78 (Sanguinary) 3

[A/N: This is a 2/1 chapter which is the reason why it's so long. Sorry for the excessive wait!]

At this present point in time, in a wealthy city far away which went by the name of Ingel, a meeting between five authoritative individuals was held. Their encounter taking place within a lustrous, wooden chamber, while their shadows were encircling a round table.

"A beastlord?" One of the present figures doubtfully questioned out loud. The profound voice was almost to drown in, yet it held a clear female ring to it.

"That's right." A youthful voice grimly answered. It belonging to a handsome, middle-aged man that was equipped with a polished, brown cowl and a trenchcoat. His long, brown hair and overpowering hazle eyes gave off the same sheen as his clothing.

"Are you sure, Rion? None of the leading beast races have ever tried to step back on this continent after the ceasefire." The same voice which had previously asked retorted. It belonged to a tall and sturdy woman. Her cloaked frame resembling that of a pylon while her obsidian-like hair and onyx colored irises reflected a wise and dark luster.

The man named Rion frowned after he heard her speak. Causing the tip of his razor-like eyebrows to arch down and show a more acute expression.

It seemed that, despite his evident concern towards the topic beforehand, almost no one in the room took it with any significance. Some even expressed clear skepticism.

"Just ignore him, Derica. You know these Zell people are presumptuous and arrogant by nature. There is no use in trying to reason with him."

Rion's frown deepened for a second as he angrily dragged his brilliant, hazel gaze across the room and aimed them at a man who stood across him. He had a head full of loose, white hair which glistened alongside his two rebellious, yellow eyes. Each shining with a radical gleam that blended alongside his rustic attire and sharp face.

"Do you call me a liar, Mered?" Rion dominantly grunted. His rich tone aiming a hostile intent at the opposition.

"Hmpf!" Mered snorted back in a distasteful manner as the air around his figure grew turbulent. Almost as if it would start to rebel against the forces of nature.

The mood within the room started to boil like the water inside a heating pan when the two men glared at each other. Compelling the space to gradually become more unstable and tense while the atmosphere grew heavier.

"Please. The matter beforehand is of utmost importance."

However, as things began to get out of hand, a gentle and fair breeze flowed across all present parties. It carried with it an aura of integrity which extinguished the bitter atmosphere and allowed for tranquility to re-emerge.

The three arguing individuals looked over at the source of the just wind. All finding themselves drawn to it.

Not too far away from Rion's side of the table, a slightly shorter woman un a neat, red dress stood. Her clothing held a torrid aura of stability and truth which beamed alongside her tanned skin, shoulder length red hair, cherry-like lips, and intense, pink eyes.

She scanned over everyone with a profound scowl before curling her glittering lips into a smile and peer up at Rion's frame.

"I also heard about what happened with the research facility in Torvel, Brother Rion. And I do not believe that your suspicions are groundless, as this incident was just followed up after the destruction of the Bell's Academy. However..."

She then continued over at the white-haired youth named Mered. Her red lips twitching slightly as their eyes met.

"Although there is no clear evidence about the culprit, I was informed that the only questioned survivor who goes by the name of Winter saw the beast with her own eyes. But then again.."

She turned for the last time. Now finding herself eye to eye with the dark, human tower which radiated an air of ruling logic, Derica.

"Even though we needed to use some harsh methods to make her talk, she specifically stated that the creature didn't resemble one we would associate with a Czar Beastkin. And so, we are exempt from assuming it is one until we receive proper evidence."

The moment she finished speaking, a grand, holographic cube appeared in the middle of the table. It reflected multiple images of what would match the description of an utter wasteland. The encompassing flooring within the pictures was empty and bleak. Seething out a forsaken and devastated energy which sent stings of fear through the soul everyone present. The aura this specific place gave off... It was almost as if the source components of every living thing had been erased.

Everyone went silent for a second to gather their thoughts. However, Derica almost instantaneously finished her contemplation. Going over to voice her opinion of the topic to the red-haired girl.

"It is not that I blatantly doubt Rion's worry, Vevila. It's only... Are we supposed to believe that a Czar Beastlord managed to inflict this sort of collateral damage on its own?"

The red-haired girl named Vevila defeatedly sulked when faced with this question. Although everyone here knew the might of the Czar monster race, such a feat of destruction was truly impossible for a Lord level being.

Seeing his friend down like this, Rion wanted to add something in hopes of helping her argument. However, before he could open his mouth, Mered rudely interrupted him.

