37 - Siegfried

In the distance, I could finally spot the gigantic castle. We're now near the capital of Edgehollow where their current ruler, Nosferatu, lives.

There's way too much dark energy here to the point where Elizar, the three Demons and I are the only ones conscious enough to properly ride our Sleipnirs. I should transfer some of my powers to Wolfe next time so he'd still be alert for battle in times like these.

I'm currently holding the reigns of the other Sleipnirs with our unconscious colleagues riding on them.

[ I feel so alive! ] I hear Leviathan giggling excitedly with an almost gurgled way.

I turned to her and she's smiling so widely that the corners of her lips are reaching up to the sides of her eyes. Her teeth turned into sharp fangs, like the teeth of as shark. Her eyes are pure black with a small red dot on the center and her skin is slowly turning black as well.

[ Control yourselves. ] I ordered to the three of them.

[ My hands are itching to kill someone. I hope we finally come across something. ] Belphegor sounded rather annoyed, but his face is now filled with small cracks like a glass figurine and his eyes are the same as Leviathan's.

Mammon was silent and his eyes are normal, but I could spot three horns now starting to rise from his forehead.

It was a good thing that Elizar is riding ahead of us and most of our companions are unconscious or else they'll see these three.

I released three souls from my right hand and gave it to the Demons who devoured it greedily. Maybe that'll keep them at bay for much longer before they start to eat our colleagues.

The looming castle is now within our reach. It's more ominous and threatening up close not because of the overall design of the place, but because I could clearly feel the dangerous people inside of that castle. It's like they're releasing their auras on purpose, probably to repel the other creatures wandering around Edgehollow.

Six people. They all have similar auras from Demons. Two of them are stronger than the three Demons that I'm with. The strongest of them, the one with the most suffocating aura, is clearly Nosferatu.

But somehow, there's this lingering feeling inside of me that's telling me that I could overpower all of them without struggling. Maybe it's just Amon messing with my head again, or maybe that's just the truth of the matter.

If I were evil, it's a possibility that I would've caused mass havoc already. Right now, I'm in conflict and I don't know if I'm slowly being corrupted by my power or if it's just Edgehollow's overall effect on me.

I miss Asmodai. If only he's here with me, then I wouldn't be having this existential crisis.

"Be ready for anything!" Elizar called out from in front of me, his double voice now louder and clearer than ever.

I looked behind me and let out a silent sigh of relief when I saw that the Demons are now back to their normal humanly features.

[ I now see what you mean, Master. That double voice is rather annoying. ] Leviathan said and the two others agreed.

Ah, now they can hear it. Maybe it's because that Marionette's power is also out of control due to Edgehollow's effect on their magic.

I need to find a way to know who and where the hell they are. Their existence might be a hindrance to my plans and a danger to the people close to me.

This world doesn't need more Marionettes.

My thoughts were interrupted when we come across a giant metal gate covered in black vines with big thorns. Two rock golems as big as the gate are stationed outside and the walked towards us, their footsteps making the earth shake beneath us.

"I am Elizar, the Mayor of Raveryn." He announced as we walked closer.

The golems stopped and instead went back to the gates to open them. We proceeded to go inside where a pathway leading to the main entrance of the castle is found.

At the entrance, there is a person, or rather a creature with the body of a woman wearing a maid outfit and the head and tail of a female lion, waiting outside. She's accompanied by multiple small Gremlins in suits who's looking at Elizar and Camiya like they're their next meal.

Gremlins are smaller than Goblins, maybe around two-feet tall. They're a lot thinner, has a lighter green skin, pointier ears and only has three fingers both in their hands and feet.

[ They don't even think that we're worthy of being greeted by themselves. ] Mammon scoffed.

We stopped our Sleipnirs and we descended. I tried to wake up Wolfe but he seems to be having great difficulty to do so.

{ Awaken }

I flicked my fingers on his forehead and he immediately wakes up. He groaned and got off from the Sleipnir. I did the same with the others until we're all ready to enter he castle. I was tempted to just leave the Human Assassin, almost forgetting that there are other people around us.

"Please follow me. The Council is waiting for all of you." The lion woman spoke as the gremlins took away our Sleipnirs somewhere.

The remaining Gremlins opened the double doors and Elizar was the first one to follow them.

I took a deep breath before I proceed, trying to be alert for anything that might happen. We're in the middle of an unknown territory and I don't want to risk anything.

But if I have to, I might use my real powers this time. Though I don't want to leave any survivors who could compromise the image that I'm trying to make, especially Elizar.

We walked through an ominous hallway lit only by a few candles every six feet or so. I could hear faint screaming and groans of pain below us, causing Camiya to hold on tight to the Human Assassin. I could feel her close to crying and shivering in fear.

We shouldn't have really brought her along. What a waste of space.

The lion woman stopped in front of another set of double doors. She faced us and we stopped.

"Beyond this door is the Council." She bowed slightly before opening both doors.

What presented before us was beyond sickening, but I stopped myself before I throw up.

There were six chairs with a large glass case dividing the chairs into three on each side. The rest of the room is pitch black except for the candles placed beside each chair.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing at all.

Except for the fact that the glass case is where Siegfried's dead body is.