BLOOD OF BORNEO

CHAPTER 5: FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE DEVIL

Damang observed the center of his village from behind the dense ironwood trees. The traditional square that once served as a place of joy had been transformed into a horrific industrial camp.

Dozens of prisoners were visible. The remaining villagers knelt with their hands bound. Around their necks were Neural-Link metal collars that pulsed with a red light. One wrong move, and their nerves would be incinerated.

"Damn it," Damang hissed. The tattoos on his back throbbed again, sending pain like thousands of hot needles stitching through his muscles.

Suddenly, a pitch-black helicopter bearing the golden logo of the Thorne Corporation landed. Two rows of Paladins immediately formed a human barricade. From the cabin stepped the man who had destroyed Damang’s life overnight.

Elias Thorne.

The man had long white hair and wore a pristine, dark gray military suit. He walked to the podium with a light step, then gazed at the prisoners with the look of a scientist observing ants.

"People of Long Baram," Elias’s voice echoed through the loudspeakers. "I know you feel this land has been stolen. But the fact is, you are sitting on wealth you are incapable of managing. You let this pure energy lie dormant while the world is dying." Elias stared at the crowd with the look of a landlord swindling children. He deliberately wrapped his greed in the language of progress, making the villagers feel guilty for "wasting" their ancestral land. In his mind, there was no room for human rights. There were only the profit margins he would reap once he succeeded in removing them under the cliché excuse of civilization.

Damang crawled forward through a sewage pipe. He was now only fifty meters away. "Keep talking, you bastard. I’m going to rip your tongue out," Damang muttered.

"Project Harvester 01 is evolution," Elias continued, spreading his arms. "We are building a bridge between technology and the earth's spiritual energy. Your blood sacrifice will be the lubricant for the engine of a new civilization."

A mother in the front row sobbed loudly. A Paladin immediately kicked the woman in the face until she collapsed. Elias didn't even turn his head.

Now! Damang leaped from the darkness. The tattoos on his legs exploded with an absurd amount of thrust. He soared through the air with his Mandau drawn.

"DIE, THORNE!" Damang screamed.

Elias didn't even move. As Damang’s blade came within inches of his neck, an incredibly heavy atmospheric pressure slammed into Damang.

TING!

The Mandau stopped in mid-air. A thin layer of red liquid emerged from the pores of Elias’s hand, forming a shield harder than diamond.

Elias slowly turned his head. His pale blue eyes stared at Damang with a condescending smile. "Good instincts, Little Rat. But you brought a knife to a place where the laws of physics no longer apply."

With a flick of his finger, Elias released a wave of blood energy.

CRASH!

Damang was thrown backward, slamming into a logistics truck until the metal buckled inward. His ribs cracked. His vision turned white as the pain from his tattoos reached its peak.

"Lord Thorne, shall I break his neck now?" a heavy, monotonous voice loomed over Damang.

A giant man in silver armor stood there. Colonel Richter. His hand, 80% machine, gripped Damang’s neck and lifted him into the air like a rag.

"Not yet, Richter," Elias stepped down from the podium. He picked up Damang’s fallen Mandau and examined it. "Interesting. This metal contains traces of DNA synchronized with the forest's energy. And these tattoos on your body..."

Elias touched the tattoo on Damang’s chest.

TSH-BOOOM!

An explosion of spiritual energy sparked, throwing Elias’s hand back. However, the man let out a dry laugh.

"Extraordinary! You survived the Indung Inan ritual?" Elias stared at his slightly reddened hand. "I have destroyed dozens of 'Vessels' around the world, but you... you have a unique neural synchronization. You don't feel fear, do you?"

"Let... me... go, you dog!" Damang hissed, spitting blood.

"Drop him, Richter," Elias ordered.

Damang hit the ground, gasping for air. Elias knelt in front of him, staring with terrifying intensity.

"You think you're a hero, Damang? No. You are merely an untested variable. The European technology I brought has perfected the blood magic your ancestors considered sacred. What you possess is nothing but a painful antique."

"My ancestors... will drag you to hell!" Damang growled.

Elias stood back up, straightening his suit. "Richter, give him a little lesson on the difference in levels. I want him to watch his world crumble while he can do nothing about it."

Richter didn't waste time. An iron fist slammed into Damang’s stomach.

THUD!

"Ugh...!" Damang felt his internal organs shift.

Before he could fall, Richter caught his head and slammed it into his steel knee. CRACK! Fresh blood sprayed from Damang’s nose. Every blow was calculated—not to kill, but to destroy every nerve of pain.

"This is for your interference with Lord Thorne’s schedule," Richter growled. He lifted Damang and slammed him onto a pile of steel pipes.

Damang tried to summon the energy of his tattoos, but every time he tried to draw power, the pain locked his nerves. He was trapped. His rage triggered power, but his power triggered paralyzing pain.

"Look, villagers!" Richter shouted while stepping on Damang’s chest. "This is your hero! Weak! Useless!"

The villagers could only sob in silence. They watched the son of Commander Nyarung being beaten like an animal.

"That’s enough, Richter," Elias walked closer. He leaned down, whispering something in Damang’s ear. "I will let you live, Little Rat. I want to see how far this ancient Dayak power can evolve under the pressure of pain."

"You... will... die..." Damang whispered hoarsely.

"Perhaps. But not today," Elias stood tall. "Throw him back into the forest. Let our hunting dogs know there is a new test subject. Let’s see if this forest truly protects him."

Richter dragged Damang toward the edge of the cliff bordering the Black Forest. Without mercy, the giant threw Damang’s body into the darkness below.

Damang fell, hitting tree branches and rolling through the foul-smelling earth before finally coming to a stop on a pile of dead leaves. His vision was blurred. In the distance, he could still hear Elias’s speech and the roar of the Harvester machines.

This defeat hit him harder than Richter’s blows. Elias Thorne was not merely human. He was a devil who commanded both magic and machines simultaneously.

Damang tried to move his finger, but only excruciating pain greeted him. In the darkness of the forest, the tattoos on his body slowly dimmed, leaving horrific burns on his skin.

"Thorne..." he whispered hoarsely, blood filling his throat. "I... will... eat... your heart." His voice sounded like the growl of a wounded beast. Even though his body was shattered, Damang’s eyes flashed with a hatred capable of burning the darkness of the surrounding forest. The pain from his burns no longer mattered. His entire nervous system now pulsed with one singular desire: to hunt Thorne and tear the man’s life source out with his own hands.

Contaminated black roots began to wrap around Damang’s body, hiding him from the hunting dogs. The pain was no longer an enemy to Damang. He began to embrace it. Because if pain was the price to become a monster capable of killing Elias Thorne, then he would pay it in full.