ecalled where she had seen something like this before—
And then, she stiffened in shock.
Count Basilian is a dark sorcerer?!
As she was on the verge of passing out from sheer surprise, Kierne snapped his fingers.
Shadows surged from beneath his feet, rising in all directions.
Complete darkness swallowed Chesha whole.
When the darkness cleared—
The scenery around her had completely changed.
Just moments ago, it had been an ordinary road.
But now, an imposing black castle loomed before her.
The castle, with its gray stone walls and black roofs, was adorned with fluttering banners.
The banners were black, bearing a silver serpent coiled around a sword—an Ouroboros devouring its own tail.
The fortress exuded an eerie aura.
It looked as if it would allow neither intruders nor escapees.
In front of the massive castle gates, dozens of knights in jet-black uniforms stood in formation.
They all knelt on one knee in unison and offered their greetings.
“Welcome back, my lord.”
Kierne ran a hand through his slightly tousled hair and smiled.
With a radiant grin, he turned to Chesha and said—
“Welcome to the Serpent’s Castle, my daughter.”
“H-hngh…!”
The man ran frantically.
Sharp branches and thorny bushes tore his arms and legs to shreds, but he felt no pain.
The sound of chains clinging persistently to his ears drowned out everything else.
No matter how far he ran, the sound never faded.
It gnawed at his sanity, consuming him.
The man, running like a madman, widened his eyes.
“Keugh!”
A pure white chain coiled around his ankle.
He collapsed onto the damp earth and rotting leaves, desperately clawing at the ground.
But it was already too late.
The white chains bound him and lifted him into the air.
Struggling, he gripped the chains wrapped around his body and tried to tear them away.
Drool dripped from his mouth as he let out a choked, shrill sound.
“Hik…”
A figure clad in pristine white uniform approached with measured steps.
A blue cape draped over one shoulder billowed in the wind.
The man, eyes bloodshot, stared at the slowly approaching executioner before pleading in desperation.
“P-Please, have mercy…!”
His desperate plea was never completed.
The man crumbled into fragments of radiant white light.
The chains, having annihilated their target, slithered back to their master with a metallic clink.
The chains that had filled the air vanished without a trace.
Standing amidst the scattering shards of light, the Inquisitor turned his gaze slightly to the side.
“Lord Hyllon!”
The holy knights, arriving belatedly, looked at Hyllon with eyes filled with reverence.
Hyllon spoke coldly.
“Clean this up.”
“Yes, sir!”
The holy knights immediately began purifying the area where the man had perished.
Sacred light consumed the corpse and blood, erasing all traces.
Watching their purification process for a moment, Hyllon then began walking away at a slow pace.
His aide, following silently, received a brief question.
“The witch?”
“Still nothing. Even after setting up inspections, we haven’t received a single lead. It’s as if she’s vanished without a trace…”
Hyllon’s straight brows furrowed.
Sending his aide off to assist the holy knights, he continued walking alone.
As he strode through the shadowed forest, he ran his fingers over the bracelet on his wrist.
The simple white bracelet was a sacred relic of the Holy Empire of Hilderd—The Chains of Judgment.
Only Hyllon could wield its power, and its function was straightforward.
Tracking. Restraining. And exterminating.
Since falling into Hyllon’s hands, the Chains of Judgment had never once failed to capture their target.
Except for once.
“……”
Hyllon bit down on his lip.
A slow heat bloomed at the nape of his neck.
A place hidden beneath his stiff uniform—
Just above his collarbone, a red floral pattern was imprinted on his skin.
An eerie, almost sensual mark that did not belong on his purified body.
It was a mark left by Witch Ritesha.
A symbol that he was her prey.
From time to time, the mark would radiate warmth, asserting its presence.
As an Inquisitor of the Holy Empire, she was an existence he must eradicate.
And yet…
“You’re my prey, Hyllon.”
Crimson eyes gleamed like blooming roses.
Sweeping back her dazzling golden hair, Ritesha had smiled seductively and pressed her mark upon him.
“So don’t die so easily.”
That was why he couldn’t die.
Even in moments when he should have perished, he survived in the end.
Hyllon twisted his lips into a grin.
He didn’t know what tricks she was plotting this time,
But no matter what—he would find her.
And this time, he would throw her into the underground prison—
So that she existed only before his eyes.
