Kin Devoured
1311 Words
The manor woke screaming.
Torches exploded along the battlements like fresh wounds.
Guards bellowed orders that cracked in panic.
Dogs howled from the kennels—wild, scenting blood.
In the east wing, a maid’s scream still echoed through stone corridors: raw, endless, the sound of someone who had just found Lady Seraphine Valthorne with her throat carved open, eyes frozen in the exact moment she realized death had come home.
Aryan and his group crouched in the black shadow of the stables, ledger heavy against his chest like a second heart.
Smoke and fear choked the night air.
Renn’s breaths came ragged, too loud.
Lira gripped a stolen short sword so tight her knuckles gleamed white in the moonlight.
The other three—two scarred men and the older woman Mara—stood shoulder-to-shoulder, eyes darting like trapped animals.
“We can’t stay,” Renn hissed. “They’ll seal the gates any second.”
Aryan’s voice cut low, steady, final.
“We don’t run.
Not yet.”
He activated Memory Echo again.
Tobin’s dying thoughts flooded back: manor layout burned into his mind—secret passages snaking behind walls, the west tower armory where Cassian kept his twin black crystal blade, charged with f*******n mana crystals from the mine’s deepest hell.
The blade drank blood.
Grew stronger with every life it stole.
Aryan’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“We take the armory.
We take his weapon.
Then we take him.”
Lira met his gaze—unflinching.
“You’re going to kill your own brother.”
Aryan’s voice was ice.
“He stopped being my brother the day he helped pour poison down our father’s throat.”
No one argued.
They moved.
The grounds were a labyrinth of high hedges, gravel paths, and torchlight chaos.
Guards sprinted past—lanterns swinging wildly, missing the shadows where Aryan led.
Enhanced Stealth wrapped the group like black silk.
Fear Aura rippled outward—unseen, unstoppable—making guards hesitate, glance the wrong way, miss the intruders entirely.
They reached the west tower.
Single iron door.
Two guards—armored, alert.
Aryan whispered.
Shadow Whisper.
“Open the door.
Fight each other.
To the death.”
The guards froze.
Eyes glazed.
They turned—swords rising in perfect unison.
Steel clashed.
One fell gurgling, throat opened.
The other staggered, clutching a gut wound—then Aryan stepped in, dagger flashing once.
Clean.
Final.
They slipped inside.
The armory was dim—lit only by a single brazier spitting red sparks.
Racks of swords, spears, shields lined the walls.
In the center—a black stone pedestal.
On it: the black crystal blade.
It pulsed like a living heart—slow, deliberate, hungry.
Aryan approached.
[Betrayal Detection – Critical Artifact Activated]
[Hidden Truth: Forged with Baron Valthorne’s own blood. Cassian used it to bind the poison’s power. The blade remembers every death it caused—and every life it could still take.]
Aryan reached for the hilt.
The blade hummed—low, vicious.
Dark energy lashed out, wrapping his wrist like black chains.
Pain detonated—white-hot, bone-deep.
Aryan gritted his teeth.
“Devour.”
He pulled.
The blade screamed—a sound only he could hear, tearing through his skull.
Memories flooded: the forge’s hellish glow, slaves sacrificed to temper the crystal, the Baron’s final, choking gasp as poison took hold, Cassian laughing in the shadows.
[Successfully Devoured Critical Betrayal – Artifact Harvest]
Vengeance Points +1200
Level Up! Level 12 → 15
All base stats +20
New Active Skill Unlocked: Blood Echo (Lv.1) – Channel the blade’s hunger to drain life force on contact (Cooldown: 5 min)
New Passive Unlocked: Crystal Attunement (Lv.1) – 50% resistance to mana-based attacks
HP Overflow: 450/450 → 700/700
The blade went still.
It was his.
Aryan lifted it.
The black crystal gleamed—now flecked with crimson veins that hadn’t been there before.
He felt its hunger mirror his own—cold, endless, satisfied for the first time.
Renn stared, voice shaking.
