Hero of Darkness

Chapter 1262: Hidden and Found

The long and detailed meeting with the 8th Hero of Darkness. The man who was now only a ghost of the past, forgotten outside of this sealed realm, remained hidden to the point that even the Cult of Darkborne had no idea about what lay within the statue.

Swoosh!

Kahn exited the void crack, and it closed right behind him.

Waiting outside were Argos, Vildred, Kassandra, Lucian, Jeoseung Saja and all the other subordinates.

Kahn looked back at the statue of Morpheus Constantine… the man who had sacrificed everything he had in life, just to find a way to kill the Demon God and save the multiverse.

[What kind of sacrifices did he have to make, and even hide them from me?] wondered Kahn.

Because Morpheus showed Kahn his life on Volos, but not on Vantrea. There must have been plenty of things he must have hidden from Kahn.

Even Kahn knew that his predecessor intentionally hid things from him, a way to not hinder Kahn’s resolve, lest he would get demoralised to fight the Great War itself.

In Kahn’s gaze… There was a sense of camaraderie with Morpheus, even though the man was the cause of a lot of his troubles.

Because Morpheus had broken himself as a human being just to buy time, waiting inside the sealed realm for 300 years after returning to the past and hoping that the current Kahn would be able to succeed.

[Both Martial Emperor and Morpheus… do I even have that kind of courage to sacrifice so much just for the fate of saving this world?] asked Kahn to himself.

It was right then…

[Ding!!

The soul connection with Rathnaar Whittlock has been reestablished!] informed the system.

And the very next voice he heard…

[Kid! What the hell happened? It felt like someone grabbed my throat and I passed out!] yelled the former Peak Saint loudly in Kahn’s mind.

[Arrgh! Too loud. How about you stay ‘passed out’ if you’re going to eat my ear like this?] replied Kahn with an irritated tone.

It was also after Rathnaar’s return that another voice echoed in his mind.

[It’s been a while, you dubious bastard. I can’t believe you’re also tied to my contractor.] said Beelzebub.

[Wait, who is this? That’s clearly not Amaterasu. I recognise his voice.] Rathnaar replied with a confused tone.

“You two do the catching up. I have other matters to attend to.” said Kahn and left the two to have their reunion amongst themselves.

He then stared at the entourage standing in front of him.

“So, did you succeed?” asked Argos Belmont, the Vampire King, with an anticipatory tone.

Kahn only nodded in affirmation.

Sigh!

It was Lucian who let out a big sigh of relief as if he was holding his breath till now.

“Thank God of Darkness, I hope it went better than expected.” said the champion of god.

“So did you get it?” asked Vildred, the Sage of Preservation.

“Can we see it?” asked Kassandra with a clearly suggestive tone.

“Yeah… but prepare yourself.” spoke Kahn, and the next moment…

BOOM!!

A massive aura erupted, and a terrifying pressure spread in the secret monastery.

Everyone’s clothes fluttered, and their expressions were filled with bewilderment and survival instinct as if they were facing an imminent threat to their lives.

Argos quickly created a barrier around everyone else and above the monastery to contain this sinister aura to both protect and conceal everything in this secret part of the Cult headquarters.

And the next thing they saw was a large war scyther with a dark purple aura radiating like a monster revealing its killing intent.

But instead of a formal introduction…

“Kesuri, shibal-saekkiya!! I will fry you alive like a frog in the deepest pits of hell and then throw you in front of mere goblins.

Show some respect, you fucking fuckface!” shouted the war scythe.

But the next second…

“Huh? Where am I? Where did that dickass Rathnaar go?” spoke Beelzebub with a puzzled tone.

Cough!

“Arhmm!”

Kahn coughed and brought the divine weapon’s attention to him.

“Why did you suddenly summon me, you retard?!” said Beelzebub.

“We have an audience.” he said and turned the demonic head towards the crowd watching.

Beelzebub was suddenly stunned and short on words as the divine weapon of darkness instantly pulled back its aura.

“Hello, everyone, I am Beelzebub. The divine weapon of the hero of darkness.

I’m honored to make your acquaintance.” spoke the Harbinger of Gluttony and Decay with a polite tone.

Shocked!

Kahn was shocked by the sudden change in attitude as he looked at the scythe with a bewildered face.

However… No one bought its fake facade.

******************

After all the introductions were done…

“Ah, you feel familiar. Have we met before?” said Beelzebub as it floated towards the Revenant Sovereign and started swirling around him.

“No. I believe this is the first time we have met.” said Argos.

That was the truth. Argos had only met with Morpheus within the sealed realm after his death.

