Chapter 31: A New Slav- I Mean, Subordinate
-----
"I’ll give you a slav— I mean, a subordinate! Yeah," Fenrir sneered with clear amusement. "Return, Vladimir!"
FLAAASH!
A tall pillar of crimson, ghostly energy surged upward from the crystal. A phantasmal form began to rapidly emerge from within the light, and then flesh, bone, and skin grew around it at an unnatural speed until a complete body took shape once more.
"?!"
Riven was completely shocked. Fenrir had just revived him?!
In less than a second, a pale and skinny young man dropped heavily onto the floor. The long scar across his face, his single gray eye, and his long red hair all remained exactly the same as before.
"W-Wha...! Where...?! I...! I’m not in hell?! Where—Ah! RIVEN CLAYMORE!!!!"
The man, Vladimir, charged straight at Riven while completely naked.
Riven was shocked by the sudden revival but not shocked enough to simply stand there and get jumped by a naked pervert.
"Get some clothes, you perverted bastard."
He slapped Vladimir hard across the face and sent him crashing back down onto the floor.
"Gaaaha?!"
Vladimir cried out in pain, yet he was still fine. It seemed he was no longer as strong as before — only around half as powerful — but he was still tough enough to take Riven’s full-strength slap and survive.
"Bwahahahaha! Now this is what I like to see! Fight to the death, my disciples!" Fenrir’s shadowy form laughed loudly.
"F-Fen...! Lord Fenrir?!" Vladimir gasped and immediately dropped to his knees. "My Lord! What’s going on? You revived me... wait, is it so I can kill him?! To take revenge?!"
"I don’t care about any of that, idiot," the wolf sighed. "I just did it out of pure fun, and so you can become his lackey."
"...Eh?"
Vladimir’s entire world seemed to shatter into countless pieces. He stared up at the sky in complete silence for several long seconds.
Then he exhaled and inhaled sharply.
"EEEEEEEHHHHH?!"
His scream was so loud that if the house did not have soundproof walls, it would have woken Elisa for certain.
The noise alone was enough to make Riven furious.
"Why are you screaming so loudly, you damn bastard?! My wife is sleeping!"
He began stomping on Vladimir and kicking him repeatedly.
"Gyaaahhhh! L-Lord Fenrir! Save me! Save me from this beast!"
"Hahahahah!"
Fenrir did not respond with any help. Instead he only laughed harder the more his own disciple was tortured.
He truly was that type of bastard...
Once Riven finished kicking him, he tossed some spare clothes onto the poor man and calmly explained everything that had happened.
"...I’ve been revived just so I can serve you? You’re now the Apostle of Chaos? You even had... a child with my lord?!" Vladimir gasped in disbelief.
"No, wait, that’s only a joke! It’s not what you think it is!" Fenrir roared angrily.
"Whyyyyy?! Why this son of a bitch but not me?! Why was he chosen instead of me?!" Vladimir begged for an answer.
"Hmm, well, he’s backed by my old pals. Nothing else really," Fenrir’s shadow shrugged casually.
"...Huh?"
Vladimir’s head lowered as he stared at the grass beneath him.
Then he looked toward the dark forest and suddenly stood up, attempting to run away from this place as fast as possible.
"I’m not serving a Claymore! I am getting out of here!"
He tried to climb the outer walls, but an invisible force immediately pulled him back and flung him straight toward Riven. Riven greeted him with another hard slap on the face, sending him headfirst into the grass once more.
"Gaaahaa...!"
Riven smiled darkly. "Hey, this is not bad. I can use him as my personal abuse goblin or something. Someone I get to punch and slap whenever I want. And because he’s a cold, sadistic murderer who has done so many horrible things to innocents, I don’t even feel bad about it."
"E-Ehhh...! No...! Let me die...! I don’t want to serve him, master!" Vladimir begged again.
"Enough!" Fenrir barked, his shadowy head suddenly growing gigantic. "You will do as I say, or would you rather become a zombie or a ghost instead?! I WAS MERCIFUL ENOUGH TO GIVE YOUR BODY BACK! BE GRATEFUL!"
"A-Aieeee...! Y-Yes...! Yes, my lord...!" Vladimir, scared out of his mind, bowed in pure devotion and fear.
Riven sighed heavily, already wondering how he was going to explain to Elisa that there was now... something like a slave living near the house.
No, he could not let her see this bastard at all.
"You’re staying outside," he ordered. "Go back to wherever you used to live. Here’s your wallet."
"..." Vladimir received the wallet with clear anger in his eyes, but then he checked the inside. "Where’s my money?!"
"Money? Huh? I don’t know," Riven shrugged, pretending he had not taken every last dollar for himself.
"I had two hundred dollars in here!" Vladimir shouted.
"That’s a lot of money to carry around in a wallet," Riven nodded calmly.
"TSK!" Vladimir clicked his tongue in frustration and started walking away. "Am I at least allowed to return to my own house?"
"Yes," Riven nodded. "Give me your number. We will meet tomorrow. You will start working with me as my subordinate."
"Why would I ever— Gah?!" Vladimir suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood. Any attempt at resistance only brought more pain. "W-Whatever!" he finally shouted before running off into the night.
Riven sighed again and looked back at Fenrir. "Do you really think this was even a good idea?"
"It was fun to watch you two fight," Fenrir answered without shame. "So I would say it was a pretty good idea!"
"Damn mutt..." Riven muttered.
"Who are you calling a mutt?!" Fenrir barked, showing his sharp teeth in anger.
"Rawr!" the little Abyssal Pup immediately imitated his "father," baring its tiny fangs in the exact same way.
"..." Fenrir looked annoyed on the surface, but deep inside he clearly found the pup cute.
"So what name should I give this little guy?" Riven knelt down with a soft smile and began petting the black wolf’s starry fur. "Wow, he’s so damn cute. This is exactly what we were missing — a pet... I’ll be leaving you with Elisa from now on. Can you protect her?"
"Woof!" the little wolf barked just like a normal dog and wagged its tail cutely in response.
-----