The glaring light of the sun peered through the only window that hung at the top of a very small room. It was totally cramped in the room with what little space the room contained being occupied by an exaggeratingly large and obscene bed. Apart from this bed, there was only a single table and chair, as well as a small closet that looked like it could only contain a few items of clothing.
Everywhere in the room, loose pieces of clothing could be seen strewn all over on the floor or hanging n the arms of the chair and bed or in the hidden corners of the room. Most of these clothes were quite casual in design and could even be called a little skimpy. They obviously belonged to women and going by the designs of the clothes, only the most unsavory of women would wear something like that.
Apart from those types of clothing, there was only a single pair of men's leather boots that lay beside the bed that gave the room a certain kind of ambiance.
This was the Ndlovu Empire, the sovereign empire of the grand filament upper realm, one of the countless powerful upper realms that inhabited the known universe. The Ndlovu empire held reign over the entire upper realms and its thousands of star clusters and even in the entire known universe, they were a powerful force to be reckoned with.
Right now, this was the capital of the entire Ndlovu empire, planet Ndlovu, which was located at the heart of the grand filament upper realm.
After thousands of years of universal war known as the great desolation war, the ruling family of the Ndlovu empire, the Ndlovu royal family had finally vanquished all of its enemies, uprooting them from their homes worlds and seizing all their territories, and finally establishing their capital in the center of the upper realm until they had finally established a dynasty that had ruled unchallenged in the grand filament upper realm for thousands of years.
Right now, with the Ndlovu royal family as the core of the whole empire, many powerful factions and races had sworn loyalty to them to become the new generation nobles of the current dynasty ruling the upper realm together.
Although the Ndlovu royal family was not the oldest force in the universe, with the support of the resources of an entire upper realm that was in their full control, they were still a force to be reckoned with in the universe.
Right now, this small and cramped room was located in the vacation home of one of the noble families under the ruling of the Ndlovu empire.
The room was located on the basement floor of the entire castle complex and there was only one window at the top of the room through which the sunlight and a bit of fresh air could enter.
This vacation home was located in a very large city whose territory encompassed the surrounding 500 kilometers around. Such a large city was only but one of the many territories belonging to the Valerian noble family and it belonged to the eldest daughter of the noble family.
As the capital of the Ndlovu family, it was expected that not just any ordinary noble family qualified to own any territory on the whole planet, especially not one as large as this. Not to forget that this was only one of the territories under the Valerian noble family that belonged to the eldest daughter. This goes a long way to show just how powerful the Valerian noble family was and the kind of status they held in the entire Ndlovu empire.
Ironically, as much as the Valerian noble family was very powerful, it was actually a relatively new family that had only recently come into power for only twenty years.
Actually, the Valerian noble family had been just one of the many noble families that existed in the Ndlovu empire and they had been very low in status. If one were to compare them to the medieval era's system of ranking nobles, they would at most be ranked as a baron family and the poorest of barons at that.
Naturally, this kind of family did not have what it takes to occupy any territory in the capital of the Ndlovu empire. As a destitute baron noble family, they did not even have a single star system to call their territory, and they were only qualified to own a single planet as their territory. The only advantage that the valerian noble family had then been that the planet they controlled was a valuable resource planet that was relatively close to the capital of the Ndlovu empire.
Come to think of it, this was actually one of the reasons that had led to the rise of the valerian noble family, causing them to be the powerful family that they were now. As for what really led to the rise of the Valerian family, it had a lot to do with the oldest daughter of the current head of the Valerian family and a notorious criminal that had terrorized the Ndlovu empire twenty years ago.
As one of the few human empires that held control over an entire upper realm, the Ndlovu empire was run by powerful bloodline warriors and awakeners. In the Ndlovu empire, bloodline was everything, and it was only by having a powerful bloodline that one could even qualify to gain a noble status. That and performing great meritious service to the empire.
As a noble family, even if they were the poorest of them, the Valerian family was naturally a family that possessed a powerful bloodline. It was said that the Valerian family could be traced all the way back to the era of the great desolate war and that the patriarch of the Valerian family had even fought side by side with the founder of the Ndlovu empire.
Nobody knew exactly how accurate those legends were since nobody remembered but the fact that the Valerian family could hold a precious resource planet so close to the empire's capital even though they were so poor and destitute proved that there may have been some truth to the legends.
Over the years since the Valerian family had been in existence, other, more powerful noble families had coveted their planet, but for some reason, nobody had been able to snatch it from their hands. Still, if the Valerian family wanted to rise out of their previous position, it was clear that they needed more than just a valuable resource planet.
