Kapitel 53: Possessed. - Part3

- Afraid? You? Even if Clare was far away? - Stein looked stunned at Cupiditas as he asked.

- Yes, afraid... I was really terrified... Do you know why? - Cupiditas said in a calm voice as he looked into Stein's eyes, he looked into Stein's eyes for just a moment and without giving him time to answer he continued. - When I opened a portal to it, it was torn apart by a hand made up of some kind of colored flames... I was surprised, very surprised, but I still tried to open the portal again, but when I opened it for the second time... A figure formed of flames that looked like a woman appeared, she just stared at me for a second and I almost shit myself... Then, as she stared at me, the air in the room became so hot that I couldn't breathe, and she continued to stare at me for only ten seconds, but every second I was sure I was going to die, luckily, she didn't kill me and just disappeared back to where she was... - Stein was surprised as he listened to Cupiditas' description, not by the strength of the other side, but by the obvious fear in her voice, he knew that a monster like Cupiditas wouldn't be afraid of anything, even if it was stronger than himself. 'No matter how strong she was, he wouldn't be terrified on that level...' There's something he's not telling me,' Stein was sure that he was being left in the dark with important information, but if Cupiditas didn't want to tell him it would be pointless to ask any more, so he decided to stay silent and just watch the possession ceremony.

Cupiditas turned his eyes to the circle and the people inside it again, but this time he wasn't concentrating on anything in the room, his mind wandered to what he had said to Stein, Stein's thought that he had hidden something was right, in fact there was something he hadn't told him; the figure did more than just stare at him, it left him a specific message, no, it wasn't a message, it was a simple warning. He closed his eyes and remembered the "conversation" that he hadn't divulged to Stein.

- Who are you? - Cupiditas looked at the figure formed of flames and asked, there was no fear in his voice, in fact there was a slight air of irritation in his, an irritation similar to that which a child would show for getting in the way of their play.

- Stop interfering in children's fights... - A calm, beautiful voice rang out, completely ignoring Cupiditas' question.

Cupiditas was annoyed at being ignored, even if his current body was just a puppet for momentary use, he was still a duke, even if he was just a remnant of his original self-there was still pride embodied in him, so being ignored and taking orders from someone was one of the things he wasn't willing to accept even if he was a fragment. With undisguised anger in his tone Cupiditas spoke to the figure formed of flames. - If I want, I can interfere, if I want, I can kill them or torture them, if I want, I can kill you too!!! - After shouting angrily, he pointed his right index finger at the flame heap's forehead, and a kind of laser shot out from his finger towards the flame heap's head. The laser distorted the air it passed through and seemed to cause a kind of vacuum that would apparently take a long time to restore; Cupiditas stared at the female figure intently in case she tried to run away, but to his surprise she didn't move. Seeing the motionless figure, he assumed she would die in the next instant and his angry expression faded into pure indifference, but just as the laser was about to hit her, a small ball of colored flames formed and launched itself towards the laser, in next instant the whole space that was touched by the laser, including Cupiditas' fingertip, was bathed in colored flames, and after just a single second the flames disappeared and the whole environment was normal again, Cupiditas stared at the place where the laser had passed in shock, he had created a gap in space and it would take him a lot of time and effort to repair it, but now the gap disappeared along with his laser. After a few seconds, a voice resounded in the room again.

- Sine lumine. - The figure's voice resounded in Cupiditas' ears and in the next instant his vision went dark; Cupiditas didn't panic and simply tried to replace his sight with hearing, but he realized that his hearing had also disappeared, no, not just these two, all his senses apart from touch, which allowed him to feel himself, were gone. Realizing the situation he was in, Cupiditas no longer had a calm countenance on his face, even though he couldn't see it, the figure of flames that looked out over the now empty place observed everything, including his reactions. - I thought he'd last a long time, but has only ten years left you so frightened? - The female voice resounded in the room where Cupiditas had been standing for a few seconds, she looked for a few more moments at where Cupiditas had been standing before and then spoke. - Are you still going to meddle in children's affairs?

