In a Civilized Manner

After the gourmet dinner, workers swiftly cleared off the long tables and directed the guests to the edges of the upper-level chamber, where gold-rimmed seatings awaited their presence.

Settling down, the guests watched in amazement as a circular stage slowly rose from below ground, filling up much of the floor space. On top of the platform was a mechanical device with all its clockworks exposed to the eye. Countless gears grated against each other, yet their motion released no sound to the ear.

At the centre of the gears was a translucent sphere, much like the one on the bottom level of the chasm.

“Good evening.”

A clear voice, amplified by a diffusion orb, spread across the upper-level chamber, and all eyes turned toward the source of sound. Viscount Eathe emerged from the balcony of the observation room. He fixed the mask on his face and, placing his right hand over his heart, entered a graceful bow.

“Welcome to the annual Hunt. As you all know, this year’s Hunt is a bit different from usual. We have planned a marvellous event that shall be of great entertainment to all of our lovely guests.”

With a snap of his fingers, several workers marched from the tunnels. What followed them were steady steps that belonged to lines of captured Awakeneds. As if following a designated pathway, the Awakeneds made their way around the chamber, lining themselves in front of each guest like products on display.

“Compared to past years, our batch of preys this year are of quite high quality,” the viscount explained, his voice broadcast around the entire chamber. “Each of them would contribute towards a greater project, produced by the sacred artifact present at the centre.”

His words sparkled a surge of reactions from the guests, most of which contained a mixture of shock and pleasure.

“A sacred artifact!” someone from the seats gasped in delight.

“Indeed,” the viscount responded as he glanced sideways at the sphere. “The Plunge, we call it. As you may have noticed by now, all of the preys this year are all Awakeneds. Their mana will be absorbed by this sacred artifact, leading to a special awakening.”

Not permitting for the guests to ask any more questions, he continued.

“Of course, we understand that the fact that they are Awakened or not hardly matters at all to everyone present today. After they are stripped of all their mana, these preys would be under all of your disposals.” As if remembering something, the viscount smiled politely. “And worry not, the amount of mana they have will not affect their entertainment value. Everyone is free to have as much fun as you want with them.”

Below him, the guests nodded to each other, satisfied with his explanation. For them, an Awakened prey is no more valuable than a regular one. The presence of mana served best as just another source of amusement.

They were just curious about the pleasure they would gain from this “special” Hunt.

With intrigued looks, they fixed their attention on the sacred artifact. Two masked workers climbed to the circular platform. One started setting up the artifact while the other led an Awakened onto the stage.

“The premiere showcase. It's not as amusing to watch group extractions compared to a thorough, individual wipeout, so we’ve prepared an exemplar Awakened. ” Eathe explained through the diffusion orb. “The Plunge will extract all mana from this Awakened, and we hope to provide everyone with the most enjoyment in this viewing experience.”

The guests hollered enthusiastically as if watching some circus spectacle.

While the workers were setting up, Eathe withdrew from the balcony. In the observation room, another man sat leisurely on the couch, a teacup hooked onto his pinky.

“Sir, thank you for taking the time to meet me here," he said politely, bending over to pour him more tea.

The man on the couch was dressed in a black robe, and a pure white mask covered his entire face. It was an opaque mask that hid all his facial features, yet the man seemed to pay it no mind as he brought the teacup to his face anyway.

The robed man tilted the teacup, and after a few seconds, he set the teacup back onto the table.

The cup was now empty.

Ignoring the goosebumps crawling up his spine, Eathe squeezed out another smile as he bent over to pour more tea. “Would you like some wine as well? I got some very high-quality wine here—”

“Viscount, I don’t like people who talk in detours," the hypnotist spoke lazily.

“...My apologies.” Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he cleared his throat. “There are two people I would like you to perform hypnosis on, if possible.”

He purposely didn’t elaborate on their identities. The more he said, the more incompetent he would appear. Luckily, the hypnotist didn’t seem to care much about the details. He lightly tapped the cup, and the viscount immediately took that as a cue to pour more tea.

“You say that you want me to hypnotise some people.” The hypnotist tilted his head, as if peering at him through the mask. “So, where are they? Am I expected to be waiting for their arrival?”

“Of course not!” His heart pounded so fast that Eathe thought he might start hyperventilating on the spot. His face whirled towards the door entrance, just in time to see two workers approaching his way.

