The bastard child becomes the empires royal consort Chapter 47

[Reaper]

Alan’s fist plunged through the frozen remains of an abyssal creature, shattering the ice sculpture into jagged shards, he used his [Reaper] skill the moment the creature died.

A surge of refined mana filtered his veins, running through his bloodstream in a cool but comfortable current, strengthening his blood vessels and ultimately his heart.

But he didn’t have much time to bask in the feeling of euphoria.

Whoosh

Alan ducked a claw aimed for his head, pivoting in his lowered position, he lunged upward, brandishing a dagger in his left hand.

Spurt

Alan plunged the short blade into the creature’s eye socket, digging the metal into its skull.

Crack

And reinforced the dagger with white flames, from deep within the creature’s skull, the blade cracked and fractured within the brain, while simultaneously freezing its head and body.

Without finishing it off, Alan tossed the mirror blade to his side.

Spurt

Embedding itself within the charging creature’s nose.

Alan gripped his hand, like it never left in the first place, the mirror blade reappeared in his clenched right fist, forming a mirror duplicate in the creature’s face.

He stepped into the creature’s reach, stabbed it in the forearm to pin it, and seized its head before blasting a torrent of white flames, turning the creature into a frozen pillar.

Twisting his body while holding onto the new ice sculpture, he hurled the body over his shoulders, bringing it down like a sledgehammer.

[Reaper]

[Reaper]

His skill activated twice in one go, killing two at once.

"Wow, is there no end to you guys?" Alan muttered a complaint as he looked around, he was completely surrounded by over ten abyssal creatures.

Despite his words, Alan was grinning from ear to ear.

Why wouldn’t he be? They were practically free exp points for him to just harvest, sure he might’ve felt a little exhausted and worn out, but this was already his twenty-fifth kill.

The enhancements he felt after each [Reaper] usage outweighed the physical exertion he was experiencing.

Still, it was rather annoying having to deal with these beasts one by one.

"Hmm." Alan thought for just a second, thinking of a plan he immediately put into action.

With a burst of violet flames beneath his feet, he soared into the sky, cutting through the air until he reached the apex of his jump, then gravity forced his body back down.

As Alan plummeted, he spun rapidly in a vertical spiral while igniting flames behind the soles of his feet, accelerating his descent as he came down like a meteor.

And.

BANG

A violent torrent of lilac flames engulfed the district, overwhelming the burning buildings and reducing them to mere ashes.

[Reaper]

Alan released a long, deep breath, squinting his eyes, he allowed the rush of mana to be properly absorbed.

He glanced at his surrounds, he stood in the middle of an ashy crater, without anything near him, in his one attack, he vaporised every last one of the abyssal creatures circling him.

"That brings it to, uh... thirty-five?" Alan scratched his head.

Although the numbers sounded impressive, it sort of wasn’t.

Every creature he fought till now was weak, none compared to the bat-like abyssal creature Alan fought at the very beginning.

In fact, it was sort of understandable, the creatures preying in the third district in the first place, were the weaker ones, they were yet to grow in power, lacking the experience and strength to properly fight against someone like Alan.

The stronger ones were causing havoc in the first and second district, which the knights were desperating fighting against as of right now.

Why were the stronger ones there anyways? It was obvious, much like Alan, as he hunts beasts with a core rank higher than himself, he’d grow stronger much faster.

Following the same logic, abyssal creatures sought to devour and absorb the experiences of beings as strong or stronger than themselves, to grow at a rapid pace.

Which explained why the abyssal creatures swarming the third district weren’t the strongest Alan could be facing, the ones he came across seemed to lack the experience, instead resorting to devouring those weaker than themselves.

Even their attacks and way of fighting were awkward, like they were slowly learning and adapting.

Which was terrifying, the bat-like creature Alan fought was actively adapting and learning his movements mid-fight, even managing to predict and launch counterattacks onto Alan.

If Alan hadn’t finished off the creature the moment he had the chance, the results could have been deadly.

