Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 702: Death [1]

Tik, Tik—

10:23 P.M.

"The area has been cleared. We can proceed with our advancement. Our time is limited. We need to be extremely swift with our operation."

It was dead in the night.

Rustle~

The moon hung high in the sky, casting a pale glow over the forest below. A gentle wind stirred the leaves, whispering through the trees. Deep within the woods, shadowy figures began to stir, emerging one by one as they stared at the path ahead of them.

Time was ticking.

They needed to move as fast and as swiftly as possible.

—The Easter perimeter has been cleared. There wasn’t much of a resistance.

While they moved, voices whispered into their ears.

—The Western perimeter has also been cleared. You can go ahead and move further in. Their forces have been thinned out a lot. This shouldn’t be difficult.

"Understood."

The figures gradually picked up their pace. There were ten of them in total, each belonging to an elite assassination unit. Their presence was thin, and their formation was tight, making sure that they stood approximately a few meters apart from each other.

Each one of them was a highly trained operative. Aside from the Emperor, the ruling Duchies, and the Monarchs themselves, there were few targets in the world they couldn’t eliminate.

Currently, they had one goal.

Assassinate the Head of the Evenus Household.

He was their current target.

The operation was one that had been under preparation for a very long time. No one understood who the real mastermind behind the operation was, but it was mainly a collective of neighboring noble houses.

With the Evenus Household’s recent rise and struggle after swallowing the Raimsal, Kaliak, Mainz, and Hindua territories, they became a prime target for the taking.

Of course, such a large operation wouldn’t slide with the Megrail Household. Hence, they were undertaking the current operation.

If Viscount Evenus were to somehow die, it would provide the perfect justification for the other noble houses to move in and claim a piece of his territory. Having already done the splits beforehand, all focus was now on the operation.

—Slow down. You’ve reached the outskirts of Valemount. The Evenus Household is now ahead of you. Whenever you’re ready, you may begin.

Upon hearing the voice, the four figures stopped.

They checked the time.

Tik, Tik—

10:25 P.M.

Their bodies tensed up slightly. Not out of fear, but out of readiness.

Normally, the distance between Velemount, Westborn’s main city, and the Evenus estate would take an hour to traverse. But at their current speed, they could cover it in just three minutes.

—You have exactly ten minutes in order to complete the mission. Make sure you do not go over the time limit.

Three minutes to get there. Five minutes to complete their task, and one minute to escape and leave.

Escaping was easier than infiltrating for them. They each had their own means to escape.

—Are you ready?

The bodies of the ten figures tightened, a powerful pressure coming out of their bodies, are their eyes were constricted, and they set their gaze towards the distance.

Then, as their bodies started to warm up, the world grew silent.

—Your ten minutes start now. May the operation begin.

Swooosh!

The surrounding greenery rustled as their figures vanished, darting through the distance with astonishing speed. With their speed, they were able to cover the massive gap between Velemount and the Household in a matter of minutes.

Tik, Tik—

10:27 P.M.

By the time the second minute clocked in, the estate appeared in the vision of all ten figures as they came to a stop, quietly evening out their breathing as they all settled their gaze towards the second floor, where they could see the light of the office was still on.

"The target should be there. I sense several presences within the place, but they’re all rather weak. Let’s enter quickly."

They didn’t waste a single second.

No, they couldn’t waste a single second.

By the time their breathing was back to normal, they started moving again, infiltrating the estate as quietly and as swiftly as possible, moving past the few guards and butlers that remained within the estate.

By the time they arrived at the office of the Viscount, they actually found that to had more than half a minute to spare.

"Let’s go."

Their figures merged with the darkness, dissolving into shadows as they slipped through the narrow gap beneath the door.

It was there that they caught sight of a figure standing by the window, slowly unbuttoning his white shirt.

The room was extremely silent.

It was so quiet that one’d be able to hear a pin drop.

Tik, Tik—

10:28 P.M.

But eventually, the silence was shattered

"My brother most likely doesn’t like how much I’ve changed..."

The figures in the room tensed for a moment, looking at each other in alarm. Could he have sensed them?

No, that shouldn’t be possible.

They were all aware of the Viscount’s strength. In fact, even now, they could see he was merely a Tier 3.

