The bone-chilling appearance was screened in front of Samantha, Jiho, and Leon, as well as the others who proceeded to help the student that Samantha had stabbed to successfully land a strike and those who were in the Dark Prison just a moment ago.
Zebel's atmosphere was simply, but terrifyingly menacing. Her hair was shoulder-length and dark blue in color as though it was a sunless and moonless sky. Her eyes had different sets of colors, being a person with heterochromia as a side effect of possessing Chaos within her body. Her right eye was crimson, while the remaining eye was similar to her hair's color.
But what made Jiho, Samantha, and Leon falter and almost instantly became fearful was because of the two sets of horns that gradually, but quickly protruded from either side of Zebel's head.
Two horns that were around twelve to thirteen inches in length. The horns' color was dark and transparent as shadows. It was giving off the vibe as though it was the symbol of her resentment against Artorious' acts during the mysterious Trial of the Stars.
During that time, although it wasn't Artorious alone who made the life-changing decision, it was still his final judgment that brought forth its consequences.
'It will be all of your children that will suffer the pain.'
Zebel thought in a serious manner. This time, she stopped bubbling anymore to provoke or instill subtle ideas in the heads of the horrified people, mainly Samantha, in front of her.
At that moment, a dark aura started to emanate from Zebel's body, causing the atmosphere, which was already heavy and suffocating, to become heavier and more breathtaking.
Zebel floated midair, followed by her dark scythe which was now floating to her head.
[Activating the Skill: Dark Moon (SS+)]
[The shades of despair will now devour this land.]
[The despair of the person will serve as their food!]
[The body of the person will serve as their drink!]
[The shades of despair will now undergo the process of "Despair Possession"]
In the dark sky of this imaginary Dark World, a dark moon, shining in resplendent dark moonlight, suddenly appeared on the sky. Then, a moment later, various shadow figures that didn't have a physical form spread out from everywhere.
These figures were ambiguous in nature. They could be considered ghosts or spirits, but one thing was certain despite what one could identify it as — their mere presence was extremely disrupting the emotional and mental state of Samantha and the others, sending them into great despair.
Acting on her previous words, Zebel commanded the numerous figures to possess, not Samantha and her companions, but the students who were recovering with the help of Elizabeth, Rumia, and Anya.
"S-Stop-!"
With Jiho's cry of despair, Zebel didn't even grin or mock him with his pleading, but rather, her expression remained cold.
This time, with the intention of showing them what it meant to suffer, the playtime was truly over.
***
Since they were inside the imaginary Dark World and couldn't use any skills, the students who barely recovered run from their lives.
It was indeed a foolish act, but at the moment of fear, even those with various life-and-death experiences would have their rational thinking to be turned into turmoil.
Some students, with Russell's party's doing outside the Dark World, were vanishing even before the shadow figures managed to reach and possess them.
But those who weren't fortunate enough had their lives taken away from them.
Instead of possessing the body and taking control over them somehow, a shadow figure, the moment it entered the body of the student, would tear the student's body apart from the inside.
Feeling palpable anguish, with Jiho and the other's eyes, in their vision of a seemingly hopeless situation, they saw the cruelty done to some students, who they didn't know, as their bodies exploded from the inside. The imaginary Dark World was now then dyed crimson.
It was a world that was made in black and red, the harmony of despair and blood.
Leon, whose emotion seemed to be snuffed out of existence due to the possession of the miniscule amount of dragon's power from his Constellation, fiercely glared at Zebel in midair.
But at that moment, he saw Zebel's eyes staring back at him. Then, after a second or two, Zebel disappeared from her spot and suddenly appeared in front of Leon.
With her words, their eyes and ears were almost consecutively jolted awake as they seemed to regain their senses, but they were still in the process of breaking down due to the fact that they were helpless, especially when they were revered as the strongest first-year students in the Obelisk Academy.
And here they were at this moment, puny and weaklings when confronted with reality.
"You are one step away from completely leaning to the other side."
After Zebel's words came out from her mouth, Leon tried to slash her in close proximity, but miserably failed because the aura that Zebel was exuding became more tremendous, forcing them to kneel almost instantly. Their knees crashed on the ground, causing excruciating pain, and blood from their nose and eyes started to leak. They were moments away from death.
"S-Stop..."
Pausing for a moment, Zebel glanced at Jiho, who seemed to be muttering the same words repeatedly and intermittently.
'Did he already go crazy?
'I don't know him, but the fact that he's connected to the mysterious Alexander... I need to spare him or use him as leverage.'
Not only Zebel, but the other eleven remaining main heads of the Black Sky Disorder, were almost ignorant about Alexander's identity because he was a player who did not go under the mysterious Trial of the Stars, but for an unknown reason, his power seemed to be as strong as, if not stronger than, Artorious.
Glancing around, Zebel saw Elizabeth, Rumia, and Anya, whose eyes were almost dead, but she did not command the shadow figures to possess them because they were the daughters of the players who were with Zebel in the distant past.
