1353 Invasion On The Estate

Moments Earlier

“My brethren… the time has come.”

The darkness covered the sky like a black blanket, having only the full moon wash upon the clearing with full brightness.

In this clearing, a congregation of shadows could be seen.

Fifty-one, to be exact.

Standing before the cult-like group of men who had dark robes and crimson orbs in their hands was a hooded man with long white hair.

His wrinkled face told of his advanced age, and his eyes were completely filled with blackness—save for the orange glows that served as his irises.

He had a crimson gem on his forehead, and a necklace whose central crystal also glowed with the same color.

Finally, he had a staff on one hand—one designed like the gnarled branch of an ancient tree.

The wooden object had a large crimson crystal at its top, and it exuded forbidden, malevolent power.

One could only imagine how many lives had to be taken in order to make such a potent Blood Stone.

Compared to the crimson orbs that the rest of the fifty or so men wielded, his was of far better quality.

“Once the Magic Barrier around the Estate is disabled, it’ll alert the Family Butler—Aldred. That is the one we have to watch out for the most.”

According to the intel they had, Aldred was a 7-Star Adventurer in his prime.

That meant he was rather skilled and powerful.

“He’s aged now, but he should not be underestimated. As planned, we will be using ‘that’ against him.”

The men who stood before the hooded man nodded, their eyes showing a mix of excitement and savagery.

“As for the main mission, five of you will sneak into the mansion and search for those two children.”

Their mission was to retrieve Neron Kaelid and Serah Crimson; two geniuses who were currently dwelling in the mansion.

Since their real target was the owner of the house—Mordred Kaelid—having his child and the daughter of his close friend would be more than enough to create a hostage situation.

They chose this exact moment because their intel told them he wouldn’t be around.

No… that wasn’t quite accurate.

They HAD made sure he wouldn’t be around at this particular moment.

“They should be in different rooms, so you’ll have to spread out and search for them.”

The big problem would be if Aldred was to interfere with their plans of kidnapping the two children.

‘That’s why we have to make a big ruckus and draw his attention here…’ The white-haired man grinned maliciously.

It was a cool night, and the breeze felt absolutely pleasant to everyone present.

“Kill anyone who stands in your way. We only need the kids.” The order was given.

All the men nodded, instantly understanding what was going on.

“Then… let us begin.”

********

Moments Later

As his minions—forty-five of them now—trailed behind Kissel, he took in the night breeze.

The five who were meant to invade the mansion had gone ahead, so it was his duty to eliminate the only challenge to their mission at the moment.

The Butler Aldred.

“I’ll make sure he isn’t able to ignore us. Though, I doubt he hasn’t already sensed the barrier being partially broken through…”

If they could lure him to them, then it was to their advantage. They could set their trap and utilize their trump card to win.

“All of you, begin with the preparations, while I—”

Before Kissel could say any more, he felt a disturbance that caused him to take a few steps back, as if nearly stumbling.

“H-huh…?” He muttered in surprise as his long white hair danced underneath his hood.

His darkened eyes widened as he twitched.

“Looks like Kain is dead. That was… fast.”

It had barely been a minute since the entire operation started, and one of their men was already eliminated.

‘Could it be a trap? There’s no intel about that, though…’

The only rational conclusion that Kissel could get to was that Aldred had begun to make his move already.

‘We ensured they wore cloaking Items before venturing in. How could he sense them even at that?’

Before Kissel could conclude his train of thoughts, two more deaths followed consecutively.

‘E-eh…?’

He couldn’t detect how they died or what killed them, but he could feel the numbers of the five dropping.

There were only two now.

“Looks like I’ll have to check things for myself…” Kissel turned to the forty-five, who had already formed a circle and were initiating the ‘process.’

‘I’ll leave them to this. It wouldn’t do any good if our numbers drop any further.’

Their entire Coven of Blood Mages had converged for the success of this mission.

Failure wasn’t even an option.

~VWUUUSSH~

Distortions in space appeared around Kissel, and he slowly vanished from sight as blackness shrouded his entire body.

“It seems I’ll have to personally capture them.” A bitter smile played on his wrinkled face.

“Shouldn’t be too hard.”

********

“Where’s the next one…?” Neron’s cold voice echoed within the room.

He was staring blankly into the air as his blue eyes warbled with intense bloodlust.

It caused Serah to tremble in fear.

“N-Neron…?” She whispered his name, even though she was well aware that the boy in front of her was nothing like the one she knew.

“Neron!” Serah yelled, sweeping her hand through the air to hit his face again.

She hoped very deeply that it would wake him from his scary state.

However—

“What do you think you’re doing?”

—He easily caught her hand and held it tightly. 𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Serah trembled as she felt chills down her spine while he stared down at her as a predator would look down on its prey.

“Why are you attacking me? Are you being controlled by them? Is this an illusion? Could it be…?”

Serah squeaked in fear as Neron began to walk closer to her, his gaze growing more intense as she powerlessly looked on.

“… Are you my enemy too?”

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A

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I hope you enjoyed the chapter, even though it was purely info dumps and all.

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