MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

『 Epic Ordeal: White Knight.

Description: A crazy lunatic is about to summon a Demon King. Save everyone from certain death and flee from this place. Otherwise, something worse than Death might happen to you.

Reward: + 5000 Karma || 1 Free pass to the Silver Section of the Library.

Notice: The final reward will be diminished by 10 Karma for every death.

Mission: Save People 495/500 』

『 Epic Ordeal: Grey Knight.

Description: A crazy lunatic is about to summon a Demon King. Focus on the heart of the matter. Find the culprit, kill him, and end this before it's too late.

Reward: +10000 Karma || 1 Free Pass to the Silver section of the Library. 』

『 Epic Ordeal: Black Knight

Description: A crazy lunatic is about to summon a Demon King. Be part of the Chaos.

Reward: +10000 Karma || 1 Free Pass to the Silver section of the Library.

Notice: For every person you kill, you will receive an additional 20 Karma.

Mission: 0/495 』

Adam immediately used his Accelerated Thinking skill to heighten his senses and information gathering abilities. The world around him seemed to have come to a standstill with the activation of his heightened perception. This skill was quite a burden on his mind and body when used in conjecture with his other skills. However, when simply used in a standalone fashion he was able to take the burden put on his mind.

White Knight… Grey Knight… Black Knight…

This was not the first time he had received quests, or ordeals as Genesis liked to term them, with such names from the Book. The same had happened after the second time he came back from the Library and had to choose between Protecting Sae or not.

He had already noticed this fact. But rather than traditional quests and riddles, the Book seemed to be giving him moral tests to judge his personality.

He was more than a bit bemused by this realization, but he was not really able to do anything about it. For now, he had to make a choice. He did not focus on any of the rewards but instead thought about the situation itself.

Something big and positively horrifying was about to take place. Adam did not have deep knowledge about demonology, something he would have to work on after surviving through this ordeal, but just from the malevolent crest imprinted in the sky and the way the people started groaning and screaming with its arrival, he knew that this was very bad news for them.

'Think Adam! Think!'

There were 500 people inside the park at the moment. And 5 had already met their demise. Could he search and protect more than 400 people all by himself?

If his domain had been larger, he could have fancied the thought of trying that option. But currently, it only evolved enough to cover a measly area of a hundred square meters. At an estimate, the Park was more than fifteen thousand square meters at the very least. There were more chances for it to be more with the underground facilities and who knows what else infrastructure that was inside this place.

'Mission impossible, it seems.'

He had neither the authority nor the capability and training necessary to keep so many people away from harm's reach while escaping himself. So the White Knight quest would be extremely hard for him to do. But — Saving a few people was still possible.

For the ordeal called Black Knight, he didn't even need to think about it. Adam was ready to kill the people who had attacked him first. But he hadn't devolved into a psychopathic monster who would kill innocent people just to gather Karma and earn benefits.

In the end, this left him with only two options.

Flee alone with his friends in tow while perhaps trying to protect as many people as possible by choosing the White Knight.

Choose the Grey Knight options and fight for their survival.

'Okay. Let's move. First, I need to find Sae.'

The slowed-down world went back to normal as Adam canceled his skill. The skill had already drawn a lot of his mental strength, and he had a slight headache that thankfully subsided as fast as it arrived.

"Natasha. Take Viktor and let's search for Sae."

Natasha groaned visibly. She was still reeling from the small look she had given to the magical circle. It was corrupting her mind.

"We need to move fast. This circle is spreading mental corruption. There are high chances that all the people here will either become crazy or worse— change into monsters."

Adam's expression distorted slightly at her remark. If he had access to the EX-ranked skill— Telepathy, he might have been able to do something about this mental corruption. Alas, he didn't.

'Fuck…'

He immediately started running on his feet and reached Viktor in a matter of a few seconds. The tall young man was speaking hurriedly with a black-haired girl who seemed to be in her twenties and a middle-aged man.

The two were also wearing swimsuits and had a watch on their wrists. They had likely come here to have a fun day at the Park and like them, they had been embroiled in this situation.

"Adam! It's good that you are here. This is Jhon Miller and Louis Thompson. They are official hunters!"

Adam glanced at the two after hearing that news. It was the first time he was close enough to official hunters to have a discussion with them.