The current head of the valerian family was an ambitious man, and he was not willing to stay in his previous station any longer. He wished to fulfill the dreams of all the previous family heads before him and move his family's status upwards in the hierarchy of the empire.
Finally, his chance came when his eldest daughter was born a long time ago.
As a very old noble family, the bloodline of the Valerian family had been diluted until it became very thin, just barely meeting the requirements needed to maintain their status as a noble family. If not, they would have long been devoured by their enemies a long time ago. All that changed when the third child of the current head and his eldest daughter were born.
On that day, a massive phenomenon had appeared over the planet of the Valerian family.
It was the phantom of a mighty Valerian divine bird, which was the symbol of the Valerian noble family and from where their family had inherited their bloodline. The might of the phenomenon had been enough to shock the entire planet and the surrounding stars in the nearby galaxy.
After testing, it was proven that the bloodline of the eldest daughter was the purest ever recorded in the history of their family, with its purity even reaching the level of that of the royal family of the empire. Naturally, this news delighted the current head of the family, but at the same time, he was also worried.
On the one hand, the head of the family was happy because he saw this as the chance for him and his family to finally rise up.
With his daughter being born with such a pure bloodline, all he needed to do was wait for her to grow up, and she would naturally lead their family to greatness.
At the same time, the head of the family feared what his enemies would do should they find out about his daughter's pure bloodline.
Although the universe had a semblance of order, it was still a chaotic void where the weak were preyed upon by the strong. Without sufficient strength to protect his family, the head of the family feared that his daughter would be assassinated before she had the time to grow.
Because of this, although it pained him to do so, he hid his daughter away and prevented her from seeing the light of day. Fortunately, at the time she was born and the phantom of the divine Valerian bird appeared, it had caused a hidden vein of supreme minerals to be uprooted making it easy for the head of the family to disguise his daughter's birth therefore keeping her hidden and safe. It would only be years later, on a particular occasion, that she would once again appear in the open spreading shock to the whole Ndlovu empire.
Still, apart from this, there was one more critical element that led to the rise of the valerian noble family. This element was an incident that had taken place twenty years ago.
More than twenty years ago, the entire Ndlovu empire had been taken by storm when a notorious rapist had appeared.
For years, this rapist had run rampant in the territories of the Ndlovu empire, targeting the women of every noble family above fifteen years of age and raping them. Nobody knew why the rapist targeted only women belonging to noble families, but for a long time, none of them had been spared.
This had gone on for so long that the legends of the rapist had spread throughout the grand filament upper realm and even to other nearby upper realms. But there was something that had caused this incident to be widely talked about. That was when the rapist had targeted the women of the royal family and had even attempted to rape the queen of the current emperor of the Ndlovu empire.
This had caused the entire Ndlovu empire and the grand filament upper realm to go into an uproar.
Nobody could believe the guts and audacity of this rapist to actually set his sights on the Ndlovu royal family as well as the queen of the empire.
At once, a Realm-wide manhunt had begun for the rapist, and rewards were offered to anybody who could provide the head of the rapist or any information that could lead to his capture.
This was the chance that the head of the Valerian noble family had been waiting for.
It was finally time for his precious daughter, that had always been hidden from the rest of the universe, to finally appear once again.
Setting up a trap, the head of the Valerian noble family had used his eldest daughter and his proudest child as bait, sacrificing her to the hands of the rapist.
Immediately, the head of the family had ordered his eldest daughter to display her power to all and attract attention to herself so that she could also attract the attention of the rapist to herself. Then, on one fateful night when she was all alone, the rapist had fallen for the trap set up by the head of the family.
It was on that day that the rapist was finally captured and killed by the eldest daughter, thus opening the gates to the future of the valerian family.
With the rewards of the Ndlovu royal family and the emperor of the Ndlovu empire, the head of the Valerian family had used this opportunity to curry favor with the emperor and the royal family. Coupled with the strength of his eldest daughter, which was enough to rival the strongest royal guard commander under the emperor, it was natural that the Valerian family would grow stronger.
Now, the Valerian noble family was no longer as it was before and they were one of the strongest noble families in the entire Ndlovu and the entire grand filament upper realm.
Although the Valerian family may not be as powerful as some older noble families in the empire, and it military strength was actually quite weak compared to those noble families that had been in power for hundreds or thousands of years, with the help of the eldest daughter to hold the fort, nobody dared to antagonize them and the Valerian noble family could enjoy their current strength while steadily growing much stronger.
