"I hope your way here was smooth. I'm Eoghan, but the majority of you might know me as the king of this land," Eoghan said. He had just come from the sea east to the sfragída continent that was known as Gravila sea.
His words went through the ears of the people present in the hall, as they processed the information. Some groups of the people were surprised by how effortlessly the king arrived there without anyone of them noticing, while the others kneeled, with the latter groups following.
Kaz and all the other guests kneeled from their position, regardless of whether Eoghan was their ruler or not. This pure blooded vampire was a descendent of the first vampire, the progenitor. He was one of the people who reached the peak of what is known about magic, an overseer.
Coy and company, who were on their knees to Eoghan each had their own thoughts. Some were having undying loyalty feelings coursing through souls, and others felt like the blood in their body was being boiled by Eoghan's presence.
Coy's mind was muddled by the presence, it reminded him of unpleasant memories back on earth… That father of his. Although this one was much stronger and purer, he was still being subjugated by someone else, just like back on earth…
In his life on earth, he tried everything he could to get out of the grasp from his father's clutches. By secretly enduring all the heinous acts of violence and prejudice he had been subjected to, he worked tirelessly for years under him. What his father wanted back then was not a son, but a slave that obeyed every word of his.
Well, eventually he succumbed under my sword, a pity he couldn't torture him at that time because of how difficult it would be to restrain someone who was a king. Based on his blood purity, he was around an Earl in Mundus
Now once again, memories of the past were being stimulated by this supposedly king of his. What's even ridiculous is that the king was not exerting any pressure at all, it was just his mere presence that made them all buckle up their knees. The headmistress he thought was a big shot was also subjugated under his presence like everyone else.
He did not like this, and he craved an authority beyond this, where he was not beneath anyone except himself. If he were to be on the receiving end of a rebellion, It might as well be started by his own inner self. A fire was rekindled inside Coy's soul, the fire that had been extinguished when he committed suicide.
But, he was now different and wiser than when he was on earth, young and naive. He knew clearly that if he were to make a move, that move might as well be him digging his own grave. Sure, his family might help him, but what about the others? To trust upon strangers on their first meeting would be the muse of a fool.
Additionally, the best course of action right now was to be on the sidelines, safe and sound. Be blessed and quietly head to the Union academy. Why mess up his own future over an emotion he conquered in the past?
Eoghan opened his mouth and words akin to that of an order came out in a casual tone, "You can all rise."
As if the chains restricting them were undone, they all stood up solemnly, with some in the back even heaving breaths of relief. Tension was high in the hall.
The vampires were not an exception from Eoghan's words.
With a perfunctory smile, Eoghan spoke with clarity, "Should we start then?"
Almost immediately as he said that, he was touching Coy's head, it was as if the space between Coy and Eoghan became closer by nature. Coy held back the impulse of knocking down Eoghan's hand with sheer will.
Patting Coy's head, Eoghan said knowingly, "Hmm, good. Follow me to the dais."
Like a sheep being led by a herd, he walked with staid bearings and climbed the three stepped platform behind Eoghan who was walking yet standing at the same time.
'What in the world is unfolding in front of my eyes…' Coy was dumbfounded and almost frightened out of his skin.
This is beyond what even the witches could pull with their neat tricks. As he was roaming in his mind with such thoughts, like a labyrinth, he was swayed by Eoghan's following words. "Take caution, Athan. On this occasion, It's your job to grab him."
Athan said with reverence found in his words, "Understood your, majesty."
Grab? Grab what?? Is the ceremony that dangerous? Father should have at least told me about it beforehand—no tears over spilled milk, I guess. How bad could it be…
His voice trailed as he was swept by a wave like force, including everyone present. Eoghan held a circle red ball smaller than his hand that he seemingly brought out of nowhere. It shone with such intensity, that the walls of the castle could not contain its surge as the scarlet light it emitted burst out in every direction of 2 kilometers around the forest. The guests closed their eyes due to the high visual stimulus.
A droplet. This was merely a droplet of an overseer vampire king's blood. The blood had this push and pull like the force of the raging ocean rocking a lone sailboat that was lost in the vast body of water. Coy was like the sailboat, but how he wished he really was contemporarily one.
Can I even survive this? That thought surfaced on his mind as the drop of restless ichor was released by Eoghan. It pierced through Coy's chest, straight to his heart, as if it was like a paper being punctured by a pen. His body jerked back, and he began to fall backwards, fainting; before time suddenly slowed down to such a rate that everything and everyone stopped.
