Nightmare Mythos

The assassins who banded together at the roof to hunt down Cesar had their attention solely directed to him.

Instead of feeling fear upon seeing stacks of assassins ready to pounce on him, Cesar didn't look very worried. He was relaxed, composed, and mostly smiling as if the situation didn't faze him at all.

"You find this funny, Sparrow?"

Cesar directed his attention to the voice that continued blabbering his mouth from the start. Observing the individual standing, he waved his hand and called out.

"Well, well, well. Aren't you the one they called Aspirer? You are a young and very strong leader, I suppose. Isn't that right, Rei?"

Hearing those words coming from Cesar's mouth, the assassin, Rei, who had the title Aspirer frowned as he chuckled.

"You know me?"

"I guess?"

Cesar looked around the stone platform above at the Castle's top floor as he began to mention the names of the individuals who came to hunt him down as if he was familiar with all of them.

"Ah, hello there Steel Phantom. How is the day? Silent Spear? Is that really you? Wait, you are the infamous Black Claw that is feared from the nearby cities came to me as well? Man, you are guys really putting in a great effort for this attempt,"

Thinking that he was only bluffing on knowing Rei's title earlier, the other assassin that got mentioned from Cesar's mouth got all shut up.

As far as they knew, Cesar wasn't supposed to know who they were. But here he was mentioning almost all of the names available he could see while leaving some of them since they are either newbies or unknown.

Once he was done with the roll call, Cesar heaved a long sigh as he secretly put his hand in his pocket, clenching something from the inside.

He then stated, "Well, you guys, have you ever wondered all this time why I was able to gather you all here in this one particular spot, suited for assassination for the likes of you?"

The assassins who heard those words wanted to retort at that statement when all of them paused and deeply pondered about it.

Where did they even get the information from?

They heard from a 'reliable' source that Cesar has a business atop the Castle's top floor and he had means to transport there without going through much hassle by walking upstairs. However, when he was exiting, he had to go back on foot.

That's why the assassins were confident that they could take down Cesar without him using any of those transport types of power.

This reliable source already proved two points, and that is the way Cesar managed to come here using an ability that they are very interested in taking. Another was that it was located at the top of the Castle Hearth.

With all these false images of certainty that they could do it, the assassins were already making preparations to execute the killing.

But uncertainty started to take over their heads.

If any other people have seen these assassins gathered around to kill them, they would've already run around like a little kid.

Cesar's actions just irked them.

And this was only confirmed when he declared.

"It's because I was the one who put this plan, you dumb fucks,"

Grabbing the tiara from his pocket, the same artifact that he kept seizing from earlier, Cesar put it above his head as he let out a deranged chortle.

Once he did, the platform around them seemed to get darker and more sinister. This sensation could only be felt by the assassins but they had no recollection of anything that proves that point.

And the middle of this power was Cesar.

Chatter—!

The assassins began to chat amongst themselves, doubtful whether this attempt would actually work. They have been working in this line of work for years and it was their instinct that made them alive all this time.

However, underestimating Cesar was their mistake.

"It's just one fucking kid!"

"He's not one of the Four Horsemen. And he's alone!"

"So what if he had all arranged this? As if he can defeat us! We have numbers!"

The assassins began to prepare for their attack.

No one was willing to back down on the bounty that would set them up for life.

Their opponent, Cesar who looked lonely on the battlefield, was them for the taking.

Hence without giving an order to each other while having a tacit understanding, all of them lunged forward.

With their weapons raised and artifacts on play, all they hoped was to end this swiftly without garnering much injury on their part.

'Tsk, the smart ones decided to stay back and see the situation on the sidelines. Looks like they are wary of me. They are wearing a robes which is why I couldn't see their faces earlier...'

Cesar mused inwardly before redirected his attention back at the platform as he felt that most assassins couldn't resist the temptation of seizing the bounty themselves.

Every step they took was felt inside his Floor of Darkness.

Soon, most of them were lunging forward.

Whoosh—!

Cesar let them closer as the assassins got nearer.

'Only hit the vital parts…' Discover hidden stories at empire

The moment a few assassins were already too near him, Cesar willed the Floor of Darkness to move.

Long black ethereal blade with a sharp tip protruded out from the floor, reaching toward the assassins that were inches away from Cesar.

The assassins who were just moving abruptly came to a halt as they saw those assassins had ethereal black blades targeting the heads and chests where their hearts were located.

'Precise…'

The second of hesitation from the assassins atop his Floor of Darkness was the only thing Cesar needed.

Slash—!

The assassins under the Floor of Darkness' influence couldn't even scream as the black ethereal blade hit their vital points.

But Cesar was far from being done.

Whoosh—!

Picking up the nearby axe and a sword from the assassins he had killed, Cesar sneaked his way through the dead corpses and threw the weapons at the nearby individuals who only watched the massacre happen with their eyes.

However, these unknown individuals merely dodged the attack.

Cesar grabbed a nearby blade from the assassins and lunged towards one robed unknown figure.

Suddenly, just as he was about to attack, the same unknown figure smirked and stretched his hand forward.

The same hand instantly elongated and swerved like a snake that tried to pounce at Cesar, who stopped in his tracks.

When he was successful in dodging that one single attack, the hand that became so long swiftly came from the user.

'A Nightmare's ability…'

Cesar counted the individuals who were left and saw that the exact nine of them had strange auras enveloped their entire personality.

He couldn't actually pinpoint the wrongness that involved them but Cesar knew they were nothing ordinary.

"I knew it,"

Suddenly, the individual that he tried to attack earlier chuckled as he added.

"You have the smell of that stinking mansion of his. And that stinking table as well,"

Cesar's eyes slightly widened when he realized that this person knew the table as if he was certain what transpired at that time, and even the whole mansion itself.

Suddenly, the figure removed his robe, his face charred with dried blood with two red pupils on each eye.

"It's been a while Deceit,"