Before Denmac and Emilia could even snap out of their mental breakdown, James had already pushed the carpet to the next city.

“Hey guys, wake up cause we’re right above the city. You gotta get as much as xp as you can before I kill them all and it’s time to move to the next place.” James announced while chuckling, even though he felt a bit guilty about almost literally blowing their minds.

James dropped down, and the carpet landed right into the middle of the Stygian city.

Luckily, Denmac and Emilia quickly regained their wits, because the entire city full of agents was already converging upon the group’s location.

“Ok guys, have fun! I’ll take care of the bigger ones.” James smiled and vanished.

Several explosions were heard in the distance, which really made the group kick it up a notch. But they weren’t worried about the agents killing them. No, their worries were something else entirely.

“If we don’t kill these guys now, we’ll never get any xp!” Helios shouted while already launching himself into the nearest group of agents. “James is getting stronger after every city, which means that it takes him even less time to be done. We’ve gotta get faster as well!”

“Yes, you’re right. We can keep up him!” Emilia said resolutely, as if her very sanity depended on killing at least a few agents before the madman was done with the entire damn city. “No more crying, it’s time to take advantage of what’s in front of us!”

“That’s’ right!” Denmac joined in. “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Don’t cry that the lemons are bigger and juicier than what you previously thought was possible.” Denmac crossed his legs and closed his eyes, entering a meditative state. “I’m not much of a combatant, but I’m still getting xp. And I’ll focus it all on my divination. Just you wait, I’ll be the most useful one of you all before this is over.”

“Not if I have something to say about it.” Emilia cackled as she launched three arrows at once.

The agents had surrounded the group, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone at this point. They were more worried about running out of time.

“Helios is noticeably stronger, even compared to the previous city, don’t you think?” Eruditus asked.

“I’ve noticed it as well. His crater attack took down thirty agents this time. That’s quite an improvement.” Bacchus agreed. “Under normal circumstances, this would be considered the progress of a one in a million genius. Of course, our standards have been skewed, so that doesn’t seem as impressive anymore.” Bacchus coughed as he listened to the dozens of explosions in the distance.

“Let’s not even get into that.” Eruditus sighed. “I don’t even want to think about James’s powers. I’m a man of science and knowledge, so I’m supposed to be curious and inquisitive. But even I don’t want to open that can of worms. It’s too much, too weird. Way out of my wheelhouse.”

“I know what you mean.” Ruppus added. “At first I was curious, but now it’s downright scary. Such rapid growth is unfathomable, it’s hard to comprehend.”

“And yet, if we can properly study the Darkness within him, we can make the world a much better place.” Bacchus replied.

“The Darkness is just a tiny part of his powers at this point. Which says a lot, given how devastating the Darkness truly is.” Eruditus sighed. “What I’m afraid of is that we won’t be able to decipher anything within the amalgam of powers that he possesses.

“Wait, I just realized something.” Bacchus suddenly had an epiphany. “Even though his powers don’t really stem from the Darkness, he’s still consuming a lot of dark energy from each city. Shouldn’t his mind be assaulted by it? His personality and body warped, possessed and transformed into a mindless demon? How come that isn’t happening?”

“Oh, we went through that already, let’s not get back to that topic.” Helios answered laughingly. “Yeah, they’ve been trying to warp his mind for more than a year now. I’ve lost count of how many times it happened, but each failed attempt of mind control only made him stronger against it. His mind is bulletproof at this point, I don’t think anything can mind control him now.”

“That may be true, but he’s consuming an absurd amount of Dark energy in each city.” Bacchus urged. “The amounts are downright insane, they’re bound to have an effect even on him! How do we know they’re not?”

Dozens of explosions rang out again.

“Well, just ask him yourself.” Helios smiled.

“Done already?” Lunaris chuckled.

“Yep, I’m ready to go to the next one.”

“Before that, can I ask you an awkward question?” Bacchus said.

“Sure, we’re all friends here. Ask me anything!” James bowed his head.

“There’s no delicate way to ask this, and I guess if you were actually mind controlled, you’d just lie and say you weren’t. Anyway, what I’m trying to ask, is the Darkness having any effect on your mind? You’ve consumed ludicrous amounts of dark energy, such a thing is bound to have a very powerful effect on you.”

