"Let's go eat the Grand Duke."

"...What?"

The bastard looked down at me with startled eyes.

But.

I was the one staring up at it in undisguised surprise.

'Incredible.'

I hadn't been able to tell from beyond that fog of mana.

But seeing it like this now—

I couldn't even properly gauge how much power it had accumulated.

Its main body didn't look all that different from before,

but its essence had become something incomparable to what it once was.

'To get this strong in only this much time.'

I remembered something Grand Duke Isabella had said in those memories.

That the real issue was how fast it got strong at first,

but once it got onto a certain track, its growth would be quite fast.

Even Grand Duke Valarak, who had been helping this bastard grow, 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

probably hadn't imagined it would grow at this speed.

So.

"There should be a little room to work with."

"...?"

"But we don't have much time, so listen carefully."

And so,

I told Ariella what had happened to me after we parted ways.

About the awakened on that island.

About Karhin, who had been acting as their leader.

About the Grand Duke's goal, which I'd heard from him.

And...

the strategy I'd come up with to oppose it.

"...I understand the Grand Duke's objective and plan. It sounds absurd, but I understand it. But...."

And finally.

The two people I'd heard about from Karhin.

"Why... did you tell me the rest of that?"

...The story of one holy knight,

and one vampire Grand Duke.

"......"

The moment it heard about those two,

I could see Ariella's eyes shaking violently.

The ones it had thought abandoned it.

It must have been deeply confused by what those people had done in the end.

"It's nothing major."

Maybe,

it would have been better to tell it later, when it was calm enough to accept everything.

Even so, the reason I chose to tell it now was simple.

"Because if not now, I might never get the chance."

"...?"

With those words,

I raised my head and looked up at the sky.

'...I thought we'd have at least a little time.'

Even so,

it looked like that margin wasn't enough.

Rumbleee....

The red cloud hanging in the sky.

I could see it twisting violently.

"You ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) remember everything I told you, right?"

"...Don't tell me?"

Karhin had shared Grand Duke Kirchhoff's revelation,

and just as I'd been able to see Ariella's memories,

the Grand Duke was directly connected to its direct thralls.

It wouldn't be able to grasp every single thing they experienced perfectly,

but a great number of nobles and thralls had just died.

The Grand Duke would have noticed that too.

"Sorry, but there's no rehearsal!"

Shouting that, I grabbed onto one of the enormous pillars Ariella had created.

And then, almost immediately—

KWAAAAAAANG!!!

A massive fog came crashing down, snatched up Ariella, and dragged it straight up into the sky.

***

Whoooooooosh....

Ariella was caught by the red cloud and being pulled upward into the sky.

And I too, clinging to one of the pillars it had made,

was flying off somewhere together with it.

'...Cold.'

The red fog that had occupied the place where the clouds should have been, blotting out the sun.

The altitude where that fog hung was extremely high—and extremely cold.

Normally, it wouldn't have been enough to pose a real problem.

'...I'm gonna die, damn it.'

But in my current condition, weakened from overstraining myself in that battle,

it was far too cold to endure.

In the end,

I put a hand to my chest and grasped the thing jutting out from there.

[Blade of Sacrifice - Victimia]

'Sorry.'

Apologizing to those inside it,

I inflicted that curse on my own body.

[Curse - Eternal Pain]

[Applied Effects - Death Resistance, Fainting Resistance]

[Unapplied Effects - Increased Pain, Severe Pain]

The curse Mountain had created.

A vicious spell that made it impossible to die or pass out,

while inflicting pain amplified hundreds, thousands of times beyond normal.

Only the advantages of that curse remained with me,

and the blade bore the drawbacks in my place.

'—————————————!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

Thanks to [Soul Cooking Basics],

I could feel the souls inside that blade screaming in agony.

But.

Even as they screamed in pain,

they were looking up at me with eyes full of a strange ecstasy.

Once I understood the meaning behind those gazes, I gave a bitter smile.

'So you're saying I don't have much time left either, huh.'

I hadn't experienced death,

but I had still ended up relying on this blade to keep myself from passing out.

The moment you relied on it past a certain point,

this blade would devour its owner.

The one who got devoured that way would end up no different from the wailing wraiths screaming inside it now.

And since that moment wasn't far off for me either,

they were smiling so happily at the thought that another companion in the same situation would join them and help share the pain to come.

'...You think I'll go down that easily?'

But.

That was a problem to solve later.

What mattered right now was—

KWAAAAANG!!!

"Urk...!"

After flying like that for quite a while,

Ariella and I were hurled down and smashed into some place.

Barely steadying myself, I lifted my head and looked straight ahead.

"It seemed an anomaly had occurred, so I came to see what was happening."

Then.

I saw a huge, handsome middle-aged man looking down at me and Ariella.

"An inferior breed and a Marquis together, hmm."

And then.

He looked at me for a moment with open disgust,

then nodded and said,

"So that is what happened."

And in that same instant—

KWAAAAANG!

An attack I had no way of resisting came flying straight at my face.

***

Kwang....

"...!"

An enormous impact roared right in front of me.

An attack I wasn't even sure I could have blocked in proper condition.

But, fortunately, if that was the word for it,

my head didn't burst open, and I didn't have to revive through Victimia's power either.

"What a disappointment...."

When I opened my eyes again after squeezing them shut against the wind pressure,

the Grand Duke was standing in front of me.

And.

"Marquis."

Ariella was standing in his way.

