Chapter 447: Trial That Defies Fate (10)

Lunken’s charge was devastating.

Kicking up a storm of blood, he lunged forward with his fangs aimed at the Progenitor.

His sharp tusks bore down on Tyrkanzyaka’s small frame.

His charge was powerful, but straightforward.

One didn’t need skills to read his path.

Tyrkanzyaka chose to meet him head-on, her body filled to the brim with Bloodcraft responding to her will.

The girl’s fist shot toward Lunken’s face.

From the outside, it looked as if Lunken would splatter the girl in an instant—but Tyrkanzyaka, who had severed herself from the world, was far more complete.

Her fist blurred for an instant, shattered Lunken’s tusks, and embedded halfway into his skull.

With a wet crunch, Lunken’s body folded grotesquely, like something out of a gruesome fairy tale.

– Boom.

Lunken was hurled into a wall.

The blood-built castle groaned in agony at the repeated impacts.

“Snrk! Small fists, but they sting!”

But Lunken quickly regenerated and launched off the wall, his broken tusks already whole again.

Wiping his nose, he shouted gleefully.

“But there’s hesitation in you! Progenitor! Is that all you’ve got?!”

“Ghh….”

Tyrkanzyaka’s fists were dull.

Not for any complex reason.

Sensation. Emotion.

Everything she had longed for now dragged her fists back.

She felt the pain of his tusks tearing her.

It was brief, but enough to make her falter for the tiniest moment.

And while she was angry at Lunken, she didn’t feel the same searing hatred as she had toward the servants of the Sanctum.

Nothing was going her way.

Not the Elders.

Not the battle.

Not even love.

The only thing she had full control over was her own body.

｢Is this… the life of the humans I so longed for?｣

She had grown weak.

Compared to the might she once held, the power now trapped in her small body felt painfully lacking.

For the first time, Tyrkanzyaka felt the emotion of helplessness.

｢If only Hu were here…｣

The thought flashed through her mind and she shook her head.

Had her body grown weak enough for her heart to follow?

Even if he was the King of Humans, what could a powerless man do here but become a hostage?

“Take the soul of a warrior, Progenitor! If you once had strength, fine, but if you no longer do, then fight for it! Seize it with your own hands!”

Lunken charged again.

This time, still from the front—but now striking with both hands, ready to crush her.

It was slightly more refined than the reckless one he did before.

Tyrkanzyaka braced herself, planning to meet him head-on using her regenerative power—but the thought of pain made her flinch.

She withdrew her punch and defended instead.

Seeing her choose defense over offense, Lunken roared.

“Wrong—choice—!”

Once you’re on the defensive, it’s hard to counter.

Lunken roared with glee as he pummeled Tyrkanzyaka dozens of times.

She had chosen to block, so she kept blocking.

With her arms stinging from the pain, Tyrkanzyaka kept retreating.

“Is that it? Is that really all you’ve got?! Fight me properly!”

“Ghh…!”

– Thud.

A sudden kick struck her in the gut.

The sharp pain drove the breath from her lungs.

It was a minor blow compared to the ones she had dealt, but because she could feel it—because of her regained senses—it hit her like a sledgehammer.

Tyrkanzyaka’s body slid backward.

When vampires fight, their powers often gnaw at each other, dragging battles into long and arduous tests of endurance.

But now, with her senses restored, Tyrkanzyaka felt like she would lose to pain before the power struggle even began.

｢Are… senses and emotion really just burdens that make me weaker…?｣

Her resolve wavered.

For a moment, she was tempted to still her heart again, to end the pain now and fight another day.

Lunken pressed his assault with a joyous roar.

“Good! Now this is a fight! Is it ‘cause we broke the shackles or whatever? I feel lighter than ever!”

“You… Lunken…”

“Still not enough! More! More! Show me your full strength, Progenitor—!!”

– Boom, boom.

His huge fists and kicks rained down on her.

Lunken didn’t feel pain.

He didn’t care if his body broke and was crushed.

He rushed in with the intent to kill.

Unable to bear the pain, Tyrkanzyaka reached for another power.

Darkness gathered.

She, who had fought against the light, became an idol of darkness.

Dark knights surged from the ground, summoned to strike down her foes…

But—

“Knights without even a trace of Blood Aura… this lowly servant finds herself disheartened at the sight of her Progenitor so weakened.”

As the Dark Knights stepped onto the bloody floor, crimson flower buds bloomed around them as if sensing their presence.

Spiraling upward, the buds enveloped the knights.

– Snap.

The petals folded in, twisting and crushing the knights with a whirl.

With a single flick of Erzsebet’s wrist, the Dark Knights disintegrated into powder and scattered.

The only remnants of the darkness were the fragments drawn toward Tyrkanzyaka, forming a wall between her and Lunken.

“This trash!”

Of course, power designed to counter the Sanctum’s light had little effect on Lunken.

He smashed through it without pause and resumed his relentless assault on Tyrkanzyaka’s body.

Unable to endure, Tyrkanzyaka swept her arm.

Her strength remained and Lunken was once again blasted away like a cannonball.

Though meaningless to a vampire, the momentary reprieve was desperately needed for Tyrkanzyaka.

