The Kind of Evil

Erglade slowly took a few steps back as he stared at James and the others moving to the sides, trying to surround him. He knew that he couldn't run away from them, especially from Antonius since he was capable of using illusion magic that made him unable to escape from his grasp.

"What do you want from me, Antonius? What is it that you're after?" Erglade asked as he took a few steps back, making sure that he wasn't surrounded.

"Well, I have to admit that your ability to detect dark magic is quite profound. I wonder if the Blackheart family learn about dark magic," Antonius said as he took a few steps forward, making sure that his distance with Erglade stayed the same. "What do I want? Isn't it obvious? What else do I want if it's not to get rid of you. You have been showing how capable you are that it's getting annoying to see you accomplish something that we have been working so hard to build," he answered as he glanced at James, using his thoughts to command him.

James dashed and swung his sword back, ready to swing his sword toward Erglade. Erglade had prepared for this and pulled out the Blackheart family signet ring from his pocket. He put it on his finger and used Mana to create a small magic formation on the ground. The moment James stepped his foot on the magic formation, it exploded and blew up his lower body.

Erglade pulled out a sword from the spatial ring and swung it toward James' neck. He decapitated James without hesitation. He watched James's head roll toward Antonius and slowly swung his sword to get rid of the blood. He pointed the sword toward Antonius, his expression was cold and his gaze was sharp.

"So you do have a spare ring. I have to admit, you don't fail to surprise me, Count. You really live up to your name," Antonius smirked as he unsheathed his sword as he commanded the undead to surround Erglade.

Erglade created magic formations on the ground, however, all the magic formations that he had placed suddenly broke and dispersed. He immediately turned the snowflakes in the air into icicles, but once again, the icicles melted before they could form perfectly. He stared at Antonius in disbelief, knowing it was his doing, and he did it so flawlessly in almost an instant.

"Who are you..." Erglade asked with his eyes narrowed.

‎"Me? I guess it's fine to tell you my name. My first name is my real name, but my family name, it's just a fake name. My real family name is Zevrathi," Antonius answered as he swung his sword around.

‎Erglade furrowed his brows, never having heard of a family named Zevrathi, it was the first time he had heard of it. However, the way Antonius said it, it sounded like Zevrathi was a powerful family. He also noticed that Antonius's ability to have amazing skills in both magic and physical had something to do with his lineage.

‎"You won't know about it, Count. There's no record about my family, and even if there is, it won't be enough to dig anything about our past," Antonius chuckled as he watched his undead surround Erglade. "It's a shame that you chose to dig information about the truth behind the Refenus Kingdom, and about the secret society they're in," he smiled coldly at Erglade, revealing Erglade's scheme.

‎Erglade glanced at his sides, thinking which side was weaker than the other. His survival depended on which side he took, and he had to make the right choice.

‎"So you're working for them?" Erglade asked, trying to stall the time.

‎Antonius laughed when he heard the question, and it was enough to make all the undead stop moving. He chuckled as he shook his head, finding that question both funny and felt a bit offended.

‎"Working for them? They're the ones who have been working for me, Count. They're my loyal followers, the families that have sworn their loyalty to the Zevrathi family. But as I said, you won't be able to find anything even if you tried, and unfortunately, you're going to die here now," he said with a serious expression as he commanded all the undead to attack Erglade at the same time. "You on the other hand, I wanted you to die in the first few missions, but who would have thought? You were so competent that you ruined almost everything that I had built so carefully," he stared coldly at Erglade with intense killing intent.

‎Antonius was ready to dispel and break Erglade's magic, but to his surprise, Erglade didn't use magic at all. Erglade used the snow on the ground, kicking it and hitting the under on the eyes. He used that opportunity to dash toward the undead and broke through.

‎Erglade used wind magic to push his body, fast enough that Antonius couldn't break the magic. He flew high and far enough to make some distance between him and them. He flicked his left hand behind his back, forming the snow on the ground into a thick ice wall with Mana.

‎"(I need to get out of here, fast...)" Erglade used wind magic once again to fly and increased the distance between them.

‎Erglade looked back and saw nobody was following him. However, he hit an invisible wall so hard that he broke his shoulder and arm. He fell to the ground, grunted quietly as he felt the sting grow painful with every breath he took. He tried to stand up, but then he saw legs in front of him, and that made him frozen still.

Erglade looked at the man with pale skin, or in fact the skin was already dead. He slowly looked at the face, and he saw a man with a rotten face, his left cheek was gone, revealing his mouth and his tongue that came out of it. He could feel it, the source of the dark magic was coming from that thing in front of him.

Erglade didn't hesitate to flick his fingers and release Mana from his ring. He turned the Mana into embers, ready to light the air into a blazing flame. When he snapped his fingers, he expected the explosion to appear, but to his surprise, nothing happened. He realized the thing devoured his Mana the moment he released them, and now he became powerless.

"Do you like him, Count? He's one of the many loyal followers of Zevrathi," Antonius patted the undead's head. "He's so loyal that he does nothing but follow my orders. He doesn't even eat, drink, or even sleep. The last time I saw him, he looked more like a human than an undead. I guess it's time for you to give your power to me since you're no longer useful to me," he reached out his hand to the undead.

The thing looked at Antonius's hand and without hesitation he put his hand on Antonius. Erglade watched as the thing tried to scream, but he was too weak to even let out a single voice. He watched as dark purple gas came out of the thing's mouth, ears, and nose, slowly draining the remaining life out of it. In just a matter of seconds, the thing's body became skinny until it collapsed and died with its eyes wide open.

Erglade was disturbed that someone could possess dark energy and still look normal. He knew a few of Black Hands who had learned dark magic to have their appearance and personality changed drastically. Dark magic was more powerful than normal magic, and the cost was their sanity and appearance that looked pale and corrupted in a way.

"Now, it's your turn, Count. No more playing cat and mouse," Antonius reached his hand toward Erglade's face.

Erglade could feel every muscle in his body being torn and squeezed simultaneously. He was powerless as he felt his toes up to his knees like they were being folded and trampled by a powerful force. He thought if this was what that thing felt like earlier when Antonius took the dark energy.

Erglade felt numb from the chest and below, and he knew that he was done for. Suddenly, while he was about to pass out from the pain, he felt the ground shaking. Antonius stopped draining Erglade's life energy and tried to understand what was happening.

Antonius and Erglade looked around, finding an avalanche was happening near them. Before they could find out what was happening, roots wrapped around Antonius and all the undead feet. They were pulled forcefully into the ground, leaving only their upper bodies above the ground. Erglade was shocked by what had just happened, and watched the roots slowly wrap the undead's body, tightening until their bodies exploded.

"Well... well... well... so you're the mastermind behind this problem," a soothing woman's voice echoed throughout the forest.

Antonius tried to free himself using both magic and dark magic, but to his surprise, his Mana was being drained by the roots. He tried to overpower the root with pure strength, but the more he struggled, the tighter the roots entangled his body to the pain he could hear his bones cracking. Erglade on the other hand, was trying to crawl away, trying to escape because the only thing that mattered was his survival.

"Where do you think you're going?" The woman appeared in front of Erglade.

Erglade looked four legs in front of him, and he used everything he got to lift his head. He saw two women with silver hair, they were Aristoria and Sanya. He thought for a moment and knew who they were, the ancient Orthias.

"Leave him to me..." Aristoria went down to one knee as she stared into Erglade's eyes. "You take care that one over there, Sanya," she continued, her eyes never leaving Erglade's.

"Yes... yes..." Sanya smiled coldly as she walked toward Antonius, who was pale when he saw Orthias.