Chapter 132: ¹³²Blood In The Corridor
The crimson glow of the full moon pierced through the massive stained-glass window, casting elongated, blood-red patterns across the marble floor of Veylor Castle’s west wing.
?Caelum von Valois took a step back, his boots squeaking softly against the stone.
?His blue eyes, which usually radiated absolute analytical calm, were now wide with panic. Cold sweat poured down his temples. His left shoulder throbbed with excruciating pain, spilling fresh blood that seeped through his grey coat.
?Before him, the Crown Prince had surrendered every last shred of his humanity.
?"Hsssh... gh!"
?Edward von Valois let out a heavy snort. His breath was ragged and reeked of copper. His golden-blonde hair, usually combed back impeccably, was now a matted mess, slick with the blood of the servant whose throat he had just torn apart.
?The prince’s sky-blue eyes were completely gone, replaced by a maddened, glowing crimson. Thick black veins bulged across his neck and temples, pulsing like parasitic worms beneath his skin. His white-and-gold military uniform hung off him in shredded rags.
?"Cae... lum..."
?The voice scraped out of Edward’s throat—distorted, raspy, and wet, like two rusted blades grinding against each other.
?Yet, even as the curse stripped away his sanity, the darkest jealousy and resentment Edward had harbored for years seized control of his vocal cords.
?"Always... you...!" Edward growled.
?He lurched forward. His joints moved with unnatural stiffness, yet radiated a raw physical strength far beyond the limits of an ordinary human.
?Reflexively, Caelum dropped into a defensive stance, his fingers tightening around a silver dagger pulled from beneath his coat. There was no time to chant a large-scale spell in such tight quarters.
?"Snap out of it, Edward!" Caelum yelled, fighting back the panic in his voice. "Control yourself!"
?"You... never even wanted it!" Edward roared, ignoring his younger brother’s plea.
?Whoosh!
?Edward lunged forward at a blur of speed. His muscular hands, now resembling monstrous talons, swung wildly.
?Clang!
?Caelum parried with his dagger, but the force behind the strike was overwhelming.
?Crash!
?The Second Prince was thrown backward, his back slamming violently into the marble wall and knocking the air straight out of his lungs.
?"You never asked for this throne!" Edward roared again.
?Charging in an instant, he seized Caelum by the throat and pinned him brutally against the stone wall. Blood-laced saliva dripped from Edward’s lips, splattering across his brother’s face.
?"But they... they all chose you! The ministers... the generals... even Father!"
?Caelum thrashed frantically, trying to break free from his brother’s steel-like grip. The oxygen in his lungs vanished rapidly.
?"Father... Father always looked at you with pride!" Edward screamed, pouring out years of rusted jealousy. "And me? The Crown Prince?! I was just a placeholder waiting to be replaced! You stole everything from me, Caelum!"
?Edward unhinged his jaw, revealing rows of jagged, filthy fangs as he prepared to tear Caelum’s throat out and end this succession war once and for all.
?Caelum braced himself, channeling the last dregs of his mana. He knew he couldn’t physically withstand this monster.
?But before those bloody fangs could pierce Caelum’s flesh—
?BOOM!
?A deafening explosion suddenly rocked the west wing.
?The marble wall at the end of the corridor shattered into fragments, blasting chunks of stone and white dust in all directions.
?From within the billowing dust, a wave of scorching heat swept through the hallway, immediately followed by a freezing gust that chilled the blood.
?Whoosh!
?A massive fireball of brilliant orange-white flame shot through the air, striking Edward square in the side.
?Skreech... Crash!
?The Crown Prince howled in agony as he was blasted off Caelum, skidding into the stone pillars as his white uniform caught fire.
?Caelum dropped to his knees. "Hah... hah..." Coughing violently, he gasped greedily for air while clutching his bruised neck.
?Through the gaping hole in the wall, two men stepped inside with the absolute composure of true rulers.
?Having crossed paths at the palace gates, they had agreed on the most efficient entry method available: breaking through directly.
