The sun reached the tips of their toes.
"…?!"
A small wisp of white smoke appeared. Her toenails turned black and shriveled up, the rest of her feet soon following suit. The ashes that remained soon disappeared without a trace. The sun continued to rise and its light crawled up their feet, their knees, and then their thighs.
"Kyaaaaah!"
The Vampires cried out in agony. Their faces turned bat-like as they screamed, but there was no one there that showed any sympathy for them. Karina's face turned back into that of a human's and she cried tears of blood.
"S-save me! I'll do anything! I'll even be your slave! I'll follow any order you give! I'll even betray my brother! So, please… save…"
Karina's face grew stiff as she spoke. Tom was smiling at her with great satisfaction. As he stood amidst 40 or so Vampires all crying out horrendously in agony, he appeared to be enjoying the scene. His clear, golden eyes looked pure and innocent, but that made his expression that much more terrifying. The sight of her being extinguished had no effect on him.
She knew at that moment that there was something seriously wrong with the man. He was twisted.
'This bastard is crazy!
Groveling didn't even phase him, so her goals quickly changed. She turned to Demon Lord Lily.
Lily didn't avert her gaze. She held to her conviction to watch until the very end, but her hands and pupils trembled as she met Karina's gaze. Karina didn't miss these cues.
'I-I can still live! There's still a chance that I can survive!'
If she begged and struggled then she was sure that the Demon Lord would save her due to how soft her heart was. It may not have worked on Tom, but the Demon Lord was another matter.
Sunlight reached her lower body and began to turn it to ash. She was slowly being extinguished. She realized that her time was running out so she began to shout desperately.
"Aaaah! Your Majesty! The highest of all highnesses! I, Karina of the lowly Vampire tribe, begs you! Please save me!"
Lily twitched uncomfortably after hearing Karina's pleading. Ellin, noticing Lily's reaction, stepped in front of her and glared at Karina.
"Shut your dirty mouth, Vampire!"
Ellin growled angrily, but Karina did not relent. She had nothing to lose with her life on the line the way it was.
"Your Highness! I beg of you! P-please! Give me a chance to show you my dedication! Please! Just this once! Shade me from this accursed sun! If you do so, I shall lower my head and kiss your feet as a show of loyalty!"
The sunlight reached her chest. Her feet had already disintegrated into ash leaving behind nothing but her blackened bones. Her lower body had been completely destroyed. Her bountiful chest rose up and down with every breath, but as it began to shrivel and turn to ash, her ribcage began to show. Karina became even more desperate as she was faced with her impending death.
"Please! I beg of you! Your highness! I… please… beg… beg you! Please… Anything… I'll do anything! I beg you! I said I beg you!"
Abruptly, Karina's tone changed.
"You damned bitch! You crazy slut! I'm begging you! I'm groveling before you! Kyaaah! I'm dying! Q-quickly… save me!"
Her expression had gone through a series of phases. It had turned from earnest to despairing, then finally into resentment. She directed all her anger toward Demon Lord Lily as she cried tears of blood.
Karina's body was slowly being consumed in flame.
Lily's eyes grew wide. When the sun seared across the vampire's neck and reached her chin, Karina's expression changed once more.
"Aah… I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Honest! I'll apologize… so… save me!"
As Lily watched this, she saw it as a sincere apology and an expression of regret. She began to move instantly. She pulled Ellin behind her and frantically ran over towards the vampires. She tried to reach out to some of them, but she found herself clutching only what was left of their clothes as they faded away.
As they all died, Lily ran over towards Karina and tried to block the sunlight from reaching her face. However, someone abruptly walked in front of her.
"…?!"
Tom kept his back to Lily as he grabbed Karina's neck.
"You talk too much."
Karina's eyes grew wide.
"W―"
Tom grabbed onto her neck right then. Karina's head was ripped free from the rest of her body along with the majority of her spine, and her face was exposed directly to the sunlight. It completely burned through. Karina's pained expression faded in an instant as all the skin on her face vanished.
Tom carelessly tossed her remains―her skull with a section of her spine still attached― over to Karakul.
"You have to perform her rites, yes?"
"…"
Karakul wordlessly lifted her skull. His eyes turned to Tom who smiled back.
"Then… send that to Bludifer," Tom said. "I'm sure he'll carefully hold the rites for her."
"I understand."
"Just what did you…!"
When Lily tried to shout at him, Tom smiled at her. On the surface, it looked like a truly friendly and amicable smile, but the only thing that Lily could feel from it in this situation was cruelty and violence.
"Your Highness. You're too naive."
"Naive?"
"Yes. Truly naive."
***
They cut down the surrounding trees and placed the remains of the dead Vampires into newly-built coffins. As their flesh and muscles along with their organs had all turned to ash leaving only their blackened bones behind, it wasn't all that difficult moving them. As such, Orcs couldn't help but feel sympathy for the Vampires as they moved the remains. They carefully organized the skull, humerus and femur, vertebrae and pelvis of each one into the coffins. Karakul retained his formality toward the dead as he watched the Orcs.
He turned his gaze to Tom.
"Wouldn't it have been better to leave her alive?"
"Mm? Ah, I decided that it was too dangerous to leave that woman alive. Do you really believe that there could be a shred of loyalty to the Demon Lord from someone that would betray her own brother?"
"But if we used her, we could have negotiated with Bludifer to free the Apostles that have been cursed."
"But if we did that the Vampires would just return to hiding in the shadows. They'd bide their time for the next opportunity to strike. In that case, isn't it better to take this chance to sweep away all those that defy the Demon Lord?"
Karakul was lost for words hearing his reply. 'Those that defied the Demon Lord' didn't feel like it was restricted to just Bludifer.
"May I ask if you're planning on killing the Apostles as well?"
"I could if I felt like it, but as you said, looking at the abilities of the various races, it'd be a bit of a waste to just throw them all away. Currently, they don't have any fealty to the Demon Lord, but if the Demon Lord manages to defeat Bludifer and forces him to his knees, they might change their minds."
'Did he plan things that far ahead back when he let the Vampires go?'
Karakul finally realized the reason Tom had let the Vampires go during the Hero's invasion. He wanted the unification of the Demon Kingdom. To completely unify them under one rule. Regardless of the process, what his master before him cared for most was the 'result'. It meant that no matter who died, no matter how many were sacrificed, all of these things would be completed with Demon Lord Lily at the center.
"Well, I'm giving them a chance because the other Apostles showed her respect out of formality, but the Vampires did not. They were aiming for her from the start. I repay those that show kindness with kindness, but those that show hostility with hostility. Isn't that just common sense?"
"You will be hated by Her Highness."
"I know."
Karakul sighed deeply in his mind.
"In any case… are you planning on sending it back looking like that?"
Tom turned to the Orcs, who by now were raising the coffins onto a rickety-looking wagon.