"Besides, Rion. If this matter is of such importance to you, why wasn't the clan leaders notified?" The white-haired man's tone now contained both a displeased scorn and an insulting passion.

Rion's expression grew darker when he heard the guy speak. Of course, he had tried to contact the clan leader. However...

"Or don't tell me he is still whimpering over the fact that his own daughter ran away with a miserable brat?" Mered fiercely supplemented as a disappointed sneer formed on his face.

A sadistic, blue light flashed past the hazel gems inside Rion's eyes as his suppressed, dominant nature resurfaced to the world and vigorously stimulated the authoritative energies inside his body. Ordering them to be set in motion by using his invoked wrath as fuel.

The air and light around Rion started to bulge and blister like steamed foam before rapidly coiling around him like a cascade of disaster. Threatening to drown everything in the vicinity within a frenzied river of primordial water.

Everyone present, and especially Mered, stared at the translucent wave without blinking. Waiting to see if Rion would act on his impulses with both worry and expectation.

However, before another breath could pass by, a minuscule, yet incredibly rich emanation filled the air. Forcing, no, demanding the worldly fracture around Rion to shrink and revert back to its original form. Causing it to meld back with the fabric of reality.

A freezing jolt of respect and reverence shone out from Derica, Merved, and Vevila as they turned towards a previously untouched part of the round table and respectfully lowered their heads.

As for Rion, he weakly coughed for a second due to the forceful nature of the convective force. But tried to follow up with a bowing motion as he hid the embarrassed gloom that now overshadowed his slightly pale face.

Before the four men and women, a figure cloaked in a gold mantle and a white dress leisurely stood with both hands and fingers intertwined.

"Now, now. No need to act like that." The individual calmly spoke out with a laid-back and slack tone. The pitch of the voice was high, yet it gave the impression of belonging to a young man.

Rion's grim expression loosened slightly as he heard the person speak. Even going as far as to tilt his head back up and try and question back.

"It's just that.." He tried to formulate himself. However, the male voice interrupted with a sorrowful sigh.

"I know about the loss of your dear cousin, Rion. And this issue will of course not be ignored..." The foreign person restfully assured him as Rion's line of sight met the blurry figure. However, his eyes only managing to catch a glimpse of a head full of blond, curtained hair that shone with a supreme, golden sparkle. Hiding every feature with its shimmer.

"And so, I have sent out one of our summoned heroes to find and apprehend the culprit behind this mess. So none of you will need to bother with the issue any longer." The unhasty voice once more rang out. This time making sure to relive the deeprooted worry and tension shared by the attending members.

"You are all dismissed." And so, the radiant figure gave the last bellow before it faded away from its previous spot.

Only after then did everyone lift their heads back up with a more refreshed and bolstered look that seemed to naturally wander towards Rion's location. Expecting to have a more agreeable discussion.

However, as they all looked at him, a whisp of awe appeared on their faces.

"Why are you still worried?" Vevila asked him with a puzzled expression. Her glittering pink eyes flickering over the destemmed and beat shade that slithered over his eyelids. Trying to lightening his burden with a fair wind.

"I..." Rion bitterly muttered. Unable to understand why the spike in his heart had not gone away.

"Vevila is right, Rion. You should know what kind of power the summoned humans wield. There is no longer any reason for us to bicker about the matter." Derica gently assured him with her deep and knowledgeable voice. Also trying to help him recover.

The unnerving screen that circled around Rion's face eased slightly as he heard her. Bringing forth a sense of understanding of his heart.

"And besides.." An anarchistic ring then hit Rion's body. Catching his attention with its nonbelieving and radical power, and locking it onto Mered's rustic frame which now held an agreeing impression.

"Even if your assumption is right, what can a single beastlord do on its own? Those deformed beings mature incredibly slow due to lacking a system and are naturally insane to the point of being stubborn."

Rion appreciatively eyed down the man before heavily exhaling. Letting go of his unneeded woe.

"Yeah, you are all right." He sighed out with a breath filled with certainty and confidence. Giving himself an absolute insurance that the death of his cousin, Cheryl, would be brought to justice as he was now unable to find a reason to worry.

"What can a single dog do on its own?"

....

Back in the land called Torvel, where wildlife and oceans of woodland ran rampant, there laid a small township that went by the name of the Traveler's den.

It was an acreage that would usually be filled with laughter and joy from both children and retired soldiers. All coming to enjoy the peaceful joys life could offer.

