330 The Afterlife...?

-----

Sensing the presence of two Noble Vampires fading away, the three Vampires who were accompanying King Hepherios Cilane glanced at the position of their former comrades. 

"It seems that your little sister couldn't do it, Matilda," Said the small, blonde Vampire girl, with a chuckle.

"Hmph… Joliette had always some screws loose, her death due to her naivety and stupidity would come sooner or later… Well, that is better, in the long run, less competition…" Said the beautiful and voluptuous Vampire woman, with short blue hair.

"She had some unique Skills, I feel like it is a pity, her corpse could have been transformed into an Undead… Or use her body parts to create a new Patchwork Zombie… What a waste… And that Ogre that she always carried around, to think that she shared a small piece of Divine Beast flesh with it… Foolish sister, wasting such high-quality materials in a weak Chimera" said the large and burly Vampire, who had a short black beard and small horns on his forehead.

At their side, there was the King Hepharios Cilane… no, the Vampire Centaur Hepharios… After accepting becoming a Vampire over being killed and robbed of everything, he drank the blood of Aleksandra and became a Vampire… He was perhaps one of the few Centaurs that managed to become one.

His strength had multiplied and he had gained new Skills and high self-regeneration, however, the moment he transformed, his craving for blood was too intense, and he had attacked the closest person on his castle, his wife, who he was drinking her blood from, her body, seemed lifeless.

Hepharios did not felt any remorse from this, far from that, he even praised his own wife for being useful until the end, her delicious and high-quality blood nourished Hepharios's strength and new Vampire body. His horse half had become more robust and muscular, and the brown and thin fur had become pure dark and hard as adamantine.

His former emerald eyes became crimson, and his long blonde hair was now silver. He also seemed to have recovered most of his youth and didn't seem like a thin old man anymore, but a handsome and charming young man… His awakened Vampire powers were vastly superior to most Lower-Ranked Vampires, who usually are called Subordinate or Servant Vampires.

Due to directly receiving the blood of the Vampire Family Head, his powers were stronger, he had awakened his crimson eyes into Demon Eyes of Manipulation, his pale white skin became hard like steel and his long silver hair awakened into Demon Steel Hair, with these powers coupled with his new abilities and the latent talent of the Centaur Royalty, Hepharios had a promising future ahead.

"I don't know why did I doubt before… This power, this body… It's wonderful… I feel like I've been born anew! Where is that irregular? Let's kill it right at this very moment! I want to try out my new Skills"

"Yes, just like Elisabeta said, we must wait and see~ For now, Hepharios, you must suck more blood to enhance your power and skills, as confronting the irregular is your first task given by Lady Aleksandra…" said Matilda, the beautiful and mature Vampire woman.

"Yes, now that you've become a Vampire, consume the blood of all your family to quickly enhance your capabilities… As you do this, we will work in various papers that we need to assess to convert this Kingdom into a Vassal Nation… It is rather troublesome, we also need to contact Lady Aleksandra" said the large, burly Vampire, whose name was Hendrik.

"O-Oh… I didn't think about all of that, but aren't you worried about the irregular being too strong…? She killed three Vampires who possessed a Divine Beast flesh part…" Said Hepharios, despite his personality, he was rather worried.

"Not at all… Those three Vampires were the lowest of the low, even with Divine Beast flesh, they probably weren't able to draw over ten percent of their original power… They're disappointing beings that shouldn't call themselves Vampires in the first place…" Said Elisabeta.

"Indeed… Their deaths are rather beneficial, as there will be less competence for higher positions without those annoying misfits… and the other weak Vampires are no more than disposable pawns, we can easily refill those ranks by converting some more civilians in Thanatos, you wouldn't believe how many demons and humans desire to become Vampires, even if they would have to work as meat shields for us… Well, that's because it's not specified in the contract, fufufu" Said Matilda.

"Worry not, Hepharios, we have calculated the power of that irregular thanks to Lady Aleksandra relics which were given by the Goddess of Blood, Agatheina-sama herself… Our goddess, our ancestor herself can't be wrong, right? If she is sure that we can beat the irregular, we can, simple as that" said Hendrik.

Hepharios quickly consumed the leftover blood from his wife as he stood and wore new and clean clothes, by using his Demon Steel Hair, he was able to manipulate and shapeshift his own hair, easily converting it into new vampire clothes, which had a certain gothic style to it.

"I see, then I shouldn't worry about it, let the irregular rampage and have its fun, thinking that it can even stand a chance against us…" he said.

"Yes, the moment we are done in here and most of the Resistance members are killed, we will go and swiftly eliminate her," said Elisabete.

