Realm Kings

Chapter 5: Something's Off

Niyad's face lit up when he heard this, a sliver of hope appeared in his eyes.

"You're from Blenheim!? But wait, you're a dark fae. No dark fae originate from Blenheim and from what I know they were hunted to extinction. How could a fae live around humans and not be detected?"

Sercy's eye twitched a bit when she heard his response, but not enough for him to notice.

"I said I was hired." She responded in an icy tone. The temperature in the forest dropped a bit and Niyad shivered.

"I didn't mean to offend you, it's just that..." Niyad stopped talking then bit his lip as if he was having an internal battle about something.

"I'll trust you since you've said that you were hired by Blenheim. Actually, I am also from Blenheim."

Sercy raised an eyebrow in question to his response. She tilted her head to the left with a dangerous look in her eyes. Truthfully, she already knew this from the moment he said his name. He was the son of that woman who had  been able to sense her presence. "Then why are you a benefactor to this bandit group that took the innocent lives of civilians from your own land?"

He stared up at her, the expression she had made him more inclined to trust her. ~She seems to really care about Blenheim, although she claims to just be hired.~

"Alright, I am from Blenheim and I was there when they attacked the village. I recognized the bandits when they started attacking because I've met them before."

The truth.

"I saved someone from their bandit clan before. The person I saved turned out to be very important to them. It happened while hunting in the woods during the drought two years ago. Because of this, they've treated me friendly ever since. When they attacked my village one of them sent a message saying he was sorry, but he had to do this. He didn't explain why, but in the end they were about to kill the remaining group of children when another one announced that this should be enough. He suggested they take the children for now. I ran out from hiding when they said this in an attempt to negotiate and now here I am."

The truth.

“The children, where are they?"

"I'm not sure. They promised not to kill them and instead spoke of integrating them into their bandit clans. They said if they had just stopped them and left them alive, it would be obvious that attacking and robbing the village wasn't really their intention."

-"What were their intentions?"

"I'm not sure."

Loud screams echoed from a camp in the distance causing Niyad's head to whip to the side staring off into the distance.  "He's that fast? It's only been about 5 minutes."

"If he wanted to, he wouldn't need more than 30 seconds to wipe out all the bandit camps that exist in this mountain."

Niyad shuddered at the thought,

"Then why is he..." he cut his question short, not sure if he should ask.

"Because his killing ban was just lifted. He is savoring the feeling."

Niyad's face paled a bit at this information. Sercy looked away from him staring blankly into the distance. Niyad's eyes examined the exposed section of her face. She looked completely different from before. Her eyes were darker and shone with a slight purple glint that made one think boundless stars were trapped inside. His eyes roamed her body from head to her toes. He couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked, almost ethereal.

The wind blew and a strand of her hair lifted which drew his attention to the knife he had given her earlier. It stuck out of her hair, which was now wrapped in a bun.

So this is how a dark fae looks?

He felt as if he was being sucked into a trance when suddenly Sercy glanced at him, startling him out of his daze. He awkwardly cleared his throat, then looked away.

The once quiet forest was filled with blood-curdling screams. Each time Count showed up at a different location he freed those who were captured, then pointed at the oldest person ordering them to lead the others back to the village.

After witnessing the bloodbath created by him, the villagers shakily followed his orders almost scampering over themselves to escape.

There was one particular camp that only had children as captives. When he released them, they were a whimpering mess and none of them looked old enough to lead the others. He sighed in annoyance before mumbling to himself.

"Ugh... This is precisely why I told Sercy I'm not a nice guy. I don't want to be nice. A few centuries ago I'd just eat you all... But no, good people don't eat children."

A child hearing what he said peed himself, then started crying even louder which caused Count to throw up his hands in exasperation rolling his eyes dramatically.

"Calm down kid... I said a few centuries ago. My diet now is strictly old bad people." After saying this he swung both hands to the side as if presenting something, he motioned to a headless corpse whose head he had bit off a few minutes ago.

"Now kids, bundle together so Uncle Count can send you back to the village."

Waving his hand, his Qi manifested into the shape of a bat. He waved his arm, causing the children to go unconscious, then lifted them on to the manifested bat. He then waved his arms once more and the bat flew off in the direction of the village.

Sighing, Count disappeared once more, reappearing in a camp a few miles away.

He looked around noticing that he was in the center of a few gathered bandits.

They were all momentarily startled at his sudden appearance.

"Oops?" Count in a sarcastic tone, before smiling.

The bandits all moved in to attack at the same time, a flurry of colorful cultivation magic was shot towards Count before exploding with a loud boom.

When the smoke disappeared, there was nothing but ash where Count was standing which caused the bandits to breathe a sigh of relief.

"The balls of that weakling must have been really big, thinking he could blindly teleport into our bandit camp. Did he use a faulty talisman or something?"

One bandit commented as the others started laughing in agreement.

He felt proud for his comment which gained the agreement from his peers, so proud that he didn't realize that everyone suddenly went quiet and started backing away from him.

The temperature in the woods dropped and an aura of death could be felt seeping from between the trees. The bandit's heart started racing now sensing that someone was standing behind him.

He turned around slowly and was greeted by Count's pearly white teeth smiling eerily at him.

"My balls? They are quite big, but I'm far from weak."

After saying that his smile seemed to stretch much farther than it should be capable of, all the way back to his ears. His jaw dislocated revealing another row of extremely sharp teeth. Count's mouth expanded to the size of the bandit's head then he chomped down.

The bandit's headless body fell to the ground and Count's face returned to normal. He moved like a dainty lady slowly removing a handkerchief from his coat pocket to gently tap at his mouth, wiping away any blood that might have escaped his lips.

"Bleh, that tasted horrible, I find that the dumb ones have less nutritional value."

He looked down at the corpse in disappointment before turning his attention to the pale expressions of the men in front of him. A few took small steps back and others fell over their own legs. Fear made it difficult for them to move.

Count raised an eyebrow in amusement then gently said.

"Boo."

One man fainted while the others started to scramble away in all directions.

Their terrified screams filled the night, followed by the laugh of a very happy Count.