Chapter 933: A Just God.
A man with nine tails slowly opens his groggy eyes. "... What...? What's happening...?"
"Hey, you finally woke up."
The nine-tailed man, clearly a Youkai, quickly jumps up from the ground and assumes a defensive stance. As he does so, he notices a group of people.
A well-dressed man, a woman with short blonde hair, a tall man who clearly smelled like a vampire, and another blonde man who also smelled like a vampire, but unlike the tall man, this man appeared to be a noble vampire.
"What's your name, stranger?" The same well-dressed man asked in a monotone voice.
"Why should I tell you...?"
"Because if you're here, it means you're somehow connected to Victor Alucard."
"And when I say connected, I mean you've done harm to someone close to him."
The nine-tailed Youkai shivered when he heard the man's words.
"Hmm, seeing that you're not saying anything, let's introduce ourselves first."
"My name is Lucy." The man looked at the woman beside him. The woman rolled her eyes with a disdainful expression, but even with that expression, she stated her name.
"Karen."
Next, the man called Lucy looked at the tall man.
"Luan Davis, a vampire slave."
Lucy then looked at the man next to Luan, but the man refused to speak, so he said, "Next up is: Cornelius Funar, heir to the Funar Clan, a clan of noble vampires."
"... Right..."
"What's your name?" Lucy asked again.
"Kurama."
"Mm. Now that we all know each other, I ask you, what was your sin?"
"My sin...?"
"Yes. What did you do that angered a monster like Victor?"
"... Well..." When Kurama was about to explain what happened, he quickly stopped himself and said, "Wait, why should I say this? Who are you, and why am I here? I'm sure I was hiding in Europe in a remote location..."
Kurama tried to remember what had happened for him to end up here, but all he remembered was suddenly passing out and then waking up here.
"I've already told you my name and the reason you're here," Lucy replied monotonously.
"... Screw this, I'm out." He didn't know what was going on, but he wasn't going to stay here with this group of strange people.
"Good luck," Lucy said.
At that moment, Kurama realized that everyone was looking at him with an amused expression, as if they were waiting for his next words.
He inwardly sighed and walked toward the door. When he tried to open the door, he couldn't, and expecting this reaction, he wasn't surprised. So he exerted more force... But still, he couldn't open the door.
Frustrated, Kurama began to channel more power into his body and tried to pull the door, but nothing budged. He growled in irritation and punched the door, but all he got was immense pain in his hand. He shook his hand in an attempt to alleviate the pain and looked around the room angrily, spotting a window. Without wasting time, he tried to jump out of the window... But he only slammed his face into the glass and fell to the ground in pain.
Suddenly, a collective laughter was heard all around. Kurama grumbled in annoyance as he got up; for some reason, he felt weaker than before now.
"What's going on..."
"You're quite dumb, aren't you, fox? I thought Kyuubi Kitsunes were much smarter." Karen mocked.
"Cough, cough." Lucy falsely coughed and then said, "The correct term is Kyuubi Kitsune, Karen."
"Shut up, Lucy," Karen growled. "Don't correct me."
"Yes, yes." Lucy rolled his eyes. "As expected of a Karen, so temperamental."
"Just cut this old joke already! Aren't you bored!?" Karen grew even more irritated.
Lucy glanced at Karen, and when he saw her annoyed face, he just smiled and said, "Nah."
While Karen and Lucy argued, Luan looked at Kurama, who was becoming increasingly annoyed by Lucy and Karen's argument, and spoke. "If you still haven't figured out what happened, fox, I'll tell you. You messed with Victor in the past, and now the demon has come to collect the debt. It's as simple as that."
"As for why you can't get out... Well, even we don't know that. We just know that this place is practically impenetrable."
Kurama's anger dissipated, leaving only resignation on his face. He sat on the floor and sighed. "For someone who messed with the demon king of tyranny, and is now acclaimed as the chaos dragon god, you all seem quite calm."
Luan shrugged. He was a vampire slave and hadn't moved up in life since then. He couldn't help but find it ironic; he had entered the supernatural world before Victor, but he hadn't reached the same level of success in just a few years.
"I guess that's what we call talent and luck," Luan thought with a hint of depression. He no longer had the same mindset as before, after witnessing the demons' war and everyone dying around him; these things changed a person.
Even Nightingale, a planet located in another galaxy, was not spared from the flames of war. Because of that war, he lost everything in the human world—
his cause, his family—and all that remained was to be forever enslaved to an immortal master.
Did he hate Victor? Of course, he did, but he saw no hope in going against someone like him. He was simply too superior now.
"You're very good at pretending to be calm," Kurama said, sounding impressed.
It was at that moment that Cornelius looked at Kurama and said, "Don't be deceived, fox, we're not calm or pretending not to care; the circumstances are just different. While these two worms haven't done anything significant and even helped that bastard, we directly harmed him. So, we've just accepted our fate."
"I see," Kurama nodded, indifferent to Cornelius's tone.
