Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Darkness Corruption Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Expert Level 4.

Just as Sophie had described, atop a stone pedestal with dwarven carvings lay a bronze device with a thrumming and oddly dim ball of purple glowing energy within it.

The room itself seemed to be an abandoned ale cellar with kegs lining the walls, most of which were damaged beyond repair.

"And thus, we meet. Primal to beastkin, god to man, player to pawn. Underwhelming, no?" Darkness chuckled.

"You look a lot like Sky did. No clue about Void though since he was sealed in an orb," Lone answered. "You're just... a ball of energy. Are you sealed somehow?"

"Haha, no. This form? The easiest to maintain. The pedestal? Just for decoration. I moved it from another building. I like the air in this little ale cellar. This contraption around me? I consider a bed of sorts. Very comfortable," Darkness explained.

Of course, Lone didn't trust the thing. For all he knew, it could have been the very reason Urd Grun was abandoned, the people here having sacrificed themselves to contain it.

That was unlikely considering it had reached out to Four-twelve to enlist him, still, Lone remained careful.

He was approaching the Primal very cautiously, and with good reason. 'The moment it tries to take me over, I'll use the Djinn's Wish. I've practised. I can get it out of my Dimensional Storage and then crush it in less than a second. Grimsley said it broke when he made his wish but Gilbert promised me I can crush it myself before making the wish. Either will work.'

Lone had put even more time into coming up with the wording for his wish so as to leave as little wiggle room as possible for Djinn Harsios to fuck him over.

His planned wish was simple, had no loopholes as far as he could tell, and wouldn't piss off the demigod's fragment contained within the orb sitting peacefully in his Dimensional Storage.

All it should do is protect him, nothing more, nothing less.

"So this is it? You try to take over my soul now, or what?" Lone asked.

The sooner this was over and done with, the better. He could feel his nerves building as the seconds passed, in truth.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Fear Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 6.

"Ah... fear... such a delicious thing. Did you know I can sense it? See it... feel it, almost. It's such a curiosity. Sky can do the same with hope, pride and ambition... Void though? All that fool can resonate with is rage. You should have seen its avatars back in the day... Sky's were simple warriors of justice. Void's though? Consumers of all and harbingers of death. Even my kin, Death itself, was afraid of them. What a sight!" Darkness explained.

Lone frowned. He felt his heart pumping in his chest. He could feel it in his ears. Something about the current situation felt... off. That feeling was making him become anxious. It was as if everything could go pear-shaped in a split second.

"Mental Destruction," he said, using the skill on the being.

It was likely immune to magical attacks or just strong enough to ignore the unique skill. Still, it had seemed to slow it in the dream world.

Perhaps that had just been a ruse but Lone wanted to see how it would react. He didn't like how Darkness was spewing pointless nonsense instead of doing what it had claimed it wanted to do for so long now.

The ball of purple energy shrivelled up a bit as Darkness spoke, "Rude. You know, even if that has a very minimal effect on me, it still chips away at my core being. That takes so long to heal. You want to know why I'm not hopping into your prison of a shell, yes? That's why you're being rash."

"Yeah, that's ri- Wait. Prison?" Lone was confused.

It was aware he had both Sky and Void sealed away within him, one willingly and one not quite so willingly, but Darkness had always made light of that. Its tone right now though suggested it truly saw his body as an inescapable space of confinement.

"Of course. You're a very, very unique Golden Foxkin. I'm pretty confident that even if I did take control of you and used you as my direct avatar, it wouldn't last for long. You'll somehow regain control. Annoying really since you genuinely are a perfect vessel," Darkness explained with a sigh.

"Then why lead me here? Why the dreams? Why corrupt both Soph and me using Four-Twe-" He stopped mid-sentence.

'It's not looking to possess me... I... I was just a distraction. No, maybe a conduit? Hmm... If not me, then who? Soph? Possible since it corrupted her too but she's safe in The Summoning Room and it will never convince me to summon her. If not me or her, then who...' He frowned deeply as he began to see the answer.

"Breena..." Lone whispered.

"Ah, someone's figured it out. You were a lovely gateway that allowed me to loosen up the second choice. She won't last an eternity like your body likely will, but I can settle. I'm close to gaining full control already. After all, this is just an illusion," Darkness laughed before the ball faded out of existence.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Illusion Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 7.

"I didn't even know I was in an illusion until it was revealed... Fuck! I need to get to Breena! That sneaky fuckin' Primal! Just you watch, you fuck, I'll get the Djinn to kill you!" Lone growled under his breath before he dashed out of the building.

He sprinted at full power to the area Sophie had pointed both their companion and Hamish in.

'There's no time! I need to go faster! If I don't get there in time, Darkness will have full control of Breena and might even kill that daft cunt, Hamish!' Lone yelled internally as he tried to push himself to his limits.

Suddenly, he felt a burst of power in his legs and he almost fell on his face. Buildings zoomed past him and the sheer force of him cutting through the air with his own body was painful to experience.

A few notifications popped up but he ignored them. They could wait. Right now, all that mattered was Breena's safety.

He somehow managed to stop himself when he found both Breena and Hamish, though he came very close to flying face-first into the side of an ancient dwarven home.

