The World Is Mine For The Taking Chapter 368: Chapter 59 - The Demon Rages (3)

I went to the backyard of Grace's house to burn the dead bodies with fire magic. I set Philip's body aside so Grace could have his ashes for the urn. As I watched the bodies go up in flas, my eyes stayed cold and emotionless. I wasn't feeling any sympathy for them. As far as I was concerned, they were scum who deserved to die.

Once Philip's body was fully burned, I poured his ashes into a jar. Then, I went to Grace's room. She was still fast asleep, with Hana peacefully dozing in her crib. I had no idea how to break the news to her. She had just seen people literally blowing their heads apart right in front of her. Even I had been shocked the first ti I saw sothing like that.

While they were both sleeping, I took the ti to clean up the bloody ss in the room. There was so much blood that the whole place was practically painted red. As I scrubbed the floor, sothing caught my attention—a gap in the boards. It looked like there was a hidden door, a trapdoor leading to a basent. I paused for a mont before lifting it open. Sure enough, it led down to a dark basent.

The place looked like it hadn't seen light in ages. No candles, no lamps, nothing. Philip or Grace must've used magic to light the place up when they were down here. Cobwebs covered the walls, which told they hadn't bothered cleaning it in forever. I stepped down into the basent, lighting the way with a small fla in my hand. There wasn't much here, except for a study table sitting in the corner.

Who it belonged to, I was about to find out.

I walked over to the table, my steps slow and deliberate, and glanced at the book lying on top. The air was still, almost suffocating, as I reached for it, my fingers brushing the worn cover. There was nothing special—just a basic notebook, the kind you could get from wandering rchants. As I scanned, sothing small and thin slipped out and fluttered onto the table.

"Hm?"

I bent down, picking it up between my fingers, realizing it was a photo. In a place like this, sothing as modern as a photograph shouldn't exist, but ever since Leonamon introduced their advancents, even capturing monts like this had beco easy. I stared at the image, the dim light of the torches in the background illuminating figures draped in hooded cloaks, their faces hidden in shadow.

The flas flickered ominously, casting long shadows.

"So, this is the Eclipse..."

It had to be their headquarters, or maybe one of the many places they operated from. But as my eyes traced the figures, sothing stopped cold.

"Huh?"

One of them... I knew that silhouette. My chest tightened, and I squinted at the photo. It couldn't be... could it? The person's hood was drawn over their face, but just as the photo was taken, they turned slightly, catching the light.

It was enough to make out so faint details—enough to give that sinking feeling in my gut. The hair, the way they stood... it felt too familiar.

No, this couldn't be the person I thought it was... right?

It was then that sothing else caught my eye. There was a faint marking on the back of the photo, like soone had scrawled sothing in a rush. My fingers trembled slightly as I turned it over, squinting at the words in the dim light.

"This might be the last ti. I'm sorry, Grace and Hana."

That single sentence hit harder than I expected. My chest tightened, and for a split second, I felt a pang of sothing—maybe guilt, maybe understanding. So, Philip wasn't just a heartless bastard. He'd been caught up in the Eclipse, manipulated like a pawn. The bitter taste in my mouth grew. Maybe...

maybe he wasn't as much of a scumbag as I thought.

But then, I turned back to the book in my hands. The first line jumped off the page, practically smacking in the face.

"I have a sin to confess. I cheated on my pregnant wife."

Yeah, I take that shit back. He was a scumbag.

I kept reading, my grip tightening on the edges of the book as the words continued to unfold like a slow, sickening revelation.

"This guilt... it's sothing I'll carry to my grave. But the woman I cheated with... she's part of an organization known as the Eclipse. They worship an ancient dragon—one of the beings who created worlds. At first, I didn't care.

The woman I was fucking behind Grace's back was like a sweet, forbidden angel. She gave the kind of comfort I couldn't find with my wife. That was all it took to turn my heart, to make betray the woman who was carrying my child."

It looked like the start of a diary—Philip's diary, detailing his dirty affair with so woman other than Grace. I wasn't planning on giving a shit, but sothing about it pulled in. The fact that the woman he was screwing around with belonged to the Eclipse... that got my attention. Sothing about this whole thing just felt off, so I kept reading.

"I told her I'd join in whatever organization she was involved with. It seed harmless at first, like a regular church, just a place to pray. But it wasn't anything pure like that. People were wearing hoods, chanting praises to a Lord I'd never even heard of. At first, I was skeptical. Was the woman I was fucking around with really tied up in this lunatic shit?

I couldn't believe it. She was an angel."

"Maybe I was blinded. The woman I fell for... deep down, I knew it was too good to be true. She was lying to the whole ti. I found out the real reason she ca to —it wasn't love. She needed sothing from .

An artifact, one that supposedly had the power to leap between worlds. It was said that humans once used it to summon Jeanne into this world to fight off the demons. Apparently, my ancestor was the one who hid it—under the very house and Grace live in. But I had no clue where it was, and I was sure I'd never find it."

"I wanted out of the cult. I was done. I saw her... the woman I thought I loved... having a three-way with two other n, right in front of . She didn't give a damn, didn't even try to hide it.

I didn't feel despair, though. I felt guilt. Guilt for cheating on Grace. But by the ti I realized how deep I was in... it was too late. I already belonged to them."