Chapter 19: Elmenhilde Karnstein (2)
"My, I had no idea that Lord Azrail would join us for this investigation…"
"It's nice to see you again, Lord Azrail."
Elmenhilde and Millacra had different reactions upon my arrival, but they both smiled.
Behind them were around a hundred Low-Class Vampires, all divided into five squads, with a single vampire taking the lead.
However, even though their status was of Low-Class Vampires, that wasn't related to their strengths.
The five squad leaders stood behind Elmenhilde and Millacra, respectfully awaiting orders. It seemed like they were of a higher status than the Low-Class Vampires, but since they were all men, they were likely considered servants within the Carmilla Faction.
"As the overseer of this territory, I can't let everything be handled by outsiders, right? Not to mention, I still have a Rogue Vampire to hunt."
"Lord Azrail, would you mind if I accompany you while you hunt the Rogue Vampire down? I can certainly be of help."
Elmenhilde's proposal was somewhat surprising, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. It was most likely an attempt to gauge my strength while keeping an eye on me.
And honestly, her being suspicious was a given.
Suddenly, Vampires and Dhampirs all over Romania start disappearing over the last few years, and out of nowhere, a new overseer appears in Romania's capital city.
Although it was superficial, it'd be stupid if Elmenhilde couldn't place the pieces together. Or maybe she believed that even if I wasn't the culprit, the disappearances were somehow related to me.
Well, whatever it was, the Carmilla Faction couldn't outright blame Satan Beelzebub's brother based on superficial theories.
'The situation works better for me...'
At that thought, I couldn't help but smile a little.
"I don't mind, Lady Elmen… But what will happen to the investigation if you accompany me?"
"Oh, please don't worry about that. Millacra here is more than capable of leading the investigation in my absence."
Millacra gave me an honest, confidence-filled smile while puffing her chest out.
With how airheaded she was at the meeting before, my territory's safety worried me a little.
As if reading my mind, Elmenhilde continued.
"Don't worry, Lord Azrail. Even if she acts like this, Millacra is fairly capable in her own right."
"I will take your word for it, Lady Elmen."
"Why am I getting bullied?"
No one responded to Millacra's cry, and soon, Elmenhilde asked.
"Lord Azrail, do you have a general idea of where that Stray could be?"
"I do."
The Astaroth Clan's Magic Circle appeared below me, and Elmenhilde stepped inside the Magic Circle.
"Lady Elmenhilde, is it alright for you to go alone?"
Elmenhilde turned towards the squad leader who had just spoken, clearly annoyed, and she glared at him with some disgust.
"I don't remember asking for your opinion on this matter."
The Class-based discrimination among Vampires was even worse than in Devils, and coupled with how the Carmilla Faction was female-dominated, her reaction made sense.
"But Lady—!"
"Silence!" Elmenhilde stopped the squad leader midway, turning back towards me. "Lord Azrail, let us be on our way."
I had already seen that Vampires were discriminative against anything that was not a Pure-Blooded Vampire thanks to the [A Corpse Never Lies], but witnessing it myself was fun, too.
The only reason they treated me with respect was Ajuka's status, as even in our previous meeting, Elmenhilde didn't even bother to greet Vasmo, the previous overseer of this city.
It was something I'd expect of fools who could only take pride in their lineage rather than achieve something meaningful.
"Well, then... Let's go."
Activating the [Transportation Magic Circle], Elmenhilde and I disappeared.
---
"My, isn't this the southernmost edge of the Devil's territory?"
"Indeed. The area is quite large, so I don't expect the Rogue Vampire to get caught easily. The reason I came here today was to look around, so it'll be easier to catch it when it acts up next time."
And I was too lazy to look for it all night.
It would've been a simple task if I worked a bit harder, but this method was much simpler. Not to mention, it'd save some of my precious time.
"Using the humans in this area as bait to lure it out? A simple yet efficient plan..." Elmenhilde seemed to agree with my thought process, and she nodded to herself. "But since I am accompanying you, the Rogue won't survive until tomorrow."
"Do you have a way of searching for that thing?"
"Of course." Elmenhilde smiled.
After a few seconds, mist appeared around her, and it started gathering around the two of us, slowly covering the area. Within a minute, it was impossible to even see past a few steps.
Before that, I was able to see clearly despite it being midnight.
"A Vampire's natural ability to create and control mist, so that's how it is..."
"Indeed. And it seems like I already found the criminal we were talking about."
Elmenhilde sure was convenient.
Soon, she guided me towards the Rogue Vampire's hideout, and surprisingly, it wasn't that far from what I previously expected—only about an hour away from the place we were at.