The latter of his companions was holding the former with worry and distress on his face. Breena, meanwhile, was groaning in agony as she convulsed uncontrollably.

Glowing clumps of dark purple energy could be seen all over her body, each as big as an apple.

"Ah, Lone. Welcome, welcome. Come to watch me step into the world of mortals again? It's been a while so I'd prefer a larger audience, but it is what it is. Beggars can only be choosers when there are, indeed, options to choose between," Darkness chuckled with Breena's mouth.

She reached up and clawed at her throat while she squirmed about in Hamish's arms frantically. Clearly, she hadn't consented to the use of her vocal cords by the Primal.

"Lone! What the feck's goin' on?!" Hamish yelled. "A bleedin' beam ah purple shite slammed right intae 'er heed an' then she toppled over like ah sack ah spuds!"

"It's Darkness. It didn't want me. It never did. It wanted her," Lone explained as he caught his breath.

"Haha, indeed. And you never had a clue. When I said I'd already won, Lone, I did mean it. This process is unstoppable now. Your 'Mental Destruction' would only kill her which I'm sure you don't want to happen, do you? Murder yet another child? Root of Life will only slow me as well considering how poor your mastery is. It's my victory, as it always is with you mortals," Darkness gloated as even more lumps of the purple corruption spread across Breena's body.

Lone wore a furious expression on his face as he pulled out his Djinn's Wish. "What about this, you motherfucker?!"

One of Breena's eyes was pure purple and it widened in shock. "That's a... But... how do you have such a thing?!"

Lone grinned maniacally. "I fuckin' knew it! You have no control over memories! At least not all of them. Now, stop what you're doing or I'll break this thing and kill you!"

"I can't die, Lone. Don't be a fool. I'm a Primal- a god. I can't stop either. What part of 'unstoppable' don't you understand?" Darkness asked in a gloating manner. "Go ahead. Use it. Waste a Djinn's Wish. I have no idea how you are in possession of such a thing, true, but I know it's useless in your hands. Watch as it kills poor little Breena here in a twisted way to cleanse her body of my influence."

Lone grit his teeth. The Primal was either bluffing or speaking the truth. He had no idea which was the right idea. 'I only have one choice, really, don't I? Well, looks like it's time to piss off a Djinn.'

He crushed the orb in his hand, resulting in an annoyed expression surfacing on Breena's controlled face.

A powerful grey fog spilled out of the shattered artefact, expanding as it covered the entire area around them.

A few seconds passed before the fog all bunched up together in one location, forming a muscled man with his arms crossed. His legs were non-existent, instead, a wispy coil was in their place.

He also had no head, just a set of powerful and deep eyes of fog. Eyes which were staring at Lone, demanding him to speak his demand.

"Stop Darkness from taking over Breena! Negate any and all negative effects it has caused by being in her body! I don't want her to lose her immunity to ageing nor to ever be influenceable by Darkness again! Since this is already a complex wish and you'll likely dick me over, in for a penny, in for a pound. I don't want any positive effects to leave her either. And don't let her die. I swear, if she dies, I'll track you down and kill you, Djinn Harsios," Lone demanded.

The being of mist and mysteries didn't move at first. Eventually though, it spoke. "You would threaten me?"

"You bet your wispy fuckin' ass I would! Now hurry up before that cunt finishes making her its puppet!" Lone yelled in a hurry.

"... Your wish is my command," the Djinn said before it bowed lightly.

It unfolded its arms then snapped its fingers. A moment later, it disappeared completely, leaving Hamish in a state of shock and Lone worried over how it had twisted his wish.

The Darkness consuming Breena was slowly forced out of her body as if plucked out by an omnipotent force.

Lone heaved a sigh of relief. No matter what happened now, Breena was safe. He could live with whatever consequences his actions would lead to now.

'Gilbert's granddad went insane when Djinn Harsios started exploiting the loop in his wish, right? I can deal with insanity. I already have some resistance to that, after all. I could do with training it,' Lone thought optimistically.

Despite that though, he was shaking in unconcealable fear. The adrenaline and panic were wearing off and he was coming to realise that he had not only both insulted and ordered around a demigod, he had gone so far as to threaten such an unthinkably powerful being.

And not just any demigod. No, one who had control over the very fabric of existence. Unstoppable and unrestricted wishes were not a thing of insignificance. Sweat covered Lone's back upon coming to this realisation.

"Shouldnae 'at energy be, ah, dunno, feckin' off somewhere?" Hamish asked as he stared at the mass of purple power that was still hovering above Breena.

Just as he said that it moved faster than light and slammed right into Lone's body, merging with him.

He almost fell over from the force and he immediately winced from the pain. "Of fuckin' course..."

Lone didn't know if he could feel his soul but whatever he was experiencing right now, it was easily the most painful thing he had ever had to endure. Perhaps he had gone through this before with Void and Sky but he wasn't conscious then.

Now, he was clearly strong enough to keep his mind awake... at least for a few moments. He quickly collapsed, succumbing to the intense and sharp agony, immediately losing consciousness.

Hamish sighed while he held Breena who was also motionless. "Fer feck's sake... Stone give me strength."