"Interestingly enough, she doesn't seem as concerned about the Resistance bases, although she is tireless, she pretends to sleep so the Vampire groups can freely attack over Resistance Bases, I suppose she doesn't like how they question her so much," said Matilda.

"Well, she is rather intelligent, I wouldn't have minded having her as an Undead Servant," said Hendrik, expressing his thoughts.

"You can't, Hendrik, Lady Aleksandra herself specified that we must offer her body to Agatheina-sama," said Elisabete, reprimanding the large Vampire, despite her small and petite figure.

"I know… I will have to just do with these Centaurs… You don't mind me converting them into Undead, Hepharios?" asked Hendrik.

"Ah, not at all, Hendrik-sama, do as you please, I will bring you even more corpses in a few more minutes. Very well, I will go feed myself for now…" said Hepharios, as he ran through the corridor looking for his daughter and sons, who would feed his power with their blood.

The Vampire trio glanced at each other after Hepharios left the room.

"Hm, I've never seen such a quick change in personality after becoming a Vampire" (Elisabete)

"Hepharios seems like a rare case, it's as if he had been released from the mundane shackles of mortals" (Matilda)

"Well, isn't that good? He will be of great use, his awakened Vampire Skills seem rather strong if he were to train them…" (Hendrik)

"He could compare to us?" (Elisabete)

"Yes, we may have a fourth member on our group in the future" (Hendrik)

"I can't really say that I'm excited, but as long that is for the best of the Kingdom" (Matilda)

"Indeed… for the best of Thanatos and our Family" (Elisabete)

Meanwhile, in a strange space, which seemed to be composed entirely of dark and twisting colors, several souls began to speak with each other…

Their forms were strangely identical to beings that Kireina had eaten… Specifically eaten their souls. They hadn't been killed completely, their minds and part of their original souls remained inside of this strange space, aimlessly drifting away.

Their semi-transparent light-yellow bodies resembled ghosts that slowly dissipated, their upper halves resembled their past selves, and the lower half was just a formless tail of ethereal essence.

Unlike in Earth, where souls cannot be seen and usually have very low strength, due to the strange energies known as Magic Energy and Soul Energy, Souls are naturally stronger and can take on more defined shapes, alongside storing information inside of them, which usually encompasses the original brain's mind, personality, and other aspects.

Two new souls had recently appeared, creating a small commotion, these were the souls of the recently eaten Joliette, the small Vampire who used threads and puppets and her servant Frank, the Ogre Chimera, who was a Vampire as well.

Castien, the Elf Vampire who used the flesh of a Divine Beast to convert himself into a mass of muscles and was also killed recently, welcomed the two.

"Oh? But isn't it Joliette-chan and Frank-kun? Welcome! I've been feeling rather alone in here… With all of these gloomy and weak monster and human souls, they can barely talk and some have gone insane already, poor fellows"

"Ah! C-Castien?! Were you killed by that irregular as well…? But just where are we? Is this the afterlife? What a depressing place this is…"

"Guoooonn…"

Castien's soul, which was scarlet, different than most yellow or pale white souls moved what seemed to be his arms, shrugging.

"I don't have any idea, I awakened in here when I died… the sky is constantly twisting around with weird and hallucinating colors, I've tried to kill or eat other souls, but it seems impossible… so we are just trapped in here for eternity" assumed Castien, since he awakened in this place, he had tried almost everything, from killing other souls, eating them, assimilating them, taming them and even having intercourse, nothing seemed to work, they barely had an ethereal form.

"Haah… So we just… do nothing? That's boring! Very, very boring! Frank! Do something fun!" shouted Joliette, pouting like a spoiled child.

Frank, the Chimera Ogre, groaned and began to move, to what seemed to be dancing…

"Guoooonnn…"

"Frank, you suck at dancing"

"Guoo…"

Castien patted Frank's ethereal shoulder.

"Don't worry, Frank-kun, we got all of eternity to learn how to dance! Let me join in"

"Guooonn…?"

Frank began to imitate Castien's movements, but they could barely resemble any type of dancing.

Joliette glanced at the two with a bored expression.

"Seriously? This is it? This is the afterlife?"

"Common, don't be grumpy, Joliette, join us"

"Guoon…"

Joliette didn't want to join in the strange dancing, but other souls, who surrounded the two, seemed to be attracted by their strange movements.

These souls were of monsters, animals, humans, and demi-humans, of varied forms and heights, but most of them were too weak to even speak, their minds had probably been slowly erased as well.

"Oooh…"

"Ooohhh…?"

