《Vampire Princess Reincarnation》


 OLD Chapter 1 - Re-reincarnation

    As I closed my eyes once again, I couldn''t help but remember the first time I died. The irony of this all stuck to me like tape, refusing to get off.


    My first life was spent as a somewhat rich man, however, the woman I loved betrayed me for my money and was aided by countless lawyers and other people from the shadows.


    During my second life, I spent it ravaging this wonderful fantasy-like world. Countless people fell by my hands, kingdoms were left in ruins and a number of races went extinct because of me.


    Now, I stood ona pool of my own blood, surrounded by enemies on all sides. My army had been routed and was no doubt on it''s way to destruction as it lacked me, the central leadership.


    And this kiddo, this very kiddo I thought as a useless hindrance, somehow defeated me. Not only did he survive countless of my attacks, he constantly got power-ups from the Manager knows where.


    He wasn''t anything overpowering, just an average teenager surrounded by girls. And yet, he defeated me. Defeated ME!


    I spent hundreds of years slowly getting stronger, training, devouring my enemies without mercy, planning the destruction of the world... Me, the one known as the King of Darkness and Destruction, the Blood Monarch, the King of Monsters...


    And yet, despite all of these titles, I still lost. At first, I could easily overpower him and his little friends. However, as the battle continued, it seemed as though all the injuries I dealt him simply... didn''t exist.


    Now, I had lost. My arms felt weak, my legs wanted to give in, my eyes weighted like mountains and my chest hurt like a bitch. Because of course it did, I had a sword shoved right into my heart. My only weakness, which nobody but a fellow earthling should know about.


    As the soldiers around us cheered, the 6 girls that seemed to always be glued to this kiddo ran up to him and hugged him, laughing. He too began laughing and raised his fist in victory.


    My eyes were unfocused. I could barely see anything and it felt like I was underwater. However, my will which had been trained through countless years spent in suffering and persistence did not allow me to die yet.


    I slowly raised my hand and grabbed the holy sword stuck in my chest. This mere movement caught the attention of everyone, and they all soon stopped whatever they were doing and looked at me.


    With a painful grinding-like sound, I removed the sword from my chest and threw it away. It landed with a loud ''clang''. Despite the loud noise in the painful silence, everyone''s eyes remained on me.


    Slowly, I looked at the sky. The clouds that had followed me since my rebirth were slowly dissipating. I knew that the moment the sun came out would be the moment I would die...


    With a dry laugh that wasn''t really a laugh, I looked at the kiddo... no, the man who had killed me. My unfocused eyes regained their luster and a small smile that was a mix of relief, sadness, and happiness appeared on my face.


    For the first time since our fight, I let out coherent words instead of roars or grunts, "... 2638... years."


    The man got up and stared at me with wide eyes, "What?"


    Snorting lightly, I repeated, "2638... that is how many years... I have lived."This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Before anyone could say anything, I continued as blood flowed from my mouth and chest, "For my entire life... I sought vengeance. Vengeance over a single person, a single event. However, only now, at the end of it all, do I finally ask myself... was it worth it? Was it worth wasting this life over?"


    "The answer is no... How sad that I did not realize this sooner..." I said as the clouds in the sky finally disappeared, revealing the sun.


    This feeling of sunlight on my skin... How long has it been?For too long, I suppose...


    As my body turned to dust and was blown away by the wind, a single tear made of blood fell from my face as I stared at the sky. For the first time, I laughed. It was a true laugh of happiness, not one of my staple evil laughs. As my body fell apart, a slight whisper escaped from my pale lips, a small whisper that should be inaudible normally. However, in this case, it felt so, so loud.


    "... Thank you..."


    The moment before my complete death, I heard sounds of sobbing. As the sounds amplified, I felt the hatred that had been plaguing my heart slowly disappear.


    Of course, I still felt regret and a great deal of anger, but the majority of the cold, undying hatred went away. After all, thousands of years of constant fighting and killing made my heart a cold and harsh place already, and it would not go away easily.


    <hr>


    Once again, I found myself floating in the nothingness of death. I had been here once before, however, I was ''rescued'' by a mighty existence, The Manager.


    Thinking back on it, The Manager had no real reason to help me other than boredom. His powers are basically infinite, and he has absolute authority over this universe, so why did he take pity in a lowly being like me?


    Unfortunately, I will never know. Or so I thought until a voice once again appeared in my mind.


    "Heh, that was a dramatic death. I even shed a tear, you know? Here, have an award for the best actor of the season!" A voice said, and immediately after a small, golden medal appeared in front of me.


    Snorting, I ''turned'' away. Sighing, The Manager made the medal disappear before floating over to me. Of course, he had no body to float with, but I just kinda knew he did.


    "Look, I know you had it hard these two lives. I''m going to once again take an exception for you and reincarnate you again, how is that?" He asked with a small wink, not impressing me.


    "And in exchange?" I was familiar with how this guy worked. Last time, he wanted entertainment. This time, I honestly don''t know what he wanted. However, I was now far, far more familiar with how minds worked, so I sort of knew what to expect.


    "Heh, you''ve grown from the last time we talked. Well, I just want more entertainment. I had a lot of fun watching you during this life, so I''m going to send you off again! Just like a father sending off his... So do you accept?" The Manager asked, his ''eyes'' twinkling with excitement. I have no idea how I knew, but I just sort of did, which is strange...?


    "... What else can I do?" I asked, unsure. However, he just HAD to smash all my hopes before they even formed "Well, you theoretically should be judged and, based on your karma, go to hell to suffer for the rest of eternity... Although that''s not exactly what happens, you would still suffer. It''s complicated, so don''t worry about it. Just reincarnate already..." The Manager said as his patience ran out and he grabbed my body... soul? and brought me back to the world of the living.


    It was a strange experience, but it happened once already, so I wasn''t worried. "What race do you wish to be?" He asked as we flew around the world, invisible to everyone. Thinking about it for a bit, I decided to just remain my previous life''s race. "I''d rather remain a vampire. I quite liked my abilities, and since I already know many vampiric spells and techniques, I don''t want to just throw them away."


    With a twinkle in his eyes, The Manager nodded and laughed as he said, "Fine, however, since you want to be so boring, I''ll spice things up a bit. I''m going to make you a beautiful girl!" He said.


    Before I could retort, I found myself inside of an undeveloped body. The soul in this body wasn''t yet developed, so I took it over without a problem. I had already possessed people a couple times before, including the first time, so it was easy. My soul itself had become vampiric, so possession was easier for me too.


    But that wasn''t the problem god damn it, "Wait, hold on!? You bastaaaaaaaaaaaaaaardddd!!" I roared, unheard by everyone but the Manager. I just KNEW he was laughing his ass off right now. You jerk! I''m going to find you and beat you up one day, just wait for it!


    Before I could continue, I suddenly felt very sleepy. This body was too weak for me to remain conscious, so I fell asleep. A new, different, life was over the horizon, and yet dark clouds loomed ahead, which is ironic because without dark clouds, I''d die. Such irony, such irony...

 OLD Chapter 2 - Blood Trial

    It was late at night, the sun had long since disappeared. The moon hung in the sky, projecting it''s neverending glory down onto the dark world. A world where beasts, monsters, and inhuman creatures lived.


    On this night, a certain woman was screaming in a cave. A man stood next to her, however, his expression was not fearful or excited. It was just... neutral, almost as if he didn''t care.


    After a while, the couple came out of the cave. The woman held a little baby in her arms, but her look wasn''t tender, nor loving. Instead, it was harsh and cold, just like the man''s gaze.


    Both of them had elongated canines that protruded out of their mouths even when closed, showing just how long they were. They also had slightly pointy and longer ears, not as long as that of elves but not as short as that of mankind.


    However, their most defining feature was definitely the bat-like wings on their backs. The woman''s wings were currently wrapped around her shoulders, as if protecting her and the baby, whilst the man''s wings simply rested on his back.


    "Laura... We got lucky with this kid, however, you know the tradition. Should she not pass the Blood Trial or if she has trash talents, I''m going to eat her." The man said, not even looking at the woman.


    The woman did not even have the slightest change in her expression as she nodded wordlessly. Unlike humans, vampires did not have families. Whilst vampires could convert humans, the turned vampire would not be a full-fledged vampire.


    In the vampiric society, only pure-bloods could be considered real vampires. All converted vampires were just treated as either servants or slaves depending on how much the one who turned them, their master, favored them.


    However, purebloods do not have it easy either. Vampires already had extremely, extremely low birth rates among fellow vampires, and due to their harsh and uncaring nature, 9 out of 10 children would be killed off due to being considered ''trash''.


    For this very reason, every adult pureblood was considered a powerhouse. Furthermore, killing a pureblood is extremely hard, and they would not die of old age.


    There would usually be fewer than 1000 purebloods alive at once at one time, of course, the number varies, but the number usually hovered around that rate.


    Naturally, due to their nature, all vampires faced persecution from virtually every race, even demons. However, this persecution was increased hundredfold after the death of the Blood Monarch 3000 years ago.


    The Blood Monarch. His true name known only by a very select few, and those that knew had already been killed off, refusing to tell the secret even in death. Legends claimed that he could crush mountains with one finger and split the skies with a breath, however, those were all somewhat exaggerated.


    Only the old monsters that had lived for thousands of years knew the true terror that was the Blood Monarch. Back in his times, although he couldn''t crush mountains, he could easily decimate entire armies by himself. Furthermore, he was meticulous, intelligent, ruthless and, more importantly, possessed magic powerful enough to destroy cities in one attack.


    As for what happened to the Blood Monarch? Humans claim that their hero defeated this evil a long time ago, whilst vampires claim that he is still there, waiting for his chance to come back from the dead and bring their race back to their previous glory.


    However, none of this was important for the two vampires right now. They had been a couple for over two hundred years, and they had considerable influence in this region. A number of the officials had already been converted by them, becoming their slaves and helping their organizations expand.Stolen story; please report.


    Therefore, whilst the choice of a cave as a place to give birth to seemed somewhat weird, it was, in fact, the best place. Vampires thrived in the darkness, and the sun was a death sentence for them. Even the invincible Blood Monarch turned to dust under the sun, after all. However, as a side note, turned vampires would not turn to dust under the sun. For them, it was just a hindrance, not a death sentence. This was due to the fact that they were only half-vampires, so whilst their strength was much lower, their weaknesses were also lower.


    Snapping his fingers, the male vampire gathered a ball of mana in his hand. Putting it in front of their child, he slowly shoved the invisible ball inside of the newborn''s chest.


    The woman did not stop him, rather, she held the child firmly in place. Once the mana ball was completely inside the child, the man backed up a couple steps and the woman laid the child on the ground as if expecting it would explode.


    However, nothing of the sort happened. Whilst the child''s closed eyebrows did slightly twitch, it had no major reactions. Whistling lightly, the man nodded in approval. The woman too revealed a happy smile, but soon dropped it. "Mmm. She seems to have a really good magical talent." The woman said, making the man smile as well.


    "Yeah, she handled it better than even me when I took my trial. Her Core seems stable, and her body didn''t seem to reject the spell." The man commented. Vampires were considered monsters by humans exactly by this: They had mana cores.


    Whilst humans had to meditate for a long time in order to form their ''Mana pool'', vampires were directly born with the ability to manipulate magic. Of course, how well they could do so varied depending on their individual talent, but it was generally much better than humans and even elves to a degree.


    "So, does she pass the trial?" The woman asked. Unlike the man, she didn''t remember exactly what the trial entailed, as that was a thing the men would usually learn. Women were generally taught by their mothers how to care for the baby and knew very little about the trial itself. Of course, this did not make them any less important in the vampiric culture, as it was based on strength, not sex.


    Shaking his head, the man sighed, "Not yet, this was the easy part. The hard part comes now. The spell will take effect in a dozen seconds, and when it does, it will start straining all her core and muscles to an extreme degree. If she can survive for a minute, I will make it so that she won''t die from the spell, and she will have passed. This way, we''ll have a general idea of where her talents lay depending on how damaged her muscles and core are."


    Nodding, the woman remained silent. After around 30 seconds, there was still no reaction, causing the woman to ask "Are you sure the spell activated?"


    Blinking, the man nodded "Yes dear, it should have."


    Snorting, the woman retorted, "Did you get soft and lower the intensity?", however, the man glared at her and slowly said, "I''d never allow my daughter to be a waste. I''d rather kill her than allow a trash to live."


    Finally, after 5 minutes, the child began showing signs of overexertion. Seeing this, the man stopped the spell and went up to the child and checked her core.


    As he did, his eyes went sausage-wide and he shouted "In the Monarch''s name! Her core was barely affected! She has at least a grade 8 talent! No, perhaps 9!"


    Before the woman could express her joy, he shouted again "And her muscles! they didn''t even show any strain! That''s a grade 10 talent for you!"


    Laughing merrily, the woman and the man hugged each other and the baby. They even kissed, which was somewhat creepy seeing their black wings, long teeth, and forked tongues.


    Unknown to them, the child smirked, thinking "Grade 10 talent? Hmph, it''s just that my apparent father is just too weak. My last life''s trial was way harder than this, and I was only considered a grade 8 talent, which was still good. Just how low have vampires fallen?" She wondered for a bit before the woman took her and put her head next to her exposed breasts.


    "... I guess it''s feeding time, huh? If I remember correctly, we vampires spend around 10 years breastfeeding... Damn... I want to suck on some real blood, not on this blood/milk hybrid shit!"


    The child was, of course, the Blood Monarch reincarnated. Although she had been a human in her first life, her identity as a vampire had already taken root. She felt no shame nor disgust from wanting to drink blood, rather, she was eager to.


    However, as of now, she had to be content with feeding on vampire milk, which although very nutritious, did not taste as good as real blood to vampires.


    She soon fell asleep as her new parents flew her over to a small, hidden castle inside of a mountain. In there, after navigating through various death traps that would easily kill humans, they finally arrived in a small room filled with old-style decorations, tables, and even a large bed. There was also a crib, which they put the baby in.


    Despite the peaceful atmosphere, if one was to strain their hearing enough, they could hear the ''cattle'' screaming and crying... cattle full of delicious blood for a certain newborn...

 OLD Chapter 3 - Merciless

    Years slowly trickled by. At first, I was always somewhat on guard against my ''parents'', however, my worries revealed themselves to be unfounded, thankfully.


    In my last life, my parents would constantly put me in life-or-death situations, even going as far as to trying to kill me themselves a couple times. They did it for my best interest, of course, but that didn''t change the fact that they were trying to KILL me.


    However, this life, other than feeding me every now and then, my parents spend most of their time in our hidden mansion. I did see my father flying out a couple times and coming back with books and newspapers, but for the most part, neither ever left.


    Although it sounds like I''m judging them, I''m really not. Vampires can live for an undetermined amount of time, and one is only considered an adult upon reaching 500 years in life. Judging by their aura, my parents must be at most 600, which could barely be considered as an adult.


    Since my birth and trial, 20 years have passed. My body now looks like that of a 6 years old human, and I no longer have to drink from mother''s breasts, thankfully. Most of my time was spent in silence, either reading whilst sitting on my father/mother''s lap, training my body or simply playing. I do not really feel the need to practice magic, as I spent over 2000 years solely dedicated to that purpose.


    I will admit, these have been the most fun years I have had since my rebirth. The love my parents showered me with was... addicting. Although I''m not a huge talker, I will admit that I look like one of those kids that just never leave their parent''s side. It''s depressing and refreshing at the same time...


    By the way, my mother''s name is Laura and my father''s name is Leon. Our family name is Nightwing, which is a huge family group... consisting of three members: me, mom and father. Yup, definitely huge.


    Whilst I don''t particularly care about my own features, I do have to admit that I am cute. Considering I have never cut my hair and it has a very fast growing speed, it already reaches down to the middle of my back. It''s raven black, which combined with the extremely pale skin of vampires, it gives a very surreal vibe. Also, my wings have already started developing, but I can''t quite fly with them yet. Also, My eyes are red, since, you know... Vampires.


    My mother around the same features as me, with black hair, however, she only has them down to her shoulders. She also has a very beautiful face that constantly bears a cold expression. My father is also handsome, however, it''s the elvish kind of handsome: A somewhat feminine body with a strong-looking face.


    Although nobody knows where vampires come from exactly, we are sort of a mix between the beautiful and slim elves and demons. Although we do not have horns or tails, we are still considered far more beautiful than humans.


    In fact, the scaling of beauty goes like this: Orcs > Humans > Beastmen > Demons > Vampires > Elves. Another fun fact is that, although elves seem like they don''t age, the longest they can live for is 2000 years, whilst vampires will never die of old age.


    Unfortunately, these very facts are also the reason why vampires are so sought after. Should a vampire ever get caught, they will 90% of the times end up as sex slaves for some of the higher-ups in either the human or demon world. As for the other 10%? Well, they will get sent to the church, where they would get killed in a ritual specifically designed to deal with the ever-regenerating vampires.


    So, to cut it short, don''t get caught. It''s really simple, and vampires have thousands upon thousands of ways to escape detection/capture. Even if they get discovered and somehow defeated, vampires are very, very fast and slippery. Catching one is like trying to make a hole in the water: Impossible unless you possess a very strong and specialized team.


    B-but we don''t talk about those evil witch hunters in here! This is a safe place! Or at least, that''s what my mother shouted at me with a fearful expression when I asked them about those hunters. Apparently, they were once discovered by witch hunters and were almost caught, which traumatized both my dad and mother. Just how low have we vampires fallen...?


    As I was immersed in thoughts like these whilst reading ''vampire classic'' about a man and his loved one running from witch hunters and then finding love during it, my father and mother suddenly came up from the basement together with small smiles on both of their faces.


    Perking up, I closed the book and threw myself at my mother, giving her a hug whilst shouting "Hi mommy!"


    What? Don''t judge me, I''m a little girl now! A... cute... little... girl... Ugh.


    "Hi sweetheart, me and dad have a very important thing to tell you right now." She said as she bent down and picked me up. Blinking, I questioned, "What is it? Did you buy me new clothes?" Please no, I really, really don''t want to have to put any more gothic dresses on. It was embarrassing enough the first time... especially since I looked cute in them...


    "Hehe, I have those too, but it''s not that right now sweety..." Mom says, winking at me. I blushed a bit as I turned away with a pout whilst mumbling "Meanie..."


    Snorting, my dad interrupted our little exchange, "Luna, today, me and mom will bring you your first prey!"


    Luna. That was the name my parents decided to call me, which considering my red eyes, fits me pretty well, at least in my opinion. "Prey? What do you mean?" I asked, unsure. However, I soon realized how stupid I was being.


    "D-do you mean I get to drink real blood? The stuff mom once secretly let me try??" I asked as I jumped around. This was more or less an act since I do have to act like a kid, but the excitement was all real.


    My father glared at mother for a second, and she just turned away whilst whistling in a very innocent manner. Sighing, father continued, "Yes sweetie, that stuff. Since your canines have grown enough, you''re ready to drink for the first time. Me and mommy spent an entire week searching our territory for the very best blood type we could find, and now, we finally found a really good one. Come on sweety, follow me." My father said as he bent down and tried to get me to come over, which I did.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    I ran over to him and he picked me up. I giggled a bit as I sat on his shoulder. He wasn''t all that tall nor buff, but a vampire''s strength is not to be underestimated, he could easily carry a thousand me''s without a problem. After all, a vampire''s physical strength is second only to that of orcs and werewolves.


    As we descended down into further darkness, which wasn''t really dark since us vampires have night vision, sounds of groaning and crying gradually appeared and intensified. Down here was what mom and dad called the ''Pen'', which is essentially where they put the humans they catch during their escapades.


    It''s not wrong to say they treat them like cattle. They would put a girl and a man in a cage, alone and with nothing to do. They did feed them though, so there''s that.


    I could count at least 20 cages, all of them full. Some of the women had bulging stomachs, some were huddled in a corner, far from the men. Others would sit together, hoping for warmth in this cold place.


    When we arrived at the center of the room, my father screeched in a bat-like manner. Silence fell the moment he did, and after a while, he roared "If I heard even a single sound in the next hour, no food for two days!"


    His voice contained a strange power and charm, which although it didn''t affect me and mother since he didn''t want to, it clearly took effect on the humans. Yeah, we vampires are way too overpowered in my opinion, but then again, we are very few in numbers and we DO instantly die in the sun, so I guess it''s fair...?


    After doing this, father glanced at me. After making sure I wasn''t scared or anything, he brought me over to a cage where only one person stood in.


    It was a young girl, perhaps around 16 years old. She wasn''t beautiful, but she wasn''t ugly. Just by seeing her, my sclera turned redder, a sign of hunger and excitement.


    Noticing this, my mother smiles and patted my head. I looked at her and the girl repeatedly back and forth. She nodded and opened the cage before going in.


    The girl was lying on the stone floor, her eyes following my mother''s movement. She didn''t react when mother picked her up by the hair and dragged her over to us.


    When she arrived back in front of me and dad, mother threw the girl in front of us before stomping on both her legs and arms, making her scream in pain.


    Clearly, she was doing this to stop her from resisting what was to come. The girl now looked at us with hatred, making father laugh. He put me down and began teaching, "Darling, this is a human. They''re not very smart, and they also... age." Father seemed to spit that last word out with venom. Aging was a process considered something only inferior races went through, so us vampires usually treated the subject as taboo.


    "However, their blood is really good. It''s not as good as that of the pointy-eared bast... Err, elves. They are like cattle, so you''re free to treat them however you want. If one suits your tastes, mom and dad can convert it into a slave for you, so just ask." Father said with a small laugh. The girl''s gaze couldn''t contain more hatred than it did now, but father merely laughed at her derisively.


    However, that laugh soon stopped when the girl suddenly spit at him. The saliva hit dad''s pants, and time seemed to slow down. His eyes narrowed and his sclera turned black.


    Red means hunger and excitement, black means fury and anger. The sclera of a vampire is what usually gives out emotions away, it''s kind of like the body language of vampires. This time, dad''s sclera were really, really black, meaning he was really, really angry.


    Mom too narrowed her eyes and her sclera too turned dark. She was about to stomp on her again when my father stopped her with his hand. "Sweety, today, I will teach you how to be a good shepherd. Dear, take Luna and, please, move over there. I''ll keep this human alive since she is Luna''s gift after all."


    Nodding, mom took my hand and dragged me over to the side of the room. I curiously looked at father and the human girl as he slowly began walking around the girl, hissing at her.


    Am I heartless for not stopping them? Do not be foolish, I am a vampire, no, the king of vampires. Err, queen of vampires! Ruler of vampires! I have already cut off all connections to my previous human life, and besides, I have done things far worse than what father is about to do.


    Furthermore, in vampiric society, humans are like chickens. If they do not behave, just beat them up. If they still don''t behave, kill them. There are so, so many of them that even if we killed all humans we captured, it wouldn''t take more than a couple days to replenish them.


    It''s true that mass-capturing is risky as it can lead to witch hunters coming over, but with the decline of werewolves, vampires, and other such beings, witch hunters too began to decline. After all, it''s like fish and water. If there is not enough water, the fishes will die.


    My attention snapped back to father when I heard a loud cry. Father''s hand had basically turned into a claw, and he had begun peeling off the nails of the girls, one by one. The girl couldn''t even move since her limbs were all broken and father held her down, but her body still convulsed in pain.


    After peeling all the nails off, he ripped out all of her hair. Then, he took one of her eyes and made her swallow it. It was sort of disgusting, and even mother''s nose wrinkled. This was not due to the girl''s suffering ironically, but because father actually held her eye in his hand.


    Since father was doing this in the middle of the room, all of the other caged humans could see this as well. Many of them puked, some began to pray and others just slumped down and began mumbling and even started laughing.


    Nonetheless, after a couple more minutes of this, father finally cast a spell and the girl''s blood all flowed back into her body. It had accumulated into a small pool under her, but in less than 10 seconds it was all gone.


    The injuries and pain were still there, but now the wounds were mostly closed up and stopped bleeding. Father motioned for me to come over, which I did.


    "Sweety, can you see this vein? Usually, that''s the best place to bite in, but in reality, the entire neck is a good place, since that''s where most of the blood goes through. If you want to kill someone, just either cut off the jugular or severe the spine here." Dad began explaining, and only after having gone through basically every single possible place to bite in did he finally relent and let me have a taste.


    The girl was still conscious, strangely enough, and she was looking at me with a hateful expression. I humphed and slapped her face before bending her neck over to expose the juicy part under the chin.


    Opening my mouth, saliva threatened to fall off, but that was considered bad culture in vampiric society, so I swallowed it. Then, I bit into the neck.


    It wasn''t like I bit with all my teeth, just my canines. Whilst it sounds hard, it is actually very easy for us vampires to use our canines, it''s instinctive. We can bite a point precisely, and not miss by even a millimeter.


    A strong suction force came from my two canines, and the girl cried out, but it only sounded like soft whimpers.


    Feeling the divine liquid flowing into my mouth and down my throat, I smiled in happiness. It had been far too long since I enjoyed a real meal like this, forget that shitty stuff dad and mom gave me before, I want more of this! Before I realized it, I had eaten my complete fill, so I reluctantly let go of the girl.


    After father locked her up once again, we went back upstairs, where we celebrated my first blood. We played together for the rest of the night, and when the sun came up outside, we all fell asleep in the bed together. Fun fact, we vampires do not sleep in crypts, because why should we? Bed are far more comfortable, and I will bite anyone that says otherwise.

 OLD Chapter 4 - Darkness encroaches

    "Sweety, do you know what this is?" My father asked me, a weird crystal globe in his hands.


    "No father, sorry." I honestly said. Around 40 years had passed since my first real drink, and I''ve been starting to feel somewhat impatient.


    After all, I have ever gone out of the mansion only a couple times, and all we did was catch a couple humans. I didn''t mind since the tactics my parents used were more... modern? Effective? Back in my times, I would just raid whole cities and capture or kill everyone, but now that my power is lacking... well, let''s say that it would be problematic if I get discovered.


    My core is not fully developed yet, and my body is only similar to that of a 13 years old. Even with my plentiful battle experience, I would still lose if I ever get caught by witch hunters or a group of priests. Lunatics...


    Even so, I don''t mind. Father has already started teaching me vampiric arts and magic, whilst my mother has been drilling female etiquette, drawing and even singing in me ever since I reached 30 years old, which if compared to humans, would be the time when kids start going to elementary school.


    I don''t know if it''s the effect of my hormones, but strangely enough, I don''t really feel embarrassedwearing dresses or skirts. At first, I was very reluctant, but my mother basically forced me to. Now, I don''t really mind. In fact, I even started liking them.


