He stood there in a daze for a long ti, as if so force from the unknown was driving him, enticing him. Like an inexplicable impulse, the boy took a step forward and turned into the deep corridor.
The boy’s steps beca increasingly swift; he recognized this place—his father’s Forbidden Land, where no one was allowed to approach, not even his children. It used to be guarded heavily, yet following seven days of revelry, all the soldiers had been moved away from the Pillar of Royal Authority, leaving this place exposed, no longer impeded by any barriers.
An inexplicable curiosity drove the boy. No... Rather than curiosity, it was more like a maddening, wicked force, disrupting the boy’s mind, tempting him onto a path of fate’s divergence.
The surroundings grew darker. Soon, the boy discovered an elevator suspended in the depths of darkness, surrounded by various steel gratings like a cage bristling with spikes.
The cage door was open, as if it were welcoming the boy in.
As the boy was about to step into the cage, his dazed expression suddenly beca clear for a mont. He could feel the madness and wickedness emanating from the darkness. He did not know where this elevator would lead, but he could sense the terror of that place.
He intended to escape, but a force pushed him from behind, as if soone silently nudged him, propelling him into the dark cage.
The boy fell inside the cage. He turned back, but saw no one on the path he ca from. He wanted to escape, but the cage closed instantly, descending straight into the depths of darkness.
As if the whole mountain had been hollowed out, the air grew increasingly hot as it descended, and a pungent sll of blood rushed into his nose. Kneeling on the ground, the boy retched until the elevator’s descent finally stopped after several minutes.
The boy stepped out of the cage, now standing in a massive cavern. Solid, pitch-black rocks were covered with crimson flesh, resembling a fungal carpet. The ground was also soft, entirely made of crimson flesh, with intestine-like objects hanging from above, akin to bright red stalactites.
In the center of the cavern was an endless blood-red lake, a familiar figure kneeling at its shore, mumbling to himself.
The boy could hear his voice.
"Harper fell to his death, Nako was beheaded, Linata was pinned to the wall by ..."
The man muttered while counting on his fingers, his sanity seed to plunge into madness. No matter how he calculated, he was always one short.
"Who exactly is missing?"
Just as the man remained troubled, the boy felt a sharp pain in his leg. There, from the soft ground, crimson tendrils sprouted, wrapping around the boy’s calf, sucking his blood like leeches.
The boy decisively swung his sword to cut the tendrils, and with that swing, he caught the man’s attention. The man stood up, turned around, and looked at the boy.
This was a scene etched deep in the boy’s soul, a horrifying truth crashing into the boy’s mind, his mory altering to save his consciousness.
At that mont, he understood what the monster that ravaged the Pillar of Royal Authority, causing countless slaughter, truly was.
It wasn’t so monster, but...
"Father."
The boy looked incredulously at the man before him. His chest was bare, layers of blood congealed on his skin like a crimson chain armor, his hair disheveled—a bloodstained crown nearly embedded in his head, constantly seeping blood from its edges.
"Oh... It’s you I’m missing."
The man said, drawing the Sharp Sword from his waist, affectionately calling out his offspring’s na.
"Xilin Kagader."
Xilin collapsed, sitting on the ground, even releasing the Secret Sword from his hand. He couldn’t understand why this was happening, why his father was doing this. He had almost wiped out all the royal family mbers, and now he was here to kill him, severing this final bloodline.
The man, forlorn and desolate, walked towards Xilin, the Blade dragging on the ground, slicing through patches of crimson tendrils.
"No, are you insane? You’re going to bury the Empire’s future like this!"
The man suddenly stopped, growling lowly, then he resud speaking to himself, shouting, "Shut up! You cursed parasite!"
Xilin couldn’t clearly see the man’s face; the sullied blood appeared like a mask covering it.
"This is not the future of the Empire, nor is it the future of the Kagader family!" The man rebuked furiously, "All you care about is your future, only yours!"
The man seed to regain control of his frenzy, becoming calm once again. He approached Xilin, who couldn’t even recognize his own father anymore; he looked more like a Demon God, and his real father had died at so point.
Xilin gathered courage to raise his head, amidst a crimson sea, yet he saw a pair of gentle eyes. Xilin thought he was hallucinating. From the mont he was born, his father had never regarded him with such a gaze.
"You really do resemble her, Xilin."
The man said, reaching out, gently caressing Xilin’s cheek, "Just like her."
"That bastard took away my life, my family... He took everything from , and yet he wants to take even more."
The man spoke words that Xilin couldn’t understand, filled with unresolved sorrow. Then he raised the blade that had slaughtered countless lives.
"There’s almost no ti left."
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