’W-Why? Why?! I was born with a silver spoon... I was showered with love and care... and yet... is this how I die? Pathetically...?
N-No! I cannot... I shouldn’t... If my grandfather knew... I-I’m sure... he will co.
He has to co.
I just need to survive... just a little longer...’
Her thoughts trembled, fragile, desperate... clinging to hope that felt thinner than a thread ready to snap.
Her thoughts trembled, fragile, desperate... clinging to hope that felt thinner than a thread ready to snap.
Her gaze drifted toward her husband... and her toy... both reduced to broken remnants of what they once were.
Her expression twisted violently, rage surging through her like poison boiling under her skin.
"For that bitch... we died like nothing... like trash thrown aside... she was nothing... she was nobody... she was a fucking bitch!!"
Her voice cracked, then rose again, echoing against the walls as if trying to claw sothing out from the shadows.
"Hey, bitch! I know you’re watching this... I know you’re enjoying every second of it... your so-called revenge... but listen carefully..."
Her lips peeled back into a cruel, unhinged smile,
"No matter what you do... no matter how much blood you spill... you’ll always be nothing... a filthy nobody... until the day you rot and die... ahaha..."
"You hear ?! I was the one who frad your pathetic parents... How dare you throw out of the academy... ? The great Noble? Haha, I crushed them... ahaha! Who would’ve thought... just like you, they were nothing too... worthless... insignificant..."
Her breathing grew erratic,
"Your entire bloodline... nothing but dirt beneath our feet. You... you were born to be used... a fucking at shield for nobles like us."
Her eyes glead with sothing vile...
"And your lover... hah... I took him too. I fucked him just to watch your face crumble... just to see that mont your soul shattered... oh, I loved it... I loved watching you break... watching you die like a pathetic insect... ahaha... ah... ha..."
Her laughter staggered, then rose again, louder,
"Co at , you worthless cunt... I’m right here... what now? Still hiding? Still watching like a coward?
That’s all you ever do... watch... just like before—"
Suddenly—
The screams from the restroom... vanished.
Silence fell.
Her heartbeat slamd violently against her ribs, each thud echoing through the hall like a drum of doom.
As her eyes slowly, painfully began to turn toward the restroom—
!!!!
Drip...
Drip...
Drip...
Her pupils shrank.
Before her, in the span of a breath, sothing crouched.
It hadn’t walked in.
It hadn’t approached.
It was simply there.
A figure drenched in blood.
Thick, viscous red coated him entirely, clinging to his body like a second skin. It slid down in slow trails, dripping from his fingertips, his elbows, the edges of his mask, each drop striking the ground with a wet, sickening sound.
The skull mask he wore was no longer pale.
It was soaked in pure crimson.
Cracked in places where blood had dried and layered, giving it a warped, almost living texture. Dark streaks ran through the hollow eye sockets, as if sothing inside had bled out long ago.
He looked like a devil sculpted from slaughter... a collector of screams... sothing that had walked through death so many tis that it had forgotten what life even ant.
A violent shiver tore through her body!
Every nerve scread.
Run!
Run!!
Run!!!
But her limbs refused.
Her voice trembled out, fragile, broken.
"H-Hey... you... h-how much did she pay you...?"
Her lips quivered uncontrollably as tears blurred her vision.
"I-I’ll give you double... no... a hundred tis... more... anything... everything... j-just let go... please... I swear... I won’t do it again... I won’t... please..."
Her words spilled over each other, collapsing into desperation.
Monts ago, she had stood like a queen.
Now she knelt like prey.
"W-Why... why are you doing this...?" she whispered,
"Y-you’re supposed to protect us... the First Supremacy... the one who stands above all... the one who protects his people... and yet you—"
Before she could finish—
The blood-soaked figure moved.
He leaned in close to her right ear.
Warm blood dripped from his chin, sliding down onto her shoulder, tracing along her skin.
His ice-blue eyes flickered.
Like mist dissolving under unseen heat, the colour began to fade, thinning... until only pure white remained.
His voice ca out soft... disturbingly gentle.
"I am the one who protects you all."
Her breath hitched, freezing in her lungs.
Then—
He shifted.
