Chapter 339: Start of the Plan

In the House of Night, a perpetual darkness had reigned since before creation.

Not darkness from the absence of light, but absolute darkness that could linger on its own.

Once creation started, more and more creatures that had reached their natural—inevitable end began to emerge within this absolute darkness. Creatures with no name and no existence. Just another essence that made the absolute darkness feel a little bit fuller.

Nightborns.

Creatures that were a part of the absolute darkness and forever trapped within it.

Being trapped in such a twisted place where nothing started was a torture on its own, and the absolute darkness scared them all. Even a Nightborn was scared of other Nightborns. But with the endless stretch of suspended time, they began to get accustomed to living in this place.

In fact, they had adapted so much that they could even feel the others and the night.

At this point, the House of Night wasn’t scary anymore.

Just their home world.

And many Nightborns, save for those who don’t want to be known, became aware of others within their floor. The Ending of Impersonation, who loved to roam about instead of being cramped in his own domain, knew many other Nightborns on the first floor.

Not their names, but their shapes and their presences.

But the moment his eyes landed on this red mask, his senses were alerted.

Other Nightborns wouldn’t cause his senses to scream like this, so he knew who this was.

"Son of Night..." His lips twisted into a scornful smile, and his grotesque tongue came out in mockery. And then, his mask-like face contorted, turning into a beautiful blond woman. Bella. He used Bella’s face—while keeping his body the same, which made such a horrendous sight to behold. "Seems like you’ve gotten better, but our showdown will have to wait."

Roar—!

Like a wolf howling for its pack, the Ending of Impersonation let out a thunderous growl.

It echoed through the air, and the other Nightborns around answered.

All of them that were somewhat lured away from the perimeter of the domain came rushing back, shadows peeling away from the darkness, converging on their new boss’ domain. There are twenty of them.

Featureless forms in the void, but the smug smiles on their faces were practically visible.

Each one fixed their sharp eyes on the screaming woman mask, on Kai—with the confidence of predators around a dead prey meeting the eyes of another weaker predator. Such eyes were not supposed to be directed at the Son of Night.

And yet, they didn’t care.

Bolstered with confidence in number, the Ending of Impersonation spread his arms wide, both palms open, boasting his elongated fingers that ended in curved claws. His grin split his face like a crescent moon. "This many—" He hissed. "And there are more. Many more. All of them have already chosen my side.

"Even you, as the Son of Night, would do nothing to me." He continued—full of mockery. "I suggest you savour your last moments. Soon, very soon, you and your bravado would cease to exist."

Not even waiting for a second, the Ending of Impersonation hauled his arms upward.

Following his arm movements, the darkness rose from the shallow water.

It came like a tide of dark smoke, swelling from the edges of his domain. It churned and then climbed, swallowing the entire Ending of Impersonation’s domain whole. Once the darkness swept, the domain would be teleported away.

And that can’t be allowed.

From beneath the screaming woman mask, a hand reached out.

Kai called out to the night, and it answered readily.

A thick streak of darkness shot from the sky, and darkness swirled around his body.

He held back the surge of darkness, trying to stop the tide—to hold back the wave so that the Ending of Impersonation wouldn’t be able to get away. For a moment, it worked. Feeling his presence, the darkness hesitated.

But then, a frown creased his forehead as it broke through.

Kai watched as the night was overpowered, forced back by the combined darkness.

Despite his newly achieved mastery, the Ending of Impersonation and his twenty allies were able to drive him back. The tide crashed down with a splash and swallowed the domain fully, and when it receded, the domain was gone along with those pesky Nightborns.

In the end, Kai lowered his arm.

A flicker of mild surprise crossed her face.

Even with his new mastery over the night—they had overpowered him. They had broken his control and escaped. It was only then that he realized something. "Mastery dictated only my control, not my raw power."

Growing stronger in the waking world helped increase his raw strength even here.

But the increase was still not enough compared to what he actually needed.

Against twenty Nightborns led by the Ending of Impersonation, his raw power was still far from enough. It was clear now from how those Nightborns were able to slip from the gap between his fingers.

He had kept them rooted in place with all his might, but still failed.

"So, this is why they looked down on me," Kai thought aloud. "But how do I increase my raw power?"

