Chapter 2: The First Purge and System Awakening
1784 Words
"W-What do you mean, Prince?" The servant turned pale. The envelope in Mordain's hand emitted a thin stream of vapor with a sharp, acidic stench.
"Don't play dumb in front of me, you damn dog! As if I don't know all the rotten plans you hatched with your master?" Mordain sneered ruthlessly.
"Prince, I was only following orders to deliver this letter!" the servant replied, his voice trembling.
Mordain did not answer with words. His right hand moved swiftly to choke the servant's neck, cutting off his airflow in one decisive motion. The servant's body was lifted into the air, raised several centimeters off the floor.
"Ugh, Prince, I can't breathe!"
"To hell with that! I don't care. From the start, I already noticed your strange behavior when your hands were shaking as you stood in front of the door," Mordain said coldly. "The mercury poison liquid on this paper has already spread to the tips of your fingers, see!"
"Prince..."
The servant tried to claw at Mordain's sleeve, attempting to break free from the lethal grip choking his neck. This sight suddenly retriggered the burning pain in Mordain's chest.
The icy sensation of liquid quicksilver that had once frozen his respiratory organs pulsated inside his memory.
However, instead of panicking, Mordain actually enjoyed the pain. That pain served as a reminder of what the Hero Alliance had done to him in the future.
[Warning: Phantom pain sensation detected!]
[System activating Soul Stabilizer feature.]
[Physical and mental pain reduced by 80%.]
A transparent black screen appeared right before Mordain's eyes. Glowing blood-red words were neatly engraved upon it, displaying the status menu and main functions of the system.
"So this system is actually real," Mordain whispered to himself. "Not just a nightmare before my death."
"Please... let me go, Prince!"
Mordain threw the servant hard onto the room's floor. The poor man's body crashed against the leg of the wooden desk, coughing up blood mixed with poison that was beginning to react inside his own body.
"Who told you to put mercury poison on this letter?" Mordain asked, stepping closer slowly.
The servant clutched his bruised neck, vomiting black liquid onto the stone floor. "Y-Your brother told me to..."
"Speak clearly, bastard!"
"Young Master Derrick. He was the one who paid me ten gold coins!"
Mordain smiled faintly, exuding dense murderous intent. Derrick Veyl was his half-brother who would later become one of the Hero Alliance's key subordinates in bringing down the power of the Obsidian Palace.
"Derrick again. He keeps using cheap and predictable tricks," Mordain said casually. "Even ten years ago, his ability never improved even once."
[Emergency Quest Displayed!]
[Eliminate the first traitor: Palace Servant (Lvl 3)]
[Reward: 100 Soul Points, Shadow Extraction Feature Access (Basic Tier)]
"Receive your karma!"
Mordain raised his right foot and stomped on the servant's chest without hesitation. The sound of snapping ribs resounded clearly in the quiet room. This brief torture made the servant scream in suppressed agony before finally dying.
Fresh blood flowed, soaking the floor of Mordain's room, spreading quickly around the corpse that was beginning to grow stiff.
[Target successfully eliminated!]
[Obtained 100 Soul Points.]
[Shadow Extraction Feature is now available for use!]
"I'm curious about this new power," Mordain muttered as he pointed his right palm toward the servant's corpse below him.
"Arise," Mordain commanded curtly.
Thick black smoke suddenly poured out from the cracks in the stone floor. The mist of darkness tightly wrapped around the servant's corpse, absorbing the remaining messy blood. Shortly after, a black human-shaped shadow figure crawled out from inside the body.
The shadow knelt on one knee before Mordain, bowing its head in absolute obedience.
[Low-Tier Shadow Soldier successfully summoned.]
[Attributes: Absolute Obedience, Feels No Pain, Flexible Camouflage.]
[Soul Point Consumption per hour: 1 Point.]
"A practical power. Far more loyal than humans who can be bought with coins," Mordain muttered. He turned to his shadow soldier. "Dispose of this carcass. Do not leave a single drop of blood in my room."
Mordain walked toward the large window of his room, looking out at the city of Ather-Astra stretching below. Tall stone towers emitted a grey crystal glow, signaling the technological advancement of alchemy fused with quicksilver energy.
The city looked peaceful from the outside, but inside it held immense corruption that would later destroy the entire civilization. Mordain knew very well that to reclaim this place, he had to purge the traitors from within one by one.
"Hey, you," Mordain called out without turning around.
"I am ready to receive orders, Master," a buzzing voice came from the shadow figure behind him.
"Can you hide this corpse in the underground waste disposal site? Do not leave even a tiny scrap of blood trace in this room," Mordain ordered strictly.
