MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin
Chapter 74 CH 70: ALWAYS LOOK ABOVE

[A few moments ago...]

When Adam realized that an attack was coming at them, he had not hesitated to use his new skills to increase his perception as much as possible with his current condition.

This had been quite excruciating for him but he was thankful to have done so. Thanks to his hasty measures, he was able to see how the large shell exploded in smaller shrapnels with a sheen of coating over them. He didn't know their composition, but one didn't need to be a genius to know that it would be something very dangerous for a werewolf like Natasha.

Adam had tried to use his powers to slow them or stop them in their tracks, but he still lacked enough practice to handle speeding objects properly. It was impossible for him to control so many targets at the same time more so when they were coming at them at the speed of sound maybe more.

As such he was given a simple choice. A path that divided into two paths.

Protect himself or protect Natasha.

Adam took the most logical choice on hand. He was already extremely tired and using his accelerated perception once again didn't help him out of this predicament. No matter what, after this, he would be down for the count for their upcoming battle ahead.

If he chose to save himself, Natasha would be greatly wounded, if not dying outright, and he would be unable to defend himself with his declined condition.

If he saved Natasha, he would most likely die and she would be able to defend herself from them. Furthermore, by dying now, he would be able to revive at his peak strength and stamina.

Still, in his accelerated state, he found out that moving his body was pretty difficult. It felt extremely weird as his body was moving far slower than he would have wished for it to. He simply was unable to move at the same speed as his perception. But it didn't matter, in the end.

He covered Natasha's body with his own, made sure to protect as much part of her body as he could, and did not even give himself the slightest protection possible from the onslaught of the shrapnel and the explosion that decimated the abandoned factory.

In order to ensure that he would be to protect her well, he was forced to stay in this state and as such went through a slow and excruciating death as the shrapnels tore through his body slowly and painfully.

For Natasha, everything happened in an instant but for him, he had to go through everything in slow motion due to his accelerated perception. Furthermore, the enhanced senses born from the Third Eye and The Crown, made the pain all the more vivid to him and thus enhanced the already excruciating pain he felt.

In the end though, even if it felt like it was extremely painful, even if it felt like he wanted to scream, all Adam did was leak out a sigh of relief.

If there was one good thing about his body being human, it was that he could not go past the human limit. Even this death would be instantaneous if he let go of his perception.

The pain was only momentary and the death felt like a gentle slumber.

Death...was not so scary after all. He idly thought.

[The Curse of Cain is reacting to your excessive number of deaths...]

[A change is ensuing...]

He would come to regret that thought very soon.

------

When Tracker rushed into the factory, he felt even colder than he felt outside. Clearly, the silver wolf had used her power over the elements to push away all the fire inside.

He looked around, only for his eyes to fall on the body of his dead comrade. He could see how broken down his body had become as all the limbs were twisted beyond belief.

Tracker could not even begin to imagine how much pain his friend must have gone through before dying so pitifully.

Knight was the most righteous out of them all and he even had a son and a pregnant wife. A family that was awaiting his return.

Even though they would receive money, there was nothing money could do to bring back the dead.

Just imagining their expression when they give them the news made him light-headed. A deeper sense of sorrow settled in his mind.

'Focus.'

There was nothing they could do for the dead and if he continued to waste time they would soon follow Knight, Falcon, and the others.

'Where is it?'

He was searching for the body of the target's aid who fucked up their whole plan. If not for that wretched aid, so many of them wouldn't have to die.

He didn't know how the man looked but he shouldn't have been so hard to replace.

"Where the fuck is that fucker's body?"

He cursed and advanced deeper into the factory, well intent on replaceing the body of the bastard who killed so many of his comrades.

But, just as he finally reached the center and looked around-- Alarm bells rang in his mind, warning him of incoming danger.

He did not have time to think and tried to move out instinctively but his body refused to properly respond. He felt like he was walking in a swamp filled with the most viscous liquid possible, stopping him from advancing any further.

He pushed his Prana to the maximum, slightly pushing off the sensation he felt around his neck and joints but it changed nothing in the end. Like a prisoner given locked by the most solid chain, he was unable to offer the slightest resistance.

'What the fuck!'

He realized that something was coming down from above his head with his senses and could only crash down helplessly as someone fell on top of him.

The shock made his reel and he felt a few bones in his body snap as he received the full weight of a grown man while being unable to protect himself.

