CHAPTER 419: CHAPTER 419. THE END OF THE VIMODIAL SOCIETY

The moment Kailen clapped his hands, extreme pain assaulted every fibre of their beings.

"About time."

Kailen had spread a colorless, gaseous, and odorless poison directed toward them into the atmosphere. The moment he encountered them was the moment he had initiated the process. From the time of Swarmy’s shock at how Kailen had found out about them, to the moment they started discussing how to put an end to him—their fates had already been sealed.

And Kailen had been privy to every conversation they had. He understood everything they attempted to drive at. The minuscule facial expressions, the twitch of muscles, the slightest eye movements—they were all enough to reveal their trains of thought, courtesy of emotional resonance.

But he was calm.

He found their reasonings funny.

They were already dead men the moment they had encountered him—not figuratively, but literally. This was because the poison had begun working the instant they crossed his path. By the time they arrived at a decision to try and self-detonate alongside him, and were about to execute it, they started screaming, as the poison’s final effects kicked in.

" You should be feeling extremely powerful right now, right?" Kailen chuckled, dripping with sarcasm.

From his tone, his victims—and the empirewide audience—knew he was mocking them for their powerlessness. Saying they should be feeling extremely powerful was purely ironic.

" You...what did you do to us?"

Claudia screamed, her face twitching in extreme pain, her body swelling unnaturally and spilling out greenish, acrid substance—alongside the others. The sight was too horrifying to watch.

But the empirewide audience deemed it her portion.

Then, before she could utter another word, she found herself in some sort of hallucination...

This time, she was the prey, instead of the predator. She saw herself as a victim, and then she saw her face too, as the predator.

The vimodial contractor version of her smiled, cold and merciless, and started absorbing her life force.

" Nooo... please... don’t kill me... please... noo... The pain, it’s too much... make it stop! Claudia, you wretched vimodial contractor! Don’t kill me, don’t kill me... ahh!"

She screamed, bellowing, her physical body being destroyed by the poison, her psyche breaking preternaturally under the hallucinogenic agent embedded within it.

Kailen observed everything with casual indifference.

He turned to Swarmy, who was experiencing a hell of his own, caught in his own psychological and physical torment—his body swelling and eroding grotesquely like that of Claudia’s and the others.

Swarmy saw them: the people who were dearest to him. Those he had sacrificed for power. His wife, his daughters, his son.

He had lied to the empire that they died due to unforeseen causes. But only he knew what he had actually done to them. He had feasted on his loved ones as a vimodial contractor.

" We will kill you!"

" Murderer!"

" How dare you kill us? We were your family!"

" We didn’t have much, but we had you!"

" And you killed us! You killed us! You killed us!"

" The pain of watching you absorb my life force when I was pregnant with another child!"

" The pain of watching the person we admired the most, gleefully look us in the face as we watched him kill us! You even said you enjoyed it!"

" So why are you crying now?"

He screamed, " Please, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I killed you—yes, my daughters, my wife, my son! Please forgive me! I shouldn’t have let my ambition make me sacrifice you! I shouldn’t have become a vimodial contractor! I shouldn’t have feasted on you!"

Tears streamed down his cheeks as he spoke.

" Please, just make it stop!... Please kill me, you want to kill me—son, wife, daughters—kill me and let this end!"

The empirewide audience listened to everything in stunned shock, fear, and silence. Revelations spilled from the mouths of the leaders of the Vimodial society, caught in hallucinations induced by Kailen Darkhaven—a poison that made them confess their horrifying deeds, especially Swarmy’s.

The empire had mourned the death of his family. But through whatever hell Kailen had added to the poisons, he forced them to relive the truth.

What sort of monsters were these vimodial contractors?

Kailen felt satisfied as he stood by the side, observing everything with casual indifference. These were the leaders of the vimodial society. They were trophies deserving the highest artistry of death.

He had to break them psychologically, erode their mental acuity into pieces, slice and fragment their psyche bit by bit. Only then would the art of death be complete, and wholesome. Some people deserved death—not only at a physical level, but at the very core of their being, their psyche.

The low-ranked members his friends had not been able to handle had already been killed by his lethal, swift, unconventional poisons without cinematic treatment. The poisons targeted them, and they simply died.

But these bastards were high-ranking members, right? They deserved special treatment. The same way they enjoyed the high benefits of the vimodial society—was it not only fair that in death, they were given special treatment too?

And besides...

"Isn’t this fun?"

Kailen suddenly smiled, a smirk tugging at the edge of his lips, his eyes indifferent.

The empirewide audience shuddered at Kailen Darkhaven’s ruthless nature. He was enjoying this. They were glad he was putting an end to them, but this level of torture—others could execute torture, deem it necessary, but none would do it with enjoyment, with such... pleasure.

Chills crawled up their spines. This man was no hero. He was a nutcase, a villain, a monster who savored the torture of his enemies. And yet... why did they feel respect toward him?

Had this not always been the case? Kailen Darkhaven was a monster. Yet he was admired, even loved.

The way he acted, the way he executed his wickedness—just like now—it was art. Justifiable art. He would never harm those who were not a threat to him or his loved ones.

And, of course, the vimodials and their contractors were a threat to everyone in the universe.

It made sense to the audience. Kailen was not ending the vimodial society for the people—he was doing it for his loved ones.

Also, vimodial contractors destroyed his father’s former sect on his memorial day.

He only started the live feed for the sake of evidential proof of the presence of the vimodial contractors in the academy, before the empire.

His hatred for the vimodial contractors and vimodials was personal. It had nothing to do with heroism.

Another personal reason for the Livestream the audience could not discern too was that , Kailen was sending a message to the vimodial contractors at the Frontlines.

Some of them were obviously watching.

Kailen was telling them:

I’m coming for you.

Also, Kailen was aware the crown prince wasn’t threatened. Yet Kailen still sent him a message with his actions,

I hope you are enjoying yourself watching this.

One he knew the crown prince smart enough to grasp.

Finally, the hallucinations of the leaders ceased. They floated, forms bloated, yet strangely shriveled, tethered at the edge of death. Kailen stared at them one last time.

Swarmy—eyes hollow, broken. A shell. A psychological vegetable.

Claudia—same. Alongside the others.

Expected results.

Then, the poison’s last embers acted. They burst into mists.

The whole empire, was silent.