Leopold was absolutely astounded.
There was a vampire in front of him.
And one from the royal family to boot!
"P-Please come along, the queen must be notified of this."
Leopold's tone was much more polite than before.
He wasn't certain if Indra was the only one of his kind left or if either one of his monstrous parents were still kicking too but it was best to play it safe.
Even if everyone knew that they did not particularly care about their third son, that did not change the fact that he was still an Ascalon.
And absolutely no one was allowed to speak ill of an Ascalon.
"Wait a moment."
Enyo's voice could suddenly be heard and she appeared in the midst of the group a moment later.
Placing a hand on Indra's cheek, she seemingly forgot that they were not alone as she placed a hand on his cheek and looked at him tenderly.
Almost immediately, the women surrounding him became jealous.
Kohaku/ Kuro: 'The princess has been cuckolded...'
Keran: 'Thieving ghost!'
Lucia: 'I knew there was something in between them... I wonder if he has room in his heart for me too?'
Vermeil : 'Indra! How can you cheat on me like this already!? You called me your thrall, so that means that we're together, right?! RIGHT?!'
Leopold could feel the naturally shifting aura's of all of the women present and sighed in his heart.
He really didn't miss how vampires always seemed to be at the center of everyone's sexual fantasies.
"Are you sure that you wish to do this...?"
Indra immediately understood what Enyo was conveying.
If he met with the queen now, the likelihood of him becoming involved in the war somehow was a certainty.
With Indra's powers and training he could turn around right now and not a single creature in this world would be able to find him, living or dead.
If he met with the queen, he would be forgoing a quiet and peaceful life with her for the foreseeable future.
"I am... Does that displease you?"
"I will stay by your side no matter what, you know that. I'm just curious as to what could have brought this on." Enyo reasoned. "I thought you were still unsure of what you wanted to do?"
Indra's eyes soon drifted to Keran who was giving him a cute but unfriendly look.
It was because of her that he was alright with this decision.
He didn't know why he alone was still alive when all of his kin were dead.
Indra had been granted a clean slate and a life filled with opportunity, but he had no idea what to do with it.
Essentially, he was an empty shell with no real place or purpose.
And yet, Keran believed that he could be more and that he could be a paragon of hope for their kind.
He wasn't sure how much of her belief was childish idealism and how much was desperation, but he had to admit that he felt compelled to help her.
At least in his own unique way.
-
"My queen, the princess has returned... and she's brought a guest." A guard announced.
In a stone lined room, there sat a woman on a throne that was made from the skull of some massive beast.
The woman's body was frighteningly impressive, it was lined with scars and old wounds as far as the eye could see, yet her body still seemed like a work of art.
Her muscles were almost fully exposed in her skimpy leather outfit, making her look like some sort of feral amazon.
She had long black hair that came down to her clawed feet and two furry wolf ears that would have been rather adorable had the woman not had such a fearsome aura.
Her face was immaculately beautiful, despite the long scar running down the left side of her face this woman possessed a charm that was simply unfair.
Her one good eye remained closed, as she leisurely lounged upon her throne like a beast that was resting after a successful hunt.
"Let her in."
The guard bowed respectfully before opening the large double doors to the throne room and allowing two individuals inside.
Keran and Indra stopped a few feet shy of the throne and she tried her best not to shake as she said her greetings.
"Mother, I have-"
"Lost." Ayame said without opening her eye. "You have lost pitifully. Did I not warn you that your ambition outweighed your meager ability? And now you return here, sullying my name and your father's memory by not having the decency to atleast die among your soldiers."
Keran's body trembled as she looked at the ground, trying her best not to let her mother's words get to her.
She had already known that she would be like this after all, there was no use in getting upset at the inevitable.
No matter how much it hurt.
Indra on the other hand was not going to take such a thing lightly.
"You shouldn't talk to her like that. Even if you are her mother."
You could have cut the tension in the room with a knife.
Both Keran, and Ayame had been stunned into silence by the sudden words of the ancient vampire.
'That voice... why does it sound so familiar?' Ayame wondered, before ultimately deciding that she didn't care that much.
Slice!
With a flick of her fingers, Ayame slashed the entire space in front of her without even opening her eye.
Indra didn't even have a moment to think before he was cut into ribbons and died on the spot.
"INDRA!" Keran immediately flew into a teary panic as she kneeled beside the shredded corpse of her beloved.
'Indra?'
Finally, Ayame's single blue eye snapped open and she took a glance at the man she had just carved up like a ham.
On the floor, all she could see was chunks of flesh and blood that was... black?
Just as she prepared to ask her daughter what was going on, a spectacle she thought she would never see in her lifetime happened right before her eye.
The chunks of Indra's body that had been cut to pieces vibrated furiously before reattaching themselves back together bit by bit.
Keran immediately sighed in relief while Ayame rose up from her throne in shock.
"What is this!?"
In under twenty seconds, Indra's body had completely regenerated and he was standing in the same spot as before, cracking his neck to ensure that everything was properly in place.
"You have quite the temper, don't you?"