Jahreon was sitting inside his room when he heard a commotion from the outside. He could heard sound of swords clashing.

’They finally made a move,’ Jahreon thought as he let out a soft sigh.

He had expected the attack to come. After all, not only their plan was destroyed, even he, an Apostle, was now in the hands of their enemies. In order to keep the existence of the organization before the ideal time, they would after his life sooner and later.

’Not only that.’

Jahreon narrowed his eyes at the air. Since yesterday, the air around the mansion had been saturating with spores of unknown things that kept sucking the dark mana from his inner demon.

"To think that they can even bring the Umbrella Into their side... Tizmilly Fallburn, or that man," Jahreon looked at the corner of the room. "They had a secret that was way more valuable than me... So why do you targeted me instead? Was it the Grandmaster’s order, or..."

The shadow at that corner churned. It rose as if it was alive, forming into humanoid figure of shadow. A liveless chuckle came out of the figure’s mouth.

"Of course, it is my initiative!" The figure extended its arms widely. Its tone and gesture made the statement sound like a magnificent founding.

Jahreon put his tea cup down as the commotion that happened outside was intensified. He sighed deeply. "If you wanted my Inner Demon, then you is late, Magbeen."

The figure’s victorious laughter died down. His arms lowered. "What do you mean?" It asked with a low, grudging voice.

"Nothing of grandeur scheme," Jahreon replied, smiling lightly.

He tapped his own chest. "This demon, Dream walker, was no longer in my possesion."

Something crashed with the door of the room. A loud thud echoed from the door to the room. A fury cry of the door, an anger manifestation of the figure: of someone who controlled it from somewhere else.

"That can’t be true..." It growled.

Jahreon chuckled. "Yes. Of course, it’s true."

Right then, the door was pushed open. A female knight was thrown into the room from outside. She hit the floor heavily, coughing violently, but still trying to stand up even after her body was covered by wounds, her hands trembling while she was keeping her hold on the sword.

The figure returned to shadow once the female knight was inside. It was only a shadow figure and didn’t have any combat power. It couldn’t even touch human’s skin properly.

Still, even if that was the case, the presences of the ten mind-controlled servants were already threatening enough. All of them were being strengthen by dark mana. That’s why they could fight the skilled knights of the Layver Family even though they were simply normal people without combat experiences before.

And the ones who were controlling them were the Apostles. Jahreon’s former comrades.

A maid stepped over an unconscious knight as she entered the room with the other mind-controlled servants. She grinned maniacally as she laughed. "Oh Jahreon, look at you! We only leave you alone for a day, and you has such become such a pathetic sight! What a shame, what a shame! Such a pain for eyes! What else we have to do in this situation except killing you?"

The female knight, Henna, raised her sword again as she confront them. "Don’t come any closer!"

Jahreon’s attention though, was not on her, but a male servant. To be more precise, to the one who controlled him. Which was the same person who had just showed up as a shadow figure before.

"I may have lose my control over my Inner Demon, but its existence is still connected to my physque. You wouldn’t be able to kill me even if you sliced me," said Jahreon, trying to stop them by telling them that their actions might just be a waste of time.

However, they didn’t pay any mind to his words. Instead of stopping, they laughed at him. Their laughters echoed through the room, hitting his eardrums like an announcement of an end. Jahreon showed a solemn face on the outside, but inside, he was despairing.

He clenched his fists. ’Was it how I will die? Not in the hands of my enemies, but in my former comrades’ hands?’

He had just decided to use his life to redeem his sin. He didn’t want to die now, not when he hadn’t do anything yet. He had to survive through this predicament, he thought. But how?

It was then that his eyes landed on the female knight’s back. His determination flared as an idea flashed into his mind. Before Henna could run toward the mind-controlled servants, Jahreon grabbed her arm.

Henna flinched. "Wh-what are you doing, let me go!"

When she started to think that Jahreon was trying to hold her so that the mind-controlled servants could kill her, Jahreon rushed toward the locked window while still holding her.

Jahreon swung his fist on the window, ignoring the pain when he broke the glass. He then pushed Henna to the broken window. "Go! Tell your Lady and that man what happened!" He yelled before grabbing a candle pole and faced his foes.

Henna hesitated, but after Jahreon urged her again, she nodded and jumped down from window. The room was located on the second floor, so she injured her legs even further when she landed. Now she couldn’t stand anymore, not before she could get a healing potion. However, it was not have to be her who went to report the attack to Gyllena.

Henna gritted her teeth to endure the pain. She took a deep breath before she opened her lips wide. "Anyone hear me! The second prince of the Tarram Kingdom, Lord Jahreon is being attacked! Please quickly report it to the Lady!"

There were a lot of people there. Mostly servants who were working at the yard: tending the garden trees, or sweeping the ground.

Carole was among them. She didn’t froze like others when being faced with a sudden change of event. After all, she had experienced something more instense, like Theo and Roygerd’s battle. Before Henna even finished speaking, her legs already moved.

But she didn’t go to meet Gyllena like Henna told her. She took the turn that was leading toward the kitchen when she entered the mansion.

...

Jahreon’s body fell to the floor after he crashed with a table, blood covered his entire body.

He pushed his body up, but his left arm was too severely injured to support his weight. While his right arm was cut at the tendon, leaving it useless until his regeneration patched it back.

Then a knife pierced his left palm, drawing out even more blood than before. Then another one, but on his leg. And more, and more. In end, all of his limbs were being pierced to the floor, rendering him unable to move.

"Arrgghhhhhhhhhh!!"

Jahreon’s agony-filled shout echoed through the room.

"Hahah! A good voice! I loves that!"

"The regeneration from the connection with the Inner Demon is limited. As long as we keep stabbing you like this, surely, you will die eventually!"

Aling with his shout, the flat laughters of the mind-controlled servants clashed in the air.

Jahreon had tried his best to fight back, but without the access to Dream Walker’s power, his only advantage from normal people was his regeneration power. And before the enforced strength of the mind-controlled servants, he was nothing but a resilient and stubborn man.

The former Apostle writhed on the floor weakly. The laughters felt like a direct attack to his soul. But what made the pain unbearable was not the wounds, not even the mocking faces. But his own image that was overlapping with their faces.

’Was I the same before?’ He thought inwardly.

Finally, he understood how terrible of a person he had became. A life long mistake. Now he started to doubt himself.

’Even if I continued to live... And done everything to redeem the blood spilled by my own hands... Would I able to stand beside you, Sera?’

Of course not, he answered his own thought. No way Sera would receive a filthy person like him.

A footstep could be heard from the entrance, silencing the laughters. A man who had defeated him stood there with his companion, Tizmilly Fallburn. Tizmilly brought healing potions with her, so she immediately gave those potions to the knights. They would have die if they continued to be left alone, bleeding silently. But with enough dose of the potions, they would surely survive.

The man slowly approached them. In his hand, a vial filled with spores could be seen. He spread the spores inside the room. Now, it was only a matter of time before the mind-controlled servants back to normal.

He then pointed his finger at Jahreon. "Now, fight for me, Demon."

Silence followed after his order. Nothing drastic happened. Which baited the laughters back.

The Apostles knew that they would lose their controls over the servants after this, so instead of continued to stabbing Jahreon, they brought their knives onto their throats. Their smirks made their intentions as clear as day.

But then darkness tentacles rose from the floor, restaining them. Prevented them from hurting the innocent servants.

Slowly, Jahreon stood up.

His eyes as red as blood.

"Yes, master."