“Here they are, sir. Here they are!” He exclaimed and stomped towards the door. “Hurry over, you fools! The kind sir has been waiting.”

At his eager words, two workers trickled into the room, the first empty-handed and the second with two bodies hurled over his shoulders.

“I told you to give them masks, not to take off everything and only leave them with masks!” The viscount stared at the two nude bodies in disgust, but he didn’t have time to scold them further.

After the two workers set down the bodies, he pushed them aside and glanced up. “Sir, these are the people I was talking about. It’s quite embarrassing, but we somehow found these uninvited rats on the site. It would be greatly appreciated if you could hypnotise them so they’ll forget everything they witnessed here.”

Still sitting on the couch, the hypnotist peered over his shoulders as he let out what seemed to be an amused chuckle. “Why go through the trouble to keep them alive for me to hypnotise?”

“In no ways am I trying to devalue your skill,” Eathe said quickly. “It’s just that… These intruders are somewhat a special case, so it’s better not to kill him to prevent further troubles.”

“Oh?”

The hypnotist stood up from the couch and made his way to the front door.

At the same time as the conversation’s unfolding, Edris silently took in their surroundings. Across the room was an observation balcony visible from the full-length window. He peered out the window through his mask.

An enormous orb lay in the centre of the chamber, surrounded by seats of well-dressed, masked nobles. The orb glowed chronically, and it seemed to be absorbing streaks of mana at a ridiculous rate.

Edris’s eyes widened after seeing the source of all this mana.

Her once rosy complexion reduced to a sullen grey, Darcie hung by the centre of the orb with her arms and legs restrained by thick metal cuffs. Layers of skin sagged downwards, and strands of auburn hair piled onto the ground beneath her dangling feet.

Darcie looked like an entirely different person from when Edris had seen her merely hours ago.

Back at the front door, the hypnotist crouched to examine the two bodies. With boney fingers, he brushed past their entire face, from lips to forehead.

As he reached the first strand of hair, the hypnotist paused.

He upturned his head, bones crackling in the process.

“Hey, you two.”

He was speaking to the two workers that were standing on the side.

At his call, the room settled into a five-second long silence. Unlike the hypnotist, who was concealed from head to toe, they only wore masks that covered the top half of their faces. At the sudden tension of the room, even the viscount was hesitant to say anything as he glanced at the two unmoving workers.

Under the gruesome silence, the shorter one turned towards them, his downcast gaze revealing his long lashes.

“Look at me,” the hypnotist said. “And take off your mask.”

Each second felt like an eternity as the worker calmly lifted his hand. His fingers expanded across the width of his face, grabbing hold of the mask. A faint smile flashed across his face as he glanced sideways towards the other worker, who just happened to be staring back.

Eye contact, then chaos.

Ace kicked out at the hypnotist’s chest, sending the latter rolling across the floor. With his strength, the kick should have sent the hypnotist flying, but the man reacted quickly by bringing his hands to his chest, intercepting some of the momenta.

The hypnotist crashed into the couch, and the collision caused the tea set to break and shatter all over the floor.

At the same time, Edris lunged forward and reached for the viscount. Grabbing hold of his collar, Edris planted his feet and, with a heave of a breath, hurled the man towards the full-sized window.

Everything happened within a blink of an eye, so quickly that by the time Eathe came to his senses, he was already flying out the window.

In the chamber space, the guests lifted their heads simultaneously as shards of glass erupted from above. The scene unfolding before them threw everyone into a daze.

The viscount was falling from the sky, with a masked worker surfing on top of his back. Flying through the air, the worker had one hand pressed against the viscount’s neck while streaks of purple enshrouded the other.

Edris released his grip on the viscount as the two approached ground level, causing the latter to smash onto the stage. Edris spun around and raised his arm; the Tempest erupted from his palm like a bolt of lightning and poured towards the sacred artifact, engulfing its entirety.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t trained enough to perform acrobatics in the sky. With less than three meters’ distance to the ground, Edris curled over and pressed both arms over his head, wincing as he slid across the floor.

Pulling himself to his feet, he expected at least some sort of bruise but found his body surprisingly intact. He rotated his wrists and arms. “Looks like my physiques have improved too.”