"...It’s not like I wanted to change. That’s the last thing that I wanted to do. It’s just that... change sometimes is necessary in order to survive."

The Viscount’s voice grew even softer, his sharp gaze moving away from the window and onto the room.

"Even then, I tried. I really tried not to show him what I’ve truly become. But it’s harder than I thought. I think... I’m too far gone now. There’s no coming back for me, but that’s fine. He’s changed for the better, and that’s gratifying to see."

As his eyes wandered around the room, they eventually fell on a certain spot.

It was the lamp that rested beside one of the sofas around the room.

"That’s why it doesn’t matter if I am like this..."

The shadow of the lamp wiggled, splitting apart in seconds before reforming into ten different cloaked figures that appeared on each side of Aldric, stabbing at his body in all directions.

Head, neck, heart, stomach...

They attacked all of the vitals in one synchronized attack.

Spurt!

Blood leaked everywhere.

"Succes—"

Before one of them could even get their words out, a hand shot straight towards them as their eyes widened and they took a step back, slashing their swords at the hand and severing it directly.

Thump!

The hand fell onto the ground while the cloaked figures looked at Aldric, keeping their weapons lodged into his body.

And yet...

Standing in silence, Aldric stared at his hand.

"Why is he not falling...?"

"What’s going on?"

His abnormal reaction set everyone on edge.

"It should be soon. Maybe it’s—"

Everyone stopped abruptly.

The world turned quiet as all eyes fell on Aldric, who still stared at his severed arm.

Then—

A terrifying sight unfolded as fibers burst from the severed area, rapidly intertwining to form a new hand.

The sight brought everything to a sudden standstill as the cloaked figures couldn’t understand what had happened.

"H-how could this..."

"This d-oesn’t ma-ke any sense..."

"Of course it does."

Aldric’s calm voice echoed, bringing them out of their thoughts as he reached his hand for the nearest person.

"——!"

Immediately, they moved back, slicing at the approaching hand with a pair of daggers.

Thump!

A familiar scene played out, but the moment of relief vanished quickly as Aldric’s arm continued forward, regenerating mid-motion, grabbing onto the figure’s head.

BANG!

Blood sprayed all over as a figure limply fell onto the floor.

The sequence of events occurred in the fraction of a second, and by the time the others had reacted, it was already too late.

"Attack!"

Snapping out of it, they all attacked Aldric at once, slicing at every part of his body. However, despite the onslaught of attacks, Aldric remained indifferent to it all.

Every cut stitched itself as if time rewound.

Every wound faded like ink washed from parchment.

Every lost limb bloomed anew.

"What is happening!?"

"....How is this happening!?"

Realizing the situation, the people grew horrified.

But it was too late.

Aldric was relentless. Even with all the wounds and severed body parts, he continued to slowly and steadily kill each member that attacked him. His calmness and indifference brought chills to the surroundings as Aldric’s eyes grew hazy.

Mortum...

It was a word derived from Latin, meaning ’death’.

It was a name that Noel had never understood. His powers... It made it so that he himself would never die.

He was immortal.

There were far more fitting names for him than Mortum.

It was surprisingly Emmet who had told him the name was fitting for him. Back then, Noel didn’t understand.

But after everythign that had gone through, he now understood.

He wasn’t called Mortum because he was immortal.

Spurt—!

Squeezing the head of another cloaked figure and feeling their blood spurt all over his face, Noel’s eyes flashed.

"I... do not fear death."

He tossed the body to the side while directed his gaze towards another figure,

A long sword stabbed at his neck, nearly severing it in two.

However, it just stopped before it could, as fibers wove themselves across the severed area, restoring Noel’s neck, and in the process, shattering the sword.

"I have touched death. Felt death..."

Noel’s gaze paused on the cloaked figure before reaching forward again.

A scream followed.

A limb fell, but Noel continued.

Nobody could stop him.

Spurt!

"...Defied death."

Noel continued to kill.

His body was soaked in blood, but he was untouched.

They called him ’monster’, but he was no monster.

He was just...

"...."

Noel paused, his breathing calm as he closed his eyes and looked around. All that met him was the sight of severed limbs and bodies.

Silence.

He was the only one left.

"...I have now become death."

Mortum.