Midnight fell.
Just as planned, the operation began.
Without a sound, Isla vanished into the darkness. Shadows bent around him as he moved, slipping through blind spots and slitting throats with surgical precision. Every guard he encountered died before they could even draw breath.
Lucas followed in silence. The estate was asleep, unaware that death was already inside its walls.
At the main corridor, the brothers split—Isla ascending, Lucas descending.
Both wore dark robes to blend into the night. The mission had to be completed before dawn. No witnesses. No loose ends.
Lucas walked calmly, steps muffled by the thick stone beneath his boots. The guards in the lower levels were careless, their movements sloppy—perhaps too confident in their mages and monsters. Fools.
Before him stood a thick iron door, cold and sealed. Behind it, screams echoed—screams full of pain and agony.
Whatever was inside was suffering.
He lit his fingertips with a flickering flame, using it as a torch.
At the door frame, just as Isla had said, there was an alarm spell—invisible,advanced.
The spell poses a problem as it would ring if its broken.
He had no choices.He raised his hand and burned through the glyph. Instantly, a muffled siren began to pulse across the estate—too quiet to reach the outside world, but enough to alert everyone within.
They were precise and calculated.
Lucas then pushed open the heavy door.
Inside stood a Blue Tower Mage, clad in azure robes, smirking behind a shimmering barrier. Around him were two knights—and at his back, a monster.
It stepped forward with a guttural growl: a chimera.
A troll's massive frame, the jaws of a wolf, and a twisted human face melded in horror.
Its eyes shimmered with agony.
More creatures stirred in the cages around them—lesser chimeras. Broken. Mutated.
Lucas narrowed his eyes.
"What is a Blue Tower Master doing here?" he asked coldly.
The mage grinned and snapped his grimoire open.
Behind him, the largest chimera howled and charged.
Its claw swiped through the air with enough force to carve wind. Lucas dodged, but the sheer pressure forced him back.
The monster lunged again—he blocked it with Balmung.
Their clash sent sparks into the dark, the sword slicing into its arm—only for the limb to regrow instantly.
Troll regeneration.
The mage laughed proudly at his creation.
The beast dropped to all fours, now moving like an actual beast.
With terrifying speed, it lunged again.
Lucas sidestepped, turned, and cleaved the creature in half.
But it didn't die. It screamed—a raw, human scream—and began to heal.
Again and again, Lucas cut it down.
And again, it rose.
Every strike drew more pain. More screams.
Tears spilling from its mangled human eyes. Its body could regenerate, but the pain stayed.
And it's mine—still human—felt every moment of it.
Lucas finally understood.
"This thing..." he whispered, "...wasn't born. It was made."
With quiet fury, he walked forward, raised his blade with care, and plunged it into the creature's heart.
"Heavenly Flame Art—First Form: Ember's Path."
Flames surged.
The chimera didn't scream this time. It closed its eyes, as if… relieved.
Then it burned to ash.
Lucas turned to the mage—his eyes full of anger
He sheathed his sword and put it down on the ground.He intend to punish the mage before killing him.
With his hands warped in fiery aura he dashed forward,
The mage raised a barrier—but Lucas shattered it in one blow.
His punch landed in the mage's gut, launching him backward.
"I didn't even put power into that," Lucas growled. "You won't die quickly."
He walked forward, pressed a boot to the mage's chest, and snapped his spine and ribcage. The mage howled.
Lucas picked him up by the collar.
And with a savage tug—Lucas ripped off his left arm.
Blood gushes out.The mage started begging for his lives.But Lucas didn't care.He proceed to tear off another arm.
With his flame power,Lucas cauterized the wounds instantly, keeping him alive.
Then, without a word, Lucas took his sword—and hacked off both legs.
The mage's body collapsed, broken, folded, limbs gone. Only pain remained.
Still, Lucas wasn't done.
He picked up the grimoire—the mage's life's work—and burned it in front of his eyes.
The mage, desperate for death, summoned an ice spear to pierce his own heart—
Lucas shattered it with a glare.
Then with a swift of Lucas hand,he released the rest of the chimeras.
They rushed him—wild, hungry, uncontrolled.
They tore the mage apart, the mage consumed by the monsters he made.
And when it was done, when their cries quieted, Lucas walked to each one...
placed a hand upon their heads...
...and burned them gently to ash.
He left the dungeon scarred, blood-soaked, and silent.
While Lucas descended into madness, Isla climbed into judgment.
The upper halls were silent—but not safe.
He moved like a ghost.
Everyone involved in the experiments—the nobles, the rogue mages, the collaborators—died without a sound.
Each door opened to a new name on his list.
Each name met a swift end.
He found Richard Venir in his study, fumbling at a hidden passage.
Isla appeared behind him like death incarnate.
"You've committed crimes against the Empire. Against mankind," he said, his voice like cold steel.
Richard spun, pale and shaking. "I—I was ordered! I only did what—"
Isla raised a hand.
And with one hand, he gripped the man's throat and lifted him into the air.
"You bred monsters," Isla whispered.
"Now die like one."
Bones cracked.
Richard fell limp, his neck snapped clean.
Behind him, a door creaked open.
"Come out," Isla said.
From the shadows stepped Joshua Venir, the first son. Calm. Smiling.
He bowed.
"Prince Isla," he said smoothly.
"How about the second son?",Isla asked.
"Alive,he got the knights protecting him and his mother.I can't do it myself".replied Joshua.
Isla gave no reply. He simply vanished.
Joshua walked to his father's corpse and stomped on it.
"You fucking pig," he spat. "You murdered my mother. You cheated. You lied. Rot in hell."
Moments later, Isla returned.
His robes were drenched in blood.
In his hands were two severed heads—the second son and his mother.
He dropped them without mercy.
Joshua didn't flinch.
The plan was in motion. In exchange for his father and stepmother's deaths, Joshua would swear loyalty to Isla after he became the head.
It was Joshua who spread the information and proof about human experimentation.Both him and Isla were in cahoots all along.
Dawn
The brothers emerged from the estate.
Blood clung to them like a second skin.
Lucas turned, raised his hand—
—and with a whisper of flame, he burned House of Venir to the ground.
The fire would cover the killings.
The estate would be declared lost to a magical accident.
One Month Later
Joshua stood before the court, crowned as the new Head of House Venir.
The nobles whispered. The Emperor watched.
And far back, Isla stood in the shadows.
Smiling to himself.