Two men dressed as attendants stood in front of Starla's door, followed by Lucius, who was looking around.
After seeing Lucius, Starla almost reflexively closed the door!
Just a moment later, the door opened a small slit. Starla's eyes peeked through the small slit to see the situation outside, just like a kitten.
"Yo." Lucius squatted in front of the door, smiled, and greeted her.
BAM!
As a result, the door was slammed hard again.
"..."
'Huh? Did I start it on the wrong foot?'
Lucius glanced at the two men next to him. The two attendants with scarlet hues around their eyesꟷit's as if they had been struck with gasꟷknocked on the door again.
Through his hearing ability as a vampire, Lucius can hear the sudden appearance of various rummaging sounds inside the room. The young girl inside seemed to be quickly jumping up and down inside her room to pack things. She's is not trying to escape, right?
Lucius didn't remember being so scary. Then why is she in such a hurry to pack things for?
"KYAAAAAAA!"
Starla's scream passed by in a flash in the room, presumably because she accidentally fell to the floor while packing, followed by the sound of a large pile of books falling to the ground. Her young body should have been buried by a stack of books.
The soul might be a saint, but the body is still a young girl after all.
After a dozen seconds of back-and-forth, the commotion inside the room finally quieted down.
After the door handle of the room was twisted open, Starla, wearing a thin dress, stood in front of Lucius, "You're here."
Starla had a flat face. It was as if she had known that Lucius would come.
Lucius pointed to his forehead and then pointed to Starla's forehead. She froze, then touched her hair. The original bland expression was instantly destroyed and replaced by panic.
A stubborn dull hair… cocked up on Starla's forehead completely destroyed this majesty-filled state of hers. The majestic appearance doesn't exist! With this appearance, she looked absolutely adorable! ꟷNo matter how hard she tried to press the hair on the forehead, it cannot be pressed down. Her usually smooth hair ended up standing up like a firm pine tree!
"This...I...this...that ..."
This majestic family head completely lost the calmness she should have had because of a dull hair.
"Do you want me to cut it off for you?" Lucius took out a pair of scissors from nowhere as fast as flashing light.
Starla desperately shook her head. After taking a few steps backward away from Lucius, she finally gave up from her resistance and let the dull hair flutter in the wind. In fact, that the stubborn dull hair added a lot of points towards the reason why Starla was so harmless.
Just like the furry tail and ears of Lucius's little white cat, Arthas. More effective than any disguise.
"Your room is quite empty."
Lucius did not feel uncomfortable at all when stepping into a lady's boudoir. He looked around and found that apart from some coffee table and the necessary bed, there was nothing else to decorate.
"I... don't need anything."
Starla once again changed into the appearance of being a Saint. Indifferent and incomparable, looking beyond the red world.
"It's not good to lie, huh. The things inside the room are thrown behind the bookshelf, right?" Lucius pointed to the bookshelf at the side of the bed, which scattered out the smell of blood. Completely unable to conceal it.
There should be a lab below that Starla used to do human anatomy experiments…
"What exactly is the purpose of your visit?"
Starla just wanted to do her best to keep the relationship with Lucius as a trading partner that seemed equal, not a young girl asking a vampire for a candy treat.
'I am also an adult, a 100 years old woman... I can't be treated as a child by this guy.'
Lucius went silent for a while, then he answered, "To feed you? Hmm, it's been a while since you last had supper. You should be starving, right? The good girl will be rewarded."
A lollipop appeared in Lucius's hand. He shook it at Starla.
Really, she's being treated just like a child!
"I want to know the real reason." Starla coldly replied Lucius. Although her mouth said no, her body was quite conscious. She ran over, snatched the candy out of Lucius's hand. She tore open the packaging and threw it into her mouth before a few licks, then crushed it with her teeth.
Since the Blacklight Virus-infected Starla, human food will only make her vomit with nausea. But this Queen of Darkness also has basic human moral ethics. She did not go out to eat human flesh, even if she starved. The taste of human flesh and blood smells delicious, but she did not try.
So after a day and a half, she was so hungry that she almost wanted to cross that forbidden barrier and become a real zombie. Good thing that Lucius came just in time. That magic candy did not only limit her desire to kill but also make her full!