“Oh, it definitely does. It’s been trying to control me, growing more powerful after every city!” James announced.

Just as everybody was gasping and turning white, James smiled and explained. “Don’t worry, it’s all under control. I mean it, there’s no way in hell they’re ever controlling me. And I’m not being arrogant and careless either, have a look for yourself!”

James sat down and crossed his legs. “Come on, everybody. Put your hands on my head.”

The group hesitantly gathered and closed their eyes.

They found themselves within James’s mindspace, a dark and yet warm feeling washing over them.

“Don’t be scared. It may look big, but it’s harmless.” James said.

Before anybody could even ask what the ‘it’ was, the answer became obvious. The group found themselves looking at James. But instead of the usual James, they were looking at a dark version of him, twisted and mutated by the Darkness.

But the most surprising part of it was his size. Calling it the size of a mountain would be a huge understatement. His body was the size of several mountains stacked on top of each other.

“What is that?!” Denmac shouted as he nearly fainted from shock.

“As I said, there’s no need to worry.” A normal James appeared next to them. “He’s incapacitated, you see? He can’t do a thing, I’m the master around here.”

“And you aren’t afraid that he’ll wake up and overpower you?” Bacchus asked.

“Ah, come on. That’s way too cliché.” James laughed. “I’d have to be a huge moron to fall for that. And while I may make a colossal mistake or two every now and then, I’m no moron. It’s not a coincidence that he’s incapacitated. It’s not like he’s biding his time, waiting to grow even stronger. And there’s no need to worry that he’s going to wake up one day. He’s fully defeated, reigned in, under control. He’s basically just an empty vessel now, a vessel that helps me absorb all the Darkness.”

“How did you defeat him?” Lunaris asked. “How are you so sure that he’s done for and that this whole situation won’t turn ugly? I mean, if this isn’t a red flag, I don’t know what is.”

“It’s simple. Not even worth talking about, really.” James coughed awkwardly. “You see, I’m weird. You know that, of course, you’ve all seen how … unorthodox my thinking is. But it turns out, I’m so weird that the Darkness has no effect on me. Its main source of power is corruption, preying on greed and lust and all that other good stuff we all know about.”

“It would take a truly enlightened person to defy all that and stay strong.” Helios whispered with bated breath.

“Yes. And yet I’m clearly far from that.” James chuckled. “But, as it turns out, you don’t really need to be enlightened, as long as you’re a really weird son of a bitch. My unique brand of insanity, weirdness and eccentricity is immune to their mind control attempts. Well, that and I’m also very resistant to mind control due to their previous failed attempts.”

“But still, look at the size of that thing.” Bacchus pointed out. “All that temptation that’s got to be whispering through your head, are you saying you’re such a strong person that you can’t be corrupted by the promises of power, fame and riches? All you’d have to do is give in, and you could be ten times, a hundred times stronger overnight. Are you sure you can resist that for the rest of your life?”

“Come on, that’s nothing.” James laughed. “I’m already getting stronger faster than I can even get used to it.”

“But what if in a moment of despair, when your friends are in danger, giving in to the Darkness would be the only thing that can save them? Will you still be able to say no?” Bacchus asked.

“I’ve never been more confident of anything in my life. And if you want to know why, it’s because I’m that spiteful. Spiteful against whom, you may ask? Well, against the Darkness, of course. You think I’d give it the satisfaction of such a cliché twist? That’s the most bullshit, basic trope I can think of. I could name you a hundred stories that I’ve read that had that kind of plot. If I fell for something as stupid as that, then those thousands of hours I’ve spent reading fiction were truly a waste of time. This is the kind of thing that made my blood boil when I was reading novels and playing games. The bullshit ‘twists’ where the protagonist is corrupted or whatever. Nah, screw that. I’m not that dumb, I know that any such power would only be used to hurt the very ones that I love, so I’d never, ever be stupid enough to use it.”

James spat towards his dark self spitefully, with the rage of an angry fan whose favorite stories were always ruined by contrived moments of drama that he could see coming from a hundred miles away.