Lungken's charge was devastating. Rushing out while stirring up a storm of blood, he thrust his fangs at the Progenitor first. Sharp fangs lunged at the Progenitor's small body.
Lungken's charge was powerful but straightforward. Reading his direction required no martial principles. The Progenitor chose to fight back, and the Blood Control Art filling her body moved as she willed. The girl's fist moved towards Lungken's face.
On the outside, it looked as if Lungken would turn the girl into a bloody pulp. But Tyrkanhaka, who distinguished the world from herself, was more whole. The girl's fist momentarily blurred, shattering Lungken's fangs and driving his head halfway inward. With a squelch, Lungken's body crumpled absurdly like a cruel fairy tale.
Bang! The bounced Lungken crashed into the wall. The Blood Castle screamed at the successive impacts.
"Kugh! Your fist is small but it packs a punch!"
However, Lungken regenerated in an instant and kicked off the wall. Wiping his nose, he shouted, his broken fangs perfectly regenerated as if nothing had happened.
"But, I can feel your hesitation! Progenitor, is that all you have!"
"Ugh..."
Tyrkanhaka's fist was dull. The reason lay elsewhere. Senses, emotions. Everything Tyrkanhaka had so desperately longed for was dragging down her fist.
She felt the pain of being torn by his fangs. It was momentary, but even that gap felt long. Additionally, while she was angry at Lungken, it was hard to feel the intense hatred she had when facing the servants of the Holy Emperor's Court.
Nothing goes as she wishes. Not the Elders, not the fight, not love. To her, the only thing she could freely control was her own body.
'Is this... the life of ordinary people I wished for?'
She had grown weak. Compared to the Tyrkanhaka who once possessed god-like abilities, the authority trapped in this small body felt almost wasted. Having fallen to the level of a human, Tyrkanhaka felt the emotion of helplessness for the first time.
'If only Hughs were here at a time like this...'
Suddenly recalling something, Tyrkanhaka shook her head. Did her mind grow weak as her body weakened? Even if he was the King of Humanity, having lost his power, he would only end up as a hostage if he were here.
"Have the soul of a warrior! Progenitor, if you had the power, you could do as you please, but if you don't, you must fight back and seize it!"
Lungken leapt in again. This time, too, from the front.
Instead of his fangs, he slammed down with both hands as if to crush her. It was a bit more technical than before. Tyrkanhaka tried to face him, trusting her regeneration, but flinched as she thought of the pain she would feel in the process. She hastily pulled back the fist she had extended and blocked Lungken's attack.
Seeing Tyrkanhaka choose to block rather than fight back, Lungken roared.
"You're wro-ng!"
Once forced onto the defensive, it is hard to counterattack. Lungken shouted triumphantly and pounded Tyrkanhaka dozens of times. Having already chosen to block, she had no choice but to block the next strike as well. Feeling the stinging pain in her arms, Tyrkanhaka kept retreating.
"Is that it? Is that all you have! Fight properly--!"
"Ugh...!"
Thwack. Lungken's sudden kick dug into Tyrkanhaka's abdomen. At the dizzying pain that seemed to pierce her stomach, she gasped involuntarily. Compared to the attacks Tyrkanhaka had inflicted so far, it was a minor blow, but because of her senses, the way she received it was different.
Tyrkanhaka's body slid back. A fight between vampires often became a grueling battle where they gnawed away at each other's dominance, but Tyrkanhaka, having regained her senses, felt as though she would succumb to pain before that could happen.
'Are senses and emotions truly nothing but baggage that only makes me weak...'
Her resolve wavered. Even now, Tyrkanhaka was overwhelmed by the desire to stop her heart. To overcome the immediate pain and crisis and hope for the future.
Lungken roared with joy and relentlessly pressed Tyrkanhaka.
"Alright! This is a fight worth having! Maybe it's because I shed my shackles or whatever, but I feel much lighter!"
"You... Lungken..."
"Not enough! More, more! Give it your all, Progenitor--!!"
Bang, bang. Giant fists and kicks continuously pounded Tyrkanhaka. Lungken felt no pain. Even if his body was shattered and crushed, he charged in as if to kill without caring.
Unable to endure the pain, Tyrkanhaka finally reached out to another power. Darkness gathered. She, who had once opposed the light, became an idol of darkness and wielded her authority.
Countless Black Knights, as if sprouting from the floor, rushed in to strike the Progenitor's enemy...
"Black Knights not even wreathed in Blood Qi. This humble one... cannot help but lament at the sight of the weakened Progenitor."
As the Black Knight stepped on the blood-stained floor, red flower buds rose as if sensing him. The swirling buds surrounded the Black Knight. Snap. The petals folded, and the buds swiftly wrapped around and crushed the Black Knight. With a single gesture from Elzebit, the Black Knights instantly turned to dust and scattered.
The remaining darkness was drawn by Tyrkanhaka's power and became a wall blocking between her and Lungken.
"Mere trifles!"
Of course, the ability meant to counter the light of the Holy Emperor's Court had little effect on Lungken. He instantly broke through it and continuously drove attacks into Tyrkanhaka's body.
Unable to hold out, Tyrkanhaka swung her arm wide. Her strength remained, and Lungken was bounced back like a cannonball again. It was a meaningless attack to a vampire, but Tyrkanhaka needed that brief respite.
If she stopped her heart here.
She might regain her dominance. But at that moment, Tyrkanhaka would not be able to attempt to reclaim her heart again. It was because she already knew that she would rampage to a degree the Elders couldn't handle.
