Below, the streets groaned. The living had been twisted into shrieking, meat-walled parasites. The dead… well, the dead had gotten back up.
"You've done wonderfully," he said, his voice like oiled glass. "Four souls. Broken, desperate, violent. The perfect key to unlock the final seal. I thank you for your service."
"I didn't ask for this," he muttered, his voice losing its showman's lilt. "I just wanted to make my wife disappear. Permanently."
As they raised their weapons for the thousandth time, Nero looked up at the bleeding sky and whispered the only truth that remained in this corrupted, looping hell.
The power detonated.
"Complete the rituals," a voice slithered into their minds. Not the Shadow Man. Another. Older. The one in the Summoning Key. "Purge the corruption. Or become it."