The Kind of Evil

Everyone gathered in the grand hall when they looked at the time and knew that it was about time for the royal family to join them in the grand hall. Rasmus, Aris, Rullein, and the Jester were standing on the side, close to the door where the royal family would enter the grand hall. Across from them, they were the six mysterious guests that even most of the guests didn't know who they were.

Aris and Rullein covered their mouths with the folded fan, they both had been staring at those six people with such intensity. The moment those six people stared back at them, they smiled with such gentleness, however, those two kept staring at them with a cold gaze.

Although with such intensity in their gazes, the Demon Kings took it lightly. A sign of success in deceiving their perspective because of Aris and Rullein's act a few days ago during their encounter with the Night Stalkers.

Rasmus trained to suppress his Orthias blood by keeping them inside his bone marrow. Back on Earth, bone marrow was considered the hidden health marker, which somehow proved similarly to this world. He was interested in it, and planned to explore this to see how far he could decipher it and create something new from it.

"All rise for Their Majesties, King Relius of Refenus and Queen Selvaria, with Their Royal Highnesses, Prince Cedric and Prince Kaelen… and in honor of this day, Her Royal Highness, Princess Amarylis."

Everyone immediately fixed their attire and their hair, making sure they all looked neat for the royal family to look at. The royal knights opened the double doors and immediately King Relius came in with his wife, her arm wrapped around his. The one behind them was Princess Amarylis, in her beautiful golden dress, revealing her shoulders and a bit of her cleavage, and a tiara on her head, a sign of maturity. Behind her were the two Princes, her older brothers, wearing their royal family attire, making them pale in comparison to Amarylis on purpose.

Everyone lowered their heads in the presence of the royal family, however, Aris and Rullein glanced at Rasmus, who was standing in between them. Rasmus glanced at Aris and she glanced at the Princes who were walking in front of them. He raised his brows, and immediately responded with a nod by Aris, affirming that the Princes had possessed demonic energy inside their bodies.

Rasmus confirmed his suspicion when he heard that Nemu had visited the Refenus Kingdom, and knew there must have been something that must have happened. He thought if Nemu gave them such a reward, meaning the royal family had given him something precious, something that even a Fallen Watcher would find it valuable.

However, when the King's Swords came into the grand hall not long after the royal family, Aris tapped the folding fan on her chin two times. Rasmus glanced at her and realized the King's Swords were possessed by demons as well, and they were at least Dukes in the demonic hierarchy, one level lower than Demon Kings.

"(This whole palace is a demon nest or something?)" Rasmus thought to himself as he watched the royal family walk to the center of the grand hall.

"Today..." King Relius said, his voice echoed throughout the grand hall. "Today we will celebrate my precious daughter, Amarylis's coming-of-age. The day that we have been waiting for, the day when she will contribute in building this nation even further, and the nation she will lead one day," he added, looking at every guest in the hall.

Everyone closed their eyes, nodded in agreement.

"However, the ceremony will have a slight change," Relius pointed out. "Because of the current situation with the Holy Nation, we are unable to bring cardinal or any representative to give my daughter for a blessing. In fact, I was supposed to attend the invitation to the Holy Nation, but my daughter is more important..." he added with a frown on his face.

Everyone began to murmur, remembering what was happening on the other side of the continent. They began to gossip about the invitation letters that Aurelia sent to every royal family and powerful family in Central Neva and even neighboring countries. Rasmus decided to move to the far back because he wanted to see everything from the right angle, and the others followed him.

"With that being said, we received such a blessing from the Blessed, and sending us one of his people..." Relius said with a smile on his face. He then looked at the royal knights who were guarding the doors.

Everyone turned around and looked toward the doors that Relius was staring at. When the royal knights opened the double doors slowly, that was when they saw a man in all-white robe, wearing a white mask that covered his face. That was when Rasmus, Aris, and Rullein saw the second highest rank in the demonic hierarchy, a Fallen Watcher.

Rasmus closed his eyes, realizing that everything went beyond his expectations. Suddenly he heard a cracking sound, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the folding fan that Rullein held had been crushed and snapped. There was nothing but anger and hatred in her eyes. She was about to reveal her power when Aris suddenly pulled her and made Rullein rest her head on her chest, wrapping Aris arms around her head.

