Chapter 233: The Consequences Of Being On Top. 2
[A/N: The ilustration of Kaguya and Violet is almost done, go to Pat reon to check out! do not worry is free.]
...
Seeing Niklaus leave the arena, Scathach looked at Agnes, and she stepped towards the woman and disappeared from the platform where she was and appeared next to Agnes.
"In the end, we just did useless work." Agnes spoke with a neutral face as she looked at the man leaving.
"This piece of shit is hiding his power, thinking he can deceive us." Agnes continued.
Agnes narrowed her eyes even more when she remembered the power she felt at the moment when Niklaus was going to finish Natashia. For a few seconds, she felt a power that forced her to leave her place and close the entire royal capital.
"What is the king thinking of setting this man free?" Agnes spoke aloud. If it were another time, this man would already be dead.
"Indeed, that's the question we should ask... What is this motherfucker thinking?"
"..." Agnes looked at Scathach, and when she saw the woman's face, she swallowed hard.
Gulp.
"You're angry..."
Scathach looked at Agnes with a neutral look, "It's your imagination, I'm normal."
Agnes was silent as she started to think while feeling like she had seen Scathach angry like this in the past.
... Thinking back, she recalled an incident that happened a thousand years ago, and when she thought of Victor's hair growing so much, her mind connected the dots.
"He did it again, huh?"
"...Yes."
"He did... And this time, with my Daughter... That piece of shit." Scathach spoke and then disappeared.
"Well, I think I'll get out of here before things catch fire... I mean, everything freezes." Agnes spoke aloud to herself. She looked at Niklaus for a few seconds and then thought:
'The king was planning something today, and as usual, he didn't tell anyone. If I hadn't dealt with these kinds of beings before, I wouldn't have known what I was dealing with…' Her face became annoyed.
'I do not like this.' Despite being 'subordinate' to Vlad, Agnes didn't like that feeling...
The feeling of not knowing anything… And of being used.
She looked at the king who had risen from the throne he had created and then looked at the king's eldest sons.
"..." Her eyes narrowed a little as she looked at the two oldest children, but soon she turned her face away and disappeared from the pillar she was standing on.
...
Victor appeared in his cabin along with Natashia.
"Darling!!
A white rocket flew towards Victor.
And a golden rocket flew towards Natashia.
"Oya?" Natashia laughed and opened her arms.
Victor flashed a loving smile while copying Natashia's actions.
When Violet fell into his arms, he gently hugged the woman.
The same happened to Sasha with Natashia.
"Mother, I was so worried..." She hugged the woman even more.
"...I'm sorry, daughter..." She could only say that since she wasn't very good with this kind of situation, but she felt very happy the moment she saw her daughter in her arms.
Feeling the long white-haired woman on his arm, Victor's expression became solemn.
"Father...?" Ophis looked at Victor strangely, and no one knew what was going through the little girl's head.
"Darling...?" She felt strange when she felt Victor's emotions.
"I missed you... A lot, a lot... I really missed you..."
Violet looked at Victor's expression, "Darling..."
Violet was the woman who knew Victor the longest. She had watched him since he was a human; before everyone knew Victor, she already knew him, the woman who knew both versions of Victor.
The human version and the vampire version... The woman who turned Victor into a vampire.
And even this woman… She'd never seen Victor make that kind of expression.
A somewhat desolate and depressed expression, and at the same time... A happy expression. It was as if he were a man who lost everything and regained everything again.
"...." Violet was silent while she hugged Victor gently, she didn't know the cause of Victor's emotions, but she knew something...
He needed her now, and she would give all her love to him... Just like it always was.
Sasha, who was next to Natashia, looked at Ruby, "Ruby, tell us what happened..."
"Let my mother arrive, I'll explain...-"
"No need. I already have more or less an idea of ??what happened." Scathach suddenly appeared.
"..." The two women looked at each other for a while.
"I think it's been a while since we've seen each other, daughter..." She spoke those words carefully.
