MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

"Adam! Are you alright!?"

Moments after the detectives left the room, a disheveled woman wearing an equally disheveled suit entered the room with hasty steps and subsequently hugged him tightly in her arms.

"What the hell is wrong with you two mother and son duo!? You are going to be the death of me."

Her quivering form and intermittent sobbing sounds were enough for the boy to feel greatly distressed. He didn't want to see her in this messy state.

Shuri really felt like bad news was coming her way one after another like an endless barrage. For one she learned that her husband, with whom she had been living a moderately happy marriage life with for many years, was now cheating on her.

As if that wasn't enough, her best friend of nearly two decades suddenly fell terminally ill and might be in need of a heart transplant for her survival.

Forgetting about her problems and trying to leave them behind her, she decided to enjoy this festive day. But just as she was about to spend Halloween with her dear friend's son as well as his birthday while hoping sincerely that this would at least help her lighten up a little, she waited anxiously for hours only to be called by the hospital about having Adam in their wards.

Shuri had never felt such a rollercoaster of emotions ever before in her life. She was really on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Adam could only sigh ruefully and hug this strong woman back in hopes of at least ensuring her of his safety, "I am sorry."

This was all he could say at this moment. No amount of words would be able to change what happened and the distress that Shuri must have felt.

They stayed like this for a few minutes before Shuri stood up and wiped her tears away. She was a little embarrassed about having shown her emotion in such an unbecoming fashion.

Once she calmed herself down, her expression became rather cold as she entered her characteristic work mode.

"The doctor told me the police visited. What did you tell them?"

"Nothing. It was Sae's father but I still decided that staying silent would be the best course of action."

"Good job."

She smiled and nodded before walking back to the door and closing it just to be sure. "Now tell me everything that happened and leave nothing out."

Shuri did not specialize in criminal law. But her firm still had a department related to this, so she would be able to manage.

Right now, she just wanted to have first-hand information on the case and choose the appropriate personnel to handle this case should Adam be found out to have done something illegal. Shuri had all the trust in the world for Adam, but as a lawyer, she always needed to think about the worst-case scenario.

Adam stayed silent for a while, trying to organize his thoughts but even now it was hard to explain what really happened. He himself felt it to be surreal so he didn't know what he could reveal.

"I…"

———

A few minutes later, after recounting the events up to as much as he could remember, Shuri left the ward since the visiting hours were really long overdue. The doctor had informed her that he needed to rest and would be discharged in the morning if this was what he wanted.

The doctor would have loved to keep him longer but since Adam showed no obvious wounds or trauma, all they could do was give him a prescription.

Of course, Adam had no reason to refuse their goodwill and he wasn't worried about the police either. He knew very well that he was basically an innocent bystander in this matter and a witness to a murder. There was nothing they could do to tie him up with this case.

Another thing helping him was that Jack the Ripper would always leave traces of semen on his victim. This would help in proving that he wasn't the victim by matching the DNA on the fluid with his own DNA.

Furthermore, the taxi driver he used the services of could serve as another proof of his innocence. The police could easily know that he was not the culprit, much less an accomplice in this murder.

Of course, Adam knew that there were many cases of innocents being considered culprits simply because they talked too much and gave incoherent statements. This was why he had refused to speak to Taeko even though he knew the man and had quite friendly relations with him.

"Sigh… Now I am alone again."

Laying down, Adam closed his eyes, trying to get some sleep but he could only helplessly give up on that idea as memories of the previous event came back to haunt him again and again.

'I died.'

He was sure of it. It could not be an illusion. Because if it was, then he was seriously in the process of becoming a lunatic and a mental patient.

"Book…?"

A large grimoire-esque book with a golden apple on the cover materialized in front of him, slowly floating above his hand and entering his possession. It was the book of Genesis, the one that mysterious woman had given him.

"Hahaha!"

Adam laughed and laughed, his laughter didn't cease even after a long time. What was happening in front of his eyes was something that he just could not comprehend. It felt magical and imaginary. No way was this real, was what he thought, but he realized deep in his mind that all of this was indeed real.

What he thought to be only fiction really existed and his worldview had been completely shattered in its roots. He had really spoken with some superior entity in some place that gathered the knowledge of the entirety of existence and really tried to strike a deal with her.

'Damn…'

He could feel cold sweat drip down his back at that thought. They said the Ignorants were fearless and Adam now understood this to be a genuine fact. He had really decided to gamble against a godly entity.

What he could surmise was that… As he could not accept what happened back then as reality and it resulted in him daring to speak with the woman as if they were on equal grounds. But now he realized that he had faced a being that might simply erase him if she just wished.

"Still… What is this book?"

[I am Genesis. The first Key of the Akashic records and the one with the greatest authority among all the keys]

Adam was not surprised at hearing the voice. Now that he realized that he had not gone crazy, or rather now that he forced himself to think that he wasn't crazy, he could accept that there was some kinda voice talking in his head.

"The first key? I guess there are other keys?"

[What a great deduction]

Even though the voice was inorganic and emotionless, Adam could still feel the hidden sarcasm embedded in its words.

[You might know other examples such as the Lesser Key of Solomon, Lemegeton, who give access to all knowledge about the 72 devils, or the Necronomicon, which gives access to knowledge about the Great Old Ones]

[All those Keys give access to a specific section of the Akashic record to their hosts]

"And you give access to all sections."

[Indeed]

Adam felt a headache coming his way as he tried to conceptualize those devils, and all that bullshit about the Great Old Ones wasn't just some rambling from crazy men who were too high or too depressed with life to create such imaginary existences of power.

[The supernatural is real]

[It was simply hidden behind the mist of the Veil]

The more Adam discussed with the entity in his head, the less he felt like it was truly an emotionless entity. But now wasn't the time to ponder about its sentience.

He had one pressing question. Something he needed to get answered no matter what before he got overwhelmed by all of this information.

"What is a primogenitor?"

All of this hinged on what that woman described him to be. A primogenitor. He could understand the meaning of the word quite clearly. But this was all the more why he was so confused about it.

[Verifying Acess clearance]

[...]

[Minimum level required has been deemed to be possessed by the host. Pass.]

[Primogenitors. Cursed beings born from the blood of Cain, the first murderer and the first Immortal in existence after humans were cast out of the Garden of Eden.]

[Primogentors. Recognized as the crownless kings of the Earthly supernatural creatures. Each primogenitor is the ancestor of a new Earthly Supernatural race.]

[Most well know Primogenitors—

Ambrogio: Ancestors of all Vampire. Cursed by the Sun and the Silver Moon.

Lycaon: Ancestor of all Shapeshifters. Cursed by the Silver Moon.]

[Researching more information…]

[Acess denied, Insufficient authority]

[Authorization level too low]

Adam closed his eyes. Now he really wished that he was having a crazy fit or was going through a weird ass dream.