Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

The dark and putrid stench of corruption might be able to hide from others but certainly not him. In Cedric's eyes, they're no different from a beacon of light, attracting his attention.

He thought that he had done enough to complete sever the operation of the Demon Saint Cult here, but it turns out that he was wrong. For some reason, they were able to infiltrate this city again and restart their plans. It's annoying but he should've expected it, after all, corruption can never truly stay put in one place.

With his presence completely concealed, Cedric turned into a streak of light and easily infiltrated the cult's base in this city.

He had no idea what City Lord Reiner was thinking but he had completely disregarded the security of the city's leylines even though this was one of the most important places he should be protecting. The cult had targeted this place before and that nearly caused this city to turn into ruins, he should've learned his lesson since then but alas he had become complacent.

'That...or he has trusted the wrong guy.' Cedric mused inwardly.

He scanned all of the people around here, and a handful of them were completely innocent. The interior of the cult's base was misleading, it looked like a normal office but there was an entrance to the underground cave system that led to the leylines.

There is a government official here who's also a cult member, Cedric could smell the stench of corruption on his body. He looked unassuming and an honest worker, that may be why City Lord Reiner hired him and managed to infiltrate this deep into the city.

Slipping into the office undetected was a simple task for Cedric. He also made himself invisible not only to the naked eye but also to any detection skills these people could have. He could be breathing down their necks and standing right in front of their faces and they still wouldn't be able to see a thing.

He stayed put and observed his target. He analyzed his movements and predicted his next moves. Come lunchtime, he had seen the man putting up a 'Do not Disturb' sign on his door before locking himself inside the room.

Then, the man went under his office table, used a cloning technique, and nodded at his clone. The clone then sat on the chair while the original opened a hidden hatch under the office table which led underground.

'Ah, so that's how he's fooling them.' Cedric muttered inwardly as he casually followed the man down to the underground cave.

With all of this, one would think; how can he fly under the radar? Shouldn't Acala be aware of this? Is she just letting these people do as they please?

The answer to that is both a yes and no. See, Acala might be the consciousness of this world and the protector of Humanity but that doesn't make her a sovereign or a ruler. She cannot dictate or force people to do her bidding. She could convince them, but she could never force them. The whole Purgatory and Superhuman thing was done for her self-preservation.

She had given humanity a chance to fight back, but this was as far as she could force it. If humans don't want to fight for their world or for her, then she couldn't do anything about that.

That said, siding with demons is something that Acala could punish. However, the best she could do was to remove them from the system user list. Acala's too weakened, the things she could do in the present state weren't much because she needed to preserve her energy and keep the system running.

'I don't how he managed to pass the screening, but his luck ends here.' Cedric muttered to himself as he followed behind.

He already saw the situation in the cave. There is a brewing corruption storm here, something that could turn the entire city into ruins once it gets out.

The labs they used to siphon energy from the leylines were rebuilt, even the drill that used to damage the leylines has been retrieved somehow and is in use right now.

Cedric could see several demon eggs on incubators, receiving a constant supply of energy from the leylines. His eyes darkened as the guy affectionately caressed one of the eggs with gentle fondness in his eyes and barely concealed madness.

He could hear the man's thoughts, he knew why this man was doing this. He's a grieving parent and husband. He lost his wife and son due to an unfortunate accident. In his grief, the cult reached out to him and told him that they could revive his family. In reality, though, their souls were enslaved and converted into demons that are now being raised here.

Sure, that egg contains the soul of his son but it's no longer the same one he knew. Cedric knew as much because he could see what's inside the egg. Even after it hatches, whatever's coming out of that egg wouldn't recognize him as its father. It would probably even eat him.

Desperation and grief. These are natural emotions that humans express in difficult times. It's also a deadly weapon that the Demon Race could use against humans. Manipulating someone's perspective and taking advantage of their unstable emotions were simple tasks that Demons could do. Sprinkle in a dash of Demonic Corruption here and there, and we have a newly corrupted human.

"Soon, my love...very soon. We shall be reunited again, I will once more hold your hand and play with you all day long...no matter what it takes."

"...forget about holding its hand and playing, you'd be lucky if that thing doesn't tear you apart piece by piece and devour you the moment it gets out of the egg. The same goes for your 'wife'."

The man was alarmed when he suddenly heard Cedric's voice. Panic and fear dawned on his face as he realized that he was exposed. But after digesting the words he heard, his expression turned into a savage one.

He snarled at Cedric, asking: "What do you know about it, huh? You don't understand! None of you does! This is the only way that I could reunite with my family! They're all I have!"

Cedric sighed and appeared right next to the snarling man. He grabbed him by the head and poured his energy into his brain. The man was stunned when suddenly saw the world changing right before his very eyes.

"Go on, take a look." Cedric told him, "Look at the egg that's supposed to be your son and wife. Look and see if what I said was wrong."

Cedric's voice held a strange power that convinced the man to follow his instructions. That said, he wished he hadn't followed it after witnessing the truth.

What's inside the egg isn't his son or his wife. It was a monstrosity. An amalgamation of nightmares birthed by evil. With Cedric's help, he could also see the suffering souls of his actual son and wife. To his horror, they were being fed to the monstrosity within the egg, not being reborn as he was promised.

"W-what...h-how could this be! No...no! This isn't...this isn't what they promised me...no! No!" The man collapsed in disbelief. His horror intensified after hearing the tortured cries of his family's souls.

"You should've known better than to side with demons." Cedric admonished. "They're never one to fulfill a promise. They will use all sorts of trickery to make you do their bidding. This is elementary knowledge, how can you easily forget it?"

"I know that you were grieving and you were desperate, but you should've never taken their hand. The souls of the dead come to Acala to experience peace. If you really wanted to reunite with your family, you should've just killed yourself instead."

"Yet you handed them to demons. This...the torture they're experiencing now, this is your fault. You did this to them. You caused them this much suffering and you deserve to burn for it."

"Ahh...ahh!!" The man wailed in grief, not because Cedrid burned him, but because he finally understood what he did.

"You turned your back against Acala first." Cedric continued, "The souls of your wife and son would return to her but not yours. There's an eternal hell waiting for you on the other side. You will never be able to reunite with your family again and you've got nobody else to blame aside from yourself."

Cedric crouched down in front of him and looked him straight in the eye. He then said:

"If you have some remorse and dignity left in that pitiful shell of yours, leave a message to the authorities and admit your sins. After doing that, crush this sigil."

Cedric handed him a sigil engraved on a piece of paper.

"That sigil will burn your body and your soul away." He said to him. "As I said, Acala won't accept you to her afterlife since you turned your back on her first. You will never be reunited with your family ever again."

"If you killed yourself, you'd end up becoming a demon slave or worse, a nourishment for their spawns. Using that sigil on the other hand will burn all traces of your existence to nothingness. That way, you'll never hurt anyone again. Make your choice."

That's all Cedric has to say before leaving the man and going deeper into the cave and sealing the leylines.