Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 473: Blaze

Chapter 473: Blaze

Veronica stood in the meeting hall of the Octagon, her expression a complicated mess as she delved into her thoughts.

She’d been around the longest, having been the first Homunculi to be created by the Great Families roughly 1100 years ago.

Since that time, she’d had to live with the fact that she and the rest of her kin were needed for the defense of mankind against those seeking to wipe them out.

It was a heavy responsibility but so far, she’d been able to hold on even as it weighed down heavily on her shoulders.

Perhaps not as much as Ana, but she had also seen the Empire face potential destruction but never like what they were currently facing.

It almost seemed like they were facing off against the same world they were meant to be protecting.

Pretty ironic, she couldn’t help but mutter inwardly, causing a self-deprecating chuckle to escape her lips.

She was tempted to step out and join the fight, just as much as her sisters but she knew that doing so would be dangerous.

If it got to the level that BlackWatch had to be abandoned, that meant the war was already lost and there would be no point fighting.

Letting out a sigh, she looked down at the map placed on the table before her.

It was a map of the Empire and on it, certain locations had been marked.

Some were marked as places destroyed by the Night Kindred, others were places overrun with undead, a few were places still untouched by the war, and lastly, the newest additions were the places touched by the Incursions.

She was trying to figure out a pattern amidst the chaos to at least help out the war efforts.

It made no sense that 10 days into the war, the Abyss would suddenly strike like this.

There had to be something that had caused it to move.

Perhaps an Abyss Wheel Mystic like Lincoln from back then.

But what would they be after this time?... The amount of information they were getting in real time was barely able to answer that question.

Just then, the doors to the hall swung open with an Enforcer rushing on.

"Ma’am, thank goodness I found you."

"Talk to me."

"There’s news, Ma’am, and both are bad."

Closing her eyes while taking a deep breath to prepare herself, Veronica turned to regard the middle-aged enforcer who was struggling to catch his breath.

"Talk."

"The undead have begun to move."

"Haven’t they been moving since?"

"They have but this time there’s a pattern. It’s almost like something is calling them."

"Where are they headed?"

"The Eastern Highlands."

Veronica froze as her eyes widened for a moment.

Of course!... She had been thinking of just the Empire.

Why hadn’t she considered that the problem might stem from the Night Kindred?

But then why was the Incursion on their land?

"Wait, what’s the second bad news?"

Gulping hard, The enforcer replied. "Riots, Ma’am. A lot of them."

"From our people?"

"Yes."

It would seem yet another problem would have to be added to the already growing list of troubles plaguing the Empire.

***

Ambrose had never expected it.

After the incident at BoneHaven, he’d retired to his family estate and had begun to live the life of a noble, one of riches and splendor.

He’d attended more balls in the past two months than in his last five years as an active Enforcer.

And it was from those balls that he’d met a beautiful woman he planned on marrying.

Today, he planned on heading to her manor for a spot of tea.

Unfortunately for him, fate seemed to have other plans.

"Get me out of here!" He cried out in a panic as he watched commoners on the streets fighting against armed Royal Blues like savages, ripping their hearts out and slitting their throats without mercy.

Even those holed up in their houses were not spared from the horror as windows were smashed and doors were torn off their hinges.

The screams and cries of terrified citizens echoed across the streets alongside depraved laughter and maddened screeches.

His coachman tried to take him away but unfortunately got caught in the mess as he was dragged down from his spot and beaten to death by a half-naked woman wielding a piece of wood with exposed nails.

Ambrose’s newborn double chin jiggled as his carriage was shoved from side to side until finally, it fell.

Covered in ink, paper, alcohol, and wrapped presents, he tried to escape but before he could do so, the door was suddenly smashed in and at the top, two young men covered in blood, stood with hunched backs.

One held a flame torch and the other, a metal bat.

"Look, I’m going to need you both to calm down." Ambrose softly intoned, hoping to calm the crazed youths to facilitate an escape.

But then the man holding the torch slowly grinned until the smile grew too sadistic to be normal.

Then, he replied. "How about no?"

And then, the torch fell.

A blaze erupted soon after.

***

"Who are you?" Alex calmly inquired as he stared at the woman standing at one of the tunnels.

She didn’t immediately respond, her ’gaze’ moving from him then to Arthur, then Douglas before finally stopping on Emily, specifically, her stomach.

"Finally, I have found you. O, heavens be praised." The voluptuous nun said, her voice silky smooth almost like a child’s.

"What are you talking about?"

Ignoring Alex’s second question, she remarked. "You have no idea how long I’ve had to wait. When the Mother told me about you, I had wanted to leave at once to find you to take you to a safe place but was told that it wasn’t the right time. Hence, I had no choice but to wait." She intoned with a hint of melancholy in her words.

Then, she continued, almost like she didn’t wish for any form of misunderstanding. "But I promise, there has not been a day that I did not pray for your safety. O to see you alive and well warms my heart."

Frowning, the trio of Mystics listened to the woman speak while Emily felt a vague sense of discomfort followed by the faraway cries of what appeared to be... a baby?

Her stomach seemed to ripple at that moment.

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