Unbeknownst to the entire world, a child had been conceived on that very night when the rapist had been captured and killed.
Hidden from the rest of the world, the destitute son of a powerful noblewoman and a notorious rapist was born.
In the basement room of the sunny peak castle...On the exaggeratingly large and gaudy bed, there were faint sounds coming from them that were like the groggy moans of someone waking up in the morning.Following this, there was movement coming from under the covers of the large mattress. low discontent groans of complaint could be heard faintly from under the covers and slowly, the edge of the messy covers was pulled to the side of the bed, revealing the scene that was hidden underneath.Right now, under the covers of the bed, a most atrocious and scandalous scene was disclosed in full view for all to see.Lying on the large bed was a sea of elegant and slender bodies or different colors and endowments. The slim curves and perky peaks of different shaped women formed a marvelous portrait of revelry and self-indulgence.Counting from one end of the bed to the other, there were six bodies lying in different postures and showing every bit of their mar
This young man is Trapp Valerian, and he is the only son of Eunice Valerian lady of the sunny peak castle and eldest daughter of the lord of the Valerian household and clan Giovanni Valerian. Trapp Valerian is a twenty-year-old man who had been kept hidden from the universe his entire life. Apart from a select few people that knew of his existence as well as his status as the son of the rising talent of the Ndlovu empire, every other person that knew of him thought he was the bastard child of a maid Eunice Valerian's nanny. Among the upper echelon of the Ndlovu empire, Trapp's existence could not be hidden, but it was common knowledge that Eunice Valerian's nanny who had taken care of her ever since she was born had given birth to a son during the time she had been in charge of Eunice's training. It was because of this reason that even if Eunice treated Trapp very differently from other people; it did not arouse any suspicion from anybody. Eunice Valerian was
Trapp had two mothers. Apart from his real mother, his other mother was the one who the public recognized as his mother. She was the nanny of Eunice valerian who had raised her from birth until she finally came of age. Now, Eunice valerian's nanny had become her right-hand woman and the person she trusted the most who took care of all her affairs. In the Silent Echoes castle, Eunice valerian's nanny... Eudora... apart from Eunice herself was the most powerful person in the castle. Now, after taking care of Eunice since she was a little kid, it was finally time for Eudora to take care of Eunice's child, Trapp. From a young age, even though Trapp knew who his real mother was, he had grown up calling Eudora's mother, and apart from the public, Trapp himself had already acknowledged Eudora to be his second mother. After all, apart from supervising his training and occasionally checking up on him once in a while as he grew up, his real mother Eunice had not bothered to sp
Following his intentions, Trapp went all the way to the kitchen in order to find some grub to fill his hollow stomach. Helpless, his butler Della could only follow along. Making sure to keep a 3ft distance between herself and Trapp at all times, Della tag behind Trapp as they both made their way through the hallways of the castle to the kitchen. While walking, Trapp and Della would come across other inhabitants of the castle. In a large estate like this one, it was natural for there to be a lot of servants employed to keep the estate in order. Just in the castle grounds, on its own, there were more than a hundred servants, both male and female, tasked with the responsibility of keeping the castle in order. This did not count the servants that work outside the castle on the estate grounds. In total, the number of servants working in the Silent Echoes Castle Estate number up to five hundred. All of them had their own duties, and they were strictly manag
On the highest peak of the Silent Echoes Castle... there was a tower that stood at the eastern wing of the castle. This tower was detached from the main castle, but at the same time, it was connected to it by a single overheard tunnel structure.This tower was the highest point in the whole castle estate as well as the entire silent echoes city.There was no other structure or building that was allowed to reach or exceed the height of this tower.In the silent echoes city, this tower was familiarly known as the Spindle because of its long winding structure that resembled the spindle of a spinning wheel.The only resident of the spindle was the master of the Silent Echoes Castle Estate, as well as the lord of the city... Dame Eunice Valerian.Dame Eunice Valerian was the sole occupant of the Spindle, and it is from here that she oversaw the whole city.At the very top of the Spindle that seemed like it could pierce the sky, there was an open-
The middle-aged woman who had just entered was Eudora, Eunice's nanny, as well as Trapp's publicly recognized mother.Eudora was the one who had taken care of Eunice ever since she was born and hidden away by her father and she had also taken care of Trapp too and helped to deliver him in secret. Now, Eudora was Eunice's most trusted and closest confidante as well as the second in command of the Silent Echoes city.There was a gentle smile on Eudora's face as well, a kind of motherly aura that came from years of taking care of Trapp and Eunice.In the Valerian family, Eudora had quite a high status that was in no way inferior to the head of the family, Giovanni Valerian. Her words and opinions carried a lot of weight and nobody dared to not take her seriously at all.As soon as Eudora showed up in the garden on top of the spindle tower, the stifling atmosphere between mother and son immediately vanished.Trapp, who had grown up under Eudora's care
