Phase 36 “The Scream”
“Kill him!” The shaman's words echoed. Nathan froze, all of a sudden, his breath becoming thick as he shook wildly. He did not want to kill Benji. He never even intended to harm Benji, though.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrggg!” suddenly a scream woke everyone as they saw Kaien was once again on the shaman’s attack.
“ENOUGH!” Allen let out a piercing scream with every ounce of strength he had left. “STOP HURTING THEM! THEY WEREN'T THE ONES WHO LOCKED YOU INSIDE THAT CHAMBER FOR DECADES. THEY ARE NOT THE PERSON WHO RUINED YOUR SICK PLAN! I'M THE ONE WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING!”
Kaien's screams abruptly stopped, allowing everyone to take a deep breath. Nathan dropped his sword in his haste to Benji’s side. Tears could be seen streamed from his eyes. They were all terrified of the shaman's potential actions, but Allen realised he had to take action to save his companions. Then he had the only possible plan of action come to him.
“What are you afraid of? Why are you hiding?” Allen was the first to break the stillness with his question. “Are you that cowardly and afraid of us? You have us cornered, and even though you are now in charge, you choose to remain in hiding. Aren't you just a simple coward?”
“SILENCE!” the shaman’s voice echoed.
“Show yourself and let’s have a fair duel if you dare!” Allen challenged. The others tried to stop Allen but the man ignored them.
“You have no right to command me, you foolish being!”
“Yes, I was stupid enough to leave you alive previously. I should have cut you to pieces instead of locking you away in that dreary chamber in the dark! I know you don't want them, and all you want is me.” Allen added. “Show your face already, and let's have a fair duel with---.”
Allen was interrupted mid-sentence when the shaman suddenly appeared out of nowhere and covered Allen's mouth with his dirty hand. Allen recoiled in revulsion at the touch, but at least he was successful in forcing the shaman to reveal himself
“Fair duel?” the shaman laughed. “You know I never did a fair duel and never will...”
“Coward,” Allen managed to speak the word between the shaman’s tight grasp.
“Let's see how cocky you can get after this,” The shaman grinned, causing Allen to feel chills all over his body. After that, he felt as though a giant stone had been dropped on top of him, and he was unable to take a single breath. He was aware of the acceleration in the rate of his heartbeat as well as the growing pressure in his brain. The shaman did not waste a single second as he worked his way deep inside Allen's mind, ripping him apart from the inside out.
“Don't touch him!” Kaien let out a scream when Kaien noticed that Allen had opened his mouth but was not producing any sound. The suffering was intolerable for a human being, and Allen eventually lost his ability to speak as a result. A steady trickle of blood began to drip from his ears and nostrils. He coughed up some blood and spewed it out a couple times.
“Get the hell away from---Aarrgg!” Benji charged towards Allen's direction, only to be electrocuted by the bars. Nathan grabbed his sword and attempted to cut the bars, but he was thrown away as the metal blade had a large impact when it contacted the electric bars.
“ALLEN!” All of them shouted as the man fell unconscious. Allen’s head looked down and his eyes closed tight.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA,” the shaman laughed out loud like hell. He got up and walked a few steps away from Allen. ”No one can stop me now!”
Kaien got the unsettling sensation, for the first time in his life that his heart had stopped. Benji and Nathan felt the same way as they watched helplessly as their friend was tortured by the demonic shaman.
Kaien was terrified to death for several reasons, the first was that he was afraid that he would lose Allen, and the second was that the shaman was walking towards him. He was so weak and helpless that he could not even try to get the shaman to leave him alone or attempt to shove the shaman away from him. He had a strong desire to execute the elderly guy, but this time his dread won out over everything else.
“Now, now, what should I do with you?” The shaman turned to Benji and Nathan and continued speaking in his arrogant tone. “Or perhaps I should skin one of you while you're still alive first...”
“Don't touch them!” Kaien said it so loudly that he was almost shouting. He was still terrified, but he could no longer stand to watch any of his friends suffer at the hands of the devil. He had reached his limit. He had enough.
“Huh? What did you say?” the shaman turned back to Kaien. He took a small knife out and bleed Kaien’s cheek. “Did you just say something?”
“I said... Don't you dare touch my friends!” When the shaman laughed once more, Kaien went off the rails. It took the shaman close to a minute to compose himself before he turned his attention to look at Kaien's face. While Benji and Nathan screamed in horror, he made the little knife dance on Kaien's other cheek.
As sparks flew into the air, inside the cage went completely insane. The only thing that mattered to Nathan and Benji was getting out of that horrible cage and killing the shaman as quickly as possible so that the old guy could not touch Kaien or Allen again. Neither of them cared if they hurt themselves in the process.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the little light above them burst into a spark. Instantaneously, the room turned into pitch blackness. When Kaien considered that the shaman must be responsible for what had happened, he felt a chill run down his spine. Benji and Nathan both stopped bumping themselves to the electric bar and began to simply stand next to one another in silence.
Now what? The question was on everyone's mind. Their thoughts were distracted when horrifying screams caught their ears. That was the most horrifying screams they had ever heard in their entire lives.