Meanwhile at an unknown location…
The Conundrum had gathered at one place, to discuss the plan of their failure. Failure that would scar them forever. What failure do you ask? Failure to lure one damned child to his demise.
"Who was responsible to get the fcking kid here?" the man wearing a plain white mask asked the rest of them who had gathered around the table.
Out of the half a dozen people present there, all of them were wearing masks, except one… who happened to be Donovan. He wasn't an official member of the Conundrum yet and never was going to be one.
He was just a pawn in a bigger game, to be used and sacrificed like hundreds before him. And it seemed he knew about it as well. But this time he was completely out of his depth. He betrayed Mera because he knew even she couldn't have found him.
But with the Conundrum, it was an entirely different case. They didn't need to seek him out as they knew his next move even before he could come up with something. They were fearsome indeed, but it seemed there was someone who could outsmart them. However, no one knew who could do something like that to them…
"I believe I asked a question." The man repeated the question once again.
"I was." The one wearing a bull mask raised his hand.
Demon mask got up and gracefully walked up to where the Bull was seated. While the rest of them had their eyes in front of them. All of them knew what was about to happen next and none of them was eager to see what followed.
With a moment as quick as lightning, the man's head was severed. His blood splattered everywhere. As for his head, it rolled over and stopped right in front of Donovan. The man's eyes still fidgeting as if he was alive. But a moment later, he was gone for good.
"Looks like our brother selected his heir right before cruelly leaving us. What a sad, yet auspicious coincidence." The Demon said while wiping his hands on the dead man's shirt, "Mr Donovan, please accept a seat the mask lying in front of you like… an invitation of joining our ranks."
Donovan knew better than to question the leader, so he did as he was told and wore the bloodied mask. The moment he did so, something in him changed. He could feel the mask pouring some sort of energy directly into him.
But that wasn't all, his mind was being filled with new memories. Memories that weren't his own. Donovan wasn't even sure if the memories belonged to one person or two? Maybe even three… it was strange.
At first, it felt weird as if his body was rejecting the unknown power, but soon it embraced the newfound power with open arms. His stats skyrocketed and at the same time, the corpse in front of him withered away.
Only then did he realise the power, the strength, the memories, everything that he had received belonged to the man wearing the mask and a couple of others who wore it before him.
"Now that you are back, let's proceed with the important question." The demon snapped his fingers and the director bound in chains appeared right in front of them, "Who were the people aware of our dealing with the Vampires regarding the Island of Doom?"
"Island of Doom? Why are you bringing it up now?" A feminine voice came out of the one wearing the mask of a lioness, "I thought we were here to discuss the boy?"
"Because that's the place that fucking boy was teleported to!" the demon had lost his calm demeanour, "The king knows about it as well and for all he cares, he thinks we're the ones who threw the bastard there!"
The atmosphere of the room changed all of a sudden. They all knew they were in trouble if Jonathan was on the move. Their king had already made it clear that no one would touch the boy until he had fulfilled his purpose.
Yet they decided not to heed his command and went ahead with the plan and now they were in the middle of some colossal shit!
"Why the hell are you all panicking for?" The man behind the snake mask commented, "The king knows about the boy, boohoo. Haven't we allowed the 'king' to reign for far too long? So much so that he thinks he's over us all. I say it's time to make some changes and the island would be the perfect place for it."
"Huhu… haha!" All of a sudden, the director began laughing at them, "I always thought you conundrum people were so smart. After all, manipulating the kingdom while remaining in the shadows isn't an easy thing to do."
Everyone kept observing her. Waiting for her to say something else and she didn't disappoint them.
"You think you know a lot about the island, don't you? What if I said, the humans… Nah. It'll be more fun to let you fuckers see it for yourselves."
***
Astaroth was someone who was well acquainted with the 'blessings' as the people around the called. Which was funny considering how it was far from a blessing. Hell, some high tier species didn't have a blessing and yet they were ruling the skies over and below.
But he wasn't on the planet to educate these uncivilized swine. He had to find a way to connect himself with Lucifer or Beelzebub.
But Ashton did not have a two-way link between him and Lucifer because well, his brain wasn't strong enough to comprehend the necessary concepts needed for interstellar communication on its own.
In other words… Ashton was simply stupid. Maybe he wasn't considered stupid based on the average intelligence of the species occupying the planet, but on a mere galactic scale, his lack of intelligence was… concerning.
"I need to override Lucifer's controls and get this host faster, stronger, and more intelligent," Astaroth mumbled to himself before punching a hole into the next corridor, "But in baby steps. I wouldn't want this fool to overthink himself to death, now would I? Now let's see what do we have here…. of course, it had to be fucking undead."