    However, there is one thing I completely refused to budge on. I refuse to wear those stupid high heels. I am... was the Blood Monarch, I still have some of my pride! Not much, but... some of it remains, I hope...


    Smirking, my father put the strange crystal in my hands and instructed me, "Send a bit of your mana in it."


    I frowned a bit as I inspected the weird object. "Why? What does it do?" I asked, somewhat unsure.


    "That''s a secret~." My father said, putting a finger on his lips. Pouting, I did as father said and sent a small string of mana inside of it.


    The moment the mana reached the crystal, I suddenly felt a giant influx of information flow into my brain. My face flushed red from the overextension and my sclera turned a mix of red and orange.


    "D-dad... Thank you!" I yelled as I tackled my father, who let himself fall to the ground even though he could easily stop me. "Hehe, do you like it, sweetheart? I paid a lot of blood crystals to get this from a friend..."


    Nodding, I admitted, "It''s amazing!". It was true, after all.


    This rather inconspicuous crystal was actually a spell holder. In it, there was large a number of spells, ranging from the weakest of tier 1 spells all the way up to a single, very powerful tier 8 spell.


    Furthermore, all of these spells were amazing! Whilst I knew some of them, examples being Dark Healing, Blood Explosion, and Vampire Poisoning, most of them were completely new to me!


    Furthermore, it also had very detailed explanations of just how these spells work, and some of them completely went against everything I knew about magic! I won''t go into details since it''s boring, however, I will say that I was completely mind-blown.


    "Dad, can I try them? Can I try them? Please..." I begged with puppy eyes. However, my father shook his head and reprimanded, "No sweety. Although it''s true you have amazing talent, you still have to wait until your core is finished before starting to truly practice your spells. Otherwise, you risk crippling yourself forever. For now, just keep practicing the Bloodrawing stance I taught you. If you can master that, then I''ll teach you our family art, the Nightwing Art."


    Pouting, I said "Fine..." Before getting off of dad and throwing myself on the couch, where my mother sat, reading an ancient-looking book.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    It has to be said that, even in my times, reading could be considered the thing vampires just... kinda did. No other race read as much as vampires, even elves didn''t read as much. That is also the reason why vampires are basically all philosophical and literary geniuses.


    I scuttled near mother and looked at the book she was reading. Smirking, she suddenly closed the book and grabbed me, tickling me everywhere.


    "N-no... Haha, stop it, mom! Stop... Hahahaha!" I laughed at the tickling and tried to run away, but she firmly locked me in a way so I couldn''t run, whilst still not hurting me. "Who''s a naughty girl, eh? Who''s a naughty girl?" Mother asked as she poked my belly.


    I blushed in embarrassment and tried to run whilst still laughing, but only after mother decided it was enough did she finally let me go.


    She giggled as she picked up the book again and shouted at me, who had run out of the living room and into my bedroom, "Luna, one of the humans died yesterday since your father killed him after he tried to escape. Tonight, since your father needs to check on our vampire slaves, we can go out and capture a new human. You can choose this time..."


    Hearing this, I shouted back "Yay! Okie mom, should I bring my mask or is it fine?"


    One of the, rather obvious, things that mother and father did whilst ''hunting'' was to disguise themselves. This way, even if they are seen, they won''t get recognized. Furthermore, the mask we bring has a magical property which disguises our aura, making it impossible to track us.


    "Of course sweety, we don''t want the mean witch hunters finding us, after all!" My mother shouted back.


    Snorting, I arrived in my bedroom and threw myself on my bed. My room was a pinkish red, which my mother had drawn... I didn''t ask for it, ok? Anyway, other than that, there were a pretty big number of plushies, some of them being bats, some wolves and there was even a fox one.


    All in all, it looked like the typical girl bedroom. However, there was a twist! I only had, like, 500 different sets of clothes! Hah, not so girly anymore!


    ... I''m just going to take a rope and hang myself. Or not, since vampires don''t even need to breathe and our necks won''t break so easily, and even if it breaks, it''ll just regenerate.


    Ugh, anyways, after cuddling with a random bat plushie for a while, I finally got up and took off my shirt.


    Since my body wasn''t developed enough yet, mother hadn''t forced me to wear bra''s yet, thankfully. Nonetheless, I still did poke around a bit, since I gotta know about my own body. I even tried to... well, touch myself underneath, but it didn''t feel particularly good. I''m not saying it felt bad, rather, it was... weird.


    A-anyway, the reason I got naked laid on my back. Literally.


    My wings had finally grown enough to resemble actual wings instead of weird bony appendages. Naturally, they were black and also very large if I expanded them, however, I could also fold them in order to make them small enough to rest on my back.


    However, right now, I didn''t want them resting. Moving them was yes and no the same as moving my arms, very natural. My wings could expand to a huge 8 meters in wingspan, however, that was inefficient. Rather, the best was to have them almost completely stretched, but not fully.


    Flapping them a bit, a huge gust of wind was blown into my room, making my hair all messy. Grumbling, I took out a flower-shapedhair tie and made my hair into one single very long ponytail. I liked them free, since... I''ll admit it, I liked my hair very much. I wanted to grow them in my last life too, but I never had the time to care for them, so I would usually cut them after they started getting in the way.


    Now, however, I was really happy with my current looks. After putting on some clothes, I did a small spin, my hair flew around wildly whilst my skirt that only reached my knees flew up a bit, revealing my underwear.


    I felt a rather strange sense of accomplishment doing this, but I couldn''t quite pinpoint why, nor did I have the courage to try. Nonetheless, after I was finished with my little embarrassing show, I picked up a mask that was completely black, only having space for your eyes and nose.


    I didn''t instantly put it on my face, rather, I attached it to my waist and then put on a t-shirt with holes in the back for my wings. It was hard to put it on since I had to zip it on even on my back since otherwise, it would be impossible to put it on, and considering my short stature and limbs, it was a challenge.


    After everything was ready, I walked back downstairs, where my mother was waiting for me. She too had put on a shirt with holes for wings, and she held two large umbrellas on both her hands. When she saw me, she smiled and gave me one of the umbrellas.


    These umbrellas were a vampire''s last resort of sort. They served to block the sunlight should we ever get caught in it, and avoid instant death. They could be called the perfect example of a last-resort.


    "Are you ready sweety?" Mother asked. Nodding, I put on my mask. She smiled and did the same before opening her wings to her maximum span, an impressive 15 meters.


    "Very well, let us go hunting then."

 OLD Chapter 5 - Soul Devouring Tactic

    It was a dark night. Despite the moon hanging high in the sky, clouds covered the majority of the sky, blocking the light of the stars from shining down onto the city.


    On this night, two figures could not be seen flying up in the sky. However, one could still hear them.


    "Mom, are we there yet? My wings hurt..." A young girl whispered. She wore a black mask, and two huge wings sprouted from her back, as dark as the night around her.


    "Yes darling, we''re here. Don''t worry, I''ll carry you back home since your wings aren''t fully ready yet." An older woman said from beside her. She too wore a black mask, however, if the wings of the girl next to her were like those of a butterfly in size, hers were like those of birds: Gigantic.


    "Thanks..." The girl said as she tucked the ponytail that had fallen over onto her face back where it belonged, on the back of her head.


    When the woman and girl stopped, they were high above a city. Unlike what one would think of a magical world, this world did not seem particularly poor in terms of technology.


    Although it was nowhere near what an earthling would call ''modern'', it was still fairly developed. The streets were all organized, houses were all built in an organized fashion and every man and woman walking around wore either t-shirtsor something of the sorts.


    As the girl''s jaw fell down enough to touch the floor, the woman laughed and rubbed her head. "I know sweety. Although humans are idiots, they can still build really well. In my opinion, though, demons definitely have the best architecture."


    The girl, Luna, our favorite reincarnated monarch, nodded and looked at the city with a mixed expression.


    ''I never would have thought humans would advance so much... Wow, they even have the police!'' Luna screamed in her mind. Back in her times, it was essentially the same as a low-medieval society. The lord held absolute power, and everyone else except the few lower nobles was basically a peasant. Now, it seemed as though a democracy of sorts had appeared.


    She had no proof to confirm this speculation, but Luna strongly felt that this was the truth. This was an instinct honed through the countless times she had to study the politics of a country before attacking it.


    Furthermore, she could feel that something was off. The faces of all the people walking around were either tense or grim, and a strenuous atmospheresurrounded the whole city.


    However, this was none of her business. She had come to have fun with her mother, and nothing would take that away from her. To Luna, her mother and father were strongly itched in her mind. Although she refused to admit it, she cared for both of them a lot.


    After all, they had been basically the only beings to show her love in all of her lives. The first life as a human was spent with trash, rich parents. The second had been spent with parents that would not bat an eye to killing her on the spot, and only now, in her third life, did she actually feel loved.


    It was sad, and yet, somehow happy. For a person to truly realize how worth something is, they first have to completely lose it. Only then will they truly realize just how much they missed that thing, and in this case, love.


    It wasn''t really ''love'', however. That would just be weird. No, this was a parental kind of love.


    However, that didn''t make it any less important. As the two of them flew down from the skies, they landed in a small street where no one was looking before covering their wings with a mantle to hide them.


    Then, both of them clicked a small button hidden in the inner part of their masks. The moment they did, the masks seemed to merge into their faces and disappear, revealing two beautiful, but also very different faces.


    This was the true power of the mask. Not only would it not appear suspicious, but it also completely disguised them. There was no way to tell they were Luna and Laura (the mother''s name).


    "Alright sweety. Just follow me and if you find someone that you fancy, tell me and I''ll catch them for you, okay?" Laura asked her daughter with a kind smile as she took her hand and walked out of the alleyway. Luna nodded absentmindedly as she unconsciously caught her mother''s hand with her own.


    As the two beautiful girls showed themselves on the main street, they caught the eye of many people nearby.


    This was only natural. After all, although their real looks were hidden, they still possessed very beautiful faces and attractive bodies, especially Laura, whom already had fully developed features.


    Furthermore, their expensive-looking clothes and jewelry also caught the attention of some somewhat shady people, however, after they saw the two small wing-like earrings on Laura''s ears, most of them instantly backed out, some even ran away.


    Although it was already 9 pm, many shops were still open. Luna curiously looked at these shops, wondering whether to check them out or not.


    Just as she was about to ask her mother to go and look at those shops, she caught herself in time. She realized that not would that be extremely girly, it would also be counterproductive! Yes, counterproductive!


    For this reason, she tried to peel her eyes off the cute shoes on display in a nearby shop. However, before she could do anything, her mother suddenly pulled her and dragged her over to that exact shop.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "M-mom! N-not now! We can go later!" Luna cried out, trying to drag her mother away. Frowning, Laura lightly hit her over the head and sternly said "Behave. Do not disgrace us in public."


    Rubbing her head, Luna murmured "Yes mom..." and allowed herself to be dragged over to the shop.


    Two hours later, the mother-daughter pair finally left the shop. Luna was hugging a small doll with a giant blush on her face. Meanwhile, her mother held over 6 bags filled with all kinds of clothes, making for a very surreal sight considering she didn''t look particularly strong, and yet, those bags looked very full...


    "So, Luna, don''t you agree that that ruby ring was way too expensive? That should only be worth, like, a hundredth of a bloodgem, and yet it was like 1000$... How much is a bloodgem in terms of human money again...?" Laura asked, somewhat sheepish.


    Sighing, Luna answered, "Mom, a pure bloodgem is worth around 10.000$...". She had already said this around 6 times since they entered the shop, and she was honestly starting to think her mother had Alzheimer.


    Bloodgems were the vampire''s currency. The reason they were so popular is that anyone could make them as long as they could collect enough blood and had enough mana. However, a single bloodgem would require around 5000 liters of blood, so one would usually need around 1000 humans to make a single bloodgem. And that was only for a middle-quality one!


    Naturally, although vampires liked to compare bloodgems to other race''s money, there was no way they''d ever exchange them. After all, nobody really wanted bloodgems, and vampires didn''t really care for paper or metal money, so the estimates were meh at best and completely off at worst.


    "Oh, yeah. I knew that." Laura nodded, making Luna''s face turn like that of a dead fish. Nonetheless, she didn''t correct her, as she saw something that piqued her interest far more.


    "Mom! I can we go over to that restaurant? I can smell something really good from there!" Luna practically shrieked, her eyes twinkling with excitement.


    Sniffing a bit, Laura''s eyes too twinkled with excitement. "Yes, sweety... I''m surprised I didn''t find it earlier... You have a good nose sweetheart..."


    Like so, both women entered a restaurant called ''The 9 Gluttonous Jades''. Unknown to the two, this restaurant was actually quite famous inside of the city and it even held some reputation outside of it, so it was no random inn.


    Once inside, a hostess approached the two and said: "Hello, how may I help the esteemed guests?"


    After she saw the two''s clothes, the hostess immediately became respectful. "We have an appointment with the man in cabinet 11, so lead us to him." The older woman instantly said, her voice implying that no refusal would be accepted.


    "Uh, madam... The esteemed guest did not warn us of anyone visiting..." Before she could continue, the hostess'' eyes were suddenly drawn into those of Laura.


    "You will lead us to cabinet 11... and then you will forget and go back to work..." Laura''s eyes seemed to contain endless charm and power. The hostess was like a moth drawn to a flame as she nodded and did as ordered.


    Soon, Luna and Laura both arrived in front of a large room. From inside, the smell of alcohol and roasted meat drifted towards both women. This smell alone could make even the most iron-willed salivate, however, to Laura and Luna, this was like smelling the air. They felt nothing from it. Only blood could truly excite a vampire after all.


    Laura opened the sliding door and went in as though she was the boss, quickly followed by an excited Luna. Inside the cabinet, a thin, tall blonde-haired man sat, eating roasted wyvern meat.


    Looking at the two women, the man raised his eyebrow and whistled whilst licking his lips. As to whether it was because of the small trace of meat stuck to his lips or due to the two beauties that entered, nobody but him knew.


    "And to what should I honor this visit for, fellow magicians?" The man asked, his eyes twinkling with slyness and wisdom. However, before he could do anything more, he suddenly found himself, or rather, his neck, in the hands of the older woman.


    "Sweety, since you found him, I''m going to give him to you. You can enjoy him all you want, actually, do kill him when you''re done. I don''t want to leave any traces that might lead to us visiting here since Leon told me that a powerful adventurer will be coming in a couple weeks. Call me when you''re done, okay? I''m going to eat someone else." Laura said with a small wink as she easily crushed the man''s limbs.


    He screamed a soundless scream since Laura had long since put a sound barrier around his head. She had also destroyed his mana channels with her own mana, effectively dooming the man even if they wouldn''t kill him.


    Powerful people relied on power and wisdom to survive, and wizards were no exception. Most wizards would make a great number of enemies during their lives, and the moment they showed weakness, they would be torn apart without hesitation. To be a cripple means death not only in vampire society but also in wizarding.


    "Mmmhm..." Luna nodded as she crouched down next to the fallen wizard. His expression was ugly, it was obvious he was in great pain. However, Luna couldn''t give a smaller fuck then she did.


    Biting his neck, the wizard''s eyes bulged out. His veins expanded and began to pulsate as blood was forced out of them, some even shriveled after no blood was left.


    After 30 seconds, the man''s limbs had all rotten and dried up. After 2 minutes, his hair had fallen off and his entire body had basically turned into a dried husk. Only after a total of 3 minutes did Luna finally let go, licking the small trickle of blood falling from the corner of her mouth.


    She smiled as a feeling of ecstasy rushed in her. A feeling similar to that of drunkness manifested, but through her iron will forged through countless years, she resisted and sat down cross-legged and began to meditate.


    An aura similar to that of an ancient god manifested itself for a couple moments before disappearing. Only after 20 minutes had passed did she finally get up and inspect herself.


    Her core that had only been around 75% complete had rushed up all the way to 90% completeness. Furthermore, she could feel that her body had grown leaps and bounds in strength, boosting her power by almost 30%.


    This was the real reason the Blood Monarch got so strong. He could consume the mana in the blood of people and strengthen himself from it. Naturally, the stronger he got, the harder it was. Also, a normal human''s blood was basically manaless, so he needed to gather several high-ranked wizards to strengthen himself.


    Now, Luna had done the same. This was called the Soul Devouring Tactic, and right now, after only one meal, it allowed her to skip another 15 years of slow, painful waiting.


    A vampire''s body would constantly improve naturally, however, it was painfully slow. Hence, before she was reincarnated as the Blood Monarch, she had asked The Manager to gift her something that would allow her to defeat all her enemies, and he had given her this.


    However, it was extremely taxing on her body. Her eyes felt like mountains as her body trembled and refused to stand. Thankfully, before she fell, she felt herself get picked up by a pair of warm, loving arms and heard someone whisper in her ears, "Dear, don''t worry. I know you must be tired, so let me carry you home..."


    And like this, Luna fell asleep, her body still digesting all the energy she stole from the poor, nameless wizard that no one will remember...

 OLD Chapter 6 - Dark Clouds

    It was a dark night yet again. The streets were completely empty, and the lights in the houses were all turned off.


    A shadow dark enough to cast itself over the darkness appeared on the ground from the skies, and only after it reached a hidden alley did the owner of the shadow show himself.


    A handsome, yet feminine man with gigantic black wings walked out of the alley a couple minutes later. His face was cold, and his steps steady.


    After walking for around 30 more minutes, the man finally reached the place he was looking for and sat down on a nearby chair. Taking out a book, he began reading like nothing in this world could affect him.


    After a short while, a fat man wearing a fancy suit arrived in front of the same place the man was sitting at. He looked around for a bit before sitting down in front of the man.


    With a small bow, the fat man expressed his regards. "Greetings, my true lord and master Leon."


    Not even bothering to look at the fat man, Leon asked, "Did you get everything settled?"


    Sporting a fawning smile, the fat man nodded and tried to boost his own achievements. "Of course Master! Your lowly servant has already sent the Daughter of Ice away, and she did not discover a thing..."


    Before he could continue, Leon looked at the fat man with a cold gaze, making the fat man''s back instantly start sweating. "Did I ever say that you are my servant? You are but a lowly slave, understand that, or do I need to make you understand it myself?"


    The fat man''s face contorted in fear and he instantly banged his head on the table whilst trying to please his master. "Forgive me, master! This slave has overstepped his limits! Please have mercy!"


    The fat man, was, in fact, a converted vampire. This alone meant that although he had much greater power than a common man, Leon would need but a thought to make him wish he was dead. A converted vampire would go through a change in their very soul during their transformation, and their entire mindset would change to ''I live to serve my master''.


    Narrowing his eyes, Leon got up and put his book away back into his robe. As for where it went after it was put inside the robe? That would be a vampire''s secret...


    "Your mere presence irks me. The only reason you''re alive is because I don''t want to have to take the time to replace you with someone more capable. You are the mayor of this town after all. However, know this, should I be unsatisfied with your work, I will send you to the Council and declare you a traitor. You should know how the Council handles traitors, correct?"


    The fat man''s body that had stopped trembling quickly resumed doing so at a far higher rate. He nodded desperately and begged for Leon to spare him whilst crying pitifully.


    He was not wrong in being as shameless as he was. If he truly ended up in the hands of the council and was declared a traitor, his life would be over. No, perhaps saying that it would be over would be a godsend.


    No. The Council would torture him for 500 years in literally the worst ways possible whilst they would constantly force him to keep his sanity. Furthermore, the Council was renowned for having the most painful and cruel torture methods to have ever existed, even the renowned Blood Monarch was not as good as them in this regard.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    And even if he tried to say that he was not a traitor, they would never listen. For vampires, the very definition of traitor when it came to converted vampires was ''Their master disowned them''. This meant that as long as his master wished for it, he would instantly be branded as a traitor and sent to his doom without any chance for salvation.


    Not even turning back, Leon walked away. However, just as he was about to fade into the night, he suddenly stopped.


    His face was serious as he turned in a certain direction and whispered, "A fellow vampire..."


    Immediately, his mighty wings spread open and he rushed back to his house at a speed that Luna and Laura simply could not compare to. Naturally, it paled in comparison to the old Luna, the Blood Monarch, but that''s not the point.


    A couple hours later, Leon landed on of a small protrusion in a mountain. Looking around whilst spreading his senses, he checked his surroundings. Only after he was satisfied did he walk in, passing right through the stone as though it didn''t exist.


    "I really need to make a better illusion...It''s really a godsend that a fellow vampire arrived, hopefully, he has a couple years that he can spend with us..." Leon smiled slightly. If it was a human, the idea of inviting someone into your house for a couple years just because they were the same race would sound insane, however, vampires were very different from humans.


    For a vampire, a couple years was nothing. Furthermore, all vampires treated fellow members of their species like close siblings. It was unheard of that a vampire would ever voluntarily harm a fellow vampire, it simply was not in their genes. Rather, if a vampire ever discovered another vampire, the first thing they would do was to go and invite them to do something together, or just trying to help them in any problem possible.


    In fact, this was the very reason for the council''s existence. The council mainly focused on helping fellow vampires in all way possible, and every vampire was required to obey the council. However, the council never enforced its rule. All it did was helping and aiding fellow vampires in their long lives.


    As long as a vampire did not die at birth and was not crippled during their infancy, they would be considered a part of the council. The council wasn''t made up of any specific vampire in particular, rather, it was the will of the entire vampire race put together and given form


    This was also why it was so terrifying. If the council said that something white was black, for the vampires, it was true. Therefore, should the council ever be angered, the entire vampire race would move as one.


    This was made possible by many facts, mainly because there were fewer than 1000 vampires alive. However, every single one of these vampires, especially the old monsters, were powerhouses that could level cities to the ground by themselves.


    In fact, Luna''s father and mother could be considered as rather weak in terms of standards. This was not because they had no talent, but because they were relatively young, only around 500 years old.


    After Leon finally reached his mansion hidden deep inside the mountain, he called out "Dear! Come over, quick! I sensed a fellow pureblood in the city before! Grab some of the bloodgems and red wine, we''re going down to meet him."


    Opening the door, a young girl poked her head out as she looked around before her gaze landed on her father. She nodded with a somewhat excited smile as she retrieved her head back into the house.


    Laughing slightly at his daughter''s antics, Leon waited for a couple minutes before Laura and Luna came out from the mansion.


    They both wore their very best clothes and Laura was holding several bottles of red wine and a sack filled with bloodgems in the other.


    "Dear, I grabbed a couple dozen of them. Do you think they''ll be enough?" Laura asked. Leon shrugged in response and spread out his wings whilst saying "Sure. At most, we''ll come back to grab some more."


    Bloodgems were not only the vampire''s currency. Rather, they held many purposes.


    From casting powerful spells to simple games, vampires used bloodgems for basically everything. Funnily enough, one of the things they used them for was consumption.


    It should be kind of obvious. After all, bloodgems are literally just blood crystallized and stored. For a vampire, a bloodgem is a refined delicacy, so it is common to see them during special occasion during meals.


    Nodding, both Luna and Laura spread their wings too. After the family took off, Luna couldn''t help but look into the distance a bit and frown. Murmuring in a voice low enough that nobody could hear, she said, "Why do I feel like something is wrong? And those black clouds... Is it my imagination? Probably."


    And like this, she quickly caught up to her parents and headed toward the city...

 OLD Chapter 7 - Dark Times

    "Are you guys ready for it? The bloodsucker should be coming back any minute now." A girl dressed in white priest robes said, her face somewhat uncertain despite trying to sound composed.


    "Yes, Yue, he''ll be coming back soon. If what Aura said is true, then those vampires should not be particularly strong nor should there be more than 2 of them. They probably are preparing for something big since they haven''t acted much for the last 50 years..." A man wearing a strange black suit with two crossbows tied to the side.


    "Still... These are vampires we''re talking about... are you sure we can take them on? Yue asked, still not convinced. After all, killing a vampire is like slaying a dragon, a feat that worthy of being called a hero for.


    "... Don''t worry... Have a plan..." Another woman said. Her voice was low, and yet, it contained a lot of power. She stood out from the other two not due to her moderate beauty, but because of the cold and frosty aura that she emanated.


    Nodding, the man began laughing. "I''m impressed by the way. Although it''s not impossible to do, replicating a vampiric aura like that is really hard to do. Hell, as long as I can''t see you, even I''d be fooled by it. Hehe, those bloodsuckers won''t see it coming."


    It was true after all. The woman was the famous Daughter of Ice, nicknamed this way due to her ice magic and icy attitude. Only she could replicate the cold and dark nature of a vampire well enough to fake her own aura enough to fool a vampire like this.


    However, despite all of her coldness, she was still naive. The man snorted inside. The moment word got out of this and this woman got all the credit, there was simply no way that she would get out alive. Chances are, those old vampires living in seclusion would all come pouring out like a tide, destroying anything in their path to get their hands on her. Her fate would not be a good one.


    Meanwhile, he would just enjoy the spoils of this hunt. Just by participating in this he would be able to ask the Witch Hunter Association to raise his rank by at least 2, maybe even 3. The benefits from raising in ranks would be huge.


    As for the priestess? She was here only because apparently, the Daughter of Ice and her had some... deep relations. If it was a normal day, the man would instantly brand her a heretic and turn her into the association, but this was not a normal day.


    He was about to say something when his senses caught onto the aura of a powerful vampire. Thankfully, there were only 3, and one, in particular, was much, much weaker than the others.


    "A child... So that''s what they''ve been doing..." The hunter whispered. This might be a problem, he thought.


    It wasn''t that the child would actually cause problems, but for a child to survive this long, it meant that he or she had good talent. Killing an adult would earn the fury of those old monsters who wanted to keep the vampire''s pride high, but killing a child... oh man.


    This would get you the ire of the entire vampire race. Forget the Daughter of Ice, even he would definitely get in trouble, and it would be very, very hard to get out alive. In fact, his experience as a witch hunter told him that if he did kill the child, death would be the happiest ending. The worst... He didn''t want to think about it.


    A good comparison is like this: If someone was to bomb a military camp, those behind it would be angry, but it would be expected. However, if someone was to bomb a civilian zone that was not armed and not involved in the conflict... This was a whole other issue.


    However, right now, that was not important. The other two auras, whilst nowhere near as strong as those old monsters, still made him feel like running away immediately. Thankfully, the knowledge that the rank S adventurer, the Daughter of Ice was with him, made him feel much better.


    The man and the priestess instantly hid in two opposite corners whilst the Daughter of Ice stood in the middle of the street. Her aura extremely similar to that of a vampire, however, the moment she would make eye contact with the real vampires, all of her disguises would become useless in an instant.