If Starla knew the ingredients were human souls, what kind of reaction would she have?
Almost dozens to hundreds of human souls concentrated up to the extent.
Nothing that demons sell is normal.
Lucius threw another one to Starla. She reached out and grabbed it. Well, indeed, young girls who like candy are good young girls.
Only that smile on Starla's face immediately stiffened and once again changed into a saintly state...
"Please tell me your reason for coming here ..."
'Can't I check my goods? I want to know how the Blacklight Virus are doing.'
Starla wasn't very good at it, and Lucius already knew it.
"Reason?" Lucius pointed to the two motionless attendants behind him, who were controlled by Lucius.
"I went to your family's tavern called 'Autumn Sky'. The result appeared was a large number of people try to arrest me, is this the Vernert family way to receive guests? After serving well, after serving him, you would capture him in front of you and turn him into your human test subject?"
Of course, Starla knew what position Autumn Sky was!
'Was this guy into that kind of thing?'
Starla looked at Lucius with a wary look. Because of the Imperial law, no men nor women under the age of fifteen can openly engage in the so-called sex industry. Still, there are indeed many perverts in the world who like this kind of stuff.
"It's because they found out that you are a guy with three empty accounts and not much money to accept this kind of treatment. You're in the blacklist, even if you die, no one will accept the responsibility."
This can be found out?
But thanks to their blessing, Lucius finally found the head of the Vernet family.
"After you were caught by them, there was no resistance?"
Starla couldn't believe it. The guy who could hold himself against the wall and abuse him at will would be caught by these few handymen.
"Do you think you were able to catch your own shadow?"
Lucius gave a shrug of his shoulders. It was impossible to catch one's own shadow, right?
"So that's how you found me? Through them?" Starla glanced at the two attendants behind Lucius, who had a blank expression. They hadn't blinked until now. They should have been treated with hypnosis or something like that.
"Don't be so cautious. I'm here for after-sales service." Lucius snapped his fingers. The bodies of these two fell to the ground and passed out.
"After-sales service?" Although Starla had never heard of this term, she was able to understand it literally. Crap, when did demons become so dedicated?
"I just want to be rewarded quickly. By the way, a reminder that the Blacklight Virus is not something as docile as you think." Lucius straightened the collar on his clothing.
Just now, Starla realized that Lucius was wearing a butler's outfit.
'Huh? this guy has a bad taste, or does this demon have a master?'
Starla did not dare to think of something else. Everything about Lucius wasn't a good thing.
"Of course I know that ..."
A bottle of virus that can turn people into tentacle monsters. This kind of bad thing was related to him. Starla didn't dare to imagine something as horrible as complete control of the Blacklight Virus.
"What do you know? It can give humans power? The power to corrupt people?"
This was probably the only understanding that Starla has. After all, this young girl threw the infected body of the Blacklight Virus all over the Central City and unconsciously came to an end of the world earlier than Lucius.
"Well..." Starla had not really tried to let the infected body of the Blacklight Virus attack humans. Once the test failed, Starla either threw it away to the suburbs or directly extinguished it.
Not having seen the movie Resident Evil, Starla has no concept of zombie frenzy at all.
"Hell... is not so well created, Miss Starla."
A bottle of existence flowing with dark red liquid appeared Lucius's hand.
'Blacklight Virus...'
Starla immediately recognized the virus in Lucius's hand.
'What did he want to do?'
"Don't mind getting this empty room of yours stained with some blood, right?"
Starla guessed Lucius's real thoughts. Anyway, her important furniture and dolls were kept inside the basement, and Starla didn't mind what he would do next.
Sure enough, after Starla nodded, Lucius pulled one of the two sleeping attendants and injected the Blacklight Virus into his body. The Blacklight Virus was too dense. His fragile body completely destroyed after the body twisted a few times and turned into a hideous monster!
'This... is also a failure.'
This monster saw Lucius and directly opened his huge mouth, and pounced.
Starla subconsciously raised her hand to finish the monster. But it was bound by a cage made of blood all around… The threads of blood between Lucius's five fingers appeared. The scarlet eyes also glowed in the darkness.