Clank! Clank! Clank! Following Dame Eunice Valerian's words, silence fell around the table in the garden and, except for the sound of polished silverware hitting against fine china, no one spoke. Trapp's face was expressionless... Staring at his mother, who was sitting on the opposite side of him, Trapp did not say anything. It was as if he had not been heard her speak in the first place and he seemed quite relaxed.. but from the way he refused to eat and was instead playing with the tableware; it was obvious that Trapp was not in a good mood. Eudora and Della also remained silent. Neither of them dared to draw attention to themselves. Eudora simply ate with relish, completely ignoring what was happening at the table. She had fallen silent, which was unlike her previously bubbly personality. Seeing her like this from the corner of his eye, Trapp's lips twitched in frustration and he felt a serious headac
"The hell!""Are you serious?" Trapp loudly questioned his mother. He was surprised at what his mission for this assignment was.Looking at his mother, Trapp said incredulously, "I don't know if you've forgotten or what, but I feel I should remind you of something. I am an assassin. I take lives... I'm not in charge of protecting it. You want me to protect somebody... heh, dream on.""There's no way that is ever happening in this life.""It seems like you've got the wrong guy for the job. If that is all, ill be heading out now. I just recently finished a big job and have yet to fully relax. If you need me, you can find me buried deep in the loving bosom of some sweet and juicy barmaid."Saying those words, Trapp got ready to leave.Shifting his chair backward, Trapp called out to Della as he left, "Come along Della. Let's go have some fun."Della who was being called, had a look of reluctance on her face. She was looking at Eunice val
Right now, Constantine was in a very mysterious state. His body was covered in lightning, and a thick pillar of lightning surged from his body and shot into the sky, looking like it wanted to sunder the heavens apart. A lightning storm was being brewed with Constantine at the center and powerful electromagnetic forces clashed with the might of the sandstorm that was formed with the combined strength of multiple dooms.Right now, Constantine really resembled those anime characters that were undergoing a power-up, and in a sense, that was exactly what Constantine was doing.Constantine was currently in a state where he was digging deep within himself in an attempt to tap into the full potential of his powers to go beyond the limit of what he was currently capable of.In other words, Constantine was trying to call onto his future powers, which he did not currently possess, in order to go beyond the limit of his current strength.This is basically what a power-up is all about. The act of
There was a short hallway from the door leading into the control room that Trapp and the others had to pass through. It didn't take long before the group was at the end of the hallway. As soon as he reached the end, Trapp stopped, and the others followed soon after. Nobody knew what was waiting for them on the other side of the hallway, so they tried to prepare themselves for the worst. Trapp exchanged looks with the assassin and he could see the serious expression on her face as her eyes went sharp with focus. Turning around, Trapp saw various signs of seriousness and focus on the faces of the others from the two squads as they prepared themselves for what would likely be an uphill battle. Wasting no time, Trapp nodded his head at the assassin, who blinked and nodded back at him. 'It is time!' This was what Trapp was trying to convey to the assassin, and she naturally understood him. Without saying anything else, both of them rapidly shot forward with a blast and crossed the thres
Trapp, along with the assassin, Phantom Trace, and the other two squads, were standing in front of the doorway leading to the control room. All of them were already well rested and had recovered a significant portion of their strength. Even the ones that were injured the most, the second squad, had managed to recover 50% of their combat power so they wouldn't be a hindrance in the next step of the plan.As everybody looked ahead, various thoughts went through each of their heads and no one took the initiative to step forward first. Finally, Trapp was the first to move. He took a few steps forward and then stopped before turning around to look at the rest.Looking each of them one by one in the eye, Trapp finally spoke up and said, "Alright then, we've already come to this point and you're all well rested. I understand that all of you have your own objective so I am not asking that we cooperate together. Just remember the plan we made and stick to them. As long as nobody tries any funn