    For that reason, she whipped out a book and began ''reading'' it. It was not a very good way to hide her identity, but it would give them a couple extra seconds to sneak-attack and land at least one critical hit.


    As he looked at the sky, he could not help but be startled despite already knowing how vampires looked.


    3 figures, each with huge wings, slowly descended from the skies. Once they were far down enough to get a better look, the man couldn''t help but agree with those nobles that would pay basically anything to obtain a living vampire.


    There were two girls, one young looked around 13 and the other around 24. Both of them were extremely beautiful, and although the man had never seen an elf and only heard of their beauty in stories, he couldn''t help but think that elves couldn''t be as beautiful as vampires. Even the man was extremely handsome.


    Once the three vampires landed, they all retracted their wings and walked up to the Daughter of Ice. The man flashed a half-confused and half-helpless expression. Once they were 10 meters away from the Daughter of Ice, he bowed down and spoke.


    "Noaptea este cu tine, fratele meu curat." Although the man couldn''t understand, nor could the priestess or the Daughter of Ice, he still got the basic meaning behind it.


    He had heard of it from his studies. It was a greeting between vampires, and only vampires could say it. There was no way a human could say this greeting nor really speak the vampiric language since they lacked the long canines, which were key in pronouncing it.


    Hence, unless one could respond to this in less than 3 seconds, the vampire would instantly know that the Daughter of Ice was no real vampire, but an impostor!


    The Daughter of Ice knew this, so she coughed a bit. This was the signal, and both the man and priestess sprang into action.


    Before the vampires could react, the Daughter of Ice had already activated her famous spell: Glacier Bindings.


    Chains of ice sprang from the ground and immediately caught the two adult vampires whilst smashing the younger one away, sending her crashing into a nearby house. Instantly, the man fired both of his crossbows, aiming at the two vampire''s hearts.


    "Witch hunter!" The vampiress cried out in shock whilst the vampire roared "Treachery! Despicable!"


    Before they could break free, the priestess finally finished her chant and yelled: "Stop!"


    The witch hunter''s eyes widened a little before going back to normal. Although this was only a tier 3 spell, if used correctly, it''s real might could even rival tier 7 spells due to one reason: The time attribute.


    The time attribute is extremely rare, kind of like the space attribute. One cannot block time or space spells, so they are all way more powerful than what their tiers might suggest.


    The two vampire''s movement stopped for a split second before resuming. A flash of disbelief flashed through both of their faces as the two arrows impaled themselves on their chests.


    In that moment, however, the full might of a vampire''s counterattack arrived. The chains of ice instantly broke and the two fell to the ground. The disbelief was gone, and instead, their scleras turned as black as the void.


    They both tore out the arrows from their chests, blood splattering everywhere. Then, the woman took out a number of red crystals from her bag and threw them at her companion, who caught them and swallowed them whilst the woman did the same with the remainder of them.


    The moment they did so, their wounds instantly closed and their auras spiked in power, multiplying by at least fivefold for a second before going back to normal.


    However, that aura didn''t just disappear. No, it went into a spell.


    "Dance of darkness: a thousand fallen wings.", "Moon''s dark blessing" The two vampires each yelled. Thousands of blades appeared in the sky whilst a silvery color surrounded them before all of them fell down, bringing chaos with them.


    The ground cracked under the might of the spell. The Daughter of Ice threw herself at the priestess and created an ice barrier to defend herself, however, it was not enough. Soon, hundreds of mana blades, each with the power of at least a rank 4 spell, fell upon the Daughter and the priestess.


    The man himself was not fairing much better. His various anti-unholy artifacts all flashed, trying to protect him. However, all of them soon collided and he too was met with the rain of blades.


    Immediately, he activated a martial art, Skin Fortress. His body turned as hard as steel as he withstood the impact. Nonetheless, he still got severely cut in multiple places.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    All of this happened in an instant. After the rain of moon-powered blades, every house in a radius of a hundred meters was cut apart, the people inside all dead. Screams erupted from the other houses, but the battle site was in silence.


    The Daughter of Ice had severe cuts on her entire body. She had used her ice very well, defending herself and the priestess who would have surely died otherwise, however, she still was severely injured. The witch hunter faced the same situation, albeit a bit better off due to not having thrown himself into the carnage.


    Meanwhile, the two vampire''s faces were serious, but they did not look particularly tired or strained. However, a grim expression was hidden beneath that seriousness, and they themselves felt like a death star had raised over them.


    Leon and Laura had arrived and greeted the fellow vampire as per the vampiric etiquette, and yet, their every belief was shattered the moment the Daughter of Ice revealed her true race. In their eyes, it was like an octopus turning into a tree. They simply could not understand.


    However, they still retaliated. Luna had thankfully been knocked away by the first attack, and they both focused on not hitting her.


    Despite the surprise attack, they were still 500+ years old vampires, so they immediately reacted. They did cause damage, however, the weird fake vampire was much stronger than what they expected, and the vampire hunter too survived. There was also the annoying priestess, but she seemed to have run out of mana already, so she was as good as dead.


    Leon and Laura were not naive and this was not their first battle with witch hunters, however, it was the first time they had been hit by their arrows, and all vampires knew that if there is one thing other than the sun that can kill them, it is a witch hunter''s arrow.


    It is not because of the first impact, rather, it is because of the poison it carries. Although older and stronger vampires can resist it, these arrows carry a very potent venom capable of slowly weakening a vampire until the witch hunter can kill them. If left alone, it will flush away by itself in a matter of hours, however, during fights, it is extremely unfair to fight against.


    Theoretically, if they really, really tried, Leon or Laura could escape, or at least one of them. However, there was only one problem: Luna.


    As the two parties stared each other down, Luna got up whilst groaning. Her ears ringed and her every bone hurt. She knew what had happened, but she too was in disbelief.


    However, her battle experience was far greater than her parents, so she instantly recovered. After she looked at her parents not running, realization dawned on her.


    They weren''t running not because they didn''t fear death, but because they wanted her to escape. Knowing this, Luna''s heart felt like a raging storm. She didn''t know what to think, but she knew one thing, run.


    She knew it was shameless, but she was powerless right now. Nonetheless, tears fell from her face as she ran away and opened her wings to fly away.


    However, the moment she was in the sky, the witch hunter shouted at the Daughter of Ice, "Quick! Use your strange storm spell!"


    Startled, she did as he said and used the spell. In that moment, a powerful storm swept the area. Leon and Laura braced themselves to resist it, however, the witch hunter shouted again "Bring the kid over to us!"


    Although she hesitated, after being shouted at again, the Daughter of Ice did as he told her. In that moment, Luna had already soared around 10 feet in the air before a powerful wind suddenly caused her to lose her balance and she was thrown back.


    "You dare?!" Leon and Laura both roared, but they were helpless. They realized what the bastard was trying to do, but if they tried to rescue their daughter, they would leave themselves far too open.


    After the spell ended, Luna found herself under the heel of the witch hunter, who had taken out his crossbow and pointed it at her head. She could only grit her teeth as she staid still, not daring to move.


    "Both of you, the moment you move, I will end this kid''s life." The witch hunter hissed. Even the Daughter of Ice was startled. She did as he said because despite being rank S, she still was only 20 years old. She didn''t really have much combat experience, and he seemed like a good person to listen to.


    However, the results were just too ugly for her. However, she knew that speaking out now was a bad idea, so she kept silent.


    She hated vampires. She had heard all the stories and what they did, but seeing them in action, it reminded her of her own parents and... she didn''t want to think more. This was why she must get stronger, to avenge her parents.


    She was determined to kill the two vampires, but the child? She looked far too young and weak, besides, it was a child! A child! what the witch hunter was doing was completely against her morals.


    As for the priestess? Her little brain barely understood what was happening, and had it not been for her time attribute, she would be as useful as a random rock lying around: completely useless during a fight. She had huge breasts though, so it was okay.


    Leon and Laura were completely furious. It was not possible for their scleras to get blacker than they were, but they didn''t dare move. Despite all the coldness in vampires, they were still parents. Their kid had a great future, great looks, amazing talent that constantly shocked them and was a very proper vampire, so they had no reason not to love her.


    Hence, they simply didn''t know what to do. Moving meant that their child would die and then them, not moving meant they surely die but their child might just live.


    Hence, Laura and Leon looked at each other. They could understand what the other was thinking with just a look.


    Slowly getting on their knees, both of them raised their hands up without a word. The witch hunter''s eyes brightened as he began laughing "Good! That''s what I want to see? You love your daughter enough to give away your lives?"


    As he shouted, his applied weight to his leg and the girl under him groaned in pain. "Now, I want you both to carve out your hearts, and if you do that, I swear on my name as a witch hunter I''ll let your daughter go..."


    Leon and Laura''s eyes turned even grimmer. For a vampire to carve out their hearts, was basically suicide. They would die quickly, and they would also lose all their mana.


    Just as they were undecided, the witch hunter suddenly stomped on Luna with great force, making her yell out in pain. "What''s wrong? Didn''t you love your daughter??" He shouted as he began to stomp time and time again.


    The Daughter of Ice gasped whilst Luna cried out even more. Not only was her body still weak, but the witch hunter''s boot was filled with tiny spikes on the bottom.


    "Stop! Stop! We''ll do it!" Laura cried out. The witch hunter stopped his stomping, his foot hovering right over Luna''s bleeding and mangled back.


    Despite being the Blood Monarch and carrying plenty of suffering already, Luna could not help but cry. In the silence of the night, her cry was like a bright light, so out of place and yet so fitting.


    She was humiliated. She felt powerless. Her parents were in danger for her, and she couldn''t do anything about it. She wanted to yell out ''Just run!'', but she was scared. Scared of dying again and not getting another chance. Scared of failing her parents. Scared of failing herself.


    "We''ll do it, but you have to promise that you will let her go and not inform anyone of her and not follow her either. You will also have to give our corpses to her and make it so your friends don''t do anything to her either, otherwise, we will self-destruct, and you will not survive no matter how bastardly you are..." Leon said, his eyes shining a dark light.


    The witch hunter shivered and quickly agreed. A vampire''s self-destruction would basically level a country if done by old monsters. Whilst not quite as strong, these two''s self-destruct could still destroy at least half the country and surely kill him.


    After he swore on his name, a promise no witch hunter can back out of even if they want to, the two vampires finally relaxed. With a quick motion, both tore out their hearts.


    "FATHEEEEER! MOTHER! NO!" Luna roared, her eyes filled with red tears. Even the ice-cold Daughter of Ice couldn''t help but pale and puke at the sight. After all, it''s a thing hurting someone, it is disgusting to an extent, but seeing someone inflict self-harm is far, far more disgusting.


    Sighing, the witch hunter moved his foot away from Luna and began panting. Taking those oaths was not lime making a normal promise, it took a lot out of him.


    Stiffly, Luna slowly crawled to where her parents laid. Their eyes were still open, however, the light in them was quickly fading.


    After she arrived next to her parents, Luna broke down into tears once more as she hugged them and pulled them close, "No... no... please... don''t leave me..."


    Just as the light in their eyes was about to fade, two hands reached out and grabbed Luna''s head. One from each parent, they brought her even closer to them as Laura, the weaker of the pair, finally died.


    However, before he too died, Leon let out a small whisper, "We love you sweety... Don''t... Don''t forget us..."


    "Father! Please no, please no, please!" Luna screamed. Pride? What even was pride.


    That very saying she always held close. You don''t understand how valuable something is until you lose it. She suddenly felt like she was just playing with it before. Only now did she truly understand it''s meaning.


    Screaming into the sky, Luna''s roar resounded out into the city. No guards came to check, nor did anyone even come near. The witch hunter had already prepared for this fight and had ordered several of his underlings to keep any who wanted to intrude out...


    Turning, her gaze turned feral as she locked eyes with the witch hunter "You..." She hissed as she attempted to attack him, however, he barely slapped her, sending her reeling to the ground.


    Without even looking at her, he said "I swore to let you go, so just grab your parents and go. The sun is going to come out in around 4 hours, so you should be able to return to your hideout. Don''t get me in trouble because you kill yourself..."


    Just as he was about to walk away, a hand stopped him from below. Luna had grabbed his legs and was furiously punching him with a gaze that seemed to contain all the hatred in the world.


    Frowning, he stomped down on her hands. Luna screamed but did not stop. Now furious, the witch hunter began stomping on Luna again.


    However, he was soon stopped and dragged away by cold hands. Turning, he found the Daughter of Ice staring at him with cold eyes.


    Snorting, he laughed "Forgive me, mighty rank S adventurer. You, the most powerful being in the city, felled two evil vampires! Congratulations..."


    Meanwhile, Luna had been forced to realize that she was in no position to retaliate. She pitifully got up, her body mangled and her flesh broken in several spots from the nail-like sole of the witch hunter.


    Grabbing her parent''s bodies, Luna attempted to fly away, however, her speed was much slower than what it normally would have been. As she flew back home, she would constantly either start crying or stare back with a hateful gaze.


    The cold feeling of hatred... that very feeling that she had slowly extinguished... reignited.


    However, she tried her best to suppress it. She tried. Really tried. In the end, she succeeded, however, it was only compressed upon a single person: That witch hunter.


    His face burned into her memories, her sobbing gradually stopped. Only for a moment though, as she soon broke down again. She simply could not help but cry.


    After reaching their old home just minutes before the sun came out, she laid her parents over their bed and spent an entire night just hugging their corpses, pitifully and uselessly calling their names as though they would come back.


    Only after 4 days of this did she finally stop. However, her heart was now cold. The love they had showed her had warmed her up, however, to survive now, a thick layer of ice once again grew. If she didn''t, her heart would have simply been broken, never to recover.


    Now, with her mind finally stabilized, she bit into her father''s corpse...

 OLD Chapter 8 - Core

    As the sun fell down from its high throne in the skies, the moon once again showed itself, chasing the running sun.


    Under these mighty celestial bodies, two figures streaked through the skies at unimaginable speeds.


    Sporting wings easily over 30 meters long, these two figures cast a shadow over darkness itself.


    Naturally, they were vampires. However, unlike normal vampires, these two seemed to carry an aura of rage. Their bodies would tremble every now and then, and they would also grit their teeth.


    After arriving on top of a certain city next to a mountain, these two vampires decided to land. All beings, be it humans, beastkins or elves, they all fled screaming at the sight of these two figures.


    A man slightly more courageous than the others thought it was a good idea to take out his sword and try to attack the two vampires. However, those two didn''t even bother with him.


    "Fuck off, we''re in a bad mood right now..." One of the vampires said. His words seemed to carry power as the man''s pants were suddenly filled with liquid. Screaming, he instantly ran away.


    After the area was cleared, the two men paved a path of devastation as they headed towards a prohibited area. Some policemen and guards tried to stop them, however, they were all either scared away or died a horrible death.


    To these men''s eyes, no matter how many you kill, humans would always, always come back. Hence, they did not hold back nor did they really care about the consequences of killing these men. After all, the kingdom would never dare to offend them for the sake of a couple commoners.


    Kingdoms. This was a word hated by every vampire. In their eyes, it was a useless thing made by weak beings that could not even manage themselves. However, for humans, the kingdom was their blood and bones.


    There were around 5 kingdoms in the continent, with several dozen independent duchies and even more independentcounties. However, all of them generally obeyed the king of one the kingdoms.


    This king was normally just another normal king, however, he held absolute power during times of conflict, like when the Demon King would decide that he needed to wage a war against the humans or, for example, when the Blood Monarch appeared and destroyed everything in his path with his vampire companions and the demon army at his command. That time had been the closest the humans had ever gotten to extinction, and it was also the reason why vampires and humans held a blood-feud only resolvable by genocide.


    However, the biggest blood feud of them all was the demons and humans. These races were like fire and water, they simply would never go well together.


    For this, humans had allied themselves with elves and beastkin whilst the demons, although less scheming and shameless than humans, they too roped in their own allies.


    These allies mainly consisted of the beastmen, which if you confuse for beastkins, but they will eat your guts. Also, the orcs too had recently become allies when the daughter of the current demon lord had married the Orc Emperor Saladin.


    However, the biggest ally of the demons would definitely be the vampires. It is not unheard of for vampires and demons to have children, however, they would always be demons, not vampires.


    Although vampires did not condemn this, they still were somewhat reluctant to see their own few members of the species get taken away like this. However, no one ever said anything due to an old law that the Blood Monarch had instilled.


    It read: ''All demons are allies of vampires. As long as even a single humans remain alive and even after, we vampires pledge to keep our promise and forever remain friends of the demons. Hence, vampires will never take voluntary actions against the demon tribes.''


    For this reason, vampires had for as long as everyone can remember, remained loyal allies of the demons. Although they didn''t obey their orders, they would often agree to small requests from the demon lords.


    However, right now, even if the entire demon race was to stand to stop them, these two vampires would not show any mercy. Their scleras were completely black, and after they arrived in the middle of an abandoned street covered by debris and filled with destruction, their pupils shrank.


    "This smell... there''s no mistaking it, it''s the smell of a vampire''s heart! Did Leon and Laura truly commit suicide!?" One of the vampires roared, his already red eyes turning even more bloodshot.


    "... Those two were smart kids, there''s no way they were tricked into doing it... however, why? Why did they do it?" One of the vampires murmured.


    They had rushed here after disturbing news spread through the human nations. A mighty rising star, the rank S adventurer Daughter of Ice had slain not one, but two vampires! News of her glorious victory was like a slap in the face to all vampires, and the council had immediately sent out these two old monsters to confirm the news.


    "We need more information... This smell... It''s as strong as that of Leon and Laura, there is also another... Another pureblood was here? However, it already left... but... there is the smell of a servant still lingering..." The more composed vampire said as the other vampire clenched his hands hard enough to draw blood.


    The reason? Leon was his own son! He had sent him here along with his wife because it was a relatively poor and newly-established city. The main reason behind this was so that they could train smoothly and learn how to hunt.


    Never did he think that his son would be hunted down! If he knew beforehand, he would have never let him leave the vampire capital, Noctem.


    Yes, vampires do have their own city. There, the Council constantly argues and decides on what to do, for example, whether elven blood is tastier than human blood or whether to hold a feast at 6 pm is better than holding it 7 pm. Yes, really important matters.


    However, jokes aside, now that a real startling news had reached them, the council was silent, waiting for these two to report back. Based on their reports, they would act accordingly.


    They would naturally never take this lying down. They would instantly demand the culprit to be handed over and then torture him or her for the rest of eternity, constantly in excruciating pain.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Suddenly, the two vampire''s eyes fixed on a large figure walking towards them. This figure was, in fact, the fat man that had talked with Leon before his demise, and his face was extremely pale.


    When the two vampires saw the fat man, their eyes narrowed. The calmer vampire instantly appeared in front of him, and before he could speak, he shoved his hand into his head, piercing his skull and directly entering his brain.


    After a couple minutes, the calm vampire slowly retracted his hand, letting the corpse fall to the ground. However, the trembling in his whole body betrayed his calm.


    "Ryan? What''s wrong?" The angrier vampire asked, somewhat startled. Without a word, Ryan, the not-so-calm vampire, put his hands on the angrier vampire''s forehead, projecting memories directly into his brain.


    Images of the entire battle, the shamelessness of the witch hunter, the young vampire girl, the demise of Leon and Laura... all of it was transmitted in less than a second.


    "Filthy... Bastardly... MORTALS!" The now really angry vampire screamed, the earth trembled under his roar and all the people that hadn''t run nearly far enough instantly died.


    Taking a deep breath, Ryan said, "Now I understand... They had a talented kid, so they decided to stay and raise her here, where she can learn and thrive... this also explains their suicide, they were basically guaranteed to die, and if they didn''t, the child would... I... This is an insult to all vampires. That man dared to... dared to stomp on her!?" Ryan''s eyes suddenly glinted with a cold light.


    "Go. Report this, I will go and talk with the child..." Ryan said. The other man nodded and took off after Ryan handed him a strange, blue crystal.


    After his companion flew far enough, Ryan spread his own wings and flew towards the nearby mountain. After he arrived, he easily passed through the illusion and entered the main cave before walking towards the large mansion at the center.


    However, before he got fat, he suddenly felt his heart clench. This feeling was familiar to him, and he instantly thought "She''s forming her core!"


    Not daring to disturb her now, he quietly sat to the side and began to wait, looking at the mansion with a pitying gaze. It could be said that a vampire''s growth was very simple.


    From when they were born all the way 50-70 years old, they would naturally accumulate mana from the blood they consume and the air around them. Slowly, this mana would be used to form their core.


    To fully finish the core, a vampire needs a large influx of mana. This was a problem that plagued many vampires under 200, as they would need to spend hundreds of years slowly accumulating mana until they reached enough to finish their breakthrough.


    There is a very, very large difference between vampires without complete cores and those with complete ones. Complete-core vampires can safely cast powerful spells, and furthermore, they will awaken their innate ability, which they would then spend the rest of their lives training. Also, after finishing their core, a vampire''s growth would be accelerated by at least fivefold, as the mana-gathering power of a finished core is not weak.


    They would use that mana to slowly strengthen their bodies and core, getting stronger over time. Vampires could be said to have been lucky, as other then when they form their full core, their path to strength was very smooth without any bottlenecks.


    However, for a girl this young, only around 40-50 years based on what Ryan gathered, he could tell that she was a genius! No, a monster!


    Meanwhile, inside the mansion, Luna was sitting cross-legged. Her chest was shining and around her were several circles made of blood.


    "Mother... Father... your deaths will not be in vain... I promise!" She murmured, her eyes showing resolve. She had decided to wait to use her Soul Devouring Tactic for later as if she used it now, it''s effectiveness would decrease. Rather, she still used it, but in a much subtler way.


    Using the blood of her parents and their hearts which she collected, she had refined a tremendous amount of pure vampiric mana to assist her in her breakthrough. Although she was only 90% finished with her core, she was confident in her ability to complete it.


    Once finished, the Soul Devouring Tactic would instantly become her ace. With it, she could basically endlessly get stronger, however, it too had its limits.


    If she used it too much, there was a risk that the mana she ate would go berserk, destroying her. The best way to use it was to gather lots of mana-filled blood and slowly absorb it over a long period of time, unlike what she did with the wizard.


    Otherwise, if she abused it, even she couldn''t know what side-effects there would be! She wasn''t willing to try either, so she chose the safe approach.


    After a long breath to calm herself, Luna began chanting, "Might of vampires! Blood awakening!"


    A slight tremble went through each circle of blood surrounding her. Slowly, the blood moved towards Luna as if attracted by a great force.


    After it reached her, it entered through the pores in her skin and traveled over to the small, black and red bead inside her chest. When it touched the bead, it dissolved and was then absorbed by it.


    As if it was a hungry wolf, the bead continued to wolf down the blood. Slowly, it began to grow as Luna concentrated.


    90... 91... 93... 95... 98... 99... As it reached 99, a great force seemed to want to block the process, however, Luna was prepared for it.


    With a yell from Luna, the blood surrounding her all entered at the same time and merged with the bead. The mighty wall that plagued so many vampires was quickly destroyed with plenty of leftovers.


    Suddenly, the bead inside her chest began to move. From her chest, it slowly floated next to her heart, and then entered it.


    This was the reason a vampire''s heart was their weak point: Their heart was also their core! The moment the heart was taken, the core was too, and without a core, a vampire would die.


    After a while, the mana finally stopped flowing into her heart and Luna slumped down onto the ground, her already torn clothes filled with enough sweat to make them even more useless than they already were.


    However, a happy smile was plastered on her face. Her core had not only finished, but it also had grown by a large amount, comparable to that of her own mother.


    After all, she had basically absorbed the purest of mana for vampires without having to slowly refine it whilst wasting a great deal by doing so. Normally, she would never absorb a fellow vampire''s mana like this, however, her parents were different.


    She was sure they would agree. Their corpses had disintegrated, however, this way, she felt like they were still with her.


    Thinking so, she couldn''t help but grasp at the earring in her right ear. It was moon-shaped and silvery in color.


    This was the same earring her mother always wore. For Luna, this was the best reminder of her parents, and also their legacy to her. She would get revenge soon but now was not the time yet.


    As she shakingly got up, her body was suddenly lifted up by something. Yelping, she quickly turned and found a middle-aged man with a kind smile on his face holding her.


    "Shhh... It''s okay... You''re safe now..." He said. Holding Luna in a princess'' carry, he draped his large wings over them, effectively enclosing her.


    To a human, this would seem weird, but to a vampire, it was a show of affection. After seeing his wings and teeth, Luna let go of all restraints and broke down into tears. She could smell a scent similar to that of his father on this man, making her feel even worse than she already was.


    A nearly 3000 years old man crying was shameless? Luna honestly could not care. To be honest, she herself didn''t even feel that old, as most of her second life was spent in a dream-like state as she would constantly train, train and train.


    Furthermore, the events had simply shocked her. Now that she was held by secure hands, she hugged the man and buried her face in his chest whilst crying.


    "It''s okay dear, grandpa Ryan is here..." The middle-aged man, Ryan, said as he gently rubbed the back of Luna''s hand. He knew what she had gone through, and even he would be traumatized, much less this young girl.


    His own innate ability was Mind Control. The name was pretty obvious, however, being the old monster he was, his ability had slowly evolved into basically being able to do anything with a person''s mind as long as basic requirements were met.


    One of such things was mind-reading. He saw what happened to the fat man who had been hiding whilst observing the fight. He saw how the witch hunter killed her parents in front of her whilst using her to basically kill them. He saw how powerless he made her feel, and it made him... really, really mad.


    However, he suppressed this rage as he slowly soothed the girl down. After a while, the girl fell asleep in his hands. Lifting her up gently, he carried her out of the mountain before heading towards Noctem, where the council waited for them...

 OLD Chapter 9 - Budding relations and dangerous news

    After Luna woke up, she found herself still in the arms of the middle-aged vampire, Ryan.


    Although she didn''t want to, she still blushed fiercely and began fidgeting. She didn''t remember this vampire in particular from her memories, and considering she remembered every single one of them, she knew that this man was at most only 2000 years old.


    Hence, in her mind, it was like being carried by someone her own age. For some reason, she couldn''t help but become extremely embarrassed and hide her head in her arms.


    Having flown for the entire night without rest, Ryan was really tired now. Furthermore, he was also carrying Luna with him, so it was double the effort.


    Although a vampire''s stamina is not something to make fun of, especially in battle, vampires are not orcs. They focus mainly on magic, not on body training, so they are nowhere as enduring.


    Sure, they are stronger than even 50 men combined, but so are basically all the other races. A normal elf has the magical power of a hundred common men, a common demon is as strong and has the same magic as 50 men whilst a common orc is as strong as 100 men.


