Nightmare System

"Don't even start with your sarcastic comments!" Theperes yelled. "What do you think you are doing to Annette?!"

Hell was fuming after the slap, but he managed to calm himself down. Why was he to be questioned by everyone?

"I am the King here, and she questioned me." Hell had again lost the smile that was on his face after hearing Theperes' words.

Annette was still in pain from the use of Gaze of Pain, but even in her body's hectic state, she still felt a rush of cold trickling down her spine. Lord Hell looked like a young man who seemed quite unthreatening coupled with his usual decorum. The feeling he gave, however, when he dropped his act was an absolute contrast of night and day. He would transition from a perhaps good and understanding person to an unfeeling predator that somehow released an aura of incoming death around him.

Annette had always been one that saw the best in others, so she still believed her Lord, her saviour, was in actuality a good person. But it seemed his evil was only lesser in her eyes since he had certain excuses for his acts of brutality from before. Her Lord was massacring an entire city and torturing an already defeated man, both actions were unneeded.

Theperes could barely get used to how Hell's behaviour would change, she also felt how serious he became when his smile vanished. Hell gave a certain level of control over himself to people around himself, meaning that he was fine with being nagged by Theperes or his friends. He would be fine with being yelled at in front of his army by Theperes, too, perhaps. But once a line was crossed, there would be no more discussions. What was scary from her perspective was that Hell seemed calculating to an extent even while he was being brash. It somehow created the illusion that he was never unprepared.

"You can't be this cruel to people, and especially not to your Knights. They are your loyal soldiers!" Theperes yelled again, she would not back down under his piercing gaze.

"Compassion is for the weak," he said, looking at Annette who was still kneeling over his shoulder, under the influence of his spell, enduring it silently. Hell could see Annette grinding her teeth just to not whimper, angering her Lord further. Hell was slightly pleased that she was still loyal even now. That's how it should be, he thought. There was no point to it if you were only "loyal" as long as it was beneficial.

"You are still causing her pain!" she snapped. "Stop it!"

"That is… all right," Annette said, still kneeling. "A just… punishment."

Hell was impressed by her loyalty yet once more. "That's enough, then," Hell said and released the spell with a snap of his fingers. She felt faint once the spell ended and started collapsing as Hell caught her in his arms and helped her stand up. He had not hesitated to teleport over to hold her. Her petite figure was gently grasped by Hell. Although he had just punished her, her Lord still cared, after all. The mere moment she spent in his arms was something she wished lasted longer as she blushed to the extent that she would look like a good meal to any vampire passing by.

"Thank- Thank you for your lesson, Lord Hell!" she suddenly blurted out, managing to catch Hell by surprise with her outburst. I guess she's into that stuff, he thought, his view of her going through a stark change.

"All right, then, you can just go and rest if you'd like now," Hell said. "You are dismissed."

"Yes, my Lord!" she kneeled and left in a hurry with a reddened face.

Hell then turned to Theperes, with his casual and friendly attitude back. "You were right," Hell chuckled. "I should give her more credit."

Theperes, a woman of intuition saw a glimpse of passion in Annette's eyes before she left and she now had a red face for a different reason altogether. She walked up to Hell's face, with a distance of a few centimetres between them and spoke in anger:

"I will never allow you to sleep with her behind my back!"

"What? Why the hell would I sleep with her?" Hell was confused. Wasn't he just torturing her here, how much of a distance could there be between himself and Annette?

"Never mind," she said and was about to walk up to the couple ahead, only to be stopped by Hell.

"It will be dangerous for you to get close to that man, stay away." Hell grasped her shoulder and tried to convey this was no joke through a moment of silence between them.

"Just stop torturing them, all right?" Theperes said in a soft voice, almost begging. "I don't want you to be a person who is cruel to others for fun." She grasped Hell's hands, c.a.r.e.s.sing them gently.

Theperes understood reforming Hell would be a challenge like no other. It was obvious he was not a good person, more like a whimsical demon. Even when he helped others, it strangely felt like a selfish act when it was coming from Hell. But she also admired such a way of life, only acting according to your heart, she always had to be calculative throughout her own.

When she was younger, she ventured out from her village of mix-breeds. These were the hybrids between other species such as Menaroans and Humans as she was one, although leaning more on the human side. Or mixes between humanoids in general, had given birth to a society of civil creatures of all kinds. She knew she would rise to the top with her smarts and that such one village she was born in would be a waste of her potential. She thought her future was boundless with a myriad of opportunities, but the cold and unfeeling fact was that she was too weak, living in a world of dangers at every corner.

Even their predators, vampires, had their own predators in the jungle. Even strong and unkillable foes they faced from time to time could barely survive outside on their own. Then she would become unkillable, too, she wouldn't have to be scared as much anymore.

"I'll try to be better for you," Hell said, gazing into her eyes.

Awaken from her stupor, the first thing she saw was boundless holes of blue bringing her a feeling of serenity and tranquil. "It's not fair," she mumbled under her breath as their eyes met once more, followed by the joining of their lips in a passionate kiss.

