The Third froze mid-struggle. His eyes darted everywhere, panicked and confused, unsure whether agreeing or lying would get him killed faster.
"...N-no?" he squeaked.
The tendrils tightened. Bones creaked.
"YES! YES, FINE! I AM!" he screamed. "I trap! I trap people! That’s my job, damn it! I make little spaces, I torture people inside them, I laugh. Some die. Some don’t. What the fuck do you want from me?!"
Damon smiled. "So then let’s talk about what is or who is waiting for me outside this dimensional fragment? What would I be walking into when I use that portal?"
The Third went dead still. Even bound like a pig and half-crushed by tendrils, his face drained to a sickly gray. His eyes darted toward the swirling exit as if it were the maw of some ancient beast waiting to swallow him whole.
"...W-waiting?" he croaked. "What do you mean by waiting? No one’s waiting! Why would anyone be waiting?! I didn’t call anyone!"
The tendrils squeezed. CRACK.
"AAGHHHH! OKAY, OKAY!" he shrieked. "STOP! FUCK! OKAY!"
Damon’s expression didn’t change. "You called someone."
"I DIDN’T!"
Another squeeze.
"Okay, okay, I DID!"
Damon raised a brow. "Who?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
The Third trembled so violently that it looked like his skeleton might flee his body. "I... Pretty much everyone in Umbra’s hand is there outside waiting for you, alright? I... I... It’s not personal. This is just how things are always done. I trap and I bring the person to the base. The others in the order take care of everything after that. My role ends right here."
Damon’s smile turned sinister. "So even after all this, you were setting me up. Hmmm."
The Third’s mouth opened and closed like a dying fish. "N-no! Not setting you up! I mean, yes, technically, but it’s not like I wanted to! That’s just how the damn job works! I catch, they kill, well, interrogate, well, usually kill, but that’s not the point. This is not personal. You cannot blame me for this. I cannot open a portal to anywhere else."
The blood tendrils tightened slightly around his ribs. And then some more. And then some more. The blood began to turn a shade of poison. The Third felt it in his bones. A soft burning. A creeping numbness. A rising terror.
His scream ripped out instantly. "Don’t kill me, you maniac. I really can’t do it. I only have so much control over this space. Maybe ask this goddess next to you! I am not lying, you monster. Trust me this once, please?"
Damon tilted his head. "You seem confused about your bargaining position."
"I’M NOT CONFUSED! I’M DYING!" the Third wailed, thrashing helplessly. "Please! Please! I told you everything! What else do you want?! Just say it! You want my baby, don’t you? You want my dimensional space?"
"Let me see if I understand," Damon said softly. "You trap me. You plan to deliver me to your cult. You warn them I’m coming. And now you expect me to just... walk out obediently into your ambush? And by the way..."
"What dimensional space? This thing?" Damon flicked his gaze toward the tiny floating platform under their feet, barely twenty meters of half-mangled reality clinging to existence by Azuna’s golden threads. He smiled coldly. "You mean this scrap?"
"I OWE YOU?!" the Third shrieked. "I trapped you, yes, okay, fine, but you killed so many of my men! You broke my dimension! You shattered my mirrors! You... You... You turned my life’s work into a floating teardrop of misery!! And now you want to own it?!"
The blood tendrils tightened.
"GAAAHHH! Fine! Fine! I take it back! You don’t owe me anything! You can have my firstborn if you want!"
Damon’s voice remained calm, even patient. "I want the fragment."
The Third started to cry. "Of course you do. Of course. Because this is my karma. This is my punishment. I should have kidnapped a normal person. A merchant. A farmer. A toddler. ANYONE BUT YOU."
Damon’s gaze sharpened. "You’re stalling."
"I am buying myself emotional recovery time!" the Third screamed. "This is traumatic!"
Azuna, still weaving stabilizing threads like an artist touching up a canvas, gave him a flat look. "Insect. Do as the master says." The blood tendrils pulsed with approval.
The Third gave a bitter smile as he looked between the two and then sighed in defeat. "I need some help, though."
***
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