Chapter 341: Persuading Nightborns (1)

"Do you recognize me now?" Kai asked playfully.

Back during the Night Elevation—he had seen thousands, if not tens of thousands of Nightborns attacking him. Not every single Nightborn on the First Floor was present that day, but Kai was quite sure that most of them came.

He assumed this Nightborn knew him already.

And he was right.

As soon as the Nightborn realized what Kai was, a Child of the Primordial Night, the one who had triggered the change in the House of Night not too long ago, it lost its mind. Red devoured its field of vision.

Inside, a deep, visceral anger rose to its chest, boiling up until its breaths became heavy.

Out of nowhere, without uttering a single word, it attacked.

Decisively—the Nightborn drew its hands from beneath its robe. The arms that emerged were grotesque, hard to look at for long. Decaying and black. Flesh peeled away in strips, revealing something dark and wet beneath.

And the fingers had twisted into claws as though they had forgotten what hands looked like.

Forgotten what hands were meant to be.

In its palm, two spheres of darkness materialized, swirling with powerful energy.

Each grew and grew rapidly, swelling from the size of pebbles to the size of fists.

And then, the Nightborn hurled them at Kai.

Swoosh—!

Kai watched as the dark spheres shot through the air at near-bullet speed.

Darkness swept him from where he stood, and the spheres missed.

He disappeared, swallowed by shadow, and reappeared a distance away—directly behind the Nightborn. The spheres pressed on their paths—and one would’ve struck Kaelmorath had he not casually slapped it away with the back of his muscular hand.

Explosions resounded, but Kaelmorath paid no heed to them.

Seeing this, the Nightborn froze.

It had been so fixated on Kai that it hadn’t realized that Kaelmorath was also there.

A towering silhouette that stood like a statue; muscles bulged as he folded his arms.

For a second, the Nightborn froze. Its scattered eyes swiveled toward Kaelmorath, feeling his presence—and realized that he was a stronger Nightborn. One that was surpassed itself. Such a Nightborn stood there, arms crossed, and expression unreadable.

But he made no move to attack.

He simply watched.

’It’s not going to help?’ the Nightborn pondered, and then its lips curled into a smirk.

Since Kaelmorath has no intention to interfere, then it should be fine.

Kai’s voice then rang again. He spoke with the same teasing voice. "My, my... Shouldn’t you at least hear what I have to say first?" He brushed at his shoulder, flicking away dust that was not there. "Attacking me instantly like this—that’s a bit much, don’t you think?"

"I have nothing to say to you!" the Nightborn snapped its head back and growled.

It attacked again without hesitation.

All the glowing white eyes dotting its hood flared with a dark sheen, and above them, a dozen or even more spheres of darkness materialized—each one was bigger and denser than the one it launched earlier.

Once formed, it launched them all at once.

A barrage that would have decimated anything in its path.

Explosions erupted—the sound reverberated through the air loudly, shaking even the ground beneath them. The Nightborn smiled in excitement to see Kai getting swarmed by the barrage of dark spheres.

Smoke and darkness billowed outward, swallowing everything in a cloud of chaos.

But when the smoke cleared, Kai was revealed.

And he was still standing as if nothing had happened.

A translucent black barrier shimmered before him, a smooth sphere of protection that he had created in the nick of time using the night to absorb every blast. Not a single crack remained— even after more than a dozen explosions.

Kai waved his hand, dissolving the barrier, and then tilted his head at the Nightborn.

"Let me ask you this..." He paused, and his eyes narrowed. "Why do you hate me so much?"

"You are the Child of the Final Night!" He roared with frantic fury. "You can’t be here!"

For once, Kai was taken aback by what the Nightborn said.

I can’t be here...? Why did it say that?

Kai was utterly confused as to what made the Nightborn say that to him.

He was the First Son of the Primordial Night. He had absolute authority over this place. Even though he was new, there was no doubt about his authority. Naturally, hearing the Nightborn say that he couldn’t be here caught him by surprise.

"What do you mean by that?" Kai finally snapped out of his trance and asked.

"Don’t act foolish!" the Nightborn roared.

It charged again.

But this time, it closed the distance, getting up close and personal.

It launched several more dark spheres—not at Kai’s body, but at the space around him. It was an attempt to narrow his options. And then, as Kai leaped to the side to avoid another sphere, the Nightborn was already on him, claws extended.

Like a relentless tiger, it slashed with fervor.

Each strike was fueled by the anger and hatred burning inside it.

A fire that seemed to have no bottom.

From the pair of eyes under the hood and the vigorous movements it was making, Kai could tell that it was determined to take him out—no matter what. The attacks came without pause. A diagonal slash. Another exploding sphere. And then a slash again.

