Chapter 300: Control Over the Night

Kai’s breath was stuck in his throat as he watched a pair of eyeballs emerge from the sockets of the blood-red mask. They twitched left and right with the grotesque sound of snapping—and then fixed on him.

He recoiled instinctively, fearing that the eyeballs would curse him or something.

But they did nothing and disappeared again.

"Eugh..." Kai shivered as one of the souls within the mask, he assumed, surfaced for a quick moment, which was how the eyeballs came to be and fixed on him. "So creepy. This better be worth something, or I’m going to be pissed."

Even though he only suffered one whip to get to this mask, it was still painful.

It would be really infuriating if the mask wasn’t good.

[Red Mask of the Avenger: A red ceramic mask that contained the punished victims of the Furies. When worn, the wearer can mark one target with the Victim Mark. Depending on the target’s strength, the mark can last up to one hour—allowing the wearer to sense the target’s distance and general direction, no matter how far. The target would become clearer if they bleed, and the wearer would also grow stronger. It can only be used once per day.]

"Okay... It is worth it." Kai smiled inwardly.

His anger from the pain dissolved the moment he read what the blood mask could do. It was not only useful, but it was perfect. For hunting troublesome Star Beasts, it would give him an edge. And once he started receiving missions to take down Sky Gates, it would truly shine.

After all, killing the Noble Star Beast is the key to closing it, and this mask would greatly help.

Kai stepped out of the cell.

He looked to the left and realized the entity had already teleported there.

In his grip, the fiery whip was still as menacing as ever, but its edges were now sharp and red with a heat that hadn’t been there before. Kai could feel the weight of it—could feel the promise of pain it carried.

Just earlier, the whip easily tore deep into the flesh.

Now, it would no doubt reach the bone, and the thought made Kai’s skin prickle.

But he pushed it aside.

He didn’t need to deal with it now. Not yet. Or perhaps not ever if he didn’t need to.

Before him, a portal shimmered as he had cleared the second level—a checkpoint that allowed him to leave this place. He cast one last look at the entity that was still seething in anger from what had happened.

A smug, deliberate glance that made the entity angrier.

And then, he stepped through into the portal.

Kai returned to Noxian’s domain. Considering where he was from, the familiar weight of the old Nightborn’s presence felt rejuvenating to his senses. On the side, sitting on the staircase of the house’s porch, was Noxian.

Back to how he always was.

"Did she already leave?" He asked.

"Yes..." Noxian nodded—he saw the Goddess leaving the domain earlier. "She seemed to be in a hurry."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"Probably because of your sisters. You have to understand, like you, your sisters inherited the Final Night’s power. In essence, they are one. The Final Night’s movements could be detected by them—and that would be a problem if they somehow were able to locate you through that. Your sisters are not good beings."

"I see."

Frankly, Kai also had already guessed in that direction.

Even now, he was only allowed to approach the second daughter, Mallory, due to the fact that she misunderstood him as a Nightborn. Had that not been the case, the Goddess would most likely not allow him to get too close.

Heck, she would probably forbid him from getting close at all.

Kai accepted the reasoning and then turned to face Noxian.

"Thank you for the True Arc Ending Fragment." He said—placing a hand above his heart. "I’m fully aware that it was the Goddess who had you hand it over to me, so you have no say in it, but nevertheless, I’m grateful and would use it well."

"Just seeing you being grateful disregards what happened," Noxian waved his hand.

As much as he wanted to stay around, he couldn’t.

Noxian could tell that he intended to leave.

Instead of leaving the domain, Noxian watched Kai in confusion as he ran to the side to where the patch of soil where the seeds were planted was, and then pointed his hand at it. For a moment, nothing happened.

And only then did Kai cast Noxian an awkward smile and then scurried away.

Next stop was his newest Nightborn—Kaelmorath’s domain.

Just like always, the Nightborn who was suspended in an eternal grief was as still and vast as ever. He was still kneeling inside the ruined temple—still reminiscing about his moments with the princess when they were still alive and united.

Kai paid his respects to Diarbara before sitting on a pew to Kaelmorath’s side.

"A good time to bother you?"

"It’s never a good time for me. What do you want?"

"Just a simple question." He looked around the area, observing the broken pews, cracks in the walls, and a broken shrine. It was a mess in here, and he didn’t want Kaelmorath to remain in this kind of place and suffer. "Do you want to change anything about your domain?"

"My domain reflected how I came to be," Kaelmorath answered without looking. "It’s not my decision to make it like this."