"I know... don't...." Aris muttered under her breath as she looked down at Rullein's slit-like pupils and how her eyes began to glow.

Rasmus and the Jester looked at both of them with a confused look while all eyes were focused on the man in the all-white robe. Rasmus and the Jester could see how hard Aris tried to hold Rullein and not attract everyone's attention. The Jester could feel the air around him become thin and make him hard to breathe.

"That fucker..." Rullein's voice muffled on Aris's chest. "That fucker devoured the spirits in my forest! I could hear them! I could feel them! I could sense them!" She grunted under her breath, her hands clenched on Aris's arms so tight that Aris could feel her arms were about to snap. "He took my home..." She glared at Rasmus, her eyes glowing orange.

Aris looked at Rasmus, her eyes telling him to help her calm Rullein or things would become a complete mess. However, Rasmus's gaze was empty, showing nothing when he stared back at Aris. Aris furrowed her brows, realizing that Rasmus didn't want to calm Rullein down. With that knowledge, she loosened up her arms around Rullein's head, letting her free.

Rasmus turned around and looked at the Fallen Watcher walked toward the royal family. He knew that there was no point in calming Rullein because when a being like her had to lose her composure, it meant someone had just made a huge mistake. The wrath that consumed Rullein was a perfect addition to the current situation.

"Wait for my signal..." Rasmus said calmly as he looked over his shoulder at Rullein. "I'll let you loose, just wait..." He said as he walked toward the table behind Rullein and Aris.

Rasmus took the glass of wine as he took a deep breath and he inhaled the sweet scent of the wine. He downed the whole glass in a single gulp before he took another glass and turned around to look at the Jester.

"Change of plan," Rasmus said with a serious look on his face. "However, I'll still give you what you want," he placed his hand on the Jester's shoulder as he walked past him.

Aris, Rullein, and Aris stared at Rasmus who walked through the crown with his head held high. He held the wine glass in his left hand while he rubbed his right thumb against the spatial ring on his finger. His gaze was pointed at the Fallen Watcher and the royal family until he pushed himself out of the crowd.

Everyone turned their heads at Rasmus, who was standing still with a wine glass in his hand. All the royal knights immediately approached him and blocked his path toward the center of the hall. However, he didn't falter, his gaze was still cold and pointed at the royal family.

Aris and Rullein noticed that Rasmus had released Mana from his spatial ring and let the Mana enter the guests's bodies. His act was noticed by the Fallen Watchers and his underlings, but they chose to ignore him. They wondered what he was trying to do and decided to keep watching.

"Cheers..." Rasmus raised his glass, his expression stoic and unreadable.

The moment the wine entered his mouth, all the guests were caught in flames. Their bodies burned and melted, including all the royal knights. The only ones who weren't caught in flames were the royal families, the six Demon Kings, the King's Sword, and Viscount Heward.

"The greatest gift and reward for any human being is to keep them alive, don't you agree?" Rasmus asked, slowly turning his head toward Heward.

Heward was petrified and fell to his knees when he watched everyone burn. Tears were dripping like waterfalls as he covered his ears, trying to block the screams of the people around him. He closed his eyes, but the image was vivid that it didn't matter if he closed his eyes or not because the image had been etched into his brain. The screams filled the grand hall, it was so loud that all the royal knights outside the palace and near the palace could hear the gruesome and terrifying screams.

The royal knights that guarded outside the place decided to check what was happening. However, they were stabbed in the back, and when they turned around, they were shocked that some of the royal knights had betrayed them. One of them slowly removed his helmet, revealing the scar on his face.

"Don't let anyone enter the palace at all cost..." Herman said to the other Black Hands in the royal knight's armor and attire.

They all nodded and then opened the secret passage on the floor, letting the remaining Black Hands enter the palace area. The ones that pretended to be royal knights immediately removed their armor and the attire they wore, revealing their all-black outfit and a mask that covered their lower face.

"Remember, death isn't an option. Retreat when you're in danger," Herman said as he unsheathed his sword and stared at the closed gate where hundreds of royal knights tried to enter the palace area. "For our Lord..." he readied his stance as the others followed.