THE ENTROPY SPECIMEN
POV: Wynter Ash
Time: Day 7 Post-Fall (10:15 AM)
Location: Main Deck — The Gilded Wreck (Vargo's Territory)
There was no negotiation. No exchange of clever words.
When Vargo stepped forward, he merely gave his hand a casual flick.
SLAP. The motion was too fast for human eyes to follow.
I only felt a gust of violent wind, then my body was flung backward, crashing into the main mast with a sickening crack from my ribs.
Solstice screamed, trying to rise with her remaining strength, but Vargo only glanced her way.
The rainwater around Solstice solidified into shackles of ice, nailing her hands and feet to the deck floor, forcing her to kneel helplessly.
"Quiet, Furnace," Vargo said flatly. He wasn't interested in Solstice's fire. To him, that flame was just a small candle in the midst of his storm.
His attention was entirely on me.
He walked closer, his steel boots clanging on the wet wooden deck. Each step made the ship groan, as if the hull of The Gilded Wreck was afraid of him.
I coughed, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth. I tried to crawl backward, but my back was already against the mast.
Vargo loomed over me. He stared at me like a scientist observing a strange insect under a microscope.
He bent down, then his massive hand, encased in black armored gauntlets, seized my throat. He lifted me with one hand, my feet dangling in the air, choking.
"You…" he whispered, bringing his helmet-shadowed face close to mine. "You are strange. Very strange."
He tightened his grip, scanning my body with his magic sensors.
"How can a creature with an empty tank destroy The Iron Maw? The Core in your chest… it's bone dry. Dormant. There's not a single drop of energy there."
Then, he did something I didn't expect.
He used his teeth to pull off his right gauntlet, letting it drop to the floor. He pressed the bare skin of his finger directly against the pulse in my neck, right over my passive Mana Circuit.
Skin met skin.
Instantly, Vargo's eyes widened.
Not from the cold. A Tier 5 Water Controller fears no cold.
He was shocked by his own hunger.
My body, in a state of extreme Mana Exhaustion—an absolute void demanding to be filled—reacted instantly to physical contact with a massive mana source like Vargo.
A law of nature took effect: energy flows from high pressure to low pressure. And I was the lowest pressure in the world at that moment.
I sucked it in.
My passive circuit greedily snatched at his body heat and the mana residue on his skin's surface. Like a parched man in the desert, my cells drank his aura without permission.
"Ah…" Vargo hissed. He didn't let go. Instead, he smiled. A wide, insane, ecstatic smile.
"You're not just empty," he whispered, his tone shifting from anger to fascination. "You are a Vacuum."
He pressed his finger deeper, letting me siphon a little more of his energy. The sensation must have been bizarre for him—a Warlord always overflowing with power, suddenly feeling 'drained' by a tiny parasite.
"I create storms. I condense reality," he said, his eyes gleaming. "But you… you swallow it. This empty state of yours isn't a weakness, Little Rat. It is a starving Entropy."
Vargo chuckled softly. A laugh that vibrated in my ribcage.
"I've been seeking that Dreadnought Core to surpass creation's limits. But it turns out… I've found a far more entertaining specimen on this scrap heap of a ship."
Vargo released his grip.
I fell with a thud to the floor, gasping for air, clutching my bruised throat. A sliver of warmth from the stolen mana spread in my chest, but it was far from enough to recharge my Core.
Captain Sable, who had been hiding behind the helm until now, dared to speak up in a trembling voice.
"M-Master Vargo… we have the Core! In the tin chest! Just take it! And let us—"
Vargo turned slowly toward Sable.
"Silence."
He snapped his fingers.
A needle of water shot out, piercing Sable's mechanical shoulder, pinning the captain to the cabin wall. Sable shrieked in pain.
Vargo looked back at me. He crouched before me, ignoring the rest of the crew.
"Your name," he demanded.
"Wynter…" I rasped. "Wynter Ash."
"Wynter," he savored the name like fine wine. "A fitting name. The season of death and hunger."
He stood, stretching his arms toward the open sea, his cloak billowing in the wind of his own manufactured storm.
"Listen well, you Rats!" his voice boomed across the ship. "As of this moment, this ship is under the protection of The Iron Hounds!"
The crew of The Gilded Wreck looked at each other in confusion. We weren't being killed?
"But not out of mercy!" Vargo continued. He pointed a straight index finger directly at me.
"It's because you carry my new plaything."
He wasn't pointing at the Core chest. He was pointing at me.
"This child," Vargo said with a grin, baring his sharp white teeth. "Is a fascinating anomaly. A walking black hole that dared to bite a Tier 5's hand."
He walked over to Solstice, who was still bound in ice. He roughly grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up.
"And you, Furnace. You're the one who usually recharges him, aren't you? You're his radiator?"
Solstice spat on Vargo's armor. "Touch him again, and I'll blow myself up in your face."
Vargo didn't get angry. He laughed happily instead.
"Good spirit. You'll be useful. Keep my new specimen alive, Fire Girl. Because if he dies of cold before I'm done playing with him… I will freeze the blood in your veins inch by inch."
Vargo took over the ship's bridge.
He didn't need Sable's worn wooden chair. He waved a hand, and the surrounding rainwater solidified, forming an intricate, terrifying throne of black ice crystal right in the center of the main deck.
He sat there, legs crossed, gazing at the vast ocean with the arrogance of a god.
His black armor glistened wetly. His aura of dominance made the air feel heavy, pressing on the chest of everyone on board.
I was still sitting on the floor, catching my breath. Solstice crawled closer to me after her ice shackles melted.
"He's insane," Solstice whispered in horror, wiping blood from her lip. "He's looking at you like… like Sable looks at gold coins. But worse."
"More dangerous," I corrected softly, massaging my sore neck. "Sable is just greedy. Vargo… he's bored. He sees me as a crossword puzzle to be solved."
Vargo turned from his throne.
"Wynter. Come here."
It wasn't a request. It was an order to a newly adopted pet.
I forced my legs to stand. Solstice tried to hold me back, but I gently pushed her hand away. "Don't. You'll die if you move."
I staggered up the deck stairs, approaching the ice throne. I stood beside Warlord Vargo.
"You destroyed my ship with physics," Vargo said without turning, his eyes on the horizon. "That was a clever trick. I'm sick of mages who just throw fireballs at each other. They're boring."
He turned to me, his dark eyes shining with pure madness.
"Entertain me, Wynter. Show me how nothingness can defeat existence. Be my tactician. Be my hunting dog."
He pulled a gold coin from his pocket, then pinched it between two fingers until it flattened like paper, demonstrating just how easily he could do the same to my skull.
"Take me to Sector 9. Use that little brain of yours to make this journey interesting," he said. "As long as you hold my interest… you and your fire friend may breathe. But the moment you become boring…"
He tossed the flattened coin into the sea.
"…I'll let the laws of nature take over again."
I stared at him. Fear was still there, of course. But behind that fear, my Auditor's brain was starting to work again.
He didn't kill me. He gave me a position at his side.
He thinks I'm a toy. A pet.
Fine.
I'll be your pet, Vargo.
Until I find a way to bite your throat out.
"As you wish… Master," I replied flatly.
Vargo laughed in satisfaction, the sound of his laughter mixing with the thunder in the sky.
"Good. Now, set sail, Little Captain. My hounds are hungry for war."