Here, there were no thoughts, nor disturbance, and no sign of object, and living things in motion. Everything stood still, as though they were painted by an artist whose skills transcended the boundaries of what is deemed an art.
Except for two beings.
"You can talk now, master," Eoghan's words smoothly reached its intended destination despite no medium, such as air transmitting it. For overseers who were not restricted by the laws of this world, such actions were not a problem for them in environments like the one he is in.
How long has he been waiting for this moment, from the day the inhabitants of Mundus triumphed over the onslaught caused by the demons who caught them off guard, till now where he was one of the overlords of this floating rock deep in the vast space. Finally, he gets to meet his master, face to face!
"Do you want me to help you get out of your shell, master? It's quite easy for me to do that, you see. I just have to kill this boy," Eoghan said, laid-back.
Suddenly a voice utterly of anger was heard in this art like region. "Nasty attitude as always, I dare you to try that."
Chóros was actually bluffing, he had no clue of how to use whatever situation he is in at the moment to his advantage. There were two viable options he had, either he cast away Coy to death and enter a long slumber due to him breaking one of the rules of the life-contract, or, escape this enclosed dimension Eoghan cast with his weird powers with Coy.
The first choice could be said to be the one that could succeed without a doubt, notwithstanding the fact that he might be imprisoned by Eoghan until he wakes from his slumber, but at least he could be free of relaying on what little mana there was in Coy's body, and just leave using his own endless essence. But that one would be equivalent to nulling the 'oath'.
As for the other choice, due to him being a leech to Coy, he couldn't use his own essence and had to resort to utilising Coy's mana. But that amount will only teleport them no more than 5–7 kilometers, which is not even that much in this massive forest. Furthermore, that will be him overloading Coy's mana core and risk damaging his mana circuits and wasting their energy and resources. 'I doubt Eoghan will even be entertained by the shenanigans of this.'
'Haa, what could go wrong. I should at least take the initiative in this conversation. This could be even be a blessing in disguise if things goes according to my plan,' Chóros thought with humbleness.
Eoghan once again did the weird and bizarre phenomenon of space folding over for him to cross a certain distance, which was besides Coy's falling body. He hovered his hand above where Chóros was and pulled his thread like body that was wrapped around the red mana core. He then dropped it as the thread transformed into an incomprehensible object that metamorphosed into cryptic and strange shapes. Within the gaps, in the point of transition from a shape to another, metallic like granules were flowing in the boundaries with enigmatic runes and symbols etched into them.
This was Chóros's true material body. It signified madness and chaos to anyone who gaze at it, except for people who were not restricted by the laws of this world. He wasn't lying when he said that people could be erased out of existence by just merely looking at this form.
"You know it's rude to strip an old man naked out of the blue," Chóros replied, his voice was rather distorted right now with a taint of perceivable madness.
"Eons ago, you told me, only those who were worthy could look at this, stupefying yet stupendous work of art you are! Do you know how hard I had to wait for this moment to come? No, you won't understand it." He shook his head.
"Is this a fun toy you picked from that world I saw from his memories? Never mind, that was a pointless question, of course he will be from there;" Eoghan said as he poked Coy's cheek.
From the moment he came here, he had been observing Coy because of the familiar lingering mana he felt from his mana core and secretly read his memories. He might visit this place called 'earth' sometime, since it looked interesting.
"I wouldn't understand the thought process of someone like you who renovated their body like renovating a house. A psycho would be an appropriate term for you. In any case, this won't bring us anywhere. I have an invaluable proposal in mind, what do you say?"
One of the requirements of becoming an overseer was to destroy their own body and make a new one built upon all the knowledge of what they had accumulated in their lower levels. That was one of the reasons there were few who reached this level.
Chóros changed the topic before things went south. Eoghan was a student of his when the world was at peace, flourishing with scholars making breakthroughs in the fields of magic, but when the demons came and were in the midst of their onslaught, Chóros left Mundus with the agreement of a certain individual; leaving his student stranded in this land with his caretakers, as his parents died in the war.
As such he was afraid of any drastic consequences brought by the betrayal Eoghan felt from that time.
Eoghan pinched his chin, in thought. After what felt like a long time to chóros, but was actually a few seconds, Eoghan said with a joyful smile, "Sure, why not. I hope it's invaluable as you say it is."