Chapter 10

Above the ruins of what was once the great castle that housed the most powerful vampire faction in all Europe, a land cursed by both the world and fate, the incarnation of violence stood tall over the destruction he brought to those who committed a crime that any proper dragon would punish with blood and fire, they annoyed him.

As the beast moved, the swords and broken spears stuck between his black scales that shone under the light projected by the fire surrounding him started to fall. Powerful jet-black limbs teared down the tall towers of the ancient stone castle as if they were wet paper; his muscular and scaly tail shattered everything around him without a care for those bloodsucking ants under him; the full span of his scarred wings blocked the sun behind them. Even from this distance, the heat of his fire felt hot and dangerous.

This breath-taking sight was unsettling in the best of cases, and utterly terrifying if I were to be honest.

My instincts are screaming for me to get out of here as fast as I can without looking back, but the useless rational part of my brain is busy pondering about the words of the powerful expert.

Is such a legendary treasure truly here?

The Sephirot Graal is one of the rarest and most sought Dao Bones in existence. It is usually considered one of the most powerful artifacts refined by the god of the bible due to its frankly ridiculous ability of giving its possessor an almost peerless understanding of soul cultivation.

The idea that the Graal is in the hands of the vampire is laughable.

Then again, I can see my new wife keeping a neutral expression while trying to regain some semblance control over her trembling legs. Given that her childhood friend is a MC with darkness related powerset, it wouldn't be crazy to assume that her own Dao Bones are related to the element of light, which is usually associated with holiness.

...Sometimes I hate that unlike most MCs, I'm smart enough to connect dots.

''Kuroka!''

My Dao Companion doesn't need to hear anything more before she hastily opens a portal that hopefully leads somewhere far away from here.

Of course, things can't ever be that easy. The moment the portal is opened and ready to be used, my gaze meets the dragon's eyes for the first time. In the next moment, a tall man with mismatched eyes is standing before me with an expression that screams absolute boredom.

I didn't see him move at all.

''Where is the Graal?'' He ask- no, he demands an answer in a neutral tone of voice that leaves no room for alternatives.

I am going to die. That is what my instincts are currently yelling.

This tall man with somewhat slender figure and a bi-colored black and golden long hair wasn't really impressive appearance wise. He didn't threaten us with words, nor did he flex his power to show how weak we were when compared with him. He was merely standing there in an almost disarming way, not even bothering to stiffen a yawn as he waited for his reply.

And yet, we all immediately understood that this dragon wearing mortal skin can kill us at any moment. There was no need for a reason, we just knew that would happen; it felt like a simple truth of the universe that nobody ever said out loud due to how obvious it was.

I want to run, but I can barely breathe at the moment. Answering that damned question with an obvious lie is a terrible idea, but ignoring the dragon and attempt to jump into the portal before he can kill us all is just a very painful form of suicide.

My heart almost stopped when his eyes fell upon the dhampirs, but to both my relief and bewilderment, the dragon focused solely on Junior Brother.

I do not need to know the details to understand that cannot be anything good, so I open my mouth, hoping that my peerless mind will come up with something sensible to say on the spot. It shouldn't be a surprise that in the next moment, I find myself inside a crater at the other side of the castle missing half of my torso and my lower jaw.

...

Rule 101:

When you meet a terrifying unknown expert, do not open your mouth unless he points at you specifically and asks a question. If running away is impossible, just stay there and pray that he doesn't notice your presence.

A Young Master needs to know when it is time for him to shut up.

...

  Right, Rule 101 was a thing.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Seven seconds after his arrival, the foul beast wearing the skin of a man absently strikes Riser Phenex true with a seemingly casual swing of his tail, sending the devil flying far away from this location.

"I won't repeat myself." Looming menacingly over Gasper, the beast speaks once again in a much more impatient tone of voice. His disregard for his casual show of violence goes almost unnoticed by everyone due to the fear they are currently feeling in this very exact moment.

Although the feline devil's nervously glances at the new hole in the tower and the fact that the Evil Piece inside Gasper isn't showing any anomaly indicate that the Phenex devil most likely survived the attack somehow, his presence is basically a non-factor under these circumstances.

