Lilith walked to the next wall and readied herself to walk through this one as well. A massive boom came from behind her. Turning quickly Lilith saw the maid walk through the wall. Her arms were crossed in front of her. Taking the brunt of the hit, they had been bruised and become useless. The maid didn't seem to mind. The skin rapidly fixed itself as the woman looked around for Lilith.
"Wait!" She shouted and Lilith turned her eyes towards her. The girl's eyes were no longer red and her fangs weren't visible. She looked as she did the first time Lilith saw her. Except without the bloodshot eyes. She had stayed pale and she was now covered in blood from her knees to her neck. She didn't seem to mind.
"Thank you for stopping me." Claire bowed her head and put her hands behind her back in a show of peace. Lilith wasn't buying it. She was immediately cautious. Was she back from her rampage? Would she rampage again and if so could Lilith stop her? She wanted to be anywhere but near this woman.
"It is no problem. I shall be leaving now." Lilith said before immediately turning around and walking towards the wall. She needed to leave immediately. Lilith didn't know how immortal she was and there was no good time to find out.
Lilith heard the woman gulp behind her but she quickly firmed her resolve. Before Lilith could escape she grabbed her dress. "Please take me with you!" She shouted.
"No." Lilith stated immediately.
"I-I-i can work for you! I've got really good references as a maid. I made it to the palace!" Claire pleaded.
"No." Lilith stated again more firmly.
"Please! I need someone to stop me if I do that again. I-I can't… I can't do that again. The blood. It tasted so amazing and I… I know you can stop me! You made me into this. You can fix it! You have to… Please! I'm from a noble family. My dad will owe you a big favour if you do this for me! He's always been proud of me making it into the palace. Please you can have any reward you want just… don't leave me alone. I'm…" Claire trailed off. She would've kept begging if it made any difference.
"Who is your father?" Lilith asked cautiously. 'I'm going to need connections. But is it worth it? Even if her dad is some baron or viscount it isn't worth the risk that she won't listen to commands. I might survive regardless but I've already taken too many risks recently.' Lilith thought.
"Right I never introduced myself. Not properly at least…" Claire mumbled before performing an elegant curtsey.
"My name is Claire Tera Mulberry heiress to the count of Mulberry." Claire's introduction made Lilith groan internally. Mulberry was a very famous family for a single reason. They were one of the few families who produced consistent nature mages in the empire. The most famous of which was Thomas Mulberry. Likely Claire's father.
For several seconds Lilith stayed still and thought about it. Her body didn't show any signs of the internal conflict she was going through. This girl would be incredibly useful politically and physically. It would also help not to leave behind a specimen. This would definitely cause Lilith problems though. Often the life threatening kind. Exactly what she didn't want.
Without her though… Lilith was likely an abomination. If alignments meant anything at all she would likely be hunted by anyone who knew what she was. Having a nature mage as a political shield would be incredibly useful.
Several more seconds went by and Lilith couldn't spot any nerves on Claire's face. Did she not care? Then Lilith remembered that her own body felt like a carriage to her. It would likely be the same for her creations. She would never know what they're thinking. 'Even better.' She thought sarcastically.
"You may come with me." She finally said. Lilith didn't have much time to chat and the decision was now made. She immediately started dissipating.
"You should be able to do this too. Think about turning into mist." Lilith said before doing just that and walking through the wall.
Claire smiled deliberately. She nodded and said "Coming mistress" before turning into mist and walking through the wall behind her.
As they were walking through the walls of the castle Lilith told Claire to keep an ear out for their immediate surroundings. Lilith tried to hear what happened to Nadia and the twins. She also told Claire to show Lilith her status so she can understand what happened to her.
Claire complied and Lilith took note of the differences. Claire had the vampire trait as well as the race, the undead trait but no inheritance, no immunity and a few interesting traits and titles Lilith assumed were from her class. She was 21 slightly older than Lilith herself. The trait was bloody berserker. To which her class had now changed apparently.
Bloody Berserker – The more blood you bathe in the stronger you become.(Limited to one level above your own). The more blood you bathe in the more your mind craves blood even if your body is satiated. You can detect bloody conflicts nearby by instinct and are drawn to them.
The other things Lilith noticed was two titles and her stats. The latter of which were rather interesting. Her physical was B ranked which was higher than Lilith's. If she bathed in blood she could become A ranked as well. Her health was C and the others were pitifully low around Fs and Gs.
