Ascension of the Dark Seraph

Leandra felt a sudden heaviness inside her chest.

She was the one who understood Lucivar the most, and she should've been more confident.

Even though Lucivar never showed the world his pain, showing that he was hurting, the truth was that he was—he was only too arrogant and prideful to ever admit it. Yet earlier, when he bared his true feelings, it marked something undeniable.

He trusted her enough to speak with a candor he granted no one else.

Had it not been the case, he would've kept his feelings to himself.

But he didn't.

Lucivar outright told her, and that was his last plea for help, to let someone know that he was drowning.

For a fleeting moment there, Leandra was submerged in the choking silence before her eyes dropped down to the gift on her lap. 'Despite being in pain, he still even thought of giving me a gift like this. Just when I thought he was purely bad, he did this. Sigh… I really can't understand him.'

She eventually opened the gift.

Even though this would've made her excited earlier, now, it only stung her heart.

It was supposed to be her—who thought of things to help Lucivar forget about that night, not the other way around. Once the wrap was torn, Leandra was left with a small, luxurious-looking box. Confused, she opened it, expecting another necklace, but she found a golden key instead.

"A key…?" She took it out and looked at it with a frown. "What did he prepare for me?"

Despite feeling bad on one side, the excited part brimmed with excitement that made her kick her feet.

Lucivar had always been mysterious, and now, he gave her a mysterious gift.

It's thrilling.

Just then, she noticed a card tucked inside the small box.

She took it and read its content.

…

Golden Butterfly Street, number 13.

Go there when you feel like it's the appropriate time.

~ Lucivar Asarafall.

…

"Go there when you feel like it's the appropriate time?" A small chuckle escaped Leandra's lips as this was so Lucivar. Not giving her the satisfaction—until there was a proper build-up was so like him, and she wasn't complaining. "Fine. But don't blame me if what I feel like the appropriate time isn't as you expected."

Leandra put the golden key inside her pocket, stood up, and headed back to the dormitory.

She forgot completely as to why she even decided to talk to Lucivar tonight.

But even so, she came back feeling a lot better than before.

All she could think of earlier was calculating Lucivar's moves and finding out about what he was thinking, but the night had a lot more to offer. Not only did she get a gift, but she also knew Lucivar's real feelings for her and shared a second kiss.

It was thrilling and certainly unexpected in a good way.

Early in the morning, everyone gathered inside Lucivar's room.

"Sabrina?" Ravenna entered the room and noticed Sabrina standing beside the bed—both hands clasped before her stomach tidily like a dutiful maid. "I haven't seen you for a couple of days. Where were you? I thought you decided to run away now that you're a free woman."

Since Master Tobias died, she no longer needs to stay around.

She could leave and start anew somewhere else.

Of course, she wouldn't be recognized as a sovereign person in the Valerius Supreme House' territory, but she could start anew in other territories. When she was gone for a couple of days, Ravenna thought she did exactly that.

It was surprising to see her back here.

"I'm Master Lucivar's personal maid. I belong nowhere but here." Sabrina answered firmly.

A perfect answer for a personal maid.

Leandra, on the other hand, looked at Sabrina and noticed something.

'Sabrina is slightly out of breath,' She thought, clicking her tongue. 'Did Lucivar use her?'

"Where's Mirel?" Nerissa intervened and looked at Ravenna.

She was the one who arrived the latest, so she might know where Mirel was.

"Don't look at me," Ravenna shrugged her shoulders. "I woke up late and rushed here after showering."

"Mirel is not coming with us," Lucivar suddenly said out of nowhere as he came out of the bathroom, his black hair and bare torso still slightly wet. He closed the door behind him and went to Sabrina. "He said he doesn't want to see Bob in whatever state it was—so he's only going to join us after Bob is buried."

Sabrina helped him dry his body with a towel and then helped him put on a shirt.

All while the others were looking at him with mixed feelings.

"Is it really that bad? Bob, I meant…" Ravenna whispered, her throat tight from holding her emotions.

Lucivar nodded nonchalantly, "Yes, it's pretty rough. Master Tobias made a mess of him."

Almost instantly, everyone tensed—as the sight of Bob in a mangled mess was something that none of them were probably prepared to see. It was even more disturbing to see—that even Lucivar seemed to be caught off guard by it.

"Don't worry, I already cleaned up—most of it. But yeah, it's pretty bad before." Lucivar buttoned his shirt and headed for the door. He walked past the stunned others and looked over his shoulder, a brow raised, "Shall we?"

Snapping out of their dazes, the others nodded and followed Lucivar out.

Outside, there was a car waiting for them already.

Lucivar sat on the passenger seat in front, right beside the driver, while the others sat in the back.