"..." Ruby just walked towards her mother and hugged her gently.
Scathach hugged her daughter, she closed her eyes. As she felt tiny tears fall to her chest, a rising hatred began to swell in her stomach, but she knew this was not the time to show that hatred… not yet.
She asked in a gentle tone:
"How long was it?"
"As expected of you, I think... Mother..." Ruby flashed a small smile as she pulled away from her mother and wiped her face a little, which was a bit watery.
She looked at her mother and said, "One year... To be more specific, one year and six months."
"I see..." Inwardly, Scathach was relieved that it wasn't as long a time as what she'd been through.
She looked at Natalia for a few seconds.
The maid only showed a small smile.
"Were you a part of it?" Scathach narrowed her eyes.
"No. I didn't know that, I just came to realize what happened when my father told me." She was completely honest, "When I heard what happened, I immediately went to help him..."
Natalia swallowed hard as she remembered the mood Victor was in when he was found by her... If she were to try to say it, she wouldn't be surprised if when she returned to the human world, she saw all of Earth burned.
'But thanks to Lady Ruby, that didn't happen...' She thought that if Victor were alone, a scenario like this wouldn't be completely impossible.
"I see... That's good."
"...Scathach, can you enlighten us-." Adonis wanted to ask Scathach to explain what happened, but Scathach just looked at the man and the people who weren't part of the 'family' and spoke.
The people being, Ophis, Eleanor, Adonis, including Natalia...
"All of you... Leave now."
"..."The three sisters swallowed hard when they heard her mother's tone, it was a tone they knew very well.
To avoid making Scathach more irritated and to understand the situation, the three sisters kept silent, watching everything.
"... Okay." The people Scathach looked at could only agree.
"But..." Ophis made a face that didn't want to leave.
"Ophis and Eleanor can stay… Including Natalia." Victor suddenly spoke, as his eyes returned to the same cold and indifferent feeling, very different from what people were used to seeing, "But you, my father-in-law..."
"You should go... After all, you have someone waiting for you, right?" The moment Victor said that Agnes appeared in the room.
"Boy...-" Agnes looked like she was about to say something.
"Stop." But Victor interrupted the woman with just one word.
Agnes felt her body shake for a few seconds when she saw Victor's lifeless gaze:
"No matter what you say, my mind won't change today..."
"I've gained two enemies... And nothing you tell me will change that."
"..." Adonis opened his eyes wide when he heard Victor's statement, while his eyes seemed to glow violet for a few seconds.
Agnes saw it out of the corner of her eye, and she thought they should get out of here right away, but before she did, she said,
"I hope you know what it means to say that to me..."
"I do not care." He spoke in a simple, easy-to-understand tone.
"I see...-"Agnes looked like she was going to keep talking.
"It's no use... Agnes, what would happen if you were prevented from seeing me by someone for 1 year and six months?" He didn't know exactly what happened, but he did know that Victor hadn't seen his wives during that time. He could more or less deduce that from Scathach's conversation.
Agnes' eyes turned lifeless, "I would kill that person."
"Oh..." Agnes' eyes opened, and she finally understood Victor's motives...
She flashed a small smile since she finally understood that he was just like her and Violet.
"I see... Well, good luck. You will need it."
"...Thanks."
...Three days later.
In Vlad's throne room.
"The duel was a disaster." Vlad spoke in a simple tone to the man beside him.
"Yes, all the traps we set up, but... It didn't work." Alexios spoke.
"Tsk, it's annoying to deal with traitors, they always hide like the plague." Vlad wasn't an idiot. He knew that one of his sons was part of the traitors he was talking about.
But... His son wasn't the leader of the group that he could be sure of, and so, because of that, there was no point in killing his own son.
If there was one thing Vlad had never forgiven in his entire existence, it was traitors, and it didn't matter if they're of his own blood or not.
'If Niklaus had fallen into the trap, I might have known which group he and my son were working with.' Vlad simply had too many enemies, and if he were to count how many enemies wanted his head… The number would be countless.
