Victor and Nightfire ca back to the house after the eting with the Arcane Hunter Organisation.
Honestly, He had expected internal problems there since the Master died and all, but even he hadn’t imagined soone stronger than Dora lurking inside the Hunter Organisation.
Nightfire’s body trembled as she looked at Victor. "W-What the heck did you pull into this for?" Her voice shook, the image still fresh of a sea of monsters running beneath the earth.
Just thinking about it made her skin crawl.... So many monsters.
Fuck!
Victor shrugged his shoulders and pulled off his mask. The illusion folded away from his face, and Aether looked back at her. "What can I say? From the mont you accepted , you accepted all the shit that cos with it."
"C-Can I ask for a refund?"
Food or life? Which mattered if one cost the other?
Aether smirked. "Sorry, madam. This is a lifeti purchase. Once you bought it, you can’t abandon it."
"OH MY GOD!" Nightfire threw her hands up with a horrified expression.
Aether stepped in and hugged her softly. "Don’t worry. I will protect you."
Nightfire bit back the first thought that rose, ’You are the problem,’ and shut her mouth.
She huffed, cheeks puffed, eyes narrowed. He annoyed her, dragged danger after him like a cloak, and yet he stood between her and the worst of it when it mattered.
It was a situation she needed but couldn’t walk away from, and she hated that she knew it.
"You better be," she muttered, hugging him back despite herself.
Then her lips twitched. She leaned away and pushed at his shoulder. "Fine. Then care to explain why the hell that mysterious figure reeked like you? Don’t tell you’re fucking around."
Aether chuckled, palms up. "Of course not. I’m not the guy who fucks around for fun, you know?" The last word ca out a little too fast. He would never do tha—
"What about the Succubus Queen, then?" Nightfire’s eyes narrowed to slits. She pointed at him, daring a single wrong word.
Aether’s gaze slid off to the side, very interested in a spot on the ceiling. "Did you say sothing?"
Nightfire snorted at the obvious acting. The mory of him with that succubus still stabbed her pride. She was angry... She was jealous.
Aether cleared his throat and changed the topic with professional speed. He pulled a glass tube from his inventory, faint pink mist twisting inside. He pressed it into her hand. "Check the sll. See if it belongs to soone you know."
Nightfire popped the seal and took a cautious sniff. Heat blood behind her eyes and prickled down her spine. She closed it quickly, as if the scent itself could crawl out and lick her throat.
"Hmm... no. This sll is like a woman in heat, not a succubus who’s hungry."
"Where did you get this?"
Even the sll left her slits tremble.
Aether humd and didn’t answer. He moved to the window instead. Outside, the grey never changed, but he had learned to read its shades; It was almost night.
Soon, Nyx Shadowfall would return.
"Guess we’ll talk later. I need to do sothing urgent." He brushed his thumb over her and vanished.
Nightfire blinked at the empty spot where he’d stood. She rolled her shoulders, then flopped backwards onto the bed, "Haha... He hugged again," she whispered with red cheeks.
anwhile, sowhere in the Void Empire,
In werewolf territory, a bar crouched under a broken sign and a tangle of black wires.
The door hung slightly off its hinge, the floor was a mosaic of old blood and boot scuffs, and the air slled like fur oil and sour liquor.
Inside, a pack of wolf-headed humans sprawled across three tables. They were almost werewolves, but not the sa—leaner in so places, bulkier in others, with fur that grew in hard, bristled swathes over skin like hamred leather.
Naked, the thick pelts served as clothing.
They drank from huge mugs, sloshing red-brown liquor over their knuckles, their voices a constant scrape.
"I cannot believe our Empress isn’t letting us fight to the death. Argh!"
"Fuck, yeah. Why is she even trying to do this? What’s the point of a throne with no blood under it?"
"You should be honored by death, not scared of it."
"Maybe the Empress is scared of death now. Haha. What a pussy."
Mugs hit wood; claws drumd in agreent.
Just then,
A hooded figure that had been sitting for a while stood up and ca close to them.
One of the werewolves bared his teeth in a sideways grin.
