After being thrown into the dungeon, my first thought was that I should have hooked up with Cassandra, after all. Maybe being her toy would be far preferable to being imprisoned. At the very least, I wouldn't be so restricted.
However, after calming down, I realized that this was a chance. Sitting cross-legged on the cot, I began practicing magic. There was a lot of unfamiliar spells that my new body could cast. Now that I was a vampire, I was now capable of casting blood magic.
Also, it seemed that my ice magic hadn't disappeared either. A few experimental tries saw me perfectly execute my usual icicles and frozen spells. Once I ascertained that I had lost none of my old magic, I then returned to experimenting with my new blood magic.
"How did Vincent use it again?"
I recalled the blood stakes and spears, as well as the blood whips that the vampires used against my party during that war. It took a lot of trial and error, as well as countless practice, but I was able to replicate them.
And these were but the most basic of spells. It was going to require me some getting used to. And lots of practice. Always lots of practice.
The warden, a troll in the dungeon, couldn't care less if I practiced my new blood spells inside my cell, and though a few of the other prisoners complained, I shut them up by freezing them. They ranged from orcs, kobolds to human-like dwarves. There was even a beautiful succubus who had been imprisoned for seducing and killing a Dark Knight – one of the elite demon knights who served as the Demonic Emperor's elite guard.
She gave me a wink, but I ignored her. Not that she could do anything to me, when behind bars, and even then her seduction magic and hypnotism had no effect on me.
Days passed, and I was surprised when Silvia showed up to visit me. The troll warden immediately deferred to her, bowing deeply. The divine generals were rightly feared and respected throughout the legions. Silvia kindly dismissed the troll and turned to me.
"I am very sorry about what happened. I will try to get you out as soon as possible, but the process is proving difficult."
"That's all right." I shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm grateful that the Demonic Emperor didn't kill me outright."
"Yes. He sees the potential in you. However, he doesn't trust you."
"Understandable. I'm a former enemy, after all. I wouldn't trust myself if I were him."
That brought a smile out of Silvia. She then sighed and shook her head.
"I've been trying to convince his majesty, but there is a condition. I hope you do not mind." She turned serious. "I took the liberty of suggesting that you become my subordinate, and that you will serve under my legion for a while, to prove your loyalty."
She then drooped her head.
"I realize that this is presumptuous of me, and you probably will object to fighting your former allies and killing humans, but even so, this is the only way."
"I appreciate it." I shrugged. "You are half-right, though. While I don't think I will be able to turn on humans just like that, I will not object fighting my former allies. I have a bone to pick with some of them, after all."
"That's…" Silvia looked a little surprised, but she nodded. "So the rumors were true, after all."
"Rumors?"
"Oh…Flynn said that he had bugs stationed about the place, and he witnessed your duel with Vincent. He saw how you were betrayed by your former comrades. His majesty also surmised that you might want revenge on them. He says that might be the reason for the intense hatred he sensed inside you."
Yet he decided to keep me locked up here. Then again, he couldn't exactly let me run about freely over a single gut feeling. Furthermore, there was also politics involved. How was he supposed to justify to his divine generals that I deserved a chance, not when I was an enemy who had eliminated one of their number?
"I will be more than happy to take on assassination missions, if that will help convince anyone."
Silvia giggled, and then shook her head. "I'm afraid it will still be difficult to persuade them. The fact remains that you are the one who killed Vincent."
"Over self-defense."
"There is that," Silvia conceded. "And demons respect strength more than anything. Which is why no one is calling for your death right now. You have impressed them enough. However, that doesn't mean they trust you. In fact, the more powerful you are, the more suspicious they will be."
No wonder just telling them that I could assassinate specific people wouldn't work. They would worry that I might assassinate them instead.
"In any event, I will do my best to help you. Please endure for now."
"Oh, speaking of help, could you please do me a favor?"
"Sure." Silvia nodded. "If it's within my power, I will do everything in my ability to help you."
"Don't worry, it's nothing major. I would like to borrow a few books on blood magic. Or vampire magic." I waved my hands. "Since I have nothing better to do, I might as well make use of the opportunity to train."
Silvia thought for a while, and then nodded. "That can be arranged. Is there anything you require?"
"Not at the moment, no."
"All right. Let me know if you need anything else."
With that, she left.