The problem with everything was that these enemies hid like mice.
'My son doesn't know who they are… Neither does Niklaus… Who am I dealing with?' For Vlad, who had his vampiric Charm, it was quite easy to extract information, but, even using it on the two men, he found nothing.
Whoever was targeting him, this being was careful...
Alexios continued in a sympathetic tone, "You even sacrificed the friendship of your 'friend' to catch the traitors..."
"...?" Vlad looked at Alexios.
"What are you talking about?"
"...I speak of the actions of making me close the gates of this world to Count Alucard and making me mess with the time of this world." Alexios explained what he was talking about.
"Oh… that?" Vlad seemed to think for a while.
"Sigh..." He sighed visibly.
"Honestly, I expected him to stay outside longer… Who would have thought he would find a way to come back to this world in just one year?"
"My King, you are wrong."
"Huh?"
"He didn't find a way... My daughter helped him." Alexios corrected Vlad.
"Natalia?"
"But my spies said she was with Victor's group the whole time?"
"... How can I say she is far more talented than I am in wielding our power." Alexios flashed a small, proud smile.
Vlad narrowed his eyes, "…Did you help her?" It was the only thought he could have. After all, only the Alioth Clan leader had the 'keys' to the door of this world.
"Yes." Alexios didn't deny Vlad's words.
"...why?" The thought of Alexios' betrayal never crossed Vlad's mind, so he just wanted to understand his right-hand man's motives for doing so.
"My king, you always forget one fact."
"..." Vlad continued watching Alexios.
"The difference in time perspective from you to others is different."
"For you, a year may mean nothing, but for Alucard, who was a human until recently..."
"A year is a lot…"
"..." Vlad was silent.
"You forbade that man from seeing his loved ones, a man whose greatest treasures are his wives. I wouldn't be surprised if he was angry with you." Alexios explained.
As the king's advisor, it was his duty to point out what Vlad did wrong.
The man may be an ancient vampire, the progenitor of a race, but even he was flawed.
Ironically, this being's fault was that he was himself. After all, how could a god understand a human's feelings? How could a god understand the complexity of beings that, for him, are like ants? Because of this, for generations and generations, Vlad's advisors had always been human.
Vlad needed a human advisor, someone who would give him a different point of view to understand 'lesser beings' because…
This monster really did have a knack for making enemies.
'The consequences of always being on top, huh?' Alexios thought about that when he saw this whole chaotic situation.
"..." Vlad thought about Alexios' words, and he could see several spots where he went wrong, but overall it was not a big problem. It was nothing that time could not fix.
"Anyway, my king. Why did you ask me to leave Count Alucard out of this?"
"... If everything I planned went right today, that man's presence would have jeopardized all my plans since he is very unpredictable."
"..." Alexios was speechless.
Just for that!?
Sigh...
"And why did you ask me to change the time of this world compared to Earth's?"
"Well, he was on a date, right? He probably wanted more time to spend with his wife… and in doing so, he would forget about this game a little bit."
Are you fucking serious?
A vein popped in Alexios' head.
"Couldn't Master just... politely ask him to stay away?" He spoke in a respectful tone.
"I...? Ask someone...?" This time it was Vlad's turn to be speechless.
"Yes, it's not difficult... Just go to his house, and say, 'This and that will happen, don't interfere.'"
"..." Vlad looked at Alexios with a look as if he was looking at a fool:
"Alexios, I am a king. I'm not an errand boy."
Alexios facepalmed.
"Master... Have you been ruling so long that you've forgotten how to interact with people?"
"... What are you talking about?"
"Ugh…"
"Remember, Alexios. That man is like Scathach, he won't take orders, and if I ordered him to do something he didn't want to, he would probably disobey me…" Vlad spoke and then looked ahead.
"Well, yes… But there are better ways-." Alexios was going to continue giving Vlad advice, but he was silent.
