Darkness Approaching

Slumping down, I sat there crying alone, my sobs echoing endlessly throughout the empty castle.

Opening my eyes, I stared at the dirt floor of the tunnel. I looked at my crushed hands as they slowly started to regenerate.

"It hurts."

I didn't feel the physical pain from my mangled hands or any of the scars I had. It was a different kind of pain—the same agonizing feeling I had when I escaped my home, and the same pain I felt when I first saw Lux.

My heart, which no longer beat, hurt so much. Even though I was already dead, my chest felt incredibly tight, making my breathing quicken as I grabbed my silent chest.

“If only I had followed him on his journey, this wouldn't have happened, and he wouldn't have been so sad.”

“If only I hadn't let him leave alone, he wouldn't have been betrayed by the others.”

“If only I wasn't this weak, I could have helped him.”

“If only... if only he had killed me... would he have been happy then?”

I could only think about where I went wrong, and what would have happened if I had actually done something about it. Maybe none of this would have happened.

"Hah~"

Dragging my heavy body toward the main hall, my foot bumped into a broken piece of one of my golems. I reached down and picked it up.

"I'm so sorry."

I carried the broken piece with me to my bed. Laying there, I draped one arm over my eyes and cried.

“I truly am a sinful person, I thought. I want to die.”

If I did that, maybe I would never have to feel this misery again. I could just forget about everything that happened. But I knew that would just be me running away from my problems all over again.

"What should I do... someone, please tell me something."

Usually, Kuroi would be there telling me what to do, or Capsaicin asking me to fight something... or Lux, always asking me for training, food, or anything at all.

"Fufufu... I really am useless without anyone around."

I had known this ever since I started living alone. What I did in the past and what I was doing today were no different. I was just existing without knowing what I actually wanted or what I was supposed to do.

Staring up at the high ceiling where I used to see a sliver of light, everything was now completely dark.

♦ ♦ ♦

[Kuroi's POV]

Sitting in my office, I occasionally glanced between my phone and the monitor in front of me.

"Tch, what is that CEO doing, really?"

I had explicitly told Miss Asteria to call me as soon as she arrived or if anything happened, but I hadn't received a single message.

“Did she break her phone again? Or maybe she just forgot about it, like usual.”

I tried to calm myself down and focus on my work. After all, with her gone, I was the one who had to manage every decision and consult with the other executives.

“For now, I will just wait one to three days for her to message me. If she doesn't, then it means something happened, and I will have to call Capsaicin.”

I knew that if Miss Asteria couldn't handle a problem, it wasn't likely that anyone else could either. But I couldn't shake the feeling that she was always trying to shoulder every emotional burden by herself, even though she was an absolute failure when it came to office work.

“I should have attached a tracker to her phone in the first place.”

"Let's just finish this batch first."

I decided to focus on my work and worry about Miss Asteria later. After all, everything seemed completely normal today, both in the office and out in the city.

♦ ♦ ♦

[Mael's POV]

"My lord, the preparations for this dungeon are ready."

"Good. After this, we only need to activate the other three."

Crossing my arms, I thought about how smoothly everything seemed to be progressing. After all, our enemies were just a bunch of pathetic humans.

“All of this happening still surprises me.”

I clearly remembered that I had, in fact, died. But then I found myself inside a pitch-black void. At first, I was entirely alone. As time passed,how long, I truly did not know,monsters were slowly born again, one by one. The next thing I knew, after that space was completely filled, the other monsters and I were pouring out of the dungeons and onto the surface.

“With Asteria locked away, there is no one left to hinder our plans.”

I had already scouted the humans of today, and I could confidently conclude that they were the same powerless breed as in the olden days. Even if they used those little toys they called 'guns', they could never truly hurt us that much.

"Let's do this, my brethren! The days of hiding in the darkness are over!" I announced. "Now, we will step into the light and conquer the surface."

"One week from now, we will serve as the vanguard for the Demon Lord, so he can see the splendid work we have done!"

I raised my hand, and the other robed monsters raised theirs in unison.

"Urahhh!"

"I will slaughter every human I see!"

"I will burn everything to ash!"

"Hahaha, it is time to go wild!"

Looking at their burning spirit, I smirked. All of these robed monsters were unique; they possessed the ability to think, rather than just relying on base instincts like normal monsters.

“But still, they are far below me. I am a noble-born, after all.”

"Move out to the next dungeon!" I commanded.

"YEAH!!!"

Leading a detachment of them, I headed toward the next dungeon to initiate the outbreak.

“Hahaha. You lowly monsters are all just my pawns. The only good thing about you is that you can think enough to follow my orders.”