"Let her go right now!"Caleb Thorne kicked down the teak wood door of his mother's room until it shattered to pieces. The thick door flew and hit the wall with an ear-splitting explosive sound. Caleb's breathing sounded very wet and damaged. Pitch-black blood dripped from behind his eyepatch, falling to stain his dirty white shirt.On the large bed, Martha Thorne was floundering violently. The shadow hands of small children were strangling the old woman's neck mercilessly. Martha's face had already turned a pale blue, her eyes bulging searching for oxygen that wouldn't come."Get back inside my shadow right now!" roared Caleb full of anger.He stomped his foot on the wooden floor. The Shadow Emperor opened his Domain of the Dead to its maximum. A vortex of astral gravity exploded from beneath the soles of his shoes, trying to forcibly suck all those evil spirits back into the prison of darkness.However, the magic vortex stopped abruptly

"Uhhk. Ca, leb. Help."The desperate moan escaped Martha Thorne's increasingly blue lips. The old woman's body arched stiffly on the bed. Subject Zero's shadow claws pierced through her chest, gripping her astral heart mercilessly. Martha's breathing sounded rattling, as if the air refused to enter her lungs.Caleb Thorne no longer cared about the four experimental ghosts holding his arms from behind. Using all his remaining pure physical strength, the Shadow Emperor struggled brutally. The muscles in his back and arms swelled until his white shirt tore apart. He broke free from the ghosts' icy grip and lunged forward to the side of the bed.The man feared by the entire European underworld threw away all forms of his arrogance. His legs lost their strength. Caleb fell to his knees on the wooden floor with a loud thud."Take your dirty hands off my mother right now!" roared Caleb, his voice cracking with a panic he could no longer hide.Caleb reached both his hands forward. He tried to

"A very brave offer, Butcher's Son. We accept this offering with absolute hunger."Subject Zero's voice echoed simultaneously from dozens of unseen mouths across all corners of the room. The skinless ghost pulled its shadow claws roughly out of Martha Thorne's chest. The old woman immediately coughed violently. She grabbed for air greedily, her eyes rolling upwards, then fell unconscious onto her pillow.Before Caleb had the chance to breathe a sigh of relief, the astral claw that had just been released shot straight forward like an arrow. The shadow hand pierced Caleb's chest without the slightest physical hindrance."Aaarrrghhh!"Caleb's scream broke uncontrollably in the real world. His large body instantly convulsed violently. He was thrown backward, hitting the wooden floor of the room very hard. Pitch-black blood spurted heavily from his blind left eye, followed by thick streams forcibly expelled from his nose and both ears."Caleb!

"Permanent coma? What do you mean Mother will never wake up again, Doctor?"The trembling voice shattered the silence of the room that smelled of antiseptic and thick blood. In the doorway of the shattered teak wood door, Lisa Thorne stood frozen. The young girl had apparently ignored the strict order to remain hidden inside the underground bunker. She had secretly followed Dr. Hans through the cold castle hallway.Hans swallowed hard. He turned to the girl with a deathly pale face, the small medical penlight still gripped in his shaking hand."Miss Lisa. I asked you very clearly to stay downstairs with the security system," said Hans nervously."Answer my question, Hans!" shrieked Lisa. Tears instantly flooded her face, which was dirty from the rubble dust. "Mother just got her sight back to see me again. She hugged me a few hours ago very tightly. Don't you dare spout nonsense about a coma to me tonight!""Her brain nerves are severely

"Caleb... are you alright?"Isabella Vane's voice trembled violently, breaking the silence in the highest tower of the Black Castle. The underworld queen took another step back. Her high heels scraped against the ice-cold stone floor. Her beautiful face went deathly pale upon seeing the drastic change in the man she loved so deeply.Caleb Thorne stood frozen near the giant window. His black suit covered his towering posture, looking like an ancient statue of the god of death. His one brown eye stared straight at Isabella. The gaze truly pierced right through Isabella's corneas, but there was no warmth left in it. Caleb's gaze was empty, mechanical, and incredibly foreign."Biologically, my body is in a fairly optimal condition, Bella," answered Caleb with a very flat baritone voice. "The remaining sulfur vapor poison has cleared from my nervous system. My breathing is stable even though my right lung is completely dead.""That is not what I meant,