MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

Quietly, the morning sun rose above the horizon, reflecting on the endless sea and dazzling the world with beautiful light. The waves of the tumultuous sea rose and fell and in the skies above the ocean, flocks of seagulls flew from here and there along with their distant cries…

Breathing in the scent of the sea into his lungs, Adam quietly floated on the ocean surface before diving down with no hesitation whatsoever.

Water droplets splashed all around him as he dove down but the sea water was not even able to graze his clothes or skin as he used a psychic shield to protect himself from the influence of the water.

From afar, he could see the fishes and other residents of the deep sea moving and fretting around in the ocean deep, giving one a rundown of the animal life in the depths of the Ocean.

At first, the sea was still clear and he was able to see into the distance but as he moved deeper and deeper down the depths of the seemingly endless ocean, darkness slowly crept in as the light of the sun could reach no further below the surface.

The pressure of his surroundings progressively grew around him but he ignored it. He had a goal in coming this deep into the ocean floor and he was going to reach it soon.

It did not take long for him to finally reach the place he was targeting when he had dove down. It was a place that was more than 400 meters deep in the sea— a place no humans had ever reached with just their bodies alone.

No traces of light were able to reach this area. But for Adam, the presence or absence of light was of no importance as long as his domain was activated. He was able to sense practically everything with his domain as though he was able to see crystal clear in the dark.

As the new day came, Adam had obviously released all the restrictions that he had willingly imposed on himself during the Day of Thanksgiving.

This was a new day and so a new beginning for the young man. But before starting everything, he needed to accomplish one last thing. One last task that he needed to set behind to fully embrace his new life.

"Here it is."

He sighed when he finally found what he had been searching for all along. A small cave that would have been impossible to find in normal circumstances.

Moving inside the underwater cave, then up its surface, he slowly swam on until he found himself in a place completely devoid of water. An air pocket inside the sea.

This was obviously not the work of nature but something he had artificially built through the night of that fateful day. It was also one of the reasons why he had been so late to come back to the Wild Hunt.

Outside of dying a second time to get rid of the negative effects of bringing a soul to these plains, that is.

In the cave, two tombstones could be seen side by side, and each of them had a name on them.

[Hae-Won]

[Han-Wool Azrael]

They said that the rites of burying were enacted to let the dead have their eternal resting place. But the reality was that it was more for the sake of the living.

Adam knew very well that what he was doing was useless, at the end of the day. Hae-Won had already ascended from this plane and he did not know where her soul had gone to. Heaven, Hell, or someplace else, he could not be sure.

As for Han-Wool, it was even harder to say, as logically, his soul should be in Hell but with the way things happened, there were also high chances for him to be in Heaven alongside Azrael, the angel presiding over death.

Looking at the tombstone of the woman who had given him the greatest curse in existence, Adam realized that even though his heart might be filled with endless turmoil, his mind was clear.

This tombstone was useless.

His actions were also useless.

He did not even believe in any gods and did not know to whom he should pray for her soul to receive eternal peace— something that she sought all throughout her life. After all, wouldn't praying to the one who cursed you be the height of irony?

Even then….

"So what?"

Adam smiled as he felt himself speak out those words so naturally. As though the words of rebellion were eerily familiar to him.

So what if it was useless?

So what if it was a waste of time?

Whatever he was doing and was about to do was something he had chosen to enact out of his own volution. His own decision could be contested by no one.

"I am sorry…"

He was sorry that his hesitation led to the demise of a pitiful woman like her. Led to a tragedy he could have stopped had he cared a little more about the woman who had given her everything to him.

"...And thank you."

At the same time, he was thankful to her. Thankful that she had opened his eyes to what he should do and to the path he should strive to walk upon.

Death was something that could not be avoided and was the fate of all mortals. But he refused to accept this reality and would walk a path that would enable him to find a way to fight against the very concept.

He would not let some moral hangs up stop him either. If he wished to be kind, he would be and if he wished to be ruthless he would be.

The world was not a place dyed in the colors of Black and White, it was dyed in the infinite shades of Grey, and trying to conform to a side and kill his emotions was something he refused to accept.

No one was perfect and no one could say that they could always bring about the most optimal scenario. Sometimes, people even took the least optimal solution willingly to attain their goals.

Some people smoked even though they knew it could kill them. The same went for alcohol and drugs.

Some others chose jobs they knew were dangerous. Only for the deep desire to help other beings in danger.

It was easy to talk about reason and logic when watching from afar but once faced with the reality, emotion would always find a way to prevail. The only way around this was to be a machine with no sense of emotions and only logic and reason to drive them forward.

He would embrace his own hypocrisy with no more shame and walk a path he could look back on with no regrets.

Even then, he might stumble. No… He was sure that he would stumble.

He was only 21 years old after all and as a member of the supernatural world, he was not even one month old.

He still had so much to learn and so much to understand about this world dyed in infinite shades of gray. Mistakes were given, losses were to be accepted and defeat was an inevitability.

But as long as he continued to walk… As long as he didn't give up… There will come a day when he would become able to look at his face in the mirror and proclaim proudly that he loved what he was seeing.

A relaxed smile formed on his face as he faced the tombstone that had paved his future path.

"If one day I truly become a god, I will make sure to find both of your souls… and give you the happy ending that you deserve…"

He didn't know if he could even become one and even if he did, he was unsure if he would be able to find their souls or not…

It was a mystery that he needed to naturally solve in the future.

But having more goals in life was what made things interesting, rather than just staying still and mopping in the patches of darkness wondering what could have been if he just tried.

Sighing, Adam stood up and began to walk away. On his body were the clothes Hae-Won had bought for him with all her heart.

They were not illusions but the real deal.

Taking out the clock, he looked at the time and covered his face with a white mask.

With a tap of his cane, the place began to be filled with light and flowers of endless colors bloomed all across the rocky plane. The gloomy atmosphere vanished completely and was replaced by the colors of euphoria.

Illusions were normally ephemeral.

But not this time.

Mixing the illusions with as much Prana as he could, he made sure that these illusions would be able to last for a few months if necessary.

Giving one last bow to the desolate tombstones, he smiled softly with melancholy in his voice, "The next time I come here, It will be when I am worthy of being a Prince. No… Not just a prince…"

He chuckled and walked away, his cane tapping rhythmically on the ground.

Adam did not voice the final thoughts in his heart. But Genesis, who shared one heart with him, heard his thought out loud.

The next time he came to this place.

He would be a King.

(AN 1: Preparing for taking the plane and traveling back home tomorrow. So might only be one chapter today. Perhaps two. But we will see.)

(AN: Guys, since only the highest Priv readers currently have access to this chapter, I decided to do a little game as a form of reward.

I am still searching for Genesis's name. It can be a woman's or man's name though I would rather have one unisex. It can be from a myth or a common name. Whatever you want. Give me your proposal in the comments. When I find a name I like, I will use that name and when Genesis's name finally appears, I will give a shout-out to the one who gave the name.)