Death To Power

Volume Four: Outer war, Inner war

Chapter 222 – Rescue [1]

"...what a perfect timing it was," Kaden muttered as he found himself inside the unfathomable darkness of Death.

He was standing weightless, his arms crossed on his chest as multiple thoughts churned through his mind.

He was dead.

That much was obvious regarding the place he was.

But the next question would be how he died?

The Asterions didn’t touch him, and until further notice, he didn’t have any illness that might have caused him to die, that means...

"Vaela was killed," Kaden concluded, his expression immediately hardened, his eyes turning cold like frosted steel.

"Who killed her? Who would even dare to enter the Cerveau and kill her?" he wondered, not understanding how all of this was possible.

But there was another possibility as well, one he had to consider.

"The Cerveau killed her...?"

But that too didn’t make any sense to Kaden. Vaela’s power was too useful, too powerful and unique, especially for people like the Cerveau to just be killed like that.

If they truly killed her...

Then something must have happened.

Something that made them take the risk to kill a being like Vaela and bear the burden of losing their eyes, eyes able to see beyond the current reality most of us were bound to.

And whatever it was...

"I wouldn’t like it," Kaden concluded, a weary sigh escaping from the bounds of his lips.

Things were on track.

He had just opened a Mythic rank Evolution Stone and was ready to take his evolution quest to become a Master.

Yes, a renowned Master with considerable power.

But now something happened, something he needed to solve, because otherwise he might be trapped in a loop of dying until his death coins were exhausted and...

...death. A permanent one this time.

"Ah... Vaela..." Kaden breathed. He should have been unhappy with this, but strangely he was not.

Because this made him able to know the state of Vaela.

And weirdly — or maybe not — he didn’t want to see Vaela die.

She was his Seer, after all.

And if the Cerveau didn’t want her, that was fine.

It was time for her to completely detach herself from that damned family and integrate fully into the Crimson Veil.

And be their eyes. Eyes that would make sure to guide the group in a meaningful way.

But first...

"I have to save her." Kaden began to walk back and forth through the darkness, his eyes closed, his arms behind his back, as he thought of how.

First, he needed to escape Mahina safely, then once in Darklore he needed to find a way to save his Seer.

It should normally not have been an easy task, but fortunately Kaden had taken some precautions beforehand.

"She must have arrived by now, right?" he wondered, thinking about the abomination he had turned beautiful.

He had told her before going back to Waverith to depart her territory as well and get closer to Waverith. And now, with her perfectly human appearance, with no sign of beast blood remaining in her, she could act like a human and enter the city.

"She will be enough... I will send Nasari too. They just need to distract them and I... I will save Vaela amid the chaos they will create." he decided, his heart beating fast because of what he would have to do.

It wouldn’t be easy to enter the Cerveau and escape unnoticed.

But it hardly mattered.

The number of death coins he had now was huge, he could afford a couple of deaths.

Sighing again, Kaden finally ordered Death to start the process.

"Go on, Death."

[You have been killed. At what point of time do you wish to be revived?]

"The instant we met Lumina," he answered.

[Understood.]

[The Origin of your death is both caused by Vaela, The Seer and The Executioner. For this situation, you are automatically granted a trait within the Cerveau bloodline.]

[You have obtained the Trait: Memory Alteration.]

[Description: You are able to alter, to change, to modify, to delete, to add memories inside a being with: lower will than you and up to two ranks higher than you.]

Kaden examined the trait. But what he was most focused on was the origin of his death... and thus confirmed his earlier thoughts.

Vaela had been killed by the Cerveau.

An intense feeling of anger fluttered through his chest like the restless wings of a raven. His crimson eyes gleamed ferociously as he couldn’t help but imagine the feelings, the emotions Vaela must have experienced in that moment when her family killed her.

What were her last thoughts before death? What... just what kind of feeling did she have?

Hatred, indignation, anger... or even fear?

The more he thought about it, the more his heart thundered with fury.

Kaden was not someone who liked easily. He might have spent little time with Vaela, but their meeting had been impactful.

He had made an obvious mistake that day regarding how to act with a seer, but the price he paid was nothing compared to what he gained — a friend.

And Kaden held his friends dear.

He didn’t have many, after all.

And that was why he had to save her before she felt again whatever despair she felt at her death.

Clenching his fists tightly, he tried to calm the turbulent emotions raging inside him.

’Being angry will not solve anything... calm... be calm...’ he repeated to himself, and slowly, his heartbeat began to settle, like an ocean quieting after a storm.

He exhaled, a steamy breath of stress escaping his lips.

"Death, how many death coins do I have?"

[Death coins: 25,000.]

He nodded.

"Revive me."

[Cost: 600.]

Tick—!

...

"Ah, stupid sun—!" Lumina didn’t even finish her words before she felt a hand wrap tightly around her small body, cutting her voice off instantly.

She struggled in the grasp, squirming like a pig trapped in the mud, but the grip only tightened further, her fragile frame on the verge of snapping in two.

She froze, panting heavily, her eyes raising upward and found herself staring into a pair of crimson eyes that sent a violent shiver down her spine.

She shuddered.

"W-Wait what...?" she scrambled, her voice trembling.

Kaden’s face was as cold and merciless as death itself. There was none of the humor, none of the relaxedness he had displayed last time.

"You..." he said, his tone flat and deadly, "give me the Mythic Stone."

He didn’t actually need it. He already possessed the Mythic Stone he had taken last time, but...

...Kaden was a greedy man.

He knew how impossibly difficult it was to obtain such a rank, and he would have been a fool not to hoard it while the chance was before him.

He turned his gaze toward the silent Sora, who was watching him with open scorn as she saw him threatening a pitiful fairy.

Kaden’s lips twitched slightly, but he ignored her look. "You don’t mind, do you?" he asked, as if to confirm.

Sora only shrugged. "You earned it," she said flatly, before turning her head away.