However, it was at this moment, completely silent.

For in the spot where it would regularly be found, there now laid nothing but blistered scraps of crumbling soil.

The once homely roads that would be immersed with songs had been washed away by a sea of seared manure. Smearing itself over the land like a blackened carpet made from hot glass shards.

However, despite it's new, still flooring, the earth would occasionally give off shallow signs of movement like a hatchling's rustle from within a bird's nest.

But this was not due to a sign of life. NO. But from the new, cursed wells which had clustered up beneath. Seething out these nefarious, dark pillars of inky miasma.

Whatever vile power that had ravaged this land had not only mangled its surface, but also scalded the world below. Loading it with thermal springs where toxic fumes would endlessly breed and migrate. Rising up towards the heavenly vault, and pollute it with dark, ghoulish clouds that would circle around this forsaken lair like a swarm of diseased vultures.

But despite of the once flourishing dunes withering and the blue, dusky river defiled by earthly impurities, there still existed some form of rancid life within this forsaken garden.

Beyond the moldered temples of exhaust and ranges of black, chalk-like grass, a mangled figure laid. It's mutilated body half buried in the warm flooring's embrace like a stillborn child. Unmoving, yet by a pure miracle, still in one piece.

From a single glance, one would instantly assume that whoever this person was, they would have been long dead. Forcefully sent into the other world by having his or her cells overloaded by whatever power that had detonated here.

But just then, as steam huffed off this torched mass of overcooked tissue like a ceaseless mist, a sudden shudder traveled through it. Surprisingly also being accompanied by a dull whisper.

"H..."

The whisper was raspy like a dry cough. Unable to properly form a sentence due to the vocal cord having been turned into firewood.

"Ha..."

However, as it further battled against the physical trauma, the clearer it seemed to get. The burnt body even began to twist and hum as carbonized skin splintered off. Sinking into the ashy terrain like a footprint would on a snowy mountain.

"HAAA!!!"

The blackened ragdoll's twisting turned to wild shaking. The generated pain only seeming to fuel it with an agonizing high that bore through what could only be its remaining nerves.

Until it suddenly stopped.

The hot vapor which oozed from its body began to disperse before being replaced by grey, powder-like spores. Secreting out from the new, skinless patches alongside a fully repaired voice.

"What... What in the cursed god's names was that..?!"

Hadriel muttered with great difficulty while the grey gas circulated around him. Withering away the some of the scorched cells and allowing new tissue to slowly replace it.

It seemed he still lived.

However, although he acted rather unharmed despite the grueling injuries, most likely due to the deep-seated anger born when he noticing the damage he had suffered, there was a tint within the depth of his crooked voice which gave off an air linked to a new, vicious fear.

And it quickly swallowed his welling rage and dumbfoundedness inside a mental brine pool.

"No, forget it! How am I alive?!"

Hadriel's burnt face slowly started to regain some pale, human-like features while his empty sockets sprouted two, red eyeballs. His healing clearly focused on fixing the upper body first.

The torn world before him gradually appeared more real as the beaten optic nerves finished recuperating alongside the eardrum. Simultaneously restoring his ability to perceive sound.

But the moment Hadriel was granted permission to leave the dark world, he was instantly assaulted by a multitude of putrid realizations.

His ears were drowned in whispering churns generated from the steaming sand he laid on, while his eyes barely managed to distinguish anything from the sky, as it was blotted by innumerable, ravenous clouds. Smirking down at him like hungry beasts.

Yet this was only the start of his painful course.

Continual stings of pain began abusing his every fiber like the ruthless bites delivered from a pack of ants. Engraving their venom down to his very core through a never-ending assault. Causing his already distorted vision glitch.

However, no matter how much punishment his senses underwent, there was still something within that kept him from going insane. One thing that kept his mind in a single place.

That being the intense feeling of dismay which removed every other sensation of self he tried to muster up.

"Why aren't I regenerating faster? Dammit, if only my energy wasn't crippled before I was banished." Hadriel groaned to himself. Wanting to find something to place his mind into as the healing of his body seemed to halt.

"Is it this chaotic energy which courses through me? I can feel that it holds a rather young and untempered nature, making it more than manageable for my supreme vampire strain. But then again... Where does it originate from? I have never met such to..."

"HAHAHA!!!" However, while he pondered over the rueful energy, he suddenly broke into a mouthful of mad laughter. Remembering the sorrowful sight of his opponent which had without a doubt perish within the explosion.