To her left ear.
This ti—
His voice changed again... Cold and Empty.
"And I shall be the one who destroys you all~ Hehe~"
His white eyes shifted again... Darkness crept in.
At first, it spread like cracks... thin, crawling lines invading the white.
Then it consud.
Pitch black devoured everything, swallowing the light entirely, leaving behind eyes that reflected nothing... not fear, not life... only endless void.
Blood continued to drip.
From his chin.
From his mask.
From the edges of his presence itself.
Drip...
Drip...
Drip...
!!!!
!~Ding~!
[Trinity: 25% ↑]
****
anwhile, Kaelen and the remaining filths who were waiting outside the training hall trembled violently as the screams clawed their way through the sealed doors, echoing like sothing that refused to stay buried.
"AARRRRRRHHH!"
"NNNNOOOOOO!!!"
"MY FINGGERR-AAARRRRHHH!!"
"L-LEG... N-NO... NOT EEEEEEYYYYEESSSS!!!!!"
"ARRRR-WWWWWWAAA.....!"
"H-Hey... this hall is completely sealed from sound, right?" Kaelen asked as he turned toward the guard who stood beside him, trembling as if those screams were tearing through his bones.
The guard nodded stiffly, his lips pale, "Y-Yes, Your Majesty."
"Then... how are those screams reaching us?"
Kaelen’s brows tightened.
It was impossible... unless soone had deliberately tampered with the sealing. Unless sothing inside wanted to be heard.
He glanced at the group of filths before him. Their bodies quivered uncontrollably, so collapsing to their knees, whispering broken prayers to gods that would never answer.
Others simply stared ahead, hollow, as if their souls had already fled.
’I see... so that’s why... ah...’
Kaelen exhaled slowly, shaking his head.
His father... he knew...
Just as his thoughts spiralled, ti dragged forward like a wounded beast.
Hours passed in suffocating silence, broken only by distant, fading screams.
!~Ding~!
[Twin Domains: 950↑/ 999]
Thud!
The door creaked open.
A thick, tallic stench of blood spilled outward, crawling into their lungs like poison escaping confinent.
Kaelen’s nose scrunched instinctively, his expression tightening. Then... a figure stepped out.
Drenched entirely in blood. Not stained... not splattered... but covered, as if born from it.
A blood devil walking in human skin.
No one needed to ask what happened inside. The silence behind him spoke louder than any scream.
Nothing alive remained.
Aether’s gaze shifted toward his son,
"Rember this, son... parents are not beings of pure light. They carry both kindness and cruelty within them.
Yet most choose to show only their warmth to their children... because they wish for them to grow better, to walk paths untouched by their own darkness."
He stepped closer, each footstep echoing faintly against the stone, like a slow toll of judgnt.
Kaelen swallowed hard, his body reacting before his mind could, his feet sliding back unconsciously.
Aether continued,
"But there will co a ti... when that darkness slips free. And when that mont arrives... it becos the duty of the child to see clearly. To understand what is right... and what is not."
He leaned closer, his voice lowering into sothing far more dangerous.
"Take both sides... but only accept what makes you stronger and BETTER than your parents ever were."
Aether’s lips neared Kaelen’s ear,
"If one fails to understand that... then he is not my son."
!!
Kaelen’s entire body trembled.
The aning behind those words carved itself into his mind without rcy.
Forget what happened here.
Bury it.
And never beco this!!
"Yes, Father. This son of yours will heed your words... and carry them within his heart until the end."
His voice did not falter. Not even for a second.
Aether paused, then for the first ti since stepping into this place, a faint, genuine smile touched his lips.
His blood-covered hand rested on Kaelen’s shoulder.
"Good."
Then his gaze shifted towards others.
The group froze instantly, their faces turned pale as if death itself had turned to look at them.
"As for the rest of you... you may leave."
A pause.... Just long enough.
"For now."
Relief flooded them... yet those two words lingered like a curse.
Judgnt postponed?
Kaelen blinked, confusion flashing across his face.
"B-But Father... they have seen your bad side. What if they speak? What if they spread what you have done?"
His fists clenched, nails digging into his palm.
"If you will not act... then I will."
