Nightmare System

"So, Praneo, did you suddenly decide to join me and my posse of miscreants?" Hell asked at the jolly King standing a few steps behind Leon. Praneo looked like an excited kid, finally seeing his buddy again. Of course, Hell was also happy to see him. Praneo soon composed himself, embracing his kingly aura.

"Did you do this by yourself?" Praneo pointed at the thousand corpses surrounding them. They were brutally murdered and seemingly died in fear. Some looked as if they didn't even know how they died with their faces painted by the shock of instant death.

Hell's mouth turned into a grin and his aura, more tangible, burst out again as a scarlet messenger of death, striking fear at the hearts of everyone around him. But before Hell could say a thing, a small black object climbed from the back of his shoulder started speaking in a child-like tone, attracting the attention of everyone.

"We killed them all! The last hundred or so tried to run away but we got them, too! We are the scourge of this planet, you should all kneel before us!" squeaked Nitio, expertly failing to intimidate anyone.

"What is that weird monkey on your shoulder?"

Praneo's lips trembled as he tried to hold his laughter back. He had seen familiars and such before, but he still couldn't make the connection with this small creature. Although he had just composed himself and assumed a serious tone, he was finally unable to hold on any further and burst into a laugh.

With his laugh, Hell's bloodthirsty aura also receded, with the soldiers behind their King finally being able to breathe again. The atmosphere recovered to a bearable extent. Praneo's laughter did not anger Hell, in fact, even turned his ever-so present grin of his heralding violence into an amiable smile.

"What are you laughing at, fatso?" Nitio yelled, which only caused the intensity of his laughter to worsen. This was the funniest and smallest intelligible thing he had ever seen. He would take it as a pet if he could, it was a shame Hell found it first.

Hell's eyes felt a lot more tranquil with such an amiable scene occurring and he was currently feeling less violent, especially after seeing the two siblings again. Not that he needed them specifically, nor did he truly love them. But he still enjoyed having people around himself that he could call "friends".

Without even Hell realising it, Leila's presence was somewhat helping alleviate his heart since he wasn't currently able to see his little brother and ease his worries. That even if temporarily, she had become an important piece on Hell's life. Hell heaved a sigh when he saw that she was all right.

Hell's mood changes always captured one's attention since there was such a stark disparity between them. It was interesting to see from others' perspective on how much a person's emotions could be reflected with such small details on a person's face. Of course, we can pick up such details instinctively without the need to analyse them, more so if it's a person you regularly interact with, the smallest difference in one's complexion sometimes meaning more than a thousand words.

With Hell's aura slowly dissipating, Leon also no longer felt a pressure and his confidence started rising. But with his sister looking unfl.u.s.tered, he kept quiet. It was hard to believe it was Hell's aura earlier since he could almost feel his claws on his throat, threatening to extinguish his life. He was with Hell during battles before, too, but he did not remember something so stifling.

"Ah, this guy is…" Hell said, finally picking Nitio up. He didn't want to say that he was his elemental spirit bound by a contract, that he was swindled by this guy and signed without realising what was going on.

"…he kind of hangs around me now. That's about it. Right, next question?"

Praneo gave him a funny look but didn't ask any further. Nile was also very curious about the creature, but Hell's nonchalant answer hit her like a sledgehammer, so she also didn't pursue the matter for now.

"Can I… pet it?" Leila asked, not being able to hold on anymore. "Please?"

While she seemed to be living the moment and not even inquiring about the corpses that numbered more than a thousand with a rough estimate, Leon was still very distraught by the fact that his sister was so ready to get back into this creature's life. He felt that more Leila was near Hell and his lackeys, further she was getting from himself when he looked back at the last month or so. Every moment she enjoyed together with Hell was now torture to him.

"I'll go look for Vaun, if he is still alive," Leon said while Leila played with Nitio who was yelling things like "Royalty cannot be petted!" and "I'll have your head for this!" These threats not only couldn't at all scare Leila, they even started attracting most female soldiers near them. Nile seemed to be holding herself in check, for now, resisting the allure of petting Nitio.

