Nine entered Ascarium City with Seyton in tow. She made him disguise himself, much to his displeasure, because he was still recognisable to normal Vampires. He was practically worshiped, with how little Eighth Tier magicians there were. They even built a shrine for goodness sake. The statue in said shrine had a remarkable likeliness.
She could have just asked him to use magic, but that would have been noticeable to people with enough skill. Such a risk was unacceptable, so she would rather he wear a hooded cloak that covered his face.
As such, Seyton reluctantly wore the simple black cloak without any complaints. It covered majority of his face, leaving only the bottom half visible. The hood itself had numerous runes attached to it that would allow it to stay on in case it was blown off. He followed half a step behind her like a loyal subject, which shouldn't have surprised her, but it did.
This was the closest city to Raveria which contained a royal, according to Seyton's sources. Since his Master was just looking for a subject to experiment on, it didn't matter who it was. As such, they should take the quickest and most direct path.
Vampire Princess Alixia Lacroix resided here. She was the newest of royals which had been born in the years Seyton had been asleep. Since he was sleeping, it was likely that she wouldn't recognise him at first glance should his disguise be seen through, and he was confident enough in himself and his Master that they were able to handle her.
The pair of two didn't waste any time exploring the city. Instead, they headed directly to the castle where she resided. In the depths of the night, the town was alive and bustling. Various Vampires strolled along the streets, shopping and dining on blood. Flirting couples were found on the street, teasing each other and looking like they were having the times of their lives. Each person that passed was more gorgeous than the last.
The castle walls in front of them were the strongest thing for miles, but when scrutinised closely, one would notice the stones. The stones of the wall and castle itself was built with stones of various shapes and sizes, each one unique on itself. They were each inscribed with designs that beautified and gave it an artistic taste. From a distance, it looked like the same shade of grey, but when one walked closer, the grandeur and splendour of the castle was dazzling.
Like all other Vampires, Alixia Lacroix seemed to suffer from being unimaginably arrogant. It was almost like she couldn't imagine that anyone would ever attack her or her castle. Nine supposed that it was because they lived in a mostly Vampire territory, which had a surplus of Vampires all around. The humans who lived here would never even dream of attacking such a castle, and the normal Vampires were bound by the rules of hierarchy. Even if they wanted to rebel, once they met Alixia, their blood would tremble and compel them to obey. As he wasn't a royal, even Seyton suffered from this unfortunate fact. The suppression from royals left him helpless in the face of trying to retrieve his lover from royals' hands.
From what she could see, the castle itself did have runes for defence that were attached to it, but they had been worn and unused from time. Alixia made no attempt to revitalise or upgrade the runes on her castle, leaving it defenceless and vulnerable.
This worked rather well for Nine and Seyton, who would have had to spend time breaking such wards around the castle had they been maintained and in place. Nine was grateful for the Vampire's habitual arrogance that left their weak spots glaring open. The more she saw, the more surprised she felt about how Seyton carried himself.
The insides of the castle were just how she imagined them to be. They were filled to the brim with glistening jewels and many aesthetically pleasing items. It was so much that it almost made it look gaudy, but the designers had somehow managed to pull it off, showing off the luxury and wealth that was used to decorate the castle.
Seyton and Nine had no intention of alerting Alixia to their presence should they be able to avoid it. The key here was to avoid any and all interaction so as to avoid alerting other Vampiric royalty and make them aware of their intentions.
Even though Nine was confident in being able to handle any fights that came her way, she would rather avoid it for the time being, since the sand in the hourglass was slowly trickling out. After it was all over, she would come back and whittle down the Vampire's power all she liked, playing with them to diffuse her boredom.
Opening her senses, Nine traced the magic and led the two of them towards the correct direction. She made sure to avoid the sleeping Vampire Princess, heading towards the places where she could feel other presences.
These presences were muted and silent, but nonetheless there. It felt still and unnatural. What else could this be but the presence of people held in the embrace of eternal sleep?
As she neared the room, she could feel the struggles and despair that was practically being emitted in the air. Most of them felt completely dead, like they had given up struggling, whilst some were calm. Others were struggling but felt despair at the fact that nothing they were doing was working.
As if guided by something, Nine walked towards a door that was held separately from the rest. It seemed like whoever in this room was one that Alixia favoured the most. At least, for the time being, that was. The decorations on the door itself was finer and infinitely more delicate than those on the other doors. There was an inexplicable feeling that was urging her forward, pressing for her to open this room.
It felt similar to how she had felt when standing in front of Seyton's mansion, but stronger. The feeling caused her to frown. Maybe it was her instinct, maybe it was the stirrings of fate, but she didn't quite like how it felt like she was walking along a set path for her. The most maddening thing was that she couldn't tell if someone was pulling the strings, or if it was a part of her, guiding her to the most optimal path. A voice whispered that she should open the door.
Her eyes cooled as numerous thoughts flashed past in her mind. She didn't feel like the feeling was anything bad, but should she just follow it blindly? Undeterred by the feeling, she checked every other room with Seyton following behind her like a silent shadow. He offered no advice, nor any words to her. She could feel the conflict and anguish that he was going through, thinking about how his lover would be in a similar position.
As she checked the various still people slumbering in their respective rooms, somehow, she felt like they would be detrimental to her experiments. She felt like even if she had successfully managed to awaken them, they would be nothing more than empty husks.
Frustrated, she ended up standing in front of the door where her intuition (?) had pointed her to earlier. She almost wavered, wanting to resist the feeling, but she felt like if she did, then she would regret it for the rest of her life.
Cold eyes flashed as she made to open the door.