"I still have a debt... I have not paid it yet," Ice whispered feebly. Zis responded with a hysterical laugh that shook the very foundations of the room. "Then go on! Pay it now! Kill him!"
At that exact moment, the insect burrowed deep into Ice's skull, merging with his cells to begin its foul mission—systematically destroying sensory centers and neural pathways, killing his cells one by one. Ice let out a scream that tore through the silence, a cry born not just of pain, but of pure madness. "Aaahhh! No... it's you! I must kill you! You are the cause of all this misery!"
Zis mocked him coldly, "Kill me? Yes, I am right here... Hahaha!" With a brutal motion, Zis grabbed Ice's shock of white hair and ripped it out from the roots. "I don't like this color," he spat with contempt. "Whiteness is for the greats alone; it does not suit a thing like you." He leaned in closer, staring into the face of the broken child. "Oh, you have such beautiful blue eyes... Oops! It seems I've plucked out the two spheres that helped you see. But you won't need them where you're going."
Darkness consumed Ice's world, but his voice emerged, choked with blood. "Even... even if I die, I will take you with me. But unfortunately, when I face my end, I will find nothing before me but a piece of foul trash like you."
"Heh... I don't like your mouth. Silence is the language of the greats." Without a shred of mercy, Zis tore away Ice's lips amidst agonizing screams that would make even inanimate stone shudder. Suddenly, a turbulent blue aura erupted from Ice's body, stretching out like frail threads toward Zis's arms. Zis asked with bored indifference, "Kill me?" Ice answered with silent bleeding: "I cannot." Zis exhaled in frustration. "I've grown tired of you! When is the date of your death? I need to set an alarm to wake up when you finally perish, boy. You were supposed to kill so many."
"No... I am not a killer... My parents did not teach me this." Zis growled, "Your parents have long been dead! I've lost all hope in you. Even in your final moments, you weren't as useful as my own parents were." The blue aura flickered violently, taking the shape of spectral hands reaching for the lips and eyes discarded on the floor. Zis crushed those ethereal hands under his heavy boot. "Fool! This isn't even power," Zis shouted as he withdrew. "Even after I poured fuel on the fire, it wouldn't ignite. I've exhausted myself trying to wake you, but you are just weak... pathetic."
But as Ice drowned in an ocean of unbearable agony, Zis suddenly ripped the spectacles from his face. In that staggering instant, the truth was revealed: the blood, the gore, and the horrific mutilation were nothing but a digital, psychic illusion—a cruel simulation poured directly into his mind. Ice's head slumped onto his chest, his eyes fading with a look of profound sorrow and injustice, as if his soul no longer had the strength to carry the memory of such pain, even if it were a lie.
The scene began to shift. The blur and darkness gradually dissolved, and Ice whispered in the depths of his being, "Finally... rest from this torment. I shall return to my Creator..." Yet, death was not written for him this day. The suffocating atmosphere of torture vanished, replaced by the refreshing, psychologically soothing environment of Java—a sensory coolness that seemed to bandage his wounded spirit. Ice glanced down with a shattered gaze to witness a presence he never expected. It was not Zis, but a magnificent Dragon radiating an aura of divine majesty. The creature possessed flowing golden hair, eyes like molten suns, and pure white wings that suggested sanctity rather than malice. Though beautiful, he held a terror no less than Zis's—but it was the awe of the sacred, not the fear of a criminal.
This guardian dragon—bound by an ancient contract with Ice's mother—approached and gently lifted Ice's head to face him. The Dragon whispered with a voice thick with sorrow: "I apologize... for I was not able, neither Zis nor I..."
Time stood still in Ice's gaze as a single question echoed within his exhausted mind: "Who is this being? And how is he tied to Zis and my mother?