Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 232: Am I late?

Chapter 232: Am I late?

Silence permeated the central square as Lionel stood over a bloodied figure with his switchblade at the ready.

Theodore, being the bloodied one, had a sick smile on his face as he met Lionel’s condescending gaze.

You can’t change the result.

Lionel stayed silent, his gaze shifting from Theodore to sweep across the area.

The Whisperers were all but gone with nothing left to show that they once existed.

The pillar of yang remained however which made Lionel slightly vexed.

At first, he had thought the situation would be easily resolved but now... he couldn’t have been more wrong.

"To manipulate the Balance in such a manner," Lionel muttered.

Such is the might of my lord. Surrender to him and he shall provide you solace...

Whoosh

Lionel didn’t even allow him to finish as he swung his blade, decapitating the madman in one swift strike.

Letting out a sigh, he turned to find Marcus, Ambrose, and Natasha standing behind him with varying expressions.

Ambrose was the first to speak. "Now what?"

"Now we wait for whatever Ana felt was more important than this."

"That’s true, where is Lady Ana?" Natasha couldn’t help but ask.

Lionel shook his head. "She left midway and unlike us, she somehow managed to escape this... illusory space."

"I thought if we killed that heretic we would be able to escape," Marcus commented, clearly fatigued and upset.

"That doesn’t seem to be the case, unfortunately." Lionel intoned. "If anything, I believe the pillar of yang, or at least its origin is the core of this world. However, I don’t know how we can destroy it."

Just then, approaching footsteps were heard after which Arthur and Anderson arrived at the square.

"Arthur!" Natasha said, pleasantly surprised as she realized that she hadn’t noticed him since she entered this space.

Arthur sighed. "I heard. Does this mean we are trapped till that pillar is exhausted?"

"Most likely," Lionel replied only to pause as the next moment, the pillar of yang finally dissipated and with it, the illusory space began to collapse.

By the time it was done, the group found themselves underground, and about them, the priests and Enforcers they had entered with, lay motionless on the ground.

"Well, that was unexpected," Arthur commented as he kicked a few awake before making his way outside.

Lionel wasn’t as aggressive and Natasha was the opposite as she helped them wake up one at a time.

By the time the group slowly arrived at the entrance to the Catacombs, they found Arthur standing there, his gaze fixated on the sky above.

Lionel followed his gaze only to freeze as well at the sight of the sky being covered by endless darkness.

"Just what... is this?" Lionel muttered as a deep frown shadowed his expression.

Arthur pursed his lips before grimly replying. "The advent of the Black King seems to have begun."

***

Ana stood with her arms outstretched and her will still active to keep the illusory clocks in place.

Perspiration peppered her forehead as she took measured breaths.

Clearly, she’d recovered the entirety of her powers but this only held within Evernight but then again, what she was doing was essentially trying to wade against the waves that was Time.

It wasn’t exactly a simple task.

"Damn it, where are you?" She muttered under her breath.

Hardly had she uttered those words when a figure appeared from the illusory clock.

Her eyes widened with delight. "Alex."

Alex turned to face her, a smile on his visage as he remarked. "Good job."

"Did you..."

"I’ll explain everything but for now... let’s go and meet our opponent." Alex’s words were laced with confidence and his demeanor showed a side he hadn’t shown in a long while which was... relaxed.

Ana had a feeling that this situation was soon to come to an end.

A moment later, a snap was heard after which pulsating black and white lights engulfed herself and Alex before disappearing from Evernight.

***

The situation in the alabaster temple had long since quieted down with Abraham coming to the end of the ritual.

The aura of a True God could be felt from just being before him, it was both oppressive and domineering.

Nadia gulped instinctively while Roland remained silent with his head down.

Letting out a sigh, Abraham dropped his gaze to face Nadia and attempted to take the first step forward only to pause as his body seemed to swell.

A crimson glow erupted and quickly dealt with this but hardly was that done when yet another swelling occurred.

Nadia’s expression quickly cooled as she watched this happen with Abraham carrying a perplexed expression on his visage.

Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed after which a familiar voice was heard.

"Am I late?"

Nadia glanced toward the origin to find Alex walking over with Ana on his right and Charlotte on his left.

He casually made his way to the altar, stopping merely a few meters away.

Abraham met his gaze briefly before asking in a raspy tone. "You are still alive."

"Indeed, I am," Alex replied.

Abraham chuckled. "You really are a headache."

"That seems to be the case."

Abraham shook his head before shifting his attention to the brown box Alex held. "Is this your doing?" He inquired while gesturing toward the random swelling occurring on his body.

Alex nonchalantly shrugged. "Could be."

"A last-ditch attempt to foil me. What do you hope to gain?"

"The Mantle." Alex straightforwardly replied.

Abraham paused momentarily, clearly not expecting Alex to answer his query.

Taking a moment to recover, Abraham intoned softly. "It’s pointless. Even if you somehow found a way to manipulate your yin and then used it to increase the amount of yin within me, it is a minor problem that can be easily fixed after I’ve discharged it, don’t you agree?"

Alex smiled. "Indeed but I should warn you, do so and you will regret it."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Think of it what you may, I don’t really care."

Abraham was rattled by Alex’s nonchalance as he stared at the latter with the latter staring right back.

"You will die again." Abraham pointedly said with Alex chuckling in response before replying softly, his eyes quickly shifting colors till it was completely black.

"I don’t think so."