She was an Asterion. If she willed it, she could always obtain a Mythic Stone for her own evolution quest, all she had to do was act like the obedient and exemplary child her parents demanded her to be.

The child born to carry the sun of the empire.

And besides, Kaden truly deserved it. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to take it away from him.

Kaden smiled lightly at this. He would have loved to jab at her with a remark in that moment, but time was running short.

He took the Mythic Stone from Lumina and stored it into his space ring. Then he invoked the new trait he had obtained.

Memory Alteration.

Lumina was only a fairy, the personification of an artifact. She had no cultivation until she bound herself to a master.

So the only thing Kaden had to contend with was her will, and his will was higher.

Without difficulty, he erased every trace of memory she had of him, then carefully inserted new ones — memories of Sora wielding her sun flame brilliantly, while also deleting all traces of Sora’s singing from Lumina’s mind.

That was his thanks for the Mythic Stone.

He turned toward Sora, who was staring at him strangely, and handed her the unconscious Lumina.

"I have a favor to ask you, golden voice." he said, his tone serious.

Moments later, the realm began to tremble once again, the same as before, light swallowing them as their bodies dissolved into molten glow and vanished from the Moonborn’s realm.

A flash of blue.

The realm was gone.

...

Outside, Mahina and Sirius were waiting.

They had just arrived, scanning the air around them to pinpoint the trial’s realm more clearly when suddenly Mahina sensed a violent twist in the space.

Turning her head, she was met with a wave of scorching fire bursting into existence, blinding and searing, sizzling the very air into tongues of flame, making both her and Sirius instinctively squint their eyes against the burning brilliance.

The flames vanished almost immediately, and in their place stood Sora — her golden robe torn, her skin marked by wounds, dried blood smeared across her body.

In her palm was Lumina, curled up asleep.

She forced a strained smile toward her mother and brother.

"Hi...?"

...

Darklore — Warborn Estate.

Kaden had just returned from Fokay thanks to Sora’s diversion. He was sprinting through the corridors of his home, a runic communicator clutched in his hand.

Soon, a voice boomed from it.

"Ah! Harvester! You finally—!"

"Alea." Kaden interrupted briskly, his voice cold.

Alea immediately recognized the gravity in her master’s tone.

"Yes, Harvester." she replied without hesitation.

"Are you in Waverith?"

"Yes. I’m even at the Cerveau’s territory, as you told me."

Kaden’s lips twisted into a lifeless smile.

"Alea, from this moment on, you are the Masked Abomination of the Crimson Veil. You have received your first task."

"Take all of your undead and plunge them into the Cerveau’s main house. Drown them in chaos. Cause as much devastation as you can."

"Do not die, do not be captured and..."

He paused, then added quietly,

"Don’t forget your mask."

Chapter 223 – Rescue [2]

After his call with Alea, Kaden was still running through the empty corridor of his house, his steps silent against the carpeted ground.

The sun had crawled back to sleep.

The moon graced the world, glowing with a neon blue light streaked with crimson at its edges.

There was no one around him.

His father was surely in the underground forge, hammering away and honing his blacksmith’s craft. His mother was in her training ground, losing herself to the rhythm of battle.

That was their routine during the nights inside the Warborn household.

And as for Daela...

Kaden abruptly halted, his eyes narrowing as a new presence appeared before him.

Black hair like condensed darkness, golden eyes glowing with a purity and innocence almost unbearable for this malevolent world.

Eimi. The childhood friend of Zaki.

"Oh! Young Master, you are already back?" Eimi said in surprise, wearing a tight black training suit, her face glistening with sweat, her breathing slightly uneven.

Around her neck hung a white towel, damp with the effort of drying her still-wet body.

She had clearly just finished her training.

Kaden would have loved to ask about her progress in her pursuit of strength, but at that moment his thoughts were weighed entirely on Vaela.

So,

"Where is Daela?" he asked, urgency raw in his tone.

Eimi blinked, startled by both his voice and the darting sharpness of his gaze.

"My Lady went back to Fokay to resolve something," she answered, her voice sweet, polite, and respectful.

Immediately, Kaden gave an inward sigh of relief, his crimson eyes softening slightly as he fixed them on Eimi.

"You didn’t see me today." He spoke.

Eimi went still for a moment, the weight of his words hanging in the air, then her eyes glinted in sudden understanding before she tilted her head cutely to the side and said,

"See who?"

A drop of her sweat slid down from her jaw and hit the carpet beneath them.

Kaden’s lips curved into a satisfied smile before his body blurred away, his speed increasing to the point a violent gust of wind slammed against her face as he vanished.

Eimi instinctively shut her eyes against the force, and when she opened them again she looked at the direction her Young Master had gone.

"Young Master Kaden is always so mysterious..." she whispered, resuming her slow walk toward her chamber.

Today’s training had been grueling but fulfilling, every movement carving progress into her body coordination and weapon handling.

A small, satisfied smile crept across her lips.

"Just wait for me, Zaki..." she muttered, clenching her right hand tightly, her bleeding fingers curling into a fist.

She winced at the pain, but she didn’t release the tension.

She was determined.

Determined to grow stronger. Strong enough to protect him from the world.

...

Cerveau’s Territory.

In front of the Cerveau’s mansion, a stunning woman was standing, her beauty so striking that men and women alike stole lecherous or jealous glances at her.

Her hair was grey, flowing behind her like a river of ashes. Her skin was pale, the pallor of a corpse drained of all blood.

Her face was fair, softer than cream, the smile tugging at her lips sweeter than musk. Yet her yellow-grey eyes glinted with cruelty and eerie malice as she gazed at the mansion before her.

This was none other than Alea, the Grandmaster beast under Kaden but also...

’The Masked Abomination, huh...’ Alea couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as she remembered her discussion with Kaden.

