MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

The moment Natasha left the confines of the Garden of Eden, the skill created by Elysia to carve a holy sanctuary in this place, she immediately cursed in her mind as she realized how bad the situation had become and was becoming outside of the sanctuary.

'Shit.'

She cursed vehemently at the nonsensical sight that was hanging in front of her. Unlike godly entities of the supernatural world, as long as the appropriate price was paid and the one doing the summoning was skilled enough, hordes of grunts could easily be summoned by just about any skilled person.

'Are we facing some kind of old monster? Fuck this shit!'

She cursed once again, not knowing what else to do after what she was seeing. Humans who had the talent and power necessary to bring godly entities into this world were few and far between. It was something even the summoners from the Faust family, the most renowned Summoner family among the Supernaturals, wouldn't be able to do without paying a huge price.

No matter where she looked, the world was gradually changing and morphing into a demonic land.

Corruption. This wasn't just a mental process that transpired in living entities. It was in fact, a physical concept that could be superimposed on reality, as the godly entities â€" bearing that concept â€" brought its territory down with him to the mortal world.

This result was sometimes temporary but most of the time it was permanent. Even if they managed to solve this problem, Pacific Park would never open its gate again and the whole zone would become off-limits due to being inflicted with corruption.

"Viktor, can you hold on for a bit?"

Viktor was still feeling down about being forced to leave this place but he understood that Adam had made the most rational judgment after taking into account their fighting capabilities. He was aware of the reality that he was basically a burden in this scenario. He understood, yes, but that didn't mean that he wasn't sad and frustrated about that reality.

"I am alright. Let's find Sae. Even if we can't bring her out of this hell hole, we should bring her to that nun and the sanctuary she created."

Viktor only knew Sae for a few hours, but he had learned enough about her to understand that she was a kind and hyperactive young woman. Though a little bit shameless. Viktor was beginning to see her as a friend and he would be quite sad to see someone he knew and saw as a friend died like that.

"Very well."

'The space has already started to change.'

Natasha hid the worry she was feeling in her heart. Normally, with her speed, she should have reached the changing room in a few seconds. But there was still nothing in sight even after traveling for some time.

She could feel that the space was slowly stretching and expanding beyond the initial area that it originally had.

"Viktor. Be ready. This is going to be dangerous."

Red portals opened and a vision of horrors was revealed beyond them as hundreds of hands and eyes opened from the dimension beyond.

'Ugh.'

Natasha felt like she was about to throw up just from looking at that sight. This was something that went beyond the understanding of mere mortals like them.

People kept groaning and screaming all around but some of them... began to rise from the ground. Their faces were distorted with pain and hysteria, as well as a blend of malevolent and dark emotions. Soon, they cackled, uttering words she could not understand with her ears but each word seemed to attack her mind and tried to corrupt and erode her conscience.

They were demons. Possessing the body of humans after devouring their souls. Those human souls would suffer eternal torment under the blasphemous beings from the deepest depths of Hell.

Natasha mourned inwardly for the poor humans who were for all purposes -- Dead.

Today should have been a happy day for them. A day of relaxation as they went out with their friends, family, or lovers, and even close acquaintances. But all of this was a story of the past now. There was no more for them left in this world.

'I have no other choice. Forgive me!'

Natasha's claws gleamed in a razor-sharp light and the red brimming in her eyes deepened as she readied herself for what she was about to do.

"Are you going to kill them?"

Natasha frowned at Viktor's stiff words, "You won't say something stupid like we should spare them, right?"

Viktor had a conflicted expression on his face. It seemed that Natasha had hit the bullseye. He could see the demons wearing human skins.

Old men and women, young fit boys and girls in the prime of their ages, and even little children who knew nothing of the world and should have been immersed in their own worlds.

The demons were indiscriminating in their possessions. He knew that they were doomed. But perhaps? Just a little... There was still hope inside him that they could be saved.

Viktor closed his eyes. Remembering the words of wisdom imparted to him by his Grandfather. In the world of hunters, kindness was the right of the strong. The weak had only one goal and that was to survive.

"Do as you need."

He felt something in him die slightly as he leaked out those horrible words. He did not know whether it was a good or a bad thing for him but he mourned for that lost self all the same.

Soon, screams of agony and pain resounded as Natasha fought with the possessed demonic humans.

'Sick sadistic bastards!'

Demons would not feel pain in a body that wasn't theirs. They would simply be sent back to hell after having their possessed bodies destroyed. They were intentionally making those sounds to hurt her conscience. To affect her mentality and make her hesitate in killing these humans.

But Natasha knew for certain that hesitation would only lead to one outcome for her â€"â€" Death. The demons were growing in both strength and numbers and soon there would be so many of them that she would not be able to handle their onslaught. She could not afford to waste more time.

In the end, after a long trail of bloodshed, Natasha found herself in the changing room where Sae went after her tryst with Adam.

--There was no one there.

--â€"â€"

What did it feel like to fly in the skies above?

This was a long dream that any and all humans had at least once in their lives. Soaring high in the sky, feeling the wind brushing past their skin, and breathing the absolute freedom that seemed to permeate the air all around. To realize this dream, humans created planes, then went on to create extreme sports such as sky diving-- a sport that entailed the person jumping from high altitudes using a plane or any other flying vehicle while wearing a parachute.

