Chapter 39: Final Cleansing [2]

"Is he here?" Killian asked while panting, sitting on the grassy ground, looking at a large mansion.

"The highest concentration of mana is here, along with hundreds of puppets and ordinary humans." Jin slowly laid down Cassian as he analyzed the mansion.

"Take care of him for now." He handed Cassian to Killian and began walking towards the mansion.

"Are you really going to fight him? This place is finished anyway."

Jin did not answer, steadily increasing his speed until he disappeared from Killian's sight.

"It seems really tough on him..." Killian sighed as he looked at Jinn, then at Cassian who was asleep next to him.

The healing potion Jinn gave him was beyond ancient grade, so he probably wouldn't die. But whether he could surpass rank C after such injuries… that was highly questionable.

Killian didn't know Cassian's exact background, but he respected him greatly after seeing him fight just a while ago. Between the Morning Star and one of the best assassins below rank S-, a man not even at rank B- fought bravely and made significant changes.

"Wait a minute..." He looked at Cassian's face for a moment and was struck by realization.

"That face! The person who was with the yeti!" Killian put his hand over his head and opened his mouth wide.

"I'm doomed…"

***

( POV: Jinn)

I took a deep breath as I hovered above the vast mansion, wanting to understand the surroundings and what people here had gone through before killing that guardian.

With every meter I advanced, my anger doubled inside me.

The intelligent puppets were placed like pawns on a massive chessboard, being played by the masters. More shockingly, they had to fight each other to the death when they met in the same square.

I rushed to the ground immediately to stop this atrocity. Since the puppet revolution had already ended, I wouldn't let another innocent person die here… ever.

Especially after those many sacrifices… so many people had already died; I couldn't bear more.

{Stop}

That was enough. Whether to kill the masters or not would depend on their subsequent response. I was sure I'd kill many of them, but I wanted to spare the children at least now…

I would never become as monstrous and vile as them! I would never stoop to their filthy level in my entire life! Impossible. I passed through battle arenas and puppet execution boxes…

Dozens of entertainment methods based on the suffering and corpses of innocent people, this society was truly vile…

I started thinking that Hell below was somewhat better than this place. Such thoughts alone were enough to prove the filthiness of this place. For Cassian to live here for four months and retain his sanity… that was truly amazing! He exceeded my expectations by far.

I stopped the fights in the arenas, prevented the execution games, and paralyzed everyone without killing them, soon reaching the mansion. I wanted to understand everything about this society before ending it. I didn't know why but I just wanted it this way.

Maybe I wanted to know everything about them to find an excuse… An excuse to go back to killing the helpless, even if they weren't innocent.

By the time I reached the top floor of the mansion, I was already grinding my teeth in fury. This society had to be wiped from existence… from the young to the old… I would erase them completely.

I made my decision, only infants and children under twelve who hadn't witnessed anything would remain. Anyone older than that was already tainted… they weren't innocent; I saw one trying to kill an innocent person just now…

A wave of mana appeared before me suddenly, and a familiar-faced person emerged from it. The three brothers all had almost identical features, so I didn't need to sense his aura to know his identity.

The third noble house representative of this society, Anitetheus, I would call him Eus now.

"What are you doing here? You should be in Hell now!"

Eus shouted with some anger, seemingly not realizing yet… Everyone merged with this body during their patrol and then left, so he likely thought I was Vantos now.

I wanted to cancel the merge too, to forget everything about this damn society, and continue my life outside. But my real body was now crippled and completely disabled, so that wasn't an option.

I approached Eus slowly; he was completely angry but not suspicious of me at all.

"You brothers trust each other too much. It's ironic that creatures worse than demons like you possess such noble traits…"

Before Eus could respond, I thrust my right arm into his chest, grabbing his heart from the other side. Just as Sebastian had done to me… forcing me to activate my Legacy skill.

"Who are you?" Eus screamed loudly, not believing his eyes.

My expression twisted, feeling something strange about to happen. Mana condensed in Eus's body suddenly, even causing his long grey hair to float upwards weirdly. I immediately pulled my hand back and retreated, preparing my second attack.

Eus's body shrank significantly and settled at a height of 140 centimeters, looking like a child now.

I stared at the heart that had been in my hand a moment ago, finding it had strangely turned to ashes.

'Damn!' I realized what was happening. He sacrificed his heart to gather massive power for a short time, just like Vantos and Sebastian.

However, those two sacrificed less vital parts like hands or fingers, while this one sacrificed his heart… I formed a dome of mist around the entire mansion, diving deep into it.

'I need to be extremely cautious, likely he will possess SS- rank power for some time… this would end if I had wasted time wandering…'

"Waste of time!"

A transparent blue hand appeared above the mist, waving lightly.

"This is bad!"

The air pressure caused the fog to disappear instantly, even slamming me to the ground.

Being indirectly exposed to this hand was akin to being struck by Octavius StarHold's attack without beast form.

Extremely dangerous, but not enough to injure me in my current state.

If he wanted to seriously harm me, it had to be a direct hit. Tiny mist wings emerged behind my back and around my feet, making me feel several times faster.

The fog couldn't usually be used this way, but using the {Personal Assassin} skill enhanced my element to the best possible form for my body.

I barely dodged another hand strike, doing several loops around the mansion. Several strikes aimed at me, but I barely evaded each one in time, ending up striking the ground.

This caused a terrifying earthquake in the area, nearly collapsing the mansion if not for its excellent structure and mana reinforcement. Some weaker people inside probably died due to the mana vibrations—

My eyes widened suddenly, 'Damn! He was luring me all along!'

Eus suddenly appeared before me with his ghastly appearance, about to deliver a powerful punch.

"I will avenge my younger brothers!"

He spat a mouthful of blood as he said that, then punched.

I knew for sure I couldn't dodge it; he was too close to me.

{Stop!}

All the mana in my body vanished entirely at that moment, with only a few points left.

My hair flew backward due to the wind pressure, and I would have flown backward from the punch's force if not for the mist.

"All of you brothers are incredibly annoying!"

I screamed loudly, changing the shape of the mist gathered at my back and feet. Changing the shape of existing fog was less costly than producing more of it; there was no other solution given the energy shortage.

A sharp spike pierced through the middle of Eus's head, ending the fight… or so I thought.

"You're funny!" Eus laughed ear to ear while holding the spike that pierced his brain.

"For God's sake…" I was filled with dread.