"I believed I had done my utmost for your sake. And this is how you repay me—with betrayal?"

"Betrayal? That's only possible when there's trust between people, isn't it?"

"So there was no trust between us?"

"If there was anything between us, it was only a transaction."

"Hmm."

"Your Grace helped my growth, and with your help, I built up my new bloodline. The deal has not yet gone astray."

"The blood that once flowed in my thralls is now felt within you. The reinforcements I sent for your sake were devoured by you. And you still say our deal has not gone astray?"

"Of course."

Looking at the Grand Duke,

Ariella spoke without losing its smile, even as cold sweat ran down its face.

"Didn't Your Grace say you would raise me to a level fit to become the head of a bloodline?"

"I did."

"Well then?"

With a confident attitude,

the bastard placed a hand over its chest.

"Do I not seem satisfactory to Your Grace now?"

"......"

"It was thanks to the... high-quality meals Your Grace bestowed upon me that I was able to achieve such splendid growth."

The Grand Duke had promised to support Ariella's growth,

and Ariella had achieved that growth by devouring the troops the Grand Duke had supported it with.

"...That is not incorrect."

And so, since it had reached the level the Grand Duke demanded,

regardless of how that process had looked,

the deal had been fulfilled.

"Then there was no trust between us, and the transaction is over."

"......"

"So from this point on."

The Grand Duke casually shifted his footing and loosened up his body.

Then,

"Whatever either of us does to the other, neither side can complain."

He said it with an easy smile.

KWAAAAAAAAAAAAANG-!

At that motion,

the air around us screamed.

***

'Ah.'

About three seconds after the Grand Duke started moving,

Ariella became certain.

'I can't win.'

Kwaang...!

It had thought it had become considerably stronger.

Power raised by enduring the flood of souls pouring into it and pushing itself as far as possible.

Even if that power wasn't refined,

the sheer total volume of brute force it had piled up was overwhelming in its own right.

"Well now."

...But.

Everything is relative.

"Did my thralls suit your taste?"

KWAAAAAAANG!

"Ye...s. They were... delicious...!"

With every punch the Grand Duke threw while chatting casually,

Ariella felt its entire body and organs screaming.

"Once you tasted that, you must have had your doubts."

The Grand Duke withdrew the fist he had been about to throw,

then looked at Ariella leisurely as he spoke.

"The doubt of why the blood of your own kind tastes this sweet."

"That...."

"Among my siblings, I was particularly slow-witted, so I noticed that fact far too late... but it seems you already know."

KWAAANG!!!

With a casual kick, one hand still tucked in his pocket,

Ariella's body shot up into the air.

"We... our Progenitor designed us to devour our own kind."

"Cough...!"

"Do you know of the custom called [Blood Duel]? That custom was created by the Progenitor so that the descendants could devour their own kind more conveniently. Since we are bound together in units called bloodlines, if one wishes to devour another bloodline, one cannot help but mind the strong among them. So the Progenitor prepared a dining table where no one could intervene except the person involved and that one's thralls."

Before anyone noticed, Ariella had already crashed back down and was crawling across the ground.

The Grand Duke walked toward it as he spoke.

"When I finally realized that fact... another question arose in my mind."

"......"

"Why?"

That expression that had remained at ease the whole time

twisted, just a little.

"What exactly did the Progenitor desire... to design the children so they would devour one another?"

"Cough...!"

"I wanted to know that reason very badly. And there was only one way to obtain the answer."

He nudged the fallen Ariella with a foot,

forcing their eyes to meet as it crawled on the ground.

"I decided to grant what the Progenitor desired."

"......"

"I devoured Grand Duke Kirchhoff... no. Brother Kirchi first. After that came Elder Sister Harosh."

And then.

He spoke in a voice full of regret.

"The problem was the last one."

"......"

"I was missing the final piece. Because I realized it too late, our eldest—kindest and wisest of us all—vanished without leaving behind even a single drop of blood."

And then.

A faint ecstasy entered that voice still soaked in regret.

"But not anymore."

Kkwaaaaaaaaaak...!

At the Grand Duke's gesture,

mana leaking from his fingertips roughly seized Ariella by the throat and lifted it into the air.

"For a long time, I agonized over that missing piece. Wanting to seize even the slightest hope, I even gambled with the lives of all vampires."

"A... gamble?"

"But who could have imagined."

At that gaze,

rapture began to fill his eyes.

"That I would meet you in a place like this!"

"Ghk...!"

But then.

Looking at the Grand Duke,

"Thanks to Your Grace... I was able to gain strength far beyond what I deserved."

"...Hm?"

"And since you were kind enough to help me so much... let me offer you one piece of advice."

Even with its throat being crushed,

Ariella spoke with a thoroughly twisted smile.

"Whatever your goal may be... until it is accomplished completely, it would be best not to let your guard down."

"Ha ha, what are you—"

"Because after all...."

At that moment,

the Grand Duke suddenly turned his head and looked into the distance.

"Your Grace has made rather a lot of enemies, hasn't he...?"

From that direction,

someone was walking toward the city.

-Foolish Valarak!!!

Extreme rage and ecstasy.

And—

-At last, the time has come!

"That one is... no way?"

Filled with the joy that the time for revenge had finally arrived.

A figure with an appearance like a fragment.

-I shall drench this land with your blood!!!

"Brother Kirchi's...!"

And above that figure's head—

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang—

a massive circular sphere began to rise, blazing with brilliant light.