I Reincarnated as the Bastard Prince? Well, At least I'm OP!-Chapter 71: The demon king’s blood

Richard's eyes widened in horror, his mind reeling. "You're a… a demon?" he stammered. "How is this possible?"

Elysia's smile was a cold, cruel slash of red in the dim light. "The details are irrelevant. What matters now is the destruction of Archer. He is an anomaly, a variable that must be erased. And for that, I require a vessel. A weapon. And who better suited for the task than you, Richard? Your hatred for him once burned so brightly."

Before Richard could spit another refusal, Caspian Vex slithered from the shadows, a long, sinister syringe glinting in his hand. The liquid inside was a viscous, oily black that seemed to writhe with a life of its own.

"He's ready now, my lady," Caspian hissed, his voice filled with raw excitement.

Richard's heart hammered against his ribs. "What are you going to do to me?" he demanded, his voice cracking despite his efforts to sound brave.

Elysia leaned in, her demonic eyes glowing. "This syringe contains the blood of the Demon King himself. Caspian will inject it into you. It will grant you power beyond your wildest dreams, Richard. Power strong enough to finally crush Archer."

Pure terror seized Richard. He felt his heart pounding against his ribs. "No! I don't want it! Stay away from me!" He thrashed against the unyielding straps, his screams echoing off the bloody walls.

Caspian approached, his wide grin stretching unnaturally across his face. "Don't worry, Richard," he cooed. "This won't hurt a bit."

The lie was barely out of his mouth before the needle plunged into Richard's neck.

A searing, white-hot agony exploded through his veins. It felt like liquid fire and shattered glass was being pumped directly into his bloodstream. Richard's back arched off the table, a raw, guttural scream tearing from his throat.

Elysia watched with satisfaction. "Oh, I almost forgot," she said, as if mentioning an afterthought. "The Demon King's blood is… volatile. Its cells will attempt to incinerate your own. If you are strong enough, you will survive and become powerful. If you are faint of heart… well, you will simply die."

Richard's body began to convulse violently. Foam, tinged with black, bubbled from his lips. His eyes rolled back into his head, showing only the whites.

Black veins, like cracks in porcelain, spiderwebbed across his skin, pulsing with a sickening dark light. The air crackled around him, and arcs of black lightning erupted from his torso, scorching the air with the smell of burnt flesh.

His body gave one final, violent shudder, and then he screamed—a sound that was barely human.

* * * *

The Adventurers' Club meeting had run long, mostly because Borin wanted to organize a field trip to the dwarf mines but Loki wouldn't hear of it. By the time I finally extracted myself, the academy halls were bathed in the deep orange glow of sunset.

I headed straight for the boys' dormitory, a slight frown on my face. Richard had said he'd meet me back here after his session with the Shadow Society. He was supposed to be back by now.

Pushing the door to his room open, I found it empty. The bed was neatly made, his practice gear was gone. Nothing seemed out of place.

For some reasons unknown to me, I felt a tiny knot of unease tightened in my stomach.

"Richard?" I called out, my voice echoing slightly in the sparse room.

No answer.

Shrugging, I turned to leave, figuring he must have gotten held up. Maybe Geralt was putting him through an extra-tough training regimen as a welcome-back gift.

Just as my hand touched the doorknob, it swung inward.

Richard stood there, silhouetted against the dim hallway light. His shoulders were slumped as if he had a an invisible weight pinning him down.

"Oh, there you are," I said, relaxing. "You took too long. How was your day back at the Shadow Society? Did Geralt work you to the bone?"

He didn't meet my eyes. He just shouldered past me into the room, his movements stiff. "It was fine," he grunted, his voice a low, rough monotone. "I'm tired. I want to rest."

It was more than just being tired. His energy was all wrong. Closed off. Dull. But as he passed by me, something else happened.

It was like a silent thunderclap.

