The Darkhaven residence was eerily quiet.

Tonight was a night of mourning.

The clan leader was mourning his son.

Inasmuch as the mourning was being done without a corpse, several members of the clan had surrounded a decorated altar with the picture of Bryce Darkhaven on it.

At the forefront of the gathering stood Saul Darkhaven and his wife.

Their faces were extremely somber, with extremely sad expressions on their faces.

The clan members, however, were in no mood for mourning. Of course, they dared not communicate it.

But right now, they were actually thinking of how to save their skins.

Even a fool would realize that with how powerful Kailen Darkhaven had become, a sword of Damocles loomed above the clan, and it was only a matter of time before the clan tasted annihilation or a mighty fall from grace.

Suddenly, as the mourning proceeded, the wind stirred with something ominous. An extremely baleful smell pervaded the whole clan.

Then several clan members started to cough.

First, it was just light coughs.

But it proceeded into coughs of blood.

Then they started to fall.

One by one.

Butler Peter stood by the side, observing everything with an expression of relief.

"I can finally die in peace. Serving Cyrus has been the worst nightmare of my life."

Under the effects of whatever substance had been unleashed into the atmosphere, he slipped into death's embrace.

Cyrus and his wife stood, vigilant, scared, confused.

"What the hell is going on?"

Cyrus couldn't help but scream anxiously, his wife's form shrinking in fear behind him.

"We need to get out of here."

Cyrus and Samantha were about to use the emergency teleportation rune-inscribed artifacts they had, when their vision morphed.

They found themselves standing before their son.

He was weeping, blood streaming down his face.

His expression was extremely unsightly, his gaze full of pain and melancholy.

Their son held a picture of Kailen Darkhaven, his parents, and his grandfather in his hands.

"Why... why why why why why why!!!!!"

Bryce's screams worsened.

"How could they be so wicked!!!!"

He continued, "He wanted his own brother's wife, felt threatened by a brother who loved him and trusted him, attempted to kill him, then killed his own father, a man who loved and trusted him with everything!!! Why!!!!"

His parents felt their world crumble on seeing this.

They knew they were in some sort of hallucination, and they connected the dots that Kailen Darkhaven was behind it.

The timing of the event made it too easy for them to connect the dots.

But the words still hit them like a sledgehammer.

"I am dead, fucking dead because of your actions! I am fucking dead because of you, father!"

"What sort of power did you want, what sort of greed drove you to do this!"

Then he turned to look at them.

"Look at me, old fuckers!" He stood up, drenched in blood, heading towards them.

Their eyes, especially Cyrus', dropped low, the weight of every decision that had led to the death of their son settling in.

"Look at me! I'm dead..." Bryce wept, holding their clothes in despair.

His smile morphed into something of despair and helplessness.

He stared his father in the eye with his bloodshot, miserable eyes.

"I'm fucking dead because of you! And you have to die too! Unfilial, wretched, and miserable parents! Just die! Just die!! Just die!!!"

Samantha and Cyrus stared at the ground, eyes lifeless.

Whatever hallucination Kailen Darkhaven had cooked up may have been to torment them psychologically.

But that was not even the point right now.

Everything they had heard was true, and was an inner reflection of their true state.

Whether the Bryce before them was a conjured illusion or not was not the focus, as something they had been unwilling to confront — the guilt of their son dying because of them, and the buried guilt of Cyrus killing his father, attempting to kill his brother, and coveting his wife — finally settled in.

The psychological impact broke him completely.

His wife, Samantha, also stood there in psychological shock, equally broken.

Their son's image finally morphed into that of Kailen Darkhaven.

Each step he took towards them made them shrink further in fear.

They couldn't even look him in the eye.

He said nothing, just stared at their pathetic forms calmly, then clicked his hands.

Art of Torture, Second Skill: Solace Deprivation.

A sensory cocoon is activated around the victim that removes all comforting stimuli: light, warmth, sound, taste, even memory of hope. Kailen watches as they unravel from sheer emotional starvation.

Kailen, having made an actual appearance after activating the second skill of the Art of Torture, made use of an invisibility rune.

He sat before them, observing their suffering unravel.

They felt everything and everyone disappear.

A transparent cocoon enveloped them.

They felt no warmth, no light, no taste, no memory of hope.

They felt completely... lost... empty and shackled... and it was driving them strangely insane.

It felt like being trapped in an endless void of nothingness.

"What is going on?"

"How long has this been happening?"

"Have we been here for an eternity?"

Then they heard his voice, after which their senses, vision, and everything returned to them.

"You could always kill yourself."

He stood over their kneeling and weak forms calmly, steps slow and deliberate.

Though they couldn't see him, as the poison slowly working in their system had made them unawakeners, and the rank 0 invisibility rune was something they couldn't even see through, his voice, akin to that of a god of death, reverberated in their mind.

Looking at the expressions on their faces, Kailen chuckled.

"Wait, were you really considering that?"

He shook his head.

"Don't you think that would be too easy? Not after every pain you have caused me."

He squatted, then clicked his tongue.

"In about 24 hours, you'll be dead. Don't worry. But before that... Mask of Empathy."

Under the effect of the first skill of the Art of Torture, they suffered for what seemed like an eternity.

They were forced to confront every emotion, every pain, every suffering they ever inflicted on anyone.

By the time Kailen deactivated the skill, they were so broken that they were living corpses.

Kailen stared at them, clicked his tongue, and sighed.

"Tsk, the 24 hours period is up anyway."

The poison's final effect finally kicked in, after which they turned to roasted corpses.

Kailen sighed deeply, gaze directed towards the skies, standing amidst dead bodies strewn across the Darkhaven Clan.

"Mum and Dad, are you seeing this? I have avenged you. I didn't just kill them, I made sure to destroy them psychologically and emotionally, I left no stones unturned. Frankly, There's still the Crown Prince out there, but it's progress."

After that, Kailen disappeared, as if he had never been there.

However...

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