Chapter 760: A snake caught among the Wolves.
A few days had passed since Victor arrived on Samar, the planet of Werewolves, and the changes his presence had brought about had begun to manifest. Fenir, The First Prince of The Werewolves, had his belongings and his entire Faction destroyed with a single move by Tasha and Volk.
Scheming to usurp power was something Volk fully supported; after all, competition bred progress. However, the dishonest way in which Fenir conducted his actions, using a completely unknown organization to gain power in exchange for using the Werewolves as a tool for that organization, was unacceptable.
That was not the behavior expected of someone who aspired to be a King.
With just an amusing play on words, Victor successfully undermined the New Dawn organization's influence in Samar, leaving the organization extremely dissatisfied with their loss of power.
Tasha was extremely upset with her oldest son, but not just upset. She was also disappointed. And in some ways, disappointment was worse than simple irritation.
Despite not being one of the most talented, Fenir was quite competent at what he did and often supported Tasha when she needed it. It was a pity that he had rushed and done such a foolish thing.
Werewolves were no one's subordinates. They were independent people and possessed their own sovereignty. Fenir's despicable act of seeking support from an unknown organization in exchange for using werewolves as a tool was nothing more than a trap to provide that organization with more influence in Samar.
And what about Volk? How did he react? Well, in the worst possible way. The only reason he hadn't killed his son at that moment was because Tasha stopped him and said she would take care of him.
Those words made Fenir shiver. In a way, he would rather die a quick death at his father's hand than fall into his mother's hands.
"Get out of my way, Tasha. That coward has committed the worst act a Werewolf of The Royal Bloodline can commit. He has betrayed his own kind out of greed!"
"I already said I'd take care of him." Tasha replied, expression unchanged. "You don't trust me in this matter?"
"..." Volk didn't say anything. He just looked seriously at Tasha. Had it been before, Volk would have backed off and entrusted the problem to Tasha, but not this time. The reason? Tasha had already undermined Volk's authority twice in a short period of time. And the King of Werewolves was not happy about it.
Understanding how Volk’s mind worked, Tasha knew he wasn't going to drop the subject. This attitude left her internally revolted.
'Why doesn't he trust me? Haven't I done enough for this goddamn country?' Tasha thought.
If it were before, she wouldn't have thought too much about it. After all, she was used to Volk's attitude. However, due to Victor's recent nightly visits where the two talked about everything, she began questioning her worth in Volk's eyes.
'Why doesn't he treat me better?'
'Why does he always feel the need to subdue me?'
'Is being by his side not enough?'
'Why don't you trust me?'
Those thoughts she had hidden in her heart began to pop up more frequently in her mind.
'If it were Victor, he wouldn't treat me like this...'
Her thoughts involuntarily returned to the previous nights when she and Victor finally discussed the book written by a former friend. Victor knew nothing about this friend and had simply found the book in the Snow Clan library and, upon learning to read the Ancient Egyptian language, understood that it told Tasha’s story from the perspective of Yunet Semet, a woman whom Tasha had once considered her best friend.
Through this book, Victor discovered Tasha's story, albeit partially, as it was written from Yunet's point of view.
Since it was a book about Tasha's history, Victor returned it to her without hesitation, stating that the book was back where it belonged.
Tasha felt warm listening to Victor’s words, and thanks to this last encounter, she didn’t even blink when Victor suddenly appeared in her private quarters at night.
Since that night, it was common for the two to talk privately about any subject that came to mind. It was obvious that they had gotten closer than before. However, despite their growing companionship, she still didn't feel comfortable talking about her past. After all, it was something personal, and she didn't like talking about herself, which Victor made clear about understanding and didn't pursue the topic.
Thus, the more Tasha and Victor talked, the more she realized how undervalued she was as a woman in Volk's eyes.
She couldn't help but notice the irony of the situation. The man called the Demon King of Tyranny was more understanding and less controlling of those he trusted than the King of The Werewolves, who only sought to subjugate everyone and would only accept their opinions when he was the Alpha who stood above everyone else.
Temporarily ignoring her swirling thoughts, Tasha concentrated on the immediate problem.
"He's my responsibility, Volk. I'l deal with him, now get out." Tasha decided, dropping her kindness and trying to be assertive.
Volk’s eyes intensified upon hearing Tasha's tone of voice.
"Twice before... But now, that's three times... Three times you've undermined my authority, Tasha Fenrir..." An oppressive green Power began to envelop Volk's body.
Tasha raised an eyebrow, and green Power, tinged with gold, began covering her body.
"If I say I want him to die... he's going to die!"
Power exploded from Volk's body in a green pillar, black fur began to grow on his hands, and his face grew wilder, turning it into a perfect image of a ferocious beast.
Tasha's appearance slowly began to change as well, with black tattoos beginning to appear on her arms, legs, and face.
"You claim to be a King, and yet you want to kill our only source of information about this organization?" Tasha's green eyes gleamed brightly, her face became more animalistic and wild, her teeth sharp, and her hair disheveled.
Volk didn't move forward. He hadn't lost his rationality and could recognize the truth in Tasha’s words. The only thing that bothered him was seeing her challenging him again in such a short period of time.
His wife was changing, becoming more rebellious, and he didn't know why. The possibility that someone was interfering popped into his mind, but he didn't smell any men near Tasha, and his spies in her Faction didn’t report anything either.