"You misunderstood me—I asked you whether you want to change anything. Did you forget who I am?"

"It doesn’t... feel right for me to change anything."

"Do you think Princess Diarbara wanted you to live eternally in a state of sadness? No. Don’t be stubborn and tell me what you want to change about your domain."

"... I want to keep the temple as is, but I do want the corpses to be gone. They bothered me."

Kai looked out again, and his gaze settled on the corpses scattered beyond the temple’s shattered walls. Considering that they were still emanating a horrible scent, the stench of blood and gore still sharp in the air, it was clear that they were fresh.

As if all of them had only died recently.

No decay, no matter how much time had passed, frozen in a suspended state of freshness.

It was no wonder that Kaelmorath was bothered by them.

Regardless of how used to someone was to smelling blood and gore, having to smell it all the time isn’t exactly pleasant. Even a barbarian turned knight like Kaelmorath wouldn’t be immune to this horrible stench.

All of these corpses had been there too long, a blight on the domain.

And he agreed that they needed to be removed.

"Alright." Kai stood up and headed out of the broken temple. "I’ll try getting rid of them."

"Can you even do that?" Kaelmorath finally unclasped his hands and turned.

"No idea, but I can try."

"Don’t push yourself if you can’t."

Kai waved his hand behind his head dismissively and then stopped before the corpses.

"Okay... Let’s try again."

He closed his eyes—and breathed, calming his nerves to focus. Once he was calm enough, he opened his eyes again and stretched his hand forward, pointing the palm towards the corpse of a knight, and then called forth the night.

Swish—!

It came slowly at first, then faster, rising like a tide at his command.

Kai watched the corpse being wrapped around by the night, pulled it down, and then unmade it piece by piece until nothing remained but dark, clean earth. Sustaining this control over the night was an exercise to the mind.

But he persevered.

Earlier, the Goddess had implied an interesting thing.

About the fact that his control over the night was still feeble, and properly establishing Perion’s domain on the second floor would deepen that connection, drawing him closer to the night. Every act that involved using the night would count toward that growth.

Inside Noxian’s domain, he tried calling the night to grow the seeds.

He felt the strain was crushing his mind, so he gave up.

Now, in Kaelmorath’s domain, calling forth the night was far easier than in Noxian’s domain.

Kai was certain now—the stronger the Nightborn he wished to help, the greater the demand on his mastery over the night and the heavier the strain on his mind. It was a lesson he couldn’t afford to ignore.

Perhaps it was time to start paying attention to this.

After all, he promised Noxian to grow some plants for him, and he is going to fulfil it.

"I need to meet with the second daughter, too, and being near her is choking me. I’m entirely powerless to control the night in her presence," Kai shook his head, recalling his moment with Mallory. "But baby steps first."

It took a great effort for him to use the night to unmake the corpse.

Once he was done, his forehead was already covered with beads of sweat.

"I guess this is my limit for now." Kai looked at the dozens of corpses in the area as he wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. "No... If I can master the night quicker, I might be able to call it in the waking world. Let’s take down another corpse."

Determined, Kai continued his work.

From inside the broken temple, Kaelmorath watched Kai dealing with the second corpse.

He needed to take a break every ten seconds to recover his throbbing mind, but he was really persistent. Using the night to devour the second corpse took longer than the first, but Kai got it done eventually.

Kai straightened and held his throbbing head with both hands.

Just then, he noticed that Kaelmorath was watching.

Instinctively, he lowered his arms and then gave a thumbs-up as if he was okay.

But regardless, he couldn’t push on to the third corpse, not now. So, he stopped there and bid Kaelmorath a brief goodbye before leaving the domain. Next and last destination was Perion’s domain.

He had saved it for last, knowing full well that Perion was the weakest Nightborn in his circle.

Making changes within his domain should be far easier to do, so he saved it last.

Perhaps even now, he could still do something to make Perion’s domain better.

"Reaching the Aspirant rank, obtaining the True Arc Ending Fragment—and even getting my hand on the Red Mask of the Avenger." Kai’s lips curled into a smile, feeling that things were now on the upswing for him.

Achieving his goal made this all possible.

Despite the horrendous moments, seeing his life right now made them all worth it.

Kai’s eyes flashed at the border of another domain ahead. He skipped ahead in a good mood, entering it without hesitation. "Perion!" He called even before entering the domain fully. "It’s been a while, but I came to visit!"

Midway through the domain, Kai’s body froze.

"P-Perion...?"