Damned Desire

Chapter 2: Encounter

The humanoid figure began charging at them, the dark liquid surrounding it splashed around with each booming footstep.

"S-Shiiiit!! Guys, do something!" Mysta cried out as he ran behind everyone.

"Go Luca, use Luca Punch!" Vox commanded Luca.

"Pogu Pogu!" Luca responded like a Pokémon before charging towards the creature.

His body exploded forward in a flash. Cracks formed on the ground with each step as he closed the gap. Luca arrived in front of the creature before anyone realized it, and he pulled his arm back as much as he could. Then, his clenched fist shot towards the creature like a bullet from a gun.

"Boom!" Luca shouted as his punch landed on the creature, creating a shockwave from the impact.

Ka-pow!

A giant hole formed on the creature's stomach from Luca's punch. Its body began convulsing as it wordlessly collapsed into a puddle of dark liquid. Their first encounter had ended in one hit.

Everyone stood in surprise at the outcome. Luca's figure that stood in front of what remained of the creature was akin to a certain super soldier from comic books.

"Holy shit..." Mysta muttered in disbelief.

"Good job Luca, you were just like Captain America!" Vox exclaimed proudly.

"But I'm not American!" Luca complained. "Anyway, your buffs were amazing! That scary thing was gone in just one hit, like Ka-pow! I was like a superhero!"

Luca reenacted the fight excitedly with sparkling eyes. Vox and Shu smugly coughed and smiled, showing how proud they were to receive Luca's praise.

"What the hell was that thing anyway? After Luca punched it, that thing just... melted away." Mysta dipped his finger into the dark liquid and rubbed it between his fingers. "Is this... ink?"

"It could be a medium for the curse. Perhaps there's a link between this and the source of the curse." Shu pondered over this new finding.

"Whatever it was, wouldn't whatever was responsible for creating it realize that we're here?" asked Vox.

"High-leveled curses like this could possess intellect and ego and spread their consciousness, so it's definitely possible," Shu answered. He opened his mouth to explain further, but he was interrupted by someone else.

"Oh, there you are," a voice resounded from beyond the hallway.

Everyone immediately perked up toward the end of the barely lit hallway. Footsteps echoed through the hallway until a figure passed through the veil of darkness.

The man with brown and blue-tipped hair was all too familiar for them. His olive eyes looked at them warmly, while the dark circles under his eyes were proof that he had been staying up late. It was the Ike Eveland that they had been looking for in the first place.

"Sorry, I was too engrossed in my new work. I must've worried you guys again..." Ike sheepishly spoke to them.

Vox sighed from Ike's sorry excuse, "You sure did. Well, as long as you're okay."

Luca lightly ran towards Ike in excitement, joy was evident in his voice. "Ikeeeee, I'm so glad you're alright!!!"

Mysta looked at the spectacle unfolding in front of him with a smirk on his face. Finding Ike in this mysterious situation took a weight off his chest. Now all they had to do was figure out a way to stop this ongoing curse.

'Something's off.'

A thought crossed Mysta's mind. It was a hunch, a conclusion hastily drawn by his mind from all the evidence that he had witnessed but couldn't properly understand just yet. He collected himself and began focusing deeply. He could feel everything around him slowing into a crawl as he delved deeper into his thoughts.