Ascension of the Dark Seraph

Lucivar sat on the pew with his hands clasped together, fingers intertwined.

His face bore the shade of someone who'd just lost someone close to them, with wrath and hatred inside, shimmering beneath like an inextinguishable flame. It wasn't his intention to do anything but train here, but now, it seemed he had no choice but to get involved.

Albeit reluctant, assuring that she could handle it, Morriva told him what was going on.

In order to please him, she had already begun expanding her influence.

She has now set her eyes on a city twenty miles away.

From the information she got from the Blood Priests, she sent there—the city has Hybrids, but none of them could pose a threat—to their forces. Considering that the people of the Ordained Mirror Cult are exceptional, few slave cities could go against them.

And this city was not an exception.

However, recently, a group of ten Blood Priests who were sent to terrorize them didn't come back.

Morriva lost contact with them.

Ten Blood Priests were able to kill at least three Acolyte-rank Hybrids.

All of them were trained in blood weapon wielding, and are no ordinary people.

Morriva sent ten of them exactly because of that reason.

Nobody in the target city would be able to take ten Blood Priests out, unless surrounded.

So, it came as a surprise when they didn't come back.

Losing ten Blood Priests is devastating for their forces, and to avoid more losses, Morriva decided to be the one leading the next group to find the lost group. Reaching there—she stepped into an ambush; a few Hybrids were waiting for her.

And all of them are a Chrysalis-rank Hybrid, four-star Chrysalis-rank Hybrids to be exact.

Caught off guard, Morriva was able to hold them back enough and buy time for the others to escape.

From that incident, she realized that the slave city was prepared.

They knew about the destruction of nearby communities and were prepared for any threat.

Naturally, they issued a mission to the Sunhold City, and three senior academy hunters came.

That incident happened four days ago.

Morriva was wounded badly because of that exchange.

Gritting his jaw, Lucivar raised a hand, gesturing for Morriva to come to him.

"Let me see it."

Hearing this—Morriva glanced nervously at Nerissa; the chilling aura radiating from Lucivar sent a jolt of electricity down her spine. She had never seen him angry before; this was the first time, and in that moment, she found herself genuinely afraid of him.

But she knew that doing anything to agitate him would only make things worse.

Morriva approached him decisively.

Her clothes made it hard to show her skin, but she decided to tear the stomach area.

It was then, a severe gash could be seen running from underneath her left breast, all the way down to her right hip. A wound that was clearly inflicted by a blade, and the energy coming from it showed that the Hybrid who did this has a hellfire attribute.

An attribute identical to Hell Demon Hybrids.

Lucivar grabbed her right hip with his hand, brushing his thumb against the still-sizzling wound.

He could tell that it still hurt by the soft groan she let out.

Moreover, the way her teeth sank into her lower lip as her hand found his confirmed it.

Due to the hellfire attribute, the wound also refused to close, even with the Blood Nuns' help, and worse, it disrupted Morriva's energy flow, preventing her from using her full strength properly. Lucivar could deduce all of that from a brief inspection with his eyes.

Having Loki's blood inside of him, he was sensitive to all kinds of energy.

Sensing energy became easier for him.

Just then, Lucivar let go of Morriva's waist and began to chuckle.

Not a pleasant one, but a mocking one.

"Sir Lucivar, I apologize if this displeases you. I should've fought better an-"

"No."

Lucivar cut Morriva's sentence short, waving his hand dismissively as his chuckle grew louder.

He wasn't blaming this on Morriva when there was someone else to blame.

"It's not your fault," He added, pushing himself up with his hands on his knees. "Maybe this is karma's work for me. I have been out of the game for nearly two months, wasting time torturing my servant instead of racking up more bad karma."

Just then, out of nowhere, Gandr appeared from thin air.

Both Nerissa and Morriva turned to look at Gandr, who was coiling around Lucivar's right shoulder.

"Make them pay, and Father promised to upgrade one of your abilities' masteries to the next tier."

"That's all? Only make them pay? By my own standards?"

"Yes. You can get as creative as you want."

Almost instantly, a devilish smile crossed Lucivar's face as he now got more motivation.

Even without it, he's already going to make those Hybrids suffer.

But with a reward? He'll do it with a big smile on his face.

Lucivar turned to Morriva, still smiling.

He placed both hands on her shoulders as if congratulating her.

"Thank you, Morriva. Maybe this is my chance to start over."

"Y-Your welcome…?"

Morriva was at a loss for words, not following what Lucivar meant by what he said.

Even Nerissa shook her head.

Like Morriva, she also sometimes didn't know what Lucivar was talking about.

"Call your people and tell them to hide," Lucivar turned, walking towards the door. "Let's bait them…"

…

Meanwhile, several miles away.