Not one of her stats was above B and she only had the one at B rank. Lilith technically had more stats but she was fairly sure the woman could beat her in a fight. Lilith took note of this detail. The first title she got was secondborn origin bloodline vampire. That had an obvious meaning. Though it also meant there might be other bloodlines.
Finally the last title. Lilith didn't know what to make of this.
Perpetrator of good and evil – You have both the good and evil alignments and are thus one of the bridges. Players of both factions will want to tempt you over to their side. The decision is yours to make.
The title was correct. Claire had inherited her father's nature magic though only at Level 1, Tier 5. Lilith still didn't know what the tiers meant. This had apparently given her the nature alignment and the good alignment. Both at 50%. She also had the same alignments as Lilith. Evil 80%, Supernatural 100%, undead 100% etc…
This meant she had two opposing alignments and apparently she was going to be forced into a choice. Claire herself didn't understand this well. Lilith however guessed that the alignments play some sort of major role. What she didn't yet know but she doubted they were just for showing people your status. Especially since there were few who would do that.
After they walked through the next wall Lilith finally separated a sound that might be Nadia. She was running away and was already at the entrance to the castle. Lilith would be there shortly. She decided she could meet up with her sister and discuss the long-term consequences of this.
'I should really learn politics.' Lilith thought. She had promised her sister she wouldn't. At this point however she was a faction leader, whatever that meant. It would be remiss of her not to investigate the topic she was likely going to see more of than she knew what to do with in the future.
Interestingly the twins were not with Nadia when Lilith spotted her. Were they separated? Then why would Nadia be running away if the twins weren't safe? Lilith knew the type of person her sister was. She'd never leave the twins if it wasn't safe for them. Even at the cost of her own life.
As Lilith approached the next wall Claire suddenly warned her. "I can sense a battlefield in front of us. It's exciting. B-b-but scary. Very scary. I d-don't want to go near it." Claire sounded very much enthused by the prospect even if her stuttering voice and hesitant gate showed she was also slightly frightened.
Lilith took the warning to heart and walked through the last wall before the entrance she came to before. The whole place was in chaos. Guards were fighting each other all over the place. It was surprisingly difficult to discover who was on who's side. Blood was scattered all across the floor from both sides.
The smell in the air was magical. It smelled like Lilith had walked into a restaurant. All the different foods giving off delectable smells in front of her. She turned to Claire. The woman was shrinking away from the blood and turning her head in the opposite direction. Yet Lilith knew this was not from disgust.
Her eyes were shining a crimson red and her fangs were starting to extend. Her face showed no emotion. It was a good indicator to Lilith that the woman was trying to hide how she felt about all this. Probably excited or hungry. The guards weren't the only ones causing chaos.
The gate was crumpled and streaming inside like a tsunami was a number of nobles that looked absolutely scared out of their wits. Their faces were covered with snot, tears and blood. The fact that they weren't escorted here by their guards or personal servants meant that something was clearly wrong.
Some had brought servants or guards but they didn't look like they were being escorted. They seemed just as scared. The guards running with their nobles had their armour crumpled and their blades were missing. Some were injured and streaks of blood dotted their clothing. Looking past the mob taught Lilith why.
Beyond the gates was an area of true madness. People were screaming and buildings were destroyed. A man lost his head from who knows what and kept on running into the horse of a nearby noble trying to run. The horse tripped and the noble fell. He was swiftly crushed by his horse and died moments afterwards.
Lilith saw a woman holding her child trying to protect her. Someone waving a sword was running in the woman's direction, waving it around wildly. When the woman saw the man her face hardened in resolve. With one swift punch to the gut, the man exploded into pieces of viscera and his internal organs splashed onto the mother's baby.
It started crying again and the mother gently rocked it completely ignoring the man's body. Fragments of the man's bones crashed into a nearby building and shattered the supports. The building crashed down just like that and smothered the wailing inside of it. Wailing Lilith and Claire were likely the only ones to hear.
There was the occasional good Samaritan. Attempting to help up children who fell over, trying to calm those who were wildly lashing out or protecting groups of people in buildings. Their effort was valiant. Yet fruitless.
Several were crushed by collapsing buildings. One person who attempting to help up a child had his hand crushed into paste by the child when he gripped it. Seeing their hero in pain because of them, the child started to cry. Very few of the 'heroes' lived and those that did were severely injured and likely never to help again.
You could see the occasional success story. A man lifted an entire building off a family only to find their mangled corpses. The woman protecting her child was still alive. A muscular guard was radiating an aura that somehow protected even those under the rubble and made them look at peace.