    Of course, humans have the strangest potentials, as some are complete trash whilst others have amazing talent capable of making all the other races envious. However, that is only a minority.


    Ryan''s tired gaze moved up to the skies, where the moon was starting to disappear. It would only take around 20 more minutes for the sun to come out, hence, Ryan had to hurry.


    He would not make it back in one night. That much was obvious considering it took him two full nights to come here even when he was alone, so it''s only natural it takes as much time going back. He landed near a natural cave with Luna in tow, where he then promptly entered and sealed the entrance shut with stones.


    Noticing that the girl was awake and blushing fiercely, he chuckled and began poking her cheek in a playful manner.


    Luna was startled when she felt the finger poking her, however, she soon relaxed and went along with Ryan''s game.


    "S-stop it..." she said whilst shying away from the pokes. He stopped and looked at her with a teasing smile, however, he suppressed it and after leaving her next to a wall, he sat down next to her and tenderly stroked her head.


    The blush that she had been trying to suppress reappeared again. At this point, rather than being angry at Ryan, she was angrier at herself. She, a 3000 years old ex-male, could not contain her own hormones? She never was a doctor, nevermind a vampire doctor, so she had no idea of her own biology, but this was still unacceptable!


    However, before she could do anything, Ryan pulled her into a hug once more as he began telling a story, "A long time ago, I too sought adventure and glory for us vampires. I would dash head-first into witch hunter-infested areas,slaughtering my way through danger. Then, as I got older, I learned that no matter how much I try, I could not solve all of our problems alone..."


    Ryan smiled bitterly as his hug unconsciously tightened. The blush that Luna had been trying so hard to suppress was reignitedwhen she felt Ryan''s arm accidentally scrape close to her chest. Her mind was in chaos after a mere accidental, and in reality, completely irrelevant touch.


    All her mind could register at that moment was her own subconscious yelling ''He touched me! Pervert! Pedophile! He touched me!'', therefore, she couldn''t even hear what Ryan was saying as he continued his story.


    "After I learned that, I stopped. I took a number of years simply relaxing, preparing myself. Then, after I felt ready, I took the responsibility of being one of the 5 Hounds of the Council. I never regretted my decision, for I feel that it was the right thing to do. However, very soon, I met her..."


    "She was the most beautiful and noble vampire I have ever met. Luckily, she returned those feelings, so we soon married. Afterwards, we received the blessing of the moon and conceived a talented child after some time. I spent threecenturies with him. I loved him to the bottom of my heart, however, he soon found someone he loved, and so young too."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "With mine, my wife''s and her own parent''s blessings, him and that woman got married. Her name was... Laura, I think? Anyway, after that, we decided to send them to a safer zone, far from the conflicts of us older vampires."


    At this point, Ryan had already clenched his fist hard enough that they were bleeding. With gritted teeth, he continued, "Never did I think that, after only a hundred years of them being there, we would suddenly find out that two vampires had been slain in that area. After checking, we found out that they had both died."


    "As a Hound, it was my responsibility to investigate, and as a father, it was my decision. I raced there with my friend over to the scene. There, I fond you. I don''t know what to think. Should I be angry at you for making my son sacrifice himself for you, or love you?" Ryan asked to himself more than anyone.


    Having by now recovered, Luna looked up at him with a strange expression. Without a word and ignoring the strange pain in her chest, she hugged Ryan back.


    Feeling this, Ryan, who was looking at the ceiling with a blank expression, looked down at Luna to see her hugging him. Although she was hiding it, she could tell from the slight twitches and trembling that she was scared.


    Sighing, he hugged her back, squeezing. After a while, he began laughing a dry, sad laugh. Soon, a single red tear fell from his red eyes, dropping onto the much slammer Luna.


    Soon, a strange scene could be seen. A relatively young girl, looking 14 years old, and a middle-aged vampire, at least 2000 years old, found themselves hugging each other whilst mourning the loss of their parents and son respectively.


    After a while, Ryan suddenly gave a kiss on the forehead before releasing her and saying "... I guess you''re my granddaughter... Heh, you never did tell me your name though..." Ryan said as he chuckled, trying to cheer up the atmosphere.


    Blushing whilst for some reason feeling a slight pain in her chest, Luna murmured "... Luna..." As she looked away shyly, not daring to make eye contact.


    "Luna, eh? What a beautiful name..." Ryan smiled as he closed his eyes and began waiting for the sun to go down, letting the chaos of Luna''s mind take over.


    For some reason, Luna felt somewhat disappointed in her heart, and yet, there was a feeling of liberation like a heavy stone had been lifted from her heart. She couldn''t interpret those feelings, nor understand them, but she understood the general idea, a sense of loss, and yet the knowledge that she wouldn''t have to deal with this.


    As for what she wanted to deal with? She didn''t know. She barely knew Ryan, and yet, a deep sense of trust and familiarity had already been rooted in her. It might have been from his gentle demeanor, similar looks to her dad and because he saved her during the hardest time in this, and in truth, all of her life.


    Although she wasn''t experienced, she still recognized one thing, she enjoyed the love Ryan showed her. Hence, for the first time, Luna took action herself.


    Awkwardly moving next to Ryan, she rested her head on his shoulder as he took his hand and held it tight. Ryan''s eyes opened and looked at her for a second before closing, his mouth twitching into a slight smile.


    Although Luna was experiencing the full might of early hormonal influence, Ryan was already very old, and way past this stage. Furthermore, he was a loyal married man, so he harbored no thoughts on Luna, only seeing her as a granddaughter, which she truly was.


    Like this, the two waited for the sun to go down. Occasionally, Luna would twitch slightly embarrassment, as if afraid she was doing something wrong. However, after a while of seeing Ryan not rejecting this, Luna relaxed and allowed herself to enjoy this feeling, a calm sense of safety washing over her.


    Be it humans, demons, elves, dwarves, dragons, foxes, wolves, anything that has a brain, there are basic necessities in life. Number one is food, then comes water. Then, depending on the race, shelter, and socialization. However, there is one thing all living beings want, safety.


    For safety, people will go to any lengths, and for a young girl(?) like Luna, especially after feeling so vulnerable, weak, and threatened in front of the witch hunter, Ryan represented everything that is safe. It''s no wonder she was acting the way she was, even if it was the Blood Monarch, he would have enjoyed this feeling.


    Finally, when the sun went down and the moon came up, Ryan blasted the sealed entrance away, and with Luna riding him piggyback, he headed towards Noctem, where a great many angry vampires waited.


    Meanwhile, inside of the demon capital...


    A young man in his prime early 20''s stood in front of a giant man attended by several beauties. This giant man had two huge demonic horns and a leathery tail along with black skin and red runes all over his body.


    "Father, your son carries the news to you." The young man said. The man looked at him with curiosity, asking, "Lucifer, you should know that I do not like to be disturbed during my resting time. I hope you truly do carry important news."


    Nodding, Lucifer began speaking, "There have been reports from one of all of our spies in the human court. Apparently, the Daughter of Ice incident has truly angered the vampires this time according to their angry demands to hand her over. I suspected that they were gathering, and soon enough, my speculation was proven true."


    Taking out a letter, Lucifer handed it to his father. Looking at it, the man furrowed his brows as he asked, "What is this?"


    Smiling with a cold glint, Lucifer explained "It is an offer. An offer of vengeance, but also an opportunity. They are proposing to go to war with the humans..."

 OLD Chapter 10 - Might of Many

    After another full night of traveling and another stop with its own shenanigans, Luna and Ryan finally arrived at their destination: Noctem.


    The city of vampires, the darkest city, the blooded ground... It had many names, however, none of them had any real foundation to base themselves on.


    In truth, Noctem was merely a single, gigantic mountain filled with tunnels and small zones for vampires to live in. It could be said that vampires rivaled dwarves in their love for underground homes, as staying above ground meant risking to be exposed to sunlight.


    As the two landed at the main entrance of the city, a large balcony on the top of the mountain specifically made for vampires to land on, a number of converted vampires instantly came up to them to receive them.


    Without so much as glancing at these servants, Ryan ordered, "Bring us to the main conference hall."


    Used to it, the ''guards'', which in truth were only there to do tasks vampires didn''t want to deal with, for example, the yearly ''tax collection'', instantly obeyed Ryan and brought showed them the way.


    It could be said that these guards were not even really guards. After all, no pureblood would ever make trouble here, and any other race who came here would find it very difficult to scale the trap-filled mountain. The only way to get here safely was to fly, and other than vampires and dragons, there were no other races that had this ability. Perhaps wind mages, but vampires had formations built specifically to deal with them.


    The real reason for their existence was to please their lords in various ways. One of such ways was, as mentioned, the tax collection. In truth, this ''tax'' was blood, and the collection was based on forcing every single human, beastkin or elf in the city''s territory to give up all the blood they could provide without dying.


    Those who disobeyed would, naturally, give up all of their blood, along with the blood of all their relatives and friends. Hence, very few chose to disobey the absolute rule of the vampires, and the majority who didn''t want to would just leave the area.


    However, although the purebloods didn''t care if the ''blood bags'', as they were called, left, the guards did. After all, each guard had to turn in a certain amount of blood, usually around what 200 people could give out. And if they didn''t, they would become blood bags themselves, so naturally, they wouldn''t allow it.


    Purebloods did not really care what guards did or anyone else did as long as they obeyed, however, there was one single rule, a rule so important to them that any transgressors were eligible to be brutally tortured.


    As the guards lead the two purebloods deeper into the mountain, one could occasionally see a vampire walking around or flying. Most of these vampires were rather young, ranging from 600-1500 years old. Almost all of them also held a bookin their hands or otherwise some other kind of entertainment.


    Occasionally, there would be huge stone mansions coming out of nowhere, with several servants running around carrying various things. These were the homes of purebloods, shadowing even royal castles.


    After around an hour of walking, as they were passing, a guard that was carrying a huge bucket filled with blood walked in front of the group. Ryan raised an eyebrow but kept walking.


    Ryan and the guard obviously collided from this, however, Ryan didn''t seem to care. However, the guard did. "Hey! Watch where you''re going you bastard!"


    Hearing this, all of the people, be it guards or purebloods, turned their eyes on the scene. Looking at who had tripped him, the guard found Ryan staring at him with cold eyes.


    Cold sweat began to flow down his back in rivers as he instantly prostrated and banged his head on the floor as he begged and begged for mercy non-stop.


    Ryan''s eyes were still cold, however. Slowly, he said, "I''ll have mercy on you..."


    Hearing this, the guard raised his head to look at Ryan, however, what he found was a foot falling on his face at a speed he couldn''t even see.


    With a loud, squishy sound, the guard''s head exploded. As he retracted his foot, Ryan added, "... And kill you quickly."The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    This was the number one rule in Noctem. No being, be it a guard or a blood bag, or even visitors, could disrespect a pureblood. In fact, if a pureblood even just felt like it, he or she could kill all the guards in Noctem and nobody would say anything. Rather, they''d sit back and enjoy the show.


    Purebloods held absolute power in Noctem. Here, they were as high as the stars and as untouchable as the moon. Furthermore, just like the fat man from the city, all converted vampires would experience a change of the very roots of their mentality, hence, they wouldn''t even think of rebelling.


    Some of the stubborn ones would resist this change, however, those people would meet their end very quickly. Bullying between converted vampires was normal and even encouraged by purebloods since they considered it ''entertaining''. For them, it was like watching two ants fighting: There were so many of these ants that even if a hundred thousand were killed, no one would even notice.


    However, if even a single pureblood was to die, like what happened in the Daughter of Ice incident, the entire vampire world would fall into a murderous rage.


    After the small distraction, Ryan and Luna continued their journey. Noctem truly deserved its reputation as the most confusing city, as the layout of the entire place was completely random without even a hint of uniformity.


    Sometimes, there would be giant mansions all attached together. Other times, there wouldn''t be a single thing in miles. This made it confusing for even those who lived there for centuries, but nobody really cared enough to fix it.


    Finally, after even Ryan''s lips had started twitching in annoyance, they arrive in front of a huge door. There were no other entrances and no windows, only this door.


    The guards stopped at the sides as they bowed whilst saying "Your esteemed lordship and ladyship, we''ve arrived. Your guards will take their leave..." Before quickly running away. They feared this place, basically, all non-purebloods did. After all, behind these doors was where the real pureblood area began, and also where the torture chambers laid.


    Everything before this was just jokes in the eyes of vampires. Some would come to visit and collect blood every once in a while, however, a vampire''s true home laid behind these doors. After all, how could purebloods let themselves live next to these filthy slaves? Or at least that was their mindset.


    With a slight push from Ryan, the doors instantly swung open. Despite their impressive size, they were relatively light. However, that was only to purebloods. Anybody who did not have pure vampiric blood would find these doors heavier than a mountain.


    As Ryan and Luna entered, Luma couldn''t help but gasp in admiration. Tall, beautiful buildings scraped the fake sky who even had a fake, bright moon. Numerous vampires socialized, playing chess, talking, joking around and some even kissing. Some of those vampires glanced at them and nodded before going back to what they were doing.


    However, some of those vampires instantly stopped what they were doing as they walked up to Ryan. Luna reflexively hid behind his back, embarrassed. She realized what she was doing, but at this point, her man''s pride had long since been shattered time and time again, and in reality, she never had much ''man''s pride''. In fact, even back then she once disguised herself as a woman to seduce a king and convince him to go to war. Naturally, she killed him afterward.


    One of the approaching vampires stepped forward whilst the others stayed back, looking at them. "Ryan. The council is waiting for you. Come."


    Nodding, Ryan followed. As Luna followed too, she soon found her hand grabbed by Ryan.


    She didn''t mind it too much. Now that she had formed her core, she had changed her looks to look more like a 16-17 years old girl, having kept mostly the same features except a slightly larger chest and having grown up to 160cm tall. For vampires, appearance was just that: appearance. She could change her age at will, hence, she decided to do so. In fact, to truly determine a vampire''s age, one could only see it from their aura.


    Therefore, although the sight of a middle-aged man holding a now 17-years old looking Luna should have been somewhat weird, nobody even noticed it. After all, in their eyes, it was like a grandpa holding a 5-years old by the hand.


    However, there was one question in all of these people''s minds. ''Who in the world is this young girl?''


    Vampires had great minds. This was a fact. There were no dumb vampires, and whilst some excelled in some areas more than others, they were all smart. Hence, all of them could remember each other. For them to not know this kid made them feel somewhat stupid, but in reality, they had no way to know.


    After a while of walking in absolute, tense silence, the group arrived in front of a relatively small building.


    Unlike the others surrounding it, this building was not majestic. However, it seemed to carry an aura of absolute authority and power. This was the Chamber, nicknamed this way due to its circular shape.


    Ryan entered first, followed by Luna and then the other vampires. The building only had one room, and this room had a single, huge circular table with chairs surrounding it.


    A vampire sat in every chair, and every one of them gave off auras of absolute might. Their eyes were harsh, carrying the defiance of time in them. Each and every one of these vampires was considered an old monster, the true powerhouses of the vampire world.


    As Ryan walked up to a specific chair, he gestured for Luna to come near him. Hesitatingly, she did as he gestured, and when she got there, he pulled her up into his lap.


    After a while, a vampire suddenly got up, and with a wave of his hand, the door closed shut. Looking at everyone surrounding them, he lightly said: "Let the meeting begin..."

 OLD Chapter 11 - Call to War

    "Let the meeting begin..." The man said. A couple people clapped unenthusiastically, almost as if mocking him.


    Coughing slightly, the man sat down with a ''humph'' whilst murmuring"Children these days...". After that, he sat back down in his chair with a slightly helpless face.


    For a while, there was an uncomfortable silence. however, it was thankfully broken when a man stood up and began speaking "The reason for this meeting here, today, is as everyone knows, the death of 2 of our young purebloods. Ryan and I had gone to investigate previously, and when we got there, we found out everything thanks to Ryan''s ability. I don''t know all the details, so I will have to ask Ryan himself to explain." The man said as he nodded to Ryan before sitting down.


    Sighing in annoyance, Ryan put down Luna before getting up and taking out a blue crystal. Then, he threw it to the center of the table, where it exploded into a mist of colors and images.


    Slowly, those images came together and formed a video of sorts. In this video, the entire battle between Leon and Laura against the Daughter of Ice was shown, along with her initial ''bait''.


    Used to this, nobody showed any signs of being surprised. However, the moment the Daughter of Ice and the witch hunter caught Luna, several of these old monsters all stood up in fury and began shouting in fury, "Shameless!" "How dare he!?" or other such things.


    These voices only intensified after the witch hunter used Luna as a bargaining chip and stomped on her. By now, most of them had realized the identity of the child on Ryan''s laps and guessed as to why she was with him. After all, it was not too hard to deduce.


    After the video ended, several furious conversations sprang up and several vampires bowed to Luna as a sign of condolence. She herself could only smile wryly. After all, in truth, the person she was most mad at was herself.


    Instead of focusing on getting stronger, she chose to enjoy her time with her parents. If she had focused on finishing her core and unlocking her innate ability, none of this would have happened. After all, her innate ability was a thing of the soul, and since she trained it so much in her previous life, she only needed to unlock it before fully using it.


    Just as Ryan was about to speak again, Luna held his hand whilst looking at him meaningfully. He gave her a confused look before realization dawned on his face and he nodded, sitting back down.


    Getting up, she began to speak, "Good night to you all, my kin. My name is Luna, and as you all may have realized, I am the daughter of Leon and Laura."


    At this point, all the noises in the room had disappeared, making it very hard for a person to speak alone. However, Luna was not a normal person, but the reincarnation of the legendary Blood Monarch. If she couldn''t even speak clearly and beautifully, she should just bury her head in the ground in shame.


    "After my parent''s self-sacrifice, in my hatred, I gained enlightenment. I do not know how I obtained it, but with it, I was able to absorb my parent''s mana and form my own core. Now that I obtained it, I should qualify to have a voice in the council, correct?" She turned to a small, weak-looking man at the corners of the room.


    The man was slightly surprised for a second, but soon a pleasant smile bloomed on his face. "That''s correct. You do own a voice, hence, you are allowed to request one thing per decade." He said, already knowing what she was going to ask.


    A smile that could be called sadistic and at the same time very attractive surfaced on Luna''s face. Her eyes narrowed and an aura that seemed to contain all the hatred in the world rolled out in waves from her body. Some of the older vampire''s faces showed astonishment, after all, this aura even seemed to contain a hint of a Domain.


    Although it wasn''t even at 1/1000 of completion, this domain already carried extreme illusionary power and a deep sense of hunger. It made it seem as though it could create anything and transform it into reality. However, that wasn''t what astonished them. After all, most of these vampires too owned their own domains.


    No, it was the prospect of a girl less than 50 years old owning a domain that was the truly scary part. A domain could only be comprehended after meticulously studying a law of the world for hundreds, even thousands of years. Even then, a person could only understand a part of a domain.


    For a girl this young to already be on her path of understanding domains, it was terrifying. And yet, it was also exciting, after all, this girl was a vampire! A pureblooded completely loyal to the race.


    Instantly, Luna''s words seemed to carry even more weight in them. Unconsciously, many of the vampires instantly began thinking ways to gain favor from her. Naturally, vampires wouldn''t ever harbor negative thoughts over other vampires, but that didn''t mean they would want them as friends...


    Seeing their slightly twitching expressions, Luna smiled. How could she not know what they were thinking? She was a master manipulator, ex-sovereign of all vampires, and an old monster that spent his entire second life studying ways to bring about the end of humanity.


    She had learned plenty about ways to manipulate people. Threats, promises, compromises... She knew it all. Furthermore, although her body and core were still weak, her soul was far superior to even these monsters.


    Souls and bodies were two completely separate things. Whilst a body carried the soul, it could be said that a soul determined the body. After all, a talented body needed a powerful soul, as it was the soul itself that determined talent.


    Furthermore, be it domains or innate abilities, they all were part of the soul. Even if Luna died, she still carried all of her previous life''s gains in these terms.


    Knowing this, she began speaking "I do not wish to ask too much from the esteemed council. However, there are two requests I would like to ask, one as a... daughter... and one as a vampire." Luna was about to call herself as a son, however, at this point, she really did not care. Rather, she was even starting to enjoy her new body that came with new privileges that a male just couldn''t hope to have.


    For example, when she mastur... *cough*, explored herself, she found out that it was far more pleasurable than doing it as a man. It might have been the fact that he had been a virgin for his entire life, first and second. It was somewhat depressing, but she didn''t mind it.


    However, now that she didn''t feel the need to destroy the world, she tried her hand at self-pleasuring, and she could safely say that it was weird, it felt funny and that it even hurt a bit, but she liked it. Even the very last vestiges of herself that held on to her masculinity had to admit that it was good.


    However, suppressing her horny thoughts, she continued "As a daughter, I realize this is beyond what I should ask, but I beg of you all, please grant my request. I wish for the man that... abused me to not be pursued... for now. I wish to personally capture and... explain to him just how much I hate him." Her eyes turned into slits as her whole body trembled, however, she stopped herself and continued "The second request would be for me to begranted some aid whilst I deal with some personal matters."Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Many of the vampires stayed silent, but everyone was okay with these requests, as in truth, they were both not big deals. As people gave their approval, the weak-looking man from before rose up. The moment he did, the hall fell silent and everyone''s eyes turned to him.


    "I shall aid you. However, I will have to ask you a question, young one. I feel that you wish to ask something else, so please, ask." The man said whilst smirking.


    Luna pursed her lips as she lowered her head for a bit. Then, she looked straight at him in the eyes and said "We need to punish the humans for what they did. Not only have they been getting bolder and bolder, they even dared to ambush us. I propose a war."


    Luna''s eyes remained steady, but all of the hard gazes on her made her shy girl persona begin to resurface, but she beat it down with pure willpower.


    Nodding, the man looked at everyone else and asked: "Who agrees with her?"


    At first, it was silent. However, after a bit, Ryan raised his hand as he shouted "They took my son. I wish for their kind to pay for what they did."


    Soon, it was like a snowball. Everyone began shouting things the humans did to them as they too raised their hands. In a matter of minutes, everyone was roaring for a war, for punishment. Nobody dared to call for a genocide, however, as without the Blood Monarch, they didn''t dare think that they could succeed. Naturally, if they knew the reincarnation of the Blood Monarch was right beside them, there''d be far more outcries for extermination.


    Smiling, the weak-looking man clapped his hands and the hall fell into silence. Looking at every vampire in the eyes, the man said "Very well. Then, I will ask you all to spread the word amongst fellow purebloods. I''ll send a message to the demon lord, as I know he''s been eyeing the human territory next to his empire. I''m sure he''ll agree..."


    With a low voice, he said, "If everything goes to according to how I think it will, the war will come in around 5 years. Prepare your fodder, for we will bring them all into the war..."


    Fodder. This was a term given to the converted vampires who did not enjoy the status as guards.


    Although to purebloods all converted vampires were the same, in truth, they had their own ranks. The lowest were slaves, who had nothing to their name were all weak. Next were fodders, then guards and finally servants.


    Each rank had their own jobs, and the higher the rank, the higher the power they receive from their masters. Naturally, even the lowest of slaves was stronger than a common human, but in reality, common humans rarely met with danger, as they were protected by adventurers and knights, who were all very strong.


    Although ''protected'' might be stretching it a bit, it could be seen as a fair exchange. The strong protect the weak, and the weak support the strong by farming, making clothes and doing things like that. This was true in basically all societies, even vampire society, as converted vampires were the low and middle class whilst the purebloods were royalty.


    As the meeting was called off, Ryan bid his goodbye to Luna after a long hug. She blushed a bit when he did and felt her body become weak along with a sense of longing and not wanting to let go, but she held herself and bid him goodbye too after sharing a few tears and promises of ''I''ll come visit you''.


    After all the drama was over, the weak-looking man came up to Luna and began talking to her. His name was Maureen, the oldest vampire alive. He had been alive even when the Blood Monarch lived, and he claimed to be his closest subordinate, which although Luna didn''t say it, she approved it.


    She had recognized this man when she saw him, but she didn''t wish to reveal her secret to everyone. Hence, she played along.


    "So, Luna. What do you need help for?" Maureen asked as they were both sitting on a couch in Maureen''s mansion. It was a far cry from her previous hidden one, it was at least 5 times as big with hundreds of servant vampires running around. Only servants and purebloods were allowed into the true part of Noctem, hence, no guards or slaves could be seen.


    Luna was munching on a Bloodgem when Maureen asked. Throwing the entire thing in her mouth, she spoke, "I wish to raid the Magic Academy next to our territory."


    Slightly surprised, Maureen asked, "Oh? And why is that?"


    Giving him a slight smile, she explained, "When I received enlightenment, I learned about a method that allows me to suck mana away from any creature. I used this method on my parent''s corpse, holding them forever with me..." She said, a slightly insane look rising on her face.


    Instead of being creeped out, Maureen nodded and continued, "So you want their mana too... Huh. Yeah, that could work. Can other vampires use it?" Maureen asked, excited. If such a method was passable, then vampires would become even stronger.


    Shaking her head, Luna said, "No. If someone without the right domain and innate ability were to use it, they would go insane and most likely die painfully from the foreign mana in their bodies. Even I have to be careful when using it."


    Not even worried that Luna was lying, Maureen made a sad face before shrugging his shoulders. "Eh, I was expecting as much. That would be too good after all. Anyways, can you show me your domain and innate ability?"


    Nodding, Luna got up. Extending her hands, the world around them came to a standstill. Then, slowly, it began to change.


    The mansion disappeared and a desert as vast as the eye could see replaced it. Maureen nodded in admiration, however, he couldn''t help but feel that something was wrong as he commented "So familiar... Is this the [Real Illusion] innate ability?"


    Nodding, Luna said "Yes. My innate ability is indeed [Real illusions], the ability to create illusions that are real. And this is my domain."


    Her chest split open as she said that. From her neck to her navel, a clear line all the way to her spine revealed itself. However, Luna didn''t look in pain, rather, a strange look appeared on her face.


    Suddenly, her heart, the shape of a prism came out from her chest. Millions of hair-thin tubes came out of it, looking like hungry snakes.


    This wasn''t all. A strange feeling permeated the entire area, bringing about a feeling of weakness in Maureen. However, the tiny snake-tubes seemed to become even more excited whilst sensing this feeling, instantly growing tenfold in size and power whilst Maureen''s own body felt like it would start melting away.


    Looking at Maureen, the tubes almost went out of control, wanting to attack and devour him. Crying out in disbelief, Maureen half-yelled, "This feeling... The domain of Gluttony! Just who are you?"


