Derek slowly began to lose consciousness, his body weakening from excessive blood loss.

'Shit… am I going to die like this?' he thought bitterly. 'Maybe I shouldn't have come here. Maybe I should've been a little selfish for once. What will happen when the demons invade Earth in the future…?'

Those thoughts echoed in his fading mind until everything went dark.

_______

Time passed — he didn't know how long it had been. Muffled voices reached his ears, distant and unclear at first, then slowly growing more distinct.

As his eyebrows twitched and his eyelids fluttered open, the first thing he saw was the rough interior of a cave.

The walls were uneven and covered in moss, the stone surfaces jagged and damp. Sharp stalactites hung from the ceiling like fangs, and not a single ray of sunlight reached this place. Instead, faint flickering flames from torches mounted on the walls gave off a dim orange glow. The ceiling stretched high above, vanishing into the darkness.

'Where am I?' Derek wondered, his head throbbing. Then he noticed something — two others were tied up beside him.

It was Leo and the girl from earlier.

Leo was already awake.

"So you finally decided to wake up, huh?" Leo muttered in a low voice, careful not to draw attention. "What the hell were you thinking, walking straight at that bear? Trying to play the hero?" He said with contempt.

Derek didn't answer. He wasn't in the mood to argue or defend himself. His mind was focused on more important questions — Where are we? How do we get out of here?

"Don't talk like that, Leo," the girl said softly. "He only came to help us."

She looked around fifteen or sixteen, but Derek could sense that she was strong — definitely not an ordinary student.

Leo scoffed. "Help us? Please. Like a pathetic cultivator like him could do anything. Just because he got lucky a few times, he thinks he's some kind of hero. But luck doesn't save people forever."

Derek still didn't respond, staring blankly ahead as if Leo's words didn't exist.

Finally, he turned to the girl. "Where are we? Do you have any idea?"

"After you lost consciousness," she explained quietly, "that bear carried us here. And you won't believe this — the instructor was able to control the beast. I don't even know how."

"So he's an instructor," Derek murmured.

She nodded. "Yes. His name is Peter… he's a mage."

Derek was about to ask more questions when footsteps echoed through the tunnel.

A moment later, the instructor appeared — walking calmly into view, with the massive bear trailing behind him like a trained hound.

Peter stopped a few feet away from them, his shadow stretching long and distorted in the torchlight. His expression was calm, almost unnervingly so.

"Sir…" the girl spoke hesitantly, her voice trembling. "Why are you doing this? And how… how can you control a magical beast?"

The instructor turned his head slightly, his lips curling into a strange smile. For a moment, silence filled the air, broken only by the soft crackling of the torches. Then he chuckled. "Why am I doing this?" he repeated, his tone playful, almost amused. "What good will it do you to know… when you're about to die?"

The girl's eyes widened.

Leo froze from fear.

Derek's expression also hardened.

But before they could react further, Peter tilted his head back and burst into laughter — loud, unrestrained, the kind that made the walls tremble slightly. It wasn't the laughter of a sane man.

"Not die, actually," he continued in a low, eerie voice, still grinning. "No… I'm going to make you strong. Hahahaha!" His laughter filled the cavern again, echoing off the walls until it almost sounded like multiple people were laughing with him.

Leo's patience snapped. "If you dare to lay a finger on me," he barked, trying his best to control the trembling of his limbs, "the 'Stark' family won't let you go! You'll face horrible consequences for this!"

Peter paused mid-laugh and turned his gaze toward Leo. His eyes gleamed with amusement, not fear. He crouched slightly, bringing his face closer to Leo's level.

"The Stark family?" he repeated softly, as though savoring the words. "And what exactly will they do… if they never even learn what happened to you?"

Leo clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug into his flesh. "I will kill you, bast**d." He roared in desperation.

Peter, meanwhile, smirked. "Come now, boy. I'm not your enemy. I'm going to make you strong." His tone dripped with mock kindness. "You should be grateful to me, not angry."

Straightening his back, the instructor's smile turned wicked. His eyes then shifted from Leo to Derek. "And you… I should be thankful to you, actually."

Derek frowned. "What do you mean?"

Peter's grin widened, almost stretching too far for a human face. "I've been having a hard time finding suitable host bodies. But thanks to you," he gestured lazily toward them. "I finally have all that I need."

The air in the cave seemed to grow heavier.

Peter continued in a tone far too casual for the horror in his words. "Though I don't think you will survive the transformation." His gaze lingered on Derek, eyes glinting with cruel delight. "But even if two of you succeed, that's enough. I'll still be able to tell the Master that I've completed my task."

A cold shiver ran down all their spines.

'Host bodies? Transformation? Master?' None of it made sense. His mind was spinning, but one thing was clear — whatever this man intended, it wasn't anything good.

Peter turned away from them and raised a hand toward the bear. His tone suddenly became sharp, commanding.

"Put them on the platform," he ordered. "Tie them tightly. I don't want a single one of them moving an inch."

The bear growled in acknowledgment and lumbered forward. Its claws scraped against the stone floor as it grabbed Leo first, then Derek and the girl, dragging them one by one toward a raised stone platform near the center of the cave. Chains and ropes hung loosely from its edges.

The beast began binding them tightly against the cold stone, making sure none could move. Derek's arms and legs were pinned down so hard that the rough rope dug into his skin.

He gritted his teeth, his heart pounding violently in his chest.

"What… what are you going to do to us?" the girl demanded, fear finally creeping into her voice.

Peter didn't answer. He merely smiled, stepping closer to the platform, his fingers tracing strange crimson crystals into the air.

Derek's pulse quickened. He could feel the enormous amount of energy within — strong but dark.

The instructor's shadow loomed larger under the flickering torchlight as his grin widened.

"Now," he murmured, voice low but clear, "let's begin."

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