Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power

"My luck is truly divine," Kaden said calmly as he focused on one particular beast among all the exotic ones he'd discovered through Selene's memories.

A beast with death affinity.

Exactly what he needed to push his plans forward and lay the true foundations of his organization.

"The beast is in the east of Darklore, its territory is called the Domain of the Damned… a place covered in black poisonous fog and miasma all year round."

"A grandmaster rank beast, but due to its power over death and the cursed nature of its land, none of the other surrounding beasts dared to fight it."

Kaden kept absorbing the flood of information Selene had stored about it, all of it stacking inside his mind like pieces on a war board, each one another step toward something greater.

The only problem? The beast's location.

It lived on the eastern continent and meanwhile, Waverith, where he currently stood, was on the extreme west.

"The fuck do these guys even get intel that deep from? How good is their information network?" he muttered, genuinely annoyed now, because he was damn sure his own family didn't even know what was happening inside Waverith, let alone across the goddamn continent.

"Ah…" he sighed, rubbing his forehead. This whole thing only made him more eager to build his own network, to have his own eyes, his own ears, his own people.

He had originally planned to run the organization alone, cloak in shadow, name unknown, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized how stupid that was.

If he wanted to cause real chaos, to fuck with the Cerveau today and whoever comes next tomorrow, then he'd need people he could trust. Operatives who can move when he couldn't.

Eyes that can see where his can't.

And in that moment, only one name came to mind.

"Zaki… he's honest, cowardly and straightforward, a good man and after what I did for him, I doubt he'd refuse to help me."

And let's not forget, Zaki was a Mythic rank holder.

The fact that someone like him was even in Kaden's orbit was already a massive win.

"But he won't be enough…"

He needed more. More capable hands. More blades in the dark.

"Well… I'll find others on my journey," he muttered, knowing full well this wasn't a sprint it was a game of attrition, of patience, of picking the right pieces at the right time.

For now, even being the only member of the organization was fine. He'd move like a ghost until the right people appeared and then, he'd build something terrifying.

Having made his decision, he stood.

"I need to go east now…" he whispered.

But that raised another problem, Darklore wasn't exactly traveler-friendly.

The continent was at war—humans vs. beasts, humans vs. humans, beasts vs beasts, chaos all around, and teleportation gates were a pipe dream there.

Too risky.

You set up a gate and boom, an enemy barges through and wipes out your entire stronghold before you can blink.

Which meant he needed to travel the hard way.

"A mount…?" he thought quickly.

It was a possibility. But finding one capable of such a distance was not so easy.

The Warborn family had horses—black as midnight with crimson eyes, demonic and fierce—and these creatures could only be bred within Warborn bloodline territories. No one else could tame them. No one else could ride them.

Very strange.

"I'd prefer a flying mount… but if I don't find one, I'll just take a horse," Kaden muttered before turning back toward the fragmented memory realm, scanning Selene's remaining thoughts one final time to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

Once satisfied, he deactivated his trait and slowly opened his eyes.

Selene was there, broken and barely conscious, looking at him with those wide, haunted eyes… eyes filled with terror, confusion, and the sharp sting of betrayal.

"Y-You read my memories?" she asked, her voice so fragile it felt like it might collapse with the next word.

Kaden just smiled.

"Your whole family is next. Believe me."

"You want us beneath you, right? You want to rule us, to break us, to make us slaves to your whims and desires?" he said coldly as he reached forward and grabbed her blood-soaked head with his hand.

"Let's just see who ends up the slave, shall we?"

"But sadly… you won't be there to see it."

He grinned.

"Goodbye, Selene Cerveau. You've been useful."

And then…

"Blood needles."

The blood on his hand twisted, solidifying into sharp crimson spikes that embedded themselves deep into Selene's skull.

That alone could have killed her.

But Kaden wasn't finished.

"Blood explosion."

BOOM.

SPLASH.

Her head burst open like a grotesque fruit crushed under divine weight. Brains, flesh, blood—everything splattered in all directions, coating the ground, the wall, and Kaden's feet in gore.

All that remained now was the chest of a once-proud Cerveau woman, blue-robed, headless, limbless, dismembered, her arms and legs set neatly at her side like offerings… truly an eerie, grotesque sculpture.

A sight that would haunt most adults and destroy a child's mind instantly.

But Kaden… just looked at it with hollow eyes.

No fear.

No guilt.

Only the cold satisfaction of avenging Daela and collecting knowledge.

Was it cruel?

Maybe.

But Kaden didn't care.

If anyone dared to harm his family or his loved ones, then they deserved a fate far worse than death.

And that…

…no matter how many times he had to rewind time to fuck them up.

He was that vengeful.

He was that petty.

'Ah… makes me remember those bullies back on Earth. Hopefully my last video was enough to screw their futures,' he thought, a cruel smirk playing on his lips, knowing damn well in both worlds, reputation was everything.

And losing it means losing your future.

Shaking his head to dispel those old memories, Kaden turned and found Rory staring at him like he was some kind of god.

It made him nervous instantly.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, taking a wary step back.

Her red eyes didn't blink.

"Master… teach me!" Rory flapped her wings and flew around him, chirping loudly, her tiny crow body buzzing with excitement.

Kaden blinked, confused.

"Teach you what?"

"Torture of course! Rory will be the best—I'll make them live hell with my illusions!" she said with the kind of childlike confidence that would terrify most therapists.

Kaden just stared, dumbfounded.

But she didn't stop.

"Teach me! Teach me, master! I'll help you torture next time! Rory wants to do something for Master!"

Her persistence finally wore him down.

"Fine. I will," he said, already tired.

"YAY!" Rory chirped, raising one wing like a clenched fist as if she'd just scored a championship-winning goal. Her joy was so innocent it almost made Kaden laugh.

He smiled.

"Let's go back, we have work to do."

Rory settled on his shoulder.

Reditha pulsed softly in his hand.

Together, they walked back to the surface, leaving behind a corpse that barely looked human anymore.

But then…

From that corpse… red lotuses bloomed on its chest and severed limbs, absorbing the leftover blood and vital remnants.

And soon…

All that remained was a dried-up, unrecognizable husk.

It was mummified, forgotten and discarded.

Like she never existed.

—End of Chapter 125—