MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

⟦Wild Hunt⟧

"What in the nine hells is happening? Where is Adam?"

Back in Los Angeles, inside the small K-Town, Yui was nearly on the verge of a mental breakdown by now. The only thing that actually stopped her from screaming and shouting like a shrew was the knowledge that such a thing would bring nothing much outside of stressing everyone else and chipping away at her prestige.

Everything started a few moments ago just after Adam was about to reach the target area. Since he was connected through his contact lens, Hacker was able to keep track of his position while he used the GPS system and they were able to observe how he covered hundreds of kilometers in only half an hour using his powers.

But it was from there that things started to get a bit troublesome.

After all, the lens started malfunctioning. Then the connection was completely lost between them.

Up to then, Yui could still be relatively calm about it all. Even though she was worried about him, she was able to summarize that it was the result of entering a barrier of some sort and being separated from the normal continuum of space-time which caused a disturbance in the lens signals.

But not long ago, Hacker just sent them information about how the island had basically completely vanished from the face of the Earth. Furthermore, Adam's communication device had been completely destroyed in the process and there was no way to contact him or even make sure of his safety.

Now, she was certainly starting to worry as the worst scenario kept repeatedly appearing in her mind.

Could Adam truly survive through something that could erase an entire expanse of land like it was nothing?

｢I am doing my best boss. Trying to find out if I can feel his life energy signature.｣

"No need. I am here already."

Everyone that was watching the island and its surrounding through their screen just stopped and looked up in the direction of the opening door.

There they could see Adam, clad in clothes much different from what he usually wore, with a top hat and a mask covering his face.

"Adam?"

Yui stood up, disbelief evident in her voice but it was soon replaced by a voice full of relief and happiness.

"What happened, are you alright?"

"I am more than alright. I feel great honestly."

She could not see his expression, but she could see that Adam was actually trying to smile through the face mask…

Sadly, while his lips were doing the movements correctly, his eyes were not smiling alongside them and she knew at that moment that something had gone wrong at that place.

"I will explain what happened tomorrow. For now, I just want to rest and wash all this tiredness away. I just didn't want you guys to be worried without knowing what was going on so I came here to inform you."

He clapped his hand and started vanishing slowly from everyone's gaze, "Also, Kang Ho is dead. You can finish everything he has."

After delivering those words, Adam completely left the premise of the room.

｢Something happened…｣

"I guess it's pretty evident what happened there."

It seemed like Kang Ho's wife had died despite all the effort he had put into saving her from the clutches of her husband.

Efforts never lie.

The one who said this was a liar himself. After all, efforts are never synonymous with success.

Yui was both worried and slightly happy.

She had been worried that Adam was becoming more and more emotionless when dealing with people he did not care about. This was not a bad thing in a certain sense, but she did not wish for his compassion to completely vanish into thin air when dealing with other people that were not close to him already.

Now though, she knew that he was still far from being completely emotionless.

This was what was worrying her. After the event of this night, Adam's mindset would take a drastic turn, of that, there was no doubt.

The problem was which turn it would take and how that would change Adam.

She just hoped that it would not take a dangerous turn.

In the end, she sighed. No matter how much she was worried about Adam, now that she knew that he was alive, she could focus on other miscellaneous things.

Such as sending a message to all the underworld organizations,

"Hacker, let's seize all the wealth we can. Then, afterward, I want you to disseminate the news about all the dark dealings of the Blue Sharks."

As sad as it was, a promotion was something that was essential for organizations like theirs. They needed to spin the narrative in a way to give themselves the role of the hero.

Only by doing so would the other organizations that were under the eyes of the Wild Hunt would not become overly suspicious of them and start ramping up the defenses of their location to defend against their next strike.

"Also prepare the oversea account for everyone. I guess it's time for some very well-earned pocket money."

⟦LAPD⟧

Meanwhile, inside the LAPD main bureau, a woman was leaving the police with her hands in her coat pocket and holding a letter of vacation inside her clasp.

It seemed like she had been given a short vacation and it was even fully paid by the police.

"What the hell?"

But this was not so.

Themis, looking at the silver moon hanging in the sky couldn't help but feel like something had changed for her.

The world looked very much different than before.

At the same time, she was made to understand just why some criminals were simply untouchable.

Did this give her the desire to back out?

No. Not at all.

No one was above the law in her opinion. Since they were living inside the great country of America, then, supernatural or not, they all had the obligation to listen and follow the law.

"Perhaps… It's time for me to start trying what I intended to do."

She looked at the letter that was given to her. She knew very well that her superior and partner, Kirishima, had given her a short vacation to keep her out of the latest gang war.

Obviously, he had underestimated her drive and desire far too much. She wished for true justice to grace these lands with no problem or hesitation. Being a magical group or something of the like should not matter to them.

"I will do it myself."

She would take destiny in the clasps of her own hands.

This was why…

"It's time to hit the municipal library."

This was going to be a long night.

———

(AN: Welp 4 chapters in one day. I feel like I am about to fall and die lol. Once again thanks for the Castle and my dear readers, don't hesitate to send me more. I fear nothing. So this is officially the end of this arc. Hope you liked it and the way Hae-won's story ended. Now we only have one last woman to deal with. Just realized Vol 6 alone is bigger than Vol 1 to 5 combined. Damn, initially my plan was to have a short interlude volume about just Shuri then do something else.)