The Kind of Evil

Rasmus gathered five of the Black Hands into the inn that he rented the whole inn for himself. He didn't need to gather all the Black Hands to avoid being spotted. Everyone was looking standing in a circle while he stood in the middle with the table in front of him. Everyone looked at the map, a blueprint of the palace with already a few drawings that the Black Hands had drew for him. There were three layers of walls before anyone could enter the palace area.

"We are assuming the numbers of royal knights would be around 200 scattered around the palace, My Lord," Erdinand said as he stood beside Rasmus and pointed at the map. "There would be around 500 or more outside the palace, preventing anyone from entering the palace without any invitation," he pointed at the outer walls.

"Is that an issue for all of you?" Rasmus asked as he looked at the blueprint, imagining and remembering the structure and the pattern of the palace.

"No, My Lord..." Erdinand pulled the map from the stack of blueprints. He pulled out a map of the capital city. "We have planned everything to make it fail-safe. We will be scattered all over the city, from here... Here... Here... And here..." He pointed at the map. "We will infiltrate the palace from those sides. Even there are a few blind spots and lightly guarded spot of the walls," he continued.

"What about the guards?" Rasmus asked with his arms crossed.

"There are at least 1,000 guards that are patrolling the city, My Lord," Joshua answered and made circular motions at certain areas that had been heavily guarded by the guards. "But that won't be a problem for us, My Lord. We managed to open the old secret passages into the palace. Some of us will infiltrate from the ground and the rest of us will infiltrate from underground," he added.

Rasmus looked at both the maps on the table with a focused gaze. The others were staring at him, waiting for his next words or questions.

"What are the issues?" Rasmus asked as he looked at them.

"The elite royal knights, the King's Swords," Herman answered, his finger pointed at the palace. "It would be impossible that we could take them down silently. I have encountered one of them, once. It was a losing fight for me," he revealed.

Rasmus looked at the scar on Herman's face, and without even needing to ask, Herman nodded. Herman revealed the scar on his face was the result of the fight with the King's Sword. Rasmus didn't know much about the combat skills of the Black Hands, but he knew enough that they were elite among the elite.

"That's not an issue for you," Rasmus shook his head. "Anyone inside the palace is my responsibility. All you have to do is occupy the outside area of the palace. Keeping the people inside and prevent anyone from coming into the palace when the time comes," he continued as he stared at the map.

"Assume that your plan will be jeopardized, what will you do?" Rasmus asked, resting his hands on the table.

"We will sacrifice our lives to make sure you succeed in eliminating the royal family, My Lord. We have no other wish but to avenge the death of the Blackheart family," Herman answered without hesitation or any hint of fear. "We will fight the demons, if we have to, and we won't regret a thing because we have secured all the records and you have possessed everything that we had protected for more than a decade," he added with his head lowered.

"No," Rasmus shook his head, rubbing his thumb against the spatial ring in his middle finger.

Ferdinand and the others looked at Rasmus with their brows raised.

"Let them come. I have a message to convey to them, at least to Nemu," Rasmus said, looking at them with a serious expression. "Let the demons come because their purpose isn't to eliminate the threat, but to protect the royal family. Once I'm inside the palace, your job is basically over, and retreat once your life is in danger. That's an order," he said with a stern look.

All of them lowered their heads, understanding the order and would do what was told.

"What are the other issues?" Rasmus asked.

Aris and Rullein were on the second floor inside a room as their eyes were staring out the window. They were checking if the demons had spotted them or if they were being observed. It was late at night, and the amount of demons that were observing them kept increasing.

"It wasn't this heavy when Rasmus and I came here last time," Aris said, noticing the amount of demonic energy that had become thicker and more suffocating.

"Humans are so hungry for power, aren't they?" Rullein said under her breath as she stared right into a man in a cloak hundreds of meters away from the inn, seeing the nose of the man and the glowing red eyes of his. "Funny, that they believe they can escape from those demons when what await them in the end is an eternal damnation and suffering," she continued.

"You're talking about hell?" Aris asked, glancing at Rullein.

"Do you want to see?" Rullein asked, offering her left hand to Aris.

"Hell?" Aris looked at Rullein's hand.

"What else?" Rullein tilted her head, smirking at Aris. "It's fine if you're a coward, no need to take my hand," she mocked her as she chuckled mischievously.

Aris gripped Rullein's hand and used a lot of strength, hoping it would be enough to make Rullein seething in pain. However, when she was too focused on hurting Rullein, suddenly everything became bright and blinding red. She was deafened by the intense gargles and screams around her.

The sound of the mountain rumbling and erupting was enough to make Aris flinch and cover her ears. She had never heard anything that loud before, and when she looked around, she watched millions of bodies being tortured in the lava. She watched the demons stab the humans with a glowing-red hot spear that pierced through their backs and skulls when the humans didn't dip their whole bodies inside the lava.

Although Aris couldn't feel the heat, she knew how hot it was. She watched how human bodies melted and regenerated rapidly, making them feel pain nonstop. She was petrified, realizing the world that she knew, there was something terrifying like this.

Aris was overwhelmed by everything that had happened around her, but then something emerged from the distance. A silhouette of a shadow beyond the red fog in the far distance. Her eyes were wide open when she realized the shadow was merely a hand, the hand that could easily trample the whole place. She immediately closed her eyes and flinched when the hand was about to crash down.

"Do you understand now? Why I was terrified when I devoured the demon's memories?" Rullein asked.

Aris slowly opened her eyes, realizing she had come back to reality. The hair on her arms and nape were raising, and her legs were shaking uncontrollably. She had to lean against the table as she tried to take a deep breath. Rullein was laughing as she watched Aris try to ground herself from the overwhelming experience.

"Now you should ask yourself, how did Rasmus manage to keep himself sane after he went into that place. A human and to have the Devil by his side, don't you find it weird that he could walk forward after seeing that?" Rullein asked as she leaned against the wall, staring out at the city with more and more eyes on the inn they were staying.

"Can you..." Aris paused as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Can you read human's memories?" She asked, staring into Rullein's eyes.

Rullein tilted her head, staring back at Aris.

"You want to read Rasmus's memories, aren't you?" Rullein smirked as she scoffed. "Well, unfortunately, I can't. Not because I can't read human memories, but because the blood that's running through Rasmus's veins," she explained.

"The Dragon's Blood," Aris hummed as she stood straight and glanced at the at window. "That's that, and it seems we have a job to do," she pointed out as she counted the possessed humans that had created a perimeter around the inn.

"A job? More like fun time," Rullein smirked as she pushed herself away from the wall. "Let's do some hunting. To see who dares to disturb Lord Vije, Lady Sira, and Lady Lurein," she chuckled mischievously as she walked toward the door.

Aris hummed in agreement and followed Rullein out of the room. They both went downstairs, and the room became quiet in an instant. Rasmus glanced at them while the Black Hands lowered their heads to show their respect. They all watched those two walk toward the door to the outside.

"Have fun," Rasmus said as he put his focus on the map again.

"Thank you," Rullein smirked as she opened the door wide and walked into the night.