Chapter 371 - 369:“You’ll see…”
Asael Astariel, son of Lilith Astariel, Imperial Prince of Lustria.
He was a renowned figure, a genius across the entire kingdom, which was saying something given the two monstrous siblings who had preceded him. But since they were taken away from Terra years ago, he had been granted free rein. He became the top dog. The one with the final say.
But it wasn’t enough. He needed more. He wanted more, the crown. His lust for power ultimately drove him to target his elder sister, Hope.
She was everything a demon like him despised. Nice, kind, helpful.
Sickening.
She wasn’t loved, not by the majority of the demons in Lustria, nor by the servants in the palace. They all looked down on her uncharacteristic behavior. Yet the Queen of Lust, Lilith, still saw fit to bestow upon her the title of Crown Princess, a title Hope was clearly averse to, but accepted out of duty.
Irate and feeling wronged, Asael plotted her demise. Joining hands with a band of slave merchants and the Second Prince of Pride, Lucianth, he succeeded. He eliminated his sister and claimed the title of Crown Prince. Everything was going smoothly. He had celebrated with his arrogant yet close friend, Lucianth.
Until his mother dispatched him on a mission.
He was sent to investigate a rumor originating from Aeternum, an inheritance realm belonging to the legendary Great Devourer had manifested within the treacherous Abyss.
He accepted. He was already somewhat familiar with the Abyss from previous excursions, and he wouldn’t be going alone. His ally Lucianth, the monster dubbed the second coming of the Tyrant, was accompanying him. If Lucianth was at his side, there was nothing to fear.
"It’ll be a piece of cake," he had laughed.
But all of that shattered when he came face-to-face with an existence destined to be a nightmare even to monsters.
Feeling his friend’s warm blood splattered across his skin, Asael could only stare in utter disbelief at the empty space where Lucianth, son of the Tyrant Lucifer, had stood a fraction of a second prior.
A sudden chill gripped his heart as a cold, lifeless gaze locked onto him. Then came that voice, sounding as if it echoed from the absolute depths of hell...
"Now..."
"...who’s next?"
Asael’s entire being screamed a single command... RUN.
And yet...
.....
My lifeless gaze remained trained on the three frozen figures before me. I had already deployed my authority over space to seal the immediate area. No one was teleporting or escaping anywhere.
"If you will not choose..."
I materialized directly in front of the frozen elder vampire.
"...allow me to choose for you."
My fist erupted forward.
BANG!
It slammed into a hastily raised blood barrier, which shattered without the slightest resistance.
But... it had done its job.
"Haa... haa..." The elder vampire and his companion used the brief split-second impact to retreat even further back.
I stood still, in no hurry to end this.
"Salem..." the old vampire’s gravelly voice rasped out.
"Grandfather..." the younger one answered.
"We need to use that... if we don’t..." The elder, well aware of their predicament, barked out instructions in a hurry.
I ignored them, shifting my attention toward the trembling demon.
"You..."
At the mere sound of my voice...
"Ahhhhhhh!"
The demon spawn shrieked in pure terror. His wings unfurled as he bolted toward the horizon.
"That fucking coward..." the younger vampire growled, thoroughly enraged.
"Salem! Ignore him! We need to do it now!"
"Yes, Grandfather..."
""ZONE..."" Their voices overlaid one another in unison. ""BANQUET OF BLOOD!""
The scent of iron flooded the air once more.
BLURB! BLURB!
The sickening sound of churning fluid filled the expanse. The atmosphere turned a heavy crimson as the air liquified and the earth buckled, gushing torrents of blood to the surface. Everywhere I looked, the landscape was drowned in gore.
SCREECH!
A deafening shriek thundered through the atmosphere as the blood demons manifested once more, rising from the earth like corpses clawing out of their graves. The vampires’ domain had turned the entire zone into an ideal breeding ground for the constructs.
Yet none of that held my attention.
I raised my head toward the sky. Above, the elder and younger vampires had liquified their forms, transforming into two seas of pure crimson.
