Escape

Running through the dungeon halls, Cao Cao immediately busted through the hole where he got it in.

"That was pretty unsightly." The Dhampir in his arms muttered.

Although she has low expectations, she still thought that maybe this guy has a plan. Not the knight in a horse or whatever but something that wouldn't cause the both of them to probably be captured.

But here they are.

"Sorry about that, first time traversing a dungeon here." Cao Cao cracked his neck.

He continued running until he saw a glimpse of sunlight, signifying the close exit.

"Finally, we're here." 

A loud sound of a door opening made the Dhampir close her eyes.

—

Feeling the sunlight touching her face, Valerie slowly opened her eyes to meet the outside world once again.

Feeling the robed man putting her down, the Vampire Princess stood up wobbly, the torment in the dungeon had made her legs not used to the sudden mobility she gained.

"We're out of the castle, but the city? Not yet." She heard the robed man's voice.

So they are not out yet huh? 

"Don't worry though, I know the safest path for our escape." The robed man assured her.

She can't tell how old he is due to the distortion of his voice, but judging by his height, he should be at least the same age as hers.

Is he really sure? 

"Well, let's continue our chat later, we will have all the time in the world after this." Without waiting for her reply, he grabbed her hand and ran again.

Valerie looked at his hand, before following his direction. That's right, they must escape first.

— 

Marius Tepes was in a bad mood. It was supposed to be a normal day, secretly trying to unveil the secret of the Holy Grail and try to scheme their way to the throne.

The current Tepes Faction is weak. To think that they can't even crush the Carmilla Faction. Just how far have they fallen?!

But now, all of those plans have been thrown to the ground, someone took her sister!

Who is it?! He had never disclosed this information in the outside world and he doubts that his father and brothers would be foolish enough to do so.

The power of the Holy Grail is just too precious. They can even conquer their weakness and walk freely in the sun.

They just needed to wait. Sooner or later, his good-for-nothing sister would reach the level where she'll make the entire Tepes Faction untouchable and crush Carmilla.

But now!? Now!

All of it is gone!!

"Marius what's going on?!" He heard the furious voice of his father.

Fearfully looking up to meet his father who's sitting up on his throne, Maruis stuttered, "I–I don't know father! She was in the dungeon earlier but now she's gone…" his voice devolved from panicked to a whisper.

Despite only whispering the last part, the 4th King of Tepes heard it clearly. He quickly smashed his armrest in anger.

This action frightened Maruis, he may have disdained his father but he still acknowledged him as the strongest Vampire in their faction.

His power can even be said to be on par with the current Satans.

"You useless fool! All you needed to do was keep an eye on your sister but instead, you wasted your time on those parties just for the sake of satisfying your so-called 'genius'". King Tepes mocked his son.

He's well aware of the clownish acts his son has made in these months, gathering influence using the promise of making other Vampires immune to sun; it quickly gains the attention of everyone.

Considering he's the son of the King of Vampires, no one doubted him. As they said "Maruis wouldn't be foolish enough to humiliate the name of his family with false promises." And that isn't far from the truth.

But it's inevitable that it will arouse the greed of others. He wouldn't be surprised if they are cooperating on the surface but actually want it for themselves.

He didn't stop his son, they needed unity more than ever, but using such a promise holds too much weight for their people.

If it comes out, not just the Carmilla Faction will be suspicious but even other factions will watch them like a hawk.

Strongest Vampire or not, their faction would not be able to win if their enemies joined forces to eliminate them.

Vampires were already at the peak of existence in the supernatural world, having their weaknesses removed would make them even more stronger.

No one wants a force stronger than themselves. Hence, why people try to stop it.

"I–I'll bring back Valerie I promise! They shouldn't have gone out of our territory yet." He heard his useless son gritting his teeth.

The King Tepes sneered. Bring back? The uproar has already happened. Sooner or later, people from outside would hear this and they would be classified as incompetent.

Even if they manage to capture them, it still wouldn't eliminate this stain in their reputation.  

Few people know the existence of the Holy Grail in her daughter's hands. If it comes out, then even he wouldn't know the consequences.

"Your promises are worthless Maruis. Those people you gathered through the use of that bullshit of yours will turn back on us and even attack our reputation." The King of Vampire's voice echoed in the room.

"Get out, if you can't find Valerie, leave this castle. You're the reason why our faction is in this peril." 

"Father I–"  but before Maruis could continue, he heard,

"Get out! Get out of my sight or do you want to experience what happens to people who incur my wrath?" Although he saw his father smiling, there was no joy in his eyes. He truly fucked up this time.

Hurriedly backing like a coward, Maruis turned around and ran away. As for whether he's to find his sister or escape himself.

Only the cowardly vampire knows.

—

"Damn it! Damn it!" Maruis yelled while running away. If he leaves this place then he'll have nowhere else to go.

He'll leave his life as a nobility and will probably be forced to drink blood that came from sewer rats just to satisfy his hunger.

No one wants to leave their comfortable life, it's the same for him.

"You stupid bitch! We should've extracted the grail from you..#-&-@+" uttering a bunch of unintelligent words. He decided that he'll search for his sister and kill the culprit.

He needs to vent his anger one way or another.

—

"Finally, here we are." Landing on a secluded forest, Cao Cao informed his companion.

The said companion looked around the forest, she was surprised when the robed man summoned a cloud out of nowhere and flew at the fastest speed.

She felt her stomach turn upside down, she hadn't experienced flying after all.

"So where is this?" Valerie was unfamiliar outside of their territory. Her last attempt of escaping ended horribly after all.

"We are still in Romania, far from Tepes Faction but close to Carmilla's territory." The robed man took a seat for a moment. 

Valerie looked around once again before sitting beside him. She's exhausted, that's the second time she ran for her life. The last time she was caught but now she escaped!

She still feels like she's dreaming. Is she really free? 

No more cold dungeons.

No more of the annoying face of Maruis.

No more of those stinking corpse 

And no more torment due to her Sacred Gear.

"All right, that's it." Hearing the man beside her, she couldn't help but asked.

"What?" 

"I'm gonna go back there." What? They're gonna come back?

"W-We are gonna go back?" Valerie felt her back cold.

"Huh? I said me, I'll be going back there, you stay here." The robed man pointed to himself.

"I already placed a lot of barriers here just in case, no people here would recognize it. Of course unless they are Queen Carmilla or King Tepes." The robed man assured her.

"Why are you coming back then?" She's confused. They already escaped, what's the point of going back.

"Because we need a scapegoat, and I also need to do some things. Although my first priority is to rescue you, I still have a second goal." Without waiting for her to speak, the robed man summoned a spear. The same spear that gave her shivers earlier.

"I remember that King Tepes likes impaling, why not give him a show?"

Valerie couldn't see anything under his mask, but she could feel his smirk.

Combined with the spear's aura, she can feel that those vampires will suffer.