Chapter 28: I want him

The once vibrant stadium now lay in ruins, its shattered concrete and twisted metal bearing witness to the cataclysmic battle that had unfolded.

Medical personnel, clad in blood-stained uniforms, moved with grim determination amidst the debris.

They carried the injured away on stretchers, their faces etched with weariness and sorrow, their eyes searching frantically for any signs of the missing.

The air was thick with an overwhelming sense of sadness, a mourning for the lives lost amidst the chaos.

Empty seats that once held cheering spectators now stood as silent witnesses to the tragedy that had befallen this place.

The echoes of their cheers were replaced by the haunting wails of sirens and the somber whispers of rescue teams.

In the wake of the demon's devastating clash with Lotus, the stadium had become a somber tableau of human suffering.

The ground, once hallowed with cheers and excitement, was now stained with the tears of those who had lost loved ones.

The world had witnessed a battle of unimaginable power, but it was the toll on human lives that weighed heaviest on the hearts of all who grieved amidst the wreckage.

Lotus stared at the aftermath of her battle with an expressionless face, she didn't seem too bothered by the deaths of civilians, "Mrs. Lotus." Gold said while hesitantly walking towards her.

"Get back," a voice suddenly warned, it was Three Face who was behind him.

Hearing Three Face's voice Gold froze a bit, he hesitated but ultimately chose to move back allowing Three Face to walk past him.

As she walked by Three Face said, while throwing a blue syringe towards him, "You always do this Gold, it's as if you don't know the consequences." Pausing a bit she darted in, "That shot is for Aiden, he's quite resistant." With that Gold walked away.

"Thank you," Lotus whispered as Three Face approached.

"It's nothing much," Three Face replied gazing at the ruined stadium with Lotus, "you didn't warn him this time, is it that bad?" Three Face suddenly asked.

"26 men," Lotus replied.

Raising her brows in surprise Three Face asked, "That's an acceptable sum, how's that possible?"

Hearing the surprise In Three Face's voice Lotus raised her shoulders.

The duo stared at the stadium for a while until Three Face said trying to lighten the mood, "Miss I didn't know you were the sentimental type."

Her laugh made Lotus look towards her in confusion, "I thought we were observing the same thing?" Lotus said before darting in, "I'm not staring at the stadium, I'm starting at that fool."

Looking towards the person Lotus was nodding at Three Face could see a certain youth performing a certain strange act.

He would run up to a corpse with a remorseful expression on his face, and bow slightly, he would then proceed to grab and consume thin air like normal food, he did this extremely quickly and would move on to the next corpse in an instant.

"What is he doing?" Three Face asked with a confused expression on her face, as she stared at Aiden, she thought, "he seems to be morning the dead, is he performing some kind of religious activity?"

"I don't think he's performing a religious activity." Lotus chuckled.

Hearing this Three Face smiled dryly, "You can still read my mind in your situation?" She muttered before asking."Why do you think he's not performing a religious activity?"

There was a moment of silence, until Lotus said, "Religious people don't mourn the death of demons," pausing a bit Lotus darted in, "he was the first to run towards me when I killed that demon, at first I thought he wanted to attack me but he just performed this weird act."

Nodding her head in understanding Three Face said, "Then maybe it's his condition, a price for using his Contract," hearing this Lotus nodded her head.

"Strange demons require strange things," she said, there was one thing Lotus failed to mention, the reason why her price was reduced was also because of him.

Meanwhile, Aiden had consumed the very last soul in the stadium, and a refreshing and cool aura coursed through his body.

"A soul of the Gemini star has been consumed, point limit reached, no points gained." Landon notified.

Hearing this Aiden sighed, he had heard this a while back but didn't stop, he felt full and bloated, but at the same time, he also felt hungry, really hungry.

Looking at the medical personnel walking by Aiden wondered what their souls would taste like, he felt like killing them right where they stood to find out.

The moment this thought entered his head, Aiden sat down on the ground and calmed himself, he closed his eyes and his arms trembled in self-loathing.

"What's wrong with me," he thought, unlike before he didn't flinch at the death of the innocent, no, instead he anticipated it.

Eating souls seemed like some kind of instinct to him, even though he bowed every time he had consumed a human soul, trying to honor the souls he consumed and telling himself that he had to do it in other to become stronger, he knew in his heart that he saw souls as nothing more than what they truly meant to him, food.

