Chapter 33 — Chains in the Shadows
Kriss Griffith (Kael Grenfort):
In the hotel room, that evening...
I sat at the desk, staring aimlessly at the ceiling.
There was nothing in my hands, but every single clause and word of the contract we had signed kept spinning in my mind, as if seared into my brain with a red-hot iron.
*"Was it the right decision to make... or a mistake?"*
No. It was right. The conditions were brutally heavy, but clear. Yet, a strange, uncomfortable feeling still stirred deep within me. My years in the UN building had taught me one thing: behind every perfect contract, a bloody trap always lies hidden.
**Clause 1:** No word or hint of this agreement shall be spoken to a third party in any form. If a single word escapes the lips — a fatal heart attack (death).
**Clause 2:** Both parties are strictly bound to protect each other to the best of their abilities under any circumstances.
I couldn't help but whisper-laugh in the dark room.
"How exactly am I supposed to protect him? That old geezer..."
**Clause 3:** Upon graduation, Master Dzao must prepare full, legal documents for both of my identities (Kael Grenfort and Kriss Griffith).
**Clause 4:** The Rule of Exchange — either party may receive a rare item or personal instruction in return for confidential information or services required by the other.
**Clause 5:** Term of the contract — 5 years. If one party dies, a significant portion of the remaining party's lifespan (vital energy) will be forcibly drained.
I bit my lip and whispered in a cold tone:
"If he happens to kick the bucket, he's planning to drag me down to a vegetative state at the very least... that filthy old man."
Right then, the door suddenly rattled open.
"Who are you talking to?" Cedric asked in a worried voice, peering through the crack of the door. His eyes scanned the room.
I looked at him, forcing my usual cold and emotionless smile onto my face.
"No one. Just talking to my own ugly face, Father."
Cedric seemed startled by my coldness, instinctively taking a step back. His eyes widened with a trace of panic.
"...Alright. Go to sleep now, my son."
He closed the door softly, as if afraid to wake me.
I was left alone in the darkness and closed my eyes. The past memories of Adrian Kyle and the future of Kriss Griffith blurred together.
"Time to sleep... Tomorrow, a new game begins."
Scene Change
**The Imperial Capital — Valoria**
Dark, damp, and gloomy city streets.
The sky was shrouded in black clouds, and relentless raindrops reflected on the cold cobblestone roads. The city's night was drowned in a graveyard-like silence, save for the melancholy sound of the downpour. Just then, two masked figures walked down the street with swift, anxious steps. The air around them was so heavy, cold, and terrifying that the darkness felt as though it was choking them by the throat.
"Hey... Grem, why are we heading back to the capital?!" The leaner, more neurotic figure — Jason — suddenly came to a halt. His voice trembled against the noise of the rain. "The master gave us a long-term and extremely important mission!"
The second assassin — Grem, a tall, well-built, and muscular man — turned around. Even behind his mask, the confusion in his gaze was evident. He answered in a low, muffled voice:
"Can you even remember what kind of mission it was right now?"
Jason clutched his head with both hands, gripping his hair so tightly it looked as if he might tear it out. He desperately tried to dig through his memories, but there was only a dense, empty void in his mind.
"I... I can't remember! Damn it, why can't I remember anything?!" He made a whimpering sound, on the verge of losing his mind. His eyes were wide with sheer horror and panic.
Grem stepped closer, grabbing his partner's head with one hand and pressing his index finger firmly against Jason's temple.
"I can't remember either... But the most important thing is — we failed the mission. We are just walking back empty-handed."
He paused for a moment under the rain, adding in a chilling tone:
"If this was a critical task for the master... and we somehow botched it and lost our memories, they will simply flay us alive. We need to get to the master as fast as possible and ask him directly."
"Right... you're right. If it's that important, we shouldn't waste time. Come on, let's move fast!"
They broke into a run.
The rain began to pour even harder. The wind howled, burying the horizon in absolute darkness. They veered into a secluded, terrifying alley at the very edge of the city, a place where no ordinary foot ever trod. The muddy water leaking down the walls, the stench of rot, and the pitch blackness made this place resemble the very gates of hell.
At the very end of the narrow alley, a massive, rusted iron cellar door leading underground came into view.
Holding their breath, the two forced the heavy door open with a loud creak and descended into the dark stairs.
However, the moment they stepped inside, a completely different scene welcomed them. Surprisingly, the underground cellar held a cozy, warm, and pleasant atmosphere. The cellar was incredibly spacious, and on one side, a massive fireplace roared with crackling flames. The sound of the rain striking the stones outside and the snapping of the fire inside blended together, playing a strange, mysterious melody.
And another sound joined this quiet music — a whistling voice.
In front of the fireplace, facing away from them, a young man was casually whistling a tune while adding various spices to a boiling pot of food. He didn't pay the slightest attention to the two assassins who had just entered.