Inside what seemed to be a tavern, a secluded tavern, two people are sitting across from each other.

One of them is a muscular man with tanned skin, crossing his arms with his eyes closed, seemingly in wait for someone. Some parts of his skin were turning into rock, a characteristic that marked him to be a Hybrid.

Sitting across him is another Hybrid.

Had had pale blue hair parted neatly down the middle, each strand catching the light with a faint, silken sheen. Twin horns, small and slightly curved, jutted from his head like polished onyx, subtle yet clearly showing his demonic bloodline.

Both eyes glowed with deep, molten orange like smoldering embers.

But what catches the eye the most is his lips, which are naturally curving at the corners.

It gave him the perpetual look of someone on the verge of a knowing, arrogant smirk.

Many would call him handsome, but the burn on the left side of his face made others think twice.

"Sir Leo, Sir Malric, here's your water…"

A woman with a pliant smile and blonde hair approached, bringing two big mugs with her.

She was the barmaid, and she placed the mugs down gently on the table.

Malric placed his face against his hand, looking at the barmaid with interest.

"Hey, I'm bored with waiting. Can you entertain me?"

"I-I'm sorry?"

Pah!

A startled gasp escaped her lips when her butt was slammed hard, echoing with a crisp smack.

Despite the disrespect, she didn't get angry.

Even her father, who was standing behind the bar, didn't do anything, keeping his eyes down.

"Get on a chair and dance for me."

"D-Dance?"

Brak!

Malric slammed his hand against the table, causing the barmaid to yelp in surprise and fear.

"Hurry up!"

Slowly, the barmaid got on top of a chair, her head held down as tears drizzled down her cheek.

She didn't want to do it, but she couldn't say no either.

Both of them were academy hunters summoned to help, and if they left the city out of anger, the entire city's fate would be the same as others—reduced to ruin. And if that happened, the blame would fall on her. All of the people's hope rested squarely on her shoulders, and she couldn't screw up.

However, her body was still trembling as she was no more than nineteen.

"Stop fucking crying!"

Malric stood up abruptly, glaring at her.

He approached closer and hovered his hands around her face.

As if he were trying to stop her crying without touching her.

"Stop, stop, stop! If you don't stop, I'll strip you fucking naked here and force you to dance!"

"Leave the girl alone. You're angry, but she's not the one at fault."

Finally, Leo opened his eyes and looked at Malric calmly, telling him to stop.

But his calmness made Malric even angrier.

"So, what, I'm supposed to fucking sit down like a good boy and wait?"

A self-ridiculing chuckle escaped his mouth.

Brak!

He slammed both hands against the table and glared at Leo.

"Is that it?!" He roared, eyes blazing as ether burst—from him in a violent wave, flinging the barmaid, chairs, and tables aside like leaves in a storm. Then, he pointed a finger at the scorched side of his face. "Look at this. Look! It's easy for you to stay fucking calm when you're not the ONE who got his face burned by that bitch!"

Despite the outburst, Leo remained calm and stoic.

"Are you done?"

"FUCK!!"

Malric turned around and began pulling on his clothes as if it has done him wrong.

But when he was about to pound the floor, a ring stopped him as someone pushed the door open.

Looking up, he found that it was the other Hybrid, Andrea.

A sharp-looking woman with short silver hair, poking fangs, and crimson eyes.

Seeing the mess inside the tavern, the woman placed a hand on her face and shook her head.

"Come on, I managed to track her. She and her cult are residing in a village to the east," Andrea informed clearly before turning around again to leave. "We should wrap this up and go back. She's wounded, and waiting for her to come back would waste time, so we'll attack right now."

Almost instantly, Malric sprang up and ran out of the door like a rabid dog with a tongue out.

On the other hand, Leo grabbed his massive two-handed axe and stood up.

But he didn't forget to bow to the barmaid and her father.

"I apologize for my friend's behavior. It's inexcusable—but we'll make up for it by leaving soon."

Outside, the sun shone brightly.

On their right, camping on the street, too afraid to stay indoors, were the people of the city.

All of them looked up as Andrea, Malric, and Leo stepped out of the tavern, their strides purposeful, as if ready to leave—at any moment. Regardless of their attitude, with the Blood Priests closing in, these three were the only hope they had—their heroes, whether they deserved the title or not.

Andrea approached them and announced, "We're hunting her down. Tonight, all of you will sleep well."

People cheered instantly, cheering and clapping for them.

Even when the group had already exited the city gate, they could still hear the sound of people cheering.

It's going to be quite a long journey for them, a twenty-mile journey to be exact.

They left sometime after noon, but by the time they arrived, darkness had already settled in.

And for some reason, the air tonight was colder than normal.