Dark claws extended slowly, black goo dripping from them like living tar.
There was no way he would let his father’s na taint!!
"N-NO! We won’t say anything!"
"Y-Yes! Not a word!"
"Please, Your Majesty!"
They broke instantly as they pleaded.
Aether gently placed his hand over Kaelen’s claws, stopping him with ease.
His gaze shifted toward the guards.
"Show them inside."
The guards hesitated for a fraction of a second... then obeyed. They dragged the trembling filths back into the training hall.
Minutes passed.
Then it ca.
"VVvvvooo!!"
"ARRRRHH!"
"NOOO!!!"
"MOMMYY!!"
Screams mixed with retching.
They burst out of the hall, vomiting, shaking, their eyes wide with sothing far worse than fear.
Even the guards looked pale now. What they had seen inside... especially the destroyed restroom... and that wooden chair...
No. Not a chair.
A woman. Twisted. Broken. Made into one!
Compared to the n who died... those two girls... their fate was sothing beyond death.
Sothing that did not deserve a na.
Aether’s voice cut through the chaos,
"Are you all worthy... to be protected by ?"
Their bodies stiffened.
"If yes... then repent. Repent for every sin you have committed."
His hand rested over his chest,
"And I... Aether Zephyra... shall forgive you and protect you all."
A pause. Then his voice dropped, turning razor sharp.
"If not... then fucking kill yourselves."
"It will save rations for the innocent... You worthless sons of bitches."
He turned and walked away. No hesitation or glance back.
Everyone parted their lips, but... no voice ca. After all, they were really sons of bitches who had tornted innocent victims. Even those who didn’t feel anything now felt everything... because of those horrors they just witnessed.
Kaelen watched his father’s retreating, blood-stained back, sothing heavy settling in his chest.
Then he turned to the group.
"Everyone... you may leave now."
After seeing those horrors, Aether knew they wouldn’t even have the heart to spill the truth or whatever happened here...
And even if so tried to tell the truth... would anyone believe them?
After all, billions of people were living here just in this Empire compared to just freaking 48 people... the outco was already decided!
Later, Aether stood beneath flowing water, the blood washing away in thin crimson streams, spiralling down like fading sins.
Washing off every bit of blood and every bit of sll from those bitches... it felt disgusting and made him want to rip his skin off.
Honestly, if his puppets had been here... he could have shattered those won completely fucking them before their husbands. Broken their minds before ending them. Pushed them beyond despair.
But...
’I am not cruel... I am a good guy. I just got annoyed.’
Aether muttered to himself as water cascaded over his face, erasing the last traces of red.
[Not cruel? Good guy?... I beg your fucking pardon?]
Aether let out a quiet chuckle, tilting his head slightly.
’Oh co on... It’s not like I went completely rogue. I controlled myself pretty well.’
[Suuurrreeee!👀]
A faint smile curved on his lips.
"In a few hours... dawn will arrive. And Vesperine will reach Pyra."
He frowned.
"I need to be there. I want to see what kind of magic she carries."
Silence followed. Then another thought surfaced.
"Maybe I should et Penelope one more ti..." he muttered with a thoughtful expression.
Then, suddenly, Kaelen’s tired and worried face flickered through his mind.
"...No."
His expression hardened slightly.
"First... I should visit the elders."
He glanced at his Log Progress,
[Mutation Progress: 80%... 81%....]
_________
[A/N: So... what do you guys think? This is only the tip of the iceberg, just a faint glimpse of what’s truly lurking beneath.
🌑The real dark side will fully unfold in the next volu, far more intense, far more unforgiving, so I genuinely want to hear your thoughts.
For those who endured and accepted this side of Aether and stayed with the story through these Chapters, tell honestly... should I fully reveal this ruthless side of him in all its raw detail, or just hint at it and keep most of it in the shadows?
Yes, I can’t change the fact that he is ruthless, that part of him is carved too deep to erase, but I can restrain how much of it I show if that’s what you prefer. Your opinions will shape how I present him moving forward, so don’t hold back.
I’m waiting for your responses, guys... let know what you truly feel. Otherwise, I’ll simply follow the flow of my mind and let the story unfold as it demands.]
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