"Sure, go ahead. He was with the others, watching the show," Hell replied, without turning his head away from the commotion. "Good to have you back."

Leon left his side as quickly as possible, unable to believe this would be Hell's only reaction after he kicked him out of their party. They no longer felt each other's presence, such a good boon from the system thus wasted. He would ask about what happened to Vaun after the left. They didn't speak much, but it didn't seem he was enjoying the experience here last time he saw Vaun.

He kept walking toward the castle city and more than a thousand were watching Hell on the walls and at the gates, their jaws almost hitting the floor. Virgil then signalled their victory after a few moments and all those bloodthirsty creatures started chanting.

"King Hell! King Hell! King Hell!"

Leon entered the city under the deafening cheers and the sound of jars of ale hitting the tables. They were sure quick to start celebrating. He then saw the city buildings inside, and the reality before him. There were what seems to be dried blood stains in patches all over. Some could be seen on the ground and on doors along with tens of half-eaten corpses. He also saw some ghouls dining on one of the corpses a small distance ahead, the face of the woman on the ground was that of regret and despair, she was long dead.

Ghouls noticed Leon soon after and lunged at him, smelling that he was human. Both Leon and his sister were gifted a set of 10 jade knives. They were exceptionally sharp with high durability. He had patches on his vest where he kept a knife in each small knife-sized pocket. He used his telekinesis ability on one of the knives which killed all four ghouls on the scene in a mere moment, drawing a painting of blood on the ground. His ability to use telekinesis seemed to have improved even further, being able to deal smooth attacks.

He then proceeded to the walls, seeing some familiar faces there.

"Why did you crawl back here?" a familiar but detested voice spoke. It was Jack, one of Hell's knights. A 15-16 years old teen with black hair and a murderous look. He seemed to be itching for a fight after Hell's display.

Annette smacked him in the head and quickly turned to Leon to apologise.

"Who do you think you are to hit me?" Jack roared at her, slowly growing his claws out. He was a wildcard and an impudent brat at first look, but Hell, for some reason, favoured this man.

Even though Annette and Jack reconciled before, their personalities were just too different, that they'd likely to find each other at odds often. From Jack's perspective, some feeble human dared leave his King behind, and now he had returned as if nothing happened. It would be a shame if he couldn't teach him a thing or two about loyalty.

Annette, however, knew that her impeccable King would only know better. And if he decided to allow them back in, who was she to question his actions? King Hell had achieved so much in so little time. The continent was at a stalemate before, but with Hell's appearance, everything had turned to chaos.

The surrounding kingdoms started sending their armies out, surely Queen Medusa had given the order of their annihilation. But when the army appeared, King Hell had stepped forward alone, ordering his army to watch. His admirable strength had torn through multiple enemies with each of his sword swings, like a beautiful angel of death.

"It's not up to us to decide whether Sir Leon joins us or not. King Hell decided so, so it will be." Annette then turned to Jack and her voice became sterner and authoritative. "And you will not dare question my—our King again!"

"All right, calm down, now," Virgil interjected with a sigh, then asked with a smile: "Welcome back, Leon. How have you been?"

"Do you know where Vaun is?" Leon was not very amicable, either.

"He was right ahead, drinking with some soldiers." Virgil was not bothered by his cold exterior. It didn't quite matter to him whether these people were here or not, the real problem was if they could trust them or not. Virgil whispered something and one of the figures behind him suddenly disappeared into the shadows, trailing Leon.

Virgil continued looking at the newly gathered army with doubtful eyes, then he decided to make an appearance himself. Virgil had been trying to teach Hell how to fight in recent days, and he was quite the natural, but his sloppy fighting style could easily turn on him with more seasoned foes. Virgil was still slightly off from being able to beat Hell, but he was also sure Hell couldn't even land one punch on him if he had his strength.

The only reason he had been successful so far was because likely that Pandora overestimated him during the fight when he was surprised by his powers. Even the most brute-ish moves from Hell would become profound and strategic under the scrutiny of a scared mind.