You were supposed to be only a step for me, Theperes thought, not the entire stairway.

"Now, go and rest," Hell said and summoned three clones. "Here, you can have a walk in the city if you wish, save anyone you want."

Theperes was caught by surprise. This way of saving people was definitely unconventional, but she would still take it. Halt at least a portion of the cruelty in the city. The crackling sound of fire and occasional screams were all heard from the city at the moment.

"Okay."

…

Virgil entered a room with Aurus closely following behind him. Their eyes were resolute and their steps decisive. Virgil was wearing loose clothes that he could move easily in, and his lab coat again, always wearing it.

"Hello, gentlemen," Virgil echoed into the dimly lit room. It looked like a large study room with various books and tools in it. One could also see a shelf full of sophisticated alcoholic beverages in a well-made glass.

"I figured there would be guards specifically for this room, contacting that witch Medusa in the worst-case scenario, am I right?" his voice echoed again. Virgil also began using his skills to boost his abilities, looking ready for a fight.

Soon after, the shadows in the room started taking shape and two vampires revealed themselves, with one finally taking the initiative to speak:

"You will take not one more step, you two-bit fledgeling. Theodore, warn the main base immediately. Tell them the traitor Virgil Maneya has been killed by the Queen's operatives," said the middle-aged looking vampire, flexing his muscles. Simply flexing them had torn his clothing. He also activated anything that could further his abilities, his hands shaking with excitement for the upcoming fight.

"You won't have the chance," Aurus said, quietly casting his spell in the background. The spell had created a thick wall of ice right behind both vampires, barring them from continuing forward.

"So it's two on two, then?" Theodore asked with a confident smile.

"No," Virgil said as he lunged at the vampire who gave the order. The vampire raised his guard as a reaction and grew his claws for a counterattack. Virgil's claws had started tearing through the vampire's arm like it was paper the moment they clashed. The vampire was decapitated in the next moment and fell on the ground with his head and arm severed.

"They say there is only one way to kill a vampire and it is through the heart, no?" Virgil asked. "But for example, decapitation will also work. Or if you burn them quite thoroughly." Virgil said as he slowly walked towards Theodore. The lone vampire had seen the gruesome death of his senior, so he backed away in fear, leaning on ice.

"Just go in!" Theodore yelled. "The city is already gone!" I can't just die with the city, Theodore was thinking. They were not allowed to leave the room, so they expected good news from the Lord Pandora in a few moments, not knowing that he was already dead.

Virgil slowly walked until he was very close to Theodore's face, each step of his echoing in the room. "I need you to understand. I cannot be distracted here." He put his hand on top of Theodore's head and gripped it. "I hope you'll forgive me." Virgil's hand started heating and it became a glowing red and soon his fingers began melting a path into the vampire's brain. Theodore screamed in agony until he died.

His hand had also melted the ice right behind Theodore. He walked through the melted opening and a smile found itself on Virgil's face.

"We found it, a direct communication device to the Queen," Aura said gleefully. "This will be quite useful."

"Those poor fools had too much faith in Pandora. Since they failed to use it, we will now make use of it," Virgil said and took the device. It was a small orb glowing blue. When mana was infused into it, the orb would initiate instant contact with the other orb it was synchronised with. Bases such as Virgil's and Dmiria's were shunned bases, comprising of vampires that were turned around that area.

Every few years when the war against the Demon of Pride started, they'd be the vanguard. Of course, 7 of the bases were the border bases, Virgil and Dmiria weren't the only ones. Someone would travel through portals to inform these bases to collect taxes and materials once a year or so, there would be no contact with them otherwise. They were closer to the devils than they were to their own kind.

Virgil was furious, seeing the lavish lifestyle here. This "base" was hundreds of times his own base, a huge and bustling city. A great palace for the Lord, too. Of course, he had heard the details of Hell's fight with the Elemental Monarch. Virgil didn't have any hopes of defeating something like that, so he was glad to have a loose cannon that could deal an immense amount of damage.

The takeover of the city had happened too quickly after the army arrived. When they arrived, the city was already in shambles and Hell had eradicated any large vampire group finally gathering, focusing on taking out the captains, commanders and any leader. Although they were high in number, an army in disarray was barely a barrier to their own army. They had only lost 70, but killed 600 in return, while taking 200 as prisoners.

To the residents and vampires of the city, this army seemingly had no end to it. Aurus thought that had they not left to find this place, under their command, there would be very few losses. Rest of the Sons of Shadow and Hell's Knights gathered together as a concentrated force, leading both the army and were the elite shock troops.

On top of all that, the sudden earthquake that shattered the city buildings was the best thing that could happen during the attack. They couldn't have hoped for better circ.u.mstances during the attack, especially with a number of the vampires seeing their revered Lord Pandora explode into bits in the sky.

"Let's leave," Virgil said after gazing at the blue orb for a moment. "We have what we came for."

"Yes, Lord Virgil."