And from how it looked, the Rogue was also aware of our arrival, and he stood outside his mansion with an army of undead zombies.
"I knew it the moment I saw this fog, but to think it was a bitch from the Carmilla Faction..."
The Rogue Vampire, or a Rogue Dhampir—a male in his late thirties, growled while looking at Elmenhilde with disgust and hatred.
"An acquaintance of yours, Lady Elmen?"
"Please don't make such crude jokes, Lord Azrail... I would never get acquainted with a disgusting Mixed Breed like this, not even if it was from my Household, much less one that belongs to the Tepes Faction..."
The disgust in Elmenhilde's voice was much more apparent than the male Dhampir's, which made the latter growl even more.
What surprised me was that a Dhampir somehow escaped from the Tepes Faction.
Breaking into the castle that the Tepes Faction locked their Mixed Breeds into was almost impossible for me, so how did a weakling like this escape by himself?
Or maybe he was kicked out by the Tepes Faction?
'Let's use [A Corpse Never Lies] on this Dhampir later… Wait. Maybe I should do it in front of Elmenhilde?'
If it went as planned, that would make the other tasks a lot simpler for me.
"You Damn Bitch! Watch your mouth! What can you do without those assholes protecting you all the time?"
'The delusion is strong in this one…'
Even if it wasn't for me, Elmenhilde could kill the Rogue Dhampir in under ten seconds.
"I must say, ignorance is like bliss for weaklings..."
Elmenhilde's words made me chuckle.
"Seems like the Tepes Faction has failed to educate their servants."
"Since we have already found him, why waste our time on it, Lord Azrail?"
"That's true."
Without warning, chains made out of darkness surrounded the Dhampir, digging into his flesh and pinning him to the ground with his limbs restrained.
Before he could speak, another chain made of darkness wrapped around his throat.
"To think you are this skilled in [Darkness Magic], Lord Azrail... I am genuinely impressed. From the information we had, you appeared to be a swordsman."
Elmenhilde seemed surprised enough, and her compliment was genuine.
"Because the one who trained me was the Strongest [Knight]?"
Elmenhilde nodded.
"Well, it happens a lot. Most people believe me to be a swordsman, which isn't wrong since I am better at swordsmanship than most people, but I excel in magic more than swordsmanship."
Swordsmanship complimented my fighting style and was my preferred style for close-range combat, along with spearmanship, but most people didn't know that.
It was because of how well Lord Astaroth controlled the information about me.
The only ones who knew of my original fighting style were Alice, Latia, and Sairaorg.
I had sparred with Sairaorg a lot of times, and he was the only one who could outmatch me in physical stats and hand-to-hand combat skills, even without using his Touki.
Other than that, I was much stronger than him in overall combat strength and versatility.
But considering that I'd be focusing on my research from now on, he might close the gap between us by a lot, though I doubt he'd reach anywhere near my level of strength unless he received some monstrous power boost.
"I see." Elmenhilde looked at me for a few seconds before turning back to the chained Dhampir. "But, aren't you going to kill that Mixed Breed?"
"I was about to do that."
The chains around the Dhampir's body started tightening, and soon, they ripped his body to pieces.
"The undead it created should've died along with him, right?"
"Indeed."
"Thank you for your assistance, Lady Elmen."
It saved me a lot of time that I could have spent inside my lab or training Amy rather than catching a single Dhampir.
"Please, it was the least I could do."
'Let's see...'
I looked at Elmenhilde for a few seconds, gauging her worth and making a final evaluation.
She was smart, had a pretty good background among the Vampires—enough for her to supply me with as many test subjects as I wanted without anyone noticing, and was a Noble Vampire.
It was obvious that Great Sage's research wouldn't progress continually with the number of Vampires I alone could collect, so wouldn't it be better to get someone to supply them for me?
After all, it had been quite difficult to kidnap Dhampirs and Vampires now that the Carmilla and Tepes Factions were on guard against me.
'But even then, forcefully teleporting Elmenhilde is too much trouble, so it'll be best to take the long route...'
I walked over to the Dhampir's severed head, crouching down and picking it up.
"Lord Azrail, what are you doing?"
"Reading his memories. Since you were helping me, the least I can do is check if this guy had some connection to the disappearance of various people from the Vampires' side."
It was an open display of goodwill.
"... You can do that? Reading the memories of a corpse, I mean."
Elmenhilde seemed surprised.
"It is but a simple spell."