A wave of pure, chilling malevolent energy washed over me, so potent it made the air itself feel thick and heavy. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

It was an evil aura, cold and ancient, oozing from him like a physical mist. It was nothing like his usual energy he radiated. This was something else entirely.

I froze, my hand still on the doorknob, every instinct in my body screaming at me.

This… this isn't Richard.

My hand shot out, gripping his arm before he could take another step. The fabric of his sleeve felt unnaturally cold. "Richard, wait."

He stopped but didn't turn around. "What?" he growled impatiently.

"Something's wrong," I said, my voice low and serious. I tightened my grip. "What happened to you?"

He finally turned his head, and a jolt of ice shot down my spine. His eyes... they weren't blue anymore. They were fading off. "Huh? What do you mean? I'm fine. Now get lost."

I didn't let go. "No. Your aura... it's reeking of evil. It's like that of a demon. Who did this to you?"

At the word 'demon,' his facade cracked. His head tilted at an almost unnatural angle, and when his eyes met mine fully, they were no longer his familiar, arrogant gaze. The irises were pools of solid, depthless black.

A slow, sinister smile spread across his face. He shoved my hand away with surprising force.

"What's it to you, Archer?" he asked, his voice distorted. "You want to fight me?"

I dropped into a defensive stance, my mind racing. "No, I don't want to fight you, Richard," I said, keeping my voice calm, trying to reach the friend I knew was trapped somewhere inside. "You're my friend."

He threw his head back and laughed—a harsh, grating sound that held no warmth, only malice. "Friends?" he sneered, the blackness in his eyes seeming to swirl. "I don't have friends. Friends are for losers."

Seeing no other choice, I brought my hands up, golden light flaring at my fingertips as I began to weave a binding spell. "I'm sorry, Richard. I'll have to bind you again until I figure out what happened to you."

But before the threads of magic could even leave my hands, his body... dissolved.

It didn't vanish or teleport. It burst apart into a shrieking, chaotic swarm of shadowy bats. They filled the small room, their leathery wings beating against my face, their high-pitched squeals drowning out my shocked gasp.

They swirled around me in a furious vortex of darkness and then streamed through the narrow gap in the window, melting into the twilight outside.

I was left alone in the suddenly silent and empty room, the echo of their screeches filling my ears.

I could only come to one conclusion. My friend was gone. And something terrible had taken his place.

I didn't waste a second. The moment the last bat vanished into the dusk, I tore open a portal directly to the heart of the Red Dragon's domain. I stepped from the chilling silence of Richard's room into the warm, parchment-scented air of the red dragon's library.

I found Gwyneria and Raven huddled over a massive, ancient tome spread across a stone table.

Gwyneria, her finger tracing a complex diagram, was saying, "...and this text on elemental convergence should help you structure your—" She stopped mid-sentence as she felt my presence, her eyes snapping up to meet mine.

Raven followed her gaze.

"Archer?" Raven asked, straightening up. "What's wrong?"

The words felt heavy and unnatural in my mouth. "It's Richard," I said, my voice tighter than I intended. "Something's happened to him. His aura... it's completely corrupted. It's demonic. He's... not himself."

Raven's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. "What? How?"

Gwyneria's crimson eyes narrowed. "Describe it to me. Precisely," she commanded, her voice losing all its casual warmth. "His eyes. What were they like? Did you see him shapeshift? Into what?"

The images flashed in my mind, cold and sharp. "His eyes were completely black," I said, the words feeling like ash in my mouth. "No whites, no iris. Just… empty. And he didn't just shapeshift. His body burst apart into a swarm of shadowy bats to escape."

A profound silence filled the library, broken only by the faint breathing from our nostrils. Raven looked from me to Gwyneria, her face pale. "Speak to us, Gwyneria. Do you know what happened to Richard?"

Gwyneria closed her eyes for a moment, as if absorbing the information. When she opened them, they held a hardness I had never seen in her before.

"Then we have a serious problem on our hands," she stated. "Your friend, Richard, has received the Demon King's blood."