Chapter 34: Vampire

"Do you believe in demons?"

Christi's face turned pale as her legs gave out in fear. She tried to make some distance between her and Nero but ended up tripping and fell outside the door.

Nero walked out of the door and saw some guards and townspeople, as well as some of the guests, staying at the inn— then looked at Chief Bruce.

Christi crawled to chief Bruce in fear and hid behind him. Everyone's face had turned pale, and they were trembling in fear. Even if they had never seen or believed in demons— they couldn't help but beg for mercy and forgiveness from Nero.

'Heh! I just showed my form, and these mortals are showing their true colors,'

Nero walked into the crowd and stood there. 'Come on, now. Call me a monster. Curse me. Attack me. Try to kill me. Show your true colors."

Nero impatiently waited as Sophia came rushing outside with a man.

"Zeus!" She shouted and pushed the man in front of Nero, "Listen to this man."

Everyone, including Nero, looked at the man. The man glanced around with a confused look on his face, "I heard knights from the capital captured and took someone away?"

"That's right! Please help us!" Chief Bruce exclaimed.

"That's impossible," said the man.

Everyone looked at the man with a puzzled look on his face. "There is no way they were knights from the capital because the capital only sent one knight, and that is me; Garfield— who had been staying in this inn for a week now."

"Then who were they?!"

"Probably some imposters." The man was awfully calm about the situation.

"Unbelievable!" Chief Bruce yelled with a face full of rage.

The real knight looked at Nero, then glanced at the chief Bruce. "Who was the person they captured? Was it someone important to you?"

"She was just like my daughter," he replied.

"Mayor! Mayor!" Some guards came rushing to the scene with five men.

"Mayor, we caught them sneaking out of the town from the broken wall," said one of the guards.

Chief Bruce looked at the five men, and his eyes widened. "Aren't you the ones who were defaming Emilia?!"

They were none other than the five men who were trying to accuse Emilia and backing up the knights— making it look like a real scene.

Chief Bruce aimed his sword on the mens' neck and asked, "Who sent you?!"

"We don't know anything!" one of the men yelled.

"We were just given money to act!" said the other.

Nero pushed everyone aside and walked to the group of five men, then grabbed the head of one man. "Speak, or I will crush your head."

"It was Darius! He gave us money and asked us to bring that angel to him! And the knights earlier were also fake! Please don't kill me!"

Nero's mark on his cheekbones glowed then went back to normal.

"Mayor, what should we do? Should we report to the capital and ask for their—"

"We don't have time to waste," Chief Bruce looked at the real knight and said, "We were supposed to be protected by the capital, yet this happened right under our nose and… I couldn't do anything."

'This Bruce is the mayor of this town and still works as a chief guard of the town?' Nero pushed the man he was grabbing and turned to Chief Bruce. "Kill these five men."

Chief Bruce was the mayor of this town. His ancestors looked after Emilia's body and waited for generations for her to regain consciousness.

Chief Bruce looked at Nero and stared into his eyes, then moved his sword towards Nero.

Nero waited for Chief Bruce to attack him— but instead, he dropped his sword and bowed down to Nero.

"Please, save Emilia," he pleaded.

Christi and the rest of the people, including the real knight, bowed down to Nero.

"Why would I listen to you mutts?" Nero uttered in an emotionless voice.

Nero was already going to save Emilia, but he wanted to know why the townspeople were so enchanted with Emilia and why they didn't react after seeing Nero.

"She is our blessing. Without her, this town is nothing."

Nero watched them as they bowed even further down.

"And makes you think I would bring her here after saving her?"

"You don't have to!" Chief Bruce said in a loud voice without raising his head. "As long as we know she is safe, we can rest in ease."

Nero took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Why are you asking for a favor from a monster?"

"Emilia chose you and trusted you, so we trust you."

A smirk appeared on Nero's face as he said, "Raise your heads, mortals."

Nero bent down a little and glanced at Sophia. "Let's go."

"I am not coming with you," Sophia rejected with a straight face.

Nero expected Sophia to come with him, but Nero was lost in words after hearing her answer.

"We still don't know anything about the current world. We don't know how much time has passed ever since we were sealed, and we don't have any information," stated Sophia.

"So you go and save Emilia, and I will gather as much information as I can in the meantime."

"But I am not coming back here."

Sophia chuckled and nodded, "I am aware of it, and I don't plan to stay here either. So once you save Emilia, head to the town or city that has a church, and call my name— I will meet you there."

Nero moved his gaze from Sophia to the townspeople and stopped at Christi. "You are lucky, mortal."

Emilia had subconsciously blessed Christi— and Nero got to know it when he touched Christi earlier. That blessing would save Christi from any possible danger.

Nero's cape got unhooked, and it disintegrated before it could touch the ground. He jerked up his body as he grunted, "Aah!"

Everyones' eyes— including Sophia's— widened as they saw a pair of wings coming out of Nero's back.

They were huge wings like a bat— it was Nero's vampire form, and he was still transforming slowly. It was his first time using his vampire powers other than using the blood art.

"So this is what it feels like to have wings," he uttered as he prepared to jump and slowly flapped his wings once.

"Spread the word that a demon was here," Nero then jumped in the air with the speed of light and disappeared— leaving an enormous crack on the spot he was standing on.

The clouds rumbled with thunder, and lightning flashed across the sky as the rain started pouring.

Sophia looked up at the sky as the raindrops hit her face and muttered, "He is going to get more pissed."