"It's because of that attitude that I walked away from you, old man." Scathach suddenly appeared in the middle of the throne room.
"Scathach…"
Chapter 234: Wrong Decisions Of A King.
"It's because of that attitude that I walked away from you, old man."
"Scathach…"
'Shit, she's here.' Alexios silently took a step back, but he was a little curious about the bag that the woman was holding in her other hand.
"What are you talking about, little girl—."
"Stop, don't call me that." She spoke in a neutral, cold voice.
It was pretty obvious that something had changed since that day, and Vlad noticed that easily.
"..." Vlad was silent and continued watching Scathach, as his gaze fell for a few seconds on the bag she was holding and then back to Scathach.
"..." What is this tense atmosphere? Alexios was sweating coldly.
Scathach looked at Alexios for a few seconds and then looked at Vlad again, "Do you remember, old man?" she asked in a cold tone.
"What?"
"1000 years ago... You did the same thing to me. Because I was uncontrollable, and you didn't want me to get involved in your war plans, you trapped me in that horrible world for 20 years."
Ironically, it was being trapped in that very world that made it possible for Scathach to grow even stronger than she was at the time.
"Over time, I forgot about it. After all, I gained many things when I went to that world..."
"..."
"But... I still clearly remember that day." Scathach narrowed her eyes, "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't forget."
"Yes... I remember... You were mad at me for 500 years, huh?" Vlad spoke.
"I forgot about that..." She repeated what she'd said before but soon corrected herself, "Actually, I put that aside..." Her eyes turned wistful as she remembered her adopted daughter's request. And, in respect of this request, she dropped the matter.
"But..." Her eyes glowed blood red, "Victor is different..."
"He is a mean and spiteful man... It will take time for him to forgive you."
"..." Aren't you like that too? Although 500 years was a short time. Vlad thought.
"How long will he be spiteful?" Vlad asked a question.
Scathach replied, "Who knows? 500 years? 1000 years?"
"Maybe he's just angry now and eventually forgets about it. Who knows?" Scathach was purposely vague with her words, but there is a truth only she knows...
He will never forget...
He is that kind of man, a man who never forgets past grudges. No matter how much time passes, he will never forget them.
It doesn't matter if Vlad had reasons to do what he did; it doesn't matter if there was a 'plan' about what happened yesterday; it doesn't matter if the other races were watching the game.
All that didn't matter to Victor.
He is not an understanding being...
In his head, there is only one fact.
Vlad had kept him from seeing the people he loved the most for over 1 year, it may seem like little for a noble vampire, but for a human who had just been turned into a vampire, 1 year is a long time.
Blood for blood, tooth for tooth. Head for head, grudge for grudge.
He will return everything in kind to the enemies who messed with him and his family.
"I see..." Vlad spoke up.
"..." Again, a silence fell around.
"It's really a shame, I wanted to have the pleasure of delivering this gift to you myself, but... He got there before me." She suddenly spoke as she looked at the bag she was carrying.
"... What is it?"
Scathach didn't answer Vlad's question, as she just opened the bag and said, "Old man, it wasn't just him that you distanced yourself from today." She removed two frozen heads from the bag and threw those frozen heads in front of Vlad.
'The tears my daughter shed will not be in vain…' that was the thought that Scathach had when she saw the two heads rolling towards Vlad.
When Ruby cried when she was finally reunited with her mother, Scathach was already thinking about doing something bloody... But she didn't expect herself to be too late.
When she arrived at the residence that Vlad's two grandchildren were in, she was surprised to see the entire place destroyed, and she was even more surprised when she saw five Maids looking at the distorted image of a man who was holding two vampires in the air.
"You came at the right time, Scathach." The voice that Victor used when he spoke to Scathach...
Honestly, it left her a little wet and with a big smile on her face...
He looked so stunning to her.
... But that's something she won't tell anyone.
"Alucard sends his regards."
