MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

When Adam finally reached his destination, he could see that the place was already bustling with life. Needless to say, his destination was Yui's bar and he could see that there were even more people than usual today.

Clearly, the reputation of her bar was steadily growing to greater and greater heights and the last events had brought a great boost to the bar's numbers overall.

If before Yui was only seen as a small-time gang leader that rose principally thanks to the power of her family, now they had absolutely no reason whatsoever to underestimate her any longer, and doing so would be just utterly dumb and careless of them.

All of them were people who had grown and reached the level they had by burying hundreds of corpses under their steps and they knew how to act when the flow of the winds changed directions and favored a new player of the game.

Scrutinizing the information of all those present, he realized that he could see the names of not only different gangs but even different companies.

'How quaint…'

Chuckling at the beauty of humans' capacity to understand the flow of the world, Adam adjusted his hat as he walked past everyone and went toward the core of the bar.

No one could observe him and he could observe the world. As if he was just a small shark swimming in the vast and endless sea… he flitted through the crowd to reach his destination.

"How bustling."

Adam spoke gently as he took a seat in front of the bartender, a woman with reddish short hair, wearing a pair of burgundy gloves and observing everyone present while shaking the blend in her hands.

"Is it poisonous?"

The woman— Nikola, released an exasperated sigh and looked around to see if anyone was hearing them speak.

"Don't worry. They can't see me or the real you. For them, a completely different scene is happening right now."

Nikola swallowed the words that were about to spit out of her mouth,

"Your means are becoming more and more strange by the day and are worrisome, you know that?"

"I will take that as a compliment."

Adam smiled and took the drink that was served to him by the beautiful bartender. It was a wonderful cocktail with a strange mixture of red, yellow, and green colors blended into a perfect combo that made it an aesthetic sight.

Adam was tempted to put some poison inside it and gulp it all down in one go but he didn't want to ruin the taste so early on.

"Delicious."

"This is my specialty, after all."

Nikola gave him a charismatic smile that was unlike her but Adam more or less understood the meaning behind it.

"This reminds me of the time you made alcohol for me for the first time."

He have a soft smile full of melancholy that caused Nikola to give him a weird glance.

"This was only one month ago."

"Only one month, huh… I guess it indeed has been only one month."

He looked down at his drink before gulping everything down in one go.

Nikola understood that people who drank like they wanted to drown in the drink were usually the type of people with a story they needed to share and confide in others.

"Seems like your heart is quite heavy there."

"Nah. I am just feeling down right now, you know. Nothing new."

Nikola hesitated before continuing to do her work. Truth be told, her relationship with Adam was not the best out there and she knew that she was at fault for that.

Her hostility had been too blatant and unfair. But even if she was given a second chance, she would change nothing about how they interacted.

Because it was her duty. And she would do anything and everything to see it through.

Still— Now that Adam had proven to be someone whom they could believe and trust with their eyes closed, she wished to become a little closer to him than usual.

The Hounds had something similar to a familial bond between them and even Blade, who was the most silent out of them all, was close to everyone in the group.

Sighing, she made a new blend with a different set of exotic ingredients and passed it on to Adam.

"I call this one, Melancholy. Try it."

This time, the cocktail was entirely Blue. It looked otherworldly at first glance and Adam decided to drink it slowly to savor its taste.

Was it perhaps the drink? Or was it because Adam did not consider Nikola as someone close to him?

Adam spoke his thoughts out in a monotone voice.

He had been blaming himself all this time. He believed that he had not calculated everything correctly, which was why such an accident transpired in the end.

Choosing between saving or giving up on Hae-Won would have been one thing. But he had been robbed of the choices because he did not take the time to pay attention to all the details.

He felt that it was because he was not capable enough that such a tragedy occurred. His lack of experience and foresight had been his undoing.

He thought that his combat strength was not enough, so when this situation happened, he could not change it.

Nikola calmly listened as Adam drank on and kept on speaking in the same tone without a hint of emotions.

"I realized then and once again that I needed to change."

He needed to become perfect.

Adam knew that he was book-smart. Studying was his bread and butter. But when it came to the more complicated situations, he would hit his limit very fast.

He wasn't some super mastermind who could plan absolutely everything from start to finish like it was nothing and control the flow of events at the palm of his hands like some anime character who said 'Keikaku' every time something occurred.

Despite all of his varying powers, he was far from being omnipotent and even less from being omniscient.

"I need to become stronger, faster, smarter. I need to cover all my shortcomings and grow to become a King."

This was the promise he had made to himself and the woman who had given her heart to him. This was his determination in this life, one he vowed to see through.

He drank some more and drowned in the taste of the alcohol.

The truth was, deep down, Adam was scared.

The simple thought of imagining Shuri or Cecilia in Hae-Won's place made him feel like he was about to lose his mind and go crazy.

Inwardly, he couldn't help but wonder if he should simply just capture Shuri, coming clean about everything about him, and make sure she could not leave his side.

She might be angry at first at the loss of her freedom. But when she calmed down, she would realize that what he did was without a doubt the best way to ensure her protection.

A bird in a cage might not be able to fly freely in the sky, but it would not have to fear being eaten by other predators.

Only by being on his side could he ensure —

"Prince."

Adam woke up from his thoughts that were going in a strange and dangerous direction and smiled feebly toward Nikola.

"Sorry. Got a bit distracted."

He had been so focused on the possibility of kidnapping and incarcerating Shuri that all of his minds had been focused on the matter.

"Your expression was very scary there, you know?"

"Hah?"

Adam tilted his head absentmindedly and touched his face.

"What expression?"

Nikola took a hard look at him before focusing on the glasses she was cleaning and lining up on the counter.

"You should take care of your mental health. The boss would be sad if anything happens to you."

"I am perfectly sane, don't worry. I am just becoming more aware of my own limitations and how to break them."

Adam was clear about that statement. His guilt for Hae-Won was powered by his fear of death.

More precisely, the death of his loved ones.

—And not just that.

Even now, what told him that Shuri was alright even at this very moment?

What if she was captured and suffering pain that could not be explained in words by his enemies.

His breath hastened slightly as his mind conjured hundreds of possible scenarios that were enough to make him have nightmares for days on end.

His mental strength had been affected by the alcohol and all the poison he inhaled previously was causing his imagination to move about wildly and dangerously.

But there was one simple reality he could not ever try to win against.

He could not be everywhere at the same time.

"Hey, Nikola. What happened to the Hunters I had captured from Big Eric again?"

Nikola tilted her head before she was able to understand who Adam was talking about.

The one who had actually taken care of them was Blade and Hacker.

"They should be finished soon. We discovered that there were in fact very few of them who had any deep sense of loyalty to the group. So as long as you bring money, they should behave as you wish."

"Money, huh."

He thought back to his fight with them and how they kneeled all in front of him while swearing obedience, "Trust me, they won't refuse to help. Even if it's for free."

Nikola nodded, remembering that scene all too well and she could only agree.

"Well. This was fun, but I have guests to entertain."

Placing money on the table, Adam stood up and his costume changed, while a mask formed on his face.

From that moment on, he was not Adam Gospel, but Cinder the Midnight Prince.

Walking ahead, he took the stage and began to sing.

It was time for him to build up some Karma.