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26. Adapt or Die
🕑 Added 2022-01-26 20:00:03 +0000 UTCDamien's claws and fangs retreated to where they belonged. His bloodlust subsided as his perfect posture disappeared and indifference crumbled away. He stumbled towards a tree with watery eyes. His throat felt clogged as he gasped for breath. He tried to throw up, but nothing came out.
“What the fuck did I just do?” Damien muttered while clenching his fist tightly. “How can I just kill someone? Especially like that?”
Damien was horrified. He had sucked both Imyrll and Fay’s blood to fuel his mana expenditure, otherwise, he never would have been able to use his Psychic magic for this long, without damaging his own brain and mana circuits.
He was feeling the burn, despite his vampire's regeneration, he had really gone overboard. “Ugh, everything hurts so fucking much!” Damien suppressed the urge to scream out. His body was on fire from his mana circuits being overused.
“Why? Why me? Fuck this, I hate it here!” Damien yelled out into the silent forest, only the quiet whistling of the wind answered him.
Damien let out a long sigh, “I'm being so pathetic right now. So what if I killed someone? This is a different world, Earth’s morals don’t apply here.”
He slapped himself, only adding to his current pain, but it woke him up. “I don’t have time for this shit!”
He looked at his pocket watch but didn’t open it. He felt looking at this watch helped him realise his reality. “I'm not that fucking kid anymore.” Damien reminded himself again.
“It's only been a few days since I arrived here… not even a week and I have done so many things. It seems my human mind still hasn't adapted to this new world. I originally found this body's traits to be a massive death flag but all they have done is help me so far. Adapt or die, as they say.”
Damien looked around and was glad to see nothing but bare trees and frost-covered mud, “Luckily nobody is here to witness me acting so weak.”
Since Damien was completely out of mana, stamina, and the will to live, he decided to take a few minutes to rest and think about these recent events and his future.
He sat down and laid against a tree and just watched his breath making small clouds as he exhaled out.
“In just a week I was challenged to a duel, almost assassinated and now I just had a life and death duel with a fucking necromancer? I knew this was going to be stressful from the start, but this is ridiculous!”
“I thought the death flags wouldn't start for a year at least! How did Damien even survive till the storyline of the game in the first place? On the plus side, it seems Fay has a more favorable impression of me now. So that's one death flag out of the way…”
He felt his mana pool slowly refilling as he rested, “This lazy trait really is useful.” Damien remarked as he almost fell asleep.
“You know… maybe it's not all that bad,” Damien said after a while. “Noble Vampires are near-immortal beings, so long as I am never killed I will live forever. Compared to eternity, a mere few years of hardship aren't worth mentioning.”
Damien just chuckled, “It's a shame my brother is sending assassin's my way, and Prince August will take over the kingdom and launch a crusade against all vampires in his fantasy of gaining immortality.”
He looked at the clear blue sky and imagined himself living in a floating castle and travelling the world…
“Hold on…” Damien muttered as a newfound passion appeared on his face. “This is a world of fucking magic! I can do anything I want if I'm powerful enough.”
“I could rule and destroy kingdoms with a single wave of my hand, become friends with dragons, drink till dawn with dwarves, build floating cities… anything.”
“Holy shit! Who cares about some shitty Alan the necromancer? He was just a stepping stone for my empowerment!”
Damien glanced over and saw the corpse of Alan, previously it made him sick to his stomach but now…
He felt nothing but excitement, his body seemed to tremble in joy from his change in mindset, Damien just patted his own chest, “Sorry buddy it took me this long… I will make you proud from now on.”
He felt as if his body had given him more control, he previously felt as if this was his own body, but his brain was a bit more muddled with all the traits and vampire instincts that clashed with his human ones. But now they felt in sync, he had the best of both worlds.
The rationality and decision-making of a human with the bloodthirsty and sadistic side of a vampire, a dangerous but wonderful combination that worked for both combat and diplomatic situations.
Damien grinned and stood up. He felt clear-headed and free. He knew what he wanted and wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way. Damien was a villain and he knew it. Why fight what is already destined?
He regained his posture and calm face, he glanced at the corpse one last time “Law of the jungle my friend, no hard feelings!” Although he was still fatigued, Damien began walking towards the car and zombies. He had experience points to gain, after all.
***
A young man with dazzling blonde hair was looking down at his subordinate. His usual friendly smile was completely gone and instead replaced with a pained expression.
“I’m sorry, my Prince, the operation failed…”
Prince August looked down on the man and said in a cold tone “Ben you know my condition is getting worse by the day, the lich soul inside me is sucking at my life essence faster than I can replace it, you promised me that the black council would send an agent with a 100% success rate? So how could he possibly fail against some loser teacher's assistant?”
Ben trembled under his master's gaze that seemed to be filled with the void of death, ever since he signed that pact with a lich he has been slowly dying. Only through consuming the life essence of others can he keep the lich’s soul from consuming and taking over his body for itself.
The servant couldn't understand why his master was so hungry for power. Who would willingly allow a Lich’s soul to reside in their own body just for some power? Sure A grade necromancy was powerful but the cost was way too high in his opinion.
“That Damien fellow is at least part Vampire, if I can discover the secret to his regeneration, then I could keep this Lich soul at bay forever! I would become an immortal god. Do you understand, Ben? Do you?”
“Y-yes my lord…” Ben nervously nodded, his master was completely insane in his humble opinion, but he dared not question the Prince.
“I don’t like your tone, Ben.” Prince August said, causing the man to shudder, “Please my Lord it's nothing to do with this conversation, just some other things on my mind…”
August paid no attention and placed his hand upon Ben’s head. The skin on August's hand melted away into rotting flesh and revealed his skeleton below. His hand released a black aura, and a soft green glow left Ben’s body and flowed up through August's arm.
Ben screamed and started thrashing against August, but his dull and dead eyes just stared at the servant with contempt. Ben’s life essence was slowly drained until an empty husk remained.
August watched as his hand's flesh grew back at a visible rate, wiggling around like green maggots. It was a terrifying scene, but August had long gotten used to it.
“Evelyn…” he murmured, and a terrified maid appeared from the corner of the room. “Dispose of this body for me,” he said in a commanding tone, and Evelyn just bowed her head and dragged the lifeless husk away.
“Damien, Damien… oh Damien, why do you run from this Prince?” August he said with a wide grin, that threatened to split his face in half.
