"What?" asked Darius in disbelief.
"You heard me right, young human," the old man said to him. "Neither of you is qualified to host the cosmic spirit.""Why is that so?" asked the young prince."The Spirit deems you unworthy. I hope that is enough of an explanation," the old man replied."And how do you know that?" asked the young prince."Who do you think you are talking to?" asked the old man."I've been serving in this sacred place for several centuries before your grandparents were conceived. Since the foundation of the earth was laid, I was entrusted with the task of guarding the cosmic spirit, and to do that, I had to learn its ways.So I can tell when something it approves of comes in here and when something abhorrent makes its way into this temple.And you, my friends, are the latter.I will give you each a sackful of diamonds worth enough wealth to last for multiple generations as a blessing foPokol headed back to her quarters at the Emperor's residence almost immediately after the Empress was destroyed by the witch.Back then, after the Empress was eviscerated by the witch's white flames into powdered ashes blown away by the wind, her natural instinct was to turn and run immediately.She didn't wait to say anything to the old woman, but instinctively ran off. Whether it was fear or just her playing along while the witch ignored her, it still remains unknown. But after the Empress's death, she just couldn't stand there anymore and ran away.As she ran away, the young girl took note of it and tried to notify her grandmother about it. "Grandmother?" The young apprentice called the witch but couldn't bring herself to point at the person who was getting away. With the young girl's clear conscience, she couldn't tell her grandmother to kill another young woman the same way the Empress was just killed.The young girl hadn't seen
The last time Pokol left for Val-d'Oise was on a carriage, but this time it was on horseback. She was accompanied by Valise and Zaraki, both riding on separate horses.In less than an hour, riding at full speed, they made it to the village. Pokol showed them the open fields where the Empress had died, and it still had onlookers trying to make more sense of the situation by finding clues at the spot where the Empress was eviscerated."I suppose too many people witnessed the event," Zaraki said, taking note of the several people who were there. "Do you think they may have known who died in the fire?""I don't think so," Pokol said. "I hope they don't.""That would be nice of you. At times like this, it's best to assume the worst-case scenario just to be safe.There is no way one bystander wouldn't figure out that the person who just died was the Empress, given how her portraits and figurines have been scattered throughout the Empire ever si
"We are dead," Pokol said right after the sinister figure whooshed above the town of Val-d'Oise, heading straight to Brannuka. No doubt Strego was at the castle, ready to delight in the moment of Dracula's return so he could give him the news of what happened to his wife.Pokol fell on her knees and began to cry, calling down curses upon herself. With her sharp talons, she began to scratch herself, causing severe bleeding injuries everywhere. But contrary to what she wanted, all the injuries kept closing up.She wanted to die, but her body wasn't letting her. She even began trying to slit her throat. But before she could land an effective blow upon herself, Vasile held both of her hands very tightly until her talons were withdrawn and then held her close.He tried to comfort her, rubbing one hand on her back and using the other to stroke her hair as she cried out loud in terror."Don't worry!" he said. "I swear by my life as a Ketsuki that I will
Nobuharu was seated alone in his room, feeling bored out of life. The province he had been lording over wasn't all that interesting, as it had little to no criminal activity. This meant that there was almost nobody to feed on, and having to patrol the streets while trying to stop himself from killing unnecessarily wasn't his style.That was why he barely spent time in that province, as there was very little to supervise and very little fun to have when there was nobody to kill. He now spent most of his time, like Pokol, at the Royal province, spending his free time at the castle. Though he had been feeding to his fill on the blood of the castle's prisoners, it was no longer satisfactory. He wanted something more. Blood tasted differently for Ketsuki based on the type of human they consumed. And for Nobuharu, the blood of criminals had begun to leave a bad taste in his mouth. He had become so used to it that consuming it now almost irritated him.
Dracula obliterated the house of the witch but couldn't find signs of anyone there.Of course, they had gotten away. That was what Vasile and Zaraki had gotten involved in. They had taken the witch and Pokol someplace else, someplace far away.If they were anywhere close by, he would have known about it, thanks to his enhanced senses. But he couldn't sense any Ketsuki anywhere near the vicinity, so they had definitely fled someplace far away.But they wouldn't be able to get away from him. Not for long. He would find them. And he would kill them all in the slowest and most painful way for what they had done to him.It was only a matter of time. As he and the others go on their rampage to slaughter all humans and convert all who remain, they will inevitably meet again. And they would surely pay dearly.These were the thoughts Dracula had, but his imagination came to a quick halt when he heard a familiar voice calling his name
Dracula now lay on the ground, with multiple stakes driven through his body. One was driven through his throat, another through his heart, and another through his brain.By all metrics, Lord Dracula was dead—or at least, that was what it seemed like.The young Vasile looked at Zaraki and the witch with a smile on his face. But the witch instead responded with a strange frown. It was as if it were weird for him to be happy that Dracula had been defeated, and it made no sense to him."Why are you smiling?" she asked. "You aren't naive enough to think that he is dead, are you?"Vasile's smile faded to obscurity the moment he heard this question. And he looked at Zaraki. He could see that the old butler also shared the same sentiment. He didn't look happy about it, although he seemed to be a tad relieved that everything went according to plan."Then what is going on with him?" asked Vasile. "He clearly has no pulse, and his body is turning co
Strego opened his eyes and found himself in the throne room. The dim yet natural illumination of the hall through the closed windows showed that it was daytime.The last thing he remembered was somewhat of a dream. A world where he was free to do as he wanted. But when he woke up, it just felt right. Not because he felt better being as he was right now, but because it was too good to be true. So, of course, it had to be a dream—a world where he was free to molest and abuse as many women as he wanted. No way would that be the real world—not by a long shot.But his memories became clearer once he saw Nobuharu lying unconscious beside him. The clothes he wore correlated with some of his memories from the so-called dream.Wasn't it just a dream?Then he heard a voice, and that voice brought the highest clarity to his mind. It turned out he wasn't a dean after all. "Strego! You have finally woken up," the voice said. Strego remembered that
Vasile was with Zaraki, brainstorming through all the conclusions he had come up with throughout the day.They had to take their time to find out what was and was not going to work as new policies for the Ketsuki.They discussed and debated about it for a while, and before they could tell what the time was, midnight was already far past. It was less than three hours before sunrise, and yet there were a lot of things to cover.Zaraki's wisdom amazed Vasile, and what he thought would have taken only a few minutes and, at most, an hour to get through took a lot more time than expected. There were a lot of loopholes in his judgments, and Zaraki could easily spot and correct them. And each time Vasile conceded a point that was proven foolish by Zaraki, he felt all the more stupid that it took a whole day to come up with such bad conclusions.It was as if, with every time Vasile spelled out his proposal, Zaraki would come up with an instant rebuttal and