Meyer noticed that the Cutter was looking at the woman he once loved with increasing intensity. It was as if something was on the Cutter's mind; he scanned his machine once more with his eyes. Emma stood trembling before him with her frail body. There was something about this trembling that disturbed Meyer. Perhaps it was the past, perhaps something else.
He reviewed the text on the card. "Kneel if you want to continue the game." This sentence kept echoing in his mind. The tigress standing before him with her hands clasped didn't seem like she would allow it. Meyer didn't know what to think about Emma, a small piece of the past. There was a moment that involuntarily materialized in his head: Magnus was on top of Emma, and Emma looked strangely peaceful beneath him. As if she had stolen the hope she gave to Meyer and handed it to Magnus. After this scene, the words "to save you" that Emma had said to him seemed very ironic in Meyer's eyes.
The Cutter slowly started the engine of the piercing tool and raised it into the air. The gears at the tip of the tool were spinning. Meyer didn't even consider kneeling before him. "I refuse!" he shouted. "Obedience is not in my nature!"
Upon these words, the Cutter spoke with an indifference that settled upon his sharp chest: "Did I hear correctly? This non-human creature, whom I will incinerate instantly, is telling me he won't kneel?" Emma had moved out of the Cutter's field of vision. She was also far from his attention.
Meyer's eyes flickered savagely. "No matter what, I will not kneel to you!" Meyer said. Emma's lips trembled. This oscillation took her back to a memory from her past. The memory of her brother turning into a demon.
He had been severely injured when he was two years old. Emma's father had gone to distant places and brought back a medicine. This medicine had saved her poor brother, but exactly fifteen years later. They had already buried him in a grave. The family believed a piece of shrapnel had snatched him away at a young age. Until one day the lid of the grave opened, and Emma's brother killed a group of 100 men, women, and children in the town.
Tears fell from between Emma's tightly shut eyes. Had Meyer turned into a demon? What was this thing circulating in Meyer's blood?
"Will you obey, or is your answer no?" the Cutter asked with a voice resembling thunder. In response to these threatening words, Meyer lifted his head and grinned again. This was a teaching smile. It surpassed himself and even the brightness of the stars in the sky. It would leave behind even the heat spread by the sun like a warm pancake.
"No!" he said, and taking off the chain around his neck, he threw it into the air. The Cutter watched the chain soaring in the air. The ID badge fell right at the toe of his massive, metal-plated boots.
The Cutter started the engine of the tool again and lunged forward. "AAAA!"
Meyer lunged with a power as if he had been waiting for this moment; his hands had been stained with blood while holding the knives earlier. He aimed for the base of the Cutter's left arm. The thought of this organ hitting the ground instantly, while the engine continued to spin on its own, made his heart wander in dreams.
"Let me go or watch your left arm wave goodbye to you!" he said with a smile; however, nothing had happened to the Cutter's left arm. Meyer realized that the bonds of the Cutter's arms were strong, consisting of atoms linked with superglue.
It was time for the second move. The base of the right arm. His feet leaped into the air, and a moment later he saw the Cutter rising as well, pushing the drill toward his chest. He didn't care. In mid-air, he grabbed his feet and, flipping himself, launched into the air. The Cutter caught his hand and slammed him face-down onto the ground.
Meyer felt his jaw crack, nearly breaking, and smiled with pain. This pain almost satisfied him. "We'll play however you want," he said. He swore to learn the Cutter's intention. The best way to learn this was to take a bit of a beating from him. The Cutter, on the other hand, diligently avoided doing this, merely grinning fiercely as he ran the drill over him.
Meyer's eyes were shining under the sharp sound of the tool. A cold wave hit the soil as if it would freeze even the heart of the earth.
Meyer noticed lights flashing in his brain. There was seriously something like a code in his brain. This thing suddenly left him defenseless. Like a breathless, silent child. Or like a pathetic cat. He had to stop. That is, even though he attacked the Cutter again physically, a part of him had stopped. He heard something chirping in his brain.
