Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 278: One, two, three, four...

Chapter 278: One, two, three, four...

"One...two... three... four... I declare you open the door."

It was a large coliseum built with strange black stones with several jutting out like spikes and others, like rectangular pillars, causing the area to look like a cross between a temple, a battlefield, and a parliamentary ground.

A black sun with a white halo provided light to the coliseum below, giving off a light that despite being bright, held no sense of warmth.

"Five... six... seven... eight.... I promise there will be no hate."

A tower stood at the center of the coliseum, its top stretching toward the dreary sky above.

It was a gray tower, one that gave off an eerie vibe with its foundations somewhere deep below the surface.

The sound of what sounded like metal clanging together could be heard from inside.

"Nine... ten... eleven... twelve... I... hehe, there’s nothing to rhyme with twelve."

Within the tower which was mostly shrouded in darkness was a woman suspended in midair, her arms and legs stretched so that her body formed an ’X’ shape.

Half of her face was visible in the rather dim light, revealing a beautiful appearance that seemed completely unreal and inhuman.

Her gold hair cascaded down across her shoulder, going past her waist and even sweeping the ground below.

Her green eyes seemed to glow in the darkness while the portion of her mouth that was visible suddenly curled up, quickly forming a smile.

But there was something off about the smile, it looked almost... unnatural, twisted in an eerie manner that left one unnerved.

Smacking her lips loudly, she thought aloud. "How much longer now?"

***

"... Set up a perimeter and put up the corresponding sigils. We will be camping here for the night." Alejandro ordered calmly with the BeastMen quickly carrying out the tasks assigned to them methodically.

Meanwhile, Alex stood at the side, watching them work with vague interest while leaning against a tree.

The group had been marching for roughly three days, taking brief breaks before continuing on their way.

Naturally, throughout the journey, there was no lack of adversaries as corrupted mutants tried to impede them but were swiftly put down by the BeastMen.

Thankfully, there were no normal humans in their party, else the constant march would have surely caused the person to collapse due to fatigue.

"Master." Victoria approached Alex, standing next to him before whispering something into his ear.

Nodding in response once she was done, Victoria quickly departed in a flash of black and white, leaving Alex with Ana.

"Where did she go?" Ana inquired.

"She wishes to check on Douglas. His growth is essential to our group, after all." Alex replied.

Sighing heavily, Ana muttered. "And here I was thinking that she’d run away."

"Run away?" Alex couldn’t help but raise a brow at the strange wording.

Ana snorted. "Hmmph, of course. The trek has been so boring. The mutants are easily defeated by the BeastMen, leaving nothing for us to do. If I knew it would be this boring, I would have stayed in Evernight and read a book or something."

"... I thought you wanted to experience new things?"

"This isn’t one of them!" Ana adamantly replied leaving Alex listless.

"Fine then, go patrolling, maybe you’ll see something that catches your fancy."

"... Will you be okay?"

Alex rolled his eyes. "Just go."

"Going." Without hesitation, Ana turned and left, moving further away before leaping up and transforming into her dragon form.

Plunging the campsite into darkness for a moment, she soon left, her destination unknown.

"She must be quite a handful," Alejandro commented as he approached, a sympathetic expression on his visage.

It seemed he was familiar with Ana’s type of person.

Alex sighed. "She has her moments."

"I guess she does." Alejandro chuckled as he spoke, glancing in the direction Ana had left in before inquiring. "In any case, I am quite curious as to what the guardian of the empire is doing as your subordinate. Are you a friend of the Empire, or perhaps the Great Families?"

"Neither. The situation is a bit more complicated than that."

"You didn’t lie." Alejandro couldn’t help but praise.

It was Alex’s turn to chuckle as he replied. "There’s no need to."

Nodding in appreciation, Alejandro beckoned to him. "Come, let’s eat. We have much to discuss."

Suppressing the grin threatening to come out, Alex followed Alejandro to his tent where he was promptly served a healthy portion of meat and what he could only term as ’fat soup’ owing to the large amount of animal fat used to make it.

Completely ignoring the latter, Alex opted to focus on the roasted meat while Alejandro sampled the soup.

Perhaps because they had been conversing for the past three days, the duo had reached an understanding which led to the current situation.

It was a welcome change from when they were both flexing to see who had the bigger muscles.

Once they had begun eating, Alejandro began. "Correct me if I’m wrong, but, from what I have understood about you, you are a man that gives as much as he takes. Am I right?"

"You aren’t far off from the truth," Alex answered. "Why?"

"Arturo, or rather, Arthur. Tell me how he is doing." Alejandro muttered, his expression shifting slightly, a shift that Alex was quick to catch.

Alex leaned back in his chair as he replied. "He is fine. Got his hands in a myriad of things that’s got him as rich as he wants. Do you wish to speak with him?... I am capable of facilitating a meeting."

"Unfortunately, I cannot. Viracocha doesn’t suffer those banished from our lands to be worthy of being seen again and as a Rey, I have to keep to that."

"You miss him," Alex muttered, more question than statement.

Alejandro turned silent for a moment, his eyes filled with a certain emotion as he replied. "He was like... no, he was more than a brother to me."

"Tell me about him."

"He was a good man, albeit one blinded by a desire to succeed. He’d done numerous despicable things, including pushing his brother to commit suicide. But perhaps his greatest sin was allowing his son to grow a wayward man which ended up coming back to bite him."