It was an SUV, so it was quite spacious.

"How did you arrange for the car?" Leandra asked curiously.

"Angel," Lucivar answered nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. "She helped me arrange it."

Once all of them were inside, Lucivar nodded at the driver, and the car zoomed out of the academy.

It took about two hours for them to arrive at their destination.

Aside from Lucivar, none of the others knew where they were headed or where Bob had been found.

But soon enough, their surprise grew when the trail led them to the outskirts of the city, stopping before a massive warehouse that looked long abandoned. Surrounding it were a couple of people, all of them were Hybrids.

"Don't mind them," Lucivar said as he took off the seatbelt. "It's the Feradith Family's people. I asked them to look after the warehouse while I'm away. In fact, they were helping me find—where Bob was, though I'm the one who found it alone in the end.

Lucivar and the others exited the car.

"Did anyone get inside?" He asked as a Hybrid, a man with a friendly air, approached him.

"No, Sir." The Hybrid shook his head. "We didn't even sleep for a heartbeat. Nobody got inside."

"What about your men?" Lucivar pointed at the others. "Aren't they curious as to what's inside?"

Upon hearing this, the Hybrid scratched the back of his head.

"I think like me, they too value their lives more than satiating their curiosity, Sir." He answered, fully aware that one wrong move would be death, as that's what the Feradith Family said to him. "I'm positive that nobody entered."

Lucivar nodded firmly and turned to the others, "Follow me."

Even though Lucivar's steps were firm and steady, the others faltered behind him.

Due to the nervousness, eating them from the inside—their steps gradually slowed the closer they got to the warehouse, while their hearts pounded inside like a beating drum. All of them had seen a lot of dead bodies before, but they were still nervous to see Bob.

It was only when Lucivar disappeared into the warehouse that the three quickly picked up their pace.

Upon entering the abandoned warehouse, the air became acrid.

All of them could feel the dust lingering thick in the air, and also the smell of rusted steel.

It forced them to create a barrier with their ether to push away the dust.

Lucivar led them to a staircase that led to the basement.

Unlike the air above that still contained a tinge of freshness, the air in the basement was completely bad, suffocating. Before continuing, Lucivar turned to Leandra, his expression still level and composed, "Do you mind?"

"Oh, right…" Leandra flicked her fingers and summoned an orb of light using her attribute.

It lights the entire place around, highlighting more rusted machinery.

Soon enough, as Lucivar made a turn, he finally stopped.

As Leandra, Ravenna, and Nerissa rounded the corner and entered the room, they froze.

Their eyes widened, lungs seized as a collective, shuddering breath slipped past their lips.

Before them was a small chamber that felt wrong, as though the air itself had been saturated with memories and malice. At its heart stood a chair, solitary beneath a hanging bulb whose light had long since died, leaving only a husk of glass that seemed to mock the darkness.

Steel chains sprawled across the floor in tangled coils; their surfaces glinted faintly with etched runes.

Even at a glance, the trio recognized the ether within them.

Clearly, these chains weren't normal restraints, but enchanted bindings.

But it wasn't the chains that stole the strength from their knees.

Slumped against the wall, hidden behind the chair, was a figure that the three of them recognized.

Bob.

Or what remained of him.

His head hung forward, chin to chest—while his body lay folded as though time itself had given up on holding him together. Jagged holes pierced his wrists, precisely where a man might once wear a watch, and deep lacerations marred his feet as though he had been nailed into suffering.

Each stroke of the wound made Leandra clench her fists as all of them matched one designated weapon.

Master Tobias' chosen weapon—a blood lance.

Most damning of all was the gaping wound in his chest, a hollow cavity where his heart had been.

It was clear that there was nothing peaceful about his end.

Every wound had been final, but the torment that preceded it lingered in every cut, every absence of the flesh, and every grotesque silence that filled the room. Above Bob's lifeless body, smeared across the wall, loomed a vast blot of dried blood.

Dark, flaking, yet monumental.

A silent testament to the violence that had been painted in this place.

It seemed to stare back at them like a twisted sigil, daring them to imagine the moment of its creation.

Despite the disturbing sight, the three couldn't look away.

Looking away would mean disrespecting Bob's final moment, so they had to remain strong.

Such a scene pressed into their bones, leaving behind an impression they would never shake: that they were not in a room, but in the shadow of Bob's suffering.

"Bob is a strong Black Orc Hybrid with immense vitality, so he fought back, resisted," Lucivar pointed at around the chamber where dried-up blood marks stained every wall. "I don't know for sure—but I think the only way he could truly die was by taking his heart. But one thing is for sure… He certainly died fighting."