Cornelius was in shock.

He had been stabbed! Stabbed by one of his own puppets!

His eyes widened incredulously as he looked up into the dead eyes of the brunette, his mind unable to understand how she had been able to stab him! She was a puppet! She was completely under his control! How had she been able to defy him?!

Not only that, she had used the special dagger that he had had made for her, one that could pierce through the defences of even the strongest warrior if they were caught unawares. The dagger was only good for one use, and he had intended for her to use if on his father when the time came to dispose of the old fossil.

But now, she had used it on him!

Rage boiled in Cornelius’s blood as he violently struck out with all his force at the traitor that had stabbed him! She seemed to have been anticipating his attack however, and moved just before he did, launching a kick that hit the hilt of the dagger she had stabbed him with and driving it deeper into his stomach. She didn’t even avoid his strike afterwards, the crushing impact sending her flying across the room to crash into the wall with a meaty thud.

Meanwhile, Cornelius doubled over in pain and groaned, quickly using his magic to stem the bleeding. The dagger the brunette had stabbed him with was implanted with a magical poison that was designed to inflict a wound that would keep bleeding without end. Thankfully though, as the one who had the dagger made, he knew how to survive it!

*thud*

For now he used his magic in a specific way known only to him to control the bleeding until he took care of the mess here. Then he would treat himself with the tools in his space ring. He could not take the dagger out without preparing first, and the pain was tolerable if he suppressed it with his magic. But he had to hurry. If the poison remained inside him for too long it would cause permanent damage.

*Thud*

He snarled in anger and spat in the direction of the collapsed brunette. Traitorous whore! Death was too good for her! As repayment of what she had just done, he would show her the true meaning of torment!

*Thud*

But now he had to finish his initial goal; using his innate talent to take complete control of the mysterious woman still trapped in his array! She was no longer in to box, so now he had the freedom to do with her as he wished!

*Thud*

Although it would be a little messy with the dagger in his stomach and the blood everywhere, Cornelius didn’t care at this point. In fact he was already getting aroused at the thought of the woman screaming under him while he painted her red with his blood!

*THUD*

What the hell was that noise?! Cornelius stopped a few meters away from where Zoey lay trapped and looked around for the source of the sounds he had been hearing.

*BANG!*

There! He finally realized that the sound was coming from the wall of a hallway to his right! Wait… wasn’t that the same wall that had the trap built into it? The same trap that boy had been…

*BOOM!!!*

In a sudden explosion, the wall Cornelius had been looking at exploded outwards with the sound of a meteor hitting the ground. This explosive sound was accompanied by shrieking metal and smoke as the wall split wide open and peeled outwards, the jagged edges of the metal glowing read hot from the event.

Cornelius snorted derisively as he watched the scene. He figured that the boy he had previously encountered had somehow managed to work his way out of the trap, but it wouldn't change anything. Like before, he would not be a match for Cornelius, and he would make sure that the boy would not survive their next encounter!

Then, out of the smoke came the boy. Cornelius noticed that something seemed different about the boy… His eyes, they had a strange violet light glowing in their depths now.

-----------------------

When Max emerged from the prison he had been trapped inside, the first thing he saw was Zoey, laying on the ground with her an arm and a leg twisted at odd angles.

She had been hurt.

Zoey was hurt.

He had not been here to protect her, and now she had been hurt!

Max was suddenly subjected to a sensation that felt like his blood was on fire. All of his thoughts grinded to a shuddering halt, and deep inside the ocean that was his inner world, Leviathan roared.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and as he laid his eyes on the smirking noble that was responsible for all this, his vision went red and only one emotion remained inside of him that he could name.

Fury.