Karnak, Monarch of Death

The severed head of Durald floated briefly in the air before crashing to the ground and rolling. A faint, wheezing groan escaped from between his sharp fangs.

“G-guh... guh...”

Durald’s headless body slowly fell to its knees, unable to sustain itself. Karnak, observing from the sidelines, smirked.

[Serati’s got more sense than I thought. She used her situation as a vassal pretty well.]

[It helped that her opponent made some dumb moves.]

Durald’s decision-making had been far too sloppy. As a vampire with regenerative powers, he should have been more decisive. Instead of hesitating, he should have ignored the danger of decapitation and completely severed Serati’s arm.

[If he’d done that, his neck might not have been fully severed.]

Even with his head partially cut, a vampire’s regeneration could have restored him.

[Or he could have fought like a human and focused on defending his neck from the start.]

Had he done that, the fight would likely have ended in a draw, with neither sustaining critical injuries.

[He needed to either act like a human or fully embrace his vampiric nature. Tsk, tsk.]

[Give him a break. He hasn’t been a vampire for long.]

With Durald’s defeat, the rest of the vampires met a swift end. Though they fought with fanatical ferocity, one by one, they fell, painting the ground with their blood.

“Guh!”

“Kraaaagh!”

When the last vampire was decapitated, Alice immediately rushed over to Serati.

“I’ll tend to your wounds first, Sir Serati!”

Though the injury to her arm was severe, it wasn’t bad enough to require amputation. Alice’s healing magic closed the wound and soothed the pain, leaving Serati in far better condition than before. Full recovery would take more time, but she had avoided any permanent damage. Testing her arm, Serati nodded in gratitude.

“Thank you, Alice.”

“It’s us who should thank you. If it had just been the three of us, we might not have made it.”

Indeed, had Tarman’s group faced this alone, they likely would have been slaughtered. No one had expected a vampire as powerful as Durald to exist. With a grim expression, Tarman approached Durald’s severed head. The disembodied head still let out faint, rasping sounds.

“Guh... guhhh...”

Without lungs, Durald couldn’t produce proper speech, but the dark energy animating his body refused to let him die.

I’m not dead yet... I’m still alive!

Tarman reached out with his hand, summoning a surge of mana.

“Yes, you’re still alive,” he said coldly.

The next moment, a brilliant white light struck Durald’s head.

“But that’s about it.”

The overwhelming frost engulfed the severed head, freezing it solid.

“With this, we have proof of the count’s crimes.”

Lifting the frozen head into the air with levitation magic, Tarman let a sinister smile creep across his face.

“Contact headquarters, Alice. Inform them that all preparations to punish the Brellant County are complete.”

“Yes, captain.”

***

Three days later, just past noon, chaos unfolded at the Brellant County’s castle. A fully armed force of over a hundred soldiers had surrounded the estate, turning it into a bloody battlefield.

“Seize them all!”

“Let no one escape!”

Heavily armed soldiers stormed through the castle, ruthlessly cutting down anyone who resisted. The servants fell one by one.

“Kyaaaaah!”

The maids screamed as they were slaughtered.

“Aaagh!”

The soldiers showed no hesitation. Of course, none of the servants or maids were ordinary humans. Each revealed sharp fangs and glared at the intruders with crimson, beast-like eyes, moving with inhuman agility.

They lurked in the shadows of the castle, concealed by thick curtains, slashing at the soldiers with claws that glinted like daggers.

“Kekekeke!”

“Kyahhhh!”

Despite their ferocity, it was the vampires who fell in droves. While the soldiers weren’t as strong as members of the King’s Order, they were battle-hardened veterans. They vastly outnumbered the vampires, and, most importantly, it was broad daylight.

“In the name of the goddesses!”

“Punish these wicked beings!”

Simply opening the heavy curtains caused the sun to scorch the vampires. In the first place, the vampires’ power had been drastically diminished since it was during the day.

“Aaaahhh!”

Under the soldiers’ relentless assault, the castle crumbled into ruin. The knights, once the pride of the Brellant family, were utterly useless in this moment of despair. All of them stood idly outside the castle walls, merely watching the chaos unfold.

“This can’t be happening...”

“The count... the count is...”

The knights and soldiers knew nothing of dark powers or the dark cult. The current situation was beyond disbelief. Yet, they had no choice but to believe. The living head of Sir Durald presented by the King’s Order was undeniable evidence that Count Brellant had allied with heretics.

And above all, there were vampires rampaging before their very eyes. Nothing could be better proof than what they saw with their own eyes.

“Our castle was a den of heretics all along...”

Without the loyalty of his followers or the protection of the cult, Count Brellant had few choices left. Sitting on his lord’s chair, he absently stroked the blade of a sword, his vacant eyes staring into nothingness.

“Oh, great Tesranach, I beg you, have mercy...”

The count’s lifeless body was discovered after the castle had been completely overtaken. He had taken his own life. But Tarman was far from satisfied.

“The sins of the count’s house are not yet fully accounted for. Find the young heir! Not even a single seed of corruption must remain!”

***

Deep within the woods outside the fortress, two men and a small boy ran desperately.

“Hurry, young master!”

“We don’t know when they’ll catch up to us!”

The two men, necromancers who served the Cult of the Black God, were pushing the boy forward. But the boy’s pace only slowed further with each step. From the start, his body had been frail—so weak that even becoming a vampire had only barely restored him to the level of an average child his age.

