Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 570: Lover of Despair

Chapter 570: Lover of Despair

The central marketplace of Picenza was filled with cries of agony as despair devoured the hearts of many, pushing them into the depths of madness.

"Ah, ah... It’s coming, it’s coming!"

"Somebody save me!"

"Stay away, stay away from me!"

"Die, die, die!!!"

Nadia stood atop the tallest building, watching the spectacle with a detached gaze, acting like she was not the cause of such a sorry sight.

Men, women and children... none were spared as they continued to scream at the top of their lungs, fleeing if they could all in a bid to get away from the Dark Cloaked Devil.

Naturally, there was no devil but Nadia’s spell ensured that they hallucinated the devil themselves.

All in a bid to further the success rate of her trial.

Even knights in servitude of the church were not impervious to the madness as they cut down many, thinking they were facing off against the devil seeking to claim their souls.

Nadia turned away, shifting her gaze toward the distance where the main church of Picenza stood tall.

Denyen.

Denying the distance between her position and the church, she disappeared from where she stood, quickly appearing above the church in the next instant.

Some of those that were around the vicinity of the church raised their heads only to lay eyes upon her.

Ignoring their gazes, Nadia pointed at the church and muttered

Denyen.

She denied the integrity of the church structure and in the next instant, it trembled before it collapsed, swiftly killing those that remained within.

This was enough to cause those that saw this to flee, unwilling to stick around to find out what would happen next.

Satisfied with the fear she had imprinted in the hearts of men, she left, leaving behind the terror that would be sure to linger for days to come.

***

’Join us.’

Ulysses struggled to free himself but try as he may, his efforts proved futile as several ghostly hands clung tightly onto his ankles, preventing him from swimming out of the water body he had inadvertently found himself dragged into.

Bubbles escaped his lips as he was on the verge of drowning but he still fought, attempting to pull out a card only to be prevented from doing so.

After several minutes underwater, Ulysses breathed his last as water flooded his lungs and drowned him.

Only then did the ghostly hands let go, allowing him to float down.

Several seconds passed in silence only for Ulysses to open his eyes, seemingly alive despite being dead.

’What’s going on?’ Ulysses wondered as he looked around, confirming that he had not crossed over to the Afterlife and was still within the water body.

Only then did he recall Humphrey’s hypothesis which was made after learning about his healing factor.

Ulysses was perhaps the first human on Eventide to achieve true immortality.

Only if his Avatar was erased would he die.

Excited to find that he was undying, Ulysses looked back down only to discover that the ghostly hands, after finding out that he was still alive, were reaching out to pull him further down the water body.

Though immortal, Ulysses did not enjoy the feeling of water filling his lungs and so, he did not hesitate to flee, rushing toward the surface with the ghostly hands not too far behind.

Ulysses reached the surface and pulled himself out, once again finding himself in the dark room filled with polluted water.

Gasping for air as water was ejected from every other part of his body, Ulysses struggled to his feet and rushed toward the exit and pushed it open only to be bombarded by numerous ghosts.

They charged into his body, seeking to claim it as their own.

Ulysses’ eyes lolled back briefly, revealing the whites only for his eyes to return as the ghosts were devoured rather quickly.

It was then that Ulysses recalled something he’d struggled to forget.

The words of the single eyed tentacled entity that served as the Guardian of the Abyss Wheel.

Devour the souls of 72 despondent intelligent beings.

It was the trial to become a Lover of Despair which was the 2nd Lock of the Abyss Wheel.

Confused at first, Ulysses soon found himself yearning for more and so in a rare case of reversed roles, Ulysses was the ghostly terror and the ghosts, the terrified guests.

It took merely moments before he gave up trying to escape the room filled with water and instead allowed himself to be pulled in.

***

Starved of food, left without a single drop of water, deprived of his emotions while completely in the dark about the passage of time... all while being within an empty dark room.

In such a state, Douglas had begun to hallucinate, conjuring up illusions of when he was happy.

Of when Emily and Alex were still alive and he was still working to take care of them.

Such illusions should have conjured happy feelings but even those emotions were devoured, ensuring that Douglas remained an empty tank on multiple fronts.

With a deadpan look on his face, he felt his humanity slipping away, bit by bit, his already fragile mind, unraveling even further.

He didn’t know when but he began to cut himself, hoping to feel something but the pain he hoped for never came, also devoured by whatever Sayda had placed in him.

Douglas let out a soulless shout as he slammed his head against the wooden floorboards but even that was not enough.

Just then, the door to the confined room he was in swung open with Sayda walking in, dressed in a thin sleeping attire that left little to the imagination.

She walked over with steady steps and knelt before him.

Seeing the blood from Douglas had trail down his face, she reached out and swiped at it with a finger. "Poor thing."

"Would you like to feel something?" She asked softly. "Would you like me to help?"

Douglas glanced at her, struggling to figure out who she was, why she was here and most importantly, why she looked familiar.

Before he could speak, Sayda leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips, causing a formless mist to escape her lips and enter his mouth.

Douglas’s eyes flashed with emotion but merely got a moment before returning to bring empty.

Trembling, he stared at Sayda who muttered. "Be a good boy, okay?... And I promise to give you everything you want."

Saying that, she got to her feet and left the room, leaving Douglas to continue on with his solitary confirmation.