With their hearts squeezed by panic, Grem and Jason walked slowly toward the mysterious young man standing by the fire, stopping a few paces behind his back.
The young man stopped whistling.
A heavy, death-like, and suffocating silence fell upon the room. Only the fire and the rain outside could be heard.
"M-Master..." Grem began, trying his best to keep his voice steady.
"What's the matter, Jason and Grem?" The young man didn't move from his spot, continuing to stir the pot, but he cast a sidelong glance at them. He possessed dead, yet terrifyingly vibrant blue eyes that gleamed under the firelight. That gaze was cold enough to pierce into one's soul and rip their heart out. "Do you have a problem?"
"Umm... almost nothing is wrong. We... we just can't seem to remember what our mission was, Master," Jason said in a low, trembling voice.
The young man tapped the stirring spoon against the pot.
"Is that so?" He asked in a voice as sharp as a knife, adding another pinch of cumin to the food. "Did you eliminate the boy?"
"What? Wh-Wh-What kind of boy are you t-talking about, Master?" Jason stammered, his voice breaking.
The young man set the spoon down.
"Well... then it's clear. 'What kind of boy are you talking about', you fool?"
He slowly stood up and began putting on a strange, expensive glove etched with bizarre magical runes onto his left hand. As he turned to face the assassins, his golden hair spilled across his shoulders. Every single strand of his hair seemed to mock their sheer helplessness.
"Master, calm down! We are telling you we truly cannot remember!" Grem said, trying to defend himself.
In that fraction of a second, the golden-haired youth walked over, standing directly in front of Grem with ominous steps.
"Do you think that changes anything?" he said in a ruthless tone, placing his gloved hand on Grem's shoulder. "And you are telling me that just because you can't remember, you simply spent a high-grade teleportation stone worth half a million coins just to crawl back here? Xaxaxaxa... What an amusing person you are."
The smile vanished from his face instantly, and he gripped Grem's shoulder with such terrifying force that the sound of bones shattering echoed through the cellar.
"Argh-ax-x-xx!!!" Grem screamed in agony.
"Master, listen! Please, listen!" Jason wept in terror, falling to his knees and tightly wrapping his arms around the young man's legs. "Don't kill us!"
"I don't want to," the youth said calmly, and with his gloved left hand, he delivered a lightning-fast, devastating strike to Grem's neck.
*SNAP!*
Grem's neck snapped, and he collapsed onto the floor, lifeless. His soul was torn away that very second.
"Ah, piece of trash... He got his blood and saliva on my trousers. How disgusting," the young man grimaced. Reaching into his suit pocket with his right hand, he pulled out a pure white silk handkerchief and began nervously wiping the blood off his clothes.
A few moments later.
"Ah, there we go. Clean."
He tossed the handkerchief onto the floor, right on top of Grem's corpse, and turned his eyes toward Jason.
"Right, you were here too, weren't you?"
He began walking toward Jason. Terrified, Jason tried to crawl backward, but his legs tangled, and he fell flat on his back.
"Oh, do you want to run away?"
"No... no, Master! Have mercy! Give me just one more chance!" Jason shook with horror, drenched in the blood of his dead partner.
The youth squatted down beside him. He gripped Jason's terror-stricken face tightly with his left hand, pulling him incredibly close to his own face.
"Oh, my sweet... Why are you crying?" he said in a mocking tone, using his thumb to wipe away Jason's tears.
But in the next second, his tone completely shifted.
"Wait..."
He gripped Jason's face even harder, forcing his eyes to look directly into his own. There were only a few centimeters of distance between them. The golden-haired youth stared deep into Jason's pupils with a profound, magical gaze, searching for any traces of residual magic within the depths of his mind.
Suddenly, the youth's eyes widened in sheer shock.
"Ah! It can't be! Damn it!" He shouted, leaping to his feet. The cold composure on his face was entirely gone. "This is... this is a high-tier forbidden spell of memory alteration and complete erasure! There shouldn't be anyone in Revius Academy capable of casting magic at this level! Or... is there?!"
"M-Master... what are you talking about?" Jason trembled like a lamb destined for slaughter.
"Nothing," the youth said, rendering him unconscious with a swift, precise blow to the neck. He then ripped the magical glove off his hand.
"Ah, those bastards! Where did you go last? So... that school. Is there really such a monstrous person hiding in that school? No, it's hard to believe. I must report this to the higher-ups immediately!"
He grabbed the unconscious Jason firmly by the back of his collar. With his right hand, he pulled a strange, oval-shaped stone with sharp edges and ancient runes from his pocket. He cracked the stone with his teeth and threw it forward.
Instantly, a massive, swirling portal glowing in pure white burst into existence before them.
Dragging Jason's body with one hand and lighting a cigarette with the other, the golden-haired youth stepped into the portal, vanishing into the abyss of the shadows.