Aiden felt his heart grow cold, in total disbelief of his own thoughts, "what's happening to me?" He thought holding back his boundless hunger.

"That's how you've always been Aiden," Landon suddenly said before darting in, "your character, thoughts, ideas, and personality revert to its original as you near the second gate."

Aiden didn't answer for some time until he finally asked, "And what kind of personality is that?"

Landon seemed a bit hesitant but he eventually said, "detached, cold, rational, and brutal, if you had been in your true state of mind the fear you felt just now would never have even sprouted."

Hearing this Aiden didn't say anything for a while, but he eventually said, "I won't allow it," with that he managed to forcefully suppress his hunger; and then he stood up dusting his pants.

Consuming souls was one thing, but he would never become a man his loved ones wouldn't be able to look at.

Landon remained silent but he thought in his mind, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth Aiden, but you must learn to respect the souls you eat, only then can you make the right choice at the borders of the second gate."

"Mr. Aiden," a voice suddenly called out from the distance, looking towards the source of that voice Aiden could see one of the security personnel walking towards him, "it's time to leave sir," the guard said with a hidden layer of respect.

Nodding his head Aiden followed, the guard led him to a black armored truck that had quite some space, the back of the truck was open so Aiden could see the people inside.

Inside the truck sat nine people; and fortunately Aiden was familiar with four people already, these people were the contestants in the semi-finals.

Felix Anderson the blue-eyed youth with an arms Contract, Kevin Lewis the big guy who could harden his arms, Mai Turner the red-haired girl who also had an arms Contract and Ethan Davis who had some kind of force field ability.

The other five people were unknown and Aiden could only recognize one of them, David Hall, the steroid guy, the other four were completely new and Aiden was sure they hadn't fought in the tournament.

Not thinking too much about it Aiden walked into the truck and sat down, the truck was quite silent since none of the participants attempted to start a conversation.

After over an hour of sitting a man with dark skin walked into the truck, he wore a black suit that seemed too tight for him and had a small frown on his face, Aiden watched the man hop into the truck and close the door behind him.

"Vroom!"

The sound of an engine starting could be heard and everyone could feel the truck moving afterwards.

As the truck moved Aiden turned his attention to the man standing like a soldier in the middle of the truck, he didn't know who this dark-skinned man was but his senses told him that this man was dangerous.

Suddenly Landon notified him, "A substance of unknown content just tried to invade your body, you are now immune to the substance."

Hearing this Aiden was confused until, "thud," the sound of a thud sounded out, looking towards that sound Aiden discovered that it was Ethan who had fallen to the floor.

He seemed to be asleep, looking at it now everyone seemed to be asleep, everyone except.

"Pierce!"

Aiden suddenly felt a sting on his neck, the dark-skinned man who was now wearing a gas mask had moved suddenly injecting him with something.

Feeling his head spin Aiden found himself on the floor, "thud," he had collapsed, and his eyelids felt heavy so he closed them; the noise around him blurred, but that feeling only lasted for a moment, as Aiden heard Landon's voice.

"The unknown substance has been devoured, you are now immune to the substance."

Even though the substance had lost effect Aiden stayed still, he didn't move or open his eyes instead he just pretended that he was asleep like the rest.

Since he had nothing better to do Aiden decided to chat with Landon.

"What do you mean nothing better to do, am I some dude you go to when you have nothing better to do?" Landon asked in annoyance, but Aiden avoided the question, instead, he asked something that had been bugging him for a while now.

"Landon, previously you told me that you figured out what Lotus's demon was, what is it?" He inquired.

Humming a bit Landon replied, "I'm not telling you, I think you'll figure it out soon enough, but I'd advise you to stay away from her, do you remember the sudden feeling of weakness?" Landon asked.

"Yes, I do," Aiden replied, the moment Lotus killed that demon he had run towards the crater where she stood to grab the soul.

But as he ran passed Lotus Aiden felt his body get weaker, as if he had been working for days, of course, his soul energy healed him and Landon notified him, "78% of soul energy used."

Since Landon didn't want to tell him Aiden tried asking some roundabout questions that would make Landon slip out some info, but Landon didn't fall for it only giving him vague replies.

Suddenly Landon said to Aiden, "You should stop yourself from consuming souls this month and prepare for your advancement into the second gate."

Hearing this Aiden was surprised, "the second gate?" He thought.