A wave of Demonic Power engulfed the severed head when [A Corpse Never Lies] was activated. Elmenhilde couldn't sense the actual spell, considering that even Alice couldn't do that, so I intentionally released some of my Demonic Power to make her believe that a spell was activated.
After looking at the air for a minute to build up some suspense, a [Transportation Magic Circle] appeared under my feet.
"Lord Azrail, is something the matter?"
"I did find out what happened to the abducted Vampires and Dhampirs, but it's a bit more serious than I thought."
"Why do you say that?"
"I'll tell you about that later, but the abducted people are safe, so I'll teleport them here soon."
With that, the [Transportation Magic Circle] started rotating, but Elmenhilde stopped me, walking over to the Magic Circle.
"Wait, Lord Azrail, let me accompany you."
"Are you sure?"
Since I portrayed it as being a no-danger mission, Elmenhilde didn't even consider bringing her subordinates with her. Or maybe she was that confident in her abilities?
Overconfidence and unnecessary pride do make people easy targets.
"It is my duty as the investigator."
This duty would be a lot costlier than she initially thought.
With Elmenhilde's fate already sealed, we teleported into my [Darkness Magic Research Laboratory].
---
"What exactly is this place?"
Elemhilde looked around the place, observing the Vampires and Dhampirs that were stored in several glass containers, along with the ones that were on different beds, held in place by limb restraints.
"No... They are..."
Elmenhilde's eyes wandered off towards a separate section of glass containers, with shock apparent on her face.
"Indeed, these are the Vampires you brought along for the investigation... I would've collected all of them, but alas, the number of containers to store them wasn't enough."
"Lord Azrail, what are you..."
Elmenhilde took a step away from me.
She knew what she had stepped into and was continuously trying to cast [Communication Magic] and [Transportation Magic] while looking at me with a confused expression, probably believing that her attempts to escape weren't noticed.
At least she was quick to react and catch on.
"Let's drop the formalities, Elmenhilde. We both know you're smart enough to understand what just happened. As for the [Transportation Magic], it's futile. Only I can freely enter and leave my laboratories with that."
"... Why are you doing this? Are the Devils planning to start a war with the Vampires?"
"A war?" I gave her a sweet smile and placed my right hand on my chest. "Believe me, the current Four Great Satans are too easygoing for that kind of thing, and this has nothing to do with anyone else, as everything happening is done by yours truly."
"Do you understand the consequences of your actions?"
"There are no consequences as long as no one finds out, right? But if something goes wrong, I can see myself getting locked up in the deepest parts of Cocytus."
"But seeing how you brought me here, I assume that you are quite confident that you can capture me without much problem?"
I could feel Elmenhilde muster her Magic Power, but it didn't matter anymore.
"Capture you? No, you're worth more than these things in the containers, as you will help me willingly..." My tone was as if I was stating something that was bound to happen. "After all, it's quite difficult for me to collect test subjects with both the Tepes Faction and the Carmilla Faction being on high alert. Since that's the case, wouldn't it be easier for me to have a Noble from the Carmilla Faction supply them to me instead?"
"Do you believe something like that would happen?"
The disdain in the blonde's voice was no longer hidden.
"You seem to believe that as long as you can defeat me, everything would be fine?"
Elmenhilde was smart, but it wouldn't be wrong to say that she was naive nonetheless.
Indeed, if we were to fight, it'd be a troublesome battle for me, especially with her ability to control mist, and even without that, Elmenhilde wasn't weak.
If rated by a Devil's standards, she'd be stronger than most High-Class Devils, at least with Magic-based abilities, since her physical capabilities weren't all that impressive.
However, that would be the case if we had a fair fight, but unfortunately for her, nothing I did was fair.
'Great Sage. Shut down the functions of this facility and gather all the Pure Magic Power, merging it with my aura to pressure and intimidate Elmenhilde...'
[Answer. Understood.]
'And while you're at it, use the power from the reserves to maintain the barriers…'
The [Life Force Conversion] allowed me to convert a person's Life Force into pure Magic Power and utilise it as if it were my own… So, in a facility with hundreds of supernatural beings bound by the spell, each with the Life Force to live for thousands of years, how much Magic Power could I access even if I was only Peak High-Class?
The answer was simple.
Within each of my laboratories, I could access power rivalling a Peak Ultimate Class Devil for a limited time. Taking any more Magic Power from the Engine Room would damage the barriers surrounding this place.
If the barriers were to be damaged, any strong individual would be able to find my lab, which was my worst nightmare, so I needed to be careful not to overdo it. Not to mention, that was also the spell's current limitation.