Suddenly, Karen and Lucy stopped arguing, and so did Kurama, Cornelius, and Luan, as they all looked in a certain direction.
Something was there... A dark presence, engulfing all the light in the room.
"He's here," Lucy murmured. Due to the room's silence and their supernatural senses, everyone heard Lucy's voice, causing an even more unknown feeling of fear. What were they dealing with?
Kurama didn't know. In fact, even Lucy and Karen, who had appeared here first, didn't know what kind of being they were dealing with.
A figure emerged from the darkness. He was tall, wearing full armor, his face was pure darkness covered by a hood that seemed to connect to the armor, but it wasn't that which caught the group's attention; it was the dark beam-
like wings behind the man that seemed to be sucking all the light from the area.
Kurama was in shock, the unknown sensation of encountering that being filled him with fear; he instinctively knew he wasn't dealing with someone normal.
The creature raised its hand, and then darkness began to form on the ground in front of the group; in the next moment, two more people appeared.
Specifically, two men in priestly attire, two human exorcists.
"H-Huh? What's happening...?"
"Ugh... Can someone jot down the truck's license plate that hit me? That damn thing, I swear I'll kill it."
For a priest, he had a pretty foul mouth, but clearly, he wasn't a priest; he was an exorcist.
"Thomas and Jimmy," the creature spoke.
Instantly, the two exorcists woke up from the ground and looked at the creature; just like Kurama and everyone else present, fear was their instinctive response.
"Your Imperial Majesty, my almighty god is pleased with your work over the years. Therefore, I am here to reward you."
"... Huh...?" These were definitely not the words Thomas and Jimmy were expecting.
Yes, they had betrayed their organization, but they did it because they had no choice. They hadn't done anything that would warrant this man's god's gratitude.
Apparently reading the minds of the two humans, the creature in front of them spoke, "My god's understanding goes beyond any mortal, or even immortals. Even among gods, he is special."
The creature 'looked' at the two men as if they could see their souls. "He knows very well what your true feelings are."
Both of them shuddered. "At first... There was disgust and even hatred; you were being coerced... But every time you saw news of my god, and the more powerful he became, your feelings started to change. You began to do the spying work with the same loyalty that the god-king's subordinates have for him."
"And finally, when my god was acknowledged by all the gods at the supernatural beings' gathering, you worked even more fervently."
"This loyalty was fully recognized, and I have come here to reward you."
A miasma of pure darkness formed in the creature's hand, and he said, "Do you accept?"
"... But what about our work?" Jimmy, as the brains of the group, quickly asked.
"Spying is no longer necessary. With my King's senses, if he so desires, he can easily see the entire planet. Besides, espionage work is now being carried out by beings more suited for the task."
"... May I ask something?" Thomas raised his hand.
The creature merely looked at Thomas, indicating for him to ask his question.
"Why are you rewarding us? Wouldn't it be easier to keep us as slaves only?"
"Thomas...!" Jimmy elbowed his friend in the stomach; he cursed his friend and his big mouth. Why couldn't he just stay quiet!?
"A valid question. And the answer to that question is quite simple."
"My God is just. Work diligently, show results, be loyal, demonstrate self-
improvement indicating that you are always progressing, and you will be rewarded, no matter who you are, from slaves to even those at the top of the society he built, all receive the same treatment."
"Because he is just, the opposite treatment will be given to those who oppose him."
"... For someone as simple as me, knowing that my hard work will be rewarded is enough." Thomas spoke. He would never openly admit it, but he was quite dissatisfied with his organization, which only asked him to 'sacrifice' himself but didn't give anything more.
Because of this, he focused more on his 'work' as Ruby's spy because for every piece of information he provided to them, depending on its usefulness, he would gain significant rewards in the form of money. And for an orphan, this helped a lot.
Thanks to these resources, he was able to help the orphanage he grew up in and even managed to create bounded fields created by witches that prevented the advance of lesser demons during the invasion.
"I accept," Thomas said.
"I accept as well," Jimmy spoke next. His reasons for accepting? Unlike his friend, Jimmy was a smart guy; he knew he would be on Victor's team, he would be a winner, and he would become more influential.
All these reasons they thought of were clearly seen by the being in front of them; he knew very well of Jimmy's ambition, and he didn't find it bad at all. After all, demons initially are also loyal to Victor for a similar reason... Until they tasted the taste of power.
Power is addictive, especially Victor's power. And that made them more and more fanatical and dedicated. Victor was not foolish to give power irresponsibly.
Moreover, the power given too 'easily' could be taken away just as easily, and that moment would come when someone who had received the power betrayed Victor.
Jimmy and Thomas placed their hands in the creature's hand, and in the next moment, darkness consumed their bodies; they couldn't even scream or express anything, they just fell to the ground and started writhing until they eventually stopped.
Everyone just watched all of this in silence, their eyes completely focused on the two humans on the ground.
"My name is War, the bearer of the will of the Chaos Dragon God... And here I proclaim."
