“You know, when you let your guard down, thinking that nothing could go wrong, that is when everything just crashes down upon you. Isn’t that right, Knight of Night?”

Runfar Sevilles was currently on his knees, his right arm severed, his stomach area bleeding and both his legs were stabbed through with swords.

His sole remaining hand had a dagger piercing through it.

For a man who was just inches away from death, he was unusually calm, almost as if something like this had become a mundane occurrence in his daily life.

Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by corpses.

All of the staff within the mansion was slaughtered, gutted, sliced into pieces; some were stabbed through, mercilessly, almost as if the perpetrator wanted to be completely thorough that none was left alive.

The remaining members of the Shadow Lords were killed off as well.

Camilla’s corpse was stabbed through with countless swords, pinning his corpse to the wall.

Lukalis ended up overwhelmed by the enemy’s speed, her head ended up exploding upon impact with his mana enhanced fist.

Morphus’s body was destroyed and Dark Lord was not sure where he was right now.

Lake was on the ground, bleeding a gigantic pond.

Meros put up a good fight, but ultimately Knight of Night overwhelmed him. Such was the difference between the second strongest hero and a holy knight.

It was hard to believe that Knight of Night accomplished all of this alone, but with all the carnage before him, Dark Lord could not deny the harsh reality.

Shadow Lords were a group who could, if placed strategically, face off against heroes. But this hero, like the Knight of Light, was on a league of his own.

Still, Dark Lord was not truly concerned about his servants being dead.

Human beings are not exactly a rare bunch, after they have served their purpose, discarding them is an easy endeavor.

Though the corpse in front of him did make him feel a slight sense of regret.

Her white hair was dyed red with blood, a truly beautiful color.

Perhaps it would not have been such a sad sight had it been someone else, not someone who actually mattered to him.

Her lifeless eyes were staring into his own, the mismatched purple and yellow eyes made it clearly obvious she was not exactly normal.

“Rest in peace, my friend”

With a movement of his severely injured, only remaining hand, he gently closed her eyes and laid her on the floor.

“Runfar Sevilles, you are accused of treason against the kingdom of Kizilalem. An offense punishable by execution”

The one responsible for this mess, Knight of Night, a tall man of about meter and eighty centimeters in height, wearing a full plate black armor with blue outlines, with a full body-length blue cape covering his back, stood there, to be his executioner.

He was almost exactly how he remembered him.

Standing strong and gallant, a handsome man with a straight nose, black eyes, and black hair, though it seems like this time, he chose to shave off his goatee, showcasing a rather clean face.

“My execution, oh yes, that sounds like a job for someone like you, but before you send me to an oblivion… do you mind me asking you couple of questions? I am a goner anyways, so telling a dead man a couple of secrets should not be too much of a burden, would it?”

Dark Lord knew that chances of obtaining any useful information were rather miniscule, but asking would not hurt, would it?

“I suppose not”

Now that was a rather surprising answer.

“So…How did you find out?”

“Your assassin had all the information I needed, once I captured her. After investigating all the murders of the prominent individuals, predicting her next targets was no easy task, we had to assign each hero to different potential locations for the next attack…It just so happens that I lucked out.”

“I see…In that case, is she in your custody?”

“No. Extracting information with my method, while thorough, it costs the life of the one who it is used upon. It is not an ability I would use on someone who I deem needed to be alive, luckily I had no reason to keep that demi-human”

“Oh poor Jun…What did you do with the corpse?”

“Set if aflame, of course”

“Of course you did…So she was the reason you found out everything, huh?”

“She was the key lead, afterwards, connecting all the pieces was rather easy. To think, there was another group, other than the Demons and Undead, conspiring against the kingdom…”

“…Which leaves the question of…Why? Runfar Sevilles or should I say, Dark Lord…. Why waste your talent trying to overthrow the kingdom, why did you not use it to protect it instead?”

“Hmm, I wonder why…Maybe because someone like you always got in my way. Nothing personal, of course, frankly I am very impressed with you, Larat Lemuri. Among all the enemies I have encountered, you are the one I take my hat off to, though I do not have a hat on me…”

“Quit it with the jokes, Sevilles, or I will end you right now”

“Oh, my end is obvious, Lemuri, either way, it is a dead end for me”

Facing his foe, Dark Lord spoke.

“Unlike others, you seem to be genuinely obsessed in protecting the kingdom by any means necessary, taking the matters into your own hands in such a manner. What I wouldn’t give to have a subordinate like you…”

“I would never work for someone like you”

“True enough. I did recruit my subordinates in hopes of finding a talent that could potentially stand up again you, but once again, you have exceeded my expectations. Bravo!”

“You seem not to realize the gravity of your situation, Dark Lord. Once my blade strikes you down, it is over, plain and simple. However, if you want to live, tell me, where is the Demon King Draco?”

“Demon King? What would you need that information for anyways?”

“Once I am done here, I shall hunt him down as well”

“Him? I see, so that’s how it is”

It seems like Knight of Night was not aware that Demon King was a woman.

“I am afraid I don’t know what they are up to, frankly, their affairs have nothing to do with me.”

“That is too bad, had you known anything, I would had a reason to keep you alive”

Knight of Night now proceeded to brandish his sword.

“Yes, but either way, I have no way of escaping my end, so I might as well accept it”

“Well said!”

Knight of Night proceeded to bring down his sword, beheading the Dark Lord in the process.

Right before the blade separated his head from his body, Dark Lord saw something rather curious.

It was Knight of Night, or more specifically, his right eye, unlike his left eye that was as black as crow, the right eye was glowing with brilliant blue light.

‘Well, well, isn’t that curious?’

Dark Lord thought before everything turned black once again.

* * *

Opening his eyes, Runfar looked around him, momentarily disoriented, not knowing where he was.

The light breeze of the wind was blowing upon him.

As he looked up, he saw the clear sky, and right near it, a very familiar face.

Sariu Lixus.

Curiously, she was not covered in blood and gore, and very much alive.

Apparently, he was lying on her lap, gazing into the sky.

“Nur, sorry, you kind of dozed off, so I…”

‘Right, I remember this. I was so happy that I ended up taking a short nap and when I woke up, I was sleeping on Sariu’s lap. But that was three months ago…’

Seeing his pained expression, Sariu asked.

“Nur, is everything all right?”

“Well…” Runfar sighed.

There was no way he could explain to her that he just arrived from a not so distant future via a curse that never lets him truly die.

“It’s nothing to worry about” Runfar smiled, but on the inside he thought.

‘I just need to modify my plans, again’

It seems like the biggest threat to his organization was none other than the Knight of Night.