If she stopped her heart here… perhaps she could regain her power.

But if she did so now, she’d never be able to reclaim her heart again.

She already knew how the Elders would spiral out of control, just as they had before.

She could slaughter all the Elders and raze the Duchy to the ground, then beg to reverse time.

But no matter how she looked at it, that wasn’t a rational solution.

…Besides, could Hu truly invoke the same power again?

That card—the Ace of Hearts—was a shard of the human Tyr that the King of Humans had found.

It wasn’t certain that he could simply pick it up again like a toy after she threw it away.

“We’re fighting—FO-CUS—!!”

Lunken charged like a raging boar, sensing her distracted thoughts.

As if the earlier brawls had just been warm-ups, he scraped at the floor with both hands and feet and rammed her with his full weight.

A strangled sound escaped her throat—a cry that didn’t even become a scream.

Tyrkanzyaka’s body crashed into a wall with searing pain.

Kavila looked upon the staggering, pitiful Tyrkanzyaka with a touch of pity.

“Ah… poor sis… You bring this suffering upon yourself. She ought to know by now—I’m the only one who truly thinks of her. Not the other Elders. Not even Valdamir. Not even her lover… She’s no one’s ‘first’ anymore.”

Even amid the chaos, Kavila’s muttering pierced the ears of everyone present.

Lunken, Tyrkanzyaka—they all turned to look at her.

“…What are you saying? Hu… why…?”

Unaffected by the gathered attention, Kavila casually drew her Dragonfang Puppets—constructs modeled after Tyrkanzyaka’s Dark Knights.

Though long considered mere toys in comparison to the Dark Knights, Kavila had spent centuries refining and enhancing them.

Now, with the Dark Knights weakened, there was nothing left to compare them to.

“Sister. That man… you introduced him to us as the King of Humans. Most dismissed it as nothing, but they were too dull. Only Valdamir and I watched carefully to see what he would do.”

“…You were watching Hu?”

“Watching? Kihih. Sister, there wasn’t even a need. He didn’t hide what he was doing.”

Sympathizing with the Progenitor cast aside by her Elders for choosing love, the ancient black mage voiced her knowledge with solemnity.

“The King of Humans, the embodiment of savagery that the Sanctum tried to erase before our time. Sister, he… no, that thing will never belong to you.”

Black mages were madmen who delved into forbidden knowledge not granted to humans.

For the young Kavila, who became an Elder too early, black magic was the only path to catch up with her peers.

Using her own body as a catalyst, she quickly found that the art resonated deeply with vampires.

And as her success grew, so did her obsession.

She was the final Elder who bore the Primordial Essence of betrayal.

A subordinate in title, but closer to an ally, the greatest supporter of vampires in the South—the Great Witch.

Kavila, having once sought guidance from that keeper of forbidden secrets, witnessed things she could never unsee.

“Did you know? The deeper you delve into it, the more shadows you feel from savagery as Dark Mages. Human sacrifice, offerings, cannibalism, curses, and copulation. All rituals use the human body as a price and medium. Every Anathema existed long before any known calendar. A time when beasts lived in packs… and the King of Humans still walked freely. Even then, he was already a king.”

Kavila murmured, recalling knowledge she had once deemed unnecessary and cast aside.

“He is neither good nor evil. He affirms everything humans do. No matter how atrocious. Even rebellion against himself. He doesn’t reject or resist. He is literally the King of Savagery, and he is not your king alone… He is the king of all of us—even if we don’t acknowledge him.”

“…What are you saying…?”

“Oh, poor sister. So fragile and naive. Of course, a wicked man would deceive you. Don’t you see it yet?”

Looking at Tyrkanzyaka, writhing in pain, Kavila delivered the cruel truth without mercy.

“He knew about the rebellion against you. Those fools of Luscynia’s dared attack the Progenitor’s consort. Do you think they would’ve done something so foolish otherwise? He was approaching Elders, seeking others willing to commit rebellion against you.”

“Hu was attacked? When?”

It was the first time she’d heard of it.

In the past, Tyrkanzyaka had ruled the Duchy like her own body—she had known everything.

But now, without her dominion over blood, she no longer had that flow of information.

If she’d known Hughes had been attacked, she would’ve taken action.

Perhaps because of the dire situation, a twinge of hurt bloomed in her chest.

And then—

“Sister. ‘When’ it happened doesn’t matter. What matters is that he never told you.”

Kavila drove the wedge deeper.

“He let it happen. He didn’t stop it. He didn’t warn you. After the attack, he went about as if nothing had happened. To accept all things is to allow all things. Even rebellion against you—he accepts that too.”

Kavila hadn’t intended to reveal this.

Like other vampires, she didn’t feel the anguish of betrayal.

But when she saw Tyrkanzyaka’s expression crumble—after enduring even Lunken’s assault—she regretted not saying it sooner.

｢Ah, I should’ve told her about her consort’s betrayal from the start.｣

“Sis… your man is not yours alone. He’ll never give you the love you want. Never.”

As Tyrkanzyaka’s emotions surfaced, the shadows scattered in confusion, like darkness itself had lost its way.