The Hidden Monster of House Vale

Chapter 131: Chapter - 131 - The Fall of the Prince

As soon as Prince Andrin pulled open the heavy door of the healing sanctuary, his eyes widened in absolute shock.

He had been on his way to find Aelvera, intending to hunt her down and slaughter her tonight so she would never be able to stand in his way again. But the moment the wooden door swung open, Aelvera was already standing right there in the dimly lit corridor, flanked by a squad of fully armed guards.

In a fraction of a second, the harsh reality hit him like a physical blow: he had walked straight into a trap. The sanctuary’s suspicion surrounding him had all been a calculated ruse. Aelvera had simply waited to catch him completely off guard, and her gamble had paid off flawlessly.

”Andrin... or should I say, Prince of Valtheria, Prince Andrin? Or perhaps... the Demonic Realm Master, the Man-Eater?” Aelvera said, a sharp, cold smile cutting across her face.

Andrin’s mind raced. He realized instantly that there was no way to run, yet a dark certainty remained within him—the royal family would never let an exposed demon slip through their fingers if he was taken alive.

”Wh-what are you talking about?” Andrin stammered, his eyes darting frantically as he tried to talk his way out. ”My name is only Andrin. I’m not a prince.”

”Oh, so you’re not going to admit it?” Aelvera’s expression hardened, her smile vanishing into absolute contempt. ”Well, whatever. I already have orders to kill you.”

”What? Who gave you orders to kill me?!” Andrin demanded, his voice rising in panic.

”It doesn’t matter,” Aelvera replied, her hand tightening around the hilt of her weapon. ”I know you are the Man-Eater. We already saw you killing many innocent people, and you killed my father the exact same way. It seems fate is on my side today. I’ll have my revenge.”

”What? I killed your father?” Andrin scowled, genuinely bewildered beneath his rising fear. ”I don’t remember killing any old man!”

”Of course you don’t remember!” Aelvera barked, tears of raw fury welling in her eyes as the agonizing memory resurfaced. She remembered vividly the horrifying state of her father’s mangled body when she found him—the utter devastation that had shattered her world. ”Knowing how many people you have already slaughtered, why would you even remember killing my father? He was a protector of this city! He was the head of the city guards!”

”But... I never killed any—”

Andrin didn’t even get to finish his sentence before the air split open.

Aelvera moved with blinding speed, drawing her longsword as it ignited with a brilliant, shimmering coat of astral energy. She swung her blade in a brutal horizontal arc, shouting her strike as the wave of power detonated forward.

The pressure wave smashed directly into Andrin, crushing his chest and launching him backward. He crashed through the thick stone walls of the healing sanctuary with an explosive boom, masonry and dust showering into the open courtyard. Coughing up blood, Andrin frantically summoned a shimmering demonic shield around his body just in time to deflect the avalanche of falling debris.

Knowing there was no longer any room for hesitation or lies, Andrin dropped all pretense. Black and crimson demonic aura erupted from his skin like dark flames. He thrust his hands forward, hurling a volley of jagged red demonic slashes straight at her.

Aelvera charged through the cloud of dust, her blade deflecting the flying energy arcs with ringing metallic clangs as she closed the distance.

Seeing her relentless advance, Andrin switched completely into offensive mode, his face twisting into a demonic sneer. ”It’s good you’re here now! I was going to kill you tonight anyway. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s quick... and after that, I’ll rip your face apart just like my other victims!”

Andrin slammed his palms together in front of his chest. Dark, corrosive energy condensed instantly between his hands, materializing an orb of pure purple shadow. He hoisted the heavy, pulsating orb over his head and hurled it down at Aelvera with a deafening roar.

Aelvera crossed her arms, summoning an astral protective barrier to intercept the projectile. The purple orb slammed into her barrier, grinding against the energy field with a horrific screech. The shield held for a brief second before spiderweb fractures spread across its surface and shattered it to pieces.

The residual shockwave exploded outward, bypassing Aelvera and hitting the guards stationed behind her. The soldiers screamed as dark pressure crushed their internal organs; blood erupted violently from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. They collapsed to the stone floor like lifeless dolls.