All of this was very exciting, exhilarating even. But it didn't change the reality of their circumstances. It wasn't a true flight into the infinite skies. One was just sitting in a flying machine and the second was just a cooler way of falling down, it even had the word for falling on the name of the sport.

For Adam, however, it was different as he had realized this dream with his own strength and the first thing he realized was that.

Flying was a very painful feeling.

'Fuck.'

He had made a mistake in accelerating too fast and ended up facing the full brunt of wind resistance which made him feel like he was just about to die at any moment.

There were a lot of things he needed to keep in mind while flying.

Firstly, he had to keep his stability in the sky to avoid staying in an awkward position. Then he had to protect himself from the wind resistance that was just about to rip his skin off mere moments ago. He felt like he had hit a solid wall after accelerating beyond a certain point and he realized one truth of physic.

The faster something went, the slower it would become as the resistance applied to it exponentially increased. Adam had felt the truth of viscosity. He had to intuitively, lower his gravity, keep a constant gravitational field to maintain that lower gravity around him, move his body, stabilize his body, protect his body from air friction, accelerate his body, then keep a look at his surroundings to save and help people in need.

Perhaps in the future, he would be able to do all those actions instinctively, but for now, he felt like a baby that was learning just the steps to how to stand up on his two feet and walk with them.

The sad thing was, Adam wasn't really given much time to think about his flying skills.

He had to move fast. He was still undecided about the whole thing but he wanted to at least help save a few more people.

No matter how fast he moved, people would still die. Already, the vision down below was akin to hell.

Demons in human skins were moving around in various positions. Some were fighting, tearing each other apart down to the very last bone before eating each other. Some were acting in the most indecent ways possible. Doing things Adam could not even describe with his words. Act of utter and complete perversion.

Adam felt like tears were about to stream down his eyes at the inhumane and profane actions that were being conducted down below. Not even toddlers and children were spared from the cruelty of the blasphemous demons.

This...

'Bastards!'

He gritted his teeth so hard that blood flowed from his lips and gums. He wanted to go down right now and kill them all for doing such acts.

But... This would be attacking the tree and ignoring the forest.

Asmodeus, the Demon Prince of Lust. His dominion was slowly spreading around this place. Killing them now would only be a temporary measure. He needed to stay calm and rational. He needed to stay as composed as possible and act in the most logical way possible.

'I need to find the ritualist first.'

Even if he couldn't fight. Even if he couldn't win. He had to find that bastard's location. He had to at least know where the person responsible was in order to share the information with them.

Adam began to fly higher in altitude. He hesitated from doing this action from the start due to several glaring issues. For one, he was putting himself in a dangerous situation as he was easy to spot in the high skies where the crest of Asmodeus was located. But more importantly, he could see that the higher he went, the more affected he was by the constantly spreading corruption. Already his mind was getting blurry with profane and blasphemous thoughts.

But Adam fought those thoughts. Fought that feeling with his absurdly high willpower. There was a reason he went so high.

[Hawk Eyes] + [Eyes of Emphaty.] + [Appraisal]

The Eyes of Truth that held all those skills was not limited by his domain alone. A hawk could spot his prey from miles ahead.

'Where are you?'

He knew that it was a dangerous gamble. He remembered the warning Lilith had given him. Trying to use his Eyes of Truth on Celestial supernatural beings meant that they would be able to pinpoint his position or even retaliate against his scanning.

〒 Name: Mark Lee (Hkshala)

Affiliation: N/A (Legion of Asmodeus)

Alias: N/A

Race: Human (Demon)

Age: 30 (598) 〒

〒 Name: Zoe Thompson (Hkdapsasa)

Affiliation: N/A (Legion of Asmodeus)

Alias: N/A

Race: Human (Demon)

Age: 8 (376) 〒

.

.

.

Names after names were filtered in his mind and because of his Eidetic memory, were now engraved in his brain, never to be forgotten. From young babies to people reaching their 80s. He could simultaneously see the information of the humans and the information of the demons possessing them at the same time.

It hurt. His heart felt overwhelmed by the sight and the over-drafting of his skills. But he did not stop. Sadly, no matter how searched, he seemed to be unable to find the one he wanted to find.

'What should I do?'

It was when he was starting to lose all hope, a name caught his attention. Something he would have never thought was possible.

〒 Name: Sae Kirishima (Lilith)

Affiliation: None (???)

Alias: N/A (???)

Race: Cambion (Succubus)

Age: 21 (???) 〒

A feminine voice resounded in his head...

[Come down, boy. I allowed you to take a peek at my information. Don't you think you need to take responsibility?]

It was a voice Adam would recognize no matter what -- the voice of Lilith.

[I believe we can make a deal.]

(AN: Look at the new cover. Also, guys, I won't lie. I am quite hesitant about going all out in the descriptions in this arc. Like I have some dark things I want to show but I don't know if I am doing too much or if it will chase people away. Welp. What do you think guys? Do you want me to be unhinged? Or slightly restrain the gore and dark stuff?)