Midnight Prince: Empire of Sin

[Thursday — 6th December 2030 — 11:40 am]

In the Laboratory, as Adam's consciousness slowly started to merge back with his body, his aura continued to climb— climbing to heights that it had never reached before in his life.

'Who was the fucking bastard who killed me there!?'

Adam was angry. So very angry…

For the very first time in a long time, he was genuinely angry at something. That too on such a large scale.

Having got killed in such a humiliating way, with no choice of retaliation whatsoever, and that too at the moment when he least expected it, without even being able to see his enemy properly up until the very end. It was all a bit too much for his psyche to handle…

And what did it say there? 'He was better than it thought?' and 'It was going to be fun?'

'Just what the hell was that cat-like being spouting, dammit?'

Adam's mind, which was still unstable because of the sudden death and the rage he was feeling had become nonsensical and was on a rampage. Normally, he would have not cared about dying. Or at least, he wouldn't have cared so much as to rage so…

After all, death was just a natural extension of life for him now— a being who was immortal and was not affected by death of any shape or form. Nothing but an inconvenience for him in life at this point. The one who killed him should also be extremely strong to be able to harm him with such ease, with no problem whatsoever.

Intellectually, he knew that being angry in this situation was just a waste of time for him. But was it because he was still high from the great victory he achieved just then? Or because he matured as a fighter? He began to resent this logical way of thinking.

Why should he shrug off defeat simply because it was logical to lose? Adam finally opened his eyes as he managed to take control of his rage.

Letting anger control him would never be the answer to the problem he was facing. He needed to utilize this rage to do something more productive.

'For now. I should assess my current situation.'

"—Hello sleepy head. Had a good dream?"

His thought stopped when he heard Medusa's voice and finally, he started to open his eyes. Sadly, even before he opened them— 'The World,' which was operating in full power once more, relayed all the information to him.

"Ugh…"

Adam groaned, wishing for the first time that his power was wrong or that he was blind. But the reality was what it was.

When he finally opened his eyes, Adam gazed at what his domain already prepared him for.

A complete wasteland, a laboratory filled with so much destroyed equipment that one would think a tornado or an earthquake went through here. Even now, electricity flickered and he could see flames being extinguished here and there by safety measures.

"Hahaha…."

An awkward laugh leaked out of his quivering lips as he gazed at Medusa who was watching him with a mocking smile on the other side of some protective glasses.

"I hope you are ready to pay back for all the dama..."

Medusa stopped herself and raised an eyebrow when the laboratory went to look completely how it looked previously in one instant.

"Damages? What damages? I don't see any damage here. Must have been your imagination."

"Very funny. Adam. Though I must say, your skills seem to have gotten even better than before."

Medusa blinked a little and was slowly able to see through the seemingly perfect illusion Adam had created. Even so, she had to admit that they became extremely intricate to the point she needed to exert a great amount of effort to break them despite how special her vision was.

"It seems like you really learned something interesting in your current trip to the Dreamscape."

Adam coughed and erased the illusion, bringing back everything to normal or rather to their destroyed state.

"Ahem~! About paying. This time you are the one who asked me to stay. So shouldn't you pay for everything?"

"Oh?"

Medusa's eyes twinkled, "Very well. If your adventure in the Dreamscape proves to be interesting enough, I will waive off this debt. So, do you want to change? Though I absolutely do not mind the spectacle I am witnessing. It is truly a sight for sore eyes."

It was only now that Adam realized that he was completely naked right now. His clothes seemed to have burned as well but thankfully there was no traces left on his body. Right now, he was displaying said body for the world to see and Medusa did not show any sign of shame as she looked at his body from top to bottom with a heated gaze.

'I forgot she was from old Greece.'

"I will take a shower and some clothes… please…"

He needed time to gather his spirit and focus on himself.

.

.

.

Standing naked under the cold shower, Adam closed his eyes and started to do the same ritual he did whenever he awakened from a long dream or his deep dives from the land of dreams.

He started to expand his domain to its fullest extent.

The distance slowly increased. From a few hundred meters to more than one kilometer then two kilometers. Finally….2.6 kilometers?

Adam stopped, frowning heavily at the result that he found himself stumbling into.

While he was sure that the growth of his domain would slow down after a while. This was too weird for him.

Becoming a pawn made him jump from 1 to 2. But he did not even reach 3 kilometers after becoming a Rook?

'Oh…'

It was then that he realized something fundamental about his new domain. Normally, the more he extended his domain, the less clear everything became for him as his mind had to sustain an amount of information so high that it was simply impossible for him to perceive everything in detail.

But now…

'It's… clear?'

The information did not rush to his brain like a never-ending flood but rather slowly and simply on a more stable channel.

No… the flow did not change. It was the vessel that had changed. He could now understand what happened. His soul indeed became stronger. Far stronger than what it was in the past.

But rather than focusing on simply increasing the coverage of his domain, it reinforced what he already had. n/-.-

Slowly, he retracted the domain and his heartbeats increased as the quality of the information improved.

Finally, when he nearly reached the bar of one kilometer only, he stopped the shrinkage of the domain and a subtle grin formed on his face.

"Crazy…"

In the past, while his domain could cover one or two kilometers, his most effective coverage was just a few tens or a hundred meters around him.

But now? Now he could perfectly cover one full kilometer and a little more with absolutely no problem whatsoever.

He may not be omniscient in this zone coverage but the information would not overwhelm him anymore.

The day when he could barely cover only 10 meters around him seemed so far away.

Like always, as Adam realized how far his domain could go, intrusive thoughts started to appear.

What if he suddenly used the power of 'The Magician'? Would everyone fall into hysteria with the different illusions he could throw out at them? What about simply increasing or lowering the gravity? Or Using 'Death' like he did in Las Vegas.

If he so wished— one thought of him was enough to reduce to ash nearly all life in his domain.

Could even people stronger than him be able to brag about having such power?

He doubted that… Very much so, in fact.

'I need to control myself.'

He breathed in and out to calm the wild thought and focused on one last matter that had surprised him just before he died.

"Shadows. Come out."

The two shadows came out. Blurrier than they looked when they were in Dreamscape. But he could see it— the light of intelligence in their eyes.

The moment the two of them came out, they immediately kneeled, while looking at him with their red eyes filled with curiosity and longing.

"Father."

Two guttural voices came out and Adam had to give his all to not flinch at that word.

[Adam… Just what did you do in there?]

He gave a bitter smile at the slight bewilderment he was able to discern in the book spirit's inorganic tone. He also wanted to know what exactly happened.

It was then— the book of Genesis opened for him and the pages turned until it reached the Quest page.

A new Ordeal was about to appear before him.