Demons Within: I level up endlessly-Chapter 35: The Viper’s Strike!

Everywhere was silent.

The only light came from the fading embers of the campfire and the soft, ghostly glow of the alien plants.

Daniel lay on his bedroll. He was fast asleep. His heartbeat was steady. He was very tired.

Bran stood over him.

The fire cast long, crooked shadows across Bran’s face. He did not look like the scared, weeping boy who had begged for help just hours ago.

He stood tall. His shoulders were not hunched. His hands were steady. Bran reached into his pouch. He pulled out a small glass vial.

Inside, a dark, thick liquid shifted. It was the paralytic poison he had made from the plants in the Vale. He also held a piece of ritual chalk.

It glowed with a sickly green light. "SSS-Grade," Bran whispered. His voice was soft, barely a breath. "It is too good for you, Daniel. You are just a soft-hearted fool. You don’t deserve it."

Bran knelt beside Daniel. He moved with the silence of a ghost. He took the chalk and began to draw on the ground around Daniel’s sleeping body.

He drew strange symbols. He drew lines that connected to form a circle. He worked quickly and precisely. He had studied the forbidden books well. He knew exactly what to do.

"The victim must be alive," Bran thought. "He must be helpless." He finished the circle.

Now, he needed to make the first cut. He needed to carve a rune into Daniel’s flesh to bind the soul. He drew a dagger from his boot.

The blade was coated in the dark poison. Bran hovered the dagger over Daniel’s arm. He aimed for a spot where the veins were close to the surface. He smiled. It was a smile of pure greed. "It belongs to me," Bran hissed.

He raised the dagger. He tensed his muscles. He prepared to strike.

Inside Daniel’s mind, the dream broke apart. It wasn’t a sound that woke him. It wasn’t a touch. It was the defense mechanism of his talent that came alive .

[Passive Skill Triggered: Mental Echo (C-Grade)]

[Warning: Lethal Hostility Detected in Close Range!]

The warning was like an ice pick stabbing into his brain. It was a sudden, violent surge of danger that bypassed his sleep and slammed directly into his consciousness.

Daniel’s eyes snapped open. For a split second, his mind could not process what he saw. He saw a face hovering above him. It was Bran.

But it wasn’t the Bran he knew.

His eyes were cold and empty. His mouth was twisted into a mean smile. In his hand, a dagger was descending.

"Bran?" Daniel gasped. The dagger froze inches from his arm. Bran blinked. He looked surprised that Daniel was awake, but he did not pull back. He did not drop the knife. He did not apologize.

Daniel looked at the dagger. He saw the dark liquid dripping from the tip. He looked at the ground. He saw the glowing green circle drawn around his bedroll. He saw the strange symbols that hummed with a dark energy. Then he looked at Bran’s face again.

The mask slipped. The terrified, fragile boy vanished. The tears, the stuttering, the limp, it all disappeared in an instant.

The person looking down at him was a stranger. Bran stood up slowly. He didn’t try to hide the dagger anymore.

He rolled it in his fingers like he knew exactly what he was doing.

"You woke up," Bran said. His voice was flat. It lacked all the warmth and fear Daniel was used to.

Daniel scrambled backward, pushing himself up against the trunk of the massive tree. His heart pounded against his ribs.

"Bran, what the fuck are you doing?" Daniel asked. His voice shook. "Put the knife down. You’re having a nightmare. You’re confused."

"I am not confused, Daniel," Bran replied. He took a step closer. "And I am not having a nightmare. I am creating yours."

"Why?" Daniel stammered. "I saved you. I saved your life. I promised to get you home."

Bran laughed. "You saved me? You think you are some kind of hero? You are just a tool, Daniel. You are a battery charging up with power, waiting for me to plug in."

He pointed the dagger at Daniel. "You are too soft. You have this ultimate power, this SSS-Grade talent, and what do you do with it? You cry over dead friends."

Bran shook his head in disgust. "Power isn’t for people like you. Power is for people who know how to take it. People who are willing to do whatever it takes."

Daniel looked at the ritual circle again. The realization hit him in his gut. The circle. The chalk. The poison.

"You... you aren’t trying to kill me," Daniel whispered. "You’re trying to steal it. You’re trying to steal my talent."

"Bingo," Bran smiled. "Essence Transfer. It’s a tricky bit of magic, but I’m a fast learner. I need you alive for the transfer, Daniel. But I don’t need you awake. And I certainly don’t need you fighting back."

Daniel felt sick. He felt like he was going to vomit.