’Master truly has a twisted sense of humor.’

She whispered to herself, then slowly walked away, heading toward a dark alley where even the soft bluish glow of the moon failed to reach.

It was a place drowned in total darkness.

As she walked, she noticed the glances thrown at her, and she suppressed a smile, feeling giddy, delighted to be this beautiful now.

And all of this was thanks to the Harvester...

Her lips curved into a sinister smile as she embraced the suffocating black of the alley.

Soon after, a wholly different being stepped out.

A woman with hair like coagulated blood appeared, wearing a mask carved with bloody tears streaming down its sockets, revealing yellow-grey eyes burning with malevolence.

She wore a crimson robe that dripped over her body like a waterfall of blood.

Her appearance instantly drew every gaze under the streetlamps glowing with mana bulbs, freezing the air with its unnaturalness.

Alea, now the Masked Abomination, didn’t even glance at them.

Her gaze was fixed solely on the mansion before her.

"Arise." Her voice came out like the sweet but inescapable whisper of death.

Instantly, the ground beneath them turned pitch black in a wide circle, swallowing the street in shadow. Purple mist began to permeate the air, thick and suffocating, poison so potent it made bystanders choke violently, their bodies turning purple as they stumbled. From the darkness, skeletal hands clawed their way upward.

People froze where they stood, their eyes wide with harrowing dread as the dead emerged. Skeletons rose, some as tall as colossal trees with calamitous frames and claws as long as spears, others small and twisted like goblins, and others grotesque skinless mockeries of humans.

A ghastly silence pressed over the crowd before a young boy stifled a scream.

And then chaos.

The square erupted in terror as people screamed and fled in every direction, their bodies already turning purple from the spreading poison.

Some never even managed two steps before collapsing to the ground, convulsing as the venom seized their lungs.

Alea ignored them all, her gaze still fixed on the mansion. She slowly raised her slender finger, pointed at its gates, and parted her lips.

"Attack."

The undead threw back their skulls and roared, their skeletal jaws splitting wide as a soul-rending chorus of shrieks thundered outward, making the very air recoil in dread as they charged the gates.

Their steps struck the rocky ground like an avalanche of stones plunging from the heavens.

The two blue-haired guards standing at the entrance felt their hearts leap out of their chests as they witnessed the horror.

"GO! ACTIVATE THE ALARM! WE ARE BEING ATTACKED!" the older guard shouted, his trembling voice cracking as he shoved the younger one.

The second guard sprinted at once, and soon... a deep sound like the beating of war drums echoed across every corner of the mansion.

A sound that every Cerveau understood clearly.

They were being attacked.

...

Inside the Cerveau’s mansion.

Neron, the Executioner, and the Archivist were together in the meeting room, sitting around a table. In the middle of the table rested a collar glowing with a bone-chilling red hue.

They had just finished discussing how to deal with Vaela and were about to act when the alarm echoed through the walls, halting them in their steps.

Neron frowned, his expression carved in ice. "Who dares to attack us?" he wondered, his voice cold and sharp.

Since when were people daring enough to strike at them — the Cerveau — so openly?

Especially now, at this exact time, just when they were about...

Neron’s thoughts froze, his mind inevitably circling back to Vaela, but soon he shook his head. His eyes shifted to the white gloves covering his hands, then to the blue chain wrapped around the Archivist’s neck, and finally to the earrings hanging from the Executioner’s ears.

’No. Vaela would not be able to see us or even sense us. It can’t be her. This is something beyond her control.’ he concluded, placing deep confidence in their artifacts.

But still...

"Lucan, take the collar and go to Vaela’s chamber and finish it. You will face no issue as long as she is bound," he ordered the Executioner.

"Do not linger. Be fast, end it before things become annoying," he added, his voice dripping with irritation.

Lucan nodded without hesitation before vanishing in a burst of blue light, heading straight toward Vaela’s chamber.

Neron then turned to Calix, the Archivist.

"Come with me. I’ll need your mind-altering abilities to end this ridiculous farce quickly," he said, already walking away, his mind moving with ruthless speed as he tried to connect the dots.

He might have discarded the possibility of Vaela being the culprit, but something deep inside of him gnawed with unease, whispering that she was involved in one way or another.

He clicked his tongue, irritation bleeding out of him.

"I told Brain to kill her a long time ago. Now I have to clean up this mess while he wastes time negotiating with some puny beast." he muttered, his tone cutting.

Calix at his side smiled, but it was hollow, devoid of humor.

"A puny beast with a legendary legacy in its hand," he corrected, his voice flat.

Neron returned the smile, but his eyes were colder than frost.

"A beast is a beast. A legacy in its hand does not make it smarter..." he paused, his gaze boring into Calix’s,

"...and without intelligence, it’s nothing but a pathetic animal waiting to be used for our gain."

He turned away sharply, not caring for Calix’s answer.

The Archivist only shrugged and smiled faintly.

Finally, they arrived at the courtyard of the mansion and what awaited them was an unsettling, almost apocalyptic sight.

Skeletons. A cornucopia of them.

Everywhere the dead marched in swarms, like maggots crawling over one another, slaughtering everything in sight without hesitation, their empty sockets lit with a black flame.

The air itself was suffocating. Purple mist choked the entire courtyard, forcing the Cerveau to don masks and down Health potions just to fight without collapsing. With their artifacts they succeeded in destroying the undead, but every step forward cost them ground.

Because each death only fed the enemy’s army.

Every fallen Cerveau clawed back up from the dirt as a corpse, eyes now glowing with ghastly hunger, turning their blades against their own kin.

The survivors cried in horror.

Alea was nowhere to be seen, controlling her army of the dead from the shadows while pouring more poisonous fog into the grounds, drowning the mansion in corruption.

Calix observed the battlefield with indifferent eyes. "I think you are on your own today. I cannot control the mind of the dead, after all." he said, his voice dry, cutting.