Andrin laughed hysterically, his eyes glowing with dark malice. ”You can’t defeat me! Maybe in your dreams, but if you think I’m going to stop, it’s not going to happen!”

Aelvera spat a mouthful of blood onto the cobblestones, her eyes blazing with unyielding hatred. ”You’re right... maybe I can’t defeat you alone. But that doesn’t mean no one can. I’ll fight to the death, even if it costs me my life!”

She glanced back at a lone guard who was staggering to his feet, severely wounded and clutching his bleeding chest.

”Go!” Aelvera commanded with absolute authority. ”Give Prince Rumil the information that we have found the Man-Eater! The Man-Eater who is slaughtering innocent people for the sake of his demonic cultivation... the same Man-Eater who has stolen all of his treasures!”

”What are you talking about?!” Andrin snapped, his brows furrowing in genuine shock. ”I didn’t steal anything!”

”Do I look stupid enough to believe a Demonic Realm Master?!” Aelvera yelled back. ”We know it’s you who emptied his vaults!”

What is this bitch even saying?! Andrin cursed internally, his chest heaving as his mind frantically tried to piece the accusations together. I did kill people, but I never killed her father, and I never stole a single coin from the treasury! But it’s not like these fools are going to believe me... Whatever. I just have to kill them all!

With a guttural roar, Andrin activated his demonic claw technique. Astral energy manifested around both of his hands, extending into foot-long, razor-sharp crimson talons that hummed with dark power. He lunged forward, closing the distance in the blink of an eye and locking Aelvera in a violent, high-speed close-combat frenzy.

He swung his claws wildly, turning the air into a deadly blur of red streaks. Aelvera raised her sword, parrying furiously, the sparks from their clashing energy illuminating the ruined courtyard in blinding flashes. But the sheer speed and brute force of his demonic assault were overwhelming. Her defense began to lag under the relentless flurry.

Andrin jabbed forward, his right claw bypassing her guard and gouging deep grooves into her forearm. Aelvera gasped in pain, but before she could adjust her footing, Andrin’s left claw swept across her torso. The sharp energy sliced cleanly through her reinforced leather armor and inner robes, rending her skin with sickening tearing sounds. Blood sprayed across the cobblestones as she staggered backward, her body covered in raw, bleeding lacerations.

Tolerating the burning agony, Aelvera gritted her teeth, channeled her remaining energy into her feet, and activated her movement technique. Azure Crescent!

In a flash of bright blue light, her form blurred and vanished from his line of sight. She reappeared instantly directly behind Andrin, her face set in a mask of lethal focus. She swung her glowing blade with every ounce of momentum she possessed, driving the edge across his upper back.

The blade carved a deep, bloody trench straight through his spine and shoulder blade.

”You bitch!” Andrin screamed, coughing up a spatter of black blood as he staggered forward, intense, burning pain shooting through his nervous system.

”You fucking bastard!” Aelvera screamed back, her voice shaking with a chaotic mixture of sorrow and rage. ”You killed my father! He was the only family member I had left, and you took him away from me!”

Without giving him even a single second to recover, she surged forward to press her advantage, channeling her freezing aura into her weapon. Glacial Strike!

Frost exploded along the length of her longsword with a sharp hiss, coating the steel in a thick, jagged layer of blue ice that vastly heightened its sharp edge and cutting force. She blurred forward, unleashing an intricate sequence of rapid slashes. The frozen blade bit into his flesh again and again, cutting deeply across his chest, face, and arms. The sheer cold of the technique flash-froze the open wounds on his body, tearing his flesh further while inflicting unbearable frostbite.

”Ahhhhh! You bitch, I’m going to kill you!” Andrin went completely feral, his sanity snapping under the relentless torment.

Abandoning all tactical restraint, he gathered every drop of his dark demonic qi into his right arm. His muscles swelled grotesquely, thick black veins bulging across his skin like writhing snakes as blood-red mist poured from his knuckles. Blood Fist!

