Chapter 1240: Welcome back... Snape!
While Aether, Mary and Morgana were busy playing around...
Meanwhile in the Void’s Cradle,
Ssshhh~
A shimmering portal cracked open.
From within its violet swirl, a purple boot emerged and pressed down onto the black surface of the tar ocean.
A moment later, the purplish hooded figure stepped out fully, the edges of her cloak fluttering in the strange wind of the Cradle.
Inhale~
"Ahhh..." The figure drew in a slow, deliberate breath.
"Wow, it’s been such a long time since I stepped here... Nostalgic." Its tone carried a feminine lilt, soft yet edged with something weary.
Beneath the shadow of her hood, her eyes scanned the desolate landscape... an endless expanse of black tar, rolling like a stagnant ocean, broken only by jagged black stones that jutted out at odd angles.
The pungent stench hit her nose instantly, unpleasantly pungent and suffocating. She exhaled heavily, "Thank goodness... The Grace is not here anymore. Damn, that woman would watch me with her eye like a hawk... always piercing, always judging. So damn annoying. It was nearly impossible to hide from her gaze." Her words turned into a low growl muffled beneath the hood.
Her attention shifted upward. The sky was a dull grey, vast and hollow, "Same sky," she murmured with a kind of grim recognition, "just like the day we abandoned it... Hmm. She really managed to protect it after all. That much... she must have loved her Master, didn’t she?" Her voice softened, tinged with something that might have been pity.
BOOM!
The ground quaked as a shock wave tore through the Empire, shivering the surface of the tar.
She snapped her head toward the source. In the distance... purple lightning raked through clouds, red mist boiled across the horizon, and black fire writhed as though alive.
"They’re really going for it, aren’t they?" she muttered with amusement.
"Anyway... enough about the past." She inhaled again, a deep, steadying breath, as if burying old memories in the depths of her chest. "It’s time to look at the future..."
Her voice sharpened, cutting through the stagnant air as she declared,
"Isn’t that right... Snape?"
Her eyes, hidden in shadow, darted toward the tar at her side.
Pop...
From the black sea, a bubble swelled, then burst with a sickening wet sound.
A strange, grey-skinned form rose slowly, drifting upward as if unseen hands guided it, towards... a bald head, grey skin. Upon its forehead, carved deep into the skin, ’X’.
Spllcckkk
The man dragged himself upward, tar sliding off his naked form like molasses. With each step he took onto the solid black surface, more of his body revealed itself... lean, hardened.
His face was stern, brow furrowed in a faint frown as though waking from an endless nightmare.
At last, he stood fully before the hooded figure. For a second, both of them stared, and the atmosphere turned tense... but then, without hesitation, he bent down, knees sinking slightly into the tar as he lowered his head in submission.
"Welcome... Master Hunter," Snape spoke, his voice deep yet carrying an odd reverence.
The purplish figure tilted her head, caught off guard, her voice low with faint surprise. "I truly thought you had forgotten me..."
Snape lifted his gaze, and for the first time, a small, solemn smile spread across his lips.
"Impossible. The one who brought me back to life, who granted me a path when I was nothing but a corpse adrift in a void... how could I forget?" His voice grew steadier as he continued.
"You entrusted me with your greatest Organisation. You gave me purpose when my name was nothing but dust. Master Hunter... with you, I found a reason to breathe again.
Through you, I uncovered truths that stripped away the lies of our ugly world."
He raised his hand slowly, trembling slightly — not with fear, but with the humility of a beggar offering everything.
"The knowledge I hold... all of it was granted by you, Master."
For a moment, only silence. The only sounds were the distant rumbles of battle.
The figure stood unmoving, the shadows of the hood hiding her expression, as she said with an amused tone,
"I cannot decide whether I should be honoured by your words... or unsettled by them."
Snape smiled faintly, "Please, Master... if not for you, I wouldn’t be here again."
"Oh?" The figure tilted her head beneath the hood, voice dripping with faint amusement.
"I think you’re mistaken, Snape. This time... you are truly out of my hands. The one who brought you back was not me at all... but the one who ended your life... is the one who brought you back" Her words ended with a low chuckle, as though she herself found it too poetic to be real.
Snape’s smile faded instantly. His face turned blank as if struck by lightning. His lips parted and he muttered under his breath, almost like a curse.
"Aether?"
"Haha..." The figure’s laugh echoed faintly, "He is so famous now, isn’t he?" Her voice carried that strange mix of mockery and delight.
Snape’s fists clenched tight, "Because of that boy... because of him... Jack... I will kill them! No—" His eyes blazed, his voice rising into a harsh roar. "I will make them suffer for what they’ve done to me! A thousand times over!"
