“You in charge?” asked Elias.

Lance stood still. It took him a moment to take it all in after he realized what happened. From the rumors, he had forged a particular image of the man in front. But the sight in front shattered that image.

Elias trudged and walked right past lance, “Take the corpses, don’t touch anything else.”

Hearing Elias’s cold voice passed a shiver down his spine.

〜〜〧〠〧〜〜

Elias’s hands trembled. His insides burnt, like lava, flowed through his nerves, not blood. The poison spread rapidly, consuming his body from within. With sheer willpower alone, he trudged through the stairs and left the house.

The knights there moved, making a path for him. No words needed to be spoken. The very color of his eyes, marked authority.

Outside, the butlers greeted him.

“You survived,” Silas clapped with a light smile on his face.

Elaine also maintained a proper smile, but Elias could see her sour expression through her smile.

“I killed the Rebel, by the law. All his property now, belongs to me,” Elias walked past Silus. “You know the rest.”

“Yes of course,” Silas replied.

Elias felt numbness spreading throughout his body. Thus, he hurried back.

“Elaine, now, do your job and follow him,” Silas ordered.

“I. I can help transfer the tools from the Rebel’s house,” said Elaine looking at his eyes.

But, when Silas’s blue eyes turned cold and his expression turned indifferent, Elaine regretted her words.

“I said,” Elaine noticed a hint of malice in his words, “Go, do your job, Elaine.”

She complied with his demands.

〜〜〧〠〧〜〜

After one day,

Rumors began to spread about how the last Rebel got killed by the 3rd son of Calvin Dread Aazumuth.

“My place might not be to question M’lord’s decision. But was it wise? letting the rumors spread,” Silas spoke with a hint of concern in his voice.

Calvin remained silent as he stood by the window. Gazing at the garden, where his children used to play when they were little.

“Elias might have killed the Rebel but had it not been for the Royal Knight, who pushed the rebel near-deaths door. The feat would have not been plausible.”

“Your point being,” asked Calvin in his domineering voice.

Silas hesitated. With his palm near his chest, he slightly bowed.

“The rumors, mention not of the knight. Events like this happened before.”

The Royal Empire consisted of 4 Regions. On the northern region lay the Sylvia Kingdom. The ones who ruled the Royal Empire were the “Luscious” Family.

Among those, 4 Regions. Only the North was completely United. As for the eastern, western, and southern regions. There remained many kingdoms yet to be conquered. Hence, wars frequently occurred in those nations.

“When in the eastern region, a fellowship formed to overthrow the Royal Empire. It was Droid along with your knights, who annihilated the fellowship.”

“When a dragon, burned down the castles and vaporized the rivers on the south. It was Keth who slew that dragon.”

“When a plague, devasted the west. It was Ellianna, who saved them. And now, when the Rebels, spread throughout the 4 regions. The Luscious family sent their Royal Knights in order to help kill the Rebels. But it was Keth who slaughtered most of the Rebels, and Elias who killed the last one, within the North Region.”

“I fear..” Silas boldly spoke, “I fear—”

“You fear, my children, hogging all the attention,” Celvin Interrupted.

After a moment of silence, Silas replied, “Yes if this goes on. The Emperor might..” His voice died down.

“Let the Emperor retaliate,” Calvin spoke with no fear. His voice was authoritative and domineering. “The Emperor knows better than to go against my family. Let him realize, one doesn’t command fear, by having a crown on his head. Let him see his children outmatched on every step by my children. Let him live with the fear, that once he dies. The ones who shall lead the next Era will be my children, not his. Let him experience. Despair”

Hearing Calvin’s remark, Silas realized there was nothing he could say.

“What about Elias?” Silas asked

Calvin returned to his desk, “Let him be. The poison won’t kill his body, however, for at least the next four day’s he will experience pain, enough to kill a mortal 1000 times over. Summon him back after 5 days.”

“As you command.”

〜〜〧〠〧〜〜

The walls of the Merchant’s guild were all enchanted. The people who rested there all valued privacy. As they were Merchants. Any sound made from one room would not leave the room.

The Merchant’s guild also assured the safety of its guest. The walls were designed not to break, as they were constructed using a particular type of wood.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Those were the reasons Elias choose to stay here. And that decision proved to be a blessing to his current situation.

He took off the cloak and the coat he wore.

His muscles had shrunk, skin turned bluish. And nerves throughout his body bulged and turned reddish.

“Argh..”

He fell on his knees as he coughed blood.

The blood that fell on the ground had a shade of red, grey, and black.

He clenched his fists and punched the ground.

His internal organs felt like they were being squeezed. His lungs unable to take the air, he suffocated.

In his heart, Elias felt no fear.

So, long as his heart was not wholly destroyed, he couldn’t die.

His certainty on this belief lay absolute.

However, his adamant belief did not resolute from research or facts but came from experience—dismal experiences.

In his life, he'd craved for Death more times than he thirsted for life.

When he got buried upon a collapsing mountain for years.

When his throat got shrouded with thirst.

When his bones got crushed one by one.