"..." Vlad looked at the heads and saw that they were the heads of his grandchildren. They had an expression of terror, and it was as if the last moments of these men's lives were filled with fear.
"... He did that." Vlad looked at the two men's heads indifferently and then looked at Scathach, who was walking towards the exit:
"Scatha-..."
Scathach suddenly stopped walking and said:
"Our conversation has ended." She turned around again but suddenly looked back at Vlad again, while she had a face that said she had forgotten to say something:
"Oh, and don't involve us in your schemes ever again. Once I accept, and twice is understandable. After all, we've known each other for a long time..."
A cold air began to come out of Scathach's body, and she looked at Vlad while she showed the face she only showed to her enemies:
"There won't be a third time... The next time this happens, it won't just be your grandchildren's decapitated heads that are frozen in front of you... I can guarantee that."
Crack, Crack.
"Will you become my enemy, Scathach?" Vlad narrowed his eyes.
"If necessary, yes. I really don't mind freezing this little 'paradise' and destroying it." Scathach's eyes glowed blood red.
She didn't give a damn about Nightingale. From the beginning, it was always like that, and she just stayed here because... She had nowhere else to go, but now...
Now, it was different.
"..." A black pressure started to come out of Vlad's body; clearly, he didn't like Scathach's answer.
"Remember, Old man. Don't involve my family in your schemes... This is the last time." Scathach warned and then turned around.
"Scathach-." He was going to say something, but the woman had already disappeared from his palace.
"...." A silence fell over the place, and suddenly, frozen bodies began to fall from the ceiling.
Looking at the bodies, Vlad saw that they were his 'eyes'.
"..." Vlad looked at the bodies on the floor.
'The maids are going to have a hard time cleaning all this up.' He was indifferent to the death of his men, considering he could create as many as he needed... But he couldn't help but think.
"That little girl... She got stronger, huh?" He spoke in a neutral tone that contained a small smile:
'She's been drinking that man's blood regularly… If she continues like this, and she never stops training, she'll eventually reach my level…' That thought seemed to put a smile on Vlad's face.
Alexios broke out in a cold sweat when he saw the bodies frozen on the ground,
'When did she attack them?'
"The moment she looked at me, she sent her power through the ceiling and killed these men."
"Why didn't you do anything?"
"I thought that if I didn't do anything, she would calm her anger, but it seems that still wasn't enough..."
"Looks like it will take her quite a while to calm down now." Vlad spoke in a nonchalant tone while he rested his head on his hand as he looked at his messy palace with a bored expression. It was like everything that just happened didn't matter to him.
Sigh...
"My King, sorry to say this, but."
"Hmm?"
"You should socialize more."
Huh?"
"If you don't, I'm afraid... You will provoke a rebellion because of your arbitrary decisions."
"…I don't understand what you're getting at. And a rebellion? It's not like this is something new. Several times they tried to take me off the throne, but no one could." He spoke with the same bored tone as if it was something that happened all the time.
.
.
.
A vein popped in Alexios' head.
"I'M SAYING YOU NEED A VACATION!" The man couldn't take it anymore.
"Take your wives, go to the human world, or wherever you want! Go socialize more! You made a lot of wrong decisions today! What kind of king walks away from his best fighters?" Alexios was fed up with this. So he created a portal and said:
"I'm going on vacation too, I'm your adviser, but you never listen to me! I'm tired of this shit, so I'm going to visit some pretty girls in the human world."
"Call me if you need anything." Alexios dropped a phone into Vlad's lap.
"…Huh?"
It took a while for Vlad to process what he'd just heard, and he couldn't help but flash an amused smile as he glanced at the cell phone in front of him.
Step, Step.
Hearing footsteps, Vlad looked ahead, and soon his two eldest sons appeared.
"Father, my children-..." The two spoke at the same time and were surprised at the same time when they saw their children's heads on the floor.
"..." A bloody aura began to come out of the two men.
"Looks like I don't even need to open my mouth to explain what happened, huh?" He flashed an amused smile.