"Initiate Demon Chip? It seems you need it."
This mechanical voice enveloped all his cells. Meyer knew the decision wasn't hard. "Initiate!" he shouted.
As soon as he shouted, his muscles swelled, his veins thickened, his skin darkened, and his height doubled. Almost to the height of the Cutter. Emma screamed, covering her mouth. "I shouldn't have done this!" she was saying helplessly. She looked at Magnus, who was just watching the duo's fight from where he stood frozen. "Do something!"
Magnus was literally frozen; his face wasn't moving. His gaze was locked on a single point. It had been a long time since he noticed the spider swarm had disappeared. Emma wondered why the spiders disappeared after swearing the oath of obedience. She nudged Magnus. "Wake up, Magnus! Wake up! He is a shadow of a demon now! We should never have done this! We should never have done this!"
Magnus was not affected by these words at all. Meyer felt everything around him swaying. Something stirred beneath the ground. These were the heartbeats of the earth he was hearing. Before long, hollows like molehills opened at the feet of the İtwo giants. Spiders began to emerge from them at an unexpected moment. Surprisingly, they were all advancing toward the Cutter with silver knives in their hands.
Emma could now comprehend what this oath of obedience meant. Meyer looked at the spiders. "Attack! I want his head!"
The Cutter threw a kick at the surrounding spiders with his giant leg. "You will never take my head!" the Cutter roared.
Meyer commanded, "As of this moment, I want more than your head!" The process of tossing cutting tools into the air, which is what spiders do best, had begun. The silver knives flying upwards were falling on the Cutter's head like piercing marbles. Even so, the hardness and sharpness were far from affecting his incredibly durable body. It was just playing with his nerves a little.
"Naughty," said the Cutter; "You won't be able to answer to Code 43."
"Code 43 is ashes now," said Meyer, and picking up one of the spiders from the ground, he threw it at the Cutter's face. One of the spider's legs pierced the Cutter's eye.
"AAA!"
"See," Meyer said and laughed. A voice echoed in his brain.
"Demon chip initiated. Connecting to Code 43."
When the Cutter fell into the hands of the spiders, Meyer said, "Code 43?" resting his index finger on his chin. "Who is Code 43?"
The other side's voice was heard like an earthquake interrupting his thoughts. "Hello, Cutter."
"Cutter?" Meyer said, "I thought the one across from me was the Cutter."
"Ah, call yourself whatever you want. You've come to break the system. Seeds of disobedience are boiling in your soul. I am Code 43; I congratulate you for not believing a demon who said he was tasked with kneeling before him. I am now sure you have the ability to recognize demons. Come to the tower, you know the place."
Meyer felt his mind clouding. His stomach turned. "Do I know it?" He was completely confused. "That place?"
When he looked across, the sounds of ice cracking were heard. The frozen ice covering Magnus's neck cracked. Magnus's neck snapped. Magnus roared, looking at the Cutter lying on the ground.
"You! What have you done? What happened here?"
Emma said, "Calm down." Meyer watched Emma trying to stop him. Magnus, freeing his arm from Emma, threw himself forward. "You filthy demon! You cannot control my spiders."
Meyer said, "Uh-huh!" and turned his right fist toward Magnus. Magnus froze while holding this fist.
Meyer said, "Huh?" "Damn, this happened just a moment ago too. Or...?"
His stomach turned with a heavy smell of ice and he vomited. "Can I turn people into ice or what?" He looked at his right hand. Could this be happening when he punched with his right hand? But if that were the case, he would have frozen the Cutter in one of his countless moves. Why did the man across from him keep freezing?
He looked at Emma's tears. When Emma cried... Emma wiped her tears and Magnus's ice shattered, scattering around. Meyer lost his balance under the impact of this violent explosion and was laid flat on the ground with his imposing body.
"What the hell is going on?"