Starla just watched what Lucius did. Sure enough, he could manipulate blood. Starla was not surprised by this. After all, the morticians also had the ability to make their bodies turn into blood and use blood as a weapon.
"Do you know what a virus is?" Lucius's other hand moved slightly rhythmically, and another attendant who fell to the ground suddenly woke up, but in the next second, the raging monster's muzzle pierced the attendant.
Then the two poor attendants turned into monsters together.
"..."
This time Starla could tell how terrifying the infectiousness of the Blacklight Virus really was.
After Lucius waved his hand, he let the group of low-level creatures turn into a puddle of blood. He smiled at Starla and said, "If you want to keep the virus at a range that was safe for humans, I think you should dilute it at a rate of 0,000001%."
"…Thanks for the advice."
She, after all, had underestimated this horrible virus.
"And tonight I also want to charge."
"What do you want?"
Starla felt that she had nothing to give to Lucius. He simply did not need any money, beauty, or anything... If it were true about his young girl fetish, Starla was quite confident in her appearance, but the airship experience confirmed that Lucius seemed to be completely uninterested in women.
'Then what did he go to Autumn Sky for? Was it for the male staff?'
Starla maliciously speculated about Lucius's sexual orientation.
"Of course it is to hire the 'Mourners'. There's a slight change of plan before you assassinate the Empress. I also want you to assassinate some other people. It should't be considered assassination. I should say, it going to be open massacre!"
Lucius thought about it for a while, 'There's still a chance that the plan might change.'
He can't let a group of men die in vain!
The next morning was the day that everyone in the Central Capital was eagerly awaiting. It was the day to prove whether Her Royal Highness was qualified to inherit the throne or not!
The challenge of the Top Tower!
Today, the bottom of the Top Tower was livelier than ever.
At some point, the grandstand was forged, with the Lords of the highest rank families in the Central Capital standing on above and the adventurers or commoners standing on the flat ground below.
Crowds filled the area around the Top Tower… After all, there are so many rumors about The Empress. Human curiosity was strong, even if it ended up killing them.
The Emperor purged the Top Tower in front of the people of the Empire, a challenge that belonged to Her Royal Highness today.
Dodran the Great sat in the stands, yawning a little tiredly, not caring at all about his image. And the Empress had already entered the Top Tower three minutes earlier.
"How many levels do you think she will be able to break through?" Dodran the Great inquired to Don Quixote, who was on his side.
"It's conservatively estimated above the 40th floor, definitely not below it."
Don Quixote had a high opinion of Naiya, really high.
Because the Top Tower relies not entirely on personal strength but also partly on combat experience and skill. The challenges inside the Top Tower get harder as the challenger gets stronger.
"Then, let's wait for the result. I'm too lazy to guess." The Emperor said.
Last night, he went to the female dormitory to do some gentlemanly things and went to bed late. Hence why he's a little bit sleepy. He's didn't really care about this challenge or the crisis of the Empire. Because in his mind, Naiya certainly had the qualification to inherit this throne.
So, why bother?
...….
In another corner, Lucius also yawned.
Even vampires also have sleepy time. Not to mention this hot sunny weather, it was like a nightmare for vampires.
Lucius hated to bask in the sun, but there are people around and no other open space. Lucius looked at the walls of the Top Tower and the blue-colored light door emitting a shimmering light below.
'A building that can give power to humans? And a building that has existed since history was recorded?'
The mysterious nature of the Top Tower was too secluded that almost no one knows the secrets of the building or why it can give humans a strong power.
Bypassing through the 60th floor of the Tower, one can look down on the Earth and become a saint above.
That was the only idea people had.
'It looks fun.'
Lucius also did not want to stand here to dry, especially with humans everywhere. So his body turned into a black shadow and flew into the Top Tower in front of the people.
No one noticed Lucius's trail. They only felt that after the black light flashed, everything was normal...
...…..
Lucius's feet stepped on the interior floor of the Top Tower, scanning the surroundings. Not only the blue sky but even the air, as well as the flow of wind, exist, except that this world only has a high platform suspended in the air.
Lucius, who's standing on this platform, can see more high platforms floating around in the distance. This view was similar to the Bloody Palace in Devil May Cry 4.
Endless challenges, endless trials!
GALA GALA!
