Chapter 225: So It Begins. 2
"Ohhh! This is the first time I've seen the King's sons all together…" Someone from the audience spoke in a low voice.
A few younger vampires blatantly stared at Elizabeth and Lilith.
They were stunning!
'No wonder the king's daughters don't leave the castle much, as they are, they'd get in trouble wherever they go…' A younger vampire thought as he looked at Lilith.
The younger vampires were expectant and had dark desires...
But it only took one look from the king and for his face to go dark, causing them to look away quickly.
"Where is Ophis?" Vlad asked quietly.
Elizabeth looked around and noticed that Ophis was gone again!
"…Eh?"
"We don't know. She was following us, but... She probably used her power again."
"... Hmm." Vlad's eyes gleamed slightly, and he looked in one direction.
"She's in Count Alucard's cabin."
"...This girl..." Elizabeth was speechless, "I'll go get her."
"It is not necessary." Vlad suddenly spoke up.
"Huh? Why?" Elizabeth quickly put her hand over her mouth, and she looked at Vlad in fear. She didn't want to question him! She spoke unintentionally.
Vlad pretended not to notice Elizabeth's fear and said:
"Leave her there." Vlad's motive was simple, he'd seen the vampires' reaction to looking at his daughters, and he didn't like it at all.
He believed that with Ophis' unearthly beauty, the effect would be much worse, and he didn't want to have to commit mass genocide amongst his own people.
"Father... Why did you call us...?" The third prince, Saulo Tepes, asked carefully since he was really curious about it.
"...don't you like being here?" Instead of answering the question, Vlad answered with one of his own.
"...It's not that, I was just curious..."
"..." Vlad showed a small smile as he liked Saulo's honesty.
"Don't think too much, you'll understand in time."
"... Okay..." Saulo said in a sulky tone.
A masked man entered the arena and walked to the middle of the stage. He looked at Vlad and made a gesture of respect, then he turned and looked at the audience:
"Ladies and gentlemen, the game is about to begin!" The moment he said that, the giant image of Natashia and Niklaus appeared in the sky, and in that image, it contained all the information about the two candidates.
"Two counts fighting..." Lucas Tepes spoke with curiosity shining in his eyes.
"You seem interested, big brother." The fourth prince, Adam Tepes, spoke.
"Yes, I want to know how strong they are compared to the current me. After all, we are almost the same age." Despite being so old, Lucas rarely saw counts fight and wanted to know the level of current counts compared to him, someone who had the blood of the king.
"Come to think of it, you're older than Jesus, huh." Adam only realized now how old his older brothers were… old.
"...If you're talking about age, Theo is 3000 years old, you know?" Lucas laughed.
"... Damn, he's old." Adam couldn't help but say.
"Our father is over 5000 years old." Lilith suddenly spoke with a smile on her face.
"..."
"Strange family..." Adam couldn't help but splutter.
"Indeed." Lucas laughed.
"Come to think of it, where are our mothers?" Lucas asked curiously.
"They're in the castle." Saulo spoke.
"Oh, they didn't come, huh?" Lucas continued.
"They're not interested." Saulo replied.
"I see..." Lucas spoke as he looked out of the corners of his eyes at Theo, and, seeing the man unresponsive, he stopped talking and looked at the arena.
Every question from Lucas had a hidden meaning that few realized. Only the most experienced could understand what was going on. Of course, Vlad, Theo, and Alexios were amongst those that did.
...
In a private room, two women with long blond hair were present.
"Mother, you can't lose. If you dare to lose my grandmother's artifact, she will come back from hell to kill you." Sasha said as she helped her mother put on her golden armor that made her look quite 'heroic', a bit too 'heroic' of an armor that was strange for a vampire to wear.
"Hahaha~, I do not doubt it." She laughed as she tied her hair in a ponytail.
"I'm serious!" Sasha pinched her mother's ass.
"Ugh...Stop!" Natashia turned and looked at her daughter.
"Don't lose" Sasha spoke in an extremely serious tone.
"..." Natashia displayed a small smile and said, "I won't."
"Good." Sasha smiled kindly, then said, "Now turn around. I will continue."
"Yes, Yes~," Natashia spoke with a gentle smile.
...
"So this is my dad's rival, huh..." Anderson said as he looked at him with his blue eyes shining.
"A monster." Liza spoke with a little sweat falling from her head.
"..." Julian and Juan nodded in agreement with Liza's words.
Anderson's other subordinate was silent.
"You think?" Anderson spoke, then he looked at his subordinates, who were silent, and he asked:
"What do you think, Yuran?"
Yuran was a dark man with hair as black as night and equally black eyes:
"To me, your father is scarier." He spoke in a neutral tone.
"...That's because you're a werewolf." Anderson spoke and then looked at Vlad again.
"Perhaps."
