The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 395: Chapter 390 — Spear

Zephyrion dragged himself out of the pool of water and collapsed onto the ground, breathing raggedly.

’Where the hell am I?’

’Oho, so your sins have finally caught up to you! Welcome to Hell, Zephyrion Virgin Calderalth!’

Zephyrion scoffed, ignoring the ancestor’s pathetic attempt to frighten him. His Titan Armor still encased his body, yet he felt like he’d been run through a meat grinder. Nothing was exactly broken, but the deep gash across his midsection sent a sharp spike of pain through him with every movement.

’Damn beast,’ Zephyrion cursed, only for his eyes to suddenly widen. ’Shit. The Aereliths.’

Thousandpulse was already fully activated, and he’d confirmed there were no immediate threats nearby, only a faint ripple in the WorldPulse a short distance away. He already knew who it belonged to, but before dealing with the alpha, he quickly scanned his surroundings.

Given the force of their fall, he was certain the metal dome hadn’t survived the impact. The Aereliths could be anywhere by now, and that was precisely the problem. Thousandpulse could detect ripples in the WorldPulse, but if neither of them was giving off any, then he might as well be searching for corpses.

Fortunately, the white crystals scattered throughout the cavern gave off enough light to illuminate his surroundings.

’Where... where are—there!’

His eyes finally landed on a white-haired figure lying in a growing pool of blood some distance away, and he let out a sigh of relief. However, there was only one. The other Aerelith, the one whose body had been riddled with injuries, was nowhere to be seen. As for the one before him, who had still been alive during their fall, he now lay completely motionless.

But more importantly;

’At least his clothes survived.’

With that concern settled, Zephyrion finally took a proper look around. The pool occupied one side of the cavern, which was enclosed by towering walls, most of their surfaces covered in whitish crystals that bathed the entire space in a soft glow.

Pushing himself to his feet, Zephyrion first approached the alpha. Its breathing had grown faint, each breath coming slower than the last.

To his surprise, however, the beast didn’t even acknowledge his presence despite him standing directly before it. Instead, its dimming eyes remained fixed on the crystal-covered wall, carrying a strange mixture of longing and regret.

Zephyrion frowned. This damn beast had been such a pain in the ass that anyone would think he’d offended it in a past life or something. Yet now, it couldn’t even be bothered to look at him.

’Hmm, interesting. Think there’s something special about those crystals?’ Demorian suddenly said.

Zephyrion shook his head.

’Maybe. Not that it matters anymore.’

’What do you mean—’

The rod suddenly morphed into a long spear, and with a cold gaze, Zephyrion raised its tip above the alpha’s head. Despite realizing what was about to happen, the alpha still didn’t take its eyes off the crystals.

Then, the spear fell.

Schlk!

Zephyrion watched as the light in the alpha’s eyes finally faded before wrenching his spear free. He stared at the lifeless beast for a moment, then suddenly transformed the rod into a massive hammer and, without hesitation, began bringing it down repeatedly on the alpha’s head.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

By the time he finally stopped, the alpha’s head had been reduced to a mangled mess of blood and gore. Zephyrion let out a deep breath before turning away.

For once, Demorian was strangely silent.

’Protégé... are you feeling alright?’

’I’m fine.’

’Oh, absolutely. Nothing says ”I’m fine” quite like smashing a dead beast’s head into paste.’

’I was making sure it was dead.’

’Ah, of course! Silly me. Everyone knows a spear through the brain isn’t enough these days. You have to turn the whole thing into mush just to be safe.’

’...What exactly are you getting at?’

’Oh, nothing much. Just wondering if my dear, emotionally stunted protégé has finally encountered something that made him lose his shit.’

’I’m not angry.’

’Oh, really? Because that poor skull over there is telling a very different story. Besides...’ Demorian suddenly adopted an exaggerated tone, mimicking his earlier outburst.

’”You stupid, oversized beast! Let go of me!” Hahaha! Now, who does that sound like?’

’...’

’Come on, protégé. There’s nothing wrong with getting pissed off every now and then. Even you’re allowed to lose your temper. It’s called being human, you know.’

Zephyrion remained silent. Demorian was right. In truth, he was absolutely furious, but not for the reason the ancestor imagined.

’How did I let myself lose control like that?’

At the last moment, he’d been so frustrated by the alpha’s persistence that all he’d wanted was to kill the damn thing, completely forgetting that their fall couldn’t go on forever.

Without Demorian’s warning, he would’ve been caught entirely off guard when they hit the bottom. That was what truly infuriated him. He’d allowed his anger to cloud his judgment in the middle of a battle, and in any other situation, such a mistake could’ve cost him his life. He had only survived because of luck, and Zephyrion hated relying on something so unreliable.

’Rule three... emotion clouds judgment.’

Zephyrion clenched his fists. Ever since he’d broken his mother’s third rule and allowed himself to open up emotionally, it was as though he’d opened Pandora’s box. Now, he was discovering sides of himself that he would’ve much preferred to keep buried.

If his mother could see him now, what would she say?

’...I’ll deal with this later.’

Now wasn’t the time to dwell on this. With that, Zephyrion pushed the matter aside and approached the fallen Aerelith.

As he reached the corpse, Demorian finally spoke.

’Alright, since you’re clearly not going to admit that you have actual human emotions, how about finally letting this poor ancestor in on that little plan of yours?’

’You’ll see.’

However, the moment Zephyrion crouched beside the corpse and began removing its clothes, Demorian’s voice rang out in alarm.

’Wait, wait, wait! No, surely not. I told myself there was no way you could be that suicidal. My protégé wouldn’t actually be crazy enough to do something like that, right?’

’Then you probably have nothing to worry about.’

Zephyrion’s expression remained neutral as he continued stripping the corpse. This wasn’t his first time handling dead bodies, so there was nothing particularly disturbing about it.

Once he was done, he proceeded to remove his own clothes, tossing them aside while carefully setting down his important belongings, including the beast egg and elixirs. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he began putting on the Aerelith’s clothes.

’You... you’re actually serious!?’ Demorian exclaimed in disbelief. ’You’re planning to sneak into the Aerelith Empire!? Have you completely lost your mind!?’