Death’s Door - Chapter 188

After Dark Lord and Meros (and Morphus) succeeded in killing a deity, what followed was a rather disturbing feast.

Shadow Lords plus the Goblin Captain were called over to a special room with a large round table.

All of the doors to the room were closed and it was obvious that sound concealment magic had been applied within these premises.

Whatever was going to take place was going to be kept secret from everyone in the Sevilles mansion.

Shadow Lords only type event.

Then, the feast was served.

Even the hungriest ones among them, Navek and Meros, once the cover was taken off, were soon horrified by the contents of the plate.

It was the chopped up body of Dominus, served upon a silver platter.

Dark Lord: “Let the feast begin!”

Each one of the Shadow Lords ended up having to eat part of the fallen god.

Dark Lord ate the heart.

Camilla ate the left eye while Lukalis ate the right eye.

Lake ended up chowing down on the left arm. Apparently due being a tiger type demi-human, eating the flesh of a humanoid was far easier for him.

Kyra ate some of the shoulder meat.

Cifer Palak ate the right foot.

Jun ate the right arm.

Navek ate several fingers from the right arm.

Soon enough, not much was left except for a fleshless skeleton and largely untouched lower body, sans the feet.

As the one with least authority in the group, Goblin Captain ended up with all the leftovers.

To everyone’s disgust, Goblin Captain chowed down on the fallen god’s phallus and what was left of his bottom. For goblins, eating human meat was not uncommon, so that much came as no surprise. But watching him was a little too much.

Apparently the purpose of this travesty was to find out if the power of the god could be transferred by consuming the body of the deity.

All they have done is eat a humanoid deity.

If someone claimed they were an order of cannibals, it would be rather hard to deny.

Crystal dagger could transfer blessings but for some reason, the same chant of “Kuat Endi Meniki” or “Kuat Endi Seniki” did not work with the power of a god.

Ever since the crystal dagger was used to take a god down, it has been dyed in strange yellow hue. It used to be clear and glasslike, but now it was clearly yellow, almost golden in color.

One would assume it was the blood, but blood was red when liquid and brownish when solid, not yellow like a sunflower.

Overall, the experiment to obtain the power of a god had been a complete failure.

Still, the Crystal Dagger did exactly what it was supposed to. It killed a god.

That much was enough of a conciliation prize.

Lukalis: ‘Ever since he managed to kill that so-called deity, Dark Lord has been acting weird’

His hands were practically itching to try it out on Chronos, if she ever shows up that is.

Lukalis had gotten used to seeing him be overly serious and focused on his tasks. Even when he smiled, it was for a purpose. None of his actions were due emotions alone.

So then…why was he acting like this?

For the last three weeks, he has been acting completely out of character.

With a wide grin on his face, he kept walking with playful hops, humming all the while. He was nowhere near as negative or menacing like his normal self.

Usually, being Dark Lord was his life while the identity of Runfar Sevilles was a mere mask he wore to avoid detection.

But now, there was not a trace of the usual Dark Lord.

All there was Runfar Sevilles.

Lukalis clenched her fist.

Lukalis: ‘It does not feel right’

Runfar would spend some days joining the peasants and helping them to the best of his capacity. It turns out he is alarmingly good when it comes to farm-related labor.

Not knowing what the heck their lord was planning, Meros, Lake, Camilla, and Morphus joined in his endeavor.

Lukalis’s right eye couldn’t help but twitch after seeing Runfar using a rake to plow large tracts of land.

Lukalis: ‘Did you change your job from the Lord of Darkness to a dirt farmer?!’

Oh, but compared to having a picnic with one of the maids called Elian and a child named Rune, that was nothing.

With Rune riding on his shoulders, Runfar was acting practically like a parent. They used to have such getaways rather rarely, but now they do it every other day.

And according to the maids of the mansion, Runfar spends a lot of his free time reading Rune bed time stories before tucking her into bed.

Lukalis: ‘What are you, a doting father?!’

On one hand, she was baffled at how much happier he seemed when he was with Elian and Rune. It was almost a picture of a happy family.

Then there was him playing a violin on top of a tree. Admittedly, the music was not half bad, but the frustrating fact was that he seemed to have embraced being Runfar and have completely forgotten who he really is.

The fact that the cold hearted Lord of Darkness was showing his warmer side was alarming in itself.

Due to this, Lukalis ended up requesting Dark Lord to undergo a thorough examination by her.