But his eyes couldn't help but twitch slightly when he inspected them through his Eyes of Truth.

『 Name: Oscar Rodriguez

Affiliation: Hunter Association

Alias: none

Race: Human

Age: 38 』

『 Name: Susanne Brown

Affiliation: Hunter Association

Alias: none

Race: Human

Age: 27 』

He immediately switched to using the Eyes of Empathy and from their color, he realized that while they weren't hostile, they had a Yellow color surrounding their bodies, giving out a feeling of wariness.

He immediately understood their situation. In this place with an event such as this, believing in anyone was foolish and now they knew his name and potentially that of Natasha's, and obviously Viktor's as well.

'Sigh…'

"Hello, young friends. Now the situation we have here is quite tight. If we are lucky, there will be a few more hunters around. Why don't we work together to get out of this predicament, huh…"

Adam frowned. They were obviously experienced hunters. He did not know how strong they were nor what power they had and it was why he was all the more careful about mixing in with this bunch.

Hunters got their power from working in groups, after all.

"I have a friend I want to find. Will you help us?"

The two could only respond with an awkward and forced look and that was all it took for Adam to understand their intent.

"I understand. Then, I think it's better to work separately. We will try to protect the people on our side if we can."

The male hunter groaned and looked around, "The problem is the mental corruption, honestly. Currently, it's only a headache and the majority of them are stunned and too out of it to move. But if nothing is done soon, the situation will become worse. Far far worse."

"Hmm, excuse me."

A girl approached them from the distance. She was a cute girl with long pinkish-red hair that reached her waist and pure gem-like pure pink-colored eyes.

It was a color like no other, and needless to say, it made her as unique as one could be. Hell, people would think that she was cosplaying like Sae at the unusuality of her appearance.

She was wearing a long shirt that covered her whole body and beneath it was what looked like a pristine white one-piece swimsuit.

『 Name: Elysia Castitas

Affiliation: Vatican

Alias: Saintess || Holy Daughter || One of the Seven

Race: Human

Age: 18 』

Her face was flushed red and the two hunters moved clearly to protect her as they stood between her and them but she shook her head to dissuade their behavior, "Now isn't the time for secrets. It must be God's will that we found ourselves here in this place and in this harrowing situation."

She placed her hands together and Adam's brows couldn't help but twitch as he literally saw light Bloom behind her with that gesture.

When she opened her eyes again, they were filled with a powerful and pure luster, unlike anything Adam had seen in the Supernatural world.

"The unholy being who wishes to trespass our world is The Prince of Lust. His dominion has already started to spread its depraved form of chaos.

"It's now impossible for normal humans to leave this place as they will all become sacrifices for the army of Asmodeus.

"We need to stop his descent at any and all costs. Otherwise, the life of all the innocents here will be forfeited and a legion of demons in human skins will walk on this world."

Her voice seemed to contain infinite gentleness and holiness. But her words made the situation all the more hellish for everyone present.

"If the demon descends in a body… Can we save them?"

She could only provide a sad smile in response and shook her head with a strained sigh.

Adam understood now what the Black Knight Ordeal truly entailed.

He breathed deeply at the revelation. Saving people was, of course, a good thing and he was not against it. But everything had a priority attached to it.

"What exactly do you propose that we do in this situation?"

"I can create a sanctuary that will protect people from corruption. Once I do so, however, I will be unable to move or leave that place. If you choose to stay with us, we will need to hold on until help comes our way."

Everyone gave her a look of awe. Normal people couldn't leave this place but they certainly could.

This meant that she was willingly putting her life in danger in order to save and protect the people here.

'I guess if she had the book she would have immediately chosen the White Knight Quest without even batting an eyelid.'

"You are not telling us to stay here, are you?"

"Who am I to decide what others must do? My faith and conviction are mine and mine alone. I cannot and will not ever force anyone to take the same risks as I do."

Looking at the young girl in front of him who seemed to have infinite courage within her small frame, Adam closed his eyes and finally made his decision…

(AN: Okay. I believe. I set up the situation quite clearly. The Climax of Volume 5 is approaching. From now on, it will be action at full throttle. Adam will have to make many complicated choices and go through a great ordeal. Let's see how I handle this arc, shall we?)