Chapter 62: Wisdom of Night

They were heroes.

They had protected the kingdom.

Saved it from the Curse’s grasp.

But the reception they received…

Was not that of heroes.

When they entered the capital, the people recoiled from them.

As if they themselves were cursed.

The very citizens they had protected no longer saw them as human.

Only as cursed beings whose sole purpose was to protect others.

They called them … Bearers of tainted blood.

Then, when Mathius and the others reached the royal hall…

They were not given a single word of gratitude.

Only orders.

Their next orders.

Having halted the Curse, the King of Ardyn commanded them to join his army.

To wage war.

Against other human kingdoms.

Mathius was among the strongest of his generation.

His selection was inevitable.

From fighting monsters…

To killing men.

And killing humans was different.

It weighed upon him in ways he had never known.

The generals of Ardyn’s army always placed the Heart at the front lines.

More of them died in those wars… Than had ever died fighting the Curse.

Whether against monsters.

Or against men.

Death surrounded them all the same.

But Mathius survived.

He survived until the very end.

While everyone else died.

After long years of service.

Years spent fighting for a cause he never believed in.

Forced by the cursed blood in his veins.

Until age itself began to cripple him.

And only then … Was he released.

Allowed to return home at last.

“Well done. You may return home now… and fight the Curse for whatever days you have left.”

Those were the only words he received.

After all those years.

Mathius returned home.

Broken.

He walked like a corpse.

Eyes emptied of all hope.

And Ethan followed behind him.

Watching.

Feeling that same crushing pain in his chest.

Mathius returned home.

But it was not the Ashvarn Ethan knew.

It looked different.

Older.

But Ethan’s focus never left Mathius.

Everything else faded into irrelevance.

Mathius lived on as an elder hunter.

One of the strongest.

Leading the younger generation.

Fighting the Curse when needed.

After suffering through it himself…

He now watched his kin suffer the same fate.

The fighters died on the battlefield.

And the non-fighters…

Were often taken by the princes.

How many women had been dragged from their homes …

To satisfy the desires of beasts wearing human skin?

“I wonder… why I lived all these years.”

Ethan heard the voice of an aged Mathius.

“I lived as a slave.”

“I fought as a slave.”

“I served as a slave.”

“And now… I will die as a slave… watching my kin suffer the same fate.”

“A fate worse than mine.”

“Why?”

Ethan saw him weep.

“Why… was I born a Heart?”

Mathius broke down.

Unable to endure any longer.

A life of slavery had stolen every last trace of light from his eyes.

Leaving behind only hatred.

Only rage.

Only endless sorrow.

That night…

Mathius took his sword.

And ran.

Driven by burning emotion, he charged into the Cursed Lands.

Fighting monsters one after another.

He tried to escape.

Escape Ardyn.

He knew they would kill him the moment they discovered his desertion.

It would take only a single order.

But Mathius wanted to try.

At least once…Before losing his life.

He wanted to try to escape his chains.

And claim his freedom.

Then, after a brutal and merciless battle, Mathius fell to his knees.

He was surrounded.

Encircled by monsters.

By horrors beyond reason.

Waiting for death to finally claim him.

But what came to him in that moment…

Was not death.

It was something else.

Something far more terrifying.

Ethan saw it clearly.

His eyes widening with each passing second.

From the dark, moonlit sky, a towering figure descended.

A strange, elongated entity cloaked entirely in blackness.

“Do you seek freedom… poor Heart hunter?”

It spoke.

Its deep voice reverberated through the world itself, making Mathius’s very soul tremble.

“If that is your wish… then reach out your hand… and let the Wisdom of Night guide you.”

Its words were unnatural.

They carried a power that pulled at the will of all who heard them.

And Mathius was no exception.

He reached out his hand.

Yearning for freedom.

And in that instant …

The curse claimed him.

Dark power crawled across his skin, consuming him, transforming him into something else entirely.

Stripping away his humanity.

Yet Mathius did not scream.

He did not resist.

With tears in his eyes, he fell to his knees before the entity.

“Ah… so this is it…” Mathius whispered, his voice trembling.

“This is… freedom?”

He was happy.

Truly happy.

Because the Blood Curse that had bound him for all those years…

Was gone.

Ethan narrowed his eyes, staring at Mathius and the dark entity with growing tension.

“One way to escape a curse… is to overwrite it with a stronger one.”

He spoke quietly, revealing the truth.

This was one of the methods to escape a curse.

But it was not salvation.

Because it meant submitting to something worse.

In Mathius’s case—

He had surrendered to the Curse of Darkness.

The curse that turned men into monsters.

Yet his case was different.

Because his curse had come from one of the Night Lords.

Ethan stared at the entity.

And recognized it.

“…Gladius. The Wisdom of Night.”

One of the Lords of Night.

A being at the very apex.

A monster that stood at the summit of the hierarchy itself.

Ethan felt tension grip his entire body just from looking at it.

But then—

His eyes widened.

His heart plunged into his chest.

A wave of pure terror seized him.

Because when he looked at that dark entity…

It turned its head.

And looked back at him.

A faint, knowing smile formed upon its face.

“…Impossible.”

Ethan staggered back instinctively.

“These are just memories…”

He refused to believe it.

But the longer he stared—

The more certain he became.

That Night Lord…

Was looking directly at him.

It could see him.

Gladius’s smile widened.

And moments later …

Darkness erupted from him.

Swallowing everything.

Including Ethan himself.

“There is no need to fear… Child of Balance.”

Gladius’s voice came as a whisper beside Ethan’s ear.

Ethan froze.

Unable to move.

“Go. Walk your destined path.”

“We will meet someday. That is certain.”

“For this is what causality desires.”

“And what that one desires.”

The voice of the Night Lord echoed.

And Ethan was thrown away once more.

Unable to comprehend what he had just heard.

Mathius’s memories continued to move forward.

But Ethan’s fear only deepened …

Because he had drawn the attention of yet another Night Lord.

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