"Truly, it seems your efforts were in vain, Beast!" All his pent up bewilder was extinguished by a new tide of victory. Strengthening his crazed laughter which grew more clear each time it resounded.

But as Hadriel laughed about with great joy, trying to reconnect the seared limbs back with the main body, his spasming facial-muscles abruptly froze in place from a sudden, internal stimulus.

Beyond the foul buzzes spawned by the geysers of ruin, past the chipping sizzles which shrieked across the earth around him, a clear, dry vibration violently struck the end of his ear-canals like the chime from a cathedral's bell.

Every single neuron inside Hadriel's glaciated brain started to rapidly misfire when the illogical signal traveled through. Propelling the previous registration away, yet only to seemingly strengthen its existence. Eventually leaving him with no choice but to explore its origin.

And as the reluctance grew colder, Hadriel slowly tilted his head up from where it had rested and, with a crooked form, lowered it. Finding his line of sight belatedly descend down from the broken sky and line itself alongside the blotted horizon.

Before him, a wilting forest of ink-colored palm trees and sulfuric leafs laid like a tropical forest. Slowly dispersing itself before Hadriel's recuperating sight.

"Tsk.."

Hadriel gave a soft grunt as he focused the regeneration on his bloodshot pearls. Causing his vision to rapidly sharpen. Removing the deep fog from the surface of his retina.

However, just as he saw past the dark carpet, his newly formed pupils shrank to the point of disappearing.

For from within the fading smog, two, flicking gold saucers were approaching him.

'IMPOSSIBLE!!!!"

Hadriel's brain forcefully strained itself to the point of risking a shorting. Commanding his body to prepare itself towards what it assumed to be an incoming threat.

One of his destroyed arms started to regain a pale color from the burst of sanguinary power. Making patches of skin rapidly sprout all over the coal textured limb like the verdure on a tree, while having a delicate, red thread seep through his palm.

It formed a ball of blood which then molded itself into the red, cell sword he had previously wielded.

However, as Hadriel tried to wring himself up in preparation, he stopped. Staring straight at the clearing haze that coiled around the haunting, yellow lights with a reforming, stupified stargaze.

As the earthbound clouds vanished, Michael's frame once more appeared. Aimlessly scuffling through like a possessed scarecrow. Pushing away from the murky pillows of soot in his way.

His beastking body was in a sorry state. No longer equipped with the cloak of bulletproof pelt, as it had been burned to ash. Replaced by an unnerving mantle of murky haze that dripped from his struggling figure. Granting him with the appearance of a wraith.

Altough his limbs were visually more functional than Hadriel's, both his arms had been stripped of all flesh. Loosely hanging down like decomposed vines. Their damage most likely linked to the vampire's previous withering attack.

Hadriel's still glaring then steadily build itself into a criticizing grimace that radiated a deject glow. Passing into the landscape alongside his fully repaired voice.

"You...."

But Micael ignored him. Concentrating on dragging his busted frame over the obsidian sand through slow and laboring strides. Each minuscule step sending shivers of pain into his smashed bones and charred joints.

"YOU!!!"

Hadriel almost vomited out all the blood in his body from the pure amount of hate which swelled within his being.

However, when faced with the two shorting, gold eyes that shimmered towards him, he could only swallow it down and speed up the healing of his hand.

The familiar grey chemical which seeped out from the cracks on his body coiled around red blade as Hadriel pushed himself up. Turning the then raised sword into a snarling, grey saber.

And as his dominant limb gained its luster back, he crunched himself further up and pointed the edge of the tainted weapon at Michael.

"YOU IMPUDENT, VILE MONGREL! YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME!!"

Hadriel vengefully screamed at Michael's advancing frame which oozed out an endless amount of crystalline vapor.

However, as he prepared to give a last effort, Michael abruptly stopped in his tracks. Letting his burnt feet rest in the depressed dirt, and leaving Hadriel dumbfounded with wonder.

But while Hadriel speculated, Michael's gauzy figure could be seen opening his mouth from behind the lucent robe of vapor. Beginning to immediately spew out a row of white smoke like an overworked broiler, before following it up with a waterfall of boiling, red blood which squirmed as it crashed on the fuming, volcanic sand.

Hadriel felt the last functional brain cells in his head start to tingle when he stared at the sight. Sending out a single thought which needed answering. One which bound his body still.

How the hell was this thing still alive? Or rather...

"What the hell are you?"

And just as his voice resonated out, a weak gargle sound was ejected out from Michaels' mouth.

