Cassim stared coldly at the group of boys and girls imprisoned below. Not a trace of his usual warmth remained on his face. Yet the children had not yet sensed the truth, still trusting him instinctively.
“Children——” Cassim suddenly called out in a voice thick with feigned grief,
“I have no other choice. That terrible curse has already taken root among us. To destroy it, this is the only way!”
“Teacher Cassim, are we all cursed?”
“Are we going to die......”
“Fear not—I will save you, I promise!”
“Now, stay here and be patient. Trust me, wait for me—and I will save every last one of you!”
“We trust you, Teacher Cassim!”
“Teacher, we believe in you......”
The children gradually calmed down.
Having achieved his goal, Cassim lingered no longer, turning and striding away.
At the same time, cold words—utterly unlike his earlier feigned sorrow—echoed down the dark corridor:
“Begin Phase Three of the experiment.”
“Yes......”
Several voices replied from the shadows.
None of the children trapped underground had any inkling of this......
Grisa lost track of how long he had spent in the lightless underground.
The endless days here dredged up painful memories he had long buried.
Just as his consciousness grew fuzzy, as if he could no longer perceive the passage of time—
“Meow~!”
A familiar cry cut through the darkness.
His daze lifted, and Grisa looked up into the blackness.
“Sphinger...... is that you?”
“Meow!”
A pool of pitch-black liquid seemed to stir at his feet.
Then a black cat leaped out of the darkness.
“Sphinger, you really are a shadow cat!”
“Meow~!”
The cat nodded, rubbing against his leg, then looked up and gestured toward the top of the cell.
“Up there?”
Grisa lifted his head, only to see the sealed exit far above.
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He looked down at Sphinger, confused:
“Do you want to get me out?”
“Meow~!”
The cat puffed out its chest, as if saying “Leave it to me,” then crouched low.
Whoosh——!
A blur of black flashed before Grisa’s eyes, and Sphinger vanished.
He jerked his head up.
Sphinger was bounding up the smooth walls, using them as footholds, and in a few leaps, reached the exit above.
Clang! Clang......
The sound of metal clashing rang out.
The iron bars sealing the exit shattered and rained down.
Clatter~!
The metal hit the stone floor with a sharp ring.
“Sphinger, you’re amazing!”
Grisa exclaimed—but his joy quickly faded.
“But I can’t climb up there......”
“Meow~!”
Sphinger’s voice came from above, and then a rope-like black tail snaked down, coiling around Grisa’s waist.
“Huh, what’s this?”
Before Grisa could react, a powerful pull lifted him upward.
In the next moment, he was hauled out of the underground cell.
Back on the surface,
Grisa stared around, still dizzy with disbelief.
“I’m out?”
He hugged Sphinger tightly, overjoyed:
“Thank you so much, Sphinger~!”
“Meow~!”
Sphinger purred contentedly, enjoying the embrace.
After a moment, Grisa let go:
“Sphinger, there are so many friends locked in other cells. Can you rescue them too?”
“Meow!”
Sphinger nodded, then darted toward the nearest cell.
“That won’t do~!”
A voice suddenly echoed from the darkness.
“Meow——!”
Sphinger’s fur stood on end, and it stared warily at a shadowy corner.
Whoosh——!
In an instant, a figure materialized before it,
grabbing it by the neck and lifting it into the air.
“Little Grisa, you’ve been a bad boy—still hiding this little pest.”
“Teacher Cassim......?”
Grisa stared blankly at the familiar figure, who now seemed utterly alien......
“Bad children,”
Cassim’s grip tightened,
“must be punished.”
“Meow!”
Sphinger thrashed in agony.
“Teacher Cassim!”
Sphinger’s pain jolted Grisa into action.
He cried out in panic:
“I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! Please let it go!”
But a cold gaze fixed on him.
“Your fault?”
“......”
Grisa stared numbly into those eyes, finally confirming what he had feared: this was not the gentle teacher he knew......
Thud!
His small body crashed into the cold stone floor.
“It hurts!”
Clang!
The only exit above was sealed once more.
Grisa scrambled to his feet, staring upward:
“Teacher Cassim!”
Cassim did not respond.
He only stood above, looking down coldly, still holding the helpless Sphinger.
Then he brought the weakened cat close to his face:
“If you love causing trouble so much, then I’ll let you destroy to your heart’s content from now on.”
With that, he turned and left, carrying Sphinger away.
Grisa panicked completely:
“Teacher Cassim, I’m sorry! I was wrong! It’s all my fault! Please let Sphinger go! Let him go!”
His desperate cries went unanswered.
“Guard this place closely. If anyone else escapes, you’ll join them down there.”
“Y-Yes......”
The cold command echoed, and Grisa collapsed to the ground, nearly in despair.
“Sphinger......”
...
In a vast, dark underground chamber,
agonized screams rang out endlessly:
“Aaah! It hurts! Why? Why!!!?”
A boy, his body contorting horribly, let out a final desperate cry:
“Teacher Cassim——”
“Why are you doing this to us!!!?”
He was not alone—dozens of others suffered the same fate,
their bodies mutating in grotesque ways.
Many already lay motionless, twisted into unrecognizable abominations on the floor.
To see them now, no one would have believed they had been human only moments before.
“Hahaha, my dear children—suffer! Wail!”
Cassim stood on a platform high above the chamber, his face ecstatic:
“Your pain will be the stepping stone to our ascension——!!!”
“Teacher Cassim......”
“Why?”
“Were you lying to us this whole time......”
“Lying~?”
Cassim looked down at the struggling figures below,
a vile grin spreading across his face:
“That’s right! I’ve been lying to you all along!”
“Teacher? Hahaha! You’re all so adorably naive! You’re nothing but carefully selected and crafted test subjects!”
“Test subjects......?”
“Precisely~! First, we let you endure endless suffering until your wills broke. Then we gave you warmth, let you taste hope again—and then——”
“At the moment when you cherished life the most!”
“We struck you down with the deepest despair!”
“Only such beings can birth the perfect Demonic Transformation Potion——!!!”
...
