"But you are too weak."

The Ancient Voice rumbled, not just in Leo's ears, but in the very fabric of his soul. Breaking the trance he had been.

He remembered those red eyes. He heard everything. He felt everything. In this timeless space he felt that sensation of running for an eternity.

And now this voice was calling him weak? This bastard was playing.

And he forgot about those fearful eyes peering into his soul.

"Your mother is we..."

Leo opened his mouth to argue, to tell this cosmic entity that he was Level 4 and had a very expensive sword.

But before he could even get his point through like a "civilized" person, a gust of wind hit him. It wasn't air. It was raw, condensed magical pressure, hitting him with the force of a freight train.

He was blown off his feet. A whirlwind surrounded him, lifting him off the black glass floor. He floated there, helpless, limbs pinned by the force.

Then, the darkness moved.

Black-purple smoke erupted from the void beneath him. It spiraled up, wrapping around his legs, his torso, his neck. It felt cold, slimy, and terrifyingly alive. It wasn't just smoke, it was a cocoon.

'Oo... Ohhh!'

"Wait! I am sorry!" It just took a breath of that mysterious being to get Leo back to his senses.

"Look, I am a gamer, I am supposed to be a foul mouth!"

"But you... Ohh you ancient being. You need to be magnanimous!" Leo was genuinely scared shitless. In front of this Voice, he had no way to bluff his way out, "Think of me as your own so..."

"This is your payment," the Voice rumbled, sounding almost amused, "For taking care of the little one."

The world spun. Gravity inverted. Leo screamed as he was sucked into the vortex.

SNAP.

The red void vanished. The black glass shattered into nothingness.

Leo blinked, gasping for air.

He was back on the cart. The smell of ozone was replaced instantly by the scent of mud, blood, and wet pine.

Time resumed.

The frozen leaf that had been suspended in the air hit the ground. Grendel finished his flinch, squeezing his eyes shut. Hilda stomped her hoof into the mud.

And Bane completed his lunge.

None of them had noticed the pause. To them, Leo had just kicked the box open and frozen for a split second.

Bane's face was twisted in a mask of triumph. The veins in his neck bulged as he put his full weight behind the strike.

"Die, rat!"

His rapier thrust forward, a blur of purple light aiming to pierce Leo's brain through his left eye socket.

Leo couldn't move. His body was locked up, muscles seizing from the shock of the void travel. He watched death coming, unable to lift a finger to stop it.

CRUNCH.

The sound wasn't wet. It was the sound of metal hitting a mountain.

Bane's rapier stopped inches from Leo's face. It didn't hit skin. It hit something invisible.

A shockwave blasted outward from the point of impact.

The rapier shattered. The high-grade steel exploded into shrapnel.

"ARGH!"

Bane screamed. It wasn't a scream of frustration; it was a scream of pure, blinding agony. The force of the impact didn't just break the sword. It travelled up the blade, into the hilt, and into Bane's hand.

His fingers were crushed inside his leather glove. The bones in his wrist snapped with a wet pop.

Bane was thrown backward. He flew ten feet through the air, flailing wildly, and landed hard in the mud. He rolled, clutching his mangled hand to his chest, his pristine suit now stained with muck.

"My hand! Fuck! My hand!" Bane wailed, kicking at the dirt.

He looked up, eyes watering with pain.

Around Leo, the air distorted. A blackish-transparent barrier had formed, encasing him and the cart. It pulsed with dark, throbbing veins, humming with a low, terrifying sound that made teeth ache.

Leo gasped, regaining control of his lungs. He sucked in air, his heart hammering against his ribs.

"What the..."

He looked down.

The Black Sky box was open. The lid hung off one hinge.

It was empty.

Floating in the air inside the barrier, hovering right in front of his face, was the source of the darkness.

It was an Egg. A pitch dark black egg.

It was massive, larger than Leo's own head. The shell was obsidian black, slick and glossy, but it was covered in throbbing, purple veins that pulsed rhythmically. It looked like a beating heart made of stone.

It felt warm. It felt hungry.

'That's the Little One?' Leo thought, staring at the object, 'That's not an artifact. That's really a baby demon.'

The Egg hummed. It rotated slowly in the air, orienting itself.

Then, it moved.

It didn't attack. It flew straight at Leo's chest.

Leo tried to scramble back, pushing against the wood of the palanquin, but the barrier held him in place. He was trapped in a cage with the thing.

The Egg impacted his chest.

It didn't bounce off. It didn't crack.

It began to sink in.

