Chapter 208 Chapter 208- Hellish Heaven (Part 2)

The sunlit world darkened and the calm, windless plains started rustling with the sudden howls of wind moving across the whole world and beyond.

The blue sky was immediately covered with clouds as if it manifested out of thin air. Looking around him, the shadow figure could see the whole place turning from heaven to a grim, dark hell in a matter of moments.

"Did you see him?" The cold, hoarse voice asked in a grim tone. He didn't try to hide his anger at all.

"No, but I felt his presence looming over the city. He was certainly there." He replied. "If I got any closer, he would've definitely noticed my presence."

The skies thundered with lightning as rain started pouring down endlessly, washing the grassy plains with a dark grey color. All color was lost in the world in a matter of moments.

"How strong?"

"Huh?"

"How stronger did he become?"

"I do-"

"You felt his presence. Describe it."

"It was… suffocating. Like a thousand ropes squeezing my neck with no mercy. I knew that if I got any closer, that feeling would paralyze me in my place."

Just remembering that feeling made the shadow figure smile slightly. The thrill of seeing Kai again and seeing his power made him excited for the future even more.

Something inside him told him that they perhaps might meet sooner than he expected and for that, he was sure that he was more than ready.

As for the mysterious man in control of this place, he simply didn't look back as he chugged down the drink inside the flask endlessly. His solemn presence was rather unique in the sense that it didn't invoke fear in anyone who saw him. Instead, what they would feel at first would be… awe.

They would think he was a divine being of some sort. His presence was ethereal, dancing on the fine line between reality and mysticism.

However, when one gets to know him, they quickly realize that this being was divine, not in the sense of an angel… But in the sense of a devil.

"You are going nowhere… son."

Murmuring those words, the man stood up and finally turned around to face the shadow figure.

"Keep an eye on that city. Don't let him out of your sight."

Saying those words, the man turned around and walked toward the path the shadow figure came from.

As he walked, cracks appeared in the air before a weird portal appeared that penetrated this heaven of a world. The other side of the portal showed the same endless portal.

"Leave." He ordered the shadow figure who immediately nodded his head and submerged back in the darkness.

Then, he quickly glided toward the exit.

The moment he left, the crack closed and the world returned to normal. Seeing that, the man turned around and walked away, heading toward the gigantic tree in the distance.

His casual steps and his cold eyes that looked straight at the gigantic eye etched into the tree made him seem unbothered by this nightmarish existence.

His journey to the tree took a lot of time, more time than people might ever expect.

Eventually, he reached the foot of the tree. There, he stood for a moment looking at the tree, he then approached the trunk and extended his hand toward it. A second later, his hand touched the tree, and immediately, smoke rose from his hand along with the sound of sizzling flesh as if it was being cooked on a grill.

The smell of cooked flesh penetrated the air around the man as he waited patiently. A few moments later, the sizzling stopped and he released his hand, showing a skinless surface filled with blood and red flesh.

However, he didn't even give that horrifying injury a glance before he turned toward the tree again at the same moment as something started to happen.

A weird, magical door slid open in the tree that allowed one to enter it. The man took a deep breath before he walked inside.

The interior was dark and grim, as expected of a hollow wooden tree room.? However, in the heart of this dark was a shining red object, at least twice as big as a human.

The object was a translucent red orb, hollow from the inside and visible from the outside. This orb was attached to countless branches that sprang around it as if it were protecting it.

The red orb was perfectly nestled inside the branches, feeding from their life essence and growing brighter and brighter with time.

Approaching the orb, the man stood in front of it as he watched what was inside the orb with a mysterious gaze.

Nobody could read his thoughts and who would consider the situation? A man was standing in front of a giant orb nestled inside a gigantic tree with an eye on it.

"You will soon be back. Let's change everything. Past, present, and future."

Saying those words, his eyes examined the creature inside the orb. One look could easily tell the one what was inside… It was a human.

***

The morning sun rose, announcing the start of a new day. Kai didn't sleep through the night as it was basically a waste of time at that point.

He stayed awake till 3 am and he usually wakes up around 5 am. Two hours of sleep might as well be nothing for him.

Instead, he spent time simply reading a book. After that, he cooked food and woke up Eva and Kaya. As for Aria, he knew that she was still recovering from her injury so he decided not to wake her up yet. He needed her to be fully aware and ready.

"What are you going to do to her, Kai?" Eva asked as they ate breakfast.

"She will stay here for now. If I let her leave, she will get killed. I still need to get all the information I need from her before I kill her." He replied as he sipped his coffee.

The two girls went silent when they heard that. For a moment, they forgot that Kai's initial goal was to kill her so when he casually mentioned that again, it surprised them.

"But, leaving her alone is dangerous too, no?" Eva asked.

"... Yeah, the kiddo is right. Even if she's strong, she seems to get disoriented quickly if she stands for a long time."

Thinking about that, Kaya really couldn't understand the reason for that. Normally, blind people don't get disoriented from standing, even more so for someone like Aria who is extremely strong in her own right.

Kai also realized that problem and he thought about a solution that will at least let him keep an eye on her.

"I will make her enroll in the school to keep an eye on her."

*Pfft*

Eva coughed loudly when she heard that. Enroll in their school?

"Wait a second, Kai! You do realize that she's a celebrity, right? Making her enroll in that school is like throwing a bait in the middle of a sea full of fish. The news will spread like wildfire."

"I will alter her appearance with a little bit of illusion," Kai said.

"Ugh, that I guess solves it." Murmuring to herself, Eva looked at the woman sleeping on the couch. A complicated look appeared on her face.

She can't forget the fact that Aria was at some point Kai's fiance. The two shared a past that made them like each other so much to the point where Kai actually felt so betrayed after what she did.

That was more than just friendship, her suspicion told her that Kai liked her and she was his first love. If she was to stay with Kai for long, she didn't know what could happen.

If anything, she was conflicted about this girl more than anything else. She didn't seem like a bad person to her even after talking with her more than once.

Eva believed that she could read people very well and all she could see in Aria was that she was simply a victim of something that made her do what she did.

A victim of what exactly is still a mystery but she was definitely not evil. So, seeing her die in Kai's hands stung her in the chest. Eva adored Kai more than anything else so she didn't want him to kill someone that didn't deserve death.

They were hitmen, true. But, they weren't murderers that killed the innocent with no regard for morality. As questionable as their line of work could be, Eva firmly believes that she has a moral code that helps her make the world a better place.

In fact, now that they are finally out of that line of work, she feels that shedding blood is unnecessary unless they had to do it, and from what she can see, they will probably still have to kill more if they wanted to find peace.

"It will be temporary."