Chronicles of Forgotten Extra-Chapter 188: Promise at the Doorstep?

The boy's body hit the ground in a broken heap.

No...

Fk.

Alden stood frozen, mere steps away. He had arrived a second too late. And that single second had cost the child his life.

Damn it.

His mind was chaotic, his breath unsteady.

Then came another attack—slashing through the air.

The boy's mother lunged at him.

[VOIDHEART HAS BEEN ACTIVATED STRONGLY]

His grief was still present, but his mind snapped into icy clarity. His eyes turned cold.

A slight tilt of his head, and the claws missed him harmlessly.

[Eye of Supreme]

He didn't strike immediately. Not yet. He needed confirmation.

He activated his aura sense.

Nothing.

No light. No trace. No soul.

Dead.

Aura was the breath of the soul. Its color, its rhythm, its signature. And she had none.

These things—whatever they were—were already gone.

I don't need to hold back.

Alden didn't raise a hand.

He reached towards his shadow.

Rise.

Shadows surged to life around him, snaking from beneath his feet, stretching across the floor to connect with every nearby darkness.

To him, they weren't people anymore. Just twisted puppets in broken bodies.

The only mercy left was to lay them to rest.

Swish.

Pitch-black thorns burst upward in a short radius—each one precise, each one aimed for the heart.

Ten monsters around him froze, impaled by the shadows mid-motion.

The shadows receded.

But something was wrong.

The bodies still moved.

No heart. Still moving.

Alden's jaw clenched.

Again. Head this time.

The shadows responded.

Ten precise strikes—piercing skulls like paper.

This time, silence followed.

One by one, the corpses dropped, a series of dull, final thuds echoing through the lobby.

Alden didn't relax.

He couldn't.

Because this… this was only the beginning.

Alden stood amidst bodies no longer human. But he didn't move to kill the others.

They weren't attacking him. They just wandered—screeching, clawing at walls, gnashing teeth at nothing.

Shells.

He turned to exit.

He could've cleared the entire lobby. It would take minutes. But instead, he walked.

Through the broken tiles.

Past the moaning figures.

Avoiding them.

As soon as he exited the hotel, the same sight greeted him.

Many shells of once-human roamed the city mindlessly. Their eyes were blank.

But something else caught his attention even more.

He saw some corpses throughout the streets… corpses of some people.

The sight made Alden feel nauseous.

Somehow the red energy wave had excluded some people.

Alden didn't know the reason. He himself was targeted.

He looked up—

And froze.

A red dome. freёnovelkiss.com

A shimmering barrier covered the city like a cursed sky, pulsing faintly with malevolent energy.

A prison.

He clenched his fists.

Whoever did this… didn't want anyone leaving.

Something had happened and I don't have any intention to poke my nose around who did it.

My only goal is to escape.

But before that I'm going to check something.

Mark and Yuna.

I don't know if they're alive. I'm going to help them if they are.

And if my own life is at risk, I'm going to escape without a second thought.

He didn't know if the teleportation portal would be working.

Whoever attacked wouldn't be dumb enough to leave them active.

Even the signal of his ManaSync was cut off.

He hoped the kids would be alive. They lived on the far edge near the slums.

There were not many houses surrounding their home, so there might be a chance for them to be alive if they hadn't been changed into monsters.

He sprinted towards the slums. He controlled all his mana to make sure it didn't leak out of him.

He had found out that the monsters attacked only those who had mana. They didn't even touch anything without it.

Occasionally, some monsters still attacked him, but it was more on instinct.

He had found another important thing about monsters. Although they couldn't use mana and were husks of their previous selves,

some monsters had strong bodies.

Alden understood the reason. Their rank must've been higher while they were alive.

Just then—

Alden's head snapped towards his right.

He felt the same strange feeling he had felt when the red wave of energy had passed through him.

There he saw it.

His eyes, enhanced through his [Eyes of Supreme], saw it.

A few kilometers to his right, monsters were gathered.

Their number was in the thousands.

They were gathering toward something.

It was the teleportation hub of the city. But something was different. A pillar of red energy stretched upward from the building.

Is that the source of corruption?

Just one look at the pillar of energy, and Alden understood what had caused the strange transformation.

So I can't use the teleportation hub to escape after all.

My only hope is to either escape through the dome covering the city, or in the worst case, use my pendant artifact's teleportation effect.

He focused again on his way.

Soon the slums came into view. Bodies were spread throughout the streets.