Sensing Aiden's surprise Landon said grimly, "When you're allowed to open your eyes I advise you to take a look at your abilities."

*********

Meanwhile in the middle of Twilight City stood a tall building with the giant logo of a sword in a circle, this was the Silence headquarters, a building that made the residents of Twilight City feel an unbelievable amount of safety.

Inside this building Three Face was currently leading Lotus somewhere; unlike herself Lotus seemed out of breath and her pale white skin showed signs of a feint blush.

Arriving at a metal door Three Face opened it, as she ushered Lotus inside while following behind her.

Upon entering the room one would feel hot as there was no ventilation.

This room had no windows, and if one wasn't a Contractor it would be difficult to see inside.

Suddenly Three Face said while pointing towards something, "26 men just as you ordered, all with decent looks and proper oral hygiene."

Looking towards the place where Three Face was pointing to Lotus could spot 26 men, completely naked stripped of their clothing.

These men were chained to the walls, and none of them moved even after hearing the sounds of footsteps which were abnormally loud in this silent room.

Seeing these men Lotus wasted no time, she walked up to the first man and ripped the blindfold off him.

A pair of lifeless eyes were revealed staring straight into her's, Lotus looked into those eyes indifferently and muttered to herself, "They'll do."

She said this as if she were appraising some kind of product, showing no emotion at all.

The next thing she did was quite unexpected, firmly grabbing onto the man's jaw she pulled his head towards hers, and her lips met him, ensnaring him in a passionate kiss, but passionate was the wrong word in this situation, because right now this man felt anything but passion.

Instead, a heavy look of reluctance flashed in his lifeless eyes.

But it was too late, the viper had latched onto its prey, the kiss continued and with each passing second the man felt a chaotic blend of pleasure and pain overwhelm him.

He couldn't breathe, his lungs gasped and begged for air, but his lips wouldn't let go of that gentle but passionate kiss, as if overwhelmed and addicted to the feeling of pleasure that coursed through him.

Three Face stared without expression as the man rapidly thinned, his body looking more and more malnourished by the second, his hands balled into a dry fists, and his bones became more and more visible through his skin.

In the next moment, his eyes rolled backward turning completely white.

Lotus let go, and a hollow bag of bones fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Thud!"

The erection of the subject's manhood signified the pleasure he felt even at the brink of death; his arms had thinned so much that they slipped out of their chains.

With that, the blush on Lotus's face lessened a bit, but then a seductive voice whispered in her head, "Child we both know there's a better way to do this, you could reduce the price to as low as five men, with every full powered attack."

Hearing this voice Lotus narrowed her eyes, it was her demon, "Aqualith we both know I'll never agree to that, now tell me, why are you so talkative today, you never speak."

A chilling chuckle suddenly filled her head, and a voice sounded out, "The boy who ran passed you, the one with the strange habit, I want him."

**********

Aiden had been pretending to be unconscious for a while now, the task was quite difficult as Aiden was tempted to break character several times.

The worst part of it all was the feeling of being searched, the person that was searching him obviously didn't know the difference between searching and molesting.

After the search Aiden heard the sound of the truck being opened, followed by the deafening sound of choppers; he was carried like a ragdoll, and during this period Aiden had sneakily opened his eyes.

He found himself in a large open space, he could see several helipads around him with helicopters landing and taking off.

Aiden was familiar with this place, well he was familiar with the outside of this place anyway, a restricted area in the south city, helicopters could often be seen coming and going, but their destination was unknown.

Aiden was dropped In one of the helicopters, he was like a ragdoll being forced to sit upright as the firm seatbelts kept him from falling over, suddenly a black bag was placed over his head, which allowed Aiden to open his eyes without being caught.

With his advanced perception, he could tell that there were five people on board, this ride took many hours and Aiden was getting sick of staying still.

Thankfully he felt the helicopter landing, and he was carried like a rag doll once again.

"Thud!"

After a few seconds, Aiden was suddenly thrown on a hard surface and a voice sounded out throughout the room.

"You can stop pretending to be unconscious kid."

Hearing this Aiden was surprised, he stood up quickly removing the bag over his head, and the next thing he saw was white, a blinding white light overwhelmed his eyes but he slowly adapted.

He was In a room covered in blinding white lights, and the person that dumped him there was nowhere to be found, briefly confused and disorientated by the situation Aiden suddenly turned around, and what he saw made him narrow his eyes in confusion.