    Laughing freely, Luna retracted her core into her own body as she spoke, "Maureen, you of all people should know this. Inside this space, nobody can hear us, so tell me, who am I?"


    Shivering, Maureen had a strange expression on his face. However, one would be wrong to call it fearful. Rather, it was closer to fanaticism.


    As his trembling intensified, Maureen meekly said, "Y-you are... The Blood Monarch, Silver..."


    With a nod, Luna walked forward right next to Maureen as he hugged him tightly. Maureen looked down at her, being slightly taller than her. A sense of disbelief and at the same time, incredible happiness washed over him.


    "It''s good to see you again, Maureen..." Luna said as her grip tightened. Although Maureen couldn''t see it, Luna had a huge smile on her face as he hugged her back.


    "My lord... No, my lady, how did you survive?" Maureen said as he released Luna and kneeled down.


    Unhappy at having Maureen himself even poke at her identity, she snorted and said, "Well, I entertained someone high enough in the food chain and got another chance at life, although with a... twist." She said as she poked at her own breasts that were only slightly larger than what they were as a child.


    Before Maureen could speak again, Luna put a finger to his lips as she said, "Hush you. I know you want to ask a lot of questions, but that will come later.For now, do two things for me. One, keep my identity a secret. Two, get me a new shirt..." She said whilst pointing at her own, now ripped shirt. Her little show earlier might have been a little excessive...


    She was a little embarrassed, no, very embarrassed now that she realized this. Feeling self-conscious, she wrapped an arm around her breasts to cover them before looking at Maureen with a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to turn away.


    However, although he didn''t turn away, he didn''t even seem to notice her nakedness as he said "A-size, B-size or C-size my lady?"


    Dumbfounded, Luna asked, "What are you talking about?"


    "Well, I was just asking you for your bra size..." Seeing Luna''s blank look, realization dawned on him as he said "Oh, forgive me, my lady for being so blunt. Don''t worry though, I have plenty of breast-paddings available if you want!"


    "..." ''Breast paddings your mother! I don''t want big boobs anyway!'' Luna screamed in her mind as she took a deep breath to calm down before her mouth began to twitch. Looking deeply at Maureen, she asked, "Why do you have breast paddings available anyways? Did you find a wife whilst I was dead?"


    "No my lady, I found a husband."


    "..." Giving Maureen a questioning look, Luna tilted her head in confusion.


    "I''m gay!" Maureen said proudly whilst sticking out his chest. "Whilst my lord was resting, I found my true sexuality! I was born a man and identify myself as a man, hence, I never found anyone worth my time in the woman zone, therefore, I looked into the man-zone and found that I truly belong in that zone with my whole heart and soul!"


    "..." Not even bothering to answer, Luna walked up to him and gave him a tight hug as he said, "Don''t worry Maureen, I know women are hard to seduce with that weak-looking physique of yours... Don''t worry though, I can show you how to please them..."

 OLD Chapter 12 - Le Banquet

    "Aaaaah, the smell of a good morning. The sun''s up, the birds are singing and we aren''t dead nor did we turn to dust! This is great!" Maureen yelled as he proudly stood under the shining sun.


    "I-I r-r-really do-do not like t-this..." Luna cried as she huddled herself under Maureen''s shadow, scared to death by the bright rays.


    "Don''t worry my lady, those pills I gave you can allow a vampire to stay under the sun for a full 12 hours!" Maureen said with a proud smile. Even just 2 of those pills cost him a fortune to get and over 200 years to refine, but now that his lord/lady was using it, he felt that it was worth every drop of blood it cost.


    Trying to rid a vampire of their fear of the sun is trying to convince a man that repeatedly stabbing himself with a knife on the dick is a good idea. It simply will not work.


    Hence, it was no surprise that Luna was completely terrified. She managed to get through it, but she was still extremely fearful.


    ''Why did I even end up like this... Why couldn''t we just do a night raid..." Luna thought, dejectedly. She felt like her head was going to explode after Maureen had finished his ''explanation'' to her.


    All she wanted to do was try out what it would feel like to ''do it'', as even though she was still technically young, she was already old enough mentally and her body would be fine with it, nothing wrong with that. But no, Maureen wasn''t having it. Had it been any man, even a gay man, they would''ve readily accepted the offer with even too much excitement, but not Maureen.


    But nope, instead, Maureen spent the entire night teaching her why virginity is important, which Luna still honestly didn''t understand why. ''Just because you don''t have a girlfriend doesn''t mean you can''t have fun with your lady'', is what Luna thought, and ''Just because you''re my lady doesn''t mean you can have fun using me'' is what Maureen thought, so the two never saw eye-to-eye on this concept.


    After that, they spent a lot of time catching up with each other. luna learned plenty of useful, even vital information whilst Maureen could talk all he wanted with someone listening to him, which was a rare thing, considering his reputation with ''quick talks''.


    Then, when they realized it was already day, Maureen had the bright idea to use those pills to resist the sun. Technically, they were heaven-defying and could bring the vampire race to glory, but the mere price of it made even the famous money-waster, Luna, feel a tinge of regret at having consumed one.


    Maureen opened up his wings as he picked up Luna with a single hand and flew up easily, showing the difference in power between him and Ryan in a single movement. After all, even Ryan struggled to carry Luna while Maureen could do it effortlessly.


    "Milady, did you know that I once visited the royal academy as a student? I disguised myself and lived there for forty years amongst those monkeys, I felt like my immortality was aging just by being near those mortals..." Maureen spoke as they flew, and did not stop for the entire 4-hour travel.


    By the time they arrived, Luna''s eyes were like those of a dead fish. At this point, she could honestly use some stress relief, and thankfully, there were plenty in the academy.


    Turning serious, Luna spoke to Maureen after they landed a couple hundred meters from the academy''s edge. "Maureen, I need you to deal with any rank 7 magicians in the building. I can deal with rank 6 and below, but whilst I''m eating, I cannot be disturbed, or the consequences could be tragic. I''m relying on you, old friend..." Luna said as she jumped down from the hill they were at, landing into the academy''s park.


    "Relying on me... huh..." Maureen''s eyes turned nostalgic for a second before regaining their vigor. He hadn''t felt as excited ever since the Blood Monarch, his liege, had died.


    "Relying on me... My lady is relying on me! I won''t disappoint you!" Maureen roared as his domain and innate ability opened up, bringing out the might of an old monster equivalent to rank 9 magicians, even bordering the legendary 10th rank that only the Blood Monarch had ever achieved.


    Maureen quickly sat cross-legged as a phantom of a giant Buddha appeared behind him. This Buddha wasn''t like a normal buddha, instead, it gave off a bloody and vampiric feeling, and in its hands were two gigantic drumsticks.


    "Roaring Buddha!" Maureen yelled as a phantom drum the size of a small hill appeared in front of the Buddha. Roaring out along with Maureen, the Buddha began to beat on the drum with the drumsticks, each hit causing visible soundwaves to come out, surrounding the entire academy.


    If anyone below the 9th realm were to touch this barrier, they would explode instantly, their body completely destroyed by Maureen''s ability, the [Sounds of Destruction] and his [Music] domain.


    In truth, it was basically unheard of for two beings to have the same domains or abilities. Even humans, as populous as ants, never had an innate-ability user have the same ability as another user.


    Domains were the same. Although some were similar with even the same names, their essence was always different. In Maureen''s case, he had chosen his domain according to his ability, just as basically anyone with a tinge of logic would do.


    Even Luna''s ability and domain complemented each other. After all, if they didn''t, the user would suffer serious repercussions from the ability and domain conflicts, even possibly resulting in death.


    However, the more an ability and domain complemented each other, the more terrifying they would be. In this case, every single professor in the academy, be they rank 6, 7 or even the academy''s director, a mighty rank 8, suddenly found their mana suppressed down to rank 5.


    The academy itself was separated from the rest of the world, however, it could be called a small city itself. Almost all students lived here, some even bringing their families. Hence, there was no way for the rest of the world to know what was going on in the area.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    As Luna ran, she finally arrived into a small side-street. Several people were looking at the sky in confusion and fear, feeling a strange sense of doom.


    Ignoring them, Luna positioned herself like a cross, and the instant afterward, her chest tore open and her prism-shaped heart floated out.


    The hundreds of thousands of tubes seemed even hungrier now. Looking at all the surrounding rank 1ns, 2ns and the occasional rank 3 magicians, a look of ecstasy appeared on Luna''s face as she called out "Ouroboros! Appear!"


    At that instant, a phantom of a snake hundreds of meters long appeared, its scalesas black as the night with streaks of green and red running through it. Two mighty wings jutted from it''s back, making it look like a serpent from hell. It looked so illusionary it seemed it would disappear with the slightest of breezes. Yet, this phantom seemed to carry enough power to destroy the world as it eyed the surrounding humans with hunger and greed.


    Seeing the monster, people began escaping, however, they suddenly felt their own bodies possessed by a great hunger, attracted to the tubes. Powerless to resist, each of the people nearby found themselves filled with those snake-like tubes, piercing into every mana vein in their body, sucking them dry.


    This was the power of a domain. Previously, Luna couldn''t yet use it as she hadn''t fully formed her core. However, now that she had done so, displaying her might like this was no problem. Naturally, if she encountered rank 7ns that were not being suppressed, she would be severely injured, but since Maureen had her back, she felt safe going all-out.


    There are 4 main barriers. The first is from a non-magician to a rank 1 magician, the second is from rank 3 to rank 4, the third is from rank 6 to rank 7 and the last great barrier is from rank 10 to rank 11.


    Every rank was far stronger than the previous rank, especially after breaking through one of the barriers. Rank 7, in particular, was especially dangerous to Luna, as it was where humans would begin comprehending ''laws'', which are essentially the same thing as a vampire''s domain.


    Nonetheless, right now, Luna was completely focused on devouring her way through the academy. Countless people became mummies in front of the might of her snake-tubes, their mana quickly eaten away by her core, where it was stored. She didn''t directly absorb it, rather, she kept all the mana aside in order to properly digest it with her domain''s help later.


    At one point, an old man with a mighty aura appeared in front of Luna. His face was cramped up and he was yelling things like ''You''ll regret this!'' and ''Leave now and I will spare you''.


    Looking at the man, Luna''s eyes flashed with a dangerous glint. The snake phantom behind her looked at the man with a trace of insanity in its eyes.


    Opening its mouth, it directly swallowed the man. He tried to resist, but all of his spells would simply fade away under Luna''s ability, turning them into illusions, and hence, useless.


    Licking its lips, the snake gave out a small burp. It''s body suddenly transformed as it grew in size, furthermore, it''s body no longer looking as transparent as before.


    Smiling happily, Luna recalled her core into her chest. She had essentially carved a path of destruction in the entire academy, and even though she only killed a fourth of the students, she had killed 3/4 of the teachers, most being at rank 6 with some being rank 7.


    Her belly now felt truly full. She gently rubbed it with a gaze similar to that of an insane person that just ate her way through a school and then called out "Maureen, I''m done. Thank you!"


    Over 5 hours had passed since she had arrived. During that time, Maureen hadn''t moved an inch, the Buddha behind him constantly pounding the drum. Hearing this, he smiled, letting the Buddha and barrier fade away.


    After Luna arrived, she quietly sat next to him and closed her eyes, beginning the tedious process of eating her way through all the mana.


    Her real rank, in truth, was only 5, however, her domain and ability allowed her to compete with even rank 6s. She had, after all, only been recently reborn, and although vampires were far stronger than humans, she still needed time to grow.


    She could speed this up by using her Soul Devouring Tactic. In truth, the tactic was always supposed to be used along with her Gluttony Domain, otherwise, it wouldn''t even be 1/10th as effective. Now, she could finally truly focus on her growth.


    Several hours passed and the sun went down. Luna still sat next to Maureen, who had mostly kept silent for the entire time, not wishing to disturb her.


    During this time, her body had been strengthened to over a hundred times its previous strength. She was now comparable to even Ryan in terms of brute strength, and furthermore, her core had broken through twice, rising to rank 7.


    Although her true rank was rank 10, it would take a long time for her to regain her rank. It would be much easier than directly reaching it, but it would still require time, and mainly, a lot of mana to consume.


    To reach rank 10, one had to completely master a single domain, which Luna did. She was also infinitely close to rank 11 on her previous life, but she could never break that barrier, leading to her eventual death.


    Opening her eyes, Luna got up whilst patting her knees and body to clean the dust that had gathered on her. She was very close to rank 8 by now, and she only needed to eat another rank 8 to break through, however, for now, she would have to stop for a couple years, or she would risk the mana she digested going out of control. After all, only with time could her Domain of Gluttony truly show it''s worth.


    Giving Maureen a quick hug, Luna thanked him, "Thank you, Maureen. Without you, things would have never been this easy..."


    Laughing it off, Maureen waved her away with a, "Don''t worry. Without you, I would never have reached the point I''m at now either, so it''s only fair. However, we best get going, or the king himself might come, and that would be bad..." He said. After all, they had just raided a mighty magical academy. The humans would be furious.


    However, who the fuck cared? The vampires were furious too right now, and the humans had just taken away two of their members. Hence, it was only fair for retaliation to come.


    As Luna and Lauren flew back, Luna enjoyed the feeling of overwhelming strength. Her limbs felt like they had just recovered from years of numbness and her whole body brimming with energy, threatening to explode. In fact, it would, if she hadn''t completely mastered the Domain of Gluttony.


    Nonetheless, the risks were worth it. An insane look flashed across Luna''s face as she whispered, "You bastard... Just wait for me, I''ll make you wail in pain until you beg for me to kill you, then, I will make you rip our your own heart..."


    Hearing this, Maureen felt a chill go down his spine. He had only ever seen the Blood Monarch get truly angry once when a friend of his betrayed him. He tortured the poor man for a century, using methods that even made the most brutal of torturers look like cute puppies.


    "Haha... Hey, Milady, I think the demon lord should be sending a messenger soon to give his response. We should hurry back so you can meet them..." He said as he tried to get Luna out from her murderous state.


    "Yes Maureen, I will meet him, and then I will take him, slowly dropping poison onto his skin to make it sensitive, then bathe itin boiling oil..."


    Shivering, Maureen had to remind himself that she was only like this to those she really hated. He had seen what the man did, so he wasn''t suprised.


    He could only silently pray for the man before moving onto the next thing with a smile...

 OLD Chapter 13 - Realization and Decision

    After arriving back at Noctem, Maureen assigned her a beautiful mansion to live in for a couple years. Although Luna was reluctant at first, she eventually gave in after Maureen went on a ''small'' speech about how proper ''ladies'' should always guard their image.


    After touring the mansion for a couple hours, Luna admitted that it was indeed very beautiful. It had plenty of paintings by elfish artists and statues crafted by the best dwarven artisans. Apart from that, she was also given a couple thousand servants for her to use.


    However, to Luna, they were all irrelevant. What really interested her, in truth, was the fact that for some reason, her mansion just ''happened'' to be right next to Maureen''s and his husband''s home.


    Speaking of husband, Maureen had introduced him to Luna after everything was done and organized. His name was Juan, and he was a titan of a vampire.


    Measuring well over 2 meters and 50 centimeters in height and having fingers the size of Luna''s arms, he towered over Luna by at least several heads. Like all vampires, his skin was pale, however, it was far more tanned than that of any other vampire. Furthermore, although he was not an old monster like Maureen, he was still one of the oldest vampires around.


    Contrary to his gigantic and mean-looking physique, he was actually very friendly and inviting. He even served Luna some tea (which was made using blood instead of water) and he too, like Maureen, was a big-time talker and loyal worshipper of the Cult of Long and Boring Speeches.


    At one point whilst they were talking, Luna couldn''t help but look at the budge on Juan''s pants. It was that big even when not hard, how did it even fit inside of Maureen...?


    Her face instantly turned red at the thought as she tried to pry her mind away from that rabbit hole, but unfortunately, it wasn''t successful. The more she tried to not think about it, the more she thought about it, creating an embarrassing cycle.


    ''Would it even fit? What about me?'' After a couple minutes, she had to excuse herself from them and had to go outside for a while to calm down. Maureen looked at her with an understanding gaze before she left, making Luna want to puke blood.


    After she left, she banged her head on a stone wall several times, crushing it in the process. After ordering a couple servants nearby to fix it, she took a couple deep breaths.


    ''Do I need to get laid that badly? Am I truly this hopeless?'' She couldn''t help but ask herself. She had noticed it even when she was with Ryan, but her body was truly starting to influence her mind.


    However, thinking about it, she couldn''t help but think deeply about it. Sitting down on a bench nearby, she called out Ouroboros, the Illusionary Snake of Gluttony.


    Ouroboros was, in truth, a product of her own creation, so it wasn''t truly living. It was a part of her, the materialization of her comprehension of the Domain of Gluttony and her [Real Illusions] innate ability.


    To advance to rank 10, she had to completely fuse her domain and ability together, and Ouroboros was the result. To Luna, it was her best companion, having followed her ever since the first time she manifested it, thousands of years ago.


    Ouroboros had plenty of abilities, however, right now, she didn''t care. All she wanted was something to hug, hence, she manifested it.


    A 4-meter long snake with large wings appeared from thin air, looking extremely illusionary. Looking at Luna, it revealed a look of joy as it coiled around her, resting its head on her shoulders.


    Hugging her own creation deeply, Luna began to truly try to understand herself, a thing she had never done before. Usually, she would just accept whatever identity she possessed at any given time and go along with it, but now, she wanted to truly understand who she was.


    Thanks to Ouroboros, she was able to do so with a calm that she would otherwise hardly ever be able to achieve. Looking at her own, pale white hands that seemed extremely delicate and smooth, grabbing at her own raven black hair that had grown all the way down to her thig, she asked herself, "Just... Who am I? Who do I want to be?"


    What she didn''t expect was for a voice to reply from behind her, "Nobody can decide that but you, miss."Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Startled, Luna instantly turned around and was met with a being she would never have expected to meet in Noctem, a demon.


    Chuckling, the demon walked up to her and sat beside her on the bench. Luna looked at him with a strange gaze, but he ignored her and began speaking.


    "I don''t know who you are or who you want to be, but I can only tell you one thing. You will never be you if you decide to not be yourself." The demon said with a strangely sad gaze.


    "I can''t be myself if I don''t want to? That doesn''t make sense..." Luna said as she tried to understand his words. She could feel an underlying meaning behind them, but she couldn''t quite grasp it.


    Chuckling, he explained "If you do not admit to yourself who you want to be, how can you ever be yourself? Trust me, I understand this myself. After all, I too went through it..." The demon said, a nostalgic and sad look in his eyes.


    For a long time, neither of them spoke again. However, Luna soon sighed as she said "I see... You are right. Thank you."


    She truly meant it. After all, although he had no ways to truly know of her situation, she could feel that he understood her basic problem, her identity.


    In her first life, she always went along with the ''flow''. Always doing what his parents wanted him to do, always just doing what everybody expected him to.


    Eventually, he even married. However, he could never truly love the woman he married. In fact, they would regularly argue, and eventually, his everything was taken away by her. His money, his family, his friends, his life.


    It was a pitiful life. They were married, and yet they barely ever met. His second life was very similar.


    His second life''s parents were extremely harsh, constantly threatening to kill him. However, driven by his hatred, which only now he/she understood it was due to him/her not being able to identify his/her own identity.


    After wasting his second life away, only ever speaking to a couple, specific people, he never loved anyone. He never really was alive either, in truth.


    Only after the battle with the hero did he begin to see the light. He had understood part of her own problems, hence, after his rebirth into a girl, she tried her best to love her parents, and she succeeded.


    Those were the brightest, most beautiful years she had ever lived. However, when it all came crashing down, she finally understood just why love was worth protecting...


    It was worth protecting exactly because it is so hard to find and obtain.


    And now, she realized just why ''he'' could never find love. That was simply because ''he'' was not a ''he'', but a ''she''.


    It was not just the hormones. In fact, if she wanted, she could easily beat them away with the might of her iron-hard willpower. No, she did not beat it away because, deep down, she never wanted to.


    If she truly wished to be a ''he'', then she would have never asked to try how it ''feels like to be a woman'' with Maureen. She would never have enjoyed the dolls and plushies her parents gifted her, she would have fought back against her parent''s desires to have her wear dresses and other girly clothes.


    However, she never did any of this. Now that she realized this, it felt like a fog had just been cleared out of her mind, and the hard rock that had been continuously hurting her heart felt like it was melted away.


    So what if she was previously a male? So what if she wanted to be a woman? In the end, it was all only just a reproductive role. Turning towards the demon that had helped her so much, she sincerely bowed and thanked him yet again.


    Smiling weakly, the demon waved her away saying, "It''s no problem. After all, we are allies, aren''t we?"


    Hearing this, the now fully girl Luna asked, "Yes... Forgive me for being blunt, but what is a demon doing in the inner part of Noctem?"


    Rubbing the back of his head, the demon explained, "Well, I was sent here from my father. The vampires who escorted me here told me to wait around here for a couple hours, as they need to organize a ''meeting''. I''m not too sure about how vampire society works, so forgive me if I said anything offensive..." Lucifer said as he realized he might have offended her.


    Shaking her head, she denied it. Sighing in relief, the demon smiled. Before he could say anything, Luna said "If I may ask, who is your father? I know that demons are allies, but they still wouldn''t be admitted in here..."


    Nodding, the demon said whilst puffing out his chest "I am the Demon Lord Gilgamesh''s son, Lucifer Deathbringer. It is my pleasure to meet you, beautiful lady...?" He asked as he half-bowed and looked at Luna in the eyes.


    With a small tinge of redness running up her cheeks, Luna quickly replied, "I am Luna Nightwing. Daughter of Leon and Laura Nightwing. It is my pleasure to meet the son of the demon lord."


    After a small silence between the two, they both burst out laughing. "Heh, I''m really not good at any of this formal stuff. I''m way too stiff. I told my father to send my eldest brother, but he just wouldn''t listen to me..." Lucifer said with somewhat downcast eyes.


    Seeing this, Luna quickly said "I don''t think you did badly. You sounded really good when you introduced yourself." She said. Looking at her, Lucifer asked, "Really? You think so?"


    Nodding, Luna looked away somewhat shily. Chuckling in embarrassment, Lucifer said "Well, thanks... Heh, it''s the first time I''ve been complimented by a beautiful lady. Maybe luck is on my side today?"


    "I''m not a beauti-" Before Luna could finish complaining with a blush on her face, Lucifer suddenly got up and, almost as if running away, quickly said "Sorry! I got to go! I''ll see you at the meeting, hopefully!"


    Looking at his retreating back, Luna smiled weakly. Maybe she wasn''t the only socially awkward person in the world, after all?

 OLD Chapter 14 - VV@??

    "God damn it..." Lucifer sighed after he stopped a good distance away from Luna. Feeling regretful, he slumped down on a nearby pillar.


    "Huh... I really messed up this time, didn''t I?" He asked himself. Lucifer had never been... particularly comfortable around women, especially those of high status, and seeing as all purebloods were essentially royalty, back then he felt very awkward.


    For a while, he stayed silent with closed eyes. He had seen the girl in some kind of problem, so as a proper prince, he helped her out. However, when she thanked him, he felt goosebumps on his whole body and just sort ran away. Ironically, he was the one who had asked for her name too, and her thanking him was only natural. He knew that, but he couldn''t stop himself.


    Clenching his hand, he could still remember his father''s words before he left, "Lucifer, do not disappoint me. If you dare to offend the vampires because of your stupid trauma, I will personally strangle you to death, you hear me!?"


    He shivered at the mere thought. He knew his father wasn''t joking, and if that vampire, Luna, truly got offended, he would be in deep trouble.


    He had studied all sorts of culture in his education as a possible-to-be-king, and vampire culture was on that list. Hence, he knew all too well how united vampires were. In fact, the only reason he was here was thattwo young vampires were slain, and just by the death of those two vampires, the entire race was now calling for war. Ironic, seeing just how ''united'' everyone else is.


    He laughed weakly. After all, if demons were as united as vampires, forget humans, the entire world wouldn''t be able to stop them. Well, if the legends are correct, maybe the Old Hero or the Blood Monarch could, but again, legends.


    Getting up, he tried to dispel all the anxiety in his body. That small tinge of regret was still there, both for having offended a vampire and, due to his stupid trauma, and also at having been such a jerk. It was obvious that the lady was going through some trouble, and although Lucifer was no angel, in fact, he was a demon, he was still a good person. He wouldn''t mind helping those he could, even humans.


    Taking out a small map from a pocket in his pants, he looked at it as he murmured, "I have no idea where I even am..."


    "I can help you with that if you don''t run away..." A voice said from behind him. Startled, he quickly went on guard and was about to cast a spell when his brain recognized the voice, it was the girl, Luna, from before.


    Unknown to him, Luna was not dumb enough to not understand his situation just by going through that small exchange. Although she didn''t know why, he evidently had something that bothered him. She did feel a little bit pissed off at how he just ran away, but she didn''t particularly care. He had helped her a great deal, after all.


    Hence, after he ran away, she chose to follow him. With her new strength, although she would still need a couple years to properly digest it, she could easily catch up to him.


    Seeing how he looked lost, Luna took the chance to come back out. Seeing her, Lucifer''s eyes couldn''t help but expand. He quickly said, "T-this... I''m fine, thank you."


    Puffing out her cheeks in a now ''truly girly'' way, she shook her head and reprimanded Lucifer in a half-harsh half-pitying tone, "I don''t know what''s wrong with you, but if you initiate a conversation like that, leaving is quite rude, no? I don''t believe demons usually do that, so it''s definitely something you did yourself. I''m not going to force you to tell me, however, as an ally of your race, I am always here to help..." She said with a nostalgic look in her eyes, but it quickly faded away.


    "Follow me. I believe you need to go to the meeting hall." She said as she spun on her heels and did a full 180 before walking away.


    Scrambling to follow her, Lucifer pursued his lips. He was somewhat embarrassed at having been treated like a kid, but he couldn''t deny her words. It was truly his fault.


    Sighing, he apologized, "Look... I''m sorry. I didn''t mean it, it''s just that I have trouble with women in general". Looking at him with a strange gaze, Luna murmured something that Lucifer couldn''t quite catch...


    "Well, I only ''became'' a girl because of you tho...'' She half-thought, half-murmured. Cheering herself up, she slowed down in order to walk side-by-side with Lucifer as she looked at him with a more judging gaze than before.


