MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin



In the midst of the desert that separated the city of sin— Las Vegas from the city of dream— Los Angeles, Adam was floating quietly and leisurely in the skies above while facing the enchanting moon.

His eyes were hazy and empty, devoid of any emotions or intellect, but in his mind, a fierce debate was being enacted between his minds.

"So, my dear friends. It seems like we have been a little too reckless today, haven't we?"

In a white void of infinite length and maybe beyond, three people were facing each other while seated at a round table in between them.

The one who spoke among the individuals was a young black-haired man in the picture of Adam. He was wearing the clothes Hae-Won had given him all the way back when she was still alive and seemed calm with a dignified bearing on his posture and expressions.

On his right, a man wearing a smiling mask and a top hat akin to the mad hatter, as well as red and black themed clothes akin to that of a magician of a prominent magic show chuckled at the words spoken by the gigolo of a man,

"Well, it was definitely fun. You gotta admit that, right?"

"Fun is not our objective here."

The third one to speak up between the individuals had a particularly rough and gruff voice. His entire body was covered with a black cloak that emanated ominous and eldritch waves and his aura was quite menacing.

"We had a clear goal when going to the Casino but we got sidetracked and here we are now. This is unacceptable and possibly deadly for us in the long run."

"I mean. Heh, we already died so many times. Deadly isn't exactly a problem for us now, is it?"

"Then what about getting captured and experimented on, do you think it will be fun to face eternal torture and isolation?"

"Hahaha, why not? In fact, I say we should let ourselves be captured. How long can they keep us in fact? I do not know what inhuman experiment we will go through but won't it be useful to accelerate our Adaptation powers… Just think about it… It makes sense, right?"

Death stopped short at the words of Dream and started to ponder his words very deeply. This was indeed a way for them to get stronger and gather more and more resistance to conditions that may lead to death.

"Heh. See, even beyond the shits and giggles, 'Eternal Damnation' says that our mind cannot break no matter what we go through. It is conditioned to remain sane. So what if we are tortured for tens or dozens of years? At most, we will only become slightly crazy. No big deal, in my honest opinion…"

In the end, the one to stop the discussion was World, "We can train Adaptation ourselves without forsaking our freedom. Now we should speak about what we should do now that we have fumbled something up and decide whether we should eradicate the Fernandez brothers or take them as subordinate."

"Kill."

"Why I am not surprised that you chose death…"

World ignored Death's words and looked at Dream before asking, "What about you? Are you gonna follow the route of Death as well?"

"No… I say that we keep them. Casinos are a big source of money. With them in our control, we can be pretty much sure about never having a lack of funds."

The discussion between the three was about to continue on when an inorganic voice filled the infinite white void and spoke in its characteristic mechanical voice.

[Have you finally lost your mind?]

"Oh? If it isn't our dear book spirit— Genesis?"

The three turned at the same time towards the white faceless figure that appeared out of nowhere inside their mindscape where they had their usual discussions.

"I am just playing around…"

"It's just a little game…"

"Don't you think it's fun having three people speak at the same time?"

The three spoke near simultaneously before vanishing into thin air and leaving place to only one Adam.

He laughed out loud and placed his feet on the table before speaking,

"It's just some harmless fun. I was just wondering what would happen if I used my multiple minds as a core for my Dream World. It would make things quite hard for any assailants right?"

Adam knew that mind reading and mind manipulation skills existed in this world and while he was now immune to more or less any and all illusions, he didn't think he was immune to mind reading…

"Imagine someone tries to read my mind and then he has to deal with three or far more different minds working in tandem and thinking about various things. Wouldn't their mind just turn to mush? I kinda want to see that…"

"Do you want each of your minds to be independent then?"

"Nah. I am not crazy, you know? Well..Yeah. I think I am pretty sane. That would just be asking for trouble. I am just pushing the skills to some new boundaries. Nothing harmful to myself… I promise…"

He had no intention of creating something he could not control and that would one day start a rebellion against himself.

But having multiple avatars would be extremely useful to him in the near future.

The simple fact that he could send his avatars out to fight while staying somewhere else in a safe and secure place, along with an airtight alibi if there were ever to be any suspicions on him, seemed to be the best way to act for him.

"All the devils I have met till now used Avatars to project themselves in the mortal world. I guess the same goes for the so-called gods as well."

He chuckled, in the end, everything depended on 'The World' and how it developed in the future. In the domain covered by his power, he could be said to be able to approach the power level of a god.

Omniscience. Omnipotence. Omnipresence.

No. In fact, from what he had seen, none of the divine-level entities he had met reached those criteria so he was a completely unique entity due to his powers.

Maybe he had the power to surpass them all once he reached a certain point of power? Something definitely worth pondering about…

"Mhm~ Mhm~ Mhm~"

[So… Are you just going to act like nothing happened?]

The enjoyment that he had been drowning in till now vanished from Adam's face as he sighed and facepalmed when he heard Genesis utter those words, "You won't even let me flee in disillusion now, will you?"

He groaned out loud inside his Dreamscape but there was no one to hear him except for his trusty partner— Genesis.

Truth be told, Adam felt quite embarrassed about what had transpired inside the casino sometime before.

Only a day after deciding of becoming more careful about his actions, he had gone on and made such a large incident happen in the middle of a large city like Las Vegas.

This was both embarrassing and upsetting and he had been trying to escape from reality by playing around a little with his three minds.

Well, there was sadly a limit to how much he could flee from reality and it was time to face his flaws and the mistakes he had done.

"Whatever. In two days or so I will just go there under a different disguise once I am sure everything has calmed down."

After saying those words, he looked at the white void surrounding him in all directions.

This was going to be the canvas of his Dreamworld.

For now, it was only white. Devoid of any colors or any forms. But soon he would be able to complete it and once it was done… Adam was sure he would be able to open the Gate of Truth that would lead him to achieve a far greater power than he could ever imagine.

———

After coming back to reality, Adam could immediately see the incoming phone call that was flickering in the corner of his eyes.

Using his mind, he accepted the anonymous call that was surely coming from an individual that was anything but anonymous.

[Dear Prince, are you the one who cause the mass knockdown in Las Vegas.]

The voice of Hacker immediately reached him but Adam's face did not change as he spoke out in a rather monotone voice.

"Ahem~ I invoke the 5th. It is my right as a citizen of this beautiful and not so free country."

[You… Sigh… Whatever… You should just lay low for now. Thankfully, no civilians died in that incident but the authorities are searching for the culprit to punish him.]

"What is their official stance about this matter?"

[For humanity or the normal side as you like to call it, the government just declared another mass gas leak.]

Adam was completely speechless at the response he received from his trusty co-worker.

"The one giving those excuses really needs some new inspiration."

[Don't worry. Whenever something like this happens, a new scandal with some stars will be discovered, or problems related to corruption or religion will come to light. This is always enough to distract 80-90% of the population. As for the remaining 10% they will be chalked as crazy guys who believe in useless and unbelievable conspiracy theories.]

"Well… This is scummy. But since it helps me I won't complain about it."

He shook his head and started to fly back to Los Angeles.

Since he had more or less dealt with everything he needed to, it was time for him to use his last Bronze free pass and visit his dear grandmother— Eve.

After that?

Well…

"Hacker. Do you know where the nearest active volcano is?"

They said that hot baths were good for the skin, right?

He was going to see if it was true.

Even if it was 'extra' hot…