He could only wonder what the first and second districts were dealing with currently.

BANG BANG BANG

His thoughts were interrupted by the consecutive explosions that occurred, sending violent vibrations across the ground.

Alan’s expression tensed insantly, raising his fists, he assumed a defensive stance, only to raise a brow once he looked up.

In one area was an enormous pillar of glacier.

In another, a blinding flash of golden light exploded the ground.

Then lastly, a storm of crimson thunder.

"Well, they’re doing fine." Alan scoffed and leapt up, he landed on a broken and ruined rooftop.

Alan accessed the condition of the district with narrowed eyes, nearly half of the orange flames drowning the district were gone, but only half, buildings were now crumbling in on themselves, unable to tolerate the flames any further.

Luckily, from what he could see, the flames didn’t reach into the other districts, meaning only the third district was in danger... well, maybe not so lucky? There was still a lot to do.

Step Step

Fast footsteps approached his position.

"Found any survivors?" Alan asked without looking back, he didn’t need to, he already knew who it was.

"None." Lucian smoothly replied, his white blindfold was strangely clean, but blood stuck to his facial features, releasing an undeniable stench.

"What even happened to you?" Alan scowled the moment he actually looked back as he covered his nose.

"Much like what happened to you." Lucian returned to being expressionless, speaking with a plain tone.

"Me?"

Alan looked down at himself properly for the first time.

He was drenched, his noble attire was utterly drenched in black blood, soaking through the fabrics, he in a far worse state than Lucian himself, not to mention the horrid, acidic stench.

"What the hell happened to me..."

"How are Tania, Hailey, Ren and Rin?" Lucian changed the subject, enquiring about the four orphans they left behind in the church.

"Ah." Alan was reminded again. "Not great..."

"What?"

"Well, they aren’t in any danger." Alan spoke with a serious face. "But they might be traumatised, other than Sister Lily, they were the only four that survived."

"I see..." Lucian’s face was grim too.

"At least I made sure there wasn’t anything that could harm them right now." Wiping some blood off of his face. "So let’s hurry up."

"Understood."

Lucian dashed off in a blitz, within moments, burning houses not so far away were quickly doused in an icy chill.

Alan jumped off the roof and down to the streets below before breaking into a sprint.

"Please, let there be survivors..." Alan quietly muttered.

...

Blood, fire, smoke, ruins, Alan was familiar with all of these aspects, not from his life as Alan, but as Leon, his very upbringing was in the form of ruins, blood was something that became a natural part of his daily life.

But even someone like him, thought to have seen it all, couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of disgust as he dashed through the empty streets.

The streets were pooled with crimson blood in various places, Alan also didn’t fail to notice the severed limbs of humans scattered across the ground, he didn’t fail to see the corpse of a decapitated man with his ribs pried open.

’Gruesome’ was the only way to describe it, the scenery was disgustingly gruesome.

This world wasn’t kind, every one of the corpses he ran past was an innocent life that simply lived in the capital, every blazing building he saw was a place the victims lived in and spent the majority of their lives inside of.

Spurt

Alan occasionally butchered any and every abyssal creature that came his way, ending the fights quickly, he continued running through the streets, he couldn’t afford to waste time.

Reinforcing every one of his senses with mana, he pushed it to the limit, scanning his surroundings for any living survivors.

Truthfully, Alan was never the hero type, even as Leon, he was a murderer in plain words.

No matter how you might dress it up, call him the worlds greatest agent or whatever, fancy words didn’t change a man’s core, Leon was just as bad as those he killed, maybe even worse.

Alan knew himself best, he knew he wasn’t someone who would typically care for the lives of others.

...But for some reason he wanted to try to change the core of what defined him, he wasn’t Leon anymore, he was Alan, just a bastard child.

Beat

Alan skidded to an abrupt halt, he sensed presences.

Looking up, he saw a familiar and unfamiliar location, it was the inn he stayed at previously.

Now raging with embers.