Criminal X : Epitome Of Evil

Just after Pablo had finished talking with Draxus, he found himself around Darkness.

He believed he was teleported somewhere. But upon closer inspection, he found that he didn't have his Colt on his hand and he was dry.

He was dripping with water in the Crucible and it wasn't possible to get dry this fast. Also, he tried to summon Colt but nothing arrived. So Pablo reached a conclusion.

His mind was trapped.

Corrosive had used his Ego and it worked.

So I am inside some kind of illusion and my body must be standing still outside. Did he use this same thing in Boulder too? No wonder he managed to bite his shoulder. But then it also means that Boulder was able to break free as well. All by himself. Otherwise, the Cannibal king surely wouldn't have stopped just on the shoulder. But there should be something more to this. This darkness can't be the only thing here.

Pablo remained standing on a single spot, his eyes looking here and there. He would not move uselessly and he would also not let fear take birth in his heart. It was only darkness. He was familiar with it. Also, Pablo wasn't alone. He would be safe.

However, Pablo's guesses never come wrong and this time, his thoughts were right.

The darkness wasn't the only thing where he was.

From all sides, front, behind, left, right and above, Pablo heard chomping sounds.

He wasn't able to see anything but he surely heard those sounds.

And he had lived enough to know what these sounds meant.

And again, his thoughts were right.

From all five sides, he saw five sets of teeth coming towards him.

They were sparkling white and they were constantly chomping up and down.

Well, what can I expect from a Cannibal?

Pablo knew where this was going and he didn't know if these teeth could be stopped.

Boulder had come out of it. Did he use his Ego?

Pablo found something and used Harlia's Ego right away.

But it seemed he left the luck back at the Crucible as he had no signs of his Ego. He couldn't feel it inside his body at all.

So Boulder broke out of it just by his strength? Did he punch these jaws and break them? But what if these teeth come to me? Will I get eaten here and die back at the Crucible? It's possible. My real body must be standing still right now.

Pablo looked all around himself and the teeth reached closer and closer to him.

Fine. I shall try to smash them as well.

Pablo looked up, bent his knees and jumped.

He reached near the set of teeth coming from above and clenched his fist.

He summoned whatever strength he could muster and punched the teeth.

Or so he thought.

Just when Pablo was about to land his punch on the teeth, everything crumbled.

"HAH!" His eyes shot open.

Cries went inside his ears as from the silence, he found himself amidst violence.

But he never liked noises as much as he liked them now.

He was finally outside the darkness.

His hand felt Colt and his face felt the rain on his skin.

He was free.

His eyes stung though. From absolute darkness, he found sunlight and that was really annoying.

When his eyes adjusted, he frowned.

Corrosive wasn't in front of him.

Then, it hit him.

Pablo had instructed Draxus after all.

"Take him out." He said.

After a second, from the spot in front of Pablo, from the shadow of a corpse, Corrosive was thrown out.

The Cannibal King instantly stood up and Pablo focused on the hands of the man.

What he saw made him smile as Corrosive was missing his index fingers of both hands.

Apart from that, the man was completely fine.

"You bastard! What did you do?" The Cannibal barked.

Pablo raised his shoulders. "I really didn't do anything. I couldn't even move, you see."

"Then what the hell was that?"

"That was one of my brave soldier. I had told him that if he sees something strange happening to me during our fight, he shall step in. I was talking right in front of you but you were too busy to activate your Ego, I guess."

"Yes, Czar." Draxus' voice came from behind.

Then after the voice, the man came out of the shadow as well.

Corrosive gritted his teeth and opened his mouth.

But Pablo had something important to say, so he spoke first, "What did he do?"

Draxus replied right away.

"I don't know but you had suddenly stopped moving. You stood still like a statue. And he was coming towards you with a drooling mouth. I thought you might be doing some kind of acting but when I saw your face, I figured you weren't acting at all. Your face was frozen and your pupils looked like they had turned to stone.

All this was counted as strange so I acted just like you said. I believed you were under the Ego of this king, so I moved my shadow under his feet, sucked him in and without giving him any chance, I cut off his two fingers. He felt pain and here we are."

Pablo nodded. "So his pain made him undo his Ego on me. But what if cutting off his fingers hadn't worked?"

"Then I would have killed him."

Pablo smiled. "You did well. Go inside your shadow and don't let anyone come here."

Draxus bowed a little and went inside his shadow.

So the sets of teeth were coming closer to me because he was coming closer to me to eat me. Neat shit.

Pablo walked towards Corrosive.

The Cannibal King picked up his battleaxes again.

"Let's fight, Human." He said.

Pablo smiled. "That won't be fair. Allow me to return the favor as well, your grace."

"Like hell!" Corrosive roared and bolted at Pablo with his battleaxes.

But it was too late as Pablo had already brought Harlia's Ego into play.

And this time…

He planned to go all out with that.