Suddenly, in front of Lucius appeared two skeleton soldiers with decaying blades and shields.
'Huh?'
He was familiar with these soldiers. They belonged to Arthas's cannon fodder soldiers… Now… How did they appear here?
"Are you the first level of the challenge?"
The skeletons did not have any consciousness. They only knew how to fight and raised their decaying blades, and rushed towards Lucius. There wasn't even a bit of killing intent. After all, it was a fabricated existence. How could there be such a thing as killing intent?
Lucius's hand slightly reached out. Blood surrounded the two skeletons. In the next second, these two skeletons were crushed into pieces!
In the platform where the skeleton disappeared, the platform of the central chalk appeared with blue light, just like the existence of a teleportation array.
'Hm?'
Lucius stood on top of the blue light faithfully. In the blink of an eye, appeared on a new platform.
This time Lucius faced two hunters... However, they were the second stage mutants of the blacklight virus on Earth!
Lucius could swear that there is absolutely no existence of hunters in this world.
'Original pick, huh?'
It was the same hunter that had no resistance in front of Lucius. It was crushed and swallowed by the blood swarming up.
Lucius entered the third floor easily. This time, the number of things that Lucius has to face began to increase! Five cave-dwelling evil demons and ten zombies! They hissed and pounced on Lucius, but the blood stripped their fictitious lives mercilessly.
'This space… was surprisingly interesting!'
Lucius continued to the next level and began to wait to see what he would encounter.
There were more and more cave-dwelling evil demons and zombies… and in the sky were a few flying stone minerals!
Lucius felt that if he continued like this, he might encounter a frost dragon. But no matter what, they all turned into blood and disappeared in front of Lucius.
'Is the challenge of the Top Tower takes shape of the monsters that have been encountered in the challenger's mind?'
Lucius slashed all the way up. He's controlling the blood flow and tearing apart all life.
Along the way, he killed many of his own men. The hunters of the virus legion, the strange birds, the goliaths, and even the Black Watch appeared! Among the Scourge Legion on the tenth floor, it was really a frost skeleton dragon at the bottom of the floor, just like a SS guard.
Lucius used Yamato Blade to instantly split its huge body in two. After that, it fell into the ground into icy fragments and disappeared. He completed the challenge within 3 seconds.
After the twelfth floor, the difficulty obviously rose a lot. The area of the platform has also expanded a lot. The first wave was the steel torrent of the Black Watch Corps. God knows how this Top Tower could make tanks, aircraft, and even nano armors.ꟷMaybe the existence that created this Tower has long had the technology beyond these?
In short, Lucius was absolutely sure that the Top Tower is definitely not the current level of human technology in this world that they can overcome.
Black Watch Corps had a total of 300 people, 27 tanks, 3 nano-armor holders. All of whom was swallowed by Lucius's critical Humiliation of the Dead River, not even leaving a single residue.
Lucius continued walking upward and confronted the monsters under his men. Whether it was the Scourge Legion or the Black Light Virus Legion, all kinds of monsters sprang out crazily. The difference was only the number.
.....
Just as Lucius used Yamato Blade to split a huge Goliath into two and stepping into the next floor, he felt a sulfurous aura permeate.
The scene suddenly changed from the platform to a silent town.
Lucius did not know where this was and where the smell of sulfur came from. But the air around him suddenly became hot and dry!
"Humans!"
Scorching flames fell from the sky, the ground shook for a moment. The roaring figure surrounded by flames that scorched everything, standing up with a body of at least six meters in size!
Lucius narrowed his eyes and finally saw the whole face of this creature.
It is a creature like a Qilin; only half of the body is a human body with a head similar to a bull. The blazing flame surrounding its body was the reason that made the air restless. The giant burning swords burned the entire town to crisps!
This beast doesn't belong to his monster! Lucius was certain that he had searched for its existence in his own mind.
It turned out to be a creature imagined in Lucius's mind… From the world of Yamato Blade, an intelligent demon named Berial the Inferno!
'Damn! This top Tower is not only able to manifest the existence in reality, but also to manifest the creature in fantasy...'
'Who exactly created this building?'
Lucius drew out the Yamato Blade, putting an end to his joking thought. Lucius finally decided to take this Top Tower seriously!