    Having fairly long horns from both of his temples, a long tail ending in a spike-like way and a skin as black as night, he looked truly like a demon. Being only in his early 20''s, his face had already transformed from that of a teen to that of an adult, but it still retained a youthful feel. He was a good bit taller than Luna, measuring around 180 centimeters(5.9 feet you greasy Americans)


    Somewhat uncomfortable, Lucifer touched his face as he looked back at Luna and asked, "Uh, is something wrong with my face?"


    Shaking her head, Luna half-giggled before saying "No, I just thought you look good" Before turning away from Lucifer and speeding up her steps.


    Although Lucifer couldn''t see it, Luna inner fangirl, standing over her inner fanboy, who had been stabbed with several imaginary knives, was screaming ''I did it!''. Her face was pretty red, and although she felt sort of like a prostitute for being like this with so many people, she also thought that there was nothing wrong with this. Besides, she truly believed what she said.


    "Oh... Thank you..." Lucifer said with his mouth the shape of a large O. Touching his face slightly, he realized it was slightly hotter than usual.


    In truth, Lucifer never had an easy life despite being a prince. His entire life was spent being the shadow of his elder brother, the genius of all demons, and his other siblings. He was at the bottom of the sibling hierarchy for multiple reasons.


    Although he was by no means dumb, his talent simply wasn''t enough to match those geniuses that could shake the earth with every step. Furthermore, whilst his father was very open and had multiple wives, Lucifer had been born from his least favorite, hence having a low position right from the get-go.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    There was a reason for his father disliking his mother. She was the spoiled princess of one of the many demon clans in the empire, and she had a horrible attitude. The only reason his father married her was for the stability of the empire.


    However, although neither of them meant it, Lucifer was ''made'' one night. After he was born, he was severely mistreated by both his mother and other wives, and although his siblings didn''t bully him, they didn''t help him. Furthermore, after a particular event during his coming to age ceremony, a particularly nasty rumor sprung up without basis.


    ''Woman''s Predator'', ''Rapist'' and many other titles like that appeared. The reason? He had been bullied by a particularly nasty noble demon girl, and after he retaliated by merely slapping her and then walking away, she had exaggerated the whole thing.


    Despite never becoming truly gynophobic, ever since then, basically every girl with some status regarded him extremely poorly. Although his father never punished him for retaliating, he never denied the claims of his assault.


    This made him feel even worse than dirt. Now, although his guard was still up, Luna saying ''You look good'' straight to his face did make him feel better.


    However, all years of abuse would not disappear so easily. With a straight face, he too sped up his steps and caught up to Luna.


    Looking at her face for a bit, he decided to keep silent. In his heart, he wanted to answer back with a ''you look good too'' or even a simple ''thank you, I appreciate it'', however, his memories were like a heavy stone blocking his heart.


    After a while of walking in complete, awkward silence with the occasional servant looking at them strangely, they eventually arrived at the Chamber.


    Knocking on the huge doors before opening them with a single hand, Luna and Lucifer both walked in, and although the latter slightly hesitated, he still followed.


    In the room, several purebloods were discussing. Some were shouting in rage, some calmly drank vampiric tea. When Luna and Lucifer entered, several people looked at them with questioning gazes.


    Walking up to an empty seat in the giant circular table, Luna calmly motioned with her hand for silence. And indeed there was silence. Nobody moved a muscle, making even Lucifer slightly troubled.


    However, Luna looked calm as she spoke up, "A messenger from the esteemed Demon Lord has arrived. Please, speak up, mister Lucifer." She said as she sat down and, with a slight nod, looked at Lucifer.


    Gulping his saliva nervously, Lucifer coughed slightly in his hands before speaking up, "Good, uh, night to all the esteemed purebloods here. As miss Luna already said, I have been sent by my father, the Demon Lord, to formally answer your request. We, the demons, accept your offer for war. If it may trouble you, my father has ordered me to ask you to attend to a ball in 4 months from now." Lucifer said nervously.


    Although Luna was fairly used to it, Lucifer was definitely not used to this silence whilst he spoke. Usually, people would complain, murmur, or other things whilst he talked. However, these pureblooded vampires all looked dead as they stared at him with those red, unblinking eyes of theirs. It was creepy, in a way.


    After a couple seconds of him speaking, Luna slightly tugged at his shirt from her chair. Blinking, he looked at her questioningly, and she motioned with her head for him to sit down on the chair next to her


    Realizing his small mistake, he instantly sat down. At that moment, a weak-looking vampire sat up, scanning the crowd with his eyes.


    After he was satisfied, he looked back at Lucifer and said "Very well. We will attend, however, we will only send a select few vampires to represent for all of us. Any volunteers?" He asked, once again scanning the crowd.


    Luna raised her hand along with some old monsters. Looking at each other, she didn''t back down from their stares, hence, after a while, only Luna and another old monster kept their hands up.


    Seeing this, the weak-looking vampire nodded. "Very well. Fellow purebloods Luna and Rain will go. If no one minds it, I will go as well to ensure the safety of the mission. Any complains?" He asked. Again, nobody said anything.


    Seeing this, Lucifer was flabbergasted. Usually, there would at least be a couple people with grudges between each other opposing them from going, but here, it all seemed so... peaceful? No, understanding? It was hard to describe.


    Ignoring Lucifer''s inner drama, the weak(?) vampire looked at Lucifer directly in the eyes as he asked, "Are you going to go back straight away, or do you wish to lead us to your capital? We have no problems with hosting an esteemed prince..."


    Pursuing his lips, Lucifer shook his head as he answered, "No. I have no arrangements for going back, hence, I can naturally wait."


    Cheering up, Luna said from next to him, "In that case, esteemed guest can stay at my house. I get lonely being alone with just servants, after all."


    As several vampires nodded, Lucifer was left somewhat helpless. He felt like he had no say in this, and in truth, he didn''t, and he understood that. He was merely a messenger, after all. A pawn of the demon lord to use as he wished...


    Like this, Luna got up, and just like she came in, just sort of left. Lucifer quickly followed her with a weird gaze, feeling somewhat awkward. Despite having just met, she had offered him to stay at her home. Obviously, he knew that she didn''t really fear him even if he wanted to do something bad, as what could he do in Noctem? A single wrong move and he would be torn apart, his blood drank and his bones used to build the statues that plastered the entire city.


    What Lucifer didn''t know was that Luna herself was repeatedly asking herself the very question he was asking himself. ''Why did I invite him? Why did I invite him? Aaah, I''m so stupid!''


    Although he couldn''t see it, her face was burning. She had asked for him to come reflexively, and after having asked, she didn''t have the courage to deny it, and besides, she didn''t really want to.


    She had just received her house, so it took a while for her to find it. After entering, several servants instantly greeted them, and with a stern face, she roared at them, "Lucifer here is my guest. Any disrespect to him and I''ll hand you over to The Ripper, understood?!"


    All of the servants paled as they nodded and bowed before quickly attending to Lucifer as well. He himself was somewhat startled, and he had no idea who this ''ripper'' was, but just from the name, he could guess it was not someone these people would ever want to visit.


    After the servants took off his coat, Lucifer was only left with his shirt to cover his torso. Turning towards Luna, he looked at her questioningly.


    Turning around too, Luna quickly walked away from him as she said "Your room is right next to the bathroom upstairs. If you need me for anything, my room is right in front of it." And like that, she ran up the stairs and basically flew into her room.


    Laying on her bed with her wings wrapped around her whole body and her legs kicking nervously, she held her face with her hands as she tried her best to cancel the image of Lucifer''s body from her mind. "For fuck''s sake, what is wrong with me?" She asked as she took deep breaths. Nonetheless, the images kept returning, making her face red.


    Grumbling, she picked up her favorite book, ''Generals of the apocalypse'', and began reading, trying to calm herself.


    Eventually, it succeeded. Feeling calmer, she left her room and knocked on the one right in front. From inside there, a voice answered: "Come in."


    Opening the door, what greeted her was a man only wearing pants and writing on a small piece of paper. He looked at her and said "Hi, do you need something? Oh, this room is great by the way, thank you."


    Instead of answering, Luna quickly slammed the door shut and rushed back into her room, where she picked up the book and began to read again.


    Looking at the closed door with a confused look, Lucifer murmured, "And I thought I was the awkward one around here..."

 OLD Chapter 15 - Drunk Accident

    After a good night(?) of rest, Lucifer got up from his bed groggily. Despite vampires rarely sleeping and only doing so during the day, Lucifer couldn''t help but question just what they put into beds that made them so comfortable.


    After putting on some clothes, he left the room. Compared to the day before, there were far few servants running around. Instead, now, there was an oppressive silence that vampires seemed to like so much.


    As for demons? Well, they just found it creepy. Although demons had different sub-races within their own tribes, they all had a general sense of culture, and that culture was usually very expressive. To Lucifer, this silence felt extremely strange.


    After walking downstairs, he peeked his head out from a corner to find... nothing. After checking the entire house, he came to a conclusion, Luna was still in her room.


    Deciding not to disturb her, he was prepared to leave the room when a voice called out from upstairs, "Lucifer? Where are you?"


    Hearing this, he called out, "Downstairs." Before silently walking to the staircase to greet the house''s owner.


    After getting there, a... weird, and at the same time exciting sight greeted him. Luna was standing there with extremely messy hair, shorts that barely reached her thighs and a sleeveless shirt.


    However, what was even weirder was that she was wobbling around like a drunk person, which everything considered, she might have been.


    "Uh, what happened?" Lucifer asked, somewhat confused. As she was walking down the stairs, he saw her place her feet on empty air, and despite having wings, she seemed too... drunk(?) to use them.


    Hence, she fell down. Reacting by instinct, Lucifer quickly caught her before she could injure herself. Despite that, she had still fallen from quite a high, but she didn''t seem to be injured.


    However, their positions at the moment were rather awkward. Luna''s legs were dangling in the air with her butt resting on Lucifer''s shoulders. He himself had to lower himself to catch her, resulting in their heads being extremely close to each other and her hair all over his face.


    Panicking, he quickly put her down as she mumbled incoherently with a red face, whether it was due to embarrassment or drunknessunknown.


    Taking her hand, he led her to the living room, where he made her sit on the sofa. She obeyed him, and although he still felt rather strange about this whole thing, he didn''t dislike it.


    He had never been very fortunate with women, much less being a woman-killer like his father. Hence, this was the first time he had actually been this intimate with a girl. Sure, he had been offered his fair share of beautiful slaves due to his status, but he always just either set them free or sold them away.


    Although he was a bit embarrassed, he was still a prince. Checking her pulse whilst asking her some basic questions, all he got as an answer were either incoherent mumbles or strange responses.


    "What happened whilst I was asleep?" Although it wasn''t his business, he still felt somewhat responsible. After all, if she was going to come back as one of the vampire''s messengers, it was his job to care for her well-being. At least, that''s what he told himself.


    Eventually, he managed to understand what she was saying, "I wash plaaaingwith Maureen ween he oferd mi aa rink..." Luna said, her words slushing over and almost incomprehensible. Nonetheless, Lucifer still understood the basic meaning behind it.


    In truth, after Lucifer had fallen asleep, Luna had gone to visit Maureen in order to talk to him about some things, but before she could, he invited her to drink with his ''buddies'', which were essentially the entire gay and lesbian population of vampires, a whopping 8 gay guys, and 6 lesbians.


    There, although she felt somewhat uncomfortable, she still accepted some drinks. However, for some reason, after drinking a single cup of wine, she had been wasted like this.


    At the time, although Luna couldn''t understand it, he had roared, "Which idiot put compressed alcohol in Sil... Luna''s drink!?". Several of the women giggled when he did that and even one of the men.


    Maureen had instantly dropped her home and kicked out all of her servants before ordering her to go to bed. It had some success at first, but when Lucifer woke up, Luna was woken up too by the noise, and the effects of the alcohol were still in full effect.


    Looking at him with red cheeks, she began to say something once again. Looking at her, he gently asked, "Try speaking slowly, or I can''t understand you..."Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    After a while, he finally understood, "I''m hungry... Hungry...". Hearing this, Lucifer furrowed his brows as he tried to think. "Hungry... What do vampires eat? Right... Blood..."


    As he was thinking, he saw Luna slightly learn over to the arm he was using to check the pulse on her wrist. Then, moving her head next to it, she went forward with an open mouth.


    Seeing this, shivers ran down on Lucifer''s back as he swiftly retracted his arm right before her mouth snapped closed with a loud noise.


    Looking at him again, she murmured, "Hungry..." with a pitiful look in her eyes.


    Seeing this, Lucifer''s heart moved a little. Sighing, he put his thumb in his mouth and bit down hard, tearing at his skin and letting blood flow.


    Putting his own thumb in Luna''s mouth in a somewhat erotic fashion, she began to happily suck on it. Thankfully, she didn''t bite down, but the feeling of a tongue happily licking his thumb was extremely creepy and weird even for Lucifer.


    After a while, just as his face was starting to get pale and he was feeling light-headed, she let go and slumped down on the sofa with an innocent smile on her face.


    Seeing this, Lucifer heaved a sigh of relief as he took her hand and tried to bring her back to her room, but instead of moving like he wished, she suddenly pulled him towards her with astonishing force.


    Although Lucifer was not the best of the best, he was still a demon prince. His strength was nothing to laugh at nor was his magic, but Luna''s strength was on a whole other level, hence, although he could have resisted if he was prepared, he was pulled into the sofa by Luna.


    He began to struggle with wide eyes, fearing she might have still been ''hungry''. However, he stopped when he saw her face.


    She had closed her eyes and seemed to have fallen asleep, yet, she was definitely tense. Her muscles were trembling as she held onto his arm. Even her eyes were trembling as red tears slid out despite them being closed.


    "Don''t sho... Father... Mother..." Her grip intensified as her body slightly spasmed, a pained expression on her face.


    Startled, Lucifer looked at Luna with a pitying expression as he grasped her hand back and tried to caress it whilst whispering soothing words. It worked, but only a little.


    Deciding, half by his own selfishness and half because she obviously needed, he quietly sat next to her as he pulled her into his lap whilst putting one hand on her forehead and the other on her back as he hugged her.


    Her trembling stopped and her breath returned to normal. Although her face was still covered in sweat and was slightly pained, she looked much better off than before.


    He continued to do this for a long while, and eventually, he felt her grip finally relax. Nonetheless, she still tried to pull his arm to her chest, where she hugged it. Lucifer didn''t reject it, but the feeling of softness on his hand made him feel nervous and excited at the same time.


    Eventually, after around 20 minutes, it was obvious she would not wake up anytime soon. His theory was that her body needed to get rid of all the alcohol, hence the deep sleep unusual to a vampire. After 30 minutes, he too fell back asleep, his hand still softly hugged by Luna.


    After around 6 more hours, Luna''s eyes moved slightly before opening. She felt extremely dizzy and couldn''t remember anything about last night. In fact, all she remembered was going to bed after seeing Lucifer half-naked.


    As she looked around, she realized that something hot was on her chest and arms. Looking at it, her dizzy mind could barely recognize it. Following the object, she found a dark-skinned demon sitting there, and following it, she found that she herself was resting on his lap.


    As a rush of clarity rushed in her, she quickly sat up with a red face as she tried to think of what was happening. ''Did he do something to me? No, I don''t feel anything... but why is he here? Why was I there?''


    As hundreds of questions poured into her mind, Lucifer himself woke up. Looking at her tense face, he himself was surprised and he quickly explained "You... I... You were drunk, so I brought you here, but you didn''t let me go..."


    "O-oh..." Luna said as bits and pieces of memories appeared in her mind. Indeed, he was right. Now that she thought about it, she could remember much more.


    How she came home feeling like crap, how she heard sounds downstairs and went to check, how she drank Lucifer''s blood...


    "I-I''m sorry..." She murmured with a red face before running away once again. She ignored the shout from Lucifer "Hey! Wait up!" as she locked her door and slumped behind it, trying to calm down.


    She had always been fairly shy and reserved, excepting particular people. Usually, she would put up a cool-guy/lady mask, hiding her own emotions. However, right now, she truly felt horrible.


    Screaming in her hands, she dug them into her face, even going as far as drawing blood. "Why am I so stupid!? Why the hell can nothing ever go right?!"


    Unknown to her, the alcohol was not truly washed away yet. The rage she was feeling at the moment was obviously caused by it, but as said, she didn''t know that.


    As she raged at herself, she heard a knocking sound at the door. Hearing this, she screamed, "Go away, please. I already said I''m sorry!"


    After a couple seconds, a voice came from behind the door, "Look, I''m not going to go away. You don''t have to be mad at yourself... Look, I didn''t mind it, okay? Can we just talk?"


    Although she wanted to just deny him, a part of her also wanted to open the door. Going against her original idea, she slowly opened the door and allowed him to enter.


    He looked at her with pursed lips as he kept silent. She did the same as she sat on the bed and played with her fingers nervously, whilst occasionally peeking at him.


    Finally, after a while, he sighed and said, "Look, I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to take advantage of you there. I apologize."


    Shaking her head, Luna felt her heart calm down slightly as she answered, "No, it was my fault. I''m sorry."


    Neither of them missed the irony here. Both of them thought it was their fault and that the other was angry, but seeing it like this, they realized how stupid they were being.


    Eventually, both of them laughed, albeit weakly. Getting up, Luna tucked her hair behind her ear as she said, "Well since that''s over, I guess we should go to Maureen. He''s probably furious right now..."


    Nodding, Lucifer followed her. He ate something on the way, and the two of them chatted. Eventually, they both forgot their awkwardness, and even gained a deeper sense of trust from the event.


    [What did we learn? Don''t get drunk, kids.]

 OLD Christmas(?) Special - Halting the Sazzip Invasion

    It was a dark night in the Empire''s capital. The city had gone to sleep, with only the underworld scurrying about at this time.


    And yet, in this night, one part of the city was extremely active: The royal castle.


    In here, servants ran around like headless chickens, carrying things to and from everywhere. Nobles discussed in private rooms, some shouting and some whispering. Several servants would lose their lives tonight, judging by the nervousness and anxiety of the nobles.


    An old man sat upon a throne, several important figures surrounding him as they all talked over each other to get his attention, resulting in something that resembled an elementary school''s assembly.


    After a while, a figure burst through the large doors at the entrance of the room. Seeing this figure, the nobles all showed different expression, but in general, none of them were pleasant ones.


    "King-sama! I finally learned that new spell you taught me! It''s really cool!" A young adult in his late teens with short black hair and obviously Japanese shouted as he bowed repeatedly to the old man.


    "Haha... No need to be this formal, sir Hero. I expected nothing less from a person as talented as you." The king said with a sly smile on his old face. The hero, embarrassed, turned away.


    Around that moment, several young girls entered the room as well. A catgirl maid, a naive young princess, a fiery demoness, a silent elven girl with two daggers on her waist... All the stereotypes you can imagine, they were there.


    Seeing all of the young ladies enter, the king smiled weakly as he stood up and clapped his hands, sending the nobles away. After that, he announced, "Very well. Let us begin the planning of the Demon Lord Assassination Operation..."


    Meanwhile, in the demonic lands...


    A large demon with two heads stood in front of a relatively small cave. His expression was unreadable, partly due to the two heads, but even then, each of them was perfectly neutral, not portraying any expression.


    After hesitating for a bit, the two-headed demon kneeled and shouted: "This servant carries a message from His Majesty, esteemed lord!"


    The moment he did so, despite being one of the demon generals, albeit more on the weaker side, the demon felt extreme chills run down his spine as several hundred eyes seemed to open all around the surroundings and stare at him.


    A particularly hard shiver ran down his spine as all the eyes merged together in front of him, forming a single, huge eye. It stared at him with what he could swear was a mix of hatred and desire, but he didn''t move. The demon''s lord had told him much about this man, no, monster. However, out of all the things he heard, what he took to heart the most was one particular comment.


    "JonBob, I cannot guarantee you will come back alive from this. That man only recognizes me and a couple other people as... I won''t say friends, but at least people he won''t kill. However, remember one thing: Do. Not. Show. Fear."


    JonBob stared at his lord with a confused expression at this. Of course, he would never show fear to anyone, after all, wasn''t he one of the demon generals? The third highest rank of demons after the princes and the king himself?


    Shaking his head, JonBob''s lord explained, "That man is not someone you can even look at. He is like a ravenous wolf, the moment you run away or show fear, hell, even just hesitation, he will tear you apart and swallow you. Furthermore, he has a particularly nasty habitat of torturing his victims, so please, for yourself, listen to me for once. That man is evil incarnate."


    Hearing this, JonBob''s heart skipped a beat. For even his lord, someone acclaimed through the world as a vile and evil tyrant who enjoyed torturing children, to call someone evil incarnate, just what kind of being did he need to talk to?


    Back to the present, JonBob fought against his instincts to scream and run away and held as best as he could. Clenching his hand hard enough to draw blood, he stuttered, "H-his majesty requests o-of esteemed l-lord to, p-please come to the capital. S-someone has invaded!" BobJob had to bite both tongues in his mouths to not scream as he saw the eye explode into a mist of blood.


    In the blink of an eye, all the blood came together to form something out of this world. A strange cross that had several faces appearing and disappearing on it formed.


    Then, just as BobJob was about to ask something that would have gotten himself killed, a voice came out from the cross. This voice was by no means pleasant, rather, it was as if many people were speaking at once, and for some reason, the voice seemed to carry an extremely vile intent with it.


    "... This is a teleportation illusion. Should Kai truly need me, he will know what to do. Now, disappear. I have... things to do."


    Hearing this, JonBob didn''t even hesitate a second as he backed away whilst still facing the cave, and only after he was a good hundred meters away did he turn tail and run.


    As he was backing up, the cross had shrunk and entered his pockets. He was thankful he didn''t have to touch whatever in the gods'' name that thing was. Even if demons were generally more evil than humans, they weren''t what the humans made them out to be.


    Sure, they didn''t mind killing, but everyone had their own limits. There were saint demons, neutral demons, even forest-loving demons. You can''t judge a race by its stereotype, after all.


    Compared to that abomination, JonBob truly felt like a saint. He hated this feeling, mind you. He preferred being the bad guy, as they were much cooler than those stuck-up heroes.


    5 hours later, JonBob had delivered the cross to the Demon King, Kai. After thanking his liege for his ''kindness'' JonBob happily took his leave and decided that it would be a good idea to get wasted after what he had witnessed.


    With a tired sigh, Kai looked at the cross floating in front of him. He didn''t like how that man acted whenever he wasn''t directly there to calm him, but alas, he could sort of understand.


    He had known that man for a long time. In fact, the only reason he was the Demon King was exactly because of that man. Despite that, he couldn''t help but be disappointed in how little that man had changed since those days...


    But! There were more important things to do right now. In a quiet voice, Kai whispered into the cross, "Night and Red, Roses and Thorns, Blood and Gold, Weapons and War. All shall return, all shall contribute, all will be devoured. Open the jaws of the snake."A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    It was extremely cringy, so cringy in fact, that Kai furiously looked around to make sure nobody heard him. What was even more embarrassing was that he was the one to come up with these lines.


    As he looked around, the cross floated into the air and released an ominous light before contorting and shifting, transforming into a mirror-like object.


    Inside of it, a lonely figure curled in itself sat. His face buried between his knees and the absolute silence in that dimension causing even Kai, someone very familiar with this dimension, to take a step back.


    Seeing this figure, Kai''s anger and anxiety were swept away. In its place came an extreme sadness as he reached his hand out to that figure unconsciously, but stopped himself when he remembered that it was just an image-transfer device that the man called TV.


    "... Yes, Kai?" The figure slowly said. His voice was much different from what JonBob heard, this time it was much clearer, but despite that, it seemed just as hateful as it was sad.


    "I need your help, friend. I''m afraid that, with the Hero constantly strengthening, our armies alone will not suffice. We need you and your elites to come in."


    "..." The figure didn''t respond, rather, it remained silent as it raised it''s head to looked directly into Kai''s eyes.


    Without looking away, Kai stared straight back into those two red abysses. With a small smile, he tentatively extended his hand forward...


    The man in the mirror put his head back down and mumbled a small positive response. Then, the connection was cut.


    Sighing, Kai watched helplessly as the mirror disappeared into nothingness. In truth, he didn''t really need that man''s help, but just in case, it was always good to have him around.


    ...


    It had been a week since Kai saw that man. Now, he stood in front of his demonic army, facing the allied armies of humans, elves, dwarves, and beastkin. On his side, several powerful beastlords, werewolves and other evil races stood in formation.


    At the front of the allied army stood a very not-really-imposing figure. The Hero.


    Kai had seen this man several times before, even fought with him. He wasn''t anything special, in fact he was quite weak-hearted and was extremely unfit to be a hero, but despite that, all the focused training the allies piled up on him plus his ''cheat'' made him even stronger than Kai himself.


    Infusing mana into his voice to make it as powerful as a magic attack alone, Kai roared, "Humans! Leave now, and we might just let you live!"


    As the weaker allied soldiers trembled in front of the voice, a reassuring shout came from the Hero. "Never! We will win this battle in the name of justice and cute girls!"


    Kai couldn''t help but snort at that retort. One of the things he despised the most about humans was their womanizing attitude. Loyalty was everything to demons, even if it was sometimes questionable.


    As the two armies were about to begin their clash, a giant dark cloud covered the skies, blocking out the sun. Red rain fell, burning any human it touched. It was like acid, but unlike it, this rain could not be stopped by magic.


    Kai''s mouth contorted into an evil smile. If everything went right, they could achieve a major victory here...


    As the most powerful human and elven mages, supported by the dwarven artillery created a barrier to defend themselves with, giant red meteors began to fall from the sky and slammed into the human army, revealing several extremely powerful vampires hidden within.


    Abusing the surprise of the humans, the demon army charged and slammed into the allied line, almost shattering it immediately. The vampires didn''t come alone either, as they brought almost infinite cannonfold, also called slave vampires.


    However, how could the allied armies fall so easily? Seeing the desperate situation, the humans unleashed their strongest card, the Hero, and his giant harem.


    Like a tornado of blades and spells, the hero swept through the battle, saving all humans he could and knocking out the demons. However, he was not alone.


    The Lord Hunter, the king of beastmen, descended into battle along with the Demon King and the Sir Undeath, the lord of the undead, bringing havoc into battle. Several powerful figures descended to, figures like the Elven Matriarch, the Beast King, the Fairy Princess...


    As the battle intensified, the king saw the Hero himself get pinned down by both the Demon King and the Sir Undeath, whilst all his allies were dealing with the endless army of the vampires and beastmen. They were losing pretty badly, and they knew it.


    In terms of raw strength, the demon army far outmatched the humans, however, the humans always had luck, terrain, strategy, and adaptability on their side. Now, being fought head-on like this, their weakness was revealed.


