Chapter 193: Solitude (1)

Dan Socheon exited the office carrying an unconscious Yuri slung over his shoulder.

Cedric stood in the hallway, gazing out the window.

“Are you done?”

Dan Socheon nodded.

“You even deployed a formation… What did you two talk about?”

His voice was soft, but Dan Socheon detected the cold hidden beneath it.

He was a man devoid of human warmth.

What little affection he had was directed at only a few. And among them, Yuri Briol, his brother, occupied most of it.

“We didn’t talk about anything in particular. I set up the formation just to avoid commotion.”

“You couldn’t have done it quietly?”

“Your brother isn’t that weak. If he were, this building would already be in ruins.”

“How admirable.”

Cedric smiled.

“Don’t let him wake up for a good while.”

“Understood.”

They walked together down the hallway.

Though Dan Socheon carried Yuri, the servants ignored him as if he were invisible and addressed only Cedric with their greetings.

Cedric spoke.

“The Grand Law of Française is ready. Now you can do what you wanted.”

“I’ll say it again—don’t interfere.”

“Who knows?”

“And if you do, it’ll be after one of us falls.”

“Alright, alright.”

Cedric shrugged.

“That’s why I hate humans. They still have that instinct for rivalry… Maybe this world is rotten from the root.”

Dan Socheon didn’t respond.

He was an unprecedented genius, able to read the Secret Manual of the Heavenly Evil Spirit without going mad, and even manipulate the power residing within. Perhaps a demon.

Definitely not someone who could be considered remotely human.

Maybe that’s precisely why he could control the grimoire.

“Dan Socheon. Are you sure you can win?”

“I don’t know.”

“My father is quite strong. A genius… but in a different direction than me.”

Cedric patted him on the shoulder.

“You can kill him if you want, but don’t lose. By the way, Yuri asked you to save his friend, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m curious…”

Cedric adjusted his glasses with a smile.

“What will happen to him… and to Yuri? Dan Socheon, shall we make a bet?”

“I’ll pass.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d bet the same as you.”

“That’s no fun.”

They left the building and strolled through the royal palace.

“Leave my brother here.”

“Are you sure?”

“That guy can flop down and sleep anywhere.”

With that, Cedric laughed as if it amused him.

“When he wakes up, many things will have changed.”

Following his words, Dan Socheon casually dropped Yuri Briol’s body in a corner of the garden.

Yuri lay there as if sleeping. It wouldn’t be long before a servant found him.

Cedric spoke.

“Well, farewell to this place too. Let’s go to Française.”

***

Someone asked him.

[Do you want to live?]

Laurent shook his head.

It was a sincere answer.

But that voice didn’t leave him alone.

[No. You must live.]

And then Laurent’s world began to turn again.

His mind, dyed in deep red, and the desire boiling inside him, slowly began to recede. His consciousness, which had plummeted toward death, climbed once more from the edge of the abyss.

He had become a zombie, but he wasn’t dead.

And because of that, he could come back to life.

“Ah…”

Laurent blinked.

Suddenly, he regained consciousness. However, he didn’t remember what he had been doing.

There were some shapes in his field of vision, but he couldn’t recognize them clearly.

His brain functions began to return gradually.

Then, Laurent remembered that the color covering everything in front of him was called red.

Red.

A striking, and also terrifying, color.

Roses, tulips, peonies, amaryllis.

Apples, strawberries, cherries, tomatoes, pomegranates.

And blood.

Guts soaked in blood. Chunks of human flesh bathed in blood. Among them, white bones peeked through. And over them, blood continued to fall.

Laurent swallowed.

Then a metallic taste mixed with a foul stench filled his nose. His five senses began to sharpen.

He understood that what he was holding was a living being.

More than that, he recognized it was a human. Then, who was it?

Laurent closed his eyes and reopened them.

He lifted his head and looked up.

There was a head hanging. Seeing the hair color and facial features, he remembered the name assigned to that being.

Stephanie.

In the single remaining eye of her face, with the other gouged out, was reflected Laurent’s bloodied image.

He remembered the moment he had become something else. He wished he could forget it, but he remembered everything.

He had devoured Stephanie’s innards while she was still alive.

Her screams were high-pitched but soon faded into sobs.

Like any human, she had cried for her mom and dad. Laurent grabbed his head with both hands. Stephanie’s flesh was still in his mouth. He wanted to spit it out, but it was stuck between his teeth.

He shoved his fingers in to scrape it out, but when that didn’t work, he pressed harder.

He pulled out a few of his own teeth.

Three or four teeth fell onto Stephanie’s entrails, along with a thin piece of flesh.

Laurent, bleeding profusely, smiled. Then he vomited. Stephanie’s undigested organs burst out. The gastric juice was bright red, so he vomited again.

Among the vomit, an eyeball still connected by the optic nerve stared back at him.

Sensation returned to his body.

The desire boiling inside him awakened a fierce hunger for Stephanie’s eyes. They were soft and tasty—like a delicacy. So, he rolled one around on his tongue and swallowed it.

He had saved the other for dessert. Laurent bashed his head against the wall.

He muttered curses over and over. He spat, vomited, and continued smashing his forehead.

He growled like a beast as he kept punishing himself.

He threw himself with all his strength. The guard post collapsed and debris covered both his body and Stephanie’s corpse.

