The pigs finished eating and began to nod and snort, their bloated faces jiggling obscenely as their hands—or feet—slammed against the table.
The impact made everything on top of it rattle and shake, plates clinking together as if in applause.
Lucas turned his gaze toward Adelyn. The woman had collapsed onto the floor, scrambling backward on her hands and feet like a cornered animal.
She didn't know what he intended to do next, but she understood one thing clearly. The dessert was hers.
"STOP THIS MADNESS, LUCAS!" she screamed, dragging herself farther away. "IT'S ALL YOUR MOTHER'S FAULT! BLAME HER!"
Lucas walked toward her slowly, his expression flat and emotionless, though his chest felt light, almost joyful.
Seeing the woman he hated most reduced to this state filled him with a deep, vicious satisfaction.
"IF ONLY!" Adelyn shrieked, her voice cracking. "IF ONLY SHE HADN'T TAKEN MY HUSBAND! IF ONLY SHE WASN'T A WHO—"
Her words died instantly as Lucas grabbed her jaw, forcing her mouth shut with brutal strength. She gagged, eyes widening in panic.
"It takes two to tango," he said quietly. "You should blame your husband too. But Adelyn, none of this is my fault, is it?"
His fingers tightened. "Even after knowing the truth, you tormented me day and night. More than ten years of my life. Never stopping."
Adelyn stared at him in confusion, her breath coming in shallow gasps. In her mind, she had only taken him in when he was eight. It had only been four years.
"You deserve everything that's coming to you."
He released her jaw and stepped back, then raised his hand sharply.
"Take her," he ordered. "Cut her up and plate her for our guests."
The sound of rats erupted throughout the house. They poured in from the kitchen, crawled out of the ventilation shafts, and spilled down the stairs in a writhing mass.
Their bodies fused together, forming enormous hands that seized Adelyn and lifted her screaming body into the air on top of the pigs.
"NO! LET ME GO! LUCAS!" she screamed, her voice breaking into raw terror.
Her cries turned primal as the massive hands twisted her body like wet cloth. Blood sprayed across the table and splashed onto the guests, who rose eagerly, mouths wide as they drank it down with delighted grunts.
"AAAHH! IT HURTS!" she shrieked, her voice tearing apart as the room filled with the sound of feeding.
After that, the massive hands continued their work. They tore Adelyn apart methodically, mutilating her body and placing each severed piece neatly onto plates as the pigs devoured them without restraint.
The last part was her head, set carefully in the center of the dismembered remains, arranged like a grotesque piece of art.
Lucas grinned as warm blood splattered across his face. He wiped it away with the back of his hand and burst into laughter, loud and unhinged, the sound echoing through the room.
He loved this power. He loved the overwhelming satisfaction of finally avenging his parents, of crushing the people he hated most beneath his feet.
His hands were stained red, but he didn't care. In this world, he had always been alone, always ignored, always left to suffer. Now he was the only one who truly understood himself.
So why should he follow society's rules at all?
The pigs suddenly stopped eating. They lifted their heads at the same time and spoke in unison.
"Lucas Ford, we are satisfied with what you have done. This is the finest feast we have had in a long time."
Their voices were Mechanical like AI. Neither male nor female. The sound alone made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
Their bodies began to flicker, turning static-like, as if they were old televisions losing signal. The world around Lucas warped and melted, walls bending inward as reality itself began to collapse.
"We know you are not the Lucas who was meant to stand here as our sacrifice," they continued. "But we will meet again. And when that time comes, we will walk the path you choose."
Lucas opened his mouth to speak, but the ground vanished beneath him. Everything shattered, leaving him suspended in absolute darkness.
He couldn't see anything.
Then a blinding spotlight shone down from above. Lucas grimaced and raised his arm to shield his eyes, his vision burning from the sudden brightness.
"What… happened?" he muttered.
A woman's voice echoed through the void.
[Lucas Ford.]
[Thank you for your wrath and destructive desire for revenge. It tastes exquisite.]
[Are you satisfied with your revenge?]
Lucas startled and spun around, but there was nothing there. No presence he could see. He swallowed and assumed the voice belonged to Asmodei.
"No," he said, clenching his fists. "I suffered for more than ten years. My parents' deaths haunt my dreams. Their faces never leave my mind."
His voice rose, shaking with fury. "What I did isn't even half of the pain they caused me. I want more. I want more power to make them suffer."
The voice laughed, deep and pleased.
[Even your greed tastes delicious.]
[Very well. Everything you experienced will be sealed away, reduced to nothing more than a nightmare.]
[And as a gift to my new, faithful follower, I will grant you this.]
Something fell slowly from the light above. A book, ancient and heavy, marked with the symbol of Asmodei. Three chimera heads intertwined, representing her deception and wrath.
Lucas caught it without hesitation.
[That is the Grimoire of Wrath.]
[Power always comes with a price. Follow everything written within it, and you will obtain the strength you desire.]
Lucas ran his fingers across the cover, feeling its strange texture.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
[Do not thank me. This power will demand a price you must bear for the rest of your life. Fail, and your soul will burn forever.]
Lucas opened his mouth to respond but with a blink of his eyes, he was back in Layla's room.
His eyes widened as reality snapped back into place, especially when he saw the scene in front of him.
"What the hell…"