Death's Door 106 Volume 5: Chapter 9: Cruel Mercy Part 3

Occupying the body of a young knight, Morphus now proceeded to go towards the camp where the knights were currently occupying.

"You went away for a while there, did something happen, Clave?"

"No, just a small animal, nothing more" Morphus tried his best to sound unsuspicious. Having the vocal cords of the man under his control certainly helped.

"Is that so, then, it's time for my shift." Another knight proceeded to go on a guard duty.

"Thank you" Morphus smiled politely.

Now that he was inside the camp, it was time to begin his mission.

Angels are energy beings, so emitting different types of energy was their special trait.

Different types of energy emitted had different effect on human beings.

One type of energy accelerated healing and restored damaged and wounded bodies.

But of course, that was not the only type of energy he could emit.

Through experimentation, Morphus found that he could use his energy as a nearly unlimited source of mana for various uses.

Yet a particular type of energy usage had the most advantage in this situation.

It was a skill he called 'Angel Wave'.

By emitting a certain type of energy in waves, the energy would directly interact with the souls of the living beings, and as Morphus noticed, it induced a very deep sleep, almost like hibernation.

And the most curious part was that as long as the living beings are under the effect of Angel Wave they will not wake up no matter what until the wave is dispelled.

No matter what harm befalls them, the victim wouldn't even notice, their dream will be too deep to break out of.

However, there was a weakness to the Angel Wave. It takes gradual effect, needing time for it to take hold.

As such, after he arrived in the camp, Morphus used Angel Wave continuously for three hours before the effects started to kick in.

One by one, knights started falling asleep, once they fell asleep, they wouldn't wake up until after several hours after Angel Wave has been stopped.

The one advantage of being an angel was that unlike mana in humans, the type of energy angels possessed was nearly undetectable when angel is occupying a human body. In a sense, the vessel masks the presence of the angel.

Last one to succ.u.mb to sleep was the hero herself.

Without making a sound, Morphus made his way into her tent.

He proceeded to produce a very sharp axe knife of his ring.

While the ring was used for teleportation, the ring also was used as a storage s.p.a.ce.

Morphus's ring was unique that it was made to work not by blood seal but by energy signature recognition, since he changes bodies frequently, so a blood seal would be useless for him.

So, Morphus could use his ring in any body he occupied, though it would only work if he actually is occupying the vessel, the vessel without him inside could not access the ring's functions.

"The one thing she cherishes the most? What do you mean, Milord? Could it be her life?"

"No, a death is too kind of a fate, what I have planned is much simpler."

Morphus proceeded to walk closer towards the sleeping hero.

Even if he knew she wouldn't wake up any time soon, he was still afraid.

"I want you to bring me her hand."

With a firm resolve, Morphus cut off the hero's right hand below her elbow.

"However, make sure she is lives."

Making sure to cauterize her bleeding arm, Morphus stored the dismembered appendage within his ring.

Leaving the tent like nothing was wrong; Morphus approached the body of the bird lying on the ground.

It was barely alive.

Housing an angel puts a lot of pressure on the vessel to the point that when the angel leaves, the body of the vessel ends up immobile for some time.

"Time for me to head back."

Morphus slipped the ring on one of the bird's talons and in an instant he proceeded to switch bodies.

The human vessel dropped on the ground as the bird suddenly sprung to life.

Now the bird proceeded to fly up and after flying for a short time, it vanished into thin air.

* * *

"My body hurts even worse than before…." Livon couldn't remember what happened last night; it was almost like his memories of that time were erased.

"Maybe I just drank too much and had a hangover."

Seemingly every soldier was waking up from deep sleep.

"I can't believe we all slept like logs, we could have been attacked."

"Thank goodness none was hurt…"

But then, they heard a loud shriek from the tent of the hero.

They quickly ran into the tent only to discover a horrifying scene.

Knight of Combat, Raina Nockser was still alive, but her eyes wide open in horror while screaming 'Where is it?! Where is it?!...' made it obvious something was clearly wrong.

Then, Livon saw it; she was holding on to the elbow of her right arm, but that was all there is to it, her right arm ended on the elbow, with the entire lower portion of her right arm missing.

With the maimed hero, it was no longer safe to continue the mission, so half of the squad escorted her to the temples, while the other half contacted the Knight of Mind and after telling him of their situation, they arranged to join his group.

Livon went with the latter group.

But from his mind he could not erase the image of the mighty and powerful hero, weeping non-stop, eyes overflowing with tears, it was as though she had lost one thing that gave her a meaning.

Seeing his superior broken in such a way made Livon's skin crawl with rage…

"What kind of fiend could have done this?! Why didn't anyone wake up to save her….How did this happen!?"

Livon's clutched his right hand into a fist.

Without a doubt, the one who snuck into the hero's tent and maimed her was connected to the disappearance of Holy Maidens.

"When I find you, I swear I will avenge her!"

* * *

"I a.s.sume everything went as planned?"

"Yes, milord."

Morphus now presented Dark Lord with the right arm of the hero.

"Well done."

"If it is ok for me to ask…What will you do with her hand?"

"I will dip it in molten bronze and then put it on a shelf. It will make a perfect trophy."

"Trophy?"

"Pardon, not for me, but for you, to celebrate your successful mission."

"Is that so…." Morphus found himself cringing a little, just thinking that Dark Lord would award him such a gruesome trophy…

While the gesture itself was benevolent, the object itself was a little too much….

"Wouldn't it have been more prudent of me to have killed her? I had a perfect chance to kill all of them."

"If they die, they will become martyrs that inspire hundreds if not thousands more to follow their footsteps, but if they are alive…."

"…They shall be instrumental in breaking the will of humanity. If their strongest are broken, then the others shall fall shortly after."

Dark Lord smiled.

"And it will make humanity aware that the Demon King is by far the least of their problems."