Neron’s face twisted as he spat a curse, the wind howling through the battlefield.

"Activate the damn runic formation!" he bellowed, his voice booming over the whipping air.

...

"Urgh," Vaela grunted, blood dripping from her lips as she staggered back, her body swaying before she collapsed onto the ground.

Around her neck was a red collar sealing away all her power, like some void beast had been unleashed inside her to devour every last drop of strength.

She clutched her stomach with her right hand, soaked in her own blood, trying desperately to keep her entrails from spilling out. Her vision blurred to a haze of crimson and shadow.

With difficulty, she raised her head and saw Lucan struggling himself to remain standing, his neck bleeding heavily. Beneath him lay daggers woven from blue threads.

’Not deep enough...’ Vaela realized, dread settling over her like ice.

She had been on edge when the alarm rang, and so she had managed to wound Lucan before he clamped the red collar onto her.

She gritted her teeth, rage twisting her broken face. "W-Why?" she rasped, her voice hoarse with agony.

Lucan didn’t speak.

He only stared at her with cold indifference. His mind repeated one command, over and over.

Kill Vaela.

That was his task, and that was all he would do.

Outside, a cascade of black swords suddenly plunged from the sky into the ground, cutting down the Cerveau who were pushing back the undead with the aid of Neron’s runic formation.

A man appeared amidst the swarm of the dead. Bulky. Hair like coagulated blood. His mask similar to Alea’s, but revealing sky-blue eyes that burned through the night.

"The graves call for you... and my blade shall guide you to the soil." the Ruined Knight intoned, pointing his massive greatsword toward the Cerveau.

Then the blade struck. Brain matters, flesh, limbs exploded through the air.

The clash of steel echoed in the distance, orders being shouted, explosions booming, and cries of rage and grief splitting the air.

All of it poured into Vaela’s ears as her life slipped away.

She looked at Lucan, her eyes turning cold.

"I will kill you," she spat, anger bubbling in her chest but beneath it, fear.

Not fear of death.

That was a lowly fear to her.

She feared dying without seeing Kaden again. She had told him they would be together even in death...

But no one truly knew what lay beyond death. Was it eternal torment for their sins? Paradise for the worthy? Or just void, nothingness, emptiness?

She didn’t know. And that unknown made her fear a life without him.

Her body shook, trembling with anger and unwillingness.

’I just obtained my family...’ she thought, eyes burning with despair.

But Lucan didn’t care. He was losing too much blood, Vaela’s blade had pierced an artery in his neck, and her power was already poisoning him from the inside.

His focus was slipping.

He needed to end this quickly.

"You will die today. That is your fate." he said, his voice hoarse, hollow and expressionless.

"Who decided that?"

A cold, murderous voice echoed from behind him as a crimson sword pierced through his heart with a sickening crack, tearing it apart into splinters of flesh before bursting out through his chest, dripping blood and shards of organ.

Lucan’s eyes widened in shock as he turned his head mechanically, refusing to collapse, and saw a masked man, red eyes burning like ignited blood through the sockets of his mask.

Without hesitation, the masked man seized Lucan’s jaw and tore it wide open before flooding his body with a torrent of blood. With a vicious twist, he hurled Lucan through the chamber doors, shattering them into splinters.

Then he bent down, lifted the bleeding Vaela from the floor, and vanished like a mirage.

His words echoed in the broken chamber as he disappeared.

"Explode."

A thunderous detonation erupted, shaking the entire mansion of the Cerveau as Lucan’s body burst into a storm of blood.

That day... the territory of the Cerveau rained blood.

Chapter 224 – The cost

All people in the Cerveau domain raised their heads to look at the sky. It was supposed to be a normal sky with a moon shining down on them, giving them little light, but what they saw made their hearts skip a beat.

Rain. Blood.

Bloody rain.

They didn’t believe it at the beginning. For them, what they were witnessing was just a fruit of their own twisted imagination. An imagination that could only be born in a grotesque world like Darklore.

But the moment the first drop of blood fell on their bodies, as they sensed the vicious slimy liquid with its heavy scent of iron sliding down their skin, its texture, and even its taste on their lips...

Realization dawned upon them.

Chaos erupted for a second time.

People started to screech like banshees gathered together for the sole purpose of making the world deaf. They ran without direction, without reason, the only thought pulsing in their frightened minds being a single thing.

Escape.

Not the reason for this ghastly sight... that job was for those above them, for the nobles.

For them, simple commoners, all they wanted was to escape this nightmare.

And escape they did.

Amidst this chaos, one single woman walked with eerie calmness. Her hair was grey like ashes, her yellow-grey eyes glowing with intensity.

She didn’t run like the rest of them, didn’t shout or cry as if the moon above was collapsing to the ground, swallowing them all in a detonating explosion.

She looked calm, as if nothing happening was a concern to her.

’First mission done.’ Alea thought calmly, her lips curling into a sinister smile. Soon, she disappeared amidst the sea of howling common men.

...

Inside the mansion of the Cerveau, everything was destroyed.

The ground was littered with splintered bones and corpses belonging to the Cerveau. Their flesh, bones, and organs carpeted the floor, looking like some grotesque masterpiece created by a mad scientist in his attempt to craft a new abomination.

The buildings were ruined, now resembling clumps of broken rocks thrown together by a child playing with toys.

The poisonous mist of Alea was gone, but the atmosphere remained desolate, filled now with a red mist heavy with the scent of iron and death.

The sounds of people moaning and wailing in pain boomed through the air. It was like a song. But a song for the damned.

Neron and Calix stood there. They were not watching their people cry. Instead, they were looking at the sky. At the bloody rain that refused to stop falling.

Yet none of the blood touched their pristine white-bluish suits, blocked by a transparent field.

Their expressions were grim, struggling to grasp what had just happened. But the answer to their question was right in front of them.

