Chapter 281: Slaughter At The Altar
Warning: Gore ahead.
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[Music recommendation: Mos Elian - Drown In You]
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"Let’s begin... shall we?"
At Gavriel’s words, Kaden, who was closest to the exit, panicked and sprinted toward the door. But this time, it was not the dragon heads that blocked his path.
It was Gavriel himself, materialised in front of him out of thin air like smoke and shadows.
Kaden’s eyes widened in horror as Gavriel caught him by the throat.
A cruel smile curled across Gavriel’s lips as he whispered, "Let’s start with you."
He tightened his grip, crushing the man’s windpipe until Kaden’s mouth fell open in a desperate struggle for air.
Gavriel’s gaze dropped to his gaping mouth, his voice dripping with terrifying calm. "This is the tongue you used to spill such filth about my wife, isn’t it? You won’t be needing it where you’re going."
Without a second thought, he thrust his hand inside, seized the man’s tongue, and ripped it out by the roots.
A wet, gurgling scream tore from Kaden’s mutilated throat as blood spurted over Gavriel’s knuckles. Gavriel simply squeezed his fist, crushing the bloody tissue to pulp before letting it drop to the stone.
He had promised a death worse than hell, and he intended to keep it.
Grabbing Kaden’s thrashing arm, Gavriel twisted it until the bone splintered through the skin, then violently tore the limb straight from its socket. He paid no mind to the hot crimson spraying across his face as he reached over and ripped the other arm away with the exact same merciless force.
Blood gushed like a broken dam, coating the floor around them.
Holding the dying man by his scalp, Gavriel’s cold and hollow smile widened. "And these eyes... I remember how they had looked at her."
Slowly, he drove his thumbs deep into Kaden’s eye sockets. He pushed inch by inch, ensuring the man felt the agony of his optical nerves snapping. Kaden thrashed violently like a fish out of water, gasping his final ragged breath before Gavriel crushed his skull like an eggshell, letting the lifeless heap drop to the ground like garbage.
After executing the first name on his hit list for daring to utter those filthy words against his wife, Gavriel turned his gaze toward Gwen and Vance. The pair looked as though their souls had already fled their bodies.
The cold smile on Gavriel’s lips only deepened, yet none of it reached his cold crimson eyes as he began walking towards them with slow yet graceful steps.
"You two are responsible for her tears," he said quietly. "I can see just how dark your souls are."
"N-N-No... p-please... f-forgi-"
Before Vance could finish pleading, Gavriel vanished.
In the next instant, he materialised directly before him and drove a devastating punch into his mouth with enough force to split his lips apart and send blood and shattered teeth flying across the chamber.
Taking that as a signal, the seven-headed hydra, which had been hungrily awaiting its master’s command, unleashed another deafening roar. The massive heads scattered across the chamber, tearing through every cultist present, ripping off limbs while intentionally leaving them barely breathing.
Meanwhile, Gavriel paid no attention to the carnage unfolding around him.
His entire focus remained fixed on Vance and Gwen.
With terrifying patience, he took his time brutally ripping limbs of the father and daughter whose greed and malice had set the tragedy in motion.
But he did not allow either of them the mercy of death.
Not yet.
He was saving that for the grand finale.
Soon, just as he had promised, the chamber became a slaughterhouse. Its dark stone walls were painted crimson, every surface drenched in blood while severed limbs and broken bodies lay scattered across the floor.
Only after Gavriel was a little satisfied did he finally stop.
His crimson eyes glowed even brighter as blood stained his clothes and splattered across his body. Slowly, he lifted his gaze and released a long breath.
Behind him, the seven-headed hydra let out one final roar before its colossal form coiled around him, dissolving into swirling streams of darkness that circled him like a living storm.
At the same time, Gavriel slowly opened his eyes and raised one hand.
A small sphere of crimson fire flickered to life above his palm before it began to spin faster and faster. Within seconds, it expanded into a towering vortex, growing into a raging tornado of infernal flames that consumed everything in its path.
The cultists who still clung to life erupted into blood-curdling screams as the crimson fire engulfed them, burning them alive without granting the mercy of a swift death.
Far from the chamber, Cillian could hear the horrifying screams echoing all the way to the exit of the dark tunnels.
He closed his eyes for a brief moment and knew Gavriel had finally unleashed the rage and bloodlust he had been suppressing since the dinner.
Deciding it was wiser to put as much distance as possible between Aliana and the devastation that was about to consume the estate, Cillian tightened his hold on her before using his power to teleport all three of them above the ground.
Seconds later, they reappeared near the docks, where the boats had already been prepared and were waiting to depart.
Back inside the burning chamber, Gavriel stood motionless at the centre, quietly revelling in their screams as the hellfire devoured them whole.
Yet his crimson eyes remained fixed on the place where Vorra’s statue had once stood and narrowed as the demoness’s final words echoed relentlessly through his mind.
"T-this woman... she will harm you, Your High-"
"I’ll come back to kill you again, wretch!"
Those words refused to leave him.
’What did she mean by that?’ he thought. ’It sounded as though she knew Aliana...’
He wasn’t surprised that the demoness recognised him.
But the fact that she recognised Aliana... that commanded his full attention. Especially when even they did not know whose soul truly resided within her.
Aliana’s powers had manifested in ways he had never witnessed before, leaving even him momentarily speechless. No being he knew possessed the authority to command souls so effortlessly, nor could anyone sever a demon’s claim over a soul so easily.
What troubled him most was not what Aliana had done.
It was the fact that Vorra had seen it.
Whoever the demoness served... she would undoubtedly report everything she had witnessed today.
The thought alone sent another surge of fury coursing through him.
The possibility of those people setting their sights on his Aliana made something dark stir within his chest.
His fists slowly clenched until his knuckles turned white.
In response, the crimson flames roared even higher before surging beyond the chamber, racing through the underground tunnels and consuming every inch of the cursed place that had dared to steal his wife’s tears.