Lukalis: ‘There has got to be something wrong with him to cause him to act like this…’

Runfar: “Luka, is this really necessary?”

Lukalis: “Of course it is! You are acting so weird. It’s freaking me out!”

Runfar: “But I am feeling fine…”

Not listening to Runfar’s pleas, Lukalis continued her examination.

Lukalis: “Sight normal, heartbeat normal, bone density…”

Lukalis: “…normal”

Every test she conducted, all came back within acceptable limits.

Physically there was nothing was wrong with him.

Initially she assumed he was under the effect of a spell or a mind altering potion, but from what she could tell, neither was the case. A spell would have left traces of foreign energy and the potion would have been easy to detect within his system.

One test did provide strange result.

Using a mana crystal, one’s mana affinity could be determined. Mana affinity signified the person’s dominant element.

In the past, humans used to believe that magic was only limited to the dominant affinity, only for elves to prove that one can master other elemental spells even if they are not one’s dominant affinity. Having a strong affinity just meant that the particular element was easier for person to master.

Still, it was rare for human beings to master magic beyond their own affinity.

In the past, Runfar’s dominant affinity was fire.

But now, his mana affinity was light.

Lukalis: “This is definitely suspicious”

Grabbing Runfar by the cheeks, she peered deeply into his eyes.

Then, she pried open his mouth.

Runfar: “U-uka?”

Lukalis: “Nope, you are definitely you. Even a skilled shifter will not be able to get the insides of the mouth exactly right….”

Runfar: “Oh, c’mon! I did not get killed and replaced, for crying out loud”

Lukalis: “That you are not. Still, it is weird that your dominant affinity is now light, not fire”

Runfar: “Rather ironic, if you ask me”

Light affinity was extremely rare compared to other elements. Only one in ten thousand had access to it. In some ways he could be called lucky, but having a light affinity was ill suited for someone so dark aligned.

Usually, people with light affinity choose path of priesthood or heroism. Having someone who was practically the opposite of those noble roles wielding such rare element was akin to a sick joke.

Lukalis: “Changes in mana affinity are extremely rare, but are not unheard of. What exactly happened to you?”

Runfar: “I almost got turned inside out. That about sums it up”

Lukalis: “That’s not funny!”

Runfar: “Oh, it really is”

Lukalis: “Runfar! *Grabs both of his cheeks with her hands*”

Her blue eyes met with his red.

She knew so much about him yet so little.

With the type of contract they have, Runfar is unable to tell a lie in her presence. He even gave her permission to read his thoughts. After peering into his mind, Lukalis was left in a state of shock, soon replaced by a sense of admiration, delight, and intrigue.

What many would have been horrified to see left Lukalis with a deep sense of wonder. To her, what was inside of Dark Lord’s mind was by far the most beautiful thing she has ever seen.

It was the embodiment of chaos, the true essence of her leader.

That was the only way to describe it.

Most minds have some type of predictable order within them; some are simply reflections of their daily lives. But Dark Lord’s mind was different.

There was not a single rule or order, everything was twisted in strangest ways, but somehow, the inner world was still whole and unbroken.

Ever since then, Lukalis felt a strange feeling within her c.h.e.s.t.

She did not want to lose him.

The way he seemed to shine made her fear that she was losing the ‘real’ Dark Lord, the one that she adored. But perhaps she was worried over nothing.

After all, he was the man who turned her world upside down.

She, who once thought that Elven King was the one and only God-King, found herself in the hands of none other than the Lord of Darkness.

Compared to the humans and elves that betrayed her, Dark Lord was nothing but truthful.

Cruel, depraved, and outright insane but never deceitful.

Not only that, he proved that he can and will keep his word, no matter how impossible the task seems to be. Just look at what happened to the Elven King.

A leader that can make any promise into reality. That was the kind of man she admired.

That was the kind of man she fell for.

The feeling only intensified when Dark Lord was close to her.

Gazing at each other’s eyes, both lost any senses of their surroundings, moving closer and closer….until their lips were about to touch.

Morphus: “Uhm, what are you guys doing?”

Lukalis: “AAH!”

She ended up jumping away in surprise.

It was such a perfect moment.

All ruined because of this meddling angel.

Lukalis: “MORPHUS!”

Morphus: “What? What did I do? Did something happen?”

Runfar: “More accurately, what did not happen…”