“That thing… it’s alive.”
“It was,” Aryan said quietly.
“Now it serves me.”
Alarms rang louder—boots thundering closer.
Aryan turned to the group.
“Arm yourselves.
We fight our way out.”
They grabbed what they could—swords, daggers, a crossbow from the rack.
The door burst open.
Ten guards poured in—spears leveled, faces pale with fear.
Aryan stepped forward.
Vengeance Surge – Activated.
Stats doubled again.
The world crawled.
He became red death.
First guard thrust a spear.
Aryan sidestepped, Blood Echo triggered.
Blade touched the man’s arm—life force ripped out in a visible black stream.
Skin grayed.
Eyes dimmed.
Body collapsed—empty husk.
Aryan spun.
Second guard swung.
Aryan parried—blade bit deep.
Blood sprayed.
The crystal drank—greedily.
One by one they fell.
Some screamed.
Some begged.
Aryan showed no mercy.
When the last guard dropped, the armory floor was slick with red.
Silence—except for dripping blood and ragged breaths.
Renn looked sick.
“You… drained them.”
“They chose their side,” Aryan said.
“They chose wrong.”
They left the tower.
The manor was full panic now—guards running blind, servants hiding, torches flickering like dying stars.
Aryan led them straight to the main hall—the heart of the manor.
He kicked the great doors open.
They crashed inward.
The hall was vast—marble floors reflecting torchlight, high ceilings lost in shadow, chandeliers dripping crystal like frozen tears.
At the far end, on the raised dais—Cassian Valthorne.
Tall.
Handsome in a cruel, sharp way.
Dark hair.
Eyes like poisoned wells.
In his hand—the twin black crystal blade, pulsing red.
Cassian smiled—slow, venomous.
“Brother.
You’re late.”
Aryan stepped forward—his own blade humming in answer.
“I’m right on time.”
Cassian laughed—short, bitter.
“Mother’s dead.
You think you can kill me too?”
Aryan’s voice was calm—deadly calm.
“I don’t think.
I know.”
Cassian raised his blade.
“Then come.”
They charged.
Blades clashed—sparks flew like dying stars.
The crystal weapons sang—hungry, furious, ancient.
Cassian was fast.
Trained.
Ruthless.
Aryan was faster.
Vengeance Surge still burning.
Stats overwhelming.
He parried, countered, slashed.
Cassian blocked—but each block cost him.
His blade drank his own blood to stay sharp—veins darkening, skin paling.
Aryan whispered.
Shadow Whisper.
“Drop your weapon.”
Cassian’s eyes widened.
Hand trembled.
The blade clattered to marble.
Aryan lunged.
Cassian rolled—grabbed a fallen spear—thrust.
Spear grazed Aryan’s side—hot pain flared.
He ignored it.
Blood Echo.
Blade touched Cassian’s arm.
Life drained—black stream ripping free.
Cassian screamed—skin graying, eyes dimming.
Aryan drove the blade through his chest—clean, deep.
Cassian gasped—blood bubbling.
“You… were always… weak…”
Aryan leaned close—voice a whisper.
“I was.
Not anymore.”
He twisted.
Cassian’s eyes went dark.
The hall fell silent.
Aryan pulled the blade free.
It pulsed once—then stilled, satisfied.
[Vengeance Mark Completed – Cassian Valthorne Devoured]
Massive Power Surge
Level Up! Level 15 → 18
All base stats +25
New Title Unlocked: Devourer of Kin – +20% damage to family-related enemies
HP Overflow: 700/700 → 1100/1100
Aryan turned.
The group stared—some in awe, some in terror.
Renn spoke first—voice cracking.
“It’s over.”
Aryan looked down at Cassian’s body.
“No.”
He touched the twin blades—his and Cassian’s—now both his.
“It’s just beginning.”
Outside, the manor burned with torchlight and panic.
But the Devourer had claimed his first true kin.
The world would learn his name.
And it would tremble.
To be continued…
- Writer
