The three pirates, with their revolvers fresh out of bullets, desperately tried to overcome their fear as they stuffed their bullets into the cylindrical casing.

  They had already retreated to the boundaries of the shadowy ‘sealed’ region, putting their backs directly against the windows, eager to escape as soon as the chance arose to jump out.

  Of course, there was a possibility of escape. They could choose to use the shadow of the window that had shifted a 180 degrees from its original position, but that would require them to run past that terrifying abomination!

  The terrifying mouth on the boy’s hand gashed and gnawed at the air, spewing indescribable symbols of geometry and horror into the minds of the three pirates.

  The process was long, convoluted and eye wateringly disgusting, sending a terrible wave of electricity tingling in the pirate’s nether regions, and tears to form in their poor eyes.

  After what seemed like an infinite amount of time, one of the pirates finally managed to reload their clip of bullets despite their trembling hands.

  Without hesitation, the pirate immediately unloaded their 6 bullets towards the monstrous mouth creature through the ‘unshadowed exit’ of the sealed region.

  He felt a rush of adrenaline rushing through his mind as he pulled the trigger, steadying his feelings and tremors as he aimed accurately into the strange boy and the monstrous mouth.

  He had used a special bullet this time rather than the sedative bullets that he had used before. These bullets were made from the bone of a particular monster tree named the Panion Bush.

  It was able to use the forces of the earth to manipulate the soul of the individual who was hit. And this was further amplified by the effects of the ignivite patterns engraved on his revolver.

  The combination of these two items created a good weapon against monsters, as it effectively disrupted their movement, and tangled a portion of their soul temporarily to prevent possible magical retaliation, and was a weapon favoured by adventurers and pirates alike.

  And he would have successfully hit and killed these two nightmarish duo with his excellent aim, a product of his superficial but effective martial arts training… if it weren’t for the seal in between them.

  The ‘unshadowed’ door was not an actual exit!

  The mouth smiled further, teasing and provoking the pirate and revealing its pearly white teeth that were too numerous, and corrosively charming.

  And with that mad and seductive smile, the mouth stopped chanting.

  And the horror was born anew.

  Five new mouths appeared all over Aurelius’s arm, each one forming a gash of horrible voided darkness and fusing with an endless red to create a chorus of new and terrifying noise of geometric symbols.

  Pultris was using the combined power of wind magic at the angel level, although weakened to the level of a high mage. The magic was one which could directly reach into the domain of the wind and its essence.

  If the abstract wind magic was about contracts, and the physical magic about the control over the wind and body, one was able to create conditions, loopholes and metamorphism to create an effect of mastery over one’s body.

  Such magic required 3 soul layers, and at the level of archmages, such magic spelled twisted horrors beyond comprehension on the battlefield.

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  A famous example of such a mage would be the ancient mad mage, Gorgo the immortal flesh abomination, who required the combined cooperation of two orthodox churches to stop a thousand years ago.

  Even Aurelius, from the corner of his drowsy eyes, was able to digest this… horror.

  “AHHhh    ” Aurelius screamed, but his voice disappeared, its vibrations cancelled out by an equal and opposing wavelength.

  His eyes burgeoned out of its sockets as he realised his voice was gone.

  “Tsk, contractor. Stay quiet for a moment. I have not had a chance to enjoy this scene for a long, long time.” Pultris started, chuckling through his ‘main mouth’ on Aurelius’s hand.

  The rest of the mouths kept moving, grating against each other to create a melody of golden geometry in the air.

  “I do admit that I am quite ashamed to waste this kind of power on a neat bundle of fools like these three.”

  ”How could one expect that a visible ‘exit’ corresponds to the actual exit when fighting against a sorcerer of the wind?” Pultris scoffed, making the slits on Aurelius’s hand vibrate bizarrely.

  “     ” Aurelius screamed silently, and with all of the force that he could muster, Aurelius channeled his soul into his functional arm, raising it up all the way above his head to give his left arm a lesson, simultaneously using the shock of his mind to resist the sedative still in his body.

  “Smack! Smack!”As he smacked the possessed arm like he was swatting a mosquito, Pultris started to yelp quite loudly in protest.

  ”Ow, ow, ow! Stop it! Your irritating smacking actually hurts quite a bit in this state of partial manifestation!” Pultris complained, his other lips undergoing some wavering in their incantations all the while.

  Who the FUCK told you to do this? YOU brought this on yourself!! Aurelius screamed in his mind, and his mouth, becoming completely unconcerned for the three actual pirates in his room now.

  “Dusty Drago-” Pultris cursed, as the mouth grimaced through the pain for another few seconds.

  And with that, the strange voices ceased, and the terrifying mouths closed.

  Is it over? Aurelius wondered to himself, his thoughts still sluggish from the effects of the sedatives.

  At that precise instant, the room lit up as countless illusory threads of gold draped down from Aurelius’s vicinity. These strands of gold, as thin as hair, wrapped Aurelius’s arm in its gentle embrace.

  …Fuck- I jinxed it. Aurelius thought exasperatedly as he struggled futilely against the thread that was extending up his body.

  It locked his movements in place, but was surprisingly comfortable…

  “This is called being considerate.” Pultris sneered, making a loud click noise with his tongue in the process.

  Immediately, Aurelius felt his body experience a boost of strength and power, and the sedative that had just been putting him into a state of immobility lost all effect immediately.

  The rest of the threads then shot forward, coiling and uncoiling from Aurelius’s body as some sort of a ‘springboard’ to phase through the seal and rushed towards the three cowering pirates.

  Pultris, being unable to project his power at the original angel level, had used a weakened version of the ‘flesh magic’ to create a small scale ritual which he physically ‘spelled’ out the mana in the form of a magic circle.

  Such acts could be considered miracles, and only existed at the highest level of magic in the world, but as a djinn, or a sealed angel, Pultris could effectively perform this act with enough time and access.

  The coils of golden wire slithered against the pirates and their bodies, and locked them in place, creating three statues of fearful, soiled men…

  “WHAT… are you DOING?” Aurelius screamed, his mind slowly clearing up, and his confusion becoming overwhelming.

  “Pop.” Pultris… blew a raspberry.

  ???

  What is he doing- Quinn thought before his mind went blank with an artistic splash of red.

  The raspberry had, exactly at the joints of the three pirates, created soundless explosion of flesh.

  Vacuum explosion!

  At the first two levels of a physical wind mage, one of the most powerful offensive spell that were available to them were in the realm of creating vacuum.

  With mastery over air, a wind mage could effectively create a region of lower pressure within their vicinity and immediately create an implosion rivaling the power of actual dynamite.

  The pirates screamed mutely in horror at the shock of it all, and then at the pain that flooded them, and then at the terrifying sight of their teammates’ conditions.

  The scene created a terrible sculpture, one where the three legless pirates hung in the air alongside their own blood and gore that defied gravity, suspended by the threads of gold.

  Quinn passed out.

  “Tsk” A Corrupted tongue clicked.

  Quinn woke up again, the bloody surroundings engulfing him once more, and dragging him back into the less torturous shadows of pain once more…

  At least, until another click sounded.

  “Tsk” The Divine tongue clicked, a smile spreading terribly across its palm…