?Duke Reinhard von Ashford stood tall, calmly adjusting the sleeves of his dark silk robe laced with gold accents. His deep copper hair was immaculately combed, and his golden-yellow eyes surveyed the chaos in the corridor with a flat, impassive gaze.
?Beside him, Duke Alaric von Rosenberg towered like a colossus from the north. His white bear-pelt cloak fluttered gently while frost crystals crackled along his sideburns. Alaric’s pale blue eyes pierced through the dark as he held his broadsword with a single hand.
?"Hmm. It seems the Crown Prince has forgotten his manners when entertaining his younger brother," Reinhard remarked softly.
?He snapped his fingers, extinguishing the lingering remnants of his fire magic floating in the air.
?Awooo!
?From the far end of the hallway, a feral howl echoed. The scent of Edward’s blood had lured dozens of servants and knights who had transformed into red-eyed monsters. They poured into the corridor, rushing wildly toward Caelum and the two Dukes.
?Alaric let out a gruff grunt. "Move aside, Reinhard."
?The Duke of the North stepped forward. Without chanting a single spell, he swept his blade in a single horizontal arc.
?Sshhk-crrrk!
?The ice-attribute aura of a Master Knight detonated. Within a fraction of a second, the temperature in the corridor plunged far below absolute zero.
?A wave of pale-blue frost spread rapidly across the floor, walls, and ceiling—freezing the dozens of charging monsters into a gruesome gallery of ice statues.
?Reinhard didn’t waste the momentum. Raising his hand, he unleashed a wave of orange-white fire that swept through the frozen statues.
?Shatter!
?The abrupt and extreme thermal shock shattered the monsters’ bodies into frozen ash before a single scream could escape them.
?Caelum forced himself up, wincing from the searing pain in his shoulder. "Duke Ashford... Duke Rosenberg..."
?"The epicenter of this mana anomaly is in the high tower," Reinhard interrupted curtly, wasting no breath on political pleasantries.
?The Southern politician’s golden eyes turned toward Alaric. "Head upstairs, Alaric. I’ll hold off these pests and deal with our confused prince."
?Edward, his body charred in places, pulled himself up from the rubble of the fallen pillar. His glowing red eyes locked onto Reinhard and Alaric with unhinged malice.
?"Make sure you don’t kill him before we find out what’s going on, Reinhard," Alaric grunted.
?Without waiting for a reply, the massive Duke of the North shot forward like a blizzard, tearing through the remaining monsters in the hallway as he charged toward the tower’s spiral staircase.
?Reinhard turned to Caelum. "Find somewhere safe, Prince Caelum. This palace no longer belongs to the sane."
?The Sage-level Fire Mage strolled forward nonchalantly, hands folded behind his back, ready to receive the wild rampage of the corrupted Crown Prince.
?Meanwhile, far from Veylor Castle, the night air above the Marble Bridge still reeked heavily of metallic blood.
?Ethan Valen lowered his right hand.
?The crimson tip of the Whip of Velcrasia pulsed faintly before evaporating back into a haze of Sin Mana.
?Beneath his black leather boots lay dozens of corpses of the cursed citizens. Skulls shattered, chests caved in. Not a single one had managed to graze the hem of Ethan’s dark trench coat.
?Behind him, Kaelia von Ashford caught her breath. Her deep red tunic reflected the soft glow of street lanterns. On her lower abdomen, the black-flame rose of her Lust Brand pulsed warmly, suppressing the miasma of madness hanging in the air.
?Valera Voss let out a rough scoff. Schwing! The female knight flicked the black blood off her Zweih?nder with a single swift motion before sheathing it across her back.
?Laras, a skinny girl in a cream cotton dress, trembled uncontrollably behind Kaelia. The bruises on her face were deathly pale, yet the dark reddish-black rose seal on her back repelled any intrusion of cursed magic.
?Ethan turned around. His deep brown eyes swept over the three women before shifting to the vivid crimson glow emanating from the highest tower of Veylor Castle.
?"Go to the Rosenberg estate," Ethan commanded with absolute authority. "Join Isolde. Seal the perimeter, and let no one with red eyes set foot inside."