Blurb! Blurb!
The tides of blood boiled and surged as they converged. I raised a curious brow. I had seen a similar technique back during my fight in the pit on the Southern Continent. Those decrepit old fools had pulled something like this, though this iteration felt significantly more refined, likely amplified by their unrestrained state within the Abyss.
Regardless, my curiosity was satisfied. They were no longer worth monitoring.
Leaving them time to finish whatever surprises their fusion dance had in store, I turned my attention toward the direction the demon filth had fled.
"Salazar." My voice carried that flat indifference eerily similar to that of my old man, Valen.
"Hmm?" Salazar, this curiosity driven freak, tore his eyes away from the fusing vampires, turning his focus to me.
"You wanted to see what happens to enemies that irritate me, didn’t you?"
"Hmm? Oh! You mean that little demon running away? He seemed pretty shaken. What are you planning to do to him?"
"You’ll see..." A malevolent grin spread across my face as I raised my arm, plunging it directly into the space ahead of me.
My forearm vanished into the fabric of reality as I invoked Inevitability, locking in a single outcome.
"Get me that fucking demon."
....
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Asael cursed violently, flapping his wings at maximum velocity. He deployed every movement technique and law enhancement at his disposal, desperate to put distance between himself and the monster behind him.
"That bastard Lucianth! All that power, all that posturing, and he couldn’t even withstand a single punch?!" He gritted his teeth until they nearly cracked.
"What happened to the second coming of the Tyrant? Fuck! That useless bastard. Once I get out of here, I’ll regroup with Mother, have her charm her way into the hearts of those demon kings, and mobilize the entire demon continent’s power to hunt him down! Let’s see what that damned paragon of war does against the combined might of the Demon Continent!"
A feral smile began to form on his face as he envisioned the scenario.
Yet before the thought could even settle...
CRACK!
Space fissured directly in front of his trajectory. And a hand reached through the rift.
"Urk—" He choked as thick fingers clamped tightly around his throat.
"Wha... what—"
Before he could finish the thought, he was dragged backward through the portal.
....
I slowly retracted my arm, pulling the struggling demon scum back into the clearing.
"You... you..."
"Yes. Me. And I’m about to become your worst nightmare."
SCREECH!
A horrific shriek echoed across the realm as the vampires finally completed their fusion. I cast a brief glance toward the massive entity hovering above, then dismissed it entirely. I ignored the approaching swarm of blood demons as well, keeping my complete focus on the creature squirming in my grip.
"What are you going to do?" Salazar asked.
"Make him remember me even in the afterlife."
I got to work.
A series of unnatural shrieks and wailing screams echoed throughout the clearing.
Silence fell over the audience. Shulvan, Salazar, the vampiric entity hovering in the sky, and even the horde of blood demons stood completely still, staring in absolute horror at the display.
Gradually, the screams subsided as I finished my work.
"Ahhh... much better."
I stood up, my hands and face slick with crimson. Beneath me lay an unrecognizable mass.
"You... you’re one sick bastard, you know that?" Salazar’s voice carried genuine shock.
"You asked what I do to my enemies. I just showed you." I extended my arm.
"Devour..."
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I dismissed the notification panels and wiped my hands clean, finally turning my attention toward the monster that had waited above us.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting." A slow, manic grin spread across my face as my aura leaked out. "Now, how about you come get your turn?"
The creature stared down silently, its featureless face locked onto me.
And then...
RIP!
Its maw split open, revealing rows of blood soaked razor-sharp fangs.
SCREECH!
It bellowed in pure madness.
"Hahaha! Alright then! Time to see if my fists work better than garlic!"
BANG!
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A/N: So, they just waited for him to get it out of his system huh? How considerate. Stupid fucks, lol...
By the way, don’t tell me you guys expected that other demon fuck to respawn, hahaha.. nah. Bro got instantly deleted, that’s why I wanted a refund.. anyways..
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Thanks for reading...