Minutes before things went south, Xidriel heard some movement from the bed and he looked up from the table where he was resting his head on. He saw the boy that Amon claimed to be a homunculus had sat up in a daze, making Xidriel sit up straight as well to look at him.

He’s not sure how much of Amon’s words were true, seeing that there’s nothing in the original’s memories that could help him fact check everything that he had been told, so he’d rather treat the boy normally than think of him as a monster until proven otherwise.

“Hey, kiddo. Finally awake?” He called out. “Feeling alright?”

The boy slowly lifted his head to look at Xidriel, his expression still vacant. Tilting his head curiously, Xidriel stood up and made his way to the boy’s bed and sat down on the edge of it.

“Are you hurting anywhere?” Xidriel asked again. “Do you remember your name?”

The boy only continued to look up at him, his dull grayish blue irises staring straight into Xidriel’s eyes, making Xidriel have that uncanny feeling that he was looking at himself when he was younger in his original world.

A once lively child that recently lost the spark in their eyes, withdrawing into themselves after slowly realizing that they did not have a family who would be emotionally present for them, and to only follow a strict blueprint planned out for them ever since they were conceived in the womb.

He reached out to hold the boy’s hand which was slightly cold, and Xidriel smiled when the boy curled his fingers to hold onto him.

“It’s alright. You’re safe now. We’ll…get you home safely.” Xidriel softly told him.

The boy’s expression constricted into pure horror upon hearing his words. “Home…”

Xidriel started to frown as the child in front of him started shaking uncontrollably, lowering his head and hunching his shoulders.

This is certainly proof that the child is not a homunculus that Amon claims him to be, and instead someone who was abused physically and mentally.

He can’t wait for that guy to come back up to their room and berate him for being delusional.

A knock on the door made Xidriel look behind him, only to see the young girl from earlier shyly opening the door and holding a small wooden bowl.

“What is it?” He asked her as she entered the room.

“Um…it’s not much, sir, but I thought I’d bring up some salted peanuts…”

Xidriel raised an eyebrow at that, having given up on getting anything to munch on but still nodded, since he’s not the one paying any of their expenses anyway. “Put it down on the table over there.”

He then turned to the boy, eager to change the topic to ease his worries. “You must be hungry. Do you want some porridge or soup?”

The boy’s hand twitched against his for a moment then started murmuring, making Xidriel lean forward to catch what he was saying.

The next thing he knew, he was slammed to the ground, with thick tangible shadows tightly wrapping around his neck, mouth and left arm.

A shrill scream echoed in the room as a bowl thud and rolled onto the floor, scattering its content.

A deep and ominous, garbled voice speaking in a different language that echoes eerily within Xidriel’s ear.

Another shadowy tendril shot out and fully wrapped around the young girl, cutting off her screams, as the boy’s limbs slowly mutated into thick tangible shadows, spreading out from the bed and covered the floors and walls.

Xidriel tried to free himself but the shadows under him kept him in place. He watched in horror as the boy rose up from the bed, revealing his lower body had become one with the shadow.

An oppressive air soon descended in the room, suffocating the struggling Xidriel.

The shadow that contained the young girl moved towards the boy and, to Xidriel’s utmost horror, his head wobbled and his neck snapped backwards to reveal a grotesque and monstrous maw with several layers of barbed teeth, extending and expanding all the way down to his chest.

It then squeezed the girl and the sharp scent of blood filled the room, along with the sound of bones being crushed and grinded. Thick blood soon dripped into its mouth.

Xidriel heaved, his heart hammering hard and loud against his chest.

He woke up as a sacrifice and now he’s going to be a monster’s meal?

What shitty luck he got in this world!

If he could curse the deity who brought him here out loud, he would have done so already.

What did he do in his previous life for him to deserve any of this?

Or if this is the original Xidriel’s punishment, why is he the one receiving it in his place?

The girl’s shadow containment soon opened and Xidriel saw a glimpse of mushed meat and blood dropping into the monster’s mouth.

The monster then closed its mouth to properly chew on its food, and the sound gave Xidriel the shivers.

Each loud crack of the bones and the guzzling reminded him of hearing someone chewing on crispy pork skin that has a thick fat on it.

If there’s a chance of him surviving this, he will certainly turn away from red meat entirely because of this incident.

The monster that looked like an innocent boy then turned to look in his direction, and the deep, ominous voice filled his ears again, but this time…he could somewhat understand it.

…?

What in the nine hells?

Who are you calling ‘father’, you freak?

Filled with indignation, Xidriel found himself being lifted up from the floor by the same shadow shackles wrapped around his neck, his legs and his free arm limply dangled in the air.

The boy briefly stared at him with an empty expression then narrowed his eyes.

At the same time, Xidriel felt an unimaginable pain in his left arm as the shadow squeezed it tightly, breaking the bone and blood spurting out of the broken skin, making him raise his right hand and grab his left arm’s restraint, trying to free himself in vain.

His pained screams were muffled against his gag, and tears were forming in the corner of his eyes.

The monster’s tone shifted into that of a twisted glee.

Gee, thanks for not consuming him the way it did with the girl moments ago!

As Xidriel struggled against it, a melodious voice reached his ears, speaking something vaguely close to Latin but somehow he could understand it like plain English.

Rings of light shot into the room, trapping the shadowy tendrils and the monster’s thick torso against the wall.

Sharp barbs of light erupted from the rings in all directions, slicing through each shadowy tendrils which then dissipated into thin air, leaving only stumps for arms and legs.

The ones holding up Xidriel were also severed, and he fell back down onto the hard ground, the remaining shadows around his neck and crushed left arm dissipating into dusty particles alongside the remnants of the light unlike the others, seemingly being absorbed into his exposed skin without anyone noticing.

He didn’t dare look at his broken arm, in fear that he would pass out. Instead, Xidriel forced himself to look at the person who had come to his rescue.

Amon stepped in front of him, the limbal rings of his vermillion irises glowing gold.

Wrapped around his left arm is a thin chain with a short but sharp, misericorde-type blade at the end of it, with a small moonstone gem decorating the spot in between the blade and the connecting chain.

The monster let out an annoyed grunt as it opened its ‘mouth’ again, lunging towards Amon.

Amon stood his ground, slowly breathing out before swinging his arm back to gain momentum for his chained weapon and thrust his arm forward. The chained weapon whistled in the air and the blade lodged itself deep within the monster’s maw, making it screech in pain.

Amon gripped the chain in his hand, his eyes narrowing tightly.