‘Sheesh, those guys can’t take a joke.’
By those guys, I was referring to Ulva and co. of course. I made an on-the-spot joke about them entering my stomach and they were actually on their way to do so.
Sure, they would have remained in a state of suspension inside my [World Eater] skill, but the thought of swallowing them up was gross in my head. I left them off in the dungeon and went out with the little fella.
‘Mother, I’m hungry~ meow~’
It commented while in my arms. I looked at it curiously, not sure what to tell it. A question came to my mind.
‘Agent… can I produce br-‘
<<No>>
‘Thank the heavens!’
I let out an exasperated breath. I couldn’t produce breast milk; hence I was in the clear. Then again, I was a bird and birds didn’t produce milk for their offspring.
The only thing I could think about were worms, insects and… seeds? I guess I had seeds.
I created some spawn spores in my palm and fed it to the little guy. It sniffed the seeds then swiped them off my palm.
‘I want better food~’
It cockily ordered. I looked at the fallen spores, then shrugged. Those would wake up to become mushroos, possibly evolve then sooner or later come find me as their master. So, in the end, I ignored it.
‘What do hell kittens eat?’
<<Souls, fruits from the Hell groves, Milk from their parents…>>
The agent started to make a list. I glared at the last suggestion, feeling like it was mocking me in some way. From all the things it listed, the only source of food I could provide were souls. And even those weren’t easy to come by.
‘I hope you like rabbit.’
I would just steal the incomplete souls of monsters and feed it to the kitten later. For now, we had to find the intruder before-
“There you are!”
A childish voice came through. Out of sheer instinct and reflexes, I side stepped, avoiding the assault from behind. The boy crashed into a tree, evidently surprised by my quick movements.
He got out of the tree and scratched his head.
“Weird. How did thou escape my Bloody Death Charge.”
‘You don’t have a skill like that!’
I wanted to shout at him, but I kept that to myself.
“I wish to talk with you.”
I said as he dusted his clothes. I took that as a sign that I could continue.
“You see, this is just kitten, barely thirty minutes old. It can’t become the demon lord even if it radiates a demonic aura. So, how about you let us go just this onc-”
Before I could finish, he jumped at me once more, this time a large claw of blood had formed over his outstretched arm, with a face like a maniac. This bastard sent intense killing intent my way, clearly not in the mood to have a discussion with me.
I quickly moved out of the way to the sky above him. He looked around, before eventually settling his eyes on me. The same expression of murderous glee was on his face.
Tired, I let out a sigh after taking one last look at the kitten. I had to steel myself for what I was about to do.
‘If you refuse to listen, fine! I tried to warn you!’
I wasn’t lying when I said I was here to warn him. From the very beginning, I wasn’t scared of his stats. I was just scared of his very odd personality that made me cry at my past.
With merely a fraction of my mana, a summoned 10 Shadow Demon Fiends, 30 Greater Shadow Demons Generals and 1000 Greater Shadow Demon Soldiers.
The fiends were incapable of summoning their own, but the 30 Greater Shadow demons summoned a whopping 1000 shadows each and the greater shadow demon soldiers summoned 100 each.
With that, I had an army of over 100,000 C+ ranks, 30,000 B-ranks and 10 A- - ranks. The night sky turned even darker with the lack of light from the moon. Only the colour red from the shadows’ eyes illuminated a great portion of the forest.
The boy shook on the ground, though I could tell this wasn’t out of fear. He was happy to finally be able to put his chuuni power on display. He yelled something from the ground.
“Please watch my battle, my lady!”
That was most likely directed to the Queen of the World. Still, that didn’t matter. If it was for my friends and family, I wouldn’t mind antagonising the world.
With one command, the shadows charged at the young vampire boy.
‘Kill.’
*
Julian, was at first surprised when he was the sky turn so dark it was very difficult to see. Fortunately, his vision was more reliant of creatures with heat and blood. Unfortunately, his enemies were not creatures with heat and blood.
He felt that his senses were being clogged by the sheer suffocating numbers that littered the night sky. This made me shake with ecstasy.
Finally, he could put his full power on display for the whole world to shake. His goal for the night, make the skies part and the earth shake at least once. Should he accomplish these things, he’d be more than happy enough.
“Please watch my battle, my lady!”
So, to accomplish his first goal, he put his hand to his eyepatch. Removed the supposedly power-capping device, unleashing his true potential for the world to see.
It was a regular eyepatch he made while in a prison cell.
His eyes glowed brighter than ever as his mouth widened into a grin so wide, it practically hanged from his ears. Power swelled up within him as he could feel his eye swallowing up all the mana in the air and transferring it to his fist.
The shadows had started their attack. From the looks of things, their master had given them permission to kill him. That would make the fight even better. A battle to the death between the Great Blood Emperor and the kidnapper of his new master.
Such an epic battle would have to be recorded in the Epic of the Blood Emperor later on. He could only imagine how people would react to hearing this tale. Perhaps, even his queen would praise him for performing so well.
He waited for the perfect moment – when the shadows swarmed him. They let out a torrent of vicious attacks that barely scratched his skin. In fact, Julian was surprised by how weak they were. It was sort of a let down to him, but he released his attack nonetheless.
