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.

—End of Chapter 224—

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