Having witnessed the entire series of actions in utter abhorrence, the guests bailed immediately. They spilt out the chamber like swarms of insects, scurrying towards the tunnel exits.

Much to their chagrin, the tunnels had all been blocked off by those who had regained their rationality after the hypnosis wore off. While most of the Awakeneds had fallen unconscious, a few trained individuals held on. Those Awakeneds turned towards the guests, eyes ablaze with rage.

Soon, the ground was full of unconscious bodies. Despite everything the nobles originally had in store for them, the Awakeneds didn’t take their lives. Yes, they’ve been classified as the talented “Awakeneds,” but before this happened, most were just regular citizens trying to live a good life in the kingdom.

The nobles valued entertainment; they valued life.

As tempting as it sounded, revenge wasn’t enough for them to throw away their principles.

Taking in the situation with a sweeping gaze, Edris decided to pay these people no mind. Instead, he cast his gaze towards the enormous orb now buried by a veil of purple.

Edris flicked his wrist, and the Tempest dissipated into thin air. Its mana-powered engine now neutralised, the cuffs on the orb unlocked by itself, and Darcie slumped onto the ground.

Edris gently patted her face. “Miss Darcie?”

No response.

As he was about to try again, a feeble voice sounded behind him.

“Darcie?”

A little girl stared at them with puzzled eyes. Her gaze shifted from the unconscious Darcie to the man beside her. “Is my sister going to be okay?”

Edris didn’t respond. He pulled out his Spatial Pouch, dumping all the elixirs onto the ground. One by one, he flicked open the cap and poured its contents onto Darcie. It took all his bottles for her shrivelled skin to regain some of its original vitality.

Confirming that Darcie’s breathing was back to normal, Edris carried her towards the little girl. He bent over and gently set her on the ground, making it so she was leaning on the walls behind her. As he stepped back, the little girl ran over and hugged Darcie tightly. She peered up at him with cautious eyes.

“You’re Doris?” Edris stood up and glanced at the short-haired girl.

Doris nodded. “How do you know me? Are you friends with my sister?”

“No.”

“If you’re not friends, why did you save her?” she asked. “When mom and dad died, except Gran, all their grownup friends pretended that they didn’t know us.”

“To repay her.”

“For what?”

At the little girl’s series of questions, Edris responded with a slight shrug. Crouching over until they were at eye level, he gently patted her on the head.

“A strawberry tart, I suppose.”

After settling the sisters by a safe corner, he walked towards the viscount, who was lying limp at the edge of the stage. Eathe attempted to crawl away at his approach, but his movements were soon restricted as Edris hovered over him with a smile.

“Long time no see, viscount.”

“I knew Dolan Zacriya sent you.” Eathe snarled through gritted teeth.

From the corner of his eye, he could see the hypnotist fighting with the other worker. The former seemed to be at a disadvantage, almost toppling over with every movement he pulled. Eathe knew that he could no longer rely on the hypnotist. With all his remaining strength, Eathe condensed his mana into a burst of energy, surrounding himself with dark magic.

The moment he was about to chant a spell, however, his vision shook as his face was pressed downwards and mercilessly scraped over the harsh surface. All traces of dark magic vanished, and Eathe groaned in pain.

Something warm trickled down his nose, and he glared at Edris through bloodshot eyes.

“Impressive, viscount. I didn’t know you could use dark magic,” Edris said.

His pale eyes flickering in the dust-filled chasm, the man retained nothing of the gentleness that Eathe had witnessed back at the Orteon Manor. The memory of that day resurfaced in his head, and the viscount forced out a sneer.

“Why? Are you surprised you’re not the only one with tricks up your sleeves?” He spat. “An outsider who can’t even control his own powers. And you call yourself a prophet?”

Edris’s lips parted slightly, and he turned his head. To the viscount, it was because his words had hit the bullseye.

To Edris, he was simply trying hard not to laugh.

He had completely forgotten about the lie he made back at the Orteon Manor, but it appeared to have had a more profound impact than he thought.

So why not play along?

He gazed back at the viscount. At this angle, Eathe could make out the fervour in the man’s eyes. The contrast from his usual tranquillity gave the man a ghostly presence. “All the more reasons you should be careful. What if you say too much and cause me to lose control completely?”

A gust of purple swirled around his fingers, and Edris’s eyes creased like crescent moons.

“I might end up killing you.”