The guard stations outside the palace had long been destroyed or infiltrated. They were just as chaotic as the rest. The only safe place was the castle. Or so most nobles believed. The crowd soon encountered Nadia who Lilith was getting to properly see for the first time in her life.
Lilith didn't need to superimpose the woman's image on top of her blurry form because Lilith could see her. Nadia's wig-like hair was tangled and Lilith could smell the sweat covering Nadia's entire body. Her breathing was ragged and her verdant green eyes were significantly less lustrous. Lilith had never seen her sister in such a state.
When the crowd of nobles met Nadia she shouted at them. "The castle is not safe! Wyatt's guards are on a rampage and Wyatt himself has become a monster. Turn back!" She brought despair to the entire group with just a few words.
"Where are we supposed to go! Your brother has ruined the one safe haven in this damn city and nowhere is safe! I watched a commoner rip my guard's head off with these eyes. There's nowhere to turn back to!" A member of the crowd roared.
"Calm down Viscount. You are in the presence of Her Imperial Highness." Spoke a man Lilith vaguely recognised. His voice was low and gruff but not aggressive. Yet it silenced the crowd immediately. This was Duke Beos. One of the few dukes who wasn't one of the planet families.
"If the palace is not an option Your Imperial Highness, where do we go? You are presumed to be the last human member of the imperial family. With Her Highness Lilith and His Imperial Highness the emperor presumed dead as well as His Highness Wyatt becoming a monstrous entity. You must make the decisions now." Explained the Duke and Lilith decided to jump in here. She wouldn't take over the chain of command however. That could be Nadia's job. She just needed to talk with her sister before she set off.
"Not the last member I assure you. Though I admit I have certainly cut it close." Lilith proclaimed as she saw Nadia start to flounder. This wasn't like her sister at all. Her face was pale and her hands were shaking giving more evidence to suggest the sheen of sweat was from fear rather than exertion.
She turned towards Lilith and her eyes widened. Tears started to fall from Nadia's eyes and she ran towards Lilith. Her face even seemed to regain it's colour. She barely seemed to notice Lilith's changes and the fact that her sister could see now. She simply hugged Lilith while shouting "You're alive."
Nadia started to sob into Lilith's shirt and she wasn't sure what to do. 'This is a new experience I suppose.' Lilith thought as she hugged her sister back. The hesitation not showing in her body language helped sell the idea that Lilith was far more calm than her sister. She was, but not nearly as serene as she presented herself.
"I-i thought… I thought you… How did you?… Are you ok? Y-you're not h-hurt are you? You managed to escape? What about the h-hole in your c-chest or abdomen? Was it chest? I- is it ok?" Nadia sobbed into Lilith's dress firing off questions faster than even Lilith could address them. She started patting down Lilith's body.
"I am fine. You need not worry on my account. Unfortunately we do not have time for a proper re-union. I am afraid the city is burning and Wyatt is doing something I do not want to discover the results of." Lilith soothed. She pushed her sister away slightly to give herself some breathing room and to calm her down.
Nadia looked straight into Lilith's eyes and seemed to notice something. "Wait you're looking at me?" She asked confused. Lilith smiled at her sister knowing she'd figure it out by that point.
"I shall explain my own changes another time perhaps. For now you should do your job as the new empress. Congratulations though I am aware this is not how you wanted this to go." Lilith said and Nadia immediately flinched.
"I-i didn't want this!" She snapped back both annoyed and reserved.
"Of course not. I did not mean to imply as such. Regardless it is convenient currently as it means you can save far more lives than had you been in a more precarious position." Lilith replied calmly and turned her sister to face all of the nobles gathered before her.
Nadia's pale face full of tears and snot turned to look at the gathered crowd. As she saw them Lilith watched her expression harden and become more determined. "You're right. I'm the empress now. I can't put on such a pitiful display." Nadia said resolutely as she stepped toward the crowd.
Lilith decided to ask about the twins later. Nadia had just resolved herself and it would not do to shake that. Whatever happened to the twins must be either confusing or painful. Lilith didn't want to bring that back now.
"What is the situation in the capital?" Nadia asked Duke Beos as he had taken charge when they became unruly. The duke had been staring at Lilith's eyes for some time but turned his attention back to Nadia at her question.
"Not good. A number of commoners have gained extra-ordinary abilities." Duke Beos stressed the word commoners and looked back at the nobles he was escorting. "They have been using these abilities to cause havoc. A single minor grievance caused a cycle of murder and it continues to escalate."
Nadia nodded at the Duke's look and asked. "Do we know the biggest areas of disruption? Or at least the most public?"
