Steam continued to be let out from John as sweat flowed down his face. Despite the pain being weakened, he still struggled to keep his consciousness.

The pain which felt like hours, showed no signs of subsiding, and for John, he had never regretted a decision so badly in his life.

His body wouldn't stop shaking. He felt as if he was freezing and yet burning at the same time. Words couldn't descirbe the emotions passing through his mind as this happened.

Feelings of anger, hate, pain, sadness, all these negative emotions flowed into him. They felt as if they were his yet at the same time, from something else.

As John raised his hand to slam it down on the ground once again, and as he did so. All the negative feelings within him, turned themselves into an emerging rage.

A small feeling of rage which allowed John to snap out of his pained and sensitive state. He began to focus on suppressing whatever it was that was causing all that pain within him.

"Kek...

"

A small glowing light began to move around John's body as the amount of steam being let out began to decrease. The amount of sweat on his face also seemed to be decreasing as he did so.

It didn't take long for him to notice it. It was being contained. The pain was being contained and weakened. Because of this, hope filled his heart as he began to contain it and push it back even more than before.

"Work... Come on... Come on!

" John muttered to himself

He clenched his hands as they sat on top of the cold dark cube. And thanks to this, John could feel it getting better and better.

It was working.

'Nearly there...' John thought to himself as he did his best to hold on

The darkness which was being emitted from the cube was using John as some sort of catalyst as it all travelled into him. A normal person wouldn't have been able to handle it, and John knew clearly about that fact.

He also knew that if he lost consciousness, he would die. So no matter what, he did his best to hold on.

It didn't take long, for all that darkness to eventually run out. John had successfully absorbed it all.

As the pain disappeared, he suddenly felt alive again. He dropped straight down onto the ground while letting in deep breaths.

"I... F...Finally...

" John muttered as he panted heavily

He slowly got up with a strange emerging emotion within him. He felt different. After all the pain he had felt, he was in an angered and annoyed mood, but it was more than that.

It was as if hate from others had entered him. Almost as if it was the anger of lost souls.

John couldn't understand it, but he had given up on doing so. As he got up, darkness could be seen flowing out from within him, however he simply ignored it.

"Finally... everyone can... go ba-

"

As John looked up, a sight which would forever haunt him, could be seen right ahead of him. He didn't even bother to finish his sentence as his eyes opened wide.

*Thump*

His eyes and mouth began to tremble as he stopped to look at the sight. Serena and Ariel had been pierced from the back by Master Sylvia.

As blood dripped down through Serena's wound and Ariel's mouth, the emerging feeling of anger within him, quickly began to bloom.

*Thump* *Thump*

"S-Serena...? A-Ariel...?

" John muttered as he could feel the despair within him blooming along with the rage.

"I...Idiot.... S...Sorry...

" Serena muttered with her little remaining strength.

*Thump*

Hearing this was all it took. John had completely lost it. It was no longer possible to contain it.

"A....Ah-AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

" John cried out in rage

In that instant, A sudden surge of dark magic burst out. In a single burst made it's way throughout the whole room, allowing Master Sylvia to feel it clearly.

*Thump* *Thump*

"Why...?

" John asked as tears began to stream down his face

There was no reply, but even if there was, it wouldn't make a difference. John couldn't hear it

"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?!

" John repeated.

He raised both arms before slamming them down, sending down another dark burst as he simoutaneously shouted.

"WHYYY!?!?!? MASTER!!!

"

Even more and more darkness could be seen flowing out of and around John as he got up after shouting those words.

As Master Sylvia saw this, an excited smile could be seen on her face.

And as John stood fully up, the expression on his tear-filled face. Turned into a blank one as he stared straight at Master Sylvia.

Master Sylvia felt her heart skip a beat as this happened. It wasn't the reaction she was expecting.

Right after that, John's eyes clouded themself in darkness. His hair turned pitch-black and began to grow even longer than before.

His muscles began to slightly expand as he let out a wave of bloodlust.

"I did everything you asked... And you still... betrayed me? After everything?

" John asked with an angered glare

*Thump*

The darkness in the room stopped flowing out like a broken tap and began to contain itself. As it turned into a steady flow.

The debris and rocks around John began to slowly lift itself from the ground as he began to contain all the rage and darkness. He knew it wasn't too late to save Serena and Ariel. Despite being blinded by all that despair and rage. He still had hope. All he wanted was to save them.

Seeing this, Master Sylvia became visibly more nervous. She had to do something as things seemed to have taken a massive turn from whatever she had planned.

*BOOM!!!*

A dark flame erupted once more from the edge of the dagger. Big and large enough to engulf them all. The flame completely blocked John's view of them. So he relied on his senses with darkness brooming out of him.