There isn't time to think of a perfect reply that would safely appease the dragon and let them escape. Right now, she needs to say something before the cat devil decides to run away on her own while the dragon is focused on them.

''There are rumors going around the castle about the Camilla Faction steadily growing in power over the last month after acquiring some kind of mysterious artifact capable of empowering their members. I cannot in good faith confirm that's what thou art looking for, yet tis what lowly pureblooded servants like us know." Valerie lies as easily as breathing.

There is something to be said about her all but condemning a third party for the sake of their own survival, but she is of the opinion that vampires deserve every single bad thing that happens to them and then some more. By indirectly getting rid of them she is doing the world a favor, all things considered.

Ideally, the dragon would believe her and then ignore their existence for long enough for them to leave this place with the devils.

''Speak up.'' The beast's voice is cold, cold enough to make the world around him shiver for what feels like hours. ''What are you?''

Those mismatched eyes stared down at her beloved friend in a strange mix of hatred, disappointment and what may be relief almost they were waiting for something impossible to happen.

Rather than taking her words into consideration or accusing her of lying, the dragon merely ignored her in favor of intimidating Gasper even further. The two of them have never met before, yet the dragon appears to be expecting something from Gasper for some unknown reason. Why would a dragon who has just destroyed an entire faction for the sake of finding a Sacred Gear suddenly decide that a random dhampir was more important than important information about the relic he is looking for? It doesn't make any sense unless...he didn't really care about the Sephirot Graal all that much in the first place.

The destruction of the Tepes Faction wasn't important even in the eyes of this creature.

In fact, both she and the cat devil could easily walk away in this very instant and the dragon would likely ignore them in favor of killing Gasper.

Gasper is going to die, isn't he?

Gasper will die. Gasper will die right here. Gasper will die and she cannot do anything about it. Gasper is going to die, and she will be left alone. Gasper will die...

Ah, why is she thinking so hard about this when the answer is so simple? She has been so silly; Gasper's life is the priority here.

''I am the user o-''

Just as those words are about to leave her mouth, the roof of the tower is destroyed once again and the gallant figure of the Phenex devil appears to deliver a powerful kick covered in fire to the dragon's chest that exploded in contact with a ferocity that temporarily blinded her. By the time she regained her sight, it became apparent that the fiery kick shaped like a hawk's talon failed to do anything but look impressive.

"FUCK YOUR BEAUTIFUL MOTHER."

Personally, she doubted that the word beautiful could be used to describe anything related to this foul beast that is ruining everything.

''You're still conscious.'' He observes, not looking impressed in the slightest.

Unexpected, but certainly convenient. The dragon is now ignoring Gasper in favor of dusting the ashes off his clothes. She didn't need to reveal that she was the person the dragon was looking for, thus they now had a higher chance of escaping alive.

"That's what she said! This Young Master is not letting an over glorified lizard cucking him of his precious new wife who he has met about twenty minutes ago just because she happens to have the Graal of souls."

… At least Gasper is safe.

At this point, Valerie does not even blame the devil for revealing that very important piece of information. She is pretty sure that he has a concussion.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am pretty sure that I have a concussion.

Thinking is becoming increasingly harder by the second, and yet that is probably beneficial to me because I can't think about the pain anymore. Just because my bloodline allows me to instantly regenerate any part of my body, it doesn't mean I don't feel an excruciating amount of pain whenever my internal organs and bones are forcefully getting back in place after taking a lethal blow. Compared to that pain, even the crater where I am laying feels comfy.

What was I doing before this?

Ah, yes. I believe that I was supposed to fight something to protect my wives and my Junior Brother who is arguably more effeminate than my wives.

That makes sense to me.

Well, I should get ready and perform my secret technique then.

By breathing and circulating my energy through my entire body, I slowly gather part of my life force and allocate it into my legs until they are brimming with more energy than they can contain. Then I make said life force burn brightly and fuel my flames that are now covering my lower body. Finally, I summon the wind to strengthen and shape the fire until they take the form of sharps talons ready to pierce my opponent.

