DBOFS 14

Chapter 14

“This feels a bit unfamiliar. Why are you acting like this? It doesn’t suit you.”

Even in the middle of all this chaos, I was at least aware of the objective truth: Harris didn’t particularly like me, regardless of my overflowing enthusiasm for him.

‘He probably thinks I’m just a bothersome, crazy slave #1 or something.’

I was briefly puzzled, but soon understood.

‘This must be camaraderie! The friendship forged through battle!’

Of course, Harris was basically a one-man army, but I helped too, right? I shot a gun! I was terrified, but I’m glad I did it. I was feeling proud, rifle in hand, when—

“JAY—DE—!!”

A shout loud enough to pierce through the noise of battle slammed into the back of my head.

My heart jolted like I’d just been caught by Mom doing something bad, and cold sweat poured down my back. My head turned around against my will.

“Are you insane?!”

A beautiful face shouting at the top of his lungs.

“Do you have a death wish?!”

It was, of course, Adrian. Seeing how furiously angry he was, it finally hit me.

“Do you even know where we are?!”

Yep. This guy is my real brother.

That level of anger—only a real sibling can express that. A fake family could never pull off that kind of lion’s roar.

“Ah, ha, haha, well, that’s…”

I tried to smooth things over with an awkward smile.

“You’re laughing? You think this is funny?!”

“No, it’s not that…!”

Total backfire.

My rage-fueled older brother was scarier than any falling fireball. I tried desperately to avoid Adrian’s gaze—until I suddenly froze.

‘Did I just make eye contact?’

High above, the wizard throwing blazing spells at Harris…

Considering the distance between us, it could’ve been my imagination. But it really felt like we briefly locked eyes.

And then—

“Why?!”

Even from far away, I could see his face twist in shock and disbelief.

‘Whoa, Jade’s eyesight is insane. Like a Mongolian eagle… Wait, NO!’

D-Did he just speak to me?

Did that incredibly suspicious and dangerous-looking wizard just recognize me?

BOOM! CRACK!

The next sounds were drowned out by the ongoing battle, which only made it more terrifying.

‘GAAAH! Jade, who the heck are you?!’

Where is all this ominous foreshadowing coming from? Tell me the source!

But there was no time to be shocked further. The wizard, who had been fighting Harris, suddenly fired a magical beam—at me!

“WAAAH!”

I ducked just in time, and the aftermath of the blast made the nearby wall collapse with a crashing sound.

“Jade, run!!”

By the time I came to my senses, I was being dragged away by Adrian.

“Huff, pant, huff…!”

I could barely breathe from the chaos and exhaustion. Even as we ran desperately, beams kept flying past us—BOOM! WHOOSH! CLANG!

“ACK!”

I almost tripped and screamed out in frustration.

“You psycho! Stop shooting! Why are you even—?!”

Right as I cursed, my foot caught on something and I fell. I looked up to see what I had tripped over.

“….”

It was a piece of the chandelier I had knocked down earlier.

Now that I think about it… yeah, he totally had a reason to be pissed. Haha.

Looking again, the wizard’s blood-stained face was… not normal at all.

‘C-crap…’

I had to get up and run.

But the wizard was faster. The moment I saw the flash of magic approaching—

“–Jade!”

Someone shoved me hard.

I blinked through the blinding light, and when I finally realized what had happened—

“Adrian!”

“…I told you to call me ‘Brother’!”

Even when yelling, it was unmistakably our main character, the prickly and temperamental Adrian.

The problem was—he was now being lifted into the air by a magical beam.

“Are you seriously ignoring your big brother until the very end?! Snap out of it!”

Even while being kidnapped, he remained a textbook overbearing big brother. That’s our real protagonist… No, wait!!

“No!”

I shot to my feet.

Damn it, the wizard wasn’t aiming for me after all!

‘Right—Adrian was originally captured by the Mage Tower as an experiment!’

He had barely escaped once, only to get caught again and thrown in front of Harris’s prison.

That’s where Demonic Contract begins.

In other words, Adrian being an experimental subject of the Mage Tower was canon from the start.

I watched, helpless, as the now unfortunate and tragic Adrian grew smaller in my view.

“No, stop!”

I instinctively lifted the rifle I was still holding and fired. But…

“…?”

Click—

Only the sound of an empty chamber.

‘Damn it, I’m out of ammo!’

I frantically looked around for extra bullets, but the ground was a mess of debris and corpses.

“Please, please, please…”

I crawled across the floor, scanning desperately.

