The silence that accompanied the door swinging open was jarring.
Renny snapped his head towards the door, then grimaced.
"We meet again."
Renny eyed Devil as he walked over.
Devil snapped his fingers and the chains restraining Renny released.
Renny felt his chains had returned to their usual state, eyeing Devil with suspicion.
Devil turned to exit the room.
"Follow me."
---
The corridor seemed endless.
Its walls glistened, the dim lighting overhead provided just enough visibility.
The rooms on both sides were equally odd.
Some housed equipment, others were completely empty.
"Why am I still alive?" Renny pressed.
Devil didn't answer.
They entered a larger room further down the corridor.
The walls were blacked out with bright fluorescent ceiling lights flush to the high ceiling.
The ground had a multitude of scratch marks, traces of a battle—no, multiple battles.
Devil walked to the middle.
"If you touch me with your chains, I'll answer 3 questions. Fail and I'll kill you right here."
Renny tensed.
The last time he pushed Heartlight into the chains, they felt weak and even drew his blood.
But now they felt normal, he could feel that familiar cold energy running through the chains.
Be lighter.
Be harder.
Be powerful.
He felt the cold energy weaken slightly as the chains responded.
He rushed at Devil, a chained hand reaching for Devil's cloak—
Devil muttered something.
A thick wall of red sparks suddenly appeared between them, acting like a net and stopping Renny from touching Devil.
What—
Renny bounced backwards.
The sparks disappeared.
Devil didn't attack?
Why?
Renny ran around Devil, gaining speed.
He jumped onto a wall and used it as a spring to launch himself at Devil.
The same wall of red sparks manifested into thin air again, stopping Renny's attack before dissipating again.
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Again, Renny had seen Devil muttering something.
Too short to be a sentence, it looked like just one word.
As he jumped back, he noticed Devil cupped one of his hands and was relaxing it.
Devil's shoulders were relaxed.
Have to switch things up.
Form spikes, sharpen, 5.
Chains snaked from his body to the air, curling tight and forming cylindrical spikes with sharp tips.
Extend.
Be fast.
The 5 spikes shot forward like darts at Devil.
At the same time, Renny rushed in around him, the spikes still attached to Renny by chains.
This time he heard it.
"Barrier."
Red sparks gathered where the 5 spikes were aimed.
They seemed to match the force of the spikes, keeping them hovering mid air as they tried to reach Devil.
Renny had circled around Devil, using the spikes as a distraction.
He reached out with his hand to touch Devil's back—
Devil turned just in time and raised a hand at Renny, as if telling him to stop.
"Wall."
The red sparks manifested in the shape of a square wall.
Renny struggled as It inched forward, herding him into the corner of the room.
Its not budging!
The wall crept forward until Renny was backed up against the corner.
Only then did the red sparks dissipate.
Devil stood unscathed as Renny huffed from the effort.
The chains from the spikes returned to Renny.
It was too clean to be technology.
He thought about Warden's Cube.
It couldn't control anything outside it.
It had limits.
It had an activation cue.
There were no signs of those here.
The room?
No, Devil had used those red sparks before, back in their first encounter.
Renny recalled there was a niche application of Heartlight that Dive Academy frowned upon.
Was this a Bent?
Then why the hand signs?
He hadn’t needed them with the coin and chair last time.
Devil flexed his fingers, startling Renny.
Think!
Renny recalled another useful tidbit of information about Bents.
They didn't consume any additional Heartlight while in use.
Meaning there was no limit to how many times he could use it.
Devil adjusted his footing.
He had no obligation to stand there and do nothing.
What if Devil got bored of waiting?
And if Renny didn't figure out a way to tag Devil soon, he could be in trouble.
---
A minute had passed, yet he hadn't made a move.
Renny just stared at him, trying to figure him out.
Devil returned the gaze.
The center gave him every angle.
If Renny couldn’t win from here, he didn’t deserve to.