"Aah…! Aaah…"

"Grooowl…"

"That's right, my friend, come with us! Let us make this gloomy place more lively, shall we?" Said Castien, inviting the souls to move around, aimlessly dancing in strange ways that could only be described as bizarre.

Joliette sighed…

All of these events were seen directly by Kireina, who was currently sleeping, in her dreamscape…

Just what was this place?

Kireina couldn't believe her eyes, most of the enemies, monsters, and things she had eaten their souls were here, even some of the Heroes of Athetosea, however, they seemed weakened and lost.

"Didn't they all died?" She thought.

However, the moment Kireina wanted to grab them, she felt as if her own soul was being penetrated by her physical arm…

"W-What? This feels too strange… My soul…? This space… is my soul?"

However, her movements didn't go undiscovered by the other drifting souls, especially the Vampires. Most were terrified, but Joliette was fascinated.

"Aah! A hand! Please, rescue me! Rescue me from this boring place!"

However, the hand had already retreated from this space, and things went back to normal…

"Joliette, you dummy, you scared the hand!" Said Castien, reprimanding the little Joliette, who despite her appearance, was over two hundred years old.

"What?! I just want to get out of here!"

"Guoooonn…"

"F-Frank?! Are you on Castien's side now?! You're a traitor!"

"Guoo…" 

Frank could barely think, his mind was destroyed back when he was alive, and his mentality had regressed to that of a child. When he became a soul, most of this remained, but he seemed to be able to have clearer thoughts, nonetheless, he barely understood his Master intentions and words.

"Joliette, don't be harsh with Frank-kun, he's only trying to help," said Castien.

"Y-You! I'm already tired of this and it hasn't even been an hour!" shouted Joliette, scaring the surrounding souls, who drifted away from her.

The Soul of who seemed to be the Heroes and Champions of Athetosea were always together, although they couldn't even remember who they were, they were always sticking together, almost instinctively.

Their souls were slightly stronger than those of common monsters and humans, so they were able to have some thoughts other than instincts, they tried to approach the Vampires.

A white-colored soul, who seemed to be formerly known as the [Elemental Knight of Holy], Reynold Goodwill, tried to spoke with the furious Joliette.

"Err… Ex…cu…se… me…?"

"Huh? And who are you? What do you want?!"

"I… don't…. re… mem… ber… Can… you… help… me…?"

"Help you with what?!"

"I… used… to… be… someone… but… I'm… not… any… more…"

"Agh! Why are you clinging on me?! Go away! You're so annoying!"

"Aah… Ple… ase…"

The soul of Reynold, although it had lost most of its memories and its identity, was looking for a "reason" to exist… Much like other Souls, they felt aimless, without purpose… they wanted to do something, anything would do, they just wanted to "be".

He felt strangely sad as if the things he had done on his life were tormenting him even after forgetting most of it…

The other Heroes, Knights, and Champions of Athetosea shared the same feelings… Even the one who was once known as the Green Demon and the Hero of Raging Winds was drifting without purpose, saddened.

And just as if hearing they plead for help and salvation… a strange, dark sphere with a pink-colored fleshy heart inside of its body, appeared out of thin air. Its presence was ominous, get intoxicating… the surrounding souls drifted towards it by instincts, their faces seemed in an ecstasy, but the Vampires remained in their positions, completely frozen in terror. 

The sphere grabbed all of the Knights of Athetosea souls, including the Heroes and Champions, and then disappeared, just as it appeared, out of thin air, it was gone.

The Vampire trio glanced at the events with baffled expressions.

"W-What was that?!"

"I-I don't know…! I've never seen that before! W-Was it the grim reaper?! He came for them…! Perhaps, they would go to Hell?"

"Guooon…"

"I don't think Hell really exist, that would just be Helheim, and that's a Realm, and we clearly aren't there, we would have been greeted by Hel, the Goddess of Death or at least her Demi-Gods"

"That's… true… Well, I can't say that I want that to happen to me… But it seems intriguing…"

"Guoon…"

"Well, we have eternity to think on what was that…"

"I suppose that is true, sister…"

"Don't call me sister! I'm not your sister, Castien!"

"Guoooon…"

As the three souls of the former Vampires discussed to kill time, the souls of the former Athetosean Champions, Knights and Heroes were led to a different place…

Within the Living Castle of the Dark Moon Empire, which had recently become a Golem, seven eggs shined brightly as strange presences entered the young lives that inhabited them.

A strange dark sphere glanced at the presences entering the eggs and slowly setting down, and then, it disappeared out of thin air as if it had been never there.

Nephiana, the mother of these eggs was currently sleeping, giving her warmness to her eggs, she hasn't noticed any abnormalities and peacefully dreamed about delicious roasted meat. 

-----