Alden considered the worst-case scenario.

He walked toward the shack Mark and Yuna lived in.

There he saw it—

Many dismembered corpses of monsters were spread in front of it.

Beside the bodies, a young girl was unconscious.

Yuna.

Alden could see her aura as bright as ever. That meant she was alive and hadn't been affected by the corruption yet.

But that didn't catch Alden's attention.

It was the being who stood beside her unconscious body.

A young boy with brown hair and bright green eyes was standing with his back toward the girl in a protective stance.

His eyes were pure white without a pupil, and slight saliva dripped from his mouth.

Still, he didn't try to attack Yuna.

Just then, another monster attacked the unconscious girl.

But before the attack could connect, steel-like claws sliced through the attacker in a single rough motion.

"P..r…o..t.e.c.t…Y..u.n...a." A broken voice came out of the boy's mouth.

Alden looked at the scene with wide eyes.

He slowly arrived in front of the shack.

The boy tried to raise his claws, ready to attack if Alden took even a single step forward.

"Mark, it's me." Alden's voice was low. His mouth was dry.

Damn it.

Just looking at the boy was enough for him to know what had happened.

The boy had not been spared by the corruption. He had been affected.

But somehow, instead of completely dying, a small part of his soul resisted the effect.

A normal person wouldn't have been able to see it. But Alden saw it, with his [Eyes of Supreme].

A bright light burned within the boy like a candle within a storm.

He was holding back. His aura was small, as if it would extinguish with a small breeze.

Alden knew Mark didn't have much time. Most of his soul was corrupted, and what little was left wouldn't be able to resist the corruption much longer.

Still, he was resisting… a small kid was resisting the corruption… just to protect his sister.

As soon as he heard Alden's low voice,

Mark slightly raised his head.

"Br..o..t..he.r..Ald..en." The same broken voice came again.

"Yes, it's me, Mark." Alden replied, his voice still low.

Hearing his voice,

Mark lowered his claws.

"Br..o..t..he.r… I..can't..hold..it..much..longer." Mark said, as Alden could see slight tears drip from his eyes.

"I.t…hurts… too..much." Mark's voice was twisted in agony.

Alden felt his heart twist at the sight. But he didn't interrupt.

He stood still.

He didn't offer false comfort. He didn't pretend to understand. But he listened.

Mark continued. "Can..you..p..le.a.se..protect..Yuna..she hasn't..become..like..me."

"Please… I..beg..you."

Alden didn't speak for a moment.

He barely knew the kid.

Mark was just a face from the slums—sharp, quiet, useful when needed.

Yuna was the same. They weren't his friends. They weren't important. Just two more names in a city full of them.

I was just curious about them due to Yuna's future power and her fate to become a villainess and nothing else.

And yet...

The boy stood there, barely holding himself together. Corrupted, breaking apart—and still begging. Not for himself, but for someone else.

His sister.

That kind of resolve… it wasn't common.

Alden's jaw tightened.

He didn't feel pity. He didn't feel grief. But he respected it.

"Alright," he said quietly. "I'll keep her safe."

Not because of a bond.

Not out of kindness.

But because if someone like this could fight the corruption to protect someone else—then the least he could do was honor it.

Mark's head lowered weakly.

"Thank..y..ou..brother."

"Please… take Yuna… away from here." Mark whispered. "I don't… wish.. to die in her.. presence."

Alden's jaw tightened.

He stepped forward, slow and measured.

Mark didn't move.

"You're sure?"

Mark gave a small, painful nod.

That was enough.

Alden knelt and picked Yuna up carefully.

She was—alive, but barely. He poured a healing potion in her mouth.

"I promise I'll make sure she survives." Alden said without looking back.

Whether it was to Mark… or himself… even he wasn't sure.

He turned and walked.

Behind him, the boy remained still—arms spread, claws bared, eyes burning white.

A lone figure guarding a doorstep of corpses.

And then Alden was gone.

He didn't look back.

He couldn't.

Mark looked at the shack they called their home. Memories of his life flashed before his eyes.

His mother's final moment. The pained smile of her as she took her final breath. It all felt too vivid.

And mostly, her last words:

Take care of Yuna.

Tears fell.

I'm sorry, Mom. I couldn't be there for her.

But maybe… he can.

I'm sorry I was such a disappointment.

The wind blew through the slums, but Mark didn't move.

His body trembled.

His soul burned.

And the corruption surged.