The Apostle of Dusk

"Ha, that husband? The human hero?" Xie Lun let out a disdainful sneer. "That guy's been dead for over a thousand years. Lady Aina must have long forgotten about him."

"Lady Aina isn’t like that. I can tell at a glance—she radiates a powerful aura of pure love..." Niya retorted with a light huff.

"Pure love? What’s that supposed to be?" Feina seemed genuinely curious.

"Well... it’s more of a metaphorical feeling, not an actual tangible force..."

"Enough. Silence." The last of the vampire dukes spoke, his voice calm and authoritative. "Xie Lun, what did Lady Aina instruct us to do?"

"Dorian, don’t act like you’re the leader here," Xie Lun scoffed but answered nonetheless. "Lady Aina wants us to investigate an organization called the Twilight Apostles."

"The Twilight Apostles?"

Almost simultaneously, the four of them closed their eyes.

The air grew still as the four vampire dukes stood motionless, their crimson robes concealing the surging blood energy beneath, as if their physical forms had dissolved into nothingness.

"Found them." Dorian was the first to open his eyes.

"One of my descendants’ thralls seems to be a member of the Twilight Apostles." His pupils gleamed with a bloody light as the image of a man in gray-yellow robes slowly formed in his mind.

Among vampires, bloodline was everything. Higher bloodlines naturally dominated the lower, and to the high-ranking vampires, their lesser thralls and fledglings were like open books.

"Tch." Xie Lun clicked his tongue, visibly annoyed at Dorian’s swift discovery.

"What kind of organization is it?" Niya leaned forward, hands braced on the round table as she addressed Dorian.

Dorian frowned. "From what I’ve gathered, their goal is to resurrect the legendary hero—Lady Aina’s husband..."

"What? Resurrect Lady Aina’s husband?" Xie Lun slammed his palm onto the table with a thunderous crash. "Bringing the dead back to life defies the natural order! How dare they attempt such a thing? Do they not fear divine retribution?"

"Lady Aina asked us to investigate their motives. Who knows? Maybe she wants to collaborate with them," Feina added, clearly enjoying Xie Lun’s outburst and fanning the flames.

"Impossible!"

"Enough. Let me finish." Dorian’s tone carried a hint of impatience, and Xie Lun and Feina wisely fell silent.

"The Twilight Apostles operate within the United Nations of Yaliris—human territory."

The United Nations of Yaliris was a coalition of four major powers: the Yalan Empire, the Forests of Libya, the underground kingdom of Reko, and the Slatu Plains, occupying the heart of the continent.

These four empires represented humanity, elves, dwarves, and giants, respectively.

In the previous era, humans had labeled all other races beyond these four as "demons."

"Originally, the Twilight Apostles was just a historical research group founded by enthusiasts obsessed with uncovering the truth of the time before the Order Era...

After all, most legends about the hero and the Demon King were passed down orally. They believed many details had been distorted over time.

Their most notable theory was that the hero and the Demon King weren’t enemies but close allies—some even speculated the Demon King might have been a woman, possibly the hero’s lover."

"Ridiculous theories." Feina shook her head, then shot Xie Lun a sidelong glance. "Everyone knows the hero’s wife was Lady Aina."

"You—" Xie Lun’s face darkened as Feina repeatedly brought up the sore subject.

After all, everyone present knew of his unrequited feelings for Lady Aina.

Before the two could start bickering again, Dorian cut in. "The Demon King from demonic history is shrouded in too much mystery. For some reason, almost no records of him—or her—remain. All we know is that there was a terrifyingly powerful Demon King who ended the Chaos Era and shaped the world as it is now."

"Even Lady Aina doesn’t know about the Demon King?" Niya couldn’t help interjecting.

"Though Lady Aina was the mage of the hero’s party, only the hero, Xia Lun, faced the Demon King in the final battle." Dorian rubbed his temples. "The only one who truly knew the Demon King’s identity... was likely Xia Lun himself.

Now, back to the matter at hand.

The Twilight Apostles... at first, they were merely a gathering of history enthusiasts. But over a decade ago, one of their members received the 'hero’s' legacy, gaining extraordinary power and becoming the Enlightened One.

From then on, their activities deviated from their original purpose, morphing into something more akin to a cult. Their goal shifted from historical research to resurrecting the legendary hero.

Recently, they’ve even begun slaughtering remote villages..."

......

The carriage rolled slowly along the road.

Liyana, having lost at rock-paper-scissors, sulked as she held the reins outside the carriage.

"Aina? Wake up. We’re almost there." Xia Lun gently nudged Aina, who was dozing against his shoulder.

"I’m under a curse. Only a kiss from the hero can wake me," Aina murmured, eyes still closed.

"Ahem, if you insist."

Xia Lun never refused his wife’s requests.

Hearing the commotion inside, Liyana vengefully whipped the reins, startling the horses into a faster trot.

Aina slowly opened her eyes, her crimson pupils shimmering with a faint bloody glow.

"By the way, Aina, you must hold a high position in the Arcane Magisterium, right? Could you ask Wolund to make an exception...? I desperately need a few lovely girls to fill the void in my heart."

The Arcane Magisterium was the most prestigious mage organization on the continent.

As a powerful mage, Liyana naturally assumed Aina and Wolund had met there.

"I haven’t been there in ages... The last time my clone attended a meeting was over a century ago," Aina replied.

"Eh? Really? Then how do you know Wolund? He’s human, right? He should only be in his fifties."

"For humans, that’s already quite old," Xia Lun remarked with a sigh.

"I was talking to Aina. Don’t interrupt," Liyana huffed.

But Aina didn’t respond. Instead, she lifted the carriage curtain, peering outside with Xia Lun.

Before them stretched an endless lake shrouded in thick mist.

And within the mist, like a mirage, loomed the faint outlines of a sprawling city.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Liyana announced with a whistle, "welcome to Olifant."