Lucan, the Executioner, was dead.

"Now... this is serious." Calix said, his voice colder than usual.

Neron didn’t respond, his mind racing at high speed. And he was right.

Whoever had attacked them today... it was related to Vaela one way or another.

"Is Vaela dead?" Neron finally asked, as a Cerveau soldier appeared from behind them.

The man had the usual blue hair of the Cerveau, but his eyes were yellow, showing his low bloodline purity.

He lowered his head in a bowing position. "My Lords... I didn’t find any corpse there. Only blood smeared on the floor." he answered, his voice wavering under the apathetic gazes of the two monsters before him.

They didn’t respond.

After waiting a moment, the soldier understood and immediately turned away, walking off with a sigh of relief for still having control of his own mind after meeting Calix.

But did he?

"Now you see why I told Brain to kill her or at least let you control her mind." Neron said, his voice strangely calm even while embraced by a mist created from his comrade’s blood.

Calix shrugged indifferently. "We do not make the choices. It’s Brain who makes them. And you seem to forget that we are at the same level as Vaela, and she is a Seer. Controlling her mind would have been a daunting task."

Neron shifted his head to face him, eyes so cold it looked like the world itself might freeze under his gaze.

Calix didn’t flinch. He held it with his indifferent stare.

"A brain, huh? What kind of brain makes a mistake this costly, Calix?" he sneered.

"Because I don’t think you understand clearly the damage we took today." he said, pointing at the people crying on the floor, the ruined buildings, the gore scattered across the ground.

Then he continued.

"Do you see all of this? This is absolutely nothing. All of them might die and the sun would not rise from the west. These buildings might be destroyed, but they’re nothing more than stone that can be rebuilt by controlling a few minds."

He stepped closer to Calix. "What I care about the most is our reputation. And it has been completely damaged today by allowing this damn incident to happen."

"And I do not need to tell you the difficulty of rebuilding it."

"I can control the minds of all—!"

"Calix, don’t spout nonsense in front of me."Neron interrupted briskly.

"You’re telling me you can catch all of those who witnessed this scene today and control their minds? Is that what you’re saying?" he asked, his voice calm. Too calm.

Too eerie.

Calix stayed silent for a moment before shrugging. "I guess not. Too much work." he said indifferently.

Neron stared at him for a long moment, his gaze threatening to do more than just look.

He exhaled a steamy sigh and crouched, picking something up from beneath his foot.

Something the knight had thrown to them before transforming into a black ball of light and disappearing, swallowed by the world.

A mask. A bloody mask with tears of blood streaming down its sockets.

He turned it over, and on the back were words inscribed in crimson blood, dripping eerily like tears.

"The Crimson Veil needed their eyes."

Neron read the words.

He frowned.

"What was the power of the beings who attacked us?" Neron asked.

"If presumably there were two... the knight-looking man and the hiding Necromancer... both used death-type power," Calix responded, his eyes fixed on the mask.

They both thought of the same thing.

Of the person they had asked Vaela information about, only for her to give them some bullshit about death clouding her eyes.

"The Death Envoy." they both said at the same time.

Neron’s hand tightened around the mask until it cracked.

He spun and walked away, every step splashing against the blood and flesh beneath him.

"We need someone to sacrifice for today’s incident. Choose one family under us — a disobedient one — and slaughter them all. Then spread the news that they dared to attack us and thus, their fate."

"The death of Lucan must remain secret for now. We cannot afford people to know a major pillar of our family is gone. And..."

His voice turned lifeless.

"Use bloodline detection and find the location of Vaela. We cannot afford her to live."

His voice faded as he vanished.

Calix remained still for a moment before striding forward, his mind already deciding which family to eradicate.

"Today will be a long night." he whispered.

Behind him, dozens of young people — men and women, aged fifteen to eighteen — appeared.

They were clearly not Cerveau members, judging by their hair colors.

Their eyes were blank, their faces stiff and expressionless as if carved from ice.

They were assassins trained by Calix. Without looking at them, he spoke.

"House Verdi."

Instantly, they vanished into silence.

Their target was now clear.

...

Meanwhile...

Kaden was running through the streets of Waverith, his steps as silent as possible.

Vaela was on his back, still bleeding.

He had given her health potions of the highest grade he had — Unique rank — but nothing worked.

Something inside her wound was blocking the effect.

He gritted his teeth as his eyes darted around, searching for a place to lay her down and examine her carefully.

"K-Kaden...?" Vaela managed to whisper, her voice hoarse, cracking like the sound of wagon wheels over rocky ground.

Her power was still sealed by the red collar.

"Shush... don’t speak. Conserve your energy." he whispered, when suddenly something flashed in his vision.

He snapped his head and saw a rat.

A yellow rat with eyes like burning red coals.

It looked at him with eerie intelligence before disappearing.

Kaden instinctively followed, and the moment his foot stepped on the same spot, Vaela’s blood dropped to the ground and it lit up.

In an instant, Kaden, with Vaela on his back, disappeared.

Chapter 225 – The Nest

Kaden and Vaela found themselves in a whole different place. It looked like an office, painted in blue and white with the symbol of the Cerveau inscribed on the ceiling, pulsing with a sizzle of cerulean lightning.

Kaden looked around in confusion, his head spinning from the sudden change in space. Beneath him was a rune formation glowing in bluish light.

"Urgh!" Vaela groaned behind his back, causing him to snap out of his thoughts and put her on the ground, her back leaned against the wall.

Just above her was a window wrapped in a blue curtain that stopped any light from reaching the room, plunging it into a somber mood.

Kaden observed the wound on Vaela’s stomach and couldn’t help but wince at how grotesque it looked.

Vaela’s lower abdomen was shredded with merciless violence. Her flesh was mangled. Entrails, blood, and organs all seemed to merge together in a hideous fashion.