But with the battle raging, it was nearly impossible to find a weapon that wasn’t already shattered or covered in… unspeakable things.

“Found it!”

The best I could find was a double-barrel shotgun—with one shell left.

‘I can’t let Adrian be taken like this.’

But he was already floating farther and farther away, caught in that magical beam.

“Please… just stay still…”

I got into position and took aim—but the wizard kept moving, still fighting Harris.

‘Dammit, hold still! Adrian’s going to get hurt!’

If my protagonist got hit by falling debris, who would take responsibility for that?!

My heart felt like it would burst.

At first, I thought being possessed as some background character about to die in Harris’s rampage was bad. But honestly? That was nothing compared to this.

Now the servants were turning into monsters, a wizard had appeared out of nowhere, and Adrian was being kidnapped…

KA-BOOM!!

As if that wasn’t enough, the castle was literally collapsing from the wizard and Harris’s fight.

“There’s no possession story more extreme than this!”

I wanted to cry. My brain couldn’t handle any more of this.

‘Most possession novels start with slapping some mean noble maid around and working your way up!’

Why was I thrown into a final boss battle on the final ground map from the start?! I belong in romance fantasy, dammit!

‘All I did was pick the wrong character to simp for!’

I was overwhelmed.

Terrified.

So anxious and confused I felt like I might throw up.

But I had to calm down. So the gun wouldn’t shake.

I had to swallow my tears. So my vision wouldn’t blur.

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes wide. I had to wait. Stay calm.

I’d only have one shot.

BOOM!!

At that moment, Harris’s dark wave-like power slammed down on the wizard.

“…!”

The wizard dodged quickly, but Harris hadn’t finished.

KR-KR-KRAAASH—!!

The ceiling above the wizard couldn’t escape the wave’s aftermath.

Already half-destroyed, the castle took another critical hit.

As the ceiling crumbled, the wizard seemed to hesitate, as if preparing a shielding spell.

‘Now!’

I pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The recoil shook my body. My ears rang from the thunderous blast.

But I kept my eyes fixed on the bullet, flying through the debris and dust.

And then—

“GRAAAGH!!”

A direct hit.

The wizard screamed and doubled over in pain.

And the magical beam holding Adrian disappeared.

“Yes!”

Now all that was left—was the fall.

I tossed aside the empty shotgun and ran toward the falling Adrian.

“Adrian—!”

Oh, right, he said to call him Brother.

I remembered that only after I spread my arms to catch him.

This way… he’s falling this way…

“…Right?!”

Why… why is he getting smaller?

Shouldn’t things appear bigger as they get closer?

At the edge of my wavering vision was Adrian.

Or rather—what had been Adrian.

The silhouette shrank, and shrank again—until it was the size of a tiny kitten.

“Why?!”

Even as I screamed, my body faithfully caught the tiny kitten-like figure.

But by the time it reached my hands—it had turned into a pebble, smaller than my palm.

“….”

My soul briefly left my body.

No—seriously, what is this? Why did a human turn into a kitten, no—a rock?

Is this even possible?

“…Ah.”

Unfortunately, in a world where people can turn into monsters—it was very possible.

Elysious.

My panicking brain reached a quick conclusion.

The most powerful villain in this novel—the Tower Master, Elysious. This was his magic.

He considered all living beings as subjects of his research, and had no regard for their consent.

After facing repeated resistance and rebellion, the genius psychopath wizard developed a spell that shattered the very will and ego of his victims.

A spell that reduced his “possessions” into beings less than human.

“Holy sh*t…”

At this point, I truly understood what it meant for your mind to reach its limit.

My beloved protagonist was now a pretty pebble. What was I supposed to do now?

Thud— My legs gave out, and I collapsed on the floor.

I couldn’t even think anymore.

‘I’m gonna die. I’m so tired.’

Maybe that’s why I didn’t notice the castle debris falling toward me.

THUMP!!

The ground shook, and someone grabbed my arm.

Through my blurred vision, I saw red eyes.

“–Are you out of your mind?!”

Eyes red like cornelian berries. A face full of anger.

“Harris-nim…”

Strangely, I felt like I’d heard that line a lot. Maybe I really had gone mad.

I let out a foolish smile.

“…See? I told you. It worked, didn’t it?”

“What?”

“The escape. It worked, right…?”

I’m not a liar.

That was my last whisper before darkness swallowed me whole.

And finally—I blacked out.

“Jade—!!”