When he got used as an experimental tool, getting, tortured again and again.

When he got sold as a slave.

He carved for Death.

Even when he could no longer endure it, he had to endure, having no choice. As his body just didn’t die.

Thinking back, he could not even recall all the times when his mind gave up.

When he lost all his senses.

When he completely broke both physically and mentally.

The times he wished for his road to end… The times when he wished he could die. The times when he cried in agony.

Bullied and chased his entire early life. All he learned was to run. Even when he stopped running and started facing problems, all that resulted was a life with more pain.

His entire life, he believed himself to be cursed.

But—break a man enough times, and he forgets what it means to break. Thus, an inhumane mentality is born.

When one embraces the insanity within himself. Demonic rationality takes birth within one’s heart.

Compared to the pain he had endured. The current agony seemed trivial at best.

Poison could never phase through Elias’s mentality.

In his hand, he held a dagger.

With the dagger, he cut the wrist of his other hand.

Poisoned blood squirted out.

Old blood cells would die. Get washed out. Then, new cells would form.

Elias took up the dagger, penetrated his forearm. And carved out a chunk of his flesh.

The pain spread across, his body but he did not stop. He took the dagger and carved more of his flesh.

The carved flesh fell on the ground.

He carved until he could see the bones on his forearm.

The old poisoned flesh would rot. The old flesh would get replaced by new ones.

Every old tissue would get replaced. The flesh that once could not endure the poison would be replaced by the flesh that embraced the poison.

The flesh that could now be so easily carved with a dagger would get reborn as far more adamant.

This was Elias’s way of metamorphosis.

〜〜〧〠〧〜〜

Atop an ice block rested Uriel’s corpse. Sun rays entered the room through a window.

Five stood tall near the ice block. Two women and three men.

Footsteps echoed in the room. The others moved and bowed as she entered.

Her eyes sparkled in the shade of Bloodred. Her blonde hair, along with her milky skin, radiated charm. She stood over 1.8 m tall. Her very presence evinced superiority and charm.

Her eyes narrowed as she noticed the burn mark’s on Uriel’s back. Except for the burnt part, the rest of Urie’s body had turned grey and looked liked a stone statue.

“From the looks of it,” One of the guys with bright blue hair and black eyes spoke, “He got tortured, quite brutally in fact. All the very lessons you taught to Elias, must have come to fruition.”

Ellianna’s expression remained indifferent.

“Ever, since young, he never liked hurting anyone. Even when other kids would gather around and gang up on him, he never fought back. He never even tired.”

Her expression remained indifferent, yet others around her noticed a hint of displeasure in her voice.

“I turned his childhood into hell trying to drag that weakness out of him,” The people near her felt a sense of suffocation when they noticed the animosity emanating through her eyes. “But when he started drinking and started going to brothels. I realized, for the first time, I had failed”

The animosity in her eyes disappeared. The atmosphere changed.

“So, when I hear, my brother, who never killed anyone with his own hands. Suddenly grew the stomach to torture someone,” Her voice turned cold and analytical, “I find it suspicious.”

“Would you like to investigate further?” He asked as he bowed.

“No,” Ellianna turned back, “Once, I deal with the Rebels in the east. Then, I shall have a talk with him.”

Her Blood-red eyes shone like a gem.

〜〜〧〠〧〜〜

Black clouds engulfed the sky. Rain poured through the clouds. The rain met the land, The trees, the grasses, the people standing in the rain, and the coffin.

Everyone stood tall—their expression filled with grief.

The coffin lay in the middle. Made with white limestone and filled with golden markings.

All of the people bowed and prayed for the dead knight as the coffin got buried.

“No..one..cared,” said Rose. Her voice was quivering and fragile. She gazed at the clouds with dead eyes.

Lance could see tear marks near her eyes, but he could not understand the meaning behind her words. Many knights attended the funeral. Many mourned and cried for the fallen ones.

Yet, he could not understand why. She kept saying no one cared.

〜〜〧〠〧〜〜

After five days,

Silas stood in front of Elias’s room. He had a task to take Elias’s back to the palace, as ordered by his father.

Knock! Knock!

He knocked, yet no reply came. Silas could feel the presence of a human inside, so he knew Elias was still alive.

“Did he pass out from the poisoning?”

On his hand, he held an extra key. He obtained the key after requesting it from the Merchant’s guild. With the authority of Calvin Dred Aazumuth behind him. No one dare defy him.

Thinking Elias passed out, Silas opened the door.

But, as the door opened, his jaws slightly dropped, seeing the sight in front.

The floor, drenched in blood. Chunks of flesh all around the base.

Silas covered his nose with his arm,

The flesh, and the contaminated blood on the floor, had started to rot, emitting a stomach-churning smell.

In the middle of the room, Elias lay there on his knees.

His body looked completely anew, with lean yet what seemed to be extraordinarily dense and muscular flesh. His skin whiter than ever.

But Silas noticed. Elias’s stood on his knees there with his eyes open wide. The eyes that, now, looked utterly lifeless.