True to her word, Silvia had the books delivered over the next few days. I greedily read whatever I could get my hands on, and the ancient grimoires provided me a lot of information regarding blood magic and how to cast these spells. Thanks to that, I was able to shore up my knowledge regarding blood magic and practice efficiently.
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. I idly marked the passage of time by scratching on the walls with blood blades, more as a practice than any real sense of urgency. Then I would spend the rest of the day honing both blood and ice magic, to keep myself in shape for the inevitable battle.
During my incarceration, I saw new prisoners brought in and old ones released. The succubus was finally let free, her lady Cassandra pulling some strings to lessen her punishment. An unruly kobold was thrown in for ignoring the orders of his general and fighting others in his squad. A couple of dwarves were imprisoned because they were caught stealing, and they came in with their hands cut off, their bleeding stumps crudely bandaged.
"We were stupid enough to sneak into the armory and try to steal the treasures in there, and the punishment is a hand," one of the dwarves told me, showing me his stump. His name was Arlen, and he and Arnold were brothers looking to make a quick buck after their blacksmithing business had failed. "His majesty didn't take our efforts too kindly and had our hands chopped off."
"Damn, there were so many different weapons in there!" Arnold exclaimed. "Demonic swords – there's this golden sword with teeth around its blades! And then a black sword capable of controlling shadows. Oh, and a blood-red spear!"
I raised an eyebrow at that. The blood-red spear reminded me of the Blood Spear of Longinus, the demonic weapon that Vincent used against me. The demonic legions must have recovered it in the aftermath of the battle and stored it, having failed to find a suitable candidate to wield it after its previous owner's death.
Of course, this was all speculation and I didn't know how true it was.
There was an orc that was dragged in and thrown into a cell for dissertation.
"We're losing the war!" he grunted, his tusks grinding against the bars of his cell as he complained. "The humans are slowly but surely pushing us back! Already five of the twelve Divine Generals have fallen in combat! We're all going to die!"
I didn't tell him that I was responsible for killing one of those five Divine Generals. That would stir a riot in the dungeon.
"Are the humans really that powerful?" the kobold, Kelvin, asked gruffly and skeptically.
"Yeah!" Oswald the orc was weeping. "They have succeeded in pushing our forces all the way back to the capital! Those Heroes of theirs are especially powerful! After the last debacle where we barely held off their attack on the castle, they returned to the holy capital of their kingdom to pray. Apparently they received unprecedented blessings that amplified their strengths by several times! Added to the losses we suffered during that last invasion, we no longer have the strength to repel the humans!"
"General Lindley will use that to his advantage. He should have a massive influx of undead after that last battle." Kelvin still sounded disbelieving.
"I don't know about that," Arlen muttered. The kobold turned to him with a snarl.
"What's that supposed to mean, thieving dwarf?"
"Uh, well…one of the reason why our business failed was because the towns were falling to the humans. We were driven to desperation because we lost everything – our forge, our store, our home, and our materials – when the humans invaded our town. Even General Lindley wasn't able to prevent Vulcan Town from falling into the hands of the humans. The demonic legion garrisoned there was wiped out to a man."
"Arlen is right," Arnold agreed. "It won't be long before they attack the castle again."
"The war has taken a great toll on us." Oswald was weeping. "My wife…my family…I'll never see them again."
"Stop being so dramatic, Oswald," I told him. "You're alive, aren't you?"
"Yeah, but I can't say the same for my comrades." Oswald sobbed. "We have lost so many. Did you know that my regiment sustained 90% casualties? They have wives and children waiting for them. The male orcs will be wiped out at this rate. I heard the female orcs are so desperate that they have started abducting stray human soldiers separated from their units and using them to relieve themselves."
Orcs were known for their strong sex drives, and it wasn't unknown to hear tales of them pillaging towns and raping women. Apparently the same applied to the females. Yikes.
A few more days passed, which I spent training. However, as if Oswald's premonition was on point, the castle began shaking violently from time to time. At first, I thought it was an earthquake. I stumbled unsteadily in my cell as the vibrations intensified, and then I picked up the first traces of mana.
"Someone's…casting spells."
"What's that?" Arlen asked me. I tightened my grip on the bars of my cell.
"They…are fighting."
"I knew it…" Oswald moaned, staring at the trembling walls of his prison. "War has finally come to the capital."
"Not only that." Kelvin sniffed the air and growled. "The castle is currently under attack."