It was like sinking into hot quicksand. The shell dissolved into a thick, black sludge that burned like acid. It seeped through his adventurer's coat, through his shirt, and melted into his skin.

"AAAAGH!"

Leo arched his back and screamed.

The pain was beyond anything he had ever felt. It wasn't just physical damage. It felt like someone was pouring molten lead into his ribcage.

He could feel his ribs cracking and reforming to accommodate the intruder. He felt the veins in his chest bulging, turning black as the foreign mana flooded his system, rewriting his biology.

"GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!"

Leo thrashed, clawing at his own chest. His fingers dug into his shirt, ripping the fabric, trying to gouge the black sludge out of his body. But his hands slipped on the slime. It was already inside.

Grendel peeked out from under the seat. He saw Leo convulsing, black veins spreading up his neck.

"He's possessed!" Grendel shrieked, covering his eyes, "The demon is eating him! We're all damned!"

Meanwhile Hilda neighed wildly, kicking at the barrier, trying to break the cart loose from the terror.

If this boy died, who is going to get her the stable full of strong, young studs?

In the mud, Bane pushed himself up to his knees. He clutched his crushed right hand to his chest, breathing hard.

He saw the Egg entering Leo.

He saw the purple light pulsing from Leo's chest.

His "Gentleman" mask shattered completely. The cool, collected villain who played darts with knives was gone. In his place was a desperate, terrified man who knew his life was forfeit.

"NO!" Bane shrieked, his voice cracking into a high-pitched wail.

"That's mine! You filthy thief! You gutter rat!"

He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the agony in his hand. He rushed the barrier, slamming his good shoulder against it. It didn't budge.

"Don't you dare absorb that!" Bane screamed, spitting saliva and blood at the invisible wall, "That belongs to the Boss! Spit it out! SPIT IT OUT YOU WHORESON!"

He fumbled with his left hand, pulling a throwing knife from his belt. He threw it at the barrier with all his might. The knife bounced off harmlessly, clattering to the floor.

Bane tore at his hair with his good hand, his eyes wide and manic.

"I am dead," he whispered, staring at Leo. "I am dead. The Boss is going to skin me alive. Boss is going to feed my eyes to the crows while I am still screaming."

"Why did I have to play with them?" Bane slapped himself hard in anger.

"You show off!"

"Boss had told you not to drag it. Finish it up quickly."

"Damn it!"

He looked at Leo with pure, unadulterated loathing.

"You ruined everything!" Bane roared, "You greedy little shit! You stole my life!"

"It's all your fault!"

On the cart, the last of the Egg disappeared into Leo's chest.

A pulse of blinding purple light exploded from Leo's body, illuminating the forest for a mile.

The pain vanished instantly.

It was replaced by a sudden, overwhelming void. A coldness that stopped his heart for a beat.

Leo's eyes rolled back into his skull, showing only whites. He slumped forward.

The black barrier flickered, destabilized, and died. It dissipated into harmless smoke.

Leo fell face-first onto the wooden floor of the cart. He lay there, motionless. Silent. Unconscious.

The light faded. The hum stopped. Everything went quiet again.

Bane stood there, panting, staring at Leo's prone body. He saw the chest rising and falling. He saw the faint purple glow fading beneath the torn shirt.

A twisted, desperate idea formed in his mind. A lifeline.

"It's inside him," Bane whispered.

He took a step forward.

"It's just... inside."

He reached into his boot with his left hand. He pulled out a long, serrated skinning knife, the one he has used to strip numerous beasts and kill so many men.

He started to laugh. It was a wet, ugly sound that bubbled up from his throat.

"It's not gone," Bane giggles, a touch of hysteria in his voice. He walked toward the cart, stepping on the corpse of a Temple Guardian. "It's just packaged. The packaging changed."

He climbed onto the cart. The wood creaked under his weight.

He loomed over Leo's unconscious body. He looked down at the chest that housed his salvation.

"I can still get it back," Bane said, saliva dripping from his mouth onto Leo's coat. "I just have to open the package."

"Yes! Just open it!" Bane panted heavily.

He raised the serrated knife. The moonlight caught the jagged edge.

"I' am going to carve you open like a fish, boy," Bane whispered, his eyes burning with madness. "I am going to dig through your ribs until I find my bonus."

"Don't blame me!"

"Blame your luck you found me!"

** ** ** ** **

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Author's Note: And with this chapter, we bring down the curtains on 2025. A Happy New Year to you guys in advance. I hope you all had a nice 2025, and have a wonderful year ahead.

]

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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