Executing all the Elders. Destroying this country entirely and then asking for it to be returned would be the end of it... But no matter how she thought about it, that wasn't a rational method.
...In the first place, it was uncertain whether Hughs could exert that authority once more. This card was a fragment of Tyr from her time as a human, found by the King of Humanity. It was unknown whether she could throw it away herself like a toy and pick it back up again.
"You're in a fight-! Fo-cus--!!"
As soon as he noticed her thinking of other things during the battle, Lungken charged in like a wild boar. As if the exchange until now had been a mere probing attack, he scrambled out scraping the ground with both hands and feet, and rammed into Tyrkanhaka with his entire body. "Hak," a sound not even forming a scream leaked out. Bounced back, Tyrkanhaka felt a dizzying pain and was embedded in the wall.
Cabila looked pitifully at Tyrkanhaka, who was staggering miserably.
"Ah. Our poor sister who brings pain and suffering upon herself. You must realize that the only one truly thinking of you is me. Not the Elders, not Valdamir. Not even that man who is your beloved... To them, you are not their top priority."
Even amidst the noisy atmosphere, Cabila's murmur pierced everyone's ears. Both Lungken and Tyrkanhaka paused for a moment and looked at Cabila.
"...What do you mean? What about Hughs?"
Even while receiving everyone's attention, Cabila casually brought out her Dragon Fang Soldiers. It was an open secret that her Dragon Fang Soldiers were modeled after the Black Knights controlled by the Progenitor Tyrkanhaka. Because of the vast difference in power, the cumbersome and weak Dragon Fang Soldiers were considered mere toys compared to the Blood Qi-enhanced Black Knights. However, Cabila did not give up and spent hundreds of years refining and enhancing them. Though there were no Black Knights left to compare them to now.
"Sister. That man... you introduced him to us as the King of Humanity. Everyone took that fact lightly. But we were too insensitive. The only ones who carefully watched what he did were me and Valdamir."
"...Are you saying you monitored Hughs?"
"Monitor? Kehe. Sister, there was no need for that. He didn't even hide his tracks."
Sympathizing with the Progenitor who was abandoned by the Elders for choosing love, the small, ancient black sorcerer recited her knowledge.
"The King of Humanity. Before we existed, the incarnation of barbarism that the Holy Emperor's Court tried to eliminate from humanity. Sister, he is... no, 'that thing' cannot be yours."
Black sorcerers. Madmen who explore taboos forbidden to humans. For Cabila, who became an Elder at a young age, the only way to catch up with the already perfected other Elders was black magic. Black magic that uses one's own body as a catalyst was highly compatible with vampires. As she saw results, the young and innocent Cabila fell deeper into it.
The last Elder. Depravity harboring the True Blood. Rather than a subordinate, she was closer to an ally, but she was the Grand Witch of the South, the greatest ally of the vampires.
Having requested to learn from the Grand Witch, the guardian of taboos, Cabila witnessed forbidden knowledge.
"Do you know? The deeper they dig, the more black sorcerers implicitly feel the shadow of barbarism. Human sacrifice, offerings, cannibalism, curses, intercourse. All acts that use the human body as a price and affect the human body. Those things called taboos have existed since before year one. An era of barbarism where all kinds of beasts lived in packs, and the King of Humanity roamed about freely. And the King of Humanity was a king even then."
Cabila muttered, recalling knowledge she had once deemed unnecessary and cast aside.
"He is neither good nor evil. One who affirms everything humans do. No matter how terrible the deed, even if it is a rebellion against himself. The King of Barbarism who neither denies nor blocks it. He is not just your king... He is the king of us all. Even if we do not accept him as our king."
"What... are you saying..."
"Ah, poor sister. Because you are so tender and innocent, you live being deceived by a wicked man. Do you still not know?"
Looking at Tyrkanhaka panting in pain, Cabila laid out the cruel truth in detail.
"He was aware of the rebellion against you. The trash of Ruskinia even dared to attack the Progenitor's lover. How could they commit such a reckless act? Furthermore, he contacted the Elders and went around looking for those who would scheme to rebel against heaven with him."
"Hughs was attacked? When?"
It was a story she was hearing for the first time. In the past, Tyrkanhaka ruled the duchy like her own body and grasped every detail, but having lost her dominance over blood, she lacked the information she once had. If she had heard the news of Hughs being attacked, she would have been alarmed and dealt with it in some way.
Perhaps because she was finally driven into a corner, a slight sense of hurt bloomed in Tyrkanhaka's heart. And.
"Sister. 'When' is not what's important. It's that he didn't share what he went through with you."
Cabila said, driving a wedge.
"He stood by and watched. He didn't stop it in advance, nor did he warn them not to do it. In fact, he walked around unconcerned even after the attack occurred, didn't he? To affirm means to stand by. He even affirmed the rebellion against you!"
She originally didn't intend to reveal this much. Cabila, like other vampires, lacked emotions, so she didn't realize that a lover's betrayal was a terrible pain.
However, seeing Tyrkanhaka's expression crumble, which had remained unfazed even by Lungken's attacks, she regretted it.
Ah, if she had known this would happen, she should have informed her of her lover's betrayal sooner.
"Your man is not your man alone. He can never give you the love you desire. Never."
Perhaps because Tyrkanhaka's emotions shone through. The darkness scattered ominously, as if it had lost its direction.