Only after Pinhead finished his report did Li Dan move.
He stepped forward and asked the question that concerned him most.
"Tell me, where is Art the Clown, who made a deal with you and stayed here to undergo conversion into a Cenobite? Was the procedure successful?"
Pinhead turned his head toward Li Dan and answered without hesitation.
"Art the Clown's soul, and his affinity for chaos and madness, are exceptionally unusual. The conversion ritual itself succeeded. He was imbued with a Cenobite's core power and some of its traits."
"However, the conversion process appears to have produced an unpredictable reaction with his existing madness. Immediately upon completion, instead of awakening in a conventional Cenobite form and submitting, he... somehow swept up the Cenobites guarding the ritual in a way we have yet to fully understand, broke through the containment chamber's seals, and escaped Pain Hell."
"As for the timing," Pinhead added.
"It coincided precisely with the upheaval you, Blade Head, and Lord Wendigo caused at the territory's central hub. The chaos provided him with the ideal cover and escape route."
Li Dan frowned slightly. He had not expected his near miss with Art to be such a coincidence, but the phrase "swept up" caught his attention.
"'Swept up'? What exactly does that mean? Did he control those Cenobites, or cause them to mutate?"
"That assessment is based on an analysis of the surviving traces at the scene and the residual energy," Pinhead answered stiffly, as though delivering a military report.
"At the time, my attention was entirely occupied by the intrusion alarms in the central hub and my subsequent conflict with you, so I could not handle the matter personally. Information regarding the precise details and their ultimate destination is limited. However, we can confirm that they are no