He thrust his fist forward like a battering ram, completely ignoring her incoming sword strike. The heavy demonic blow crashed straight through her defensive posture, connecting with crushing force directly against Aelvera’s abdomen.

The raw, explosive impact shattered her ribs with a sickening crack and lifted her off her feet. Aelvera was launched backward through the air, crashing violently onto the hard stone ground. She rolled several times across the blood-stained courtyard before coming to a dead stop, clutching her ruined stomach as blood pooled rapidly beneath her.

”You... fucker...” Aelvera gasped out, her breaths shallow and ragged as her vision turned dark at the edges.

Suddenly, heavy, measured footsteps echoed through the quiet, destroyed courtyard. Aelvera forced her bleeding head up and saw a figure stepping out from the shadows behind her.

It was Prince Rumil.

On the outside, Rumil’s face looked eerily calm, completely devoid of expression. But deep down, he was a hollowed-out shell, completely broken inside. Just minutes ago, he had witnessed his fiancé bending over his bed, spreading her legs for his best friend Axel. His father despised him, his treasury was gone, and the woman he had just begged to live a simple life with was serving another man with vile pleasure.

He was no longer in his right mind.

The moment Rumil stepped into the courtyard and felt the thick, sickening demonic energy emanating from Andrin’s body, every drop of suppressed rage, humiliation, and madness within his soul detonated at once.

Rumil raised his hand. Green light burst forth as he materialized the Elven Royal Bow in his grip. He drew the glowing string back to his ear, channeling his royal lineage into a lethal bow technique. Silvaeyr Erynd!

A massive, radiant green arrow condensed on the string, taking the ethereal shape of a roaring beast’s fang. Rumil released the bowstring. The arrow shattered the sound barrier, shooting across the courtyard like a green comet and slamming directly into Andrin’s chest.

The impact drove Andrin backward, the beast-fang energy tearing through his flesh and pinning him to a stone pillar.

Andrin looked up, seeing Prince Rumil standing there in his royal armor, and his own rage multiplied a hundredfold. He recognized Rumil as Aelene’s fiancé—and Andrin himself had personally watched Aelene serving another man with her mouth in secret, making him utterly despise both Rumil and his unfaithful fiancé.

Grasping the glowing green arrow embedded near his heart, Andrin roared and ripped the shaft out of his chest, blood spurting from the wound.

”Bastard!” Andrin spat, laughing hysterically through the pain. ”You don’t even know that your bitch serves another man! And you’re here to fight me?! I am Andrin, and my destiny is to rule the world! Hahaha!”

The moment those words left Andrin’s mouth, something inside Prince Rumil snapped completely. The taunts hit the raw, bleeding wound in his chest, confirming the utter absurdity of his existence. Whatever tiny thread of patience or composure Rumil had left vanished into pure, unadulterated madness.

”Vaelis Tharion!” Rumil roared.

A colossal wave of green astral energy erupted from Rumil’s body, shattering the cobblestones beneath his feet. He pulled his royal bow to its absolute limit, aiming straight at Andrin’s throat with blind, murderous intent.

Realizing the lethality of the incoming strike, Andrin unleashed his most terrifying demonic art. ”Crimson Abyss Slash!”

Andrin swung his arms wide. A tide of blood-red demonic energy surged into the sky, blotting out the stars and turning the dark night sky into a terrifying, blood-crimson canopy. Thousands of razor-sharp crimson energy slashes materialized out of thin air, raining down upon the entire courtyard in a chaotic storm of death.

Prince Rumil hastily summoned an astral energy shield to protect himself, but the sheer scale of the spatial attack was overwhelming. The crimson blades tore through the air, slicing through stone, wood, and flesh alike.

Rumil tried to dodge backward, but he was a fraction of a second too late. He moved just a few inches when a massive, stray crimson slash cut cleanly through his guard.

A sickening squelch echoed through the crimson night.

In the middle of the ruined city square, under the bleeding sky, Prince Rumil stood frozen—his right arm severed clean at the elbow, blood spurting onto the stones as the battle raged around him.