The fist sent a streak of blood red that pierced through the cloud of black like a needle through paper. It forcefully punctured a whole and its reach seemed endless, possibly even escaping the planet’s atmosphere.
The skies parted and a loud thundering noise exploded in the sky, making most cover the ears.
Julian was excited, having destroyed a third of the shadow army with such one attack and having accomplished one of his two goals for the day. However, he didn’t let his excitement show. Rather, he took on a more refined posture and deepened his voice to instil a sense of superiority.
“Hahaha! Such a meagre army is nothing before my undulating Great Wonder Blood Eye!”
His eyes settled on the monster that summoned this army. She was glaring at him with a gaze that reminded him of his Lady’s. Such a refined glare could only belong to a queen of high standards.
He cleared his throat and internally apologised for offending her earlier by calling her a mere monster.
‘I apologise, pitiful queen.’
He said and wiped away a single tear drop from his eye.
‘Hehehe, how’s that performance?’
In truth, it was not a tear drop, but water magic he used. The purpose was to create a silent, solemn performance in which he looked like a tragic hero to the queen. He was supposed to look pitiful in her eyes so she would let down her guard, try to help him, then bam! That was when he would strike.
After a good minute of silence, Julian decided that he had to act or nothing would happen. It would seem she as well hadn’t moved her soldiers from their spot as they all just flew behind her.
He looked at her eyes again. This time, he could feel a sort of conviction as he peered into them. The queen had decided to give him a chance. She was channelling up power in her hands just like he did before. Her hands cracked with black lightning and he could see dark particles forming around her as she stretched out her hand to face him. It was like the space around her warped and bent to her will. A sound akin the sky shattering erupted in his ears and a pit that seemed to swallow up everything in the world opened up in the queen's palms.
This was his first seeing an attack like that. His instincts told him that the attack was going to be a very impactful one.
Still, he felt no fear of death. He had concluded that his scheme worked and she had made a fatal move.
Julian kept up his act to perfection. Solemnly, he continued.
“Ti’s unfortunate for my queen has blessed me with the Grea-”
An intense pressure bore down on Julian out of nowhere. He tried to resist it, but it was much too powerful for the likes of him. He fell down the ground, squashed into nothing but bits on the floor, his bodily fluids escaped everywhere.
The attack came out of nowhere, surprising even Julian who had very fast reflexes. It was almost god-like how that attack landed with swift efficiency.
This queen, he had underestimated her too much. She was much more ruthless than he imagined. It was enough for him to acknowledge her as the world faded from his eyes.
‘W-What power and sp-speed-’
Was his last thought before falling unconscious.
***
Realm of Eternal Knight, The Queen’s Throne Room.
The elder vampires surrounding the table could only watch with faces of obvious interest. The monster their queen bet on was intriguing enough, but its mother was something else. Summoning such monsters with seemingly no loss in energy was impressive enough to garner their attention.
The queen on the other hand, was not impressed in the slightest. She yawned while looking at the scene, waiting for Julian to hurry it up and swear his allegiance to the baby.
It was always best to raise them from infancy, though she would have to admit that she was a bit worried about Julian.
Without a doubt, Julian was strong. Stronger than most of the people living on the continent below. In fact, the Queen was certain that under certain circumstances, Julian was undefeatable. Still, there was a major issue with the current fight.
And that was how Julian was taking it. Her fists trembled while on the throne, enraged by his useless rambling and screaming. His behaviour reminded her of her dark past and made her skin crawl with disgust and pain.
Thinking back to how she used to behave was painful. It was one of the reasons she’d locked Julian up, hoping that he would stop acting like that. But three centuries of hunger, torture and imprisonment had taught him nothing! He didn’t mature one bit and was still acting like a child.
Over on her chair, she tried to pry her eyes away from the fight, praying that once she opened them, he’d stop.
“Hahaha! Such a meagre army is nothing before my undulating Great Wonder Blood Eye!”
He didn’t stop!
He was only coming out stronger. It was just as bad as she remembered if not worse.
A pained groan escaped the queen’s lips as she slunk into her chair. Trying to get it out of her head. Those painful and embarrassing memories were refusing to leave no matter.
Angry, she punished Augustine who was still on his knees, suffering under her blood destruction. She turned on the frequency, making the vampire’s eyes bleed and scream in agony, but that did nothing to help alleviate the embarrassment she was feeling.
“I will kill that boy!”
Finally unable to take it, she got up from her throne.
“My queen?”
She stomped towards the door, but one of the elders, Liza stopped in front of her. The queen glared at her quizzically.
“What is it?”
She asked, not in the mood for her time to be wasted.
“The world is not ready for you to descend. That is far too much of a risk. Also, the moment you leave, that ‘group’ will strike.”
“Eh? How’s that a problem…” She was about to argue, but noticed the dependent gaze of all her subordinates on her. A sound, unbecoming of a queen escaped her mouth.
It was like a high-pitched, childish squeal of a girl who was too angry for words.
She stomped back to her throne, then spread the map on the table. There, she identified Julian.
“Ti’s unfortunate for my queen has blessed me with the Grea-”
She slapped down on Julian as hard as she could, squashing him into the ground with a very angry scowl.
“Stupid accursed brat! I should have left you in that cell for another century.”
