Master Of Myths

"Umm...thank you?"

Faris tried to show gratitude to cloaked Verity for saving his life from the unhonorable sneak attack of the thrall, spotting her blindfolded eyes however further plunged his surprised mind into confusion

Verity gave a small bow to him before returning to her spot next to Nee, who had a disapproving look about her

"I had warned you before and wanted to remind you that those who are lost to blood cannot be trusted, you should have never turned your back against her"

"Apologies, I never intended for one of your valuable fighters to end up dead"

Faris bowed, a death on either side on the day of the treaty was a really bad start

"I had her death in mind the second you asked for a duel so fret not, in return however I do hope this is the last of our grievances to be solved by bloodshed"

"Certainly"

Hearing them agree put Nee at ease, it was worth the loss of a good fighter of it really buried the bad blood between them

"Then we shall return and announce our rules to the people"

"So shall I"

Bidding each other farewell the two factions went toward their own bases, each holding good news for their race

A little whole later Nee could be seen in the throne room, kneeling before YuJu and finishing up her report over the matter

"I see, it is good that things smoothed over quickly"

His tone did seem happy

"This will be the last time you make another your scapegoat however"

Ne sweat bullets at the unexpected remark, looks like he figured out the thrall's sudden attack was done under her manipulation of it

"I shall not repeat such actions my Lord"

"Of course, now, for your punishment"

A gulp could be heard in the hall, there was no escaping it seems

"Bring it"

He said, motioning to the thrall guards to carry forth a casket reeking with blood

"I hate wasting things so I thought if a great way to teach you not to dispose of my pawns while dishing out a fitting punishment"

He got off his throne, walking forth as the casket was opened revealing what lay inside

"?...!!"

Seeing the dead body of the white skinned thrall confused her for a second, at least until he bit his finger, allowing a drop to seep out while placing his skeletal hand on the dead body

"Open wide"

"...."

Shaking as she may be Nee complied, it was her who was to blame for all this anyway, her and that prideful ambition of hers

The drip fell down her throat, at the same time the blood, bones and skin of the dead thrall started to get sucked into a black vortex surrounding his hand

"Uuuu"

She didn't feel well, even with the shackles limiting her from evolving Nee could feel changes happening inside her body at an alarming speed, it was like everything was being stretched apart only to be squeezed back painfully

Blood started to drip from her lips, red at first, blue the next second, then back to red

The synthesis and purification lasted for about five minutes, way longer than any purification done before, by the end Nee had returned to normal, except her body was drenched in blood all over

"Hmm, intriguing, so these skills work in tandem too, looks like I have a lot to experiment with now"

Sad part about it was the absence of anything to experiment on, those locked up thralls could no longer take any more experiments and the alliance was effective, plus the population could not tolerate any more of his wanton kidnapping

"Nee"

"Yes...my Lord"

"From now on you will bear the blood of any failure you make, the flesh and bones of any thrall fallen under your rule, so when the time comes and your shackles come undone you shall be reborn through your failure, a monstrosity, or a prodigy, that's for you to decide"

"....Yes"

"You're dismissed"

Shakily getting up she left, shoulders slumped as the heavy burdens of future choices already weighing her down

"Mia"

"Yes Master"

"Get this mess cleaned up, and send for all the thralls you could spare to do some transporting, have them carry all the blood we have been gathering so far and send it to our house"

"It shall be done"

He nodded, preparing to leave but noting she was still standing in place, looking at him expectantly

"Is there anything of the matter?"

"Master, rude as this may but may I ask to accompany the transporting team"

"You wish to see Subrina?"

"Yes, nothing of importance requires my attention here, a perfect opportunity to catch up with her"

So she said, but it is clear as day that things weren't so simple

"Do as you see fit"

"I thank Master for the grace given"

Turning around with a flap of his cloak YuJu left along with Ellis, heading back toward Hortus

'It's been a while, I hope that bug is still kicking...and that Belinda did not intervene unnecessarily'

He could feel it still alive but that didn't guarantee nothing had gone wrong

"Anput, call forth your dragon"

"Awuuu!"

A howl came from his shadow as it birthed a tall figure, spewing flames to the sky

YuJu and Ellis mounted its back, Anput appearing with them on it before the shadow dragon took to the sky

Short was the journey, compared to the parasite's flight speed a full from Dreonate was much faster, and much more feared

"Anput, hide in my shadow, Ellis, hold my hand"

Descending some ways from the forest YuJu coated both him and her in his cloaking energy, making way through the terrace and up the tower

"You two are free to roam now"

Back in their rightful place he was no longer concerned about hiding them

"Oh, and make sure to get those maids unwrapped, I believe they should be in the hall still"

Used to his antics Ellis nodded and moved to set free the maids who were probably too scared to get out of their bindings even if they woke up by now

Anput popped out with her small squadron of shadows, trotting anyway to do her own thing

'The little one is up to something isn't she'

It was probably something good anyway so he didn't mind, letting her have fun while she wasn't busy

'Speaking of being busy, I should probably take a break after getting that little parasite from the eighth floor'

That was only in case nothing serious happened to it while he was gone, which he would find out in a bit

Exiting his mansion he used the secret entrance to enter the eighth floor unnoticed, only revealing himself before Belinda's residence

Though he was visible YuJu's guard was up unlike the other times where he was lax, the sneaky snake might have hidden something in store after finding out about another one of his skills

His entrance to her cave was smooth for the most part, though the place looked rather empty since the snake greeted him at the gate rather than the vine and the pool was absent of any blood, at least not until he stepped into the once tidy abode

"?"

Blood, a ton of blood making a trial toward the red room was emitting a heavy stench that told of its age, something died here and he could guess it had occurred not long after he left

Belinda was also absent, unusual of her as the woman always sought pleasantries over everything

'Did she get found out and killed?'

That certainly was a possibility, but nothing was looking at him, if this was a trap they would have gotten someone to keep tabs at this point, he could just turn heels and run here after all

Confused and uneasy as he was YuJu decided to press on, the life of his soul-slave, as well as an important piece hanged on the line here

Thus after cloaking himself he proceeded toward the red room, stepping in only after noting nothing abnormal about it

"Belinda?"

There was no trap nor anyone waiting to surprise him, just the pale snake and a lob of iron next to her, covered with tons of blood

"Oh, mister, my greetings to you, I would have loved a formal welcoming but as you see I am preoccupied"

Certainly she was, her hand was connected to a soft metal tendril drawing blood away from her at a steady speed, feeding the iron lobe which beat once every few seconds

"Mind explaining?"

With no danger about he undid his stealth, hearing her story out

A minute passed by and YuJu's lips twitched in annoyance after knowing exactly what went down

"So my servant needed a lot of blood and was dying out so you gave him all your supplies of blood as well as sacrificing your servants before finally giving it some of your own blood"

"Precisely so"

"And you didn't ask for more prey because?"

"It would raise questions as to why I need such large supplies at a time like this"

"....Haah"

She was right in her choice of action, to begin with it was this big glutton's fault! Eating all those metals and the Biomass but remaining unsatified

'No, perhaps its the Biomass that's causing such hunger'

Either way he would have to sate its appetite now

'Just perfect, I needed a reason to give the blood maniacs a little warning not to pull those tricks again for the time being'

"Belinda, my servant seems to have caused you quite the trouble, which I shall compensate for, but for now keep it alive while I bring food"

"I shall but do hurry, I cannot seem to hold on for much longer"

"Worry not, foods right next door"

His smile turned evil, today hell would break loose on the eighth floor