Chapter 146: Endgame (13)
The crimson glow in Riku’s eyes intensified. Slowly, mechanically, he rose to his feet, his movements stiff and unnatural, like a puppet on strings. He took one step, then another, moving towards the triumphant hooded man.
"Riku! Don’t listen to him! Fight it!" Clara’s desperate voice shrieked in his mind, but it sounded distant, like a voice from across a vast chasm.
"Young man, can you hear me?! Resist him!" Arnold yelled, pounding uselessly on the inside of his protective bubble. He watched in horror, his heart sinking into a pit of despair.
The hooded man let out another soft, satisfied chuckle. "It is useless. The Heart must obey the Brain. That is the natural order of things."
Riku came to a stop, standing directly in front of his new "master."
"Now," the hooded man commanded, his voice dripping with authority, "bow to me. Swear your allegiance, and together, we shall claim our rightful place as gods."
Arnold fell to his knees inside the bubble, his face a mask of utter defeat.
For a long moment, Riku did nothing. He just stood there, his body rigid, his eyes glowing with that same, unsettling crimson light.
The hooded man’s satisfaction began to fray, replaced by a flicker of annoyance. "I gave you a command, vessel. Did you not hear me? Bow!" His voice was much more stringent this time, laced with an impatient fury.