"I'm afraid even if we could subdue them, which I find unlikely, there are far too many and the damage has been done. The noble district is all but destroyed by envious fools. The large streets of the commoner district have become large battles between multiple 'corrupted' individuals. It is akin to a city of warring lords at this point. Order is no longer an option." The duke sorrowfully explained as he shook his head.
"The empire has always been prepared for conflict Duke Beos. Assuming an insurrection all should gather in the cas-" Nadia started to say but then realised the problem.
"You may have forgotten sister but Wyatt is just as dangerous if not more so. That is not even discussing the commoners who have gained 'corrupted' abilities of my own. The maid I have brought with me claims to have been in a berserk state when I found her where she wishes to destroy everything in sight. I have since calmed her but this is likely not uncommon." Lilith explained using Claire as an example.
Claire herself had started staring longingly at the conflict outside. Her eyes were still glowing red and Lilith dug her nails into the woman's hand to snap her out of it. "Huh? What?" She asked turning towards Lilith. She didn't seem bothered by the pain but it did catch her attention.
Everyone stared at Claire after Lilith's explanation and she looked around confused. She started to shrink into herself. She didn't know why everyone was staring at her but she really didn't like being the victim of other people's gazes. She'd had enough of that as a maid.
"Is it true? Not that I would dare doubt her highness but your own perspective would be enlightening." Came Duke Beos' low and gruff voice. Claire found herself intimidated and she whispered to Lilith.
"What are they asking is true?" Lilith gave a swift summary and Claire looked shocked for a moment. She had a conflicted expression on her face but eventually she hesitantly nodded. The Duke gave her his own nod in return.
"That is most troubling. Perhaps those causing trouble are not entirely in the wrong." He once again looked at the people behind him a calculating glint in his eye. "Does this perhaps have something to do with the 'status' we were all given?"
"I shall not divulge my own or my methods but I can assure you that the status has a very pertinent affect on the body and mind. You have to be very careful with what has been written in your status. Any abilities must be tested in a controlled environment. The 'corrupted' are likely those who got passive abilities." Lilith explained in response to the Duke's question.
"My status had very little affect on me. The descriptions state that my abilities affect others rather than myself." Nadia explained.
"Likewise Your Imperial Highness. I have very few abilities that affect myself though I do have a few." Duke Beos replied.
The nobles all hurriedly began checking their status. Some heaved sighs of relief while others went pale and quickly tried to hide their reactions. There were even those who started to look around suspiciously or slowly inch away from the crowd. This was just dividing them.
Nadia was too pre-occupied so Lilith took the lead for a moment. "Regardless of your status if you're here it means you can control yourself in the immediate future. We can discuss those with dubious futures later. Right now we need to decide where we're going to go. The capital is a lost cause. We have determined as much. Do we have anywhere that is not?" Lilith asked to get everyone back on track.
"Right… Certainly. We do not know how far this 'corruption' has spread but even assuming it has spread across the entire empire there are likely places that have dealt with it far better than here. The planet duchies will likely have an easier time. Venus and Mars in particular should have had the easiest time putting down the riots." Nadia explained as she tried to regain her focus.
"We have gathered the most powerful army here in the capital and it does not appear to be going well. Why do you believe Venus and Mars will fair any better?" Lilith asked. There were plenty of skilled fighters and mages in the capital. More of them than anywhere else. If the capital was having this much trouble then why would anywhere else be doing better.
"Because this is not a matter of firepower but loyalty. Apologies Your Imperial Highness'. The capital's army is strong but they were meant to fight for the empire. Attacking their own citizens is sure to have convinced some to wreak havoc themselves and others to abandon their posts. The planets are far better at gathering loyal armies. Even if they have to fight their own citizens, the Mars family would be willing to." The Duke explained.
"Wyatt's coup also proves that we have a loyalty problem among our younger members. The coup also meant a lot of internal resources were busy at the time of this revolt." Nadia added. Lilith noticed that she called it a revolt and not the implementation. None of the others made any similar insinuations either. 'Did Nadia not get the patch notes? Is she not considered a leader of the races? Fascinating.'
"Shall we head to the Venus or Mars territory then?" Lilith asked once again pulling the discussion back on track. Everyone apart from Lilith seemed scared out of their wits and kept derailing the discussion. Only Lilith and the Duke remained calm but the Duke didn't want to interrupt Nadia and had to constantly explain things to her.
Nadia turned her eyes towards the capital. The chaos and destruction that wreaked havoc on what she once called home greeted her. Nadia closed her eyes and was about to open her mouth when a large explosion came from behind them.