"C... Czrrr...."

The nerves in Hadriel's body froze. Keeping him in place as his expectation started to build up like the water within a dam until it finally reached its peak.

"Czar... BeastKhhing.."

But just as the overflowing tension inside Hadriel's body was about to burst like a brilliant fountain, it was extinguished from a sense of loss.

Did he say...

A Czar beastking..?

What the hell was that!?

Hadriel, who used to be one of the most gifted individuals from his side of the family before the ensuing banishment, had an unimaginable amount of knowledge contained in his mind which he had stored over the untold amount of years he had lived. But the name of this creature?

Every remaining inch of mental energy left inside him was turned to fuel as Hadriel dove down into the deepest depths of his memory in search for his answer. No, for anything which held any similarities.

'No, no, no, no, no..."

Several dead ends were immediately hit. And no matter where he looked, nothing even remotely close in eitger physiological or physical descriptions could compare to what he had here.

"DAMMIT!! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

However, as violently dug through the bookshelves in his mind, thinking he had rummaged through every creek and corner, an ancient piece of knowledge dawned upon him like the glow from a lighthouse. Guiding him towards something he had almost forgotten.

"Wait..."

"Did you say, Czar..?"

Hadriel pushed back his eyelids until they hit their limits. Intently looking over Michael's body several times in a breath's worth of time. Gradually exhausting his brain's reserves in each, separate move. Desperately comparing what he had found...

Until it clicked.

"Ha.."

And as the information Hadriel had gained drowned him in the most euphoric enlightenment, his remaining mental energy was completely drained. Causing something inside him to snap like an overstretched rubber string.

"AHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!!"

Hadriel started madly laughing with a frantic bellow as he rearranged his gaze at Michael's still head, and flooding his intact veins with the vampiric strain. -

- Turning the regenerated, white skin grey while his ears into leather antennas.

Bathing himself in the circulating power and residual vibration from his crazed laugh while staring at beast like a crazed animal.

But what he did not expect was that Michael's dry mouth would start to twitch open once more like a burnt door. Desperately peeling of seared clusters of skin and slimy dots of red grime until forming a smirk which then evolved into a smile. One that matched the haunting air given off by his glittering, gold eyes.

The vampire's expression subconsciously twitched in fear as he lifted up his blade. Following it up by releasing more grey gas from his increasingly shivering body.

However, as Hadriel's began to act on the madness in his head, a set of loud snaps echoed out off from Michael's direction. And it came alongside a sweet whisper only he could hear.

---

[Innate Ability Activated!]

[Chimera]

---

The layer of mist around Michael started to rattle as his body began to screech and stretch in every direction. Dispersing the glassy vapor while expanding bit by bit. Unveiling his transformation.

*Snap!!*

His mangled legs and skeletal arms grew longer and thicker alongside the rest of his physique, while his mouth turned into the maw of a demonic hound.

*Snap!!*

Two horns of an ox followed up by sprouting out from the sides of his head like a set of towers, while reptilian scales rippled over his singed fur like a field of a blossoming flowers.

*Snap!!*

And lastly, the black scales which multiplied like weeds started smashing against each other. Fusing together until forming a dark brown carapace that oozed out an unbreakable aura.

Hadriel's crazed state of mind temporarily subsided as he gawked at it. Finding himself looking up at the revitalized, gold lanters of the towering abomination. Allowed only to remember an incident of long ago from when he lived as a regular boy.

Tears started streaming down from his frozen eyes as he temporarily appeared inside a burning barn. Glaring at a half skinned corpse and a hulking creature covered by whitered, white skin.

"Hemin..?"

However, before the rivers of anguished water could trickle off his cheeks, Michael's entire neck shot towards him like a harpoon. His armoured snout breaking through the shallow layer of grey gas. Scooping Hadriel up and wildly hack his upper upper and lower like a living mower.

"NO!!! PLEASE!!!!" Hadriel snapped out from his trance when he felt the beast's teeth grind his flesh together. But was only replied by the grotesque chips generated from his own bones getting turned to mush. Echoing into the toxic dessert like the pleads of a forsaken child wishing to see his brother again.

"Hem..in.. I am.. Sorr..y.."

And as the desperate screams of Hadriel were turned to lifeless matter alongside the rest of his existence, Michael strained his throat. Savoring his victory for a single instant before getting washed over by a stream of exhaustion. Causing him to plummet into the bleached flooring's embrace.