    As the Hero battled the Sir Undeath and Demon King, just as he was about to be defeated, the women in his harem began calling in grief. "Noooo, our Hero!", "My love, don''t lose!", "You can do it!"


    Through the magical power of friendship and love, the Hero started glowing. Seeing this, both the Sir Undeath and the Demon King furrowed their eyebrows in confusion, but they were soon pushed back as the Hero shouted, "Limit Break!"


    With renewed and improved power, the Hero instantly turned the tides of battle, sweeping away the Sir Undeath and the Demon King, rescuing his allies. Seeing the precarious situation, the Demon King grimaced, but a hint of evil was hidden beneath that smile.


    With a small spell as the Hero was delivering his ''justice and love'' speech, he called upon his strongest hidden card.


    "... And this is why, we should not fight! We should make peace and love because..." The hero didn''t get to finish his sentence as a powerful earthquake shook the earth, a red moon revealing itself under the dark clouds covering the skies.


    A loud explosion noise came from that moon as a giant eye opened in it, blood seeping out from it''s pupils. Compared to the red rain, this blood was thousands of times more powerful, instantly melting the barrier that had been created and ending the lives of several thousand soldiers.


    From the eye, a figure slowly fell. It was a middle-aged man wearing vampiric clothing. He had white hair, an evil smile on his face and rivers of blood flowed out from nowhere around him.


    Holding a chalice filled with blood, the man roared out, "Destroy them, my subjects!"


    Along with the man''s roar, several new vampires revealed descended from the skies. These vampires were all far, far more powerful than the previous ones, easily bringing havoc upon the human allies.


    Despite the mage''s best efforts, the corrosive blood from the giant eye kept devouring anything it touched. Sometimes, the unlucky beastman or demon who touched the blood found his whole body melting away. Cries of anguish ran through the entire battlefield as the more powerful mages fled for their lives, even paladins, the epitome of justice, were forced to flee miserably.


    As this all was happening the man had not actually moved a finger. His job was over for now, and even if he was to act now, it wouldn''t do much good. Remaining in the dark was a far better option.


    Or at least, those were his plans. However, just as he was about to fly back inside the giant eye, a powerful force blew him away or at least tried to.


    Turning around, the man found the Hero staring at him with determined eyes. He was bleeding from several spots, his clothes burned up. The man snorted but didn''t act, after all, the Hero was still a useful chess piece. Getting rid of it so early was wasteful.


    "I... Will not let you off!" The Hero shouted as he moved into a mediocre fighting stance. The man snorted in contempt as he a blade materialized in his hand.


    "I shall end thine life shalt thy not surrender to mine power." The man roared as he launched himself forward at a speed that could match that of light itself. Without time to react, the hero received a mighty kick in the stomach followed by several punched to the face.


    As the Hero fell to the ground, weak and beaten just after a single exchange, a fire was lit inside of his chest, one that would bloom into a mighty sun who shall illuminate the darkness.


    "... This one is disappointed. Thy is on the ground just after a single exchange? Thou is extremely pitiful. This one shalt spare your life, but not next time..." The man said as he tried to once again enter the giant eye.


    However, this time, he was not stopped by the hero. Instead, a gigantic floating pizza suddenly appeared in the sky, out of nowhere.


    Casting a giant shadow upon the battlefield, everyone stopped fighting as innumerable pizzas appeared around the giant one.


    "We are the Sazzip! We will avenge our fallen comrades! TO WAR MY CHILDREN! FIRE THE MOZZARELLA STICKS! SOUND THE TOMATO HORNS!"


    On this day, the Sazzip faced their greatest loss ever. It was a beautiful battle, full of detailed and epic scenes someone who is working on a certain novel at 12 pmreally does not feel like writing.


    Everyone united to face the mighty cheesy menace and then ate together. Or each other. Same thing, really. Tomato is red, just like blood after all...

 Chapter 1

    A long time ago, I was but a normal man, living naught but a normal life.


    Of course, that did not last long. Upon my tragic end, a strange being offered me a new life. I gladly accepted his offer, of course.


    However, I could not rid myself of the hatred I bore towards those of my old world. Therefore, in order not to fall into depression, I guided my hatred towards this new world.


    With my endless armies of monsters, I razed countless kingdoms to the ground, brought many races to extinctionand brought an age of darkness upon this world.


    I was known as the Night King, but my real name was unknown.


    For even I had forgotten.


    Eventually, my end came. It wasn''t a pretty end, but at least it wasn''t one I cannot accept.


    A hero had been called down from another world and thinking back on it, I presume he came from the same world I did.


    His progress was terrifying. In less than a month, he came to be almost as powerful as me.


    The final battle was earth-shattering. The entirety of the surviving humanoid races banded together and fought back against my endless hordes.


    In the end, even my immortal and ever-regenerating body was destroyed by a combined desperate attack by every single human. It was almost surreal.


    As my body disintegrated, I looked at the hero straight in the eyes. His shining sword had stabbed through my heart, in more ways than one.


    I remember reaching out to him with my hand and whispering a silent thank you before I died. Even I do not understand the strange sense of release I felt upon the void that is death.


    So here I am now, just a lost soul without any idea of my purpose. Why can I still think? Isn''t it supposed to be the end?The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    "No." A familiar voice said. I didn''t need a long time to realize the situation.


    "... Manager." I said, sure of my statement.


    "Indeed. It''s been a long time, my dear." He said. Even though I could see nothing in this void, I could still picture him smiling boyishlyfrom some sort of desk as he greeted me.


    "... It has been a long time indeed." I answered.


    "Yes, yes, hello. Now, let''s see what you did... Well well, you''ve been reeeeal naughty back in that world. What''s this, a kill count of over 8 million? Ouch, that''s almost at the level of Hitler."


    "Who would that be?" I asked, curious. And here I thought I was the most brutal being ever.


    He chuckled as he answered "Just an art student who got rejected by his school. Anyways, I''ve got a proposal for you."


    "A proposal... Am I going back to mylife?" I asked


    "Eh... Yes and no. It would be a waste to just throw a soul as advanced as yours back into reincarnation. Furthermore, it was still fun watching you. Therefore, I''ve decided to give you a new life, yes, but I''ll give you a new body. Any requests?"


    "You''re being... Awfully generous." I asked. I wasn''t the same naive human who first got caught by this being.


    "Aw, you''re no fun. It''s not like I have bad intentions, I just wanna have fun..." He whimpered jokingly.


    "You... Fine... What''s the trick?" I asked, but he ignored me.


    "It''s great you agree. Do you want to change races or is your old race fine?" He asked. I sighed regretfully. Arguing with idiots was impossible, and I was particularly bad at it, being incredibly antisocial.


    "Yes, being anything else would be... impossible. Please make me the Vampire again." I said.


    "You sure? Not the Demon Lord? not the Werewolf? Hell, I could make you human again?" He winked at me.


    "I''d rather have my soul destroyed than be a human again," I growled, altho, being a soul, I suspect I wasn''t really that intimidating.


    "Fineeee. You''re so boring. Well, off you go I guess."


    I felt my world turn dark again, almost like falling asleep. When my senses came back to me, everything felt... Different.


    I looked around myself. Trees, trees, and trees. Some smaller plant here and there too.


    This place felt familiar. It was the same exact place I first awoke in this world.


    I slowly raised myself from the ground. My body felt extremely weird, and I also felt weak. Hungry.


    I looked at my arms. Whiter than white. Paler than pale. Also, much smaller than what I was used to.


    Something tickled my neck and back. Grabbing it, I brought it in front of my eyes. Of course, it was hair. Much longer than the hair I had in my previous life.


    I sighed in regret as I touched my chest. Larger than it should be.


    It didn''t take a genius to figure out what had happened. I took a deep breath before letting out a roar.


    "MANAGER! NEXT TIME I SEE YOU I''LL RIP YOUR BALLS OFF!"


    And like that, my third life began.

 Chapter 2

    After my outburst, I felt a lot better. After all, I did just get killed, I think it''s understandable that I would be arguably pissed.


    After a thorough inspection of my body, I determined the differences between this body and my old one, and I was pleasantly surprised.


    I could feel that despite this being a new and untrained body, it was close to my old body in strength and magical power.


    Second, I was good-looking, which is always a bonus. Third, I still had my abilities from my old body, which I had been quite worried about losing.


    The fourth and final change was in shape and size. I was way, way smaller than my old body, which could be mistaken for a half-giant. This body was around the size of the average human, and I my weight was distributed differently due to being of the different gender.


    I went through a round of exercises, from basic push-ups, squats, and yoga to martial techniques. It would take a while for me to completely adapt to this new body, but I suppose I''ll take anything over true death.


    I let out a deep breath as I finished the final technique. I wasn''t particularly disappointed with this body, even if it was weird.


    Now... What to do. As the question rolled around my mind like a candy you don''t wanna chew or swallow, I sat next to a tree and leaned back on it, staring into nothingness.


    I didn''t particularly want to go back crusading against humanity and it''s alike. That had consumed my entire second life, and while I don''t regret it, there are several things I wish I didn''t do and some I wish I did.


    However... I didn''t know my purpose. I definitely couldn''t go and just live with humans, for I was still the Vampire, the ruler of the night. The humans would definitely do anything in their power to end me, again.


    Going to check out if that Demon King brat was still alive could be an option, however, I had no idea where to begin.


    I sighed. Thinking about it would only lead me in circles, never accomplishing anything. Might as well do as I always did, go with the flow and crush any obstacles.


    I stood up and looked up at the sky, the cursed sun shining down brightly.


    The rays of the cursed thing sizzled my flesh slightly, but it was nothing dangerous. I had long since invented ways to deal with the sun, and as long as I gained enough exposure to it, my body would eventually become immune to it.


    I activated my blood senses and felt the familiar smell of blood. I smiled darkly as I rushed toward the source.


    * * * * * * * * * *


    "Give up all your belongings and those 2 women and I might spare you" A filthy-looking man laughed as he looked at a small group in front of him.


    This group was composed of a young human male with sword and shield, a female elf not too far from his age and a human female with a robe and staff.


    All in all, it was a pretty normal scene. A bunch of naive youngsters caught by a group of worthless thugs. Things like these were nothing but common.


    "Never!" The naive kid shouted as he used his body to hide the two girls behind him.


    "Hehe... I knew you were gonna say that! Now, my men are going to shoot you up, and then I''m going to enjoy those two pretties behind you..." The filthy man said. "Or... Perhaps we could keep you alive... I heard the boss enjoys blondes like you..."


    The three kids shivered as they heard this. The robed girl shouted "You''ll never defeat Brian! We''ll defeat you and bring you to justice!"


    One of the filthy man''s minions laughed darkly as he said lustfully "Defeat us? Yeah, sure. You''ll defeat us in bed while chained up."


    The robed woman bit her lips in fear, trying not to scream. She was terrified beyond words.


    "Kekeke... Time''s up. I''m bored with you kids. Make sure not to kill any of them." The filthy man said as he slowly walked towards them, drawing his sword.


    However, before a fight could truly break out, one of the men shouted. "Boss! Look!"


    "What is it!?" The boss answered, annoyed. He didn''t even consider the kids a threat, because they really weren''t.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Turning around, he saw a small figure walking towards them from further up the road. His smile hardened as he squinted to see better, but he relaxed after noticing it was just another harmless-looking woman.


    "Hehe! It''s our lucky day. Three pretties tonight... We''ll be feasting!" He shouted as he looked at the three kids.


    "Just wait there for a moment. Do anything dumb and we''ll cut off your legs and arms..." He smiled darkly and walked waited for the girly to either run or rush over.


    She did neither. She just walked till she was less than 20 meters from the encircled group.


    "Rox, go seize that girl. The rest of you, bind these three." The filthy man said, his voice turning hoarse from excitement.


    Soon enough, the four kids had been bound and tied, then thrown on the floor in a more remote area. The three kids had resisted fiercely, but they had been easily overwhelmed.


    The fourth girl had just let herself be taken, looking more curious than scared. The bandits just laughed at her look, thinking her a spoiled noble.


    However, when they tried to strip the four, that''s when things changed.


    "Touch me and I''ll make sure you suffer the worst pain imaginable." The strange girl, the ex-Night King said.


    "I''d like to see you try..." The filthy man said, walking over. Looking at the girl, he licked his lips. Long dark hair, a cute but still mature face and just perfect chest. All that a creepy rapist would ever want.


    "Alright." The girl said, her face breaking into a strange smile.


    Before the filthy man could retort, the ropes binding the Night King snapped, and before everyone''s eyes, the girl seized the filthy man''s face faster than lightning and slammed his head into the ground.


    As blood leaked from his broken nose and teeth, the girl let out a creepy laugh that sounded so out of place it sent shivers down the spines of the bandits, who were too stunned to do anything.


    "HmHMMHmmHmMHm... Now, this... Is my kind... of kink..." She lowered her head to lick the blood on the filthy man''s face, who was still confused at what had happened.


    Feeling a strangely cold tongue licking his face, he tried to struggle, but he was powerless as the girl''s grasp seemed to be unbreakable.


    "So good..." She half-moaned as her eyes glazed. "It''s been too long..."


    "HELP ME, YOU IDIOTS!" The filthy man cried out, completely terrified. This spurred the other bandits in action, as they tried to run to their boss'' help.


    "Be good for me and let me suck you..." She whispered as her mouth enlarged far beyond what it should and her teeth grew to almost three times their size.


    Just as the men were about to reach their boss, she turned towards them and let out a roar. "Fuck off, worthless maggots!"


    The men were stunned yet again, however, a strange power seemed to prevent them from returning themselves as they just stood there, staring blankly.


    "Now... I said I would make you suffer... Let''s make sure you do..." She whispered into his ears as the filthy man felt something drilling into his sides and back, making him cry out in pain.


    He tried to look at what was happening. He was horrified to see little snakes of blood drilling out from his body and then back in, riddling him with holes and unimaginable pain.


    He started crying as he begged. "Please! I won''t ever do anything bad again! Please spare me, my lord! aaaAAAAA" He cried even harder, but then stopped as something clogged his throat.


    "Shhh... Not so loud... I like my food to stay silent while I dine..." The monster next to him whispered. At this moment, he was regretting everything.


    Finally, the filthy man''s life ended as the ex-Night King sunk her teeth into his neck and sucked the life out of him, leaving only an empty husk devoid of substance.


    Turning towards the still stunned thugs, she beckoned them over with her hand, and they slowly waddled over to her without a hint of resistance.


    After sucking the life out of every thug while taking her time, she turned towards the three kids, who she had spared from the effect of her previous roar.


    They looked at her as if they were looking at the devil itself. She laughed creepily as she bent in front of them.


    They were still tied up, so they could do nothing but look at her as she stared into their eyes. "Obey me... Obey me... Obey me... You are my slaves..."


    After a minute, the three kids began repeating with her. "Obey you... Obey you... Obey you... I am your slave..."


    Satisfied, she switched her words. "You will tell me everything you know..."


    * * * * * * * * * *


    After sucking the life out of the three brats, I finally felt satisfied. It had taken a bit longer to deal with these worthless maggots than it should have, but I wanted to have fun during my first meal in this new life.


    The three kids had vomited out quite a lot of information. Summed up, 600 years had passed since my supposed death, and the world had returned more or less to the way it was before me.


    The hero who killed me had ''returned to his world'', although knowing humanity, they probably just killed him somehow. Or worse, depending on his luck.


    Beyond that, I was actually surprised to find that my hypnotic abilities had become quite a bit stronger than before.


    Anyways, after hearing the story from the three kids, I decided that perhaps visiting a human city might be a good idea. There seemed to be quite a lot of good stuff going around in there, and besides, from what they said, the population of the cities there is something like 100 times what it used to be in my times.


    A population boom would be nothing surprising after my death, but I wasn''t expecting such a big one. Apparently, the nobles had become even more corrupt than my times too...


    I sighed. To help, to live with, or to kill. What to do...

 Chapter 3

    Passing off as a human for me is easy. The only particularly non-human part of my body would be my wings, which I usually just keep within my body to avoid breaking or harming them.


    This body especially made it easier. In my old one, I had to shrink my size by quite a lot, but in this one, I could simply walk in and nobody would suspect me. Unless there''s a thorough examination by a paladin or priest, I would never be found.


    Granted, my clothes were a bit... out of place. When I woke up in this new body, they were already on, and I had none others so I just went with it.


    So... Basically, I needed some clothes, more information, and perhaps a place to stay in that''s not a cave in the middle of god knows where.


    I was reluctant to do it... but perhaps, just perhaps, it might be a good idea to stay with the humans.


    I sighed. I really didn''t want to go through all the work that blending in a human society as a blood-sucking hellspawn required.


    As I stood in front of the gates of a decently sized city, I pondered. With people pushing left and right to enter first, I just stood at the sides as I observed.


    Things had changed quite a lot since my times. Back then, the atmosphere was almost always gloomy, with people losing loved ones left and right. Furthermore, the number of people back then was simply impossible to compare to the mind-boggling crowd of today.


    I played around with the cash I ''borrowed'' from the bandits with my fingers, feeling the cold metallic surface. It wasn''t much, but I hoped it would let me in.


    If not... I could just sneak in at night. However, from what the kids told me, patrols were quite strict and it was surprisingly hard to get in. Even for me, it would be difficult to get in without being spotted.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Finally making a choice in my heart, I stood up and walked over to the busy gate. There were plenty of guards these, some keeping order, some giving directions and others checking what was going in the city, making sure no smuggling was going on.


    I couldn''t help but be awed at the mighty creations of humankind. Walls that reached over 20 meters in height and two whole meters in width. It was an impressive sight indeed.


    One of the guards noticed me staring at the walls and shouted at me. "Hut hut, keep it moving, lady!"


    Hearing him, I realized I had been blocking the people behind me. I didn''t really care what they thought, but I didn''t want trouble. I smiled sheepishly at the guard and kept going.


    After paying a toll of one silver coin due to not having citizenship nor any form of admission, I finally got to walk in the city.


    As I walked around like a tourist, I started feeling plenty of gazes on me.


    I tensed up slightly, but relaxed after thinking about it for a bit.


    The gazes were annoying, yes, and they were also intense, but I couldn''t feel any ill intent in any of them. They simply... Stared at me. Inappropriately, sometimes.


    I huffed in annoyance. Yet another thing I had to get used to. Of course, I could always try and recreate my old body, but I had a feeling the manager would never let me do such a thing.


    Besides, altho I was annoyed, this was still exciting! A new body, a new life, a new start. Granted, the new start seemed to be somewhat similar to my old one, as I had already murdered over 20 people on the first day. I could have probably spared the kids from earlier, but I really didn''t want anybody getting any clues that I was still up and alive.


    After around 2 hours of exploration, I had some ideas as to the layout. I even asked a couple people I passed by for information, glad to see that they happily shared everything I wanted to know.


    The center of the city was reserved for the nobility, while the further out you went the poorer the city became. A pretty common setup, all in all.


    After I was satisfiedwith what I found, I got a room in a nearby inn and decided to meditate for a while, partially to pass the night that would come in a bit and also because it was a habit of mine that I found hard to suppress.


    Surprisingly, the humans were much less... corrupt than I imagined. Granted, I had only seen the surface, but people seemed to be having a pretty decent life overall.


    I was definitely no crusader for justice, but I still despised inequality.


    I closed my eyes as I hummed. "Life is like a rainbow, always seemingly the same and yet always so different..."

 Chapter 4

    I hummed an old poem as I walked around the market districts.


    It was dawn right now, and the city was just starting to awaken. There were still people up and about, but far less than yesterday, which made it a lot more comfortable for me.


    After all, the such an intense smell of blood took quite the mental toll on me, trying not to go crazy and kill everybody.


    Looking around the town, I finally found my destination: The city guild.


    Entering the decent-sized building, I couldn''t help but take notice that despite the fact it was extremely early, there were still people here doing all sorts of things.


    I kind of froze in place at the entrance for a minute, looking around. I was only snapped out of my trance when somebody kindly asked me to move away from the entrance.


    I quickly moved and let the man through. Then, I walked over to the reception area, hoping that my memories didn''t fail me.


    "Good morning, miss." Greeted a fat middle-aged lady with a bored look on her face. My smile waned for a moment at being called ''miss'', but I let it pass. For now.


    "Good... Morning, I guess. Tell me, hum... Lady, are there any available jobs open anywhere?" I asked.


    I had decided on this during the night. I was actually pretty surprised with myself, as I wasn''t actually going crazy or depressed at having prolonged contact with humans. I kind of expected myself to... kill them all? I''m not really sure. Nothing good though.


    "Ugh, another youngster thinking she''s special. Useless trash, I''m sure the red light district would work wonders for you. They pay well there." She laughed derisively at me as she yawned.


    Despite not knowing what the red light district was, I was still ticked off at being called trash. "Take me seriously pleaseand thanks," I whispered.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Ugh, fine. I guess I need to do my job." She said as she sat up, much more serious than before. Of course, I used a small hypnosis on her. It wasn''t anything major, just a hint towards doing something.


    "What can you do?" The lady asked. "Cook? Clean? Craft? Forge?"


    "Um..." I thought for a moment. I silently listed what I could do in my mind.


    1) Murder


    2) Maim


    3) Kill


    4) Slaughter


    5) Execute


    6) You get the point


    "Uh... I guess I can... Cook? I know how to clean clothes too I suppose." I answered.


    The annoying lady looked at me with a raised eyebrow and shook her head, but still wrote down some scribbles on a paper.


    "There''s a shop right next to the Bill''s Bull Inn that''s in search of a hiring hand. They want a waiter, possibly female and with good looks that knows how to be able to cook, clean and serve customers." She said and held out a small form to me.


    I took it from her hand and left a couple coppers on the desk before leaving. I could hear a sigh from the woman as I left.


    It took me a while to find the stupidly named inn, and a couple more minutes to find the shop. Thankfully, the form the woman gave me described it pretty well, along with much more detailed explanations of requirements and expectations.


    The shop itself was nothing fancy. It seemed to be a bakery/pastry/restaurant hybrid of sorts, and there didn''t seem to be that many people in it. And by that I mean it was fucking empty.


    I walked in and was greeted by an overly eager middle-aged man. After some discussion without the need to use any hypnosis, I officially got hired.


    For the first day on the job, I just cleaned trash up and observed some other employees work.


    It was boring. So boring I almost dropped out on the first day, but I held out. I wanted to introduce myself back into human society, and I''ll be damned if I couldn''t do such a simple thing.


    Also, I just threw up a random name during the conversation. Shade. Easy to remember and fits well with the whole ''master of the night'' theme I got going on.


    Since I didn''t really want to stay at a shitty inn the whole time, I struck a deal with the middle-aged man that I would live here and eat along with the staff but would only get 1/3 of the normal salary, which seemed like a pretty good deal to me.


    Granted, eating solids was useless. That night, I simply said that I wasn''t hungry and then sneaked out and went over to the slums, where I feasted on the blood of a couple, somewhat cleaner, thugs that didn''t smell like piss and shit.


    And like that, a day passed. Many more would go exactly like that one, almost like a broken dvd that replays itself infinetely.


    kill me

 Chapter 5

    2 months had passed since the Night King, now nicknamed Shade, decided to settle down for a while.


    Unknown to Shade, she had become widely popular in the city, some calling her the ''most beautiful woman''. However, due to her asocial attitude and reluctance to ever speak more than a couple words, few ever got the chance to talk to her, and none ever held a meaningful conversation other than her ''boss''.


    The city she lived in was named Crystal City, due to the city being under the direct control of one of the most powerful families in the kingdom, the Crystal family, headed by a powerful duke, considered the right-hand man of the king himself.


    Shade had never bothered to learn any of this, as her pride prevented her from thinking that anything less than a world-destroying apocalypse could cause her trouble. Either that or a new hero.


    It was also due to that pride that Shade had spent over a month fighting against the heavens and slaughtering countless dresses, trying to find clothing that she could accept.


    Eventually, she settled down on black pants along with a grey shirt. It was plain, yes, but she still thought it good-looking, and she also learned how to manage her long hair, which was easy since her hair was already quite long before her second death.


    Shade''s daily routine went something like this: In the morning, she would clean the shop and get it ready for customers along with another girl who had been hired a bit after she herself was hired. Then, she would prepare some pre-made meals for customers and help the boss with his baking.


    When customers arrived, she was the one tasked with dealing with them, much to her disapproval. She complained several times to the boss man that she didn''t like it, but since customers loved to undress her with their eyes he could only shrug and say he''d raise her pay.


    In the evening, she would clean up and then she would usually take 2-3 hours away from the place, sometimes going into the slums toeat some thugs or idiot who didn''t know better, sometimes she would even go out for bandits. Her boss had been confused at first at her regular absences, but eventually decided to just ignore it.


    His business had shot up to high heavens thanks to her after all.


    The Bossman himself was named Jeff. His wife had died of cancer a bunch of years beforehand, and he had been left alone to run their store. He was fairly nice and paid well, so Shade had quite the favorable impression on him. So favorable, in fact, that she even bothered to go and make a group of thugs who wanted to have Jeff''s store pay ''protection fees'' mysteriously disappear.


    As of now, Shade was sitting with her eyes closed in the reception seat of the restaurant. Although it was boring, she did find it very relaxing to simply stay there, not having anything to do.


    However, peace never lasts long. As the usual annoying noise of people chattering came in, Shade sighed in annoyance and got up to get the newcomers.


    Usually, the restaurant was more of a lunch and dinner place, so the few who entered during the morning were either diehard loyalists who would come in every day, creepy perverts who always tried touching her, or a fool who had no idea where he or she was.


    The coming group seemed to fit the third type more. A boy and three girls, all of them not older than 20 years. The boy was so average it hurt, with brownish hair and a build not weak but not strong nor attractive. The women were all beautiful in their own rights, so seeing them stick so close to each other made Shade question their sanity.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    But then again, vampires weren''t judges, so she just did her job and greeted them.


    "Hi. Your seat is there." She said as she pointed at a random table with 4 seats. Instead of being good obedient customers, they just stared at her wide-eyed.


    Uncomfortable with being stared at, Shade pointed again and said "Seat. Over there. Understand you do?"


    "You''re so cute! Oh my gosh!" One of the girls squealed as she jumped towards Shade and caught her pointing hand, examining it.


    "...???" Shade could do naught but just stand there, mouth hanging from confusion. Normally, when people tried to touch her, she would feel the usual rush of bloodlust and she would have to try her hardest not to lop the assailant''s head off and drink their blood, but as of then, all she felt was confusion.


    These people were so naive and innocent it hurt.


    "Sara! Leave the girl alone! You''re embarrassing her." The oldest woman in the group, still appearing young, grabbed the perverted woman and dragged her away.