But he didn’t die. Laurent crawled out from the rubble.

The sun struck him from above. The blood covering his hands wasn’t his.

He touched his face. He felt the hardened skin stuck on it. He tore it off in strips. Blood ran down his face.

And then, he laughed.

Some zombies wandered nearby.

Laurent remembered how it was when he had been one of them. They weren’t dead. They were horrors that shouldn’t exist in this world, filled with a terrifying impulse that made them wander the earth endlessly.

He lunged at them with ferocity. The zombies, unreactive until now, began to fight back.

Laurent crushed one’s face with a punch. He ripped off outstretched arms and tore necks and torsos apart.

After killing several, more came.

He threw himself at them with his whole body, flailing arms and legs wildly. When several piled on him, he bit them.

A beastly fight—biting and being bitten. Laurent roared wildly as he spread blood.

After a brutal battle that felt endless, he stood up, exhausted. Around him lay the torn corpses of the zombies.

“Well…”

Suddenly, he heard clapping behind him. Laurent turned around.

“That was impressive.”

He couldn’t believe what he saw.

Cedric was approaching, smiling. Beside him walked a man dressed in black.

“How does it feel to have survived?”

“You… bastard…!”

It was the first time since coming back from the zombie state that Laurent spoke human words.

His voice had changed. Once clear, it now sounded rough and hoarse. As if his vocal cords were damaged.

Laurent coughed, and Cedric shrugged.

“I’m the brother of the man you serve. You should show some respect.”

“Shut up!”

Laurent lunged at him. But the man in black blocked him. Laurent was thrown and crashed to the ground.

“Khrrr…”

“I could kill you here along with Française, but my brother asked me to let you live.”

“Son of a…”

Laurent muttered curses with his face pressed to the ground.

Then, someone stepped on his head.

“What the hell did you do in Française…?”

“Poison of solitude.”

Cedric answered.

“Française is poisoned. It absorbs human vitality, generates venom, and with that, we’ll face the toughest enemy.”

“You damn bastard…!”

“Laurent.”

Laurent looked up. Cedric was crouched down, watching him.

“It was Yuri who asked for you to become human again. So be grateful and stay quiet.”

“Just kill me already!”

“I don’t want to.”

Cedric smiled.

“Yuri asked me to let you live.”

“I said kill me!”

“I won’t kill you.”

When Laurent tried to scream again, Cedric kicked him in the face. Laurent’s head slammed into the ground, leaving him speechless.

“Dan Socheon. Shut him up and take him.”

Dan Socheon shoved something into his mouth and wrapped his face with cloth to stop him from speaking.

Though he struggled, after taking a few more blows, he went limp. Then he heard the voice of the man called Dan Socheon.

“Maybe you want to die, but you won’t be able to.”

Laurent was dragged away.

Cedric and Dan Socheon moved strangely. With each step they took, the scenery around them receded.

Before long, they reached another place. It was the Academy of Française.

Laurent, eyes bloodshot, saw everything.

He wanted to curse them, but couldn’t speak. In the center of the campus, there was something strange.

A black mass, a core wrapped in black magic energy. It was the same ominous energy he had felt in Adelein.

Then something incredible happened.

Zombies began to gather from all directions. Like ants drawn by pheromones, they marched toward the academy.

It seemed as if all the zombies in Française were heading there.

Not a single one lacked signs of having devoured humans.

Laurent felt nauseous.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

Said Cedric, arms crossed, watching the scene.

“Française. Vast, fertile land. But even gathering all the humans here and transmuting them into black magic… I’m sure it still won’t be enough to stop that guy. I wonder if he’s even human.”

Laurent blinked.

“Laurent. Watch as all the humans in your territory become my tools. Your father, and your mother whom he devoured… all will be used by me.”

He no longer heard the taunts. Laurent understood Cedric’s intentions.

“With this… he plans to stop my father.”

The zombies walked toward the core and fused with it. Then, the black mass grew.

It was just like the monster from Adelein, feeding on humans to grow.

“Laurent, let me tell you your role.”

Cedric approached and placed a hand on his head.

“Watch closely what happens to Fiore Briol and tell everything to Yuri. Every detail.”

Laurent squirmed. Cedric stroked his hair and added,

“It’ll be a good revenge on Yuri for leaving you alive in such a miserable state. Don’t you think?”

***

While the imperial army remained camped outside the castle without moving, time passed calmly in Bezos.

The Briol army enjoyed a period of rest. At that moment, a royal palace messenger arrived at Fiore’s audience chamber.

The news he brought was alarming.

“The crown prince has disappeared, and the third prince is unconscious. Also…”

The knights present sighed.

“All the troops defending Française have been massacred. We don’t know what’s going on inside. Black clouds and fog cover the entire area. No soldier who enters has come back out.”

“What the hell…?”

“Your Majesty.”

Everyone was bewildered, unsure of what to do.

Fiore, with an indifferent expression, looked down, deep in thought.

“You’re saying Cedric has disappeared?”

“Yes.”

Fiore’s eyes turned to a young knight standing in a corner of the room.

Jared was holding his head in his hands.

He was Yuri’s personal guard and had received his explanation before departure.

The reflection didn’t last long. Fiore nodded.

“I will go to Française myself.”