Chapter 135: The Slaughter

Neil slaughtered through the hordes of beasts and monsters, his blades cleaving through their flesh.

Blood spluttered in all directions, corpses torn to pieces.

The blades were running amok through the battlefield, as Neil got bathed in blood.

But just as he tore another beast with his bare hand, the scene before him suddenly changed.

All the beasts and creatures were replaced by humans and his subjects.

He had killed hundreds of them, over half of his own subjects.

And not far away, Ileana was bathed in the blood of other subjects, looking at him with a fearful gaze.

The guardian of his domain was torn apart, Leon, and most of the other troops were dead too.

Ray was crying while holding the dead body of his sister.

The whole place was full of despair and it was all done by Neil, the remaining people looked at him as if he was a monster, not someone they knew.

He looked around, Neil was back in his domain somehow.

Haa Haa

His breathing quickened, his heart beating wildly and his mind blanked out, hearing the cries of everyone surrounding him.

“Why SOB why did you k- kill everyone?! Why?” Ileana questioned, hugging herself with pain and fear in her eyes.

The love was gone, hatred and fear was all that was left.

“This is not real!! T- This is not real!!!” Neil repeated, he had already left the domain.

He didn’t sleep, something was definitely messing with his mind, there was no way he would murder his own family.

“N- Nemo?” he called out, still tightly clutching the blades.

There was no response for a few seconds, then a weak voice sounded:

“…Master, we lost, you have turned into what you feared.” She spoke and the blades fell from his hands.

Feeling as if the blood on his body was starting to burn, the cries made his head hurt.

“You turned back for some reason and no matter how much I called you, you wouldn’t listen. You killed them all with your own hands…” Nemo added, her voice sounding devoid of emotions.

Neil stumbled back, falling into a pool of blood.

He looked back and his heart almost stopped beating, as he saw the corpse of Magnar.

The familiar was still in smaller form, which meant he didn’t put up any fight, he didn’t attack his master even when he turned into a monster.

No one in the domain attacked him, all they did was defend but no one was a match and within seconds he had slaughtered so many of them.

His head spun badly, Neil refused to believe it was real.

“Lord, why d- did you SOB” Ray cried, hugging Fay’s torn up body.

The three dwarves were dead too.

Neil looked around, finding himself far away from the citadel.

He stood up again, muttering to himself the same words again and again, even as the warm blood trickled down his face.

“This is not real! This is not real! This is not real…”

This was one of the scenarios he feared the most, especially hurting the subjects who believed him with their lives.

Ileana just sat there, her eyes full of despair as if she had lost everything.

Neil started to run, sprinting at full speed towards the citadel even as his gaze turned blurry and breathing became difficult.

He ran and ran, without caring about the time or pain, ran until the screams disappeared, until the blood on his body dried out.

He ran until his mind, feet and heart became numb but the screams became a part of him, the blood seemed to merge with his very skin.

The memory in his mind buzzed, as he started to remember everything.

He was running and then he paused to rest, but when he continued, he was no longer running towards the citadel.

But it was back in the direction he came from.

He ran and stopped once he saw the domain and the settlement from the distance, then he ran again.

All the while, Nemo kept screaming, trying to bring him to his senses but he couldn’t hear her.

He threw a stone at his domain that instantly shattered the barrier he had asked Mob to put around the domain.

Leon and the others were ready to battle, thinking that it was an enemy attacking.

Yet when they saw it was Neil, they were confused and stopped the domain from moving.

They all walked towards him to ask about his journey, but Neil just went mad.

He started to kill them.

The lords from the settlement, his own troops, the other subjects and it wasn’t until he heard Ileana’s scream calling out to him that he came back to his senses.

Yet it was already too late.

As all this memory played through his mind, Neil broke apart even more.

This feeling was just as bad as seeing everyone getting killed by that frost bear king, no it was thousands of times worse.

Pain filled his mind and heart as he ran until his feet started to bleed and his throat burned.

His gaze remained fixed on the citadel, Neil wondered if dying would solve everything.

But what if it doesn’t?

He just felt that the only solution was in the citadel.

Time passed quickly yet felt extremely slow, each moment only bringing extreme pain.

But finally, Neil had arrived in front of the haunting and mysterious citadel, the building looked as if it had existed for thousands of years.

It was big and the walls were all burnt, charred black and black fog seemed to be rising from the top.

Neil, like a zombie began to walk without focusing much on anything, it all felt too unreal.

Inside the citadel, a cloud of dark fog roamed around in a big hall, two bright eyes glowing in it.

The dark cloud quite resembled the image from Neil’s mental manifestation.

Neil continued to walk aimlessly, dragging his injured feet, leaving behind a trail of black blood.

Even his healing seemed to have disappeared.

He passed through various rooms and then climbed over the stairs, going over to the second floor.

Then he finally paused, his gaze finally landing over the cloud of darkness.

Those eyes that glowed in the darkness, the same dreadful presence.

’It is the thing responsible for everything.’ A thought appeared in his mind, endless rage flooding in.

This was what controlled everything in the Carceral Citadel, using those beast kings for its purpose.

Opening the links or stopping them from opening, keeping them locked and making Neil go mad, making him kill them all.

Dark energy burst out of his body, his body was consumed by a dark fog similar to the one in front of him.

“You are finally here, so how did it feel to finally become the monster you were always meant to be?

The freedom, detachment from all the emotions, did you feel free?”

“KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL” Neil just repeated the same word again and again, endless killing intent surging out of his body.

“Oh looks like I broke you, it is fine, just let me take over.

You can just leave everything to me, just rest, and I will at least spare that one woman you like.

Emotions are meaningless, relationships are nothing more than restrictions, the monster in you, me, can give you real freedom.”

The twisted voice continued to speak, getting closer to Neil, seeping into his body slowly.

“DIE! YOU NEED TO DIE!!!” A terrifying torrent of energy burst out of his body, pushing back the dark fog and beginning to instead consume it.

“It is meaningless, you are too weak. Were you able to do anything to the Lizard men? Or to the ones responsible for that explosion?

The ones who sent you here? The humans who mocked you?

No, you can’t do anything!! You are weak, but I can give you strength, I can kill them all, kill those parents. I can do anything!!”

Neil struggled with all his might but the dark fog consumed more and more of him, his body, his mind and even his soul.

The two calm eyes in the dark fog looked on with no hurry, but there was a great deal of excitement.

Finally, she could get out of this cursed place.

The place where her father threw her and she ended up getting trapped.

The hellhole that kept her locked for so long, finally she had found the perfect body to escape.

Her body was locked somewhere in this place but neither could she find it nor could she reach it.

Yet somehow this person found it and stole her body, he stole all her resistances and much more.

In return, she would get her freedom so it was not a bad deal.

Neil floated in the midst of the dark fog, internally struggling against this creature, using every bit of his might.

After staring at the new body, the dark fog suddenly attacked Neil, rushing into his body.

His mouth opened wide as the black fog entered through his nose, mouth, his eyes filling with darkness.

Veins looked as if they were about to pop, his body shaking violently as the dark fog entered his body completely.

Cracks started to form over his skin, and the energy cores were violently shaking.

’What? You would rather die than give me your body?!’ the creature was filled with rage as Neil struggled to the point of trying to kill both of them.

The creature had done everything it could to break Neil apart, making him believe he was the killer and now even showing that he had killed his own subjects.

Showing the fear they felt towards him.

Just to break him, yet the tenacity this guy was showing was just impossible.

’SEAL! SEAL!’ the dark fog retorted with even more madness at the internal war.

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