    "Sorry. She''s just not used to seeing the people of this world..." The woman smiled awkwardly and ushered the group over. The boy was still looking at Shade with admiration and a bit of childish lust in his eyes, but the last woman quickly got busy eating up his attention.


    Meanwhile, Shade could only blink in confusion and act as if nothing ever happened. Grabbing the menus, she brought them over to their table, set them down, and left before anyone could say anything.


    Within the next few minutes, a few more people trickled in, each of them perverted diehards who seemed obsessed with Shade for one reason or the other.


    As she was doing her job, as usual, her boss suddenly came rushing down from the kitchen, looking extremely worried. He quickly fetched Shade and brought her to a corner and whispered to her.


    "Shade, I just received news that the son of the Crystal Duke wanted to come to check out my restaurant. Quick, come with me!"


    Much to the confusion of the customers, some particularly displeased at not being able to even look at Shade from a distance, Shade was brought upstairs into the living quarters of the boss, Shade and the other girl who had gone to buy supplies.


    "Jeff, what''s going on? Why are you so worried? It''s just a brat..." Shade asked but got promptly shut up as Jeff shoved a wall of clothing at her.


    "I''ll give you a bonus of 4 gold if you do as I say right now, ok? Besides, it''s not just any brat, it''s the most influential brat in the dukedom. Please help me out here." Jeff questioned, his eyes burning at the very thought of the Crystal duke''s very own son to eat in his restaurant.


    "B-boss... I don''t want to..." Shade was about to complain when Jeff interrupted her.


    "I''ll give you any amount of money you want, just please, do this for me, just this once?" Jeff begged. Shade was perhaps the best worker he ever received, attracting endless customers with her beauty while at the same time being able to do basically anything.


    In just 2 months, she had learned basically everything he could teach, perhaps even surpassing him in some areas. Hence, Jeff greatly admired her. This was also the reason why he was so desperate to have both his shop and also Shade herself to make the best possible impression on the duke''s son.


    This way, they would both have a great future if the kid decided that he liked them enough.


    Shade didn''t know the exact thought process, but she was still an old monster that had lived for well over a thousand years, so she could guess quite a lot. She was quite touched by his determination and desire for her wellbeing, so she threw her ''male pride'', which she never really had, down the drain and obeyed her boss.


    They went through 12 different sets of clothing before her boss was finally satisfied. She tried changing in private, but she was extremely clumsy so she ended up having to get her boss to help her out.


    Fortunately, Jeff was both loyal to his deceased wife, and also had no interest in Shade sexually, so he helped without making things difficult for either of them.


    "How do I look?" Shade asked as she craned looked at herself in the mirror. She wore a black dress that mixed both professionality with attractiveness, ending up as a result that, while out of place anywhere else, looked extremely good and fitting for an already beautiful waitress.


    After fixing her hair and discussing with Jeff about a couple details, she went back down to the restaurant area. There was a collective gasp from both men and women as people stared at her wide-eyed.


    Shade rolled her eyes as she sat her butt down on her chair and closed her eyes, waiting while ignoring the perverted men (and women) who made perverted comments.


    Or so she tried to do, however, she soon realized that she still had to bring the food that was now probably cold to the hungry pests.


    Sighing, she got to work, and for the first time ever, couldn''t wait for a noble brat to show his stupid face.

 Chapter 6

    "Shade! I want another order!!"


    "Ms. waitress, my friends are thirsty, they want wine!"


    "Excuse me..." Shade''s eyebrows twitched as she ran around like a headless rabbit, taking dozens of orders and trying her best to show a smile. Tried being the keyword.


    She had tried to relax, but after seeing her somewhat revealing dress, the perverts had all called their friends and now the shop was filled to the brim with people who constantly either tried to grope her or get her attention. Therefore, instead of a good relaxing morning, Shade suffered through hell and back.


    Shade felt thoroughly humiliated. She had never been particularly handsome or well-liked in her previous life, although that might have had something to do with her slaughtering everything that could breathe that she could get her claws and teeth on.


    However, now that she was a woman, it seemed almost like people worshipped her. While her ego did enjoy the praise, her mind was seething in fury at the perversion people showed towards her.


    She didn''t really care that she had turned into a woman in the first place. However, whether man or woman, she hated the idea of being treated like a sexual object.


    Thankfully, things quieted down after a while. Not because people realized they were harassing her, but because 4 heavily armored guards with the Crystal family''s insignia entered and stared down at everyone.


    Seeing them, people silently started leaving the shop, almost as if there was a unanimousagreement that nobles, and especially the Crystal family, were not something commoners like them could even look at.


    Soon, the shop was for the most part empty, however, there were still a couple of people who stayed. Namely, the harem-making brat who was flirting with his girls along with an old man who had his eyes closed and didn''t bother with anybody, not even Shade.


    The guards had simply stood at the sides, making sure everything was perfect. Finally, half an hour later, the star of the show showed up.


    The kid had decently long blonde hair and a feminine face. He wasn''t tall, but he was still very handsome, although it was more of a feminine man kind of handsome.


    Jeff, who had previously come down after preparing himself, instantly greeted the noble graciously, with a level of flattery that was borderline foot-licking.


    The noble smiled and nodded before looking around. He made a small "Oooh" sound when he saw Shade, who was busy preparing a table for the noble.


    Shade almost cursed. Images of the noble trying to either seduce her or harass her sexually instantly came to her mind, and she prepared herself for a fight to the death against her instincts to turn the man into a dinner of blood.


    However, contrary to her expectations, he walked over to her and said: "Thank you, but I''m going to go over to my dear friends over there." He said, pointing at the perverted brat still flirting.


    Suprised, Shade simply nodded and swept up everything she had set up and brought it over to the other table.


    The group finally realized who had arrived, but again, everything went against Shade''s expectations.


    The oldest girl who had saved Shade beforehand simply nodded upon seeing the duke''s son, while the other girls looked at him with sparkling eyes. The boy waved him over with a smile and shouted way too loudly, "Ryan! Come over here!"


    Ryan, the noble brat, smiled awkwardly and whispered just enough for everyone to hear "I was planning to..."


    Shade politely pulled back a chair for him and set down the most high-class wine they could find. Ryan looked at the wine, at the chair, and finally at Shade before flashing an embarrassed smile.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "Sorry... I don''t drink. My father forbids me to." He said. Shade looked at him with a poker face and nodded, taking away the alcohol and going into the kitchen to grab something else.


    When she came back, the group had started chatting happily. Shade wordlessly set down a bottle of milk and one of orange juice before she turned to leave.


    However, just as she was about to go do other things, Ryan said something to the boy brat. Shade''s body froze and started trembling violently.


    "I never imagined that you, the hero, would be so... friendly?" Ryan said with a smile and a red tinge to his cheeks.


    "Haha... It''s nothing. I just like talking with people, Ryan-san..." The ''hero'' said.


    Shade''s trembling body finally arrived at the kitchen, where she shut the door before ramming her hands into her face. Her nails pierced through quite deeply as her indestructible teeth gnashed against each other.


    She slumped down as she scratched her own face out of fury and confusion.


    Inwardly, she was cursing the high heavens.


    "THAT''S THE HERO?!? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? HE''S NOT THE HERO! THERE''S ONLY ONE FUCKING HERO IN THIS WORLD! THE ONLY MAN TO EVER BEAT ME!" She roared within her mind. She was so furious that one of her accidentally stabbed into her eyeball, blinding herself.


    Of course, no kind of wound would ever be permanent. After a couple minutes, she calmed down slightly and stopped her masochistic act. The blood that had flowed out of her body smoothly flew back in, healing herself up in seconds.


    "I need information..." She whispered, somewhat angry at herself for remaining in the dark for so long. ( puns ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) )


    She closed her eyes as she waved her hand around. After a couple seconds, a small shadow rose up from the ground and bowed to her.


    "Masssterrr..." The shadow whispered, excited. "It''s been... A long time..."


    "It has, my subject. Go, call your friends. I want to know everything that has happened in the last 600 years. Why is a hero here? I thought that the only hero that existed was... him..." She said as her voice trembled a bit, just by thinking about that man.


    She was still confused at her own reaction. Her wrath, jealousy, confusion, and refusal mixed up to form an extremely weird and new emotion to her. She didn''t even know why she felt this way.


    "Yessssss, my dark masterrrrr..." The shadow bowed and vanished. In the following minutes, hundreds of thousands of shadow rose up everywhere around the known world, some directly devouring information out of people''s brains, leaving many dead. However, all those deaths were people who wouldn''t be missed, as the shadows didn''t want to make themselves known, nor their master.


    20 minutes later, the shadow rose up in front of Shade again, who had been busy preparing some food. The boss had come in asking if she was okay, as he had noticed her momentary freeze-up. However, she had reassured him and quickly kicked him out of the kitchen.


    The shadow presented a glowing, golden ball to Shade. She looked at it for a moment and revealed a smile as she swallowed the thing whole.


    However, it got stuck in her throat for a moment. She choked a bit before shoving her hand into her throat and pushing the thing down.


    "Fuck me... I forgot my body is smaller now..." She cursed angrily (and silently). After she was finished cursing the Manager, she turned towards the shadow and extended her hand toward it.


    "You''ve been starving for too long. Come, feed yourself." She said. The shadow flickered, and although most wouldn''t be able to tell its emotions, Shade could easily tell it was elated.


    "Thank you, master!" The shadow said before jumping towards Shade. It''s body expanded greatly, and with its newfound size, it engulfed Shade within its body.


    A couple minutes later, the shadow retracted, leaving Shade, who didn''t look any different from before. Although the amount required to feed the shadow was enough that even if 100 people got together, nothing of them would be left.


    However, Shade could easily feed thousands of these shadows without a problem, and if she was willing to hurt herself, she could even feed hundreds of thousands of them, even if it would take a while to heal that.


    As for the shadow itself, previously, it was somewhat bleak and weak. Now, it seemed full of dark energy and power. It bowed zealously to Shade and retreating back into whatever dimension it came from.


    As for Shade, she hummed as she chopped up vegetables and meat for a soup. As she was doing that, she was sorting through the newfound information at a terrifying speed.


    "What a disappointment. This world has gone back exactly to the way it was before I came around... Even worse. No, far worse. Is there truly no saving this world?" She sighed. Perhaps it truly was a waste to expect humans to better themselves.


    "Whatever. I''ve done my part, and I healed my mental scars thanks to him. Although I still want to shove a shining sword through his heart, just to show him how painful it is..." She said to herself, knowing she would never have a chance to.


    And even if she did, she probably wouldn''t.


    "Hmm... Damn it. Do I kill that hero before he can annoy me, or do I let him be? He''s pathetically weak, and his potential seems quite low... Forget it. I''ll repay my own hero by helping the new hero." She said as she silently put away the deadly poison she had made beforehand...

 Chapter 7

    Shade could only watch with wide eyes as the hero and his gang devoured food like starving wolves. She had to constantly run back to the kitchen to bring more food as they constantly pestered her for food.


    Even Ryan turned out to be a complete glutton, despite his relatively small and thin frame. Shade cursed in her mind as she grabbed the tenth plate of rice with chicken and brought it over.


    As she did her job as a waitress almost perfectly, Shade''s mind was still in chaos.


    A pretty big part of her wanted to rampage and turn the fake hero into an empty carcass and destroy whoever dared to profane her own idea of her hero. However, the other part of her also wanted to see just where this would go.


    The last part of her even felt some form of affection towards this brain-dead hero, even if simply because he was from the same world as her own hero.


    As she debated her next move, the starving wolves finally satiated themselves and started chatting about pointless things, mostly Ryan and the girls asking the hero about his world or some of his preferences. Obviously, they were flirting.


    Shade learned that this new hero''s name was Shiro, the oldest was a princess from the country and the other 2 were sisters the hero had picked up in his first travel. Apparently saved them from bandits.


    ''Oh yeah... Bandits... Saving people...'' Shade snorted as she remembered the end that occurred to the people who had been captured by bandits who had also then captured her.


    "Shade-san, why don''t you sit down too?" Shiro the hero asked. Ryan tensed up for a bit and looked at Shade with a look she couldn''t understand.


    "Sir hero, I''m a waite...ress. I do not think it would be appropriate for such a low-ranking, poor, stupid piece of stupid like me to sit with such majesty as yourself." Shade said with a straight face, her flattery skills obviously top notch.


    "Ah... Uh... I don''t think you''re stupid!" One of the sisters said with a red face. Shade glanced at her and then suddenly looked at her wrist.


    "Oh my, I have somestuff to do. Important stuff, sorry and thanks for coming now bye!" She said as she bowed before leaving, awkward gazes following after her.


    After Shade had left, Shiro looked a bit doubtful for a moment before he turned to Ryan and asked, "Ryan-san, are watches a thing in your world?"


    Ryan looked confused. "Watches? As in looking?"


    Shiro scratched his head as his tiny heroic and woman-focused brain tried to think. A small light bulb went off as he said: "The gesture she did there, that''s something the people in my world do too..."


    Shade had gone too far to hear. Well, if she wanted to, she easily could, but she didn''t care. Instead, she was busy formulating a plan for her next course of action.


    As she walked so fast she might''ve as well been running around like a headless chicken, she ended up in her favorite part of the city: the poor people area, a.k.a the slums.


    Less than 5 minutes after she walked in, a bunch of dirty, ugly and rough-looking men surrounded her.


    A minute later, a bunch of dirty, ugly and rough-looking corpses were lined up nicely on the ground. Shade licked her lips as she bit her own finger.


    "Damn it... I''ve been waiting too long. I want to do stuff, I NEED to find my hero... Human society is just not my thing..." She sighed. She knew that what she said wasn''t completely true, as she did really enjoy her time with Jeff and being a waitress even if it had it''s boring and irritating moments, but she truly had to find her hero.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Why did she need to find him? Hell if she knew. She just wanted to get her hands on him and after that... Either she would... She didn''t know. Her feelings were still pretty mixed up about him, as he did brutally murder her, but at the same time, he had been the one person she had ever completely opened up to, and he had accepted him back then.


    Her face turned rosy as she thought about getting her hands on him, having him completely in her grasp this time. This time, there would be no human army filled with the most powerful beings on the planet to back him up, and there would be no grand heaven-destroying attack powered by the will to live from humanity.


    She licked her lips even more violently as her body shook nervously. "But first... I need blood. I should also train this weak body."


    An hour later, the slums had been completely ravaged. Gangs had been wiped out, and those who hadn''t had all ran back to their bases trembling in fear as the Ravanger that had plagued them for the past months went berserk and killed everyone it saw.


    Shade let out a pleased smile as she sunk her teeth into a charmed and brainwashed gang leader. He was relatively strong, but in front of Shade''s hypnosis, he just wasn''t strong enough.


    After finishing up her latest meal, she threw the corpse away and decided that that would be enough. If she continued, it might even get the higher nobles hot on her heels. After all, almost all of these gangs worked for one or another noble, either for extortion or influence.


    Vampires could grow stronger in multiple ways. Shade didn''t know whether there had been any other vampires before or after her, but she highly doubted. After all, when she became the vampire, she had to build up the Kingdom of Shadows all by herself and had to single-handedly create the Shadows as a living race.


    When Shade first became a vampire, she was barely stronger than a knight and had little magical power. However, every time he ate a living being, he would grow stronger and absorb some of their strength and power. It depended on the respective level of powers, though.


    For example, if she drank all the blood of somebody equally as strong as her, she would get 20% of their power, and if they were much weaker, it would struggle to even reach 1% of their power.


    Therefore, Shade disdained that method. She would usually drink from people when hungry or when it was convenient and wouldn''t bring trouble. Her favorite method was instead to simply train like a normal human.


    Her body was already very adaptable, so by training in extremely harsh conditions her body would naturally strengthen itself. While she was nowhere near the level of insanity that her hero had reached in terms of training speed, she was already monstrous compared to even the most genius of geniuses.


    As she thought about this, Shade grinned slightly at the thought of going back to the hellish training she had endured for the first hundreds of years of her second life. She remembered fighting against sea monsters that were tens of kilometers long and trying to survive the insane pressure of the deepest parts of the sea, and even trying to survive the maddening heat of an always-erupting volcano.


    Shade closed her eyes for a moment, blocking out all those useless thoughts. The now was now, not before, not after. She debated for a second before deciding to go tell Jeff that she decided to leave and that she would probably never return.


    The other thing she wanted to do was give the hero a little something. She reached down into the ground with her hand, and instead of hitting solid ground, the hand went straight through like it was water.


    After searching for a bit, she fished out a small talisman.


    The talisman could directly communicate with her, and it had a slightly intelligent conscience in it. If the hero was to ever end up in mortal danger, the talisman would send a signal to Shade, and if she decided to, she could rush to help him. It also held a teleportation spell inside it, so she could instantly get there.


    Shade used to give these to her puppets within the human kingdoms. Whenever one of her rats was found out or in danger, she would rescue them and then give them a new life as a Shadow.


    Now, however... Shade sighed. She truly had changed quite a lot, as she was willing to give such an important object to her theoretical mortal enemy.


    Although arguably, vampires weren''t necessarily the priority of a hero''s kill list. That was usually the Demon, or demon king. But that didn''t really matter. Shade took a deep breath as she started walking back towards the restaurant she had lived in for the past months.


    The times were changing. She could feel the demonic powers waking, and her own Shadows had risen up due to her return. She smirked evilly as she stared at the cursed sun that she hated so much.


    "You shiny bastard... I always compared you to that hero''s eyes, but now, why do even you look so bleak?"

 Chapter 8

    After giving having a brief discussion with her boss, where it took Shade quite a while to convince him that she was indeed satisfied with his pay and treatment and that the reason she wanted to leave was personal, he agreed to dissolving their contract and gave her a small gift of his own that was composed of 5 gold coins and a bunch of his secret recipes.


    Shade found it cute, but at the same time, she didn''t have the time to worry about it. She threw the gift at her shadow, where it was swallowed up and brought away into her Shadow Kingdom.


    As a final thing, she went to meet the hero. He was quite surprised when Shade gave him the pendant, and he looked like he wanted to ask more, but she turned away to leave anyway.


    Ryan tried to stop her using his authority as a noble, but Shade ignored him as she walked away. They didn''t follow her.


    After that was done with, Shade vanished from the kingdom. Due to the Hero''s request, the kingdom had sent a large, secret search for Shade, but they had absolutely no idea where she went.


    As for Shade herself, she was charging downwards towards the depths of the ocean. It had taken her a couple hours to arrive at the ocean itself, passing by several kingdoms and empires.


    As she reached the 5-kilometer depth mark, her body started showing signs of imploding. At the 8 kilometer mark, she began losing blood from her eyes nose and mouth. When she reached a bit later than 10 kilometers, she had to finally stop, or she risked turning into a mini-Shade.


    She moaned in pain, cursed uselessly and grumbled without end at the pain, but she still diligently curled up into a ball and started fighting back against the pressure.


    Her body was naturally incredibly strong and resilient. She was completely immune to poisons and had a good resistance to the cold. However, she was vulnerable to heat and holy magic.


    She couldn''t do anything to gain resistances to holy magic, as it was simply impossible due to her being a vampire in both body and soul by now. Had she retained her humanity completely, she might''ve had a chance, but after she spent 200 years in this world during her previous life, she had already become a vampire in body, soul, and heart.


    As for the heat, that was easy. Burn yourself till you''re crisp, burn yourself more, more, more, more, and more. Then some more. Then even more for good measure. Finally, when you''re about to become ash, run back to the Kingdom of Shadows, heal up, and go back to cooking yourself in a volcano. Easy peasy.


    After 10 hours of trying to resist the pressure, Shade''s mind had purged all the chaotic thoughts and emotions that had accumulatedduring the past months.


    Her death''s trauma, her longing to find her slayer and savior, her hatred towards the new hero, the strange feelings that felt so very foreign, the weakness that came with being in a safe and peaceful place for a long time...


    She purged all of these and more. Her mind slowly returned to the old days, where deathly silence and loneliness were her only companions.


    Unfortunately, or fortunately, she could not purge them completely, only suppress them. However, when she suppressed something, it was a complete suppression, so it wasn''t too far-fetchedthat she had purged them.


    Days passed under the tremendous pressure. The days turned into weeks and the weeks into months.


    During this time, the kingdom had stopped the search and focused back into matters at hand. The Demon, or demon king, was bound to awaken soon.


    The Demon was an existence very much alike to that of Shade, but also different. The Demon wasn''t ''created'', instead, it was forged through the fires of war and death.


    The Vampire was the king of the night, the silent destroyer that whispers down treacherous words upon the mortals that would bring them to their death. Meanwhile, the Demon was the king of hell, ruler of destruction and harbinger of doom.


    Or at least, the humans told their kids so. In truth, the Demon was nothing more than the king of monsters, the strongest of them all. Upon being chosen by all monster races, the Demon would be given infinite resources by all monsters in order to make him grow stronger.


    Naturally, this made it so that the monsters themselves disliked the Demon, and they often tried to kill him. And yet, this made it so that, should a Demon truly ever arise, he would be both extremely powerful, cunning, and experienced.


    There had been plenty of Demons in the past. The humans would summon a hero to slay the Demon, and then the hero would be ''sent back to their world'' and the world would return to peace under humanity''s foot.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Unfortunately, 600 years ago, the Demon unexpectedly obtained the help of a powerful being. The Vampire.


    It is unknown whether previous vampires existed, but it is for certain that none ever went as berserk as the Night King.


    Together, the Vampire and Demon brought forth a destruction upon humanity never before seen. A hero was summoned, and yet, he was mercilessly killed.


    A second hero was summoned, and he was also slaughtered, his body turned into a powerful Death Knight by the Demon''s undead liches.


    Finally, realizing that the situation was dire, humanity invested a ton of their resources into summoning a much more powerful hero, and this one did the trick.


    First, he pushed back the Demon''s armies to give the human kingdoms time to breathe. Next, he crusaded against the Night Kingdom that had forever plagued humanity''s supplies and intelligence network.


    He searched and destroyed every snitch he could find, and killed every shadow as well. Or, well, he tried, at least. Every time he was about to find and kill a shadow or snitch, the Vampire would come and take them away, before retreating back into the darkness.


    However, the hero still broke the intelligence network of the Vampire. After doing that, he spent the winter training harshly, and when the war started once more in the summer, he and a specialized team personally went on a mission towards the Demon''s residence.


    They slaughtered the way to the Demon, and after a fierce battle, the Demon was killed. The attack had been sudden and unexpected, and although the Vampire tried to intervene, he was too late.


    After the Demon''s death, humanity pushed back the monster armies relentlessly. For years, the battle continued, constantly turning in favor of humanity.


    (I just realized this whole thing is an info dump. My bad lol)


    During this time, the Vampire vanished from the public eye. However, people didn''t bother, as they were too busy fighting back the monsters.


    However, the hero hadn''t forgotten. This time, he personally went and sought out the Vampire, alone.


    What happened afterward was unknown, but a week after the hero returned, he gathered his team and a lot of experienced soldiers and went on a battlefield.


    There, the Vampire was waiting.


    The battle that ensued was earth-shattering. Thousands of the most elite of elite died, and the hero himself was almost killed. Some claim that during the most critical moment of the battle, the Vampire seemed to hesitate, and he allowed the hero to kill him.


    The people who made these claims were hanged and then people simply claimed that the goddess blessed the hero with the power to slay the evil vampire. These claims were much more welcome.


    Back to the present now!


    Shade''s eyes were closed and her expression was deadly serious. She constantly descended into the depths, her body creaking every now and then.


    After all these months, her body had sunk down to 17 kilometers of depth. Her body had hardened considerably, and borrowing the pressure, she had slowly trained every muscle in her body.


    Perhaps, after leaving the ocean, some of that strength would waste away, however, no matter what, her body had hardened considerably. And yet, she wasn''t satisfied at all.


    Shade''s eyes turned blood-red as she charged downwards. ''If that hero could become so strong in just a couple months, what could he have done during these 600 years... I can''t be lazy, I must return to my peak of strength, and surpass it!''


    As she went down, she could feel multiple gigantic eyes gathering on her. She ignored them for a while, but after she understood that they wouldn''t leave, she turned towards them and let out a roar that used magic to produce sound.


    "Fuck off, brats! This old thing is training, scram or I''ll eat your guts!"


    Feeling the power within the roar, the owners of the eyes quickly left, afraid she would actually back up her threat. Normally, these aquatic titans would never even consider that such a small thing could ever be a threat to them, but they clearly remembered that this aura belonged to that big and scary bloodsucker...


    Seeing the huge beasts scrambling for their lives, Shade smirked as her ego inflated a bit. With this inflation came a boost to her confidence as she rushed even deeper down into the depths.


    Finally, she hit her limit when she reached 22 kilometers deep. Her whole body was shaking, but she persisted as she curled up once more and fought back the pressure.


    More months passed. Her head was pounding, as she had constantly used her magic to enhance her body. Even her normally tireless muscles were exhausted, and she knew that she needed a rest, lest she hurt herself badly in her training.


    She had reached the 26th mark, and she was finally somewhat satisfied. She wanted to continue, but she knew that she needed to train in other places.


    Charging upwards, it looked like an underwater eruption as the water didn''t move away fast enough from her rise, creating a terrifying column of water.


    After 10 minutes, her body broke through the surface of the water, and along with her came a tsunami hundreds of meters in height.


    Shade smirked as her wings spread out, finally releasing them from the confines of her own body and allowing her to soar the dark skies once more.


    Originally, she wanted to go and train in a volcano while she waited for her Shadows to finish collecting any clues as to where her hero went. However...


    She looked towards a certain direction as she felt the familiar feeling of one of her talismans calling out to her. Apparently, it was time to repay a small debt.


    "How convenient... Just when I come out, they get in trouble. Seems like the heavens are favoring those impostors..." Shade sighed as she activated the teleport spell in the far-away talisman.


    She had a guess as to who exactly the heroes were fighting, but the strength of it... was just too pitiful. There was no way the heroes were facing the Demon yet, as she could tell that the new Demon, while nowhere near the level of Shade and the other ancients, he was still no push-over. The thickness of demonic presence and mana in the air made that clear.


    "A general? or two? Heh, ants. Squashie squash, here comes your squasher..." Shade joked as she stepped into the portal that had opened up due to the spell. Before entering, shadows rushed out of the void and fused into her body.


    The old Night King would make an appearance once more. How cool would that be? Shade licked her lips in excitement.


    My hero, please notice me. I''m not dead. I know I was wrong, please notice the spike in Shadow power, notice my rising, come back to me... I know you''re not dead.