The figure shrugged casually, as though his wrath amused her. "Well... your betrayer, Jack, is already dead."
"Oh?" Snape’s voice cut off in stunned silence.
"Yes," she continued, raising her hand and casually snapping her fingers with a sharp crack. "Your loyal subordinate, Morgana, killed him off just like that. A clean snap."
Snape blinked, shock flashing across his face before his lips twisted into a grin.
"Hehe... I knew she was the best." For a fleeting moment, pride shone in his voice.
But then his brows furrowed, "If you didn’t bring me back... then how am I here? Could it be... has that Aether grown stronger than you?" His expression shifted almost to horror at the thought.
But the figure only laughed. "Haha... of course not, silly. He isn’t even worth comparing to my foot," she chuckled as if the very idea was the funniest joke she had ever heard.
"Then?"
"It’s because..." The hooded figure paused, as though savouring the weight of her words.
"The Void’s Cradle severed its connection with Grenthollow... along with the disappearance of Grace."
"Oh?" Snape’s eyes widened again.
Just what had that boy done now? If Hunter said it was Aether responsible, then it meant he was walking paths even Snape himself could not imagine.
"Then... those who were swallowed by the Void’s Cradle... would they return, like me?" He turned, half-expecting to see others rising from the black tar as he had.
But when he looked back, there was only stillness. The tar bubbled faintly, but no other bodies came forth.
"That’s not how it works, Snape..." The figure’s voice turned slightly cold.
BOOM!
A violent shock wave ripped across the horizon, forcing Snape to flinch. His head jerked upward. Far away, beyond the mist and flames, he saw figures locked in brutal combat. Purple light sparked like chains of lightning, and dark silhouettes clashed against lightning and crimson flares joined dark ones.
He narrowed his eyes, struggling to make out their forms.
Then his voice dropped in disbelief. "Victor? Mary? Morgana? What’s going on here?" His frown deepened.
"If Victor and Morgana are in danger... did Mary discover the truth? Is she trying to kill them?" He paused, squinting harder, "...Hmm? No... it looks like Mary and Morgana are fighting together against Victor?"
His gaze snapped toward the figure... Beneath the hood, she stared at him steadily.
"Master?" Snape asked hesitantly.
The figure let out a long sigh, her breath carrying pity, "You didn’t even realise your own subordinates were playing one plus one combo in your territory. Much less to say... against the very boy who killed you with a double action."
Her tone was quiet, muttered under her breath... There was almost pity in her voice, as though she mourned not his death, but his lack of wit.
But then, ’Well... not that I can say much. I literally let Kennedy loose to stir chaos in the academy. Too bad... everyone betrayed him,’ she thought with an amused expression.
Snape frowned. He couldn’t quite catch what Master Hunter was saying. Perhaps he was still in a dazed state; after all, it truly felt like he had woken after an endless sleep, his mind sluggish and slow to grasp the reality before him.
"So... what should we do now? Has the beginning already started?" His tone carried impatience, but also a quiet desperation.
The atmosphere shifted in an instant...
Hunter said with a cold tone, "There will be consequences for every action, Snape."
The words echoed with a chill that sank into his bones.
Snape’s frown deepened. Something felt wrong. A prickling dread spread along his spine. Why did the figure feel suddenly distant... cold... unlike the Master Hunter he had once known?
"Master?"
"Killing billions of people, and yet living without the weight of regret..." The voice that answered was colder than ever, "Your sin could never be purified."
Snape stiffened... His instincts screamed!
Something about this encounter... this was not a reunion. It was judgment. The way she looked at him was not that of a saviour or ally — but an executioner.
A knot of fear formed in his chest. Without another word, his body reacted. His eyes darted to the side, his muscles tensed, and he turned to flee.
The figure chuckled darkly, the sound rolling low from under her hood. "He is clever... at least." Then, with a sharp snap of her fingers, her voice commanded, "Zero... catch him."
Ssshhht—
From the shadows, a tiny hooded figure emerged out of nowhere. It carried a small, strange gun in its hand, glowing faintly with light.
Sssssnnnn!
The air ripped open with a deafening charge. A wave of energy blasted out, striking Snape’s retreating form. His body froze mid-stride, halted as though the world itself had locked around him.
Snape’s eyes widened in horror. His voice cracked with disbelief. "Zero? It’s me! Your creator!!" He struggled with every fibre of his being, but his limbs refused to obey. His body was suspended, frozen in time itself, unable to move even an inch as the energy wave held him like chains.