still be trapped there. Kekekekeke….. What a scarred young man you are…." However, soon a smile once again bloomed on his face, as the same signature creepy laughter followed.

"As his hands delved into his pocket, a glass vessel came into view, containing a grotesque centipede writhing within. Its segmented body squirmed with an unsettling energy. With a flourish, the man's hands bathed in a sinister black radiance, causing the lid of the glass to lift, granting the centipede its freedom.

/CRAW/ /CRAW/ /CRAW/ /CRAW/

Inside the sinister confines of the room, where shadows danced and the air hung heavy with anticipation, the unsettling sound of the centipede's legs reverberated. Each unnerving movement echoed through the silence, intensifying the eerie atmosphere.

"Enter his core," the man murmured, his voice laced with an unholy command. "Feast upon the dreams that bind him to this mortal shell... Persuade him to forsake the light and embrace my shadow... Kekekeke..."

The room trembled with the man's haunting laughter, mingling with the unsettling cadence of the centipede's crawl. With a calculated maneuver, the centipede slithered towards the prone body, its sharp mandibles poised to consume the essence of the dreamer's being.

As the centipede breached the barrier between realms, a surge of malevolent energy enveloped the room. A dark symbiosis formed as the centipede became the conduit for the man's shadowy influence. It seeped into the core of the dreamer, tainting their subconscious with wicked intent.

The dreamer's essence quivered, suspended between the realms of light and darkness. The man's smile widened, a sinister triumph etched upon his face. The dreamer's fate now intertwined with his own, their destinies merging into a sinister union that would forever shape their shared reality. His scars that lied deep in his heart now became food for the centipede, the demon inside him, to breathe…..