"Father, do you think this is funny!? A count you named killed your grandson!" Theo yelled angrily.
"You must do something, Father!"
"Of course, it's funny." He spoke with a big smile on his face.
"…Eh?"
"You two being here is funny, you two acting and thinking I should do something, is funny."
"This whole situation is funny."
"..." The two children were speechless.
"From the beginning, my position on them was clear. These pieces of shit mean nothing to me."
"And..." Vlad's eyes began to glow blood red as his existence began to be covered in darkness.
Gulp.
Lucas and Theo swallowed and took a step back as they felt their father's mood.
"You pieces of shit, how old are you?"
"3000 years..."
"2000 years..."
"You are older than Jesus, and yet when a problem occurs, what is the first thing you do? It's coming to ask me for help."
Crack, Crack, Crack.
The entire castle began to tremble at the presence of the man.
"Grow up!"
The two lowered their heads as if they were a small child being scolded by their father.
"..." Vlad really couldn't understand his children. Take Theo, for example; sometimes, he was like a poisonous snake that was smart and did everything to take the throne…
But when he blinked his eyes, he suddenly became a predictable teenager.
Lucas was another one; at one point, he had the posture of a strong warrior, but as if someone had clicked a button, he lost all of his stature and became a teenager.
'What the fuck is this?' For the first time in a long time, Vlad didn't understand what was happening in front of him.
... What the vampire king didn't understand was this was something very simple to solve.
Vlad had spoiled his children a lot, and because of that, despite being 'independent', when something they were not used to occurred, the first thing they'd do is ask their father for help.
And now, after thousands of years of that, seeing Victor's development, Vlad wanted to demand a more mature attitude from his children since... From the beginning, they didn't have it...
Yes, indeed. His two eldest sons have great abilities, but the king never let them grow up properly.
And that was something he didn't understand because despite being a father, he was never present in the growth of his children.
An example of this is Ophis.
Vlad removed the pressure on them and said, "You were attacked, your children were killed, now what?"
"... E-Eh...? The two looked at their father.
"What are you going to do?"
...
Leaving Vlad's castle, Scathach started down the stairs towards the exit.
"...Welcome back, Scathach."
The woman looked towards the voice, but she didn't find anything, she just saw a strange darkness:
"Victor?"
"Yes."
When Victor replied, several red eyes began to open in the darkness.
Looking into those blood-red eyes, Scathach felt strange, she knew those eyes were the maids that lived inside Victor, but it still felt strange to have so many eyes staring at you.
Suddenly, a smile full of sharp teeth appeared:
"How are you?"
"Were you worried?"
"Of course not, no one can defeat you, right?"
"..." She flashed a small smile, liking his answer.
"I was just taking my night walk, and by 'coincidence', I passed by this place and, sensing your presence in the palace, I decided to wait for you." Victor knew that if he said he was worried, Scathach would be offended.
"Oh...I see..."
Victor came out of the shadows, and soon the red eyes seemed to enter his body as he walked beside the woman and held out his hand to her.
"Do you want to join me?"
"..." Looking at Victor's hand, Scathach seemed to think about what to do.
She looked at the man's face, and her attention was caught by his long hair:
"Aren't you going to cut your hair?"
"Hmm?" Victor touched his hair a little then answered,
"You're right, I think I should cut it. It's a little long."
"Yes, it gets in the way of battle."
"It makes no difference to me." He replied.
"I see..."
"Aesthetically, men with short hair are more handsome..."
"Or at least that's what I heard from a friend."
"Oh...? You have a friend?" Victor asked.
"... What? Can't I have a friend?"
"Of course, you can."
"..." An awkward silence fell around them.
Victor displayed a gentle smile and said, "Shall we?" This time he completely extended his arm.
"..." Looking at his arm, a feeling of satisfaction rose in Scathach's stomach, as she felt that this was better.
"Sure." She took his arm, and then the two walked slowly towards the exit.