There was a brief moment of silence between Trapp and the assassin, Phantom Trace. Eventually, the assassin gritted her teeth and said to Trapp."Alright, fine, I will bite!"The assassin stared at Trapp resentfully as she said, "You really give a compelling argument, I will admit. I, too, cannot stand the thought of being used. If it is as you said, the Avalon family is just playing me, then I have to know the truth. Even if what you said is not true, it won't affect me in any way if I investigate. In any case, I have to enter the control room in order to complete my mission so it won't conflict with anything if I investigate with you.""That's good," Trapp responded in delight. He was fairly certain that he would be able to convince the assassin to join his cause and, as he expected, she really decided to follow him. Trapp was very happy with this outcome.Suddenly, the assassin looked at Trapp seriously and said, "Don't be too happy yet. I am not done speaking.""Go on," Trapp urge
The assassin, Phantom Trace, quickly shook herself mentally and removed the stray thoughts from her mind. Although she didn't know what had suddenly come over her that caused her to detect such an irrelevant detail, she was not willing to dwell on that matter anymore, so she focused on more important matters that were currently on hand.Looking at Trapp, the assassin directly said, "I admit that, based on what you said, things are a bit strange. In that case, what do you think is happening here?""Why did the Avalon family gather all of us here, and what could their true objective possibly be?"Since the assassin could not figure it out on her own, she felt it was better to directly ask Trapp and hear what his thoughts on the matter were.Trapp did not waste any time as he quickly answered, "Believe it or not, I think all of us here, that includes me, you, and those two squads are merely decoys and the scout is the one who was assigned with the mission to
The assassin, Phantom Trace, was frowning very hard. Her brows were deeply furrowed, and her expression was slightly unnatural. Listening to Trapp's analysis, she could not help the feeling of shock and surprise that overwhelmed her.Trapp's analysis was spot on and accurate to a fault. Just like he said, the second mission had greater priority over the first. As long as she completed it and retrieved the item that she was told to, she would still get paid regardless of his, she completed the assassination mission or not.This was a clause that had been added to the contract that she signed when she came under the employ of the Avalon family.Although assassins like her and Trapp mostly worked in the shady and gray area of society, there was still a need to keep accounts clear in case of any problems during the course of a mission. For example, signing contracts had now become necessary in order to prevent either party from breaching the terms of the contract. I
"What is that supposed to mean?" the assassin looked at Trapp suspiciously as she asked that question."What exactly are you insinuating?"The assassin could not understand what Trapp meant by his question. It was he was insinuating that he wasn't the cause of her recent failure up until now.Trapp's question made this whole mission seem like a conspiracy. To the assassin, Phantom Trace, Trapp was just mystifying things in order to shirk responsibility and avoid blame. She wasn't going to fall for his schemes."If you think for one second that I am going to let you off just because you want to sound profound when you are not, you've got another thing coming, mister!"Witnessing the assassin's reaction, Trapp rolled his eyes at her. Then he shook his head as he said to her."Alright calm down and stop being overly dramatic. Will you at least let me finish what I was going to say.?""Sheesh, women! Even if you are powerful and capable,
"So you are the famous ending maker... the rookie who has been making a lot of waves recently in our circle?" the assassin, Phantom Trace, said to Trapp after learning his identity. Naturally, the identity that Trapp revealed to her was his assassin monicker and not his real identity.Phantom Trace looked Trapp over from head to toe before she continued speaking, "I hear you currently have a 1000% mission completion rate and that all your targets have been successfully assassinated since you began your debut. nice track record... it's almost as impressive as mine. Your codename is a little tacky, I would say, but apart from that, you're definitely promising."The assassin, Phantom Trace, evaluated Trapp as she observed him, stating his past record since he became an assassin. From her words, it seemed like she was praising Trapp, but if one listened carefully to what she said, one would know that there was a hidden meaning underlying her every word.Although the
None of the squad members doubted Trapp's ability to defeat and kill them. They were able to feel a suppressive pressure from him that made them weak and unwilling to face him. This kind of pressure was something that people naturally exerted over those who were weaker than them.It was a subconscious fear that was exerted over other people who were weaker than oneself, forcing them to be unwilling to face you in combat. If a person could exert this kind of fear and pressure over another person, then when fighting that person, it would feel like their hands and feet were shackled by an invisible force and they wouldn't be able to display their full power in combat.There were a lot of factors that could lead to another person being able to have suppressive pressure over their opponents and it wasn't a hard fact simply based on if you were stronger than the other person or not. Things like confidence, will, and courage could also cause people to suppress others.