Jason watched as three figures turned the corner and began to approach their group. There were no footsteps at all, no matter how much Jason strained his ears, and it was almost like the figures were gliding on air rather than stepping on the ground! Jason couldn’t even hear them breathing! Two of the figures were almost seven feet tall, and they were draped in long black cloaks that came all the way down to the floor and hoods that cast a shadow over their faces. The third figure was about a head shorter than Jason, and it walked in front of the first two. It wore the same cloak and cape as the other two, but it’s cloak was made from a red material with gold trimmings along the edges that made the cloak look far more regal. Jason watched patiently as the figure approached them and began to pass beside them slowly, and Jason’s eyes suddenly met with a pair of blood-red eyes from the figure wearing the red cloak. The moment their eyes met, the figure stopped, and everyone seemed to tense at the same time.
Jason kept himself as calm as possible as he watched for any sign of hostility from the figure, and Jason was surprised when the figure suddenly reached up and took off the hood covering its head to reveal a pale, delicate face that would have been more fitting on a model! The woman beneath the cloak had deep red eyes and blood-red lips, but her skin was so white that it almost seemed like she hadn’t received any sunlight since the day she was born. It looked like alabaster! The woman took a few steps closer to Jason, and Jason blinked in surprise when she suddenly took a deep whiff of the air around him.
Jason could sense the Radagan guards tensing for a fight, and even Gina and Agiel seemed to be getting ready as well, but Jason knew that it would be a mistake to fight against this woman. Jason hated to admit it, but he could tell even without sensing the woman’s power that this was someone who could eradicate all of them if she wanted to. This woman was extraordinarily powerful!
"Can I help you with something?"
Jason spoke up as calmly as he could, and the tension in the hallway seemed to suddenly reduce as the woman looked up at him in curiosity. She tilted her head to one side as she studied Jason’s face before she suddenly grinned at him. Jason cursed internally, and his hand tightened when he saw the fangs peeking out from the woman’s mouth. No wonder Jason had been feeling the presence of death all this time. She was a fucking vampire.
[Actually, this woman is Queen Lamina, and she rules over a race of people known as the Vympir. Referring to her as a Vampire is a common mistake since her race shares similarities with the Vampires from Earth.]
’This really isn’t the time for a lecture, you bastard.’
Jason frowned at the system, and he refocused on Lamina when she suddenly spoke.
"You... you’ve met him, haven’t you? I can feel it radiating off you like poison. The stench of old man death."
Old man death? Jason’s mind travelled back to the skeletal figure he had run into after bringing Gina back from the dead, and he knew that this was what Lamina was referring to. It was a little shocking that Lamina was talking about death in such a familiar way. It was almost like Lamina knew death on a personal basis! Jason didn’t bother to respond, and Lamina’s smile seemed to grow as she pulled back and raised her hood once again. She looked Jason over with a little more interest before she finally spoke.
"The next time you meet him, tell him his favourite Apostle says hello. It’s been a while since I saw that old fossil."
"If you don’t get out of my way, then you’ll be going to meet him this instant."
Another voice echoed from behind the corner, and Jason almost felt like cursing when he heard it. Jason and the others turned to look at who was there, and they watched as Hesabeth turned the corner and began to head down the hallway. The moment Hesabeth appeared, every single member of Jason’s group felt their entire body calming down. There was a general sense of non-violence that suddenly took over the group, and Jason could feel all the tension in the hallway vanishing immediately!
’Protect her! Guard her! Love her! Protect her!’
Jason also felt his defences dropping once he saw Hesabeth, but thankfully, the system kicked in and fought back against the Primordial Domain’s influence, and Jason shook his head as he got his senses back! Hesabeth was just as grand and regal as Jason remembered her being; she wore a red and gold dress that fitted her perfectly and fell off her shoulders slightly to show off a bit of cleavage, and she walked with a poise that most royal nobles would never attain in their lives. There were three armored soldiers walking behind her, and beneath her feet, a magical rug was constantly unrolling itself to provide a red carpet for her to walk on. It was almost like Hesabeth was so far above them that she would never reduce herself to walking upon the same dirt as the rest of them. Jason watched Hesabeth approaching, and for a moment, Jason saw her eyes glance at him in interest before she turned away again! Hesabeth stopped a few feet away from Lamina, and Jason called on his subordinates and told them to get ready to drag the others into the shadows if things got out of hand! Lamina and Hesabeth seemed to have an intense staredown, and Hesabeth’s condescending gaze bore into Lamina’s intense stare without a hint of fear! Lamina was a mage who had definitely entered the TITAN Rank, so it was insane for Jason to see the S-Rank Hesabeth standing up to Lamina like this!
But Jason was even more shocked when Lamina suddenly took a few steps away from Hesabeth before turning and leaving with her two guards! What the fuck?
’Hesabeth is the favourite child of the Primordial Expanse, and even the most powerful creatures in the Primordial Expanse would tread carefully around Hesabeth in order to avoid the wrath of her Primordial Bias.’
Jason suddenly remembered what the system had told him after his first meeting with Hesabeth, and Jason realised that the system hadn’t been exaggerating at all! Was this really how strong Hesabeth’s Primordial Bias was!? Lamina was someone who could kill multiple SSS-Ranks without breaking a sweat, and Jason was sure that Lamina was at least somewhere in the mid-TITAN Rankings! And yet, Lamina was so wary of Hesabeth’s power that she was doing her best not to get on Hesabeth’s nerves? Who the fuck is this woman?
"What a coincidence that we would meet again like this, Jason Marc of Earth. I was certain that our paths would cross again, but I didn’t think it would be under such circumstances. You’ve been quite busy, haven’t you?"
Queen Hesabeth raised her fan and used it to cover her lower face as she said this, and she gazed at Jason curiously while waiting for an answer. Jason nodded back at her in greeting before speaking bluntly.
"From all the things I’ve learned about you, I would’ve preferred if we never met at all."
Hesabeth actually laughed when she heard Jason say this, and she snapped her fan back into its folded form and poked Jason’s chest with the tip as she spoke softly.
"You still have that sharp tongue of yours, I see. Even after learning who I am and what I am capable of, you still dare to defy me with your words. You continue to intrigue me, Jason Marc of Earth."
Jason smiled, and he watched as Hesabeth glanced around at all the others who came from Earth and Radagan. Her gaze seemed to linger on Gina and Riyala for a moment longer than normal, but she turned back to Jason when she heard Jason speak.
"I don’t suppose I can ask for your assistance before we go for the hearing."
Jason had asked this as calmly as he could, and he watched as Hesaetbh’s red eyes turned to him curiously. Jason could tell from their interaction that Hesabeth was in a good mood at that moment, so he decided to ask the same question he had asked Farlow earlier. There was every chance that Hesabeth would just laugh at his request, but you never know what to expect with someone like Hesabeth, and Jason needed all the help he could get, so he was willing to try.