Struggle properly.
An image from the past flashed in his mind.
Familiar faces.
Sparring.
Sweating.
Laughing.
Stop.
Those days are over.
Devil clenched his jaw.
You don't get to enjoy anything anymore.
His fingers flexed, eyes locked on Renny.
Prove that I didn't pick a failure.
---
Renny panted.
He could feel the cold energy in the chains sapping away with each use.
He was running low on Daily Heartlight too.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to break through.
Renny dropped to one knee.
Perspiration trickled through the chains onto the floor.
Devil hadn't even moved from that spot.
A familiar dread coiled in his chest—fear of failing, fear of losing someone.
Suddenly he was back in that tavern, all that blood on his hands yet Bob was still dying.
He shoved the thought away.
The hand signs and the muttering.
Was that how he used his Bent so effortlessly?
It was automatic.
Mental anchoring?
Devil only has 2 hands. Maybe an attack that forced him to use more than 2 techniques?
Extend chains, sharpen, 20.
20 sharp points emerged from the chains around his arms and back.
Be fast, surround target.
The chains shot out, aimed at Devil from all directions.
Devil raised 2 cupped hands, palms facing himself.
"Barrier."
A large concentration of red sparks gathered, stopping each of the 20 chains.
The sparks covered Devil's field of view.
He never anticipated Renny's next move.
Push more.
The last of his Daily Heartlight poured into the chains.
Be able to pass through the sparks.
Renny felt a surge of power from the chains.
His ears start ringing.
He tasted metal as his blood bled into the chains, dying them deep maroon.
The 20 chains started to slowly pass through the barrier of sparks, like spearheads through armour.
"Blink."
Devil disappeared just as the chains converged and stabbed the air where he was milliseconds ago.
Renny collapsed to the ground, vision slowly blurring.
Devil moved so fast Renny's eyes couldn't follow, reappearing in the corner of the room, his trenchcoat fluttering behind him.
Red sparks dissipated from his feet and the back of his neck.
He saw Devil reach up at his mask.
Renny felt his strength fading away.
Not again...
All turned black.
---
He woke up to the rhythmic beeping of the monitor.
A sharp pain in his right arm.
A blood bag hooked onto the stand.
The familiar scent of that recovery room assaulted his nostrils.
The familiar cold energy had returned to the chains.
How long was I out for?
"Your 3 questions."
Renny just noticed Devil's presence.
He sat on a chair of red sparks next to the bed.
Renny stared at the sparks, the fight surfacing in his mind.
"What?" Renny asked.
"You got me," Devil said, turning to show a scratch across his mask.
A scratch.
Renny stared at it.
He had touched him.
"3 questions," Renny echoed in disbelief.
Renny paused.
"Why did I black out?" He asked eventually.
“Your chains are powered by Void energy,” Devil said calmly.
Renny blinked. “What?”
“The same energy that sustains Voidspawn.”
Renny stared at the chains hugging his skin.
They looked alien to him.
Silence stretched.
“We put you in the Void for a bit while you were unconscious,” Devil continued. “Your chains regenerated energy the moment we entered.”
Is that what the cold energy was?
When I run out of Void energy does it use my blood?
"You have 2 questions left." Devil continued.
An image of Bob injured flashed in Renny's mind.
"What happened to the Divers found in the IDCG?"
"They've been stripped of their Diver licenses. The violent ones are detained. Last question."
Too abrupt.
He needed answers. Not from Devil, not from the system—just to see them, to know they were safe.
He remembered his very first question even before the test.
"Why am I still alive?"
Devil tapped his fingers on the chair.
"Your license was suspended, not revoked. The CRS Tournament is coming up. Rank in the top 100 and you'll get it back."
"That doesn't answer—"
"You'll find out if you succeed," Devil cut him off coldly.
Renny sat with his thoughts in a daze.
There was too much to deal with alone right now.
Not after everything that happened.
"I need to visit someone."
