Nightmare System

"He did what?!" Virgil spit out the glass of blood he was enjoying. The sweat on his body made his muscles shine under the morning light.

"Sorry, My Lord, let me reiterate," Aurus said and added: "Uriel from the Queen's Guard has encountered Lord Hell, demanding myself and Lord Hell to answer to the Queen for our recent actions from what he could gather in his first few moments in Lord Hell's base. Queen's Guard Uriel escaped after being impaled and scorched by Lord Hell's fire. He was pursued together with some copies but he managed to escape."

Virgil found a seat and sat down, contemplating silently for a long minute.

"What Hell did was right; our combined strength has a chance to dwindle their numbers with little loss if we're lucky. This will exhaust our units, but it will be better than being outnumbered ten to one." Virgil said and got up, giving a stern order:

"Gather the Sons of Shadow and mobilise the able vampires in the base. Give them the news of Hell killing Lirger and their next target being Pandora. We will create a new order starting tomorrow!"

"Understood," Aurus nodded with a hint of uncertainty in his heart and left promptly.

Virgil sighed and murmured to himself. "I'm sure this is for the best, the Queen needs to fall."

…

"You will conquer the vampires next week?!" Was the question in the minds of all who were present. Neither Theperes, Leon, Leila, Vaun, Annette or Miur knew what to say to such an oblivious declaration. Leon and Leila had acknowledged Hell being the strongest among them, and even he was having trouble fighting against Vampire Lords. He was now talking about killing as many as they could in the next few days and then have an all-out war later.

"You do realise that sounds insane, right?" Leila spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Hell, I just don't think that's a good idea, no matter how strong you may be," Theperes said.

"We owe you so much, but I don't think a suicide mission like this would be worth it. Let's just stick around, slowly try to build out power, make alliances with other groups, tribes, whatever there is," Leon offered a logical idea.

"We won't get another chance like this, guys," Hell said. "They will bolster their defences and turn as many as they can if they deem it necessary, creating a myriad of vampires. Don't you think so?"

Everyone was trying to talk Hell down without calling him an idiot at first, but silence descended upon the party to be broken this time by Hell, who said:

"I won't force any of you to join me, you are free to leave or stand behind. Although I won't consider you an enemy, I won't consider you a friend either after that, however." Hell didn't want friends that wouldn't walk with him. He needed to trust the people he considered friends.

Vaun was the most docile among them so he didn't raise his voice. It had been so little time yet his world had changed so greatly. He was sure that right now, he would currently be one of the strongest men on earth. He felt small and weak around Hell, but he was a monster, after all. He could only nod to Hell who received it with a smile. Although he had grown fond of his "boss", he still scared him.

"Leon?" Hell asked.

"Yeah, sure, we'll stick around," Leon said with a sigh. He didn't enjoy being given an ultimatum, but he could do nothing but accept it. He was a lot stronger now since he started using his ability on weapons and use them to annihilate his foes instead. But even then, what if his mana ran out? Mana took hours and hours to regenerate and he also didn't have Hell's agility.

Leila nodded next to her brother, as well, making her intentions clear. She was also getting better at using her abilities and her small chats with Miur was giving her a lot of clues about how to improve her power. It seemed she was destined to become a vampire. She was relieved when she found out vampires stored blood as well, so she didn't need to go out for hunting, nor did she have to ask for blood from Hell. She, however, never asked where the blood came from. She didn't want to know.

Theperes was simply worried for Hell, but she wouldn't think of leaving him. It was apparent where she stood. Annette kneeled and declared that her life was her Lord's to use as he wishes, that she would fight with all she has. Miur followed with a deep grin on his face. He was right to have chosen Hell in that crucial moment. He would have a lot of fun with this person.

Hell had noticed he was using Annette as a replacement for Porter. Annette also knew this, after all, Lord Hell was only more familiar with Porter because of his zealous demeanour. But it was fine, she was endlessly grateful to Lord Hell. Although it must not have seen like such a big deal to Hell, Dmiria and his elite were an impossible to overcome barrier in front of them and they would forever be tortured in this base had it not been for her Lord.

"Fantastic," Hell said. "Annette, make sure the new knights are chosen until tonight, you will also enter the contest. No killing during the matches. Execute the ones who disobey."

"Understood." Annette left the room.

"I am expecting Virgil very soon. Should we drink something before we head forth tonight, then?" Hell said, met by sighs from all around himself. Only Hell could be so relaxed before a battle, they were thinking as they dispersed. Especially Leila wanted to further her own skills, so she asked Miur for further pointers and they left together. Leon was suspicious of Miur and thought Hell was simply too trusting. He followed behind them as sneakily as he could.

After a few hours, Annette reported to Lord Hell, saying that Virgil and his army had arrived and that the sparring would start, soon. She informed him that Lord Virgil was right outside the door, who was then promptly allowed in.

"I hope you are well, my Lord," Virgil said, looking at Hell.

"Come on, Virgil, I told you I don't really like that stuff much, be more casual."

"All right, all right," Virgil said with a slight chuckle, as the Sons of Shadow followed after Virgil and kneeled before Hell.