The betrayal was worse than any wound. He had opened up to Bran. He had told him his deepest secret. He had treated him like a brother. And Bran had looked at him and seen nothing but a meal.

"Did you kill them?" Daniel asked. His voice hardened. The sadness was being replaced by anger.

"Sophie and Ragnar. Did they really die fighting spiders? Or did you do this to them too?" Bran shrugged.

"They were useless. Sophie asked too many questions. Ragnar was just a meat shield. I didn’t steal their talents, if that’s what you mean. They weren’t worth the effort. I just locked the door and let the spiders do the work."

"You monster," Daniel growled. "Call me what you want," Bran said.

"History is written by the victors. And when I walk out of this portal with an SSS-Grade talent, no one will care how I got it. They will only care that I am a god."

Bran took another step. He was right at the edge of the circle now. "Don’t make this hard, Daniel. Just lie down. Let me cut you. It will be over in ten minutes."

Daniel’s hand moved to his belt. He gripped the handle of his D-Grade Vibro-Knife.

"No!" Daniel scream.

BOOM!

He exploded into motion. He didn’t wait for Bran to attack.

He jumped off the ground, his strong legs pushing him up like springs.

[Active Skill: Shadowsteps]

His agility tripled instantly. He moved faster than the wind. He aimed a punch straight at Bran’s chest.

He wanted to knock the wind out of him. He wanted to end this quickly. He expected Bran to crumble.

Bran was supposed to be weak. Bran was supposed to be a support class with a C-Grade shield. But Bran didn’t crumble. Bran’s eyes flashed with a blue light.

He didn’t dodge. He didn’t block. He simply spoke a single word.

"Bind."

The ground beneath Daniel’s feet erupted. Chains of pure white light shot up from the dirt.

They moved with a speed that matched Daniel’s own. Before Daniel’s fist could connect, the chains wrapped around his ankles. They wrapped around his wrists. They wrapped around his waist.

The momentum of his charge was halted instantly.

Daniel was pulled back, suspended in the air by the glowing chains.

"What?" Daniel gasped. He struggled, pulling with all his might.

His Strength stat was 112. He should have been able to snap normal chains like thread. But these weren’t normal chains.

They burned his skin. They tightened with every move he made. Bran stood there, unharmed.

He looked at Daniel with a bored expression.

"Did you really think I came out here unprepared?" Bran asked. "Did you think I walked into the Aurora Vale without a plan?"

He tapped his own Databand. The screen flickered. The fake stats vanished. The real text appeared, glowing brightly in the darkness.

[Name: Bran Pegasus]

[Awakened Talent: Master of Deception (Grade A)]

[Sub-Talent: Innate Sorcery (Grade B)]

Daniel stared at the screen. A-Grade. B-Grade. He wasn’t a C-Grade support. He was a high-tier caster.

"Innate Sorcery," Bran explained, walking around the bound Daniel.

"It gives me access to a lot of spells. Binding spells. Attack spells. Illusion spells. I don’t need skill books. I just need mana."

He stopped in front of Daniel. He looked into Daniel’s eyes. "And ’Master of Deception’ allows me to hide it all. It allows me to lie to your face, Daniel. It allows me to fake my stats. It allows me to fake my fear."

Bran laughed again. "You fell for it. You fell for every single tear. ’Oh, Daniel, save me! I’m so scared!’"

Bran mocked his own earlier performance. "It was pathetic. But you ate it up because you wanted to be the big, strong hero."

Daniel gritted his teeth. He pulled against the chains again.

The light burned his skin.

"You won’t get away with this," Daniel spat.

"I already have," Bran replied. "You are tied up. You are helpless. And I have all night."

Bran turned back to his supplies. He picked up the vial of poison and the dagger. He walked back to Daniel.

"This is going to hurt," Bran said casually. "The binding process requires a lot of pain. The soul clings to the body, you see. Pain loosens the grip."

He raised the dagger. He wasn’t aiming for a vein this time. He was aiming for Daniel’s shoulder. He wanted to carve a symbol into the muscle.

Daniel looked at the knife. He looked at the boy he had called brother.

"Bran," Daniel said, his voice low. "If you do this... there is no going back."

"I don’t want to go back," Bran sneered. "I want to go forward. I want to go to the top." He stepped into the circle. The chains hummed, holding Daniel in place and spreading his arms wide.

"Start the incantation," Bran muttered to himself. He began to chant. The words were old and dark.

The atmosphere changed. The temperature dropped. Daniel struggled, his muscles straining against the magic.