Hero of Darkness

Kahn looked Victor straight in the eyes and asked the real reason behind the whole outrageous act of the Demi-Human faction by massacring thousands of soldiers.

Although their main intention was just to get him publicly defamed and overthrow his rule… Kahn had many suspicions of his own.

Because the faction filled with millions of people and Saints who lived for more than a century acted impatiently. By no means did he believe that a faction full of wise and cunning people would act so suddenly without foolproof and extensive planning first.

But they still ended up making the mistake as if there was a time margin they had to meet because even the smartest people make mistakes when they're desperate.

This was the main reason why Kahn believed that what he found out before capturing Victor was only a half-truth. That there was more than met the eye.

Victor, who was mentally broken at this moment after going through the soul-shivering experience of having all of his bones broken and flesh squashed over and over again for the past 2 days… had an aghast expression.

Despite going through all that torment… he still didn't think that Kahn could actually see through and ask for the second reason.

"How did you… how did you know?" he asked as he panted heavily.

"You should know better that I didn't become who I am today without using my brain.

Well, I don't have time. Tell me now or this torture will continue and forget about it stopping anytime soon." replied Kahn as he gave a final intimation.

Victor on the other end had an ashen expression as soon as he heard Kahn's warning.

At this point… he wasn't worried about dying but suffering through that cycle of immeasurable pain again and again. Because each time… he was losing his sanity and wanted this torture to end.

"To… to keep you busy." spoke Victor as he had bare minimum strength just to speak.

"What?!" asked Kahn with a befuddled expression.

"Our Demi-Human faction wanted to not only takeover Verlassen but also keep you busy so that you couldn't visit that place which will be opened in 2 months from now." revealed Victor.

"So that we have fewer candidates entering that zone.

That way, I would have the chance to complete the task.

The lesser, the better." he iterated.

"After this incident… the faction had planned to summon you to the capital and convict you under false charges in order to keep you busy till the time limit finished." explained the demonkin.

Shock!

Kahn had nothing but a perplexed countenance as Victor revealed the other side of the truth.

[What the fuck?! This doesn't make any sense!] Kahn thought as he could swallow this new revelation.

"Just for that… your faction didn't mind having 20 thousand people getting killed?

What exactly is in that place?!" he asked.

Victor spoke with a fatigued expression.

"Even I don't know the complete truth. All I know is that it had something to do with the Imperial family and this invisible barrier that stops the Saints from entering this fiefdom is actually just an outer layer.

My father once told me that the primary and stronger barriers are inside that zone. Protecting something that's not allowed to be spoken about.

Only the three faction leaders and the clan leaders of the main three clans of respective factions know the truth." he said.

"But isn't your clan one of the three top clans of the Demi-Human faction?" asked Kahn.

"Yes… but after you defeated me in the Emperor's Chosen competition… I lost the right to know the hidden truth." spoke Victor as his figure slouched in defeat.

[What the hell is so important that they went as far as setting up the whole competition just to get an advantage to select a fiefdom of their choosing.

And now even massacred thousands of innocent people just to stop me from entering?

Are they certain that somehow I will complete the said task?] thought Kahn.

[Other than the history of the previous Hero of Lightning dying there… I don't know anything about that area.

Even that Allister as well as Ismaetrazel only gave me vague information and the Pureblood faction hasn't given me proper details about exactly what I have to do there even at this point.

The more I see it… the more complicated things are being revealed.] he concluded.

Victor then got on his knees in a pleading position and spoke…

"Look… I've told you everything I know. So please… just kill me. I can't go through it anymore."

His defeated and hoarse voice resounded inside the 1 kilometer radius of Kahn's dimensional domain.

From the outside, this massive black dome-like domain barrier sized only 200 meters but this skill that came with his Dimensional Law divine ability was five times bigger from the inside.

And now, Kahn decided that it was time he stopped playing the torture game.