Combining the principles of life, fire and air into a singular move is an easy task since the three of them are already ingrained into my peerless Phoenix Bloodline. The problem appears when I try to add the concept of Void that was taught to me by Master Ophis to my techniques. I am unable to combine these four principles into a singular move. They appear to naturally reject each other, and my understanding is still too shallow to successfully harmonize them.

I used to think that it would take me months or even years to be able to refine this technique to the point where it could be used in real combat, but now I can't really think about anything, nor feel anything.

I can't think, but I still know things. I know for sure that my next move will be successful.

Step by step I apply the first three principles into a technique that I have yet to name, and then I combine them with the imaginary idea of emptiness. Finally, I take a step forward.

In the next instant, an attack that should oppose the concept of existence and burn the laws of the world makes contact with the opponent who I am supposed to be fighting for some reason I can't fully remember.

This is my current peak...but that isn't enough to reach the heavens. The attack exploded together with my leg because the four basic concepts that gave it form refused to peacefully cooperate.

That's a shame! Now I need to say a cool line to distract everybody from my failure while my leg is regenerating.

"FUCK YOUR BEAUTIFUL MOTHER." Nailed it.

The tall hidden expert says something, but I am not really paying attention to him since I am trying to remember the thing I was supposed to be doing here.

"That's what she said! This Young Master is not letting some over glorified lizard cuck him of his precious new wife who he has met about twenty minutes ago just because she happens to have the Graal of souls."

Oh, that is what I am supposed to be doing. I'm pretty sure that the book has a lot of things to say about fighting a cultivator that reminds me of my master, but my head is hurting too much for me to bother to try to remember them.

Maybe I should try to attack him again or say something else, but Kuroka is now covering my mouth with her hands…they smell like a mix of salmon and lavender, which is quite nice. Should I lick them? No, that would be creepy.

"Him being completely fine after taking that little hit shouldn't be surprising, he is Ophis' official apprentice after all." She declares loudly. "Crom Cruach, we were currently on a mission requested by Ophis herself to recruit these two Sacred Gear Users into her faction, so they is no need for us to fight. I know for a fact that you're also part of her faction."

"You expect me to believe this pathetic bat is training under Ophis of all people?" Crom Cruach, the strongest evil dragon, snorts in derision at the idea being actually possible. ''Besides, I would hardly call crushing your skulls a fight.''

"He is barely sixteen at the moment, what he lacks in power he makes up with overwhelming talent. This is the devil who learnt senjutsu in a single afternoon, it wouldn't be strange if he were to surpass Sun Wukong at his peak in a few decades."

This gives the dragon a pause.

"He is weak!"

Attempting to gainsay the so-called most violent dragon to ever live is akin to suicide for most people, but this is the only sensible course of action available to them under these extreme circumstances. This is not a matter of choosing a safe option anymore, but rather about chosing the alternative that would not end in their death.

"Who is born truly strong? Art thou mayhap intimidated by his potential?"

"Hold your tongue, vampire. You are still breathing because of my whim. I don't care whether or not he is truly connected to Ophis, I will killing him and then take the damn Graal."

And yet the fact that nobody has been killed yet is the proof that this approach is the right one because the only thing that rivalled this dragon's violent tendencies is...

"C-coward."

...his own pride.

"I have known Senior Brother for barely a day, but even I can see that he will become stronger than you if given the opportunity."

Had anyone else dared to utter such words in front the dragon, the whole would have ceased to exist in that very same instant, but because Gasper was the one to say them, they were given a chance.

"And why are you so sure about that?" The question was a challenge.

"Because he is kind." One that the little dhampir accepted despite his fear.

"...You are clearly not him." The dragon concludes with some visible annoyance. "I am bored, so I will humor you all. Survive for one minute and I will let you keep the Graal for a while."

Does that mean that I have to keep fighting him? That doesn't seem right for some reason.

"You are a Phenex, right? I will be waiting on that hill near the castle. Do not escape; I will personally go the Underworld and kill your whole clan if you even try."

At least he has the decency to give me a defiant look before walking away. He still is a big asshole, though.

"I was supposed to be a lazy and easy-going seductress." Kuroka whines as she falls on her beautiful knees. "Why is my life like this?"

She doesn't even mind that I'm very affectionately patting her head. That's nice; her ears are pretty soft.