Chapter 107: Welcome!

The pupils were vertical, razor-thin slits that glowed with a sickly, luminescent, toxic green light, the same color as the magical fire that had consumed the circus tent.

Seraphina’s mind connected the dots with the terrifying speed of a supercomputer.

The pale skin.

The aristocratic, predatory grace, and those inhuman, slit-pupil eyes.

He was exactly like the elegant man in the plum velvet coat from the night market in Oakhaven. The monster had assassinated the prisoner by looking at him. The creature Kaelus had claimed was an ancient, extinct anomaly.

’They are the same species,’ Seraphina realized, her heart hammering a frantic, terrifying rhythm against her ribs. ’Archdemons. Vampires. Whatever they are... they are a race that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The monster we encountered in Oakhaven was just one of them. This Trickster is another.’

But where the Oakhaven monster had projected an aura of absolute, terrifying ’void’, a cold, arrogant silence, this Trickster projected something entirely different.

His aura was loud and chaotic, a buzzing, overwhelming, manic energy that felt like a swarm of venomous hornets trapped inside a glass jar.

The black curse marks writhing on his face seemed to feed his mania, twitching and pulsing in time with his erratic, dancing steps.

He approached the raised obsidian dais, stopping just a few feet from the iron bars of the cage.

He leaned forward, resting both of his gloved hands on the silver pommel of his cane, and tilted his head, observing the huddled, terrified mass of children with a look of manic delight.

"Welcome! Welcome, my precious little seedlings!" the Trickster crooned. His voice was the same as it had been in the tent, smooth, slippery, and carrying an unnatural, amplified resonance. But without the mask, she could see his lips curl into a wide, jagged smile, revealing rows of sharp, pearlescent teeth. "Welcome to the Grand Conservatory!"

The children shrank back, pressing themselves against the far wall of the cage, weeping silently.

"Oh, do not weep! Do not despair!" the Trickster laughed, a high, tinkling sound that sent shivers down Seraphina’s arms. He gestured grandly with his cane to the towering piles of cursed treasure surrounding them. "Look upon my collection! Is it not magnificent? The shiny, beautiful baubles of humanity. They love their gold, don’t they? They kill for it, bleed for it. I find it utterly fascinating. But you..."

He stepped closer, his glowing green, slit-pupil eyes scanning the cage.

"... You are the greatest treasures of all."

He reached a pale hand through the iron bars.

The anti-magic runes on the metal flared with a brief, angry red light, but the Trickster simply ignored the burn, his skin smoking slightly. He grabbed the shoulder of the crying merchant’s son, yanking the boy forward.

The boy screamed in terror.

The Trickster leaned in, bringing his curse-marked face mere inches from the boy’s terrified eyes. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, taking a long, savoring sniff of the boy’s aura.

"Ah," the Trickster sighed, a look of ecstatic bliss crossing his features. He released the boy, who scrambled backward, sobbing hysterically. "Such pure, uncorrupted, bubbling mana. The potential of youth. It is intoxicating. The adults of your species... their mana is so stagnant. So polluted by their petty sins and mundane worries. It tastes like ash. But children? Children are fresh springs of raw, chaotic magic!"

He began to pace around the perimeter of the cage, the black veins on his face pulsing rapidly.

"My brethren in the higher courts... they prefer the subtle approach," the Trickster mocked, his voice dripping with condescension. "They infiltrate your mundane world of politics, manipulate your kings, wear velvet, and pretend to be civilized. How dreadfully boring."

He spun his cane, striking the iron bars of the cage with a loud CLANG.

"I prefer the theatrics! The spectacle! The joy of the harvest!" he laughed maniacally. "Why hunt in the shadows when you can make the prey applaud you before you devour them? The Illusorium was a masterpiece, don’t you agree? The green fire. The panic on all of your faces... Ah, it was so exquisite!"

Seraphina knelt near the front of the cage, keeping her head slightly bowed, utilizing the messy curtain of her dark hair to obscure her face.

She was listening, analyzing every single word he spoke, treating the manic monologue not as the ramblings of a madman but as vital intelligence gathering.

’He’s taking children to harvest their mana,’ she deduced, her stomach turning. ’He eats magic. That’s why he targeted the circus. A massive concentration of pure potential.’

She carefully, meticulously pulled the entirety of her Supreme Dark Core inward. She compressed her dark mana until it was an undetectable point of singularity within her chest. She could not afford to let this demon sense her affinity. If he realized he had accidentally abducted the rarest, most powerful magical anomaly in the Empire, he wouldn’t just harvest her; he would likely drag her directly to whatever ’higher court’ he had just mentioned.

She had to be mundane, a terrified, useless, completely average child.

"Now," the Trickster sighed, dusting off the sleeve of his garish coat. He stopped pacing and turned back to face the cage. "The harvest requires preparation. Your little cores are pure, yes, but they must be... ripened. A touch of absolute despair sweetens the vintage, I find."

He raised his hand, the jagged black curse marks pulsing with bright, emerald light.

"I shall leave you to acclimate to your new surroundings," the Trickster grinned, his sharp teeth glinting in the chandelier light. "Do enjoy the view of my collection. I will return when the terror has properly marinated your souls. Do try not to die of fright before the grand finale."

He tipped his peacock-feathered hat, a gesture of mocking, theatrical courtesy.

He turned on his heel and began to walk away, his cane tapping rhythmically against the stone floor, heading toward a massive, ornate set of double doors at the far end of the grand hall.