He frowned, noticing the scent flowing out from her wounds. It was the scent of rotten eggs. No, even worse than that.

"K-Kaden..." Vaela uttered between heavy breaths, her face damp with sweat, her eyes fluttering like bird’s wings trapped in a spider’s web as she tried desperately to open them and look at him.

But she failed.

Her body was too weak, and the power of Lucan inside her was eating at her like a mad devouring beast. Especially now that her power was sealed.

Kaden was disoriented for a moment. He didn’t know what to do.

He was in an unfamiliar place that reeked of the Cerveau. He couldn’t help but feel a bad premonition as he looked at the runic formations inscribed on the white floor.

It was a teleportation formation.

’Since when did Waverith have these...?’ Kaden wondered, his heart restless. He shook his head violently and focused back on Vaela.

He looked at the collar around her neck, an unsettling sensation coursing through him at the sight of it.

He could clearly see that this red collar was, in large part, responsible for Vaela’s state. Without hesitation, he acted.

"A little more, Vae. I will heal you." He whispered gently in her ear, and unconsciously Vaela stopped shaking.

Her breathing started to regulate, as if the very voice of Kaden made her pain disappear like ashes scattered by the wind.

It was truly a strange sight.

But that was all she needed. At that moment, Vaela didn’t even think of dying. Because in that instant, her only family was with her.

Not the one fate had given her, the one that had tried to kill her mercilessly without emotion.

But the one she had chosen herself. And she knew...

...she had chosen well.

Kaden extended his hand, coated it in black flame, and reached for the red collar. He grasped it.

"Argh!" A grunt escaped his throat as his hand sizzled, burning against the collar.

The scent of burning flesh spread around them, showing its intensity.

Kaden gritted his teeth, his eyes hardening as he supplied more mana into his hand, determined to break the red collar.

It resisted, burning more fiercely, but Kaden’s will was not weak.

After some tenuous minutes, the red hue of the collar dulled significantly before finally snapping.

Instantly, Vaela’s body was coated in a radiant bluish aura, making Kaden squint his eyes and take a couple of steps back.

His constitution acted, and his burning hand began to heal.

For Vaela, her power burned away the remnants of Lucan’s energy in her wound, finally allowing the health potion to work.

Slowly, her wounds began to heal.

Kaden smiled in relief, then took out more health potions and splashed them on her wound, accelerating the process.

Within minutes, the wound closed perfectly, leaving no trace behind. It was as if, minutes ago, she hadn’t been on the verge of giving life a goodbye kiss and embracing death in a tight hug.

"Kaden...?" Vaela spoke again, this time her voice less grungy, though still dry.

Instinctively, Kaden took out a bottle of water from his space ring. He sat at her right side and slowly guided the bottle towards her mouth.

"Drink, you will feel better after." he said, and like a good child, Vaela opened her mouth. It was slow, her eyes fixed on Kaden’s face who had already removed his mask, letting his handsome face shine under the room’s light.

Water poured into her mouth. She closed her eyes to savor the simple moment, then opened them instantly to look at Kaden’s face again, as if afraid he might disappear if she kept them closed too long.

Kaden smiled faintly.

"Sorry, I was late." he whispered.

For a moment, tears welled up in Vaela’s eyes before she closed them again and turned her head to the side, unwilling to let Kaden see her tears.

Kaden suppressed a smile at her act.

"What? Are you shy now? Come on, Vae, how old are you?" he joked, softly pulling her head back toward him.

Vaela could have refused, and even thousands of Kadens wouldn’t have moved her head a single bloody inch.

But she didn’t. She shifted her head to look at his face again.

Now, looking closely, she noticed a bloodstain on his right cheek, dripping softly.

She unconsciously raised her hand and caressed his cheek, wiping away the blood.

"It doesn’t suit you." she whispered, looking into his eyes.

Kaden smirked. "You just insulted me, Vae."

"How could you tell the one named Child of Blood that having blood on his face doesn’t suit him?" He shook his head, feigning a hurt expression.

"That... that hurt my pride." He clutched his chest — where his heart beat — as if in incredible pain.

Vaela looked at him for a moment before stifling a laugh. She raised her hand to hide her mouth, her eyes squinting into crescents.

Kaden was stunned. His heart shivered at the sight.

Vaela’s beauty, even in this situation, was dazzling. Like the morning sun on a clear blue sky.

Too radiant to look at. But you still open your eyes wide, bearing the searing pain, just to take a glance.

His mouth curled into a smile as he looked at her with soft eyes.

Vaela’s laugh slowly faded, and she looked at Kaden with eyes that seemed to see all his lives and reincarnations in one flash.

"Would you tell me if I asked how you know?" she said, her voice soft.

"Who knows?" Kaden responded as he sat beside her, his back against the wall.

"Would you tell me how you succeeded in saving me?" she asked again.

"The Crimson Veil acted. Masked Abomination and Ruined Knight caused some chaos, confusing the Cerveau. I walked through the destruction and saved you." he said nonchalantly, as if what he did wasn’t something even Grandmasters would dare attempt against the Cerveau.

Vaela was speechless for a moment, then she opened her mouth again.

"Why...? You were afraid of you dying because of me?" she asked, her voice carrying a fragility alien to someone at her level.

But Kaden only shook his head.

"I do not fear my death. But I do fear the death of my friends, my loved ones." He turned his head toward her. She was already looking at him.

He gave her a smile.

"That’s why I saved you. Not because I love my life so much that the concept of losing it might drive me mad. But because I cannot bear the sight of seeing the ones who make my life colorful swallowed by the dirt."

Vaela’s heart skipped a beat. Her body trembled as an intense feeling pierced her chest.

She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it soon after. No sound came out. It was as if her voice had been caged.

She was speechless. Or rather, she had no words to describe what she was feeling at that moment.

Her heart was heavy, but not with agony, fear, or pain as usual.

But with love. An alien feeling she never thought she could experience.