"Lord Hell," they chanted. It seems they were a tad more devout now.

"Rise," Hell said. "I see you can barely wait for the battle, you guys look very excited."

"Yes, it'll be our first real battle as Sons of Shadow in decades," Aurus explained. "They are also very keen to test their newfound abilities."

"Fantastic, would you like to watch me choose my Knights?" Hell nonchalantly said.

"Of course, lead the way," Virgil replied. His lab coat also had traces of blood in a few places. Hell thought Virgil must have been training himself, too. He wondered if his strength improved or not, he would see during the battle.

They entered the fighting grounds and watched the fights take place slowly. It took a few hours and there were some unexpectedly strong fighters among both his new and old batch, but some of the winners were already determined such as Annette and Miur. However, the latter was to lead his own unit of assassins under Hell's orders as a far more experienced vampire compared to Hell's Knights. There were two new faces from among the new vampires with the third one being slightly more familiar compared to others.

It was Jack, the savage vampire from earlier. He had various abilities he showed a glimpse of in battle that Virgil was very curious about. Although, not thinking it was interesting enough, Hell dismissed the idea. Jack's strength wasn't anything noteworthy in Hell's eyes, but he liked his spirit. He had an explosive personality Hell would love to have around himself.

Hell called the top four winners forward and told them to introduce themselves to the rest of the vampires. They stepped forward with blood still dripping from all over their being. Hell not only wanted to find the strongest amongst the batch, but also the cruellest and the most feral ones. Each one yelled their names.

"Annette Mayer!" A petite girl with long brown hair which was almost drowned in blood after the fights. These were vampires, as long as one didn't rip out the heart of another, everything would be fine.

"Jack Moonyell!" He was a young man looking to be 15 with white eyes and an average stature. His hair was oddly enough looked to be almost slicked back with the help of some sweat and blood. His black hair shined under the mana-powered lights of the Fighting Grounds.

"Roro Pacaya!" He looked to be in his 40s from Hell's perspective, but Roro was a Menaroan, meaning there was virtually no way to distinguish his real age. Hell thought he would ask later. Roro's olive skin seemed to be untouched and his man bun was still in perfect shape. Although he didn't seem more powerful than the other knights, his hypnosis-like spell helped him get the upper hand in his fights.

"Brynhild Belmano!" Hell was especially excited about her. She clearly wasn't human but giant-kin with a roughly sculpted face and 2.5 metres in height. Her blond hair drooped down her waist and the leather clothes she wore only helped show off her taut muscles. Her brown eyes matched Anton's for a moment and Hell was taken aback, they would be a great couple! He supported that with all his heart, albeit silently.

"Good," Hell said after a slight contemplation. "Mobilise the army, we're leaving in an hour."

It was surely counterproductive to battle after serious sparring between vampires, but Hell thought it necessary to establish a chain of command through sheer strength before the eyes of all vampires here. What he hated the most was when people didn't do the jobs they are given, and although Aurus managed to control the army beautifully last time, larger numbers would be a challenge to control, nonetheless. If he appointed respected superiors to the rest of the vampires, it would at least be enough to quell any small disagreements and keep the peace of the army itself.

"Understood." Each began attending a portion of the vampires, bringing them together.

"How many did you bring with you?" Hell asked.

"Around 300."

"So we can safely say we'll have at least 500 able vampires, I assume?"

"Dmiria wasn't training them properly, but yes, we would still have around 500 after eliminating the weaker vampires," Virgil said and added: "I truly do think that's a good idea, we wouldn't want to fight the remaining 8 vampire bases at once. Even if they do join the fight afterwards, as long as we take their leaders' heads, it'll be easier to handle them."

"Thanks, I am also considering using my copies to the fullest," Hell said with a chuckle. "I am quite excited."

"Yes, I, I did get that part a while ago," Virgil said, keeping his laugh down. "So, you and Theperes, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, she is a brilliant woman. I do get why you'd have your eyes on her even while she was a ghoul."

"She was always a smart one, even after her transition horribly failed."

"Why didn't you just kill some other vampire and fed her his heart's blood?" Hell asked.

"I only had my own vampires in my base, I wasn't gonna kill one to save another," Virgil truthfully replied. "Other vampires don't usually stick around others' bases, either."

"I see," Hell said as he took a sip from his drink. He was now drinking a yellowish drink with a black tint. It had some form of alcohol in it, but wouldn't affect Hell unless he consumed an unholy amount of it. It was very delicious, Hell was thinking of importing these odd fruits to his world if he could. He then considered the possibility of moving his entire force back into his world. That would be quite fun.

Would he be able to dominate the world with a base full of vampires? It was a hard question to answer, but did he even want that? He was just thinking it could be very amusing to see what would happen.

Aurus called for the entire army soon after Hell's and Virgil's talk, saying he was ready to teleport everyone. They would teleport around 10 times with 20 minutes between each jump, he said. Any more than that would break his mind for sure. Because it wasn't only the vampires, it was also their mounts which almost doubled the spell's difficulty for Aurus. But since they had caught and managed to tame some, it would be a waste to not use them.

