Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.
Adamās fingers twitched, while his heartbeat grew faster and faster. With great effort, his eyes opened to reveal vast caves and bare gray surfaces.
"W-What the hell...?"
Instead of the kitchen of his penthouse and the view of the First Ring, now before Adam lay a vast cave with only stone columns supporting the high ceiling.
The only sound here was drops trickling down the walls and splashing onto the ground from sharp edges.
"Argh!" Adam clutched his head, and a searing pain filled his mind.
He couldnāt remember the last time heād had such a searing headache. It was as if heād gone through several teleportations in a row, and the pressure surpassed anything heād ever experienced before.
Still, it wasnāt a wound, and after a few minutes, Adam came to his senses, though he was still breathing heavily.
"Agh... Agh... Agh..."
"Fuck, where the hell am I?" Adam muttered, slowly getting up from the ground.
His legs were shaking. He couldnāt stand still and nearly fell, but he leaned against the nearest column.
"Did Gladius do this?"
His gaze wandered further, taking in the scale of the place where he had ended up. It wasnāt a simple cave running from one point to another in a straight line.
Before Adamās eyes, stretching past several columns and reaching a cliff, lay a true abyss plunging deep below. The cave wound around the abyss, forming something like a ring.
That wasnāt all.
"Shit..."
Adamās eyes dropped lower, seeing the same caves extending several levels down. Everything was the same: empty caves supported by columns and an abyss at the center that they surrounded.
The only clue Adam had was a faint light shining ahead, growing dimmer the deeper the caves went.
"I donāt know who, Gladius or Xyrea, but someone sent me here. The only question is, which way the hell do I go? Up or down?"
Adam was about to move on. He had to figure something out and get out of this place, but then he remembered something.
He looked at his hand, at the vial that, despite everything, was still in his grip.
"Hah, I see. So he didnāt lie after all." Adam raised the vial, staring at his reflection in the dark blood. "Queen Elisa... What happened to you if just your blood is one of my conditions?"
Then, Adam remembered how heād thought heād get the Blood of God from Vaarh, a monster that wasnāt even at the Lord Level.
"For some reason, I feel proud that my conditions are so complex, but..." He looked at the caves surrounding him. "Itās nothing but trouble, to be honest."
For a while, Adam stared at the vial.
He hadnāt imagined it this way. When he first saw this condition, heād decided it would happen during a battle against a majestic monster, someone dangerous and proud. The dragon that was Vaarh was the perfect candidate for that role.
But... reality turned out to be far darker than he had imagined. To become stronger, he had to drink the blood of another Phantom, not just a strong warrior, but his Queen, the creature that had protected all of humanity from total annihilation for hundreds of years.
Adam didnāt know where he was now, but he realized it was most likely a dangerous place. This was a trial from Gladius, and all he had to survive here was the blood of Queen Elisa.
"Blood of God. Sooner or later, I was bound to get it," Adam muttered as he opened the cap on the vial.
The powerful scent of blood immediately filled the air around him, making his heart race.
Now, he felt like a starving monster that, for the first time in a long while, had seen a fresh piece of meat before him.
Every fiber of his being and all the energy within him wanted that blood, right now.
"There is no other choice. If all of this is really Gladiusās plan, then without this power, nothing awaits me here but an inglorious death."
With a final sigh, Adam opened his mouth and tilted the vial.
As soon as the first drop of blood fell onto his tongue, he froze, and his pupils narrowed.
...
Around the same time, Silvana woke up as well. Unlike Adam, who had ended up far from the Citadel, she remained where she had been, in the house she shared with Adam.
Through a blur, Silvana saw two figures sitting at their table. Steam from the freshly brewed coffee wafted past their faces, accompanying their casual conversation.
Blinking a few times, Silvana recognized the figures as Xyrea and Gladius.
This didnāt bother her much. She remembered that they had come to them, but the moment when Xyrea knocked her out had simply vanished from her memory, for now.
"Adam... Whereās Adam..." Silvana muttered as her memories gradually returned to her.
Soon, her eyes widened as she stared in horror at Gladius and Xyrea, who had noticed her waking up.
"Oh, it seems the young Operator has finally returned to us. Good morning, Silvana." Gladius raised his cup in greeting.
In an instant, Silvana crawled back and looked around. No matter where she looked, Adam wasnāt there.
Whatās more... none of the other methods worked.
"W-Why. Why canāt I reach him?" Silvanaās voice trembled. This had never happened before. No matter how far away Adam was or how dangerous the mission he was on, she had always stayed by his side.
Gladius waved his hand dismissively.
"Oh, donāt worry about it. Itās all because of the energy of the place heās in. Once he returns to the Citadel, everything will be back to normal."
"You... Where did you send Adam?" Silvana clenched her teeth, and pure anger covered her face.
However, Gladius didnāt rush to answer. Instead, he pulled out the chair next to him, making room for her.
"Please, sit down. As I said, weāre not enemies."
"Shut up!" Silvana waved her hand. "What kind of horrible place is this, where our powers donāt work? Adam wonāt survive in such dangerous lands! You just want to kill him!"
Gladius leaned on his hand.
"Yeah? Then why did I give him the vial?"
"Agh?"
Gladiusās eyes narrowed.
"Soon, youāll feel it. Youāre right, Adam is in dangerous lands right now, which means heāll drink her blood very soon."
His voice grew deeper.
"Surely, right now, Adam is taking his first sip. It will be a momentous event for both of you."