Cupiditas had been running in the dark space for more than a decade, where his calm had disappeared years ago; Cupiditas had been trying to escape for a decade, but no matter what spell he used or how far he ran the result was always the same, he was completely unable to find his way out of this space, no, let alone find his way out, he hadn't been able to use any sense except touch for over a decade, his hopes had long since faded and fear had really begun to well up in his chest, but just as he was about to give in to this feeling a voice rang out in his mind. - Are you still going to meddle in children's affairs? - Cupiditas was shocked and asked himself. - I can hear? Yes, I can finally, finally hear!!! - Cupiditas shouted to himself before looking around cautiously while thinking 'If she didn't leave me here forever... Maybe she can't? That must be it, yes, she must be at her limit already!' Cupiditas became more relaxed as a myriad of thoughts and possible scenarios ran through his brain, and finally he decided that it was most likely that his power was close to its limit, so with a smile forming on his previously pitiful face he said.

- Can we negotiate? - Cupiditas said this and waited for an answer with a smile on his face.

- ... - Even though a few minutes had passed, there was no response, but he wasn't too nervous, even if this wasn't the exact reaction he was expecting, it was still relatively common for someone powerful to refuse to lose until they had no more possibilities before negotiating, so he chose to just wait, but as the seconds passed until they became minutes, which became hours and days, apprehension took over his being again and he asked.

- You have no intention of negotiating? - Even though he felt apprehensive, he chose to put pressure on the being who was holding him captive, after all, he was already going through a frightening psychological torture, so he thought it best to show a brave figure in order to put some pressure on his opponent.

- Sigh... I really don't like playing with weaker people... - The voice resounded in the room again.

When Cupiditas heard the voice, he was convinced that this was just the act of someone strong wanting to show off, so he spoke more confidently this time. - So, can we make a deal? I promise not to hurt the little boy, I just need him for a while too... - Before Cupiditas could finish his sentence, he was cut off again and the voice resounded in his mind once more.

- Whatever, some people just don't understand until they've suffered a little... I'll see you someday... Oh, that's right, this time I'm going to take the touch sensation away too... - After that, the voice disappeared, and everything was as silent again as it had been before the voice resounded, but this time Cupiditas was really terrified, he had never thought that losing his sense of touch along with his other senses could be so terrifying.

Cupiditas felt nothing at the moment, absolutely nothing, the only thing that still gave him a sense of belonging were his own thoughts, and even in this situation he still tried to calm down and just wait for time to pass, he still believed that she should have a limit to what she could do so he just rambled on about his plans and variables that could get in his way; this went on for hours, which turned into days and months, after so long he began to hinder the progress of his own plans in his mind by mixing them up or confusing them with some variables, so he decided to change his line of thought, he began to ramble on about his day-to-day life, his hobbies and even some memories he had of his original body, but even though he rambled on about all this countless, countless times he began to tire of it after decades had passed, soon he stopped rambling on about his life and began to imagine random stories in his mind, he invented countless of every kind he could think of, he liked the feeling of imagining himself as a creator who held the fate of everything in his will, but even this taste was destroyed by time, he wasn't sure of the passage of time, but he had no doubt that hundreds of years had passed, in fact he suspected it was already in the thousands, he didn't even remember why he was here, the plans he had once redrawn in his mind countless times in this space had disappeared and has been overlaid by random stories; most people would be in despair in this situation, but Cupiditas was calm with random thoughts running through his head without any concern for his current situation, but this wasn't due to the courage or arrogance he had always had, the reason he was so calm was that he had forgotten himself over the years, the absolute boredom, the punishment of being stuck with himself for an unfathomable amount of time, long enough for planets to disappear had "destroyed" Cupiditas in such a frightening way that he wasn't even aware of it.