And as they say, when words cannot express feelings...

The body acts on its own.

And so,

Vaela shed tears.

Kaden shook his head, inwardly wondering why all women tended to cry in his presence, then wrapped Vaela in a tight hug.

"You should stop doing this. You make me feel bad, actually." he whispered, a note of humor in his voice.

Vaela softly punched his chest. Kaden exaggerated an "ouch."

It was a jarring sight.

Two beings so different in power acting like this...

It was as eerie as it was stunning.

They passed a couple of minutes in that position, relaxing after the intense events they had just endured.

After that, Kaden finally took the time to look at their surroundings with a more focused mind.

Walking back and forth as quietly as possible, he inspected the room.

In all aspects, it looked like any other office, with a blue-colored desk, chairs, tables, and a mountain of documents stacked at the far end.

Approaching the main seat, Kaden saw one sheet of paper written in delicate, precise handwriting.

Vaela, behind him, was looking at the office with perplexed eyes, as if she knew what it was but couldn’t fully recall.

Her mind was blurry.

She frowned.

"Number of children abducted..." Kaden began to read. Vaela’s eyes widened as realization dawned.

"The Nest...?" she whispered, looking around, her certainty growing.

Kaden turned his head to her, frowning. "Do you know where we are?" he asked, unease in his tone.

"Yes..." Vaela said, pausing briefly.

A sudden tension swelled between them.

"...we are at The Nest. The place where we raise kidnapped children to be assassins and spies for us."

Kaden’s body froze, his eyes wide, unease blooming into full dread.

"W-What?"

Chapter 226 – Ashes

Ashes... Ashes.

Ashes.

Everywhere, there was only ashes around. It was clearly supposed to be a forest, as you could see the tree-shaped ashes all around and the charred grass.

But everything was burning down, as if the fury of a god of fire had struck onto this part of land, turning the ground into a carpet of ashes. But it was no god.

It was a man.

A young man, if you want to be more specific.

All around him were bodies of beasts, now dead, scorched black with their remains still releasing steam in the air.

He sat on a corpse burned to death, cross-legged, his hair ignited with orange fire that seemed — with the blinding light of the sun above — to flutter like flames in a dark night.

His eyes were black, something flickering as if hiding something harrowing inside. He wore luxurious red clothes with black threads weaved into a symbol.

A symbol anyone in the empire would recognize.

It was the symbol of the FireBorn. And this young man was none other than Kenan FireBorn.

The one who loved Meris.

His eyes seemed lost in memories as he recalled those times. His hand on his chin as he remembered the girl who had turned his life upside down and now disappeared.

Months had passed since that day. That day when he foolishly challenged a Warborn heir for the heart of a girl.

A girl who couldn’t actually give a damn about him.

He was aware of that. He knew Meris didn’t love him. He damned knew it.

But he still wanted to prove to her, or maybe to himself... that he was worthy of her love.

Or maybe the fact... that he was simply worthy of being loved.

It was weird for an heir to say things like this. To wonder if he was loved or not, considering how his mother doted on him, and how his father — even if stern and strict — actually showed him some affection.

Well... only if he did well in training. But let’s not mind those details.

At that time he was simply an idiotic child, with the burden of his family heavy on his frail and weak-willed shoulders.

He wanted an escape. A window of relief.

Something that would help him forget all those duties, all those expectations people had for him. He wanted something — or rather someone — that would love him, Kenan.

Meris was that someone for him.

Unfortunately, it was not meant for him.

He tried all he could and even went as far as humiliating himself and his house for her love. Hell, he only wanted her attention.

But all of that for naught.

Meris didn’t even glance at him.

It shattered him into pieces.

How could it not?

This was all he wanted. And he believed deep inside his heart that he just needed Meris to get out of his situation. To feel alive again, to want, to expect more, to live more.

He believed she would be his savior.

That she would be his light in this wretched world.

But fate had other plans. He didn’t obtain her.

It was devastating for Kenan. But in that process he understood something fundamental about life. After being beaten senseless by his father, of course.

What you wish for is not, by default, what you need.

Though, realizing this truth didn’t make it any easier for him to forget about Meris.

But with the help of his mother’s soft advice, his father’s stern gaze, Kenan managed to take hold of himself before sinking deeper into the pit known as Meris Elamin.

His mind was consumed with training. His father was not happy to see him go against a Warborn, so his training became daunting, became hell on earth.

He made him train with a core body temperature of 38 degrees Celsius. He was swimming in his sweat, his heart was beating way faster, seemingly aware of a life-threatening danger.

It wasn’t all. Since that moment, his father never stopped telling him some weird words. Words he didn’t understand.

"Ashes... ashes, Kenan. Become ashes. You have to."

He repeated these words every damn time. During training, dueling, dinner time or even during night walks.

It was so much... so overwhelming that Kenan now used ashes almost in his every sentence.

He sighed.

"Ashes you father... now see what I have become." He muttered, shaking his head.

Now he was different. His posture was straighter. His eyes more focused. His mind less clouded by useless thoughts, by useless dream of life without burden.

He understood his role better. And whether he liked it or not, he was the heir of the FireBorn.

He had to live up to its name. To its legacy. He had to bear the weight of it. It was heavy, it was crushing. He didn’t want to be afraid.

But he was.

Still, he had to bear it. That was his duty.

Kenan sighed wistfully, steaming away his fear and worries of the future as he looked around the burning forest.

"With this, I have completed my quest." He murmured, then stood up from the dead body of the monster.

He dusted his hands nonchalantly, took the origin core of the beasts sprawling on the ground and walked away.

’Ashes... ashes...’

He thought.

...

Asterion — The Tycoon’s Merchant.

The Tycoon’s Merchant hadn’t changed. The interior design was the same as the last time Kaden came here, and the people working there were also the same.