"Look at you. Finally had enough spine to talk to us?"
The hooded figure’s voice was soft and oddly amused. "Oh? You knew I was following you all this ti?"
"Haha. Oh, co on, bitch. We’re not so pathetic that we wouldn’t notice soone following us for a week." The werewolf’s lip curled as he clenched his fist,
"So tell , bitch. Why are you following us?"
The hooded figure rolled one shoulder, a casual, "Nothing much. I have so good news. The Mighty Grace has disappeared."
"..."
Every werewolf in the bar straightened.
Eyes flared; Knuckles whitened; claws clicked on wood.
"Say that again," the first werewolf growled, stepping forward, chest swelling. "Say it again, and I’ll show you who disappears without a trace from this world."
A Monster.
The hooded figure didn’t move for the threat. They tilted their chin instead, enough to lift the hood’s shadow and let the light find their face.
The werewolf looked down and saw two eyes looking back... ice blue, depthless, the colour of frozen rivers under moonlight.
"Hehe~"
A real monster.
****
At the sa ti, sowhere else in the Void Empire,
The harpies’ territory,
A hooded figure stepped over a nest without breaking a single strand.
A group of harpies, a mix of bird and human figures, stared at a hooded figure who had entered their nest without permission.
"Oi. What are you doing here? Get the fuck out."
The lead harpy flared her wings once.
The hooded figure stayed silent as the harpies tightened their circle, wings half-flared, claws clicking on bark.
"Give back what you stole from that day," the figure said.
The group of harpies blinked, glanced at one another, and then...
"Hahaa..."
"Look at this weak man... aha!"
"Hah! I know this guy. This guy put his wallet on the floor and went to the bathroom... what an idiot!"
"Idiot!"
"What did this bitch just say now?"
"Stole? Hahaha..."
Their mocking rose like a broken lody, but then snapped off mid-note.
"So what?"
"What will you do now?"
"Go cry to your mommy."
"It’s our blood! We take what you own—the thrill, the life—you only feel it when you steal, ahaha!"
The hooded figure studied them for a heartbeat, then humd. "I guess these birds need to be caged, then."
"Say what?"
They looked down as the hood’s shadow shifted.... and saw two ice-blue eyes glowing under the hood.
****
At the sa ti, another part of the Void Empire,
In a Minotaur territory, dust and heat lay thick over a maze of stone corridors. A bull-headed man levelled his horns and roared, the sound rattling old chains on the walls.
"Hey, you! Yes, you... You filthy pig! Why are you following ? If you want to fight, then co and get , bastard! Don’t you dare look down on !"
He launched himself forward, hooves cracking stone, the corridor shuddering under his charge.
Boo..Bo...Boo...
The hooded figure didn’t move until the last instant, pivoted a half-step, and let the Minotaur’s montum slam past like a freight of rage into a pillar.
****
In an Incubus territory, lanterns burned low and sweet, the air heavy with perfu and sweat.
A naked, beautiful man with a lazy smile leaned against a carved arch and raked his gaze over the intruder.
"Look at you, man. I told you I’m only interested in pussy." He chuckled and stepped closer, unabashed, predatory.
"Sigh... if you want it that much... well, I don’t mind pegging you too." He shifted his hips, showing his proud shaft, positioning himself as he stared the hooded figure down.
"Co on, show your tiny hole. I’ll fill you u—"
Chkk.
He flinched, breath catching. He looked down.
His severed shaft hit the floor with a wet slap. In its place, blood flowed in bright sheets over his thigh as the hooded figure lowered a short, blackened knife.
"ARRRHHH!"
****
In a Lich territory, crypt lamps flickered blue along a hall of skulls. Runes woke and went dark as the hooded figure walked while holding a trembling skull on its palm.
"P-Please let us go... Please, sir!"
****
In an Ogre territory,
The ogres bloodied and wounded as they looked back, their weapons hung in frozen arcs, gripped by ice and behind them... a hooded figure.
... Not only those but also the small territories and so small groups... everyone was being followed by a hooded figure that appeared a week ago.
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