The memories that manifested within the frozen realm never revealed Beelzebub to Argos.

And canonically, Argos had spent most of his time in Vantrea and guarded the crystal in the outside world.

After turning into a 9th-stage saint, he finally took over it and declared the territory as the Belmont Kingdom while taking in refugees from other empires over the past 50 years.

And once he met the memories of Morpheus, their conversation hardly revolved around Beelzebub.

All Argos knew was that it was hidden in the Abyss Empire, and he had to bring Kahn here one day.

The memories of the 8th Hero of Darkness, his adoptive father, whom he had known since childhood, were only from his early life until Morpheus killed himself 250 years ago.

“Ah, I guess you don’t remember me. But I’ve been sleeping all this time, so it feels like yesterday.

You’re that snotty little brat who claimed he wanted to rule the world, aren’t you?” revealed the war scythe.

Facepalm!

Argos tried to hide his face in embarrassment. He was one of the 4 Sovereigns of Vantrea. But even that power wasn’t enough to conquer the world.

That was why his childhood ambitions seemed like an ignorant declaration of buffoonery.

“Yeah, yeah. Looks like we knew each other. Please don’t mention anything else.” said Argos, still hiding his face.

“Alright then. Since I have a new contractor. I shall follow the customs.” said Beelzebub.

“What customs?” asked Kahn.

However, it was Lucian who continued…

“The Blood Baptism.”

******************

Meanwhile, in a very different corner of Vantrea… was a vast and lust mountain range that spanned for a few hundred kilometres.

And among that breathtaking scenery, was a legendary rank magic formation, acting as an illusion barrier which hid the secret headquarters of a very elite force of Saint.

Atop a waterfall that sprouted from a mountain peak was a secret palace.

This secret palace was the main base of operations for the very group of people that were tasked to hunt down the Hero of Darkness, known as… The Inquisitors.

At this moment, in the main hall of this pristine white and golden palace, there was a heavy atmosphere as 12 Saints with mostly 5th-stage saint rank and above were having a heated discussion.

Most of them had a dejected countenance as well as fury running amok in their eyes.

“I still can’t leave that incident out of my head. So many months have passed, but it appears again and again in my nightmares.” spoke a female saint with fish scales across her body while adorning glowing blue attire of royalty.

“Why do you have to remind everyone how we all stood powerlessly in front of the Revenant Sovereign?

We were turned into a force of fear and authority that no single empire would dare to outright offend.

But when the Hero of Darkness finally made his appearance known almost 9 months ago at the Conclave of Heroes… all we did was watch like damn statues!” said Iskaandar.

He was a High Elf who hailed from the imperial family of the Zivot Empire.

The current emperor and the abbot of the Temple of Life were his uncles, and the late Princess Eleanor was his cousin.

His blonde hair and blue eyes, attuned with a youthful and gentle appearance, effectively hid his frustration from others.

“We must find and devise a plan to find him. If we did it without that damn Vampire finding out… we all will get enough time to return to our respective empires.

Even if he came looking for us… most of us can still survive afterwards.” proposed Iskaandar.

But it was right then, the member from the Empire of Space spoke with a disgruntled tone…

“Are we even sure that he still doesn’t have his divine weapon?”

His question instantly turned the whole room quiet.

After a minute, it was Markgrav, the Lionkin saint from the Beast Empire, whom Kahn met as Atreus Bellator, who spoke with a stern voice…

“Not only did we fail to kill him before he entered the Conclave of Heroes, but we also couldn’t even track him afterwards.

We have also lost a lot of good grace from our rulers.

At this point, we might as well be disbanded in a few months.”

The conversation carried on until a sudden phenomenon occurred.

The main table in the meeting hall suddenly lit up on fire as a magic formation activated.

A letter arrived from that magic formation.

And then, it was the Fireborne member who read the message.

“We’ve finally tracked down the Hero of Darkness’ whereabouts.” he spoke with an elated tone.

“Where is he?!” asked Iskaandar.

But after reading the Intel, the Fireborne’s face turned disgruntled.

“Kahn Salvatore is hiding… no, he’s openly revealing his existence to us.” he said.

“Let’s go and kill him then.” spoke another member whose appearance was hidden under a green cloak.

“No, it won’t be that easy as before.”

“Why? Because of the Revenant Sovereign?” asked Markgrav.

“He’s not even in the picture.” replied the Fireborne.

“Then why would it be hard?” asked the mysterious figure in the green cloak.

“Because the 9th Hero of Darkness…” said the Fireborne as he clenched his fist and smashed the letter.

“Is now the Emperor of the Rakos Empire.”