- Are you still going to meddle in children's affairs? - While Cupiditas was forming a new world and selecting an inhabitant of his creation to represent his story in this imaginary world, a voice resounded again in the place, and when he heard that voice tears steadily flowed down his cheeks. When Samantha's voice resounded, the being that had been "destroyed" was remade again, and the memories of all that time were put aside, just as they had been with the memories of his original self. This allowed him to understand what had happened, but instead of being relieved, he was frightened. Cupiditas wouldn't be frightened if someone stronger tried to kill him, after all, even though he was only a clone he could still ask for help from his original self if he was going to die, but that's only if he was about to die, and what he was witnessing now was a real death, but it was so silent that he didn't even notice, no, it couldn't be considered real murder, so even if he did notice he wouldn't get help, no, that wasn't the problem, Cupiditas' eyes fluttered as a single thought crossed his mind; Cupiditas came to earth ashore willing to die, after all, he was just a clone and as long as the original could live he could be remade, but this time he felt what dying really meant, he couldn't be saved and as his body, soul and mind were "healthy" he couldn't be killed or remade, as he knew he couldn't count on being insured against this monster he could only be saved from this place, but the problem was that he doubted it would be of any help, looking at how completely powerless he was he felt that even his original self could barely protect himself from whoever the figure of flames was. With these thoughts unfolding in his mind, he became more and more terrified, his anxiety pushing his fear to a precedent he didn't think possible.

As Cupiditas' mind wandered, a few seconds passed, but he was still drowning deeper and deeper in fear, and he only came to his senses when the voice rang out again, asking him the same question. - Are you still going to meddle in children's affairs?

Cupiditas put his random thoughts aside and answered without even thinking. - No, I promise not to touch those children! - He shouted with all his might, yet his voice sounded weak in space.

- I only asked you not to meddle in children's affairs... When they grow up, I won't care, since they won't lose out to someone like you, after all, they're my little brothers...

- O- of course, so until they grow up, I won't get involved with them, okay?

- Okay... Have a good night, Greed!

After the voice said this, the atmosphere returned to normal, Cupiditas returned to the same place he was when he first saw the figure of flames, he looked around with fear persisting in his being, he then stuck his hands in his pocket and pulled out an old watch, looking at the hands of the watch he realized that only a few seconds had passed, watching the hands advance his hands became more and more shaky and sweat dripped down his forehead and back, and only after minutes of trying to calm down did he walk over to the throne and sit down, 'That thing knew who I am...' Another thought came into his mind as he tried to calm down, but when he thought more about everything that had happened and that the other party still knew him, calming down became impossible, after all, when that name came into his mind it was impossible for him to calm down, the mere thought that he had faced "Queen Veneficus" made his heartbeat at a ridiculous speed, his anxiety also squeezed out every drop of his self-control so that he wouldn't lose his composure and this internal struggle lasted until the moment they returned from the mission with the result he had hoped for, when they told him they had failed he pretended to be disappointed, but deep down he was surprised that there were survivors, even if they were blaming Clare, he doubted that there hadn't been even the slightest interference from Veneficus, and these thoughts that took over his being continued to consume him until the present moment as he watched the circle with countless thoughts, and possible future plans developing in his mind, 'In the end, what's the point of thinking so much? The plan shouldn't be changed just because she turned up... After all, would it do any good to change it? If she wants to interfere, is there any point in preparing?' Cupiditas thought for a long time, but in the end, he still decided to stick to the invasion plan, he would just have to postpone it thanks to the losses from this incident but given that he survived this encounter it was already an incredible result.

- Stein... - Cupiditas said, standing up.

- Mn? - Stein shifted his gaze to Cupiditas.

- When the ritual is over, take the reborn to my room... Bring Tina too. - Cupiditas said and turned to leave without waiting for an answer, 'Although I won't change the plan, let's cut out some variables' Cupiditas went to his room with a new resolution and waited for the results while continuing to let his mind wander.

"Este já é o segundo capítulo em que o último parágrafo desapareceu quando visto em celulares. Para evitar isso, decidi duplicar esta mensagem no final de cada capítulo, esperando que isso resolva o problema. Se você estiver lendo isto, peço desculpas se for intrusivo, mas é uma solução melhor do que deixar o capítulo incompleto."