It even threw its robe—the bleak fabric detached from its body and flew toward Kai.

Not only flew, but it also chased like it had a consciousness of its own.

But Kai kept dodging.

He used his new height of mastery over the night to swerve right, then left, disappearing into shadow—and reappearing a few feet away. Anyone who saw Kai right now would only see a blur of darkness moving with surprising speed.

Even though his body was trapped in the battle, his mind was somewhere else entirely.

Why...?

Kai questioned inside.

Why would this Nightborn say something like that? I can’t be here?

As far as his experience in the House of Night went, he belonged here like any other entity in this place. Noxian had accepted him—as the First Son of the Primordial Night from the very beginning, no doubt about that.

Perion and Kaelmorath were also the same.

Neither said anything about him not being allowed to stay within the House of Night.

On the contrary, they treated his presence as something natural.

Even when Kai entered their domain, none complained, as if they understood that as the First Son of the Primordial Night, he could do whatever he wanted. Nothing could stop him other than the other Children of the Primordial Night and the Final Night herself.

Even Mallory, his second sister, whom he had grown closer to over the past few months from meeting her several times when he had the time, had never hinted at anything like this. Sure— she still thought he was a Nightborn, but she could see more than most.

Could see more than mere Nightborns.

And yet she had said nothing of the sort.

So why was this creature so certain he didn’t belong?

Just that question alone plagued Kai’s mind.

Kai pushed the curiosity to the back of his mind. Now was not the time to find the truth—he needed to persuade this Nightborn to side with him. Right now, the Ending of Impersonation was out there, preparing, gathering allies, and if Kai didn’t pick up his pace, he would be the one losing.

He can’t let that happen.

Considering the Goddess’ attitude towards him, she would most likely intervene.

She rarely did anything when he was in the waking world, but in here was different.

But that would be too embarrassing.

Kai shook his head and spoke while still dodging the attacks, his voice calm and steady.

"There’s a Nightborn causing trouble—the Ending of Impersonation," Kai spoke, ignoring the fact that the Nightborn wanted to know nothing about his circumstances. "I want you to side with me. I am the First Son of the Primordial Night. I ca—"

"Never!" It spat. "I will never side with you. Good if there are others who want you gone!"

Kai’s expression grew cold.

He dodged another attack, letting a dark sphere scream past his ear, and then, with a speed faster than the Nightborn could perceive, snapped his leg forward. The kick landed squarely against the Nightborn’s stomach, folding it in half and sending it staggering backward several heavy steps.

It gasped, clutching its midsection, surprised by the strength of the kick.

And when it lifted its gaze again, Kai was already blurring.

From above, the streak of darkness descended and struck him—before teleporting him to the side. And then it happened again. And again. Kai teleported in a circle around the Nightborn, a whirlwind of shadow and motion.

His form appeared and disappeared faster than the eye could track.

A new height of mastery over the night allowed him to do many things.

And this was one of them.

"Did you really think getting rid of me, the First Son of the Primordial Night, would be that easy?" His voice was colder now, echoing from every direction at once. "I can simply wipe a Nightborn from existence. But can a Nightborn wipe me from existence? At most, I’d recover. And I would come back again."

Hearing this, the Nightborn snarled.

It spun wildly, trying to track him, and even hurled dark spheres around.

None hit their marks.

And Kai wasn’t finished there as his body split into three dark clones.

Each one identical and each one teleporting in the same dizzying pattern—they surrounded the Nightborn. A carnival of blurred shadows that gave it no room to breathe, and no direction to strike.

"Do you think you can force me into compliance with strength?!" The Nightborn roared.

As soon as it said that, Kai appeared directly in front of it.

"No."

"Wha—?"

Gritting its teeth, the Nightborn stabbed its claws forward. A desperate, killing strike aimed at Kai’s heart. But Kai caught its wrist with an iron grip. The claws stopped only an inch from his chest, trembling with the effort of trying to push forward.

And then, Kai slowly lifted his free hand up and balled it into a fist.

Seeing this made the Nightborn freeze and close its eyes.

It had expected pain. A punch, a blast, something violent that would end it right there.

Kai didn’t seem like someone who would tolerate nonsense, so it braced for a blow.

But no punch came. No attack came.

Slowly, hesitantly, the Nightborn opened its eyes. The world focused once again, and then his eyes were pulled to Kai’s palm. On it, there was a beautiful bright-colored flower. Its six petals shimmered with a soft, warm light that seemed utterly out of place in the darkness.

Something that didn’t belong to the House of Night.

Kai’s cold expression softened. Just slightly.

"I’m going to win you over with this," he said.