CH 147

Suddenly, he heard a growl and something moved in the dark. Estian couldn’t repress his laughter. It seemed the circle wasn’t intended to contain him, but something else. Looking in the direction of the sound, he heard heavy panting as something rushed towards him. It must be one of the grand duke’s experiments.

‘I should send it off comfortably,’ Estian thought with pity. He knew Farus continued with his experiments after the laboratory was destroyed. The least he could do was put the creature out of its misery. When he stepped towards the sound, he found his path blocked by something. He raised his head in puzzlement. ‘Glass? Why is there glass in a place like this?’

He stopped breathing and stared in horror at the black mass on the other side of the glass. It wore the same clothes as him, and held the same sword too. This was no glass… “A mirror?” Estian choked out. An instant later, the only sounds that remained were Estian’s screams.

* * *

“Kraaaaaaagh!”

Grand Duke Farus gazed at the floor, which began to crack the same moment the screams began. A black fog was reaching through the cracks and swirled towards the grand duke. When the fog made contact with his skin, it blackened and Farus was engulfed by a wave of agony. He laughed through the pain. His death was sealed the minute Estian stepped into Etia, and he had no intention of making out alive. Instead, there was something else that he wanted.

As the cracks in the floor widened, a black mass emerged and expanded to fill the castle. It looked like an enormous mass of sludge, continuously clumping and falling apart, with two shining red eyes at its center. Farus stared at it in awe. How he had wished to lay eyes upon this form again—the most perfect specimen of Eugendiph’s blood ever created. It was a mass of tremendous raw power. An unstoppable force. It was a cumulation of insanity.

“Estian,” the grand duke breathed in a voice of ecstasy, “that’s who you really are.”

Those were the grand duke’s final words before he was swallowed by the black mass.

* * *

Kane looked up at the sky, startled by the sounds of an inhuman roar. He had been organizing the knights, as they garrisoned in the mountains far beyond Etia’s capital city, waiting for the emperor’s return.

“The hell? What was that sound?” Shouts could be heard among the knights. The knights of the imperial army were not easily rattled, but they all paled at the sound. Kane was no exception.

“All knights retreat at full speed! Leave the dukedom of Etia at once!” Kane yelled. “Quickly!”

“What? What are you saying?” one of the knights nearest to him questioned.

It was unheard of for the imperial army to retreat before the emperor returned. However, the terrified expression on the knight commander’s face was all the convincing it took for the men to spring into action. Immediately, they ran to their steeds and began retreating with haste.

Kane watched until the knights had disappeared into the distance, before turning and running back towards the capital. There was no point in trying to ride a horse; no living animal would be willing to head in that direction. Running along the mountain path like a madman, he reached the peak in an instant.

“Good God…” he muttered despairingly. “Your Majesty, why…”

The capital city of the dukedom of Etia, which was located between the plains at the end of the mountain range and near the edge of the ocean, was now covered in a thick black miasma. At first glance, it looked like black fog that moved in the wind, but Kane knew better. His face was marred with hopelessness, as he recalled a conversation he once had with the emperor.

“You might wind up seeing something horrifying if you stay by my side,” Estian remarked.

“Horrifying? What might you be speaking of?”

“I’m not going to explain, but you’ll know it when you see it. Anyway, if it happens and you end up encountering it, then run. It will kill everything in its path.”

“Is it possible to live if you run?”

“Yes. You can at least survive for the distance you run.”

Estian had a bitter smile on his face. His last remark carried the heavy implication that death was inevitable. Kane had wondered whether it would truly be as bleak as the emperor made it out to be, or if there might still be a way out, but realizing that Estian had said all he would on the matter, the subject was dropped.

Now, as he watched the expanding black mass slowly engulf Etia’s capital city, he finally understood. He realized the truth immediately—everything was going to die.

‘Kraaaah!’ A terrible roar reverberated through the skies.

* * *

“Huh?” Cecile raised her head. “Did you hear something just now?”

“No, what sound?” Tania asked, shaking her head.

“It’s nothing. I must’ve heard wrong.” Even as Cecile dismissed her concern, she gazed at the sky with a light frown. ‘Odd. I thought I heard something roaring?’ It was an eerie, heart-chilling sound. A shiver ran down her spine.

“Where should I put this?” Tania asked, holding out The Forest of Tetin.

“Oh, that? I haven’t seen Aled around in a while, so you can put it in—” Cecile faltered mid-sentence as her eyes widened in surprise.