CHAPTER 178: CHAPTER 178: DAMNED.

Chapter 178 – Damned.

Everything went blank for a moment, looking like the whole world had been deprived of light from the heavens before Asael found himself back outside the dungeon.

He looked around him, and only blackened trees that shot toward the sky, black rocks and black grass that fluttered madly against the whirling wind filled his vision.

"Ah. I am back... I am finally back," Asael muttered as he closed his eyes and sucked a deep breath from the air around him, and a contented expression appeared on his face as the air was no longer tainted with death and decay.

He smiled faintly, then looked at the dungeon gate that was about to disappear... forever.

He stood there, basking in this feeling for a few moments, this feeling of freedom before he entered the shadows and went back to his house.

He was in the forest beside the capital of the empire, DamnedCity. It would take around a day or two to arrive there, but with his newfound mastery of shadows and his eagerness to see his daughter once again, Asael managed to arrive at the capital in six hours.

He emerged from the shadows a mile from the towering, light-absorbing black gates of the capital, walking calmly in disguise.

His body had been healed, and he had taken new clothes. Looking at him, you would never believe all the atrocities he went through.

And that’s the point. Asael never planned to tell this story to anyone.

’Let’s make it a secret between me and my friend Kaden. Ah... I miss him already. Where does he even live? What part of Fokay?’ He couldn’t help but wonder and feel a little bit sad about leaving his friend, but he shook his head and focused on the moment.

Arriving at the gate, Asael went through the procedure he knew too well and then went in without any problem.

The Empire of the Damned — and its capital, DamnedCity by extension — was totally different from the Celestial Empire. Whereas the Celestial Empire was made of gold and colors that inspired awe, love, and trust with numerous races together that lived in harmony...

It was completely different for DamnedCity. Here, the atmosphere held a constant forlorn taste. The houses were all in the same color: black. The floor was made of stone as black as midnight that echoed a little bit too loudly when you walked on it.

The streets barely had any traffic, people, or even noise. It was calm. But not the usual peaceful calm — the calm of unease.

The few people who were outside wore expressions that looked like they were tired of everything. They walked sloppily as if life didn’t matter. Their eyes held heavy bags under them, looking like they hadn’t slept for years.

There was no merchant outside, and honestly, no merchant would be dumb enough to come to buy in this place.

This was not a place to flourish or seek opportunities.

No, this was a place where people who had lost everything in life came to find others like them.

This... this was the place for the damned.

Of course, not everyone was like these people. The nobles of the Empire were different. After all, they were born through this lamentable land.

And you can hardly hate something if it’s all you know your entire life.

Asael was a noble from this empire. Not only that, but he was even the Patriarch of the Shadeborn Family after the death of his father.

And right now, as he stood in front of the door of his seemingly noble house, Asael paused.

His house’s state was truly a sorry one. The tiles were worn and dilapidated. The walls were weathered, and even the door was broken.

A noble house? Yes, but definitely the poorest and weakest noble house.

He sighed heavily, already sensing all the issues he would have to go through to put all this into place again.

But soon a smile appeared on his face as he remembered that finally...

’I will see my daughter...’ he thought with eagerness as he strode forward briskly.

The interior of the house was even worse, with moss and unweeded grass growing out here and there. The walls were filled with fissures and the air inside was filling with the scent of dust and rust.

Asael stopped abruptly the moment he was inside.

In front of him was an old man wearing worn-out butler clothes, trying to clean the scarred floor with his creaking back.

"Old man Luke...?" Asael said, giving the old man the scare of his life as he jerked so hard that a loud crack echoed through the air before he fell on the ground, holding his back with one hand and writhing like a serpent, his voice loud.

"Arghhhhh, my back! My back! My back!!!"

"OLD MAN!!!!" Asael ran towards him and gave him one potion Kaden had given him.

It immediately appeased the old man as he finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Asael.

His expression was confused for a moment before his eyes — with barely any eyebrows on them — opened wide in shock.

"Master? Master Asael, you are back!"

"Oh!! Thanks to the shadows! Thanks to the shadows!!!"

He grabbed Asael’s arms tightly as he cried with a shaking body, thanking the shadows for returning Asael alive.

The latter smiled softly, but he didn’t have the time to entertain him. He wanted to know where his daughter was, as his heart was throbbing madly because...

...because he was not sensing his daughter’s presence inside the house.

"Old man Luke, calm down and tell me... tell me how many years have passed, and where is my daughter? Where is she? Tell me where?" he said with a strong and authoritative voice but also one laced with fear beyond measure.

The old man finally calmed and looked at Asael, his face weighed with guilt and sorrow.

Asael’s heart started to quake even more seeing this, his body trembling as he clenched his jaws tightly to stop himself.

He spoke again, this time his voice was like a demon of madness.

"Where. Is. She?"

The old man shuddered at his voice.

"Master... master... two years have passed since you disappeared and... and young mistress Valentine has been taken over by her mother..."

He paused, then...

"She has been taken over by the Princess of the Damned, Rose Drought."

At his words, the whole house was swallowed by unsettling darkness.

"SHE DARED!!!!!!!"

Asael bellowed under the whipping wind, causing his already broken house to completely collapse into rubble.

The Prince of Shadows, Asael Shadeborn, was angry.

...

Darklore — East.

Kaden appeared back just outside the entrance of the dungeon, his mind clouded by infinite questions about the last words of Asael. But soon his thoughts halted, and he couldn’t help but smile at the sight in front of him.

The spider — Necroweaver — was just before him with its endless threads. Its intelligent black eyes locked onto him with controlled hunger and curiosity. It looked like it wanted so badly to capture Kaden, to inspect him, as it had waited for him all this time.

But Kaden was happy. Truly and sincerely happy.

His lips curled into a lethal smile.

"Good... very good," he muttered.

Reditha flashed in his hand, her crimson blade covered with wisps of crimson liquid flame streaked with a tinge of blue.

His expression turned frigid like a millennium block of ice as he looked at the spider.

"Come here, you vermin."

"Come...come and let me grant you another life... one more fitting for a being like you."

—End of Chapter 178—