Self Slaying Silence

"Hey, Karyan! While you're laying on the ground, we got into the sorcerer's palm!" Reverie spoke when she dropped the manager's collar. 

"I'm resting, wait," Karyan replied calmly. 

"Where are the demons?" 

"I'm resting, Reverie…" 

"Did you defeat them all on your own? No wonder Mateo was so threatened by your presence." She raised a brow. 

I can't even get five minutes of rest, damn it!" He leaned back to face the manager and Reverie, "you found this rat?"

"Yes, he was hiding very well, but what's important is what he told me, Karyan. We need to go." 

"What did he tell you?" He finally got back to his feet. 

"That the sorcerer will use Nedeira to kill everyone in this country. 

"How is that even possible?" 

"Speak, peasant," Reverie kicked the manager in the back. 

"The-the gi-girl is go-gone…" he stuttered again as he pointed at the throne. 

Both Karyan and Reverie turned around to find only Sin laying near it. 

"Damn it! When did she disappear?" Karyan looked around the hall. 

"And we can't even leave her like that…the sorcerer, I mean the king," she corrected herself, "somehow is going to use her powers to commit the massive murder." 

"How…?" 

"I think he's planning to use Nedeira's hypnosis to make everyone go crazy and then kill themselves…" 

"Well, I don't care about that part," Karyan stated. 

"Karyan! We can't let him do that!" 

"To me, I wish he did that back in-" 

"Listen to me, you asshole. If he kills everyone in here, the king will have enough souls to open the gates and burn the spirit!" 

Karyan paused. 

What Reverie was telling him made complete sense. The spirit was no longer his to control, and if the king was going to unite it with the black magic, nobody knows what could've happened to every wielder, including him…

"Shit! That bastard!" Karyan gritted his teeth as he shook his head. 

"What are we going to do?" 

He realised that all these demons here were just to take his attention away, to distract him. So while he was killing them, one problably took Nedeira to him. 

And since Sin was a demon itself, the king didn't need him. 

Karyan and Reverie stood in the grand hall, the weight of the situation started to press down on them like the shadow of a colossal storm cloud. 

The manager cowered, his eyes darting between the two, like a pitiful figure expecting the worst.

Karyan's eyes were narrow slits, his mind raced to think of a new plan. "We need to find the sorcerer, now. And we need to figure out how he's planning to use Nedeira," he said.

Reverie nodded, her face grim. "We've wasted enough time with these distractions. The demons, the fights... it was all just to keep us busy. We need to act fast."

They turned to the manager, who had been listening to their exchange with a growing sense of dread. 

"You," Karyan began, his tone icy, "you're going to tell us everything you know. And if you think of lying, I'll make you wish you were one of those souls the king wants to sacrifice."

The manager swallowed hard, his voice trembled. "I-I swear, I've told you everything. The sorcerer... he's been preparing a ritual. Nedeira's hypnosis... it's the key. He's been keeping her close, training her, enhancing her abilities..."

Reverie's eyes flashed with anger, and she stepped forward, her foot connected with the manager's side with a thud.

 "Training her? Enhancing her? You mean manipulating her, don't you? What else? How does he plan to use her powers?"

The manager gasped, pain etched on his features. "He's... he's going to amplify her power, spread it across the country. It'll be like a wave, a wave of madness, turning people against each other, against themselves..."

Karyan clenched his fists, his jaw set. "And the souls? What does he want with them?"

"The souls... they're the key to the gates. To the spirit. The king believes that with enough souls, he can control it, bend it to his will. But if he succeeds... it'll be the end of everything. The balance will shatter," the manager blurted out, his eyes wide with fear.

"It's what we just said…"

Reverie shook her head in disgust. "We can't let that happen. We won't." She turned to Karyan. "What's our next move?"

Karyan's gaze was fixed on the vacant throne. "We go after the sorcerer. We find Nedeira, and we stop this madness before it begins." He looked at Reverie. "We need to move quickly. Time isn't on our side."

As they started moving out of the place they both were with Sin on Karyan's back and manager's body dragged like a shovel on the ground, Reverie asked; "why didn't you care about the people that could be murdered, Karyan?" 

"I just don't care…" he replied simply. 

"You understand that you might have to save more of them in the future." 

"Probably. I dont care." 

"Why not? These people are innocent-" 

"And so was I, Reverie…so was I…and looked what happened to me." 

"I'm sorry…" she apologised. 

"Nothing to be sorry about. Forget about it."

"Can I ask who was the first person you've murdered in your previous or this life?" 

Karyan stopped, thinking…he let out a long and boring sigh, and then with a calm voice replied to her;

"The first murder that I've committed was mine…"