In other words, Zebel was originally a companion of them.
"Bring them in front of me."
With her cold words, the shadow figures brought the three with the rest. They were lined up at least two meters away from her. They were on their knees, looking at Zebel with myriads of expressions.
Samantha had a glimmer of hope according to the words of the entity in her head that she would not perish; Elizabeth had a sliver will because she had yet to confront the truth behind her father's death; Anya had a longing expression, who seemingly wanted to just see her father at this moment; Rumia also had the expression similar to Anya, while Leon had an unknown expression, seemingly pondering the words that previously came out of Zebel's mouth.
On the other hand, Jiho was still looking at the ground, repeatedly muttering incomprehensible words as though he truly lost his mind due to the effect of the Dark Moon that Zebel had called forth.
After a minute or two, as they lined up helplessly in front of her, Zebel muttered in a cold tone.
"... Fortunately, for now, you are the only ones alive."
Tears started to flow from Rumia's blue eyes as soon as she heard the words from Zebel's mouth. She didn't need to ask for confirmation because Zebel was someone who delivered the modern technology that sent the Articor in disarray, killing thousands of people in the process.
Similar to when she had learned about the disaster that was brought about by the Failure Penalty of the Tower of Growth, Rumia couldn't contain her tears as her heart and soul felt like were being torn apart. Her compassion for the people, except for those that deserved judgment, was truly astounding.
"S-stop..."
"...What the hell is wrong with this one?"
Zebel irritatedly spoke, causing the others, although feeling despair and desperation to survive, to glance at Jiho's side, who seemed to lose every care in the world.
Approaching and crouching in front of him, Zebel grabbed Jiho's black hair and looked at him intensely as though she'd drill a hole in his skull.
"... You're a lost cause. I was planning to use you in some ways, but I think it's useless now."
Still grabbing Jiho's hair, Zebel proceeded to smash his face on the ground. It was something that contained more power than when she had kicked them from the building before.
Bam-!
Zebel then stood up and turned around, seemingly waiting for something, specifically those who would respond. In other words, she was waiting for the parents of these students except Jiho. It's also the reason why she didn't kill them yet, but it didn't mean she couldn't torture them in any way.
"S-stop..."
Zebel stopped moving as she turned her head slightly. Her face was painted with confusion because what she just did should have certainly killed the man in question.
Finding the situation peculiar, Zebel's expression turned more serious than what her expression was before.
"M-my people..."
Her heterochromatic eyes constricted upon hearing a new set of words that came out of absent-minded Jiho.
***
<Ha... Hahaha-!! HAHAHA-!!">
Samantha was momentarily shocked by the sudden burst of laughter of the entity in her head, who just only spoke at this critical moment for a while.
<H-hey! W-what's happening to him?>
Samantha, staying cautious and somewhat relieved at the same time, asked the entity in her head with genuine curiosity.
Not only she and Zebel, but the others started to find Jiho's state of mind to be anything but sane.
But the voice in her head didn't make a response. Rather than that, Jiho's body started to emanate a golden aura.
It was only normal since it was the same when Jiho fought the monsters in the Tower of Growth until Samantha, and the others realized that they were still within the imaginary Dark World where restrictions were put in place.
***
After the Obelisk Organization's emergency meeting ended, the plan was then formulated.
To begin with, not every main head of the organization would be sent to Articor as the others would stay on guard in case the main headquarters of the organization would come under surprise attack.
At this moment, Rosalin Flora quickly arrived at the sight of the blast. There was still fighting going on against the monsters that came out of the artificial dungeon.
With her help, the various guilds that were fighting in large areas encapsulated by erected barriers felt at ease with additional help from one of the strongest players of humanity.
And with every second of her action, she was actively looking for the presence of her daughter, but she was failing to find any trace of her.
'ZEBEL-! I won't forgive you if anything happens to my daughter!'
Screaming inwardly, Rosalin vowed that Zebel's action would not go unpunished.
After more than forty to fifty minutes, with Obelisk Organization's added force, the subjugation of the monsters from the artificial dungeon ended. Although victorious, the atmosphere was gloomy.
Rosalin Flora, Draxian von Obreyon, Eliana von Etherion, Makoto Amasawa, and Artorious Hall tried to locate their respective child.
"RUMIAAA-!!"
Rosalin screamed in despair.
As though the heavens had answered her cry, a golden ray of light appeared and hit somewhere at least a hundred meters away from them.
With their speed, the distance was covered in less than five seconds.
What was screened in front of them was the familiar yet different Zebel, their respective child, and the one who was connected with Alexander.
At the same time, the golden ray of light that literally came from somewhere in the Great Universe became a sword in Jiho's hand.
His eyes and hair turned fiery golden. Fiery golden aura emanated from his body. It was different the usual luster he possessed whenever he was normally fighting.
Then, a dignified voice, not befitting of his current age, reverberated throughout the area.
"This is my will, my Sentinel."
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