He could feel everything around him, yet the life of those he held dear to him were gone. His hope crushed, just like that.

=========================

The flow slowly began getting more and more violent as tears of blood began to flow down John's eyes. As this happened, two horns suddenly popped out of his head.

*Crack* *Crack*

Broken down wings began to form on his back before they began to expand and fix themselves as they attempted to return to their original shape.

A strange mark was forming around John's chest near his heart as his body began reaching a point of no return.

All of this happened with the same unchanging blank expression on his face. What stood there was no longer John. No, it would be completely inaccurate to call it John.

"God... It always **ing hurts...

" Muttered whoever it was.

Moderately long straight black glowing hair. Dark eyes with a normal-sized yet heavily defined frame, with dark bat-like wings growing out of his back and sharp black horns growing out of his head, sitting upon his head.

A demon. There was no doubt about that, some could even call it a devil. Whatever it was, it wasn't John.

A Sinister and Dark presence could be felt as that thing in John's place took in a nice deep breath. The darkness in the room was all being sucked into him as if it was naturally. He breathed as if that same dark, chilling air was something apart of him.

Master Sylvia who saw this, for the first time in a long time, made a joyful expression as tears flowed down her face.

"Finally... I can... Kill you...

" She muttered with tears of happiness.

-------------------------

John opened his eyes only to find himself standing in the middle of darkness, again. He could feel the cold water beneath him as he pushed himself up.

"Send me back...

" He muttered as he got up

He looked around but felt nothing, no sounds, no life. Nothing. Only complete darkness.

Even still. John didn't care.

"I know you're there.

" Said John

"And what if you do?

" The voice asked

John followed the sound of the voice and it led him to turn around. And as he did, he was face to face with the spirit.

Unlike before the spirit now had features which made him distinguishable. John was able to clearly see the spirit's semi-completed form now.

A grown man with long straight hair, braided at the back. His face could barely be seen, just like it had happened with zestari, John could only see the person's mouth. But John could still tell just by looking, that he was strong. His frame was also unexpectedly normal. Not too big nor small.

"Send me back.

" Repeated john

"Answer my question.

" Replied the spirit.

"I'll go back and save them.

" Said John

"Save them...? Hm... Ah you mean those two girls over there.

" Said the spirit

Hearing this, John's eyes widened as he suddenly grabbed on to the spirits collar.

"What can you see!?!

" John asked as he gripped it tightly.

But as the spirit got more annoyed, a weird force suddenly forced John's hand away, causing him to let go of the collar as this happened.

"Why does it matter? They're probably dead by now.

" Said the spirit.

Hearing this, John felt his heart sink as he fell to his knees. A confused yet angered expression was formed on his face as he looked straight up at the demon.

"They're not dead... Those two... They won't die... Let me go and help them... Please... You can have my body or anything you want afterwards... I promise.

" Said John

The demon seemed to be in deep thought for a moment, but quickly replied with a casual no.

"Nope.

" Said the demon with its mouth in the shape of a smile.

As the demon said this, John began to sink in to the darkness beneath him. The feeling of cold water seeped in as it passed through his legs.

"Wait... What do you mean nope?! I thought we had an agreement!

"

"We did... But... There's been a change of plans. Besides, it's your fault for being too trusting.

" Said the demon

John was slowly being submerged into the darkness and the despair within him continued to rise up.

"Wait! Please!! I don't care about what happens to me!! Just save them!!!

" John cried out

However, without even batting an eye. The smile on the demon's face only got wider as he said.

"Your only paying for what you've started. Should've listened to the warnings. Maybe in the abyss, as you spend your days suffering and trying to crawl out only to reach nowhere... You'll truly understand how pointless all that trust you had was.

"

By the demon said that, John's entire neck had been submerged into the ground. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't argue back nor did he intend to. All he wanted was for them to be saved.

Serena, the one who tried to warn him and always looked out for him, the one who was precious to him and did whatever it was which would have been best for them.

Ariel, the one who followed him and assisted him, no matter where they had to go. The one who had given up everything to going adventuring with him, the one who was also pressure to him and always held him with care.

No matter what John had to lose, there was no way in hell he would give up those two. He just couldn't. If he did. He'd have nothing left.

"Save the-

"

John was interrupted as his head along with his body had been fully submerged into the cold dark depths.

"Nope... Rather than that... if I catch them alive, I'll kill them... Hahahahaha

"

The demon then stopped laughing as it seemed to notice something.

"Now to deal with that one... Tsk.

" It muttered before vanishing.

No signs of John nor the demon could be seen within that darkness. And for John, it had been the most tragic fate. Even within that darkness, not an ounce of hope was left. Only a glitter of light.

'John... Hold on..' Said the voice.