"As you wish, Master."
The shadow moved swiftly, swallowing the servant's body into a black hole on the floor, then slid out through the window slit without a sound.
"Good. He can be useful too."
Mordain then walked over to his desk, picked up his dagger, and opened the poisoned envelope sent by his brother. He wore thick cloth gloves so his skin would not touch the remaining mercury poison.
Inside the letter, Derrick invited him to attend a secret clan meeting in the Lower Sector tomorrow night. The meeting supposedly aimed to discuss the distribution of a new crystal mining territory outside the floating city's borders.
"This meeting is actually their trap to frame me. The accusation is classic, namely being accused of murdering the clan elder," Mordain muttered while burning the letter over the desk candle. "In my previous life, I fell for this bait and lost half of my personal guards."
The flame flared up and completely burned the poisoned paper into black ash. The burning mercury acid gave off a foul odor, but Mordain merely stared at it with a cold gaze.
Knowledge of the future was his best weapon right now. He would not fall into the same pit a second time. On the contrary, he would utilize that trap to turn the tables and completely destroy Derrick.
"I won't let you guys win again."
Mordain opened his bedroom window wide, letting the freezing night wind of Ather-Astra pierce his skin. The night wind carried the smell of iron and mercury from the alchemy factories in the Lower Sector.
He crossed his arms over his chest, feeling the flow of System energy coursing calmly inside his body. This power was still very weak compared to his future peak era, but this journey had only just begun.
"Derrick thinks he can control me," Mordain whispered to the night wind. "He doesn't know that I've already seen the day of his own death."
Mordain then returned to his desk and unfolded a large map of Ather-Astra City. The map showed the entire network of underground tunnels, black markets, and secret assassin guild hideouts.
His finger stopped right on a red dot at the edge of the Lower Sector, a forbidden zone named Umbra-Net. This was the hub for all illegal transactions and the meeting place for the most dangerous assassins.
"Before I go to Derrick's trap meeting, I need someone I can rely on," Mordain said softly to himself.
He recalled a name that was very famous in the future. A cold woman who led the largest assassin syndicate before she was eventually captured and executed in the city's dungeon.
"Caelia Yun," Mordain said firmly. "In this timeline, she must still be struggling to defend her syndicate from the city authorities' pursuit."
Mordain knew Caelia Yun was not only a talented assassin, but also a brilliant tactician who was fiercely loyal once subdued. In his past life, Caelia died because she was betrayed by her own subordinate, who was paid off by the Hero Alliance. In this life, Mordain did not want to waste such a brilliant life.
"I will save her before that betrayal happens," Mordain muttered while closing the leather map on his desk. "Her network in Umbra-Net will be my eyes and ears to watch every move of the enemy."
Mordain exchanged his luxurious attire for a plain black hooded robe. He concealed a short dagger engraved with dark symbols behind his waist. The night was still long, but he had no time to sleep on a comfortable bed.
He walked out of his bedroom through a secret passage behind the bookshelf, avoiding the surveillance of the palace guards who might have already been paid off by his brother.
Mordain's footsteps sounded extremely faint as he traversed the dark, dusty stone corridor. He had memorized every corner of the Obsidian Palace, including shortcut routes to the Lower Sector without needing to pass through the main gate.
After walking for dozens of minutes inside the narrow passage, Mordain finally reached the secret exit connected directly to the city's drainage system.
The foul stench of alchemical oil and quicksilver waste instantly stung his nose as soon as he pushed open the rusty iron door. Before him, the view of the Umbra-Net Lower Sector stretched vast in the darkness.
Slum buildings made of scrap iron stood stacked upon each other, illuminated by cheap crystal lamps flickering dimly. People dressed in rags passed by with faces covered in cloth, looking at each other with suspicion.
Mordain pulled his robe's hood lower to conceal his face, then stepped into the filth of the crowded streets.
Shouts of illegal goods merchants, the clinking of alchemical potion bottles, and the groans of drunkards filled every corner of the Umbra-Net streets. This place was a haven for criminals and hell for ordinary people.
Mordain navigated a narrow, muddy alley, heading toward an old tavern that served as the hidden hideout for Caelia Yun's syndicate.
Suddenly, the noise of weapons and magic impacts exploded from inside a dark alley right to his left. The shouting voices of several men echoed in the middle of the dark night.
"Surround that woman! Don't let her escape!" called out a heavy voice full of rage from inside the darkness.
Mordain halted his steps, then turned casually toward the source of the commotion with a faint smile.
"Huh, perfect timing for my arrival," Mordain said softly.
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