"Well… your fate lies in not my hands but his." said Kahn as he pointed his forefinger towards the berserker general in red armor.

A shiver ran under Victor's spine as he looked at Jugram again.

It was this very man who had been torturing him without a break for the past two days.

Even his face looked that of a grim reaper to Victor now.

"I want to continue this. But you have something that I desperately want." spoke Jugram as he flexed his arms and neck.

"What?.." asked Victor with a puzzled expression.

"Your bloodline." he said.

"What do you mean?" asked Victor with a confused expression.

"Bloodline isn't something that can be acquired just from someone's body." he said.

But before he could ask any questions…

BOOM!

A loud shockwave full of fire and a chaotic aura suddenly erupted.

Bang!

Thud!

Victor's body was thrown 20 meters away from the shockwaves.

And finally, beside Kahn and Armin… a massive 12 meter tall figure of a monstrous humanoid creature whose body was filled with bone-like armor over his shoulders, arms and legs while the rest of the body had black and red flesh as if a never-ending blistering heat ran under the flesh.

The temperature of the surrounding suddenly rose by at least 10 degrees as Jugram finally took his real Chaos Demon form.

Thud!

Thud!

Victor was rooted on the spot, completely bewildered and out of wits as he suddenly saw this demonic creature appearing out of nowhere.

"What the hell are you? How come a monster like this is here?!" he exclaimed in fear.

He then looked at Kahn and Armin, both of whom did not seem surprised at all.

"Who are you? This shouldn't even be possible!" he asked in a jittery voice as his entire body shivered under Jugram's terrifying aura.

Kahn gleefully replied…

"I'm just your friendly neighborhood Hero of Darkness."

He said and took a sip of wine.

Shocked!

Victor was completely bewildered.

"A hero… you… you're one of them!" shouted Victor as he finally came to a realization.

Although in Rakos Empire, news and knowledge about Gods, their churches, and even the chosen Heroes were forbidden… the top brass knew of their existence.

Only now did he realize that Kahn wasn't someone without a background. Rather… he was not from this world from the beginning.

He was one of the rumored Heroes that even Victor thought of as nothing but myths. And these so-called Heroes only existed in other empires but were never found in Rakos since the time of its founding.

And Victor had made an enemy out of the biggest misfortunes of this world.

Among the three noble factions and their younger generation… he was seen as a prodigy. But in front of Kahn…

Victor realized that he wasn't even a stepping stone.

"Impossible… this is not possible…" Victor spoke to himself as he tried to deny the reality in front of him.

Thud!

Thud!

Jugram's loud steps resounded as the giant Hell Berserker kept looking at puny semi-saint demonkin who was no different than a defenseless newborn in front of him.

A stream of tears dropped from Victor's eyes as he came to accept his fate… no longer having even the slightest will to live or put up any resistance.

"Be proud of yourself. Even without knowing… you have proved yourself useful to my master." said Jugram in a domineering and grim voice.

And instead of giving the halfbreed demonkin a chance to respond…

Step!

Crack!!

Jugram stepped on Victor's chest and crushed his entire torso under his massive feet.

Splurt!

Like a squashed tomato… blood and intensities spread on the soiled ground and Jugram lifted his feet.

He looked down on the tiny opponent. Half of Victor's body was turned into meat paste and only a head with a horrified expression came into his sight.

Using his blood-controlling skill, he pulled up the gray core of the semi-saint Victor Apopis.

Thud!

Thud!

He walked back and kneeled in front of Kahn as he presented him with Victor's core.

But instead, Kahn got up from his throne and walked toward Victor's corpse, and placed his hands on the bleeding and mangled corpse.

"Absorb!"

He spent a few hours absorbing Victor's skills and bloodlines.

But when it came to the semi-saint's core… he looked at Jugram who had reverted to his human form.

"Although it looks very compelling… I can't level up again until my soul is completely healed. Besides…" said Kahn as he gave a content smile to the general.

"This will benefit you more than me."