Hell saw Virgil in the distance and waved him on, planning on introducing the parties with one another. What Hell saw approaching were just a friend and his loyal soldier. But Praneo could feel Virgil's sharp eyes on himself, trying to pierce into his soul.

"King Praneo, I heard so much about you, especially from our King's revered stories."

"You must be Virgil Maneya, or Virgil the Inventor. They say you are a fair man," Praneo commented. Virgil indeed commanded an absolute air of authority around him, but he wouldn't be intimidated that easily.

"They are very kind in their words, then," Virgil said and locked his eyes onto his, asking a question. "What do you intend to do here?"

"King Praneo came as soon as he heard Hell had attacked Pandora," Nile answered, not hiding anything. "We would either help King Hell, or avenge him."

Praneo then interjected before Virgil could reply and asked: "Is that traitorous sc.u.m really dead?"

Virgil stood straight like a lance as he replied: "Pandora has been killed by Lord Hell, blown up into a million pieces."

"So it's really true…" Praneo trembled in excitement. We had been trying to hunt that bastard down for more than a century, and you really did it," he said, turning to Hell.

"Well, I'm not gonna stop there, either," Hell was saying as his eyes caught onto a black figure very high in the sky, hiding behind the clouds. He caught a small glimpse and it immediately drew his attention. "What is that?"

Virgil shook his head after looking at him for a moment and "a demon…" he whispered. "They can fly and their demonic physique allows them to stay at high altitudes for long times. This is why they can be quite annoying.

The black figure also seemed to notice being seen as he started flying away at high speeds.

"Damn it, I don't have the mana for this," Hell lamented as he launched himself in the air with a high burst of mana using his Flying ability to the utmost. His eardrums ruptured with the assault of the air into his ears, changing into such speeds and the pain almost caused him to plummet to the ground, but he immediately composed himself and almost caught up to the demon in the air in the next moment.

This burst of speed would last him only one minute and he didn't have the mana to recast it as strong. The flying ability was quite taxing when used at its highest limits. It was almost teleportation at this level of speed, he was a lot faster than his running, and using Quickening, he appeared right before the demon. The demon reflected swiftly and drew an arc in the air with his daggers as Hell kicked him with all his might down to the ground. The demon crashed into a small crater of his making in the ground.

Praneo, Virgil, Nile, Leila and Aurus were all shaken by Hell's prowess once more. They all approached the demon who struggled to get up with a wretched look on his face full of hatred. His seemingly glistening skin seemed to be dirtied and bloodied along with his clothes. It was obvious this was no average joe they were facing as the demon started speaking, looking at Hell.

"You uncultured animal! How dare you lay your hands on—"

Hell's punch landed on his face and knocked him back onto the ground once more as he insulted him. Hell never liked high-and-mighty people like him. As he was punched again, a fiery sensation started emanating from the demon as some sort of Aura.

"Enough!" the demon yelled with rage. He then quickly added, "I'm an envoy!" when he saw Hell was getting ready to lunge at him again.

"The Demon of Pride wishes to meet with you. You are lucky to have caught the eye of a higher being such as our King. Be at the ancient mountains in two days at noon. Demon of Pride has matters to discuss."

"I'll be there for sure to relay my utmost admiration to him," Hell replied politely with a huge grin on his face. It would be for the best if he could catch the Demon of Pride alone in a room.

"You are meeting with the Demon of Pride?!" Praneo couldn't believe his ears.

Virgil stepped forward and talked as he walked around. "They likely want to make use of us against the Queen. With an internal strife like this, it's the perfect time for them to gather their armies and attack again."

"Well, I'm always down for meeting new people, or, demons," Hell said and his hands in nonchalance before the other two parties could interject.

He then saw Nitio running at them with his small feet, huffing and puffing as he did so and finally climbed on Hell's shoulder again as if nothing odd was happening.

"Where were you?" Hell asked.

"Well, you flew so fast, so I fell…" Nitio said in embarrassment, covering his face.

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