In fact, it was Roro's ability to commune with the animals that made it so much easier. Roro was a Menaroan-turned vampire. The people of Menaroa had sharp, long ears and a slender physique. He had olive skin and supported a man bun on his head.

The army teleported 9 times in total until the dawn and Aurus collapsed after that, saying he would need to sleep a few hours and then they could continue. They figured they were almost half-way there, so the army settled for a few hours and started foraging for food.

"Lord Hell," Annette had come back after around an hour. "We found a Greenskin village not a lot farther, should we consume them instead of the blood we brought?"

"Will they be enough for the army?"

"It's a small to medium-sized village, so I believe they will be, my Lord."

"All right, tell Theperes and Leila that I'll give them my blood if they are hungry." Hell was dragging them into a war, so he felt like doing something for them. It did hurt him to do that and the draining of one's blood was an oddly disturbing feeling, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

"Yes, my Lord," Annette said and left, taking the majority of the blood-hungry vampires with her along with Hell's knights. Hell also sent a copy with them, just in case. They were vampires, they needed blood. Hell understood that point, including the fact that a vampire's basic instinct could be one cursing it to have a d.e.s.i.r.e for killing. Of course, he didn't want that for Leila if possible, Leon could otherwise be frustrated with him.

The cries of the villagers rose into the night, striking terror into the hearts of anyone who heard it. Hell listened to it without much of an emotion stirring his heart. He then saw Leila and Leon follow behind the voices. "Perhaps she does want fresh blood," Hell mumbled as he relaxed on his chair once more. He had two vampires carry his large chair, resembling a throne. Hell didn't care about it looking like a throne or anything resembling one, he simply liked how comfortable it was, and he had enough of sitting and lying on stones. Furthermore, it would be inappropriate if a Vampire Lord slept on the ground with the rest of the army.

…

"Stop! Stop attacking the village!" Leon yelled, using his ability to hold the vampires behind. As long as the vampires realised who was yelling, they would stop. It was Lord Hell's friends, they would surely heed their words.

"Don't you have any heart?" Leila screamed, some Greenskins starting to hide behind her and Leon, seeing the vampires didn't move against them when they did as such.

"What are you guys doing?" Hell's copy asked in a joking tone, sitting on the roof of the house the siblings were next to.

"Hell? Why the hell are you allowing this?" Leon asked. "These people did nothing to you, so why would you try to wipe them out with your army?! I have swallowed my principles and let you kill and butcher because they were our enemies, how about these people?"

"A man's gotta eat," Copy Hell replied. "This is an army and they have to eat, or, well, drink, you see."

"Didn't you bring bottles of blood for the journey, and it has only been half a day!" Leila asked. She was sure there were bottles full of blood back at their camp.

"And where do you think that blood comes from?" Hell asked. He was always aware of this point since their first encounter with the vampires. Virgil was a lot more compassionate compared to himself and even the vampires under him cruelly hunted her down, after all. "Do you think they just come to us to donate their blood?"

The siblings were speechless and finally realised that they were truly facing evil incarnate. Hell was not simply a warmongering person, he had no sympathy for other creatures. Leon thought of this point before as well, but brushed it off after Hell would go to the lengths of declaring war against a Vampire Lord when they harmed his little sister.

"Hell, you cannot be so emotionless, there are kids here," Leon spoke up.

"Don't worry, I told them to leave some of the population especially the children alive and well. Hunting anything to extinction is always a bad idea."

The siblings took another look at the creatures before them and turned their heads to see Greenskins being eaten, killed and consumed by other vampires on the scene. The ones right in front of them were hungry, too. They were monsters. Hell, the person they thought was a friend was also a monster.

"When you gave us an ultimatum earlier…?" Leon asked, "would you kill us if we refused?"

"What?! No!" Copy Hell replied, finally understanding how grave the circ.u.mstance he found himself in was. "Let me get Hell, wait here!" Copy Hell said and dashed off using his speed to utmost, reaching Hell in a matter of one minute. After briefed by the now-exhausted clone, he dismissed it and headed there himself…

…

"Those bastards, those damn daring bastards!" Uriel yelled into the jungle after running for hours to no end. He figured Hell no longer followed him after a while, but he couldn't risk it, he had to warn the Queen. There were no invading forces for a millennium to them aside from Lucifer's forces, but they were also kept at bay for all these years, as well.

"They dare insult my Queen?!" Uriel yelled into the jungle once more. "I will torture them, torture them all!" he kept yelling, venting out. Hell's fire had roasted his insides and he was only now even starting to feel better. Had it not been for his perseverance, he would have fallen on the ground in pain a long time ago.

His cries attracted the attention of a few predators, Uriel killed one to drink its blood and would continue on his way. As long as he reached one of the portals, he could use his amulet as a catalyst to directly teleport back to his Queen. Oh, how much love and respect he had for his Queen. Medusa, the perfect woman he would always serve until he is reduced to ashes would be disgruntled when she'd hear this news. He berated himself for being so weak that he couldn't even finish off a rebel and a lone invader.

"We'll meet again, you bastard," Uriel cursed and melted back into a shadow once more, trying to find a teleporter with all his speed.