Meaning, Lisa Ndiaye was there with her usual professional smile that brightened the hearts of these hardworking men and women.

Still, the moment Kenan entered the room, Lisa’s brown eyes locked onto his black ones and immediately her smile melted down like ice on fire.

The people inside the waiting hall looked behind and found Kenan with all his glory, walking directly towards Lisa.

Whispers started.

"Hey, Ash is here!" one guy nudged his friend, jerking his chin toward Kenan.

"Ah, damn it dude. Lisa will be in a bad mood now. She was especially sweet today! She even asked me about my leg injury!" one grumbled under his breath.

"I’m telling you all, let’s ban this Ash."

All of them started to complain about the presence of Ash — the nickname of Kenan because of his habit of always adding ashes into his sentences.

Kenan barely cared about those whispers. For him, all of this might as well be ashes scattered by the whipping wind.

He approached the newly free counter where Lisa was, but she scowled at him without any restraint.

"Did I not tell you I will not take care of your quest results anymore?" she spat, clearly angry at Kenan.

The man smiled awkwardly, "Ashes... I told you I am sorry," he said, scratching his head nervously.

No one acted surprised at this sight.

They were used to seeing Kenan not only as the heir of FireBorn, but also as the Ash simp of Lisa.

But they were wrong. Kenan was not simping over Lisa, he just wanted her forgiveness.

’Ashes, you grandpa Albert... all of this because of your ashed advice.’ He cursed silently, still looking at Lisa who didn’t even bother to respond to him.

He sighed inwardly.

He had accepted his grandpa’s advice and decided to have numerous girls at his belt in order to forget one girl.

He was confident at the beginning. He was handsome. He was talented. He was rich. He had a deep and powerful background.

Honestly, there was no reason for him to fail. And it was true. That is, if he wasn’t unlucky enough to go directly towards Lisa, who held a hidden scorn for him because of how useless he was to even keep Meris off from Kaden.

She still didn’t swallow that incident down. She became a lowly slave, after all. All because of some incompetent young master.

She knew she was wrong putting all the blame on Kenan. But besides him, who else could she blame?

Meris? God forbid, she actually held her life very dear.

Kaden? He was innocent. In fact, Lisa even pitied him for being the one to receive the love of a woman like Meris. She was crazy.

No, she was even more than that. The world didn’t know how merciless, emotionless and utterly devoid of any morality Meris could be.

She was a monster.

An abomination who kept a tight leash on her sinister side for unknown reasons.

At least, to her.

All of this to say... Kenan was the outlet of her anger, of her frustration. And she made sure to show it to him.

Especially since Kenan was so easygoing now. He had shed any semblance of nobility when acting with ordinary people.

They noticed. So they became bold with him.

Kenan didn’t mind.

’All of this is useless... ashes... only ashes. But what the fuck is ashes...?’

He shook his head.

"Here, I completed the quest," Kenan said, giving the origin core he obtained along with the instruction of the quest itself for proof.

Lisa took it with a growl and did her job.

Kenan watched her calmly, then parted his lips to speak but...

"I don’t know." Lisa briskly said, cutting him off.

"You don’t even know what I was going to say." Kenan retorted.

"I know. You were going to ask about where Lady Meris is," she said, then lifted her head from the document to stare at him. "And I don’t know, Ash."

Kenan’s lips twitched slightly at his nickname.

He didn’t quite like it. But he knew it was useless to complain, these guys would never stop once they started. And he didn’t want to use his background to bully anymore.

"No, I was not asking about her," Kenan finally responded.

Lisa tilted her head in a mix of surprise and confusion. Kenan smiled and continued his words,

"I wanted to invite you for a date." His voice was unnaturally loud. As if the world itself wanted him to be heard.

Silence fell instantly.

The men sighed ruefully, cursing Kenan under their breath.

"Man... this guy never learns, does he?"

The women’s reactions were different. They looked at Lisa with venomous jealous eyes. If their glares could do more than stare, then Lisa would have been on the ground spasming with poison in her heart.

Fortunately, they couldn’t.

But none of this registered in Lisa’s mind as her face twisted into a ferocious snarl. She parted her lips...

"I would buy you whatever you want." Kenan added, his tone suddenly confident.

...Lisa shut her mouth with a snap, as if afraid a fly might enter her mouth.

Lisa was a gold digger.

And he had gold, in abundance.

Kenan smirked.

’Now I see it, we make a perfect ashed match.’

What a simp.

Chapter 227 – Rising conflict

Fokay — Asterion, Royal Castle.

The room was searing. Not with heat as one might expect, but with nobility, with power, and more importantly, with arrogance. It was draped in gold, shining like celestial water under a golden sun.

The carpet was not one of the usual, it looked like silk of stars woven together seamlessly. It was soft to the touch, carrying a sweet musky scent.

What a sight it was.

Something upon which some beings stepped their feet was more comfortable than the greatest beds a common man could ever hope to sleep on.

What a life.

In the middle of this luminous room, beside a glass window, two beings sat in front of each other.

Two siblings, to be more accurate.

Sora Asterion and Sirius Asterion.

Their matching golden hair was shining more than the light of the sun itself, fluttering like fire under the wind. They wore their usual golden royal clothes, reeking of luxury and superiority.

Between them was a table, where there were some steamy pastries and golden tea. The scent was celestial, able to calm the mind of an intermediate rank being and to make the common man feel like he was in heaven amidst a sea of naked women.

It was just that delicious. That heavenly.

But to the two siblings, this tea could as well be considered water. They didn’t feel anything drinking it.

That’s what habit does to you.

"Are you willing to talk, dear sister?" Sirius asked, his face bearing his ever faint smile. He tended his hand, took his cup of tea and approached it toward his mouth, his eyes not leaving Sora.

"I already told you everything I know, brother. Why do you keep pestering me with this matter?" she said, her eyebrows knitted together. She was clearly irritated.