Sitting on his back, Adam was holding a long metal spike that he had randomly taken from the ground near him before he jumped and hid on higher ground.

People never seemed to look up.

"Fuck!'

'Should I kill him now?'

He ignored the groans and made sure to press the head hard against the ground while adding his own telekinetic powers to make sure he wouldn't be able to move from his spot.

[One of the members seems to have a skill that can determine the life and death of a certain target.]

'How inconvenient.'

Him being alive was a trump card that he had achieved after dying once.

They might not realize immediately that he was alive, but they would definitely notice the death of their companion once he killed the guy he was restraining below.

'I guess I have no other choice then.'

[Eyes of Truth ] + [The World] + [Accelerated Perception.] + [Pararel Thinking]

Adam felt the world come to a crawl as he took out two bullets from the magazine of the man locked under him.

His eyes gazed at the battlefield and he had to force himself to not gawk at the sight of the giant wolf fighting the muscular man to a standstill.

He was about to attack him, but when he saw how the man got healed by someone, Adam's gaze settled a little farther away.

There he could see a man and a woman. One with a sniper rifle in hand and the other directing his hands toward the muscular man while his hands glowed in the same light that had enveloped the muscular man before.

Clearly, they were the rear support and the man was the healer while the woman provided backup fire support.

She also seemed to be akin to an operation tower of their little group.

'The two of them are dangerous.'

If the wolf was Natasha as he surmised, then she was perfectly taking care of the man on her own. Even if she was getting wounded quite a bit along the way.

As such, what he had to do now was clear to him.

'Always take care of the healer first.'

Adam was not a beast who would attack the one with the highest aggro. Rather, it was necessary to eliminate the most troublesome ones first to ensure complete victory.

'Remember what you did earlier.'

Adam focused with all his mental energy and started to make the bullets spin once again as he did before to take out the sniper.

Currently, he felt like he was an overloaded and overworked computer of 2010 trying to run a game from 2030. He was using all his skills in an instant, after all. The toll that was being put on his body was something that couldn't be described with words alone.

All of his software was top notch but the hardware was not enough to truly give him the power he wished for. Here the software was his powers and the hardware was his body. His body and mind were simply too weak for him to make complete use of his powers.

It was a pity. But then again he had only awakened for less than a week.

Thankfully, this was not a major problem in this situation. Unlike a computer, even if all his content melted, he could easily put himself back to normal with a bout of resurrection.

So all he had to do was push himself beyond his limits every time he was in need of greater firepower.

Until the day he could upgrade his hardware to a satisfactory level, he would need to persist with breaking his body like this.

His attack was like a death sentence for those who could not react to it.

Like the spear of death that never missed their target, they rushed beyond the speed of sound and brutally reaped the life of the hopeful souls.

Unlike him, death was eternal for them.

This was the simple reality of the battlefield.

One moment was all it took to lose everything.

Looking at their tumbling bodies, Adam zoned out of the overclocked state that he put himself through.

His eyes and nose were once again bleeding but he didn't care for that.

All that mattered was,

'Should I kill him?'

The fight was basically close to the end. They had won. There was nothing more they could do.

So shouldn't he spare him?

Adam closed his eyes.

Killing with his telekinetic powers was so easy. It was like he was playing a game. He could not truly feel the weight of the life he had taken.

The man was cursing at him. It seemed as if he tried to move away but Adam was not really listening to him right now.

He knew that this man would never forgive him.

This was not a war with regulations.

This was not an honest and honorable fight.

This was a fight to the death where nothing was too dirty and nearly everything was allowed.

"I am sorry."

Perhaps, if he had not been so heavy-handed at the start, the situation could have been different.

There were so many possible paths this scenario could've gone towards. But he would never come to know them because he already made his decision.

"I am really sorry."

Placing his hands over his head, cladding them in Prana-- Adam twisted his neck.

*crack*

This small sound seemed so loud and vivid in the silence of the factory.

Adam knew that he would never forget this moment for the rest of his life.

The sound of the bones cracking underneath his palms. The feeling of despair in the man's eyes as his trashing body slumped and life drifted out of it.

The supernatural world was such a dark and dreary place.

A place where life and death mattered little and where you could die at any possible moment.

On this day, Adam had officially stepped inside that dark world.

(AN: This is the first true action arc of this novel. I would be very grateful if you could give me your thoughts. Both the good and the bad about this arc. Too long? Too fast? Not enough fight? Too much? Etc, your opinions will help make a better story)