?Kaelia knit her brows, worry plain across her striking face. "Where are you going? To the Palace? Alone?! This is madness, Ethan. The entire city has turned into a nightmare!"
?Valera stepped forward, puffing out her chest until her black leather armor creaked. "My Lord, allow me to accompany you. I will carve a path through to the throne room for you!"
?Ethan fixed Valera with an unyielding coldness.
?"No. Protect the rest of my property," Ethan replied coldly, his gaze shifting back toward the high tower. "The palace is my stage tonight. I don’t need an audience to clean up a slaughterhouse."
?Kaelia bit her lower lip, holding back her protest. She knew all too well that once Ethan adopted that absolute tone, arguing was merely a waste of breath.
?Valera clicked her tongue in frustration. Tch. Nevertheless, she pressed her right fist against her left chest, bowing in strict obedience.
?"Wait for me," Ethan concluded.
?Turning on his heel, the young man walked away from the bridge, disappearing into the chaotic night of the Astrean Capital.
?Whenever hordes of cursed humans lunged at him from alley corners or from behind overturned carts, Ethan didn’t even slow his pace.
?Crack! Crack!
?Velcrasia shot out from the shadows of his coat like a ravenous viper—piercing through the monsters’ heads and hearts with lethal precision.
?Ethan walked past the falling bodies without casting a single glance back. Like a Demon Lord strolling through his own domain, he carried darkness toward the heart of the rotting marble throne.
?Inside Veylor Castle, the heavy thuds of Alaric von Rosenberg’s iron boots echoed up the high tower’s spiral staircase.
?Clack! Clack!
?The air surrounding the Duke of the North had transformed into an arctic tempest. Frost crystals bloomed across every stone wall he passed.
?Directly in front of the heavy oak door leading to the tower’s summit, a guardian stood in wait.
?Standing two meters tall, its skin was an eerie, bluish-pale color. Glowing crimson eyes flared in the darkness, and a pair of long fangs dripped venom from its maw.
?It was a Lesser Vampire—a creature of pure night.
?"Hsssh...!" The vampire hissed savagely, coiling to lunge at lightning speed.
?Alaric didn’t even break his stride. The Duke’s pale blue eyes radiated pure, absolute death.
?Shing!
?A single swing of his broadsword, cloaked in absolute zero, sliced through the air.
?No metallic clash. No screams.
?The lesser vampire’s body was cleaved in two, freezing instantly in midair before shattering onto the floor as fine ice dust.
?Alaric stepped past the frozen dust and kicked open the thick oak door in front of him.
?BANG!
?The summit of Veylor Tower was a vast, circular chamber. The crimson light of the full moon poured through a massive stained-glass window, illuminating a black stone altar in the center.
?Thick, noxious miasma gushed from the altar, billowing out over the entire city like a beacon of death.
?In front of the altar stood a man with his back to the door.
?King Evander von Valois turned around slowly. The middle-aged man with classically handsome features was still dressed in his gold-embroidered navy robe, his sapphire crown resting atop his head.
?Not a single bloodstain marred his clothes. Not a trace of panic flickered in his posture.
?The serene smile that permanently adorned his face remained flawlessly intact. Clear blue eyes greeted Alaric’s arrival with sickening gentleness.
?Yet, Alaric’s Master Knight instincts screamed the most severe warning of his entire life.
?The aura emanating from the man before him was neither human nor mage. It was the presence of an ancient monster disguised in the skin of a king: a High Vampire.
?Shing!
𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
?Alaric leveled the tip of his greatsword directly at the King’s face. Frost crystals rapidly enveloped the surrounding marble walls.
?"What in the hell are you doing, Evander?" Alaric growled, his deep voice vibrating through the tower walls.
?King Evander didn’t flinch in the slightest against the gargantuan blade pointed at his face. If anything, his serene smile broadened.
?"I am merely doing what I should have done seven years ago, Alaric," King Evander answered softly, as though reciting spring poetry.
?"Feeding a starving world."