But right now, I had no plans on using that strength. Releasing my aura was sufficient to subdue someone of Elmenhilde's strength.
[Notice. Task completed. Releasing Demonic Aura stronger than a Peak Ultimate Class Devil.]
"You…!" Elmenhilde stuttered, stepping back as a black aura appeared around me. "W-what is this overwhelmingly evil aura..."
The colour of her skin was already like a corpse, so the frightened expression went with it quite well, complimenting her pale complexion.
"Regarding my aura as Overwhelmingly Evil, isn't that rude? With how you're reacting, it seems this is your first time coming in contact with a Peak Ultimate Class Devil's Demonic Aura."
"U-Ultimate Class at your age…? H-How? That's—!?"
Yeah, I understood how Elmenhilde felt, but shouting so loudly wasn't very ladylike.
Even I'd freak out if a Devil were to reach the top of Ultimate Class by the age of ten.
"Holding your head a little too high, don't you think?"
I released some more of my aura, causing Elmenhilde to fall to her hands and knees, lowering her head.
'I must say, the feeling of crushing someone with strength was quite pleasant…'
But it didn't seem as addictive as some people made it sound like.
"W-What do you plan on doing with me?"
With fearful eyes, Elmenhilde looked up at me.
"I already told you, didn't I? You will serve me as your Master, and whether you do it by your own free will is up to you."
It was a lie. She had no free will in this decision, and her fate was decided even before the investigation began.
The current conversation was simply to mess with her, to see how she'd react to such a situation.
Elmenhilde didn't reply for a complete minute, probably thinking about what would be best for her.
She was smart, so whether she believed in my lie or not was something I was curious about.
"Will you let me live if I accept you as my Master?"
Oh, she believed my lie.
"For Vampires, who're supposed to be even more prideful than Devils, isn't that a bit too quick?"
"What use is my pride if I end up dead?"
She wasn't wrong about that, but it didn't take a genius to tell that she was lying.
Even if I were to watch her through Magic, she was more like a double-edged sword.
And since that was the case, I'd need to melt the double-edged sword and reform it into something more useful.
'Great Sage, teleport the Devil I abducted from the Agares Clan...'
I only had one such Devil in my possession, so there was no need to specify my command any further.
[Answer. Understood. Activating 'Transportation Magic'.]
The Astaroth Clan's Magic Circle appeared on the ground, followed by a young Pure-Blooded Devil.
Ignoring Elmenhilde's confused look, I placed my hand on the Devil's chest, activating [Life Force Conversion] as a thin, golden barrier appeared around the lab.
"The Agares Clan's [Power of Time]?"
Elmenhilde recognised the ability at a single glance.
"Aren't you a knowledgeable person?" I chuckled. "If I am not wrong, we have around two hours before the investigation team starts looking for you, and two hours outside would mean that we have ten whole days inside the barrier… That means we have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves."
I gave the frightened Vampire a knowing smile, and that was enough to let her know what was about to happen.
"B-But I agreed to serve you... Why?"
"Elmenhilde."
She looked up at me as I walked towards her, grabbing her by the throat and raising her body.
"There is one thing you miscalculated." I gave her a sweet smile, tightening my grip around her throat. "I never intended to make a subordinate out of you. It isn't my thing to carry double-edged swords, you see."
"W-What are you—!"
At this point, she could barely speak.
"What I want isn't some double-edged sword that would betray me at any given chance, but a loyal dog who'd do whatever her Master orders her to, with no free will of her own."
Of course, creating something like that out of Elmenhilde couldn't be accomplished in a mere ten days, and if I were to completely 'break' her accidentally, she would lose the basic abilities I required from her.
But ten days were more than enough time for me to instil a neverending fear in her heart, which could be exploited later.
I had done it plenty of times already, but it was my first time doing it on a Supernatural Creature, so it was a new experience.
"N-No, please… What did I ever do to you?"
The look in my eyes must've been a frightening one because Elmenhilde looked completely scared out of her wits, tears falling from her eyes while she kept begging me not to do it.
The previously arrogant and haughty Noble Vampire was nowhere to be seen, and it genuinely looked like a little girl was begging for her life.
"At the end of the day, most supernaturals are no different from humans, huh?"
"No… P-Please…"
Elmenhilde's eyes had started to lose focus, but she tried her best to stare at me.
"Don't give me that look. I won't stop just because you look like a child, you know?"
If I were to start discriminating against test subjects based on age or gender, what would the point be?
---
Words: 3,556
[A/N: The first part of the next chapter will contain depictions of physical torture. You've been warned.]