"For us, my father is scary, and for vampires, that man is a scary being. I think that despite being far apart, the two men share the same quirk, huh?"
"What quirk?" Liza asked curiously.
"The people fear their king." Anderson spoke in a dry tone.
"..." Anderson's subordinates fell silent, they thought a little about what Anderson said, and they couldn't help but agree with the man.
Although they held great respect for the werewolf king, who was Anderson's father, they also greatly feared that man.
'Fear is sometimes a useful tool, but it should be used sparingly.' Anderson thought as he looked at his subordinates.
He had no idea what it was like to rule atop thousands of supernatural beings, so he couldn't say whether the method the two used was correct or not, but there was one thing he was sure of.
The two kings are strong...
And vampire counts were considered on the same level as werewolf generals, so he wanted to see what kind of strength these kinds of beings have.
He couldn't help but flash a small smile that bared his teeth when he thought of the fight ahead.
...
Jessica was leaning against the wall as she looked at her father, who was wearing all black armor. Looking into the man's cold eyes that never changed, she couldn't help but ask with a little curiosity.
"Father, can you beat her?"
Finished with securing the last straps of his armor, the man took out a completely black western sword and looked at the blade.
Looking at his daughter's reflection through the blade, he said:
"What a silly question..."
"..." Jessica looked at her father's back with a neutral face.
"Of course, I can beat her." His voice held a confidence in himself, a confidence that made Jessica a little more comfortable.
"I see... I'm glad for that..." Jessica said with a small smile on her face that disappeared the moment it appeared.
The man placed the sword on his waist and looked at his daughter.
His neutral eyes flashed for a few seconds, he seemed to want to say something, but then he was silent and walked towards the exit.
He touched the handle, but before opening the door, he said:
"Just in case, prepare our family's evacuation… I'll tell you." As he spoke those words, he opened the door and walked out.
"!!!?" Jessica walked out of the room and looked at her father in shock. She had never heard those 'kind' words from her father before.
'Something's wrong...' She couldn't help but think about it when she saw her father's back.
Remembering the words her father had spoken, she nodded and thought, 'I'll do it.'
Soon she turned and walked in the opposite direction of the hallway.
...
The game was about to start, the two participants were already waiting at the entrance of their respective sides.
The referee raised his hand in a gesture to call the attention of the vampires who were talking to each other, and soon the entire arena was silent:
"Ladies and gentlemen..." The referee's voice seemed to echo throughout the arena, "the game begins!"
"OHHHHHHHH!" The crowd screamed in excitement.
And, just as he said that, two giant doors opened on opposite sides of the arena.
It was pretty obvious that the administrator put more effort into the event to make it look grander.
"On one side, we have the newly appointed Count who defeated the last countess in a game in the past, Niklaus Horseman!"
He pointed to a man dressed in full-length black knight armor. Nothing could be seen of the man, only the red eyes that shone eerily through the slit in his helmet.
The man walked with confident steps towards the middle of the arena.
"On the other side, coming from a great family of noble vampires who have been aiding the king since the creation of this city, a woman who had once lost but bounced back and is here for a rematch, Annasthashia Fulger!"
She was wearing full golden armor, her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and a golden western sword was strapped to her waist.
She looked absolutely stunning. She was the perfect image of a god-sent knight, which was ironic, considering what she was.
"OHHHHHH!"
"She is so beautiful!"
"...I never thought that crazy woman could be so stunning..." Someone who has suffered from Natashia's irrationalities spoke up.
It was quite brazen that the audience was more on the woman's side.
'What's this about losing? I did not lose!...Actually, I lost! But that wasn't me, it was the other me! Ugh...' As she walked towards the arena, these thoughts couldn't help but manifest themselves within the woman's mind, she looked at the audience and flashed a gentle smile, and then she made a gesture that drove all men crazy.
... She waved at them.
"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" And that seemed to make them much more excited!
'Disgusting creatures, don't look at me with those eyes. I feel contaminated, should I blow you to the moon?' She couldn't help but think internally, yet despite thinking that, she didn't do anything after all, as her sister said several times:
'Image is important! Everyone knows you're crazy, but you must show a side that no one else knows about you! And with that, our Clan will have more support!' She heard it straight from her sister, but she never took it seriously, considering it was not like she needed these lesser beings, but...
For the sake of becoming a 'good clan leader', she was making this 'great' sacrifice!
Yes! It's all for her and her husband's happiness!
The women glared at the men and couldn't help but think:
'These bunch of Simps!' Their irritation against the men's actions caused them to direct their anger towards Natashia!
Thus they looked at Niklaus and started shouting:
"Count Niklaus! Don't you dare lose to this woman!"
"Show her what you're made of!"
The women completely forgot that they were talking to a count…
"..." The man didn't show any reaction and just stood in the middle of the arena while looking at the woman who was approaching him.
...
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