Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 399: Dying

Chapter 399: Dying

It wouldn’t be until nighttime before Oswald would recover enough from his injuries and the thoughts running through his mind to focus on matters regarding the Archives.

His expression impassive, he stepped out of his room, wearing a different white suit from the one he’d worn to face the relics, that piece was unfortunately no longer wearable... he’d have to consider calling for a replacement as soon as possible.

Letting out a sigh, he found Lyra waiting for him in the sitting room while buried in work.

"I didn’t think you’d be out so soon," Lyra commented, not bothering to raise her head.

Oswald replied. "This is hardly the time to be resting, I’d do so once everything is resolved."

"As you wish," Lyra remarked before raising her head to meet his gaze.

"Lyra..."

"We’d have to send a message to BlackWatch for reinforcements, the Taskmasters available already have their hands full trying to clean up the sixth floor."

"Just get them to turn on the candelabras and focus on calming the Relics of the other floors. I see no reason to rush with clean up considering one of their own was lost."

Lyra paused, her brows raised as she was taken aback by his response.

"Are my words that shocking?"

"... Perhaps."

"0127... will be given a proper burial. He deserves that much."

Her expression unreadable, Lyra nodded. "I’ll make arrangements."

"Thank you."

"No need. Anyway, we caught the intruder. He is currently in a holding cell. What do we do with him?"

"Let me see him first. I’d like to know just who exactly was bold enough to infiltrate this building and how they did it."

"Right this way," Lyra remarked as she rose to her feet and led the way out of the second floor to the third where Alex was kept.

***

It felt almost surreal.

Two things that weren’t supposed to happen, occurred in the space of a day.

"How did you do it?" Oswald was inclined to ask as he sat across from Alex, clearly intrigued by the latter’s bravado.

Alex shrugged. "Just a bit of planning."

"I see," Oswald muttered in slight amusement before inquiring. "I’m curious, do you know why no Catacomb has ever been attacked?"

"Little foggy on the details, but something about destruction."

"Relics are elements of destruction. None of them would be useful for a Mystic’s advancement neither would it help to bolster their power unless they are willing to cause widespread destruction to not just the landscape but themselves..."

"But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to circumvent that, yes?"

Caught off guard by Alex’s statement, Oswald remarked. "The risk is too great to think you’d be able to get away easily after using a Relic. So why exactly would you try to steal one?"

"Who said I’m here to steal?"

"Aren’t you?" Oswald raised a brow with Alex glancing at Lyra standing behind the family head.

Letting out a sigh, he replied. "Can’t say."

"What did you plan on stealing?" Lyra suddenly asked.

"Can’t say."

"Proving difficult won’t help your case."

"I already knew I was done the moment I woke up in this cell, no need to threaten me further." Alex calmly stated, his expression the epitome of serenity.

Lyra glanced at Oswald who letting out a sigh, remarked. "You have two options; you die right now or you become a Taskmaster. You can pick your poison."

"..."

"Taskmaster it is then. I’ll let you know in advance, it isn’t a pleasant process."

With that, Oswald got to his feet and left with his hands behind his back, leaving Lyra to handle the rest.

***

The elevator ride to the first floor was punctuated by silence with Alex being escorted by two Taskmasters and Lyra, the latter of which seemed to be documenting something.

"Where are you taking me?" Alex inquired once the elevator got to its destination.

Lyra spared him a perfunctory glance before replying. "You can’t remain in this building. You already have a bit of mental corruption from the whispers so you’d be kept in a prison outside the Archives until reinforcement from BlackWatch arrives. At that time, you will become just like the men behind you."

Glancing back at the masked silent men escorting him, Alex couldn’t help but inquire "What did they do to become like this?"

"... Bad things."

Though tempted to engage in further conversation, Alex decided against it considering the Homunculus was hardly in the mood for further chatter.

The walk through the first floor descended into silence as Alex busied himself studying the unique structure compared to other floors he’d seen.

It looked a lot like a dormitory with a hundred rooms, each of which housed a single Taskmaster causing Alex to wonder if these beings born of an amalgamation of man and machine were affected by human needs though the answer was a no-brainer.

He had a feeling those human needs had a hand in what caused the corrupted Taskmaster to do what he did.

In any case, the dorm stood eerily devoid of presence as its occupants were busy with the lower floors trying to calm the raging storms in the sealing halls.

As it was, it would take some time before they’d be free enough to return to this floor.

The long walk soon ended with a large doorway guarded by a lone Taskmaster.

"Open the gates," Lyra commanded with the Taskmaster complying.

Pushing it open, Alex guessed that the door would weigh at least a few hundred pounds which made him grateful he hadn’t considered going through it in the first place.

Once open, Alex grew entranced by the scenery depicted outside.

Due to being in a hurry the last time, he hadn’t had the privilege to study the underwater cave the Archives was entrenched in but now, he couldn’t help but praise nature’s beauty as he stared at the luminous stalactites that dotted the earthen roof above, coupled with the beautiful plant life that made the sight even more dream-like.

As they stepped onto the platform leading to the waterfall several meters away, Alex suddenly shoved off the Taskmasters holding him and ran past Lyra like he intended to get away.

"Stop!" Lyra commanded, rather livid by his audacity.

Of course, Alex didn’t listen and instead tried to leap into the water to make a getaway.

Alas, Lyra was having none of that.

The doubled-edged sword wielded by one of the Taskmasters escorting Alex suddenly shot forward like a dart, streaking past faster than the speed of sound and impaling Alex before he could hit the water after which it pulled him up and slammed his body into the platform.

Seconds later, the blood of a Regulus dyed the platform a bright red.

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