Although, Volk didn't trust his spies very much, as he knew that Tasha had absolute control over her Betas. She likely only allowed these spies to exist to assuage his concerns.
"Well, well... I came here because I felt a surge of Power, but who would have thought that the Queen and King would be about to fight."
Everyone in the room turned toward the voice and saw a man dressed entirely in black.
"Alucard." snarled Volk.I think you should take a look at
Victor ignored Volk and looked at Tasha. "Oh...?"
Tasha's transformation was very different from ordinary Werewolves. It seemed that the fact that she was a Goddess further influenced her transformation.
Instead of calling it a Werewolf Form, it was more accurate to call it a Divine Form.
Every Deity had a Divine Form, as Aphrodite explained. It was a God's original appearance, a form in which they could harness all of their Powers.
'Hmm~ this feeling is very similar to what Inari displayed during her fight against Scathach.'
Tasha didn't say anything when she saw Victor's appraising gaze on her.
"Hmm? Why did you stop? Pretend I'm not even here; you can fight at your leisure. I don't want to get involved in another country's affairs. I'm just here to make sure he doesn't escape." Victor snapped his fingers, and a scream echoed through the room.
"Gaaah!"
Everyone turned their heads toward the scream and saw the sight of Fanir with half of his body frozen.
Everyone realized they were so focused on Tasha and Volk that, for a moment, Fanir nearly escaped.
Fanir turned his face and glared at Victor.
"You!"
"Me?" Victor pointed at himself, confused.
"You fucking bloodsucker! You really couldn't just keep quiet on your bloody planet? You just had to come here and ruin all my plans?!"
"Hmm~." Victor's violet eyes gleamed with mischief.
Instinctively, everyone around them increased their guard against Victor, including Tasha. They knew instinctively that an apex predator had awakened and set its sights on insignificant prey.
"Not only with Nightingale but also with Diablo, you're all over the place, you piece of shit! Why does someone like you need to exist?!"
With a step, Victor vanished and appeared before Fanir. He looked deep into the Werewoll’s eyes and smiled slightly.
"Tell me, how does it feel to know that all your efforts were wasted with just a few words from me?" His violet eyes gleamed softly.
Fanir opened his mouth to say more vulgarities to Victor but soon had his mouth closed. His angry expression faded, and a dazed expression took its place.
"... I feel like crap..."
"Oh~? Why do you feel this way?"
"I've tried so hard, I had to fight against an ogre of a father who thinks himself so great that he need not think rationally yet is so useless he can't even subjugate his own wife, A useless man who would not surprise me if he slept with his most loyal Betas." Disdain and helplessness were visible on Fanir’s face.
Volk gritted his teeth, and the intensity of the atmosphere around them became even more oppressive. Still, none of it affected Victor or Fanir, who felt, for the first time, that he no longer had to restrain or suppress his feelings.
"I had to fight against a mother who is too blind to realize that my father only sees her as a tool, a sadistic woman who thinks only of herself and ignores her older children, in favor of a useless younger son, merely because some enormous beast uttered he had potential and allowed him to use its name. That brat is treated with more respect than I, the eldest."
Now it was Tasha's turn to grit her teeth in anger, not because of the insults her son directed at herself, but because he disrespected Fenrir.
"Poor thing... You've suffered so much, haven't you?" taunted Victor.
"Mm..." A sad expression appeared on Fanir’s face, and tears began to fall.
"All I wanted was what was rightfully mine, but that goddamn son of a bitch of a father is a megalomaniac bastard who clings to power forever. Doesn't that asshole know what retirement is? How long does he plan to stay in power? Why have a monarchy if you have no interest in passing the Title on to your descendants?"
"Annoying son of a bitch."
"Not to mention this chaotic society, a society created by Werewolves like my father, who are just a bunch of old eunuchs who like to keep themselves in power and do not allow the young to bring about change. Because of the King’s mismanagement, the society of Werewolves looks like a big circus with several eras woven together like a mismatched abomination."
"Haah... I hear you, my friend. It may seem amazing at first glance, but inside, it's quite chaotic and meaningless, isn't it?" Victor spoke with understanding, as if he were talking to a childhood friend.
"Ohhh! You understand me?!"
"Of course" Victor nodded.
Fanir sighed, "If I had known that, I would have approached you and asked for help. Unfortunately, I was too scared. You are a freaking scary monster."
"Thanks for the compliment." Victor let out a genuine chuckle.
"If I had contacted you earlier, we could have placed you as one of the organization's Leaders. That way, we would have been more empowered to deal with what awaits us in the future."
"Eh ~? What awaits us in the future?"
"That’s..." Fanir tried to speak, but his voice made no sound. A strange expression appeared on his face, and he looked confused around. "Hmm, I do not remember. What was it again?"
"..." Victor narrowed his eyes slightly. He had read about something similar to this in a Hellish Tome. It was a Curse that Demons used to prevent information from leaking from their contractors. Only the contractor could know the information and could not divulge it without the Demon's permission. It was essentially a privacy spell.
Victor focused his Draconic Eyes on Fanir and realized that even with his eyes, he could see nothing.
If there was anything he couldn't see in this world, it was probably the work of the Primordial Gods. Considering that the New Dawn had several Gods in its organization, it would not be an impossible task to accomplish.
"Mm, you have memory problems, Do not worry, it's normal. After all, you hit your head when you were captured, did you not?"