And it was broad daylight. Though he was wrapped in a thick robe, and necromantic spells shielded him from the sun, the effects could not be completely nullified.

“Hah... hahh...”

Even as they moved through the shadows of the forest, his breathing grew labored. His body was soaked. But it wasn’t with sweat, but rather with blood seeping from his cracked skin. Burning with the searing pain of sunlight, the boy clenched his teeth.

Father...

Unforgivable.

Absolutely unforgivable.

He would have his revenge. In the name of the great Tesranach, he would avenge this humiliation! But his resolve was short-lived. From the other side of the woods, three shadows emerged.

“Ah, so they came this way after all.”

“It really is remarkable? How does Lord Karnak always figure this stuff out?”

“I’ve told you. It’s easy. The trail is clear as day. What’s so hard about tracking them?”

The newcomers were Karnak and his companions, who had bypassed Tarman’s main force to pursue the boy directly. Karnak curled his finger with a sly grin.

“Now, let’s hunt our prey, shall we? I’ll leave it to you, Serati.”

His wicked smile was utterly chilling.

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Serati leapt forward.

“Fine, fine.”

The necromancers scrambled to retaliate, but it was pointless. In an instant, Karnak snapped his fingers.

“Who said you could cast necromancy?”

With a sharp snap, a dark shadow coiled around the two men, suppressing all their power. The shocked necromancers cried out in despair.

“You’re a necromancer too?”

“How can one who wields darkness oppose Tesranach?”

“Oh, at least these guys know a thing or two about Tesranach. That’s a relief.”

There was no need to let them live. Karnak intended to extract all necessary information through the Shadow of Doom. With a flash of her sword, Serati’s twin strikes decapitated both necromancers in one clean motion.

“Guhhh...”

“Aaargh...”

Now, only the trembling young boy remained. Looking down at the young heir, Serati’s face softened into a look of pity.

“A child, even one as young as this...”

She knew he was a vampire. He was a creature who had extended his life through forbidden darkness, an abomination unworthy of forgiveness. Yet, the thought of killing a child filled her with hesitation.

“Young lord, you may bear no personal guilt, but...”

Gritting her teeth and steeling herself, she raised her sword.

“Why haven’t you killed him? What are you waiting for, Sir Serati?”

The casual voice belonged to Varos, who stepped in and effortlessly severed the boy’s head with a single strike.

“Huh?”

The kill had been so effortless that it barely felt real.

Serati was dumbfounded and stammered, “I mean... that was so... easy...”

“Why? Did you have some unfinished business with him? If you’re curious, just ask the young master. He can dig up all the answers for you with necromancy.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

She let out a sigh. She thought she had grown somewhat used to these two, but moments like this always reminded her exactly what kind of people they were.

“It just... makes me feel like I’m the villain here.”

Faced with her normal reaction, the two abnormal men tilted their heads in unison.

“Huh? Really?”

“I thought we were performing good deeds. Weren’t we, Varos?”

“I thought so too.”

Serati decided not to argue further.

“No, it’s fine. You did well.”

“See? Told you so. For a moment, I thought you were about to say I was acting inhuman again.”

Relieved, Karnak pointed to the decapitated bodies with his finger.

“Burn.”

Fwoosh!

The three corpses were instantly engulfed in flames.

The sight of human forms consumed by fire was truly horrifying. Serati recoiled, shouting, “Wa-Wait! Why are you burning the bodies?”

Karnak responded calmly, “If we leave them, we’d have to return the Shadow of Doom they carried back to the church. We need to erase the traces.”

This time, even Varos looked skeptical.

“Were you planning from the start to act like we never found them and keep all the Shadow of Doom for yourself?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

Until now, Karnak hadn’t shown much greed for the Shadow of Doom. He only sought the information contained within it, not the power itself, which he usually handed over to the church without hesitation. After all, investing in necrotic power only led to one inevitable conclusion. To live as a human being, cultivating pure chaos mana was the better choice.

But now he was reverting to his old ways, chasing necrotic power again. Concerned with Karnak’s actions, Varos tried to reason with him.

“Young master, didn’t we agree to live like proper human beings?”

“It’s not like I’m eager to return to being a pile of bones...”

Karnak grimaced as he absorbed every bit of the Shadow of Doom.

“But it’s no longer an option to tread lightly and conserve my strength. The situation is too dire.”

Serati blinked in surprise.

“Dire?”

Of course, she couldn’t deny that the current circumstances were serious. The Shadow of Doom was corrupting the continent, a mysterious cult was amassing power, and, above all, the enigmatic entity known as Tesranach had appeared.

But this was already established, and Karnak had previously decided to approach these threats with measured action. His sudden change in attitude was alarming.

“Is there something else going on?”

“Yes. Because of that Durald guy.”

Karnak nodded as he finished collecting the remnants of darkness.

“And that Straph bastard, too.”

Varos and Serati exchanged puzzled looks.

“Straph, sure, but...”

“Durald?”

“That guy wasn’t even that strong, young master,” Varos said.

“He gave us some trouble, but he was manageable,” Serati added.

Karnak sighed.

“The problem isn’t them, specifically.”

“Then what is it?”

He turned away. With this matter settled, it was time to regroup with Tarman’s team. As he began to walk, Karnak muttered quietly, almost to himself, “The real problem is how they came to be here in the first place...”