Of course, he could try his luck and ask Noxian about this too, hoping that he knew how the other Children of the Primordial Night increased their raw power. But it was unlikely that he knew much about it.

Not because Kai was looking down at him, but because the information was a troublesome one.

It was tied to the power of a Child of the Primordial Night.

Kai would be surprised if any of them would speak openly to Nightborns about their powers.

Another method was to ask the Goddess about it, but remembering how she suddenly needed to leave quickly, he reckoned that her position put her in a complicated situation. Meeting her frequently might incite more problems.

Just as he was in contemplation, Kaelmorath emerged from the shadows behind him.

He stared at the empty space where the domain had been, and then at Kai.

"I thought you had a plan." He said—his voice a low rumble from the anger at seeing the Ending of Impersonation slip away. "Don’t tell me you came straight here because you were that confident in your control over the night.

"Now that it failed, we are back to square zero."

Kai was silent for a moment, and then cracked a smile behind his mask.

One that Kaelmorath couldn’t see.

He took off the mask, and then turned to look at Kaelmorath with his sharp, cunning eyes.

"Stopping him from getting away was my experiment, not my plan," Kai said—before he put on the mask again. "My mastery over the night had grown, and I wanted to test it out. Besides, this was new information for me. I thought I had absolute control in the House of Night—but apparently, it wasn’t that simple."

From the incident from earlier, Kai learned two important things.

Inside the House of Night, the power of the night could practically do anything.

He could use it to create things, to ask for information about his enemies, or even to use abilities that he normally couldn’t do in the waking world. It answered to him readily—but the power it could use entirely depended on him and his available usable exp.

Kai held absolute control as the Son of the Primordial Night; that was still the case.

But his own power limited that absolute control.

And second, Kai learned that the Nightborns, as beings born within the confines of the House of Night, each held a sliver of control over the darkness around them. It was an innate power that was ingrained into the very core of their existence.

Mild on its own, but with enough of them together, it could rival his own.

Both things were crucial for his growth, and he was glad to learn it now.

Especially the latter one.

Had he only realized that on the Second Floor, then he would be devoured by the Nightborns.

Kai also now realized that back then during the Night Elevation, Noxian had come out of his own domain to help because he knew that so many Nightborns would shred Kai into pieces; it would simply be too much.

A tide of gratitude washed over him at the thought of what Noxian did back then.

Noxian seemed to care about him for real.

Beside him, Kaelmorath frowned.

"You came here, sacrificing your precious strength, to experiment?" He asked.

Right now, there was no time to idle around.

Soon enough, the Ending of Impersonation would garner more Nightborns—to his side. And when the number reached a hundred or even a thousand, it would be much harder to get rid of that damned Nightborn.

He was happy that Kai learned something, but now is not the time.

"Relax." Kai patted his round shoulder that felt like a shoulder. He then shook his head, as it seemed even the Nightborns around him still somewhat looked down on him because he was a new Child of the Night. "Have some faith in me, will you? It’s part of the plan."

"Part of the plan? How?"

"As I told you, I’m not only going to destroy the Ending of Impersonation. I’m going to use him to make a statement."

"And how does showing up out of nowhere like this correlate to making a statement?"

"To make sure every Nightborn knows not to mess with me, not to look down on me, I need to make an impactful statement. If I defeat the Ending of Impersonation by ambush—or other cunning means, it won’t mean anything. It has to be decisive. For that, I need him to be well-prepared to fight me."

"I see..."

Kaelmorath nodded his head in understanding.

By confronting the Ending of Impersonation directly like this, Kai forced him to move faster, to prepare quicker—for the fight ahead. If the Ending of Impersonation had been ready, he’d have struck first.

So, the fact that he hadn’t meant he was still preparing.

Still not confident enough to confront Kai.

And this sudden appearance would make him move even faster.

Of course, there was also another reason for Kai to come here abruptly like this.

It was the mask—he thought it was time to use its power.

"Come on." Kai turned around and walked on ahead into the darkness. "Since the Ending of Impersonation would make haste with my breakthrough and my sudden appearance, we will also have to make haste."

"Where are we going next?" Kaelmorath asked, following closely behind.

"He believed that with numbers, with enough Nightborns, he could defeat me," Kai said as his eyes flickered with a lethal glint. He stared at the idle Nightborns around. "I am going to beat him in his own game."