Chapter 92: Past Grudges

Dark clouds filled the sky as a wet downpour filled the moody streets of L-City, the capital of the B-Empire; during the late hours of the night, when people danced and drank their sorrows, two men found themselves at odds.The sound of arguing echoed before the sound of someone shouting. Dark puddles filled the broken concrete path, filled with black bags full of rubbish and overturned bins along the walls.

"Gyaaa!"

Suddenly, a man's body flew across the back street and smashed into the metal fencing, a spurt of blood and saliva leaving his mouth.

Tap, tap, tap. The high-quality shoes elegantly hit the concrete, and with a perfect gait, a handsome middle-aged male with short grey hair and a scar on his cheek followed into the dark path. The flashing of the broken streetlight masked his face.

"Now then, you are a member of the Silver Clan, someone who lived in S-Kingdom thirty years ago, right? It's been a long time, Ambrose Silver!" Ivan's voice sounded cold and deep while lacking emotion.

"I-I-It wasn't me... I didn't do anything!" Ambrose trembled like a rabbit facing a wolf. His silver hair was now matted and grey, blood pouring from his broken nose. "I swear on my life, Ivan! It was nothing to do with me, my dad..."

Ivan's tall frame stood looking down upon Ambrose, memories of the past flowing through his mind. A gentle older sister who would play with him, a young and unwanted wolf because of his mother's bloodline. 'Sister... you were so powerful and kind to me, an illegitimate heir, even when I awakened and overtook you in the clan's eyes. Why did you seem happier than me when you were stronger?

Now, I cannot even find hints of your name!'

He lowered his body, a pair of black gloves stained with blood, as he leaned close to the ears of Ambrose. "Tell me, who was it that helped your family kidnap my sister back then? There is no way your family could have taken her. Anastasia was far stronger than me!"

"I know nothi--"

A brutal sound of flesh tearing and bones cracking, Ivan's eyes glowed in the darkness like a horrifying monster as his fist shattered the collarbone of the lying wolf.

"Graaa! You Bastard!"

Ambrose tried to hit back, his left arm and shoulder rushing forward with an improvised hook, yet Ivan just snorted and rocked his head back before slamming it forward.

With a gruesome crunch, their forehead of Ambrose shattered, blood pouring from his forehead after the headbutt. With his mind dazed, his punch missed Ivan completely.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Ivan stood up and looked down at the whimpering man holding his deformed face that began transforming into a wolf with disappointment, his voice growing deeper, "You think I will let you escape after such a pitiful blow?"

The coldness of the night seemed to increase with his words as a sharp pain suddenly erupted from Ambrose's thigh. Ivan's sharp silver claws penetrated his flesh like a fork-piercing raw sausage—with a wince and grown. Ambrose stopped transforming, his eyes looking up at the face of Ivan, a terrifying man shrouded in an aura of silver light.

"Where is she? Answer me now!"

"I don't know! I was a child back then... my father never told me where they hid her!"

"Then who helped your father?" Ivan asked coldly.

"What?"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" He said, his voice as cold as the bitter rain biting the face of Ambrose as it poured down, while his other hand began changing, claws becoming thicker and longer. "I ask again, who helped your father!"

"No one!"

Slash!

"AAAAAAAAH!"

A bloody finger rolled along the ground, the dark flesh falling into a murky puddle while Ambrose cried out in agony, his yellow teeth growing once again as he tried to transform.

Ivan just snorted, "If you want to become a bitch, then I will treat you like one!"

His claws moved quickly, the left hand slashing upwards towards the groin of the transformed wolf, slicing through the leather pants easily as a bloody fountain gushed. "Argh!" Ivan's eyes narrowed, a sinister smile forming on his lips while enjoying the trembling werewolf before him, who had lost his male symbol.

"I know that vampires helped you. Why protect leeches, idiot." Ivan's tone remained cold, his eyes glaring down at the pitiful creature beneath him. "I don't care about you or your father, heck. Should I just massacre your entire clan back home? However, I do care about my sister, and if you could help, maybe my anger will stop at you!"

"I swear, I don't know... much," Ambrose muttered weakly, his eyes flickering as his life faded away. He looked terrified, like speaking the truth would be worse than his current state. In the vision of Ambrose, it was like hundreds of red eyes were watching him, hidden in the walls, the murky puddles and the overturned bins.

This situation was why he fled across the great ocean, to hide from the eyes that hid in the cracks and darkness. His heart pounded like a drum in his chest, fear gripping his mind and soul. 'Is this what people feel when they are about to die?'

Ivan didn't care about the Silver Clan or what happened to them. His family had been massacred when he was young by their enemies, so he knew nothing except that his sister was kidnapped shortly before the massacre, as if losing her was a precursor. Now, as a powerful warrior, with the knowledge his son was strong enough to protect himself. Ivan wanted revenge, and he wanted to find the truth.

'Back then, I couldn't help my sister and realised nothing was wrong until it was too late, and I could do nothing but flee to the S-Kingdom.'

He had followed Ambrose from the pub and various clubs all night, knowing that he was the son of the man who had helped kidnap his sister. 'At least I know the elders of the Silver clan wanted to destroy the power of Volkov and Fenrir... It seems that my arrogant family refused to reach out for assistance, probably because I chose to throw away the engagement with the Fenrir clan.'

However, he could find nothing useful from the documents remaining or news and rumours. He only found traces of the Silver Clan, and even that information was old and useless. As if he had never known the truth, and Ivan realised Ambrose had just been a child back then.

"Then, this is it for you," Ivan muttered while raising his clawed hand and swinging it down. Sёarᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

A beautiful arc of silver light tore through the air, but it seemed slower than his usual attacks. Ambrose trembled nonetheless before spouting out names like a child. "Faust... Nosferatu... Hati.... Sylvan..."

"Who are they?" Ivan frowned, his hand stopping mere inches from the neck of Ambrose, who began crying in relief. "Speak!"

"I... I don't know." Ambrose whimpered, the blood from his mouth and wounds drying up, "My father only told me the names of those who took part."

Ivan sighed, his eyes flickering with a hint of disappointment. He could sense that Ambrose wasn't lying, and although it was only a tiny clue, it was better than nothing.

"If you want to live, then leave this city and never return to B-Empire. Or S-Kingdom, because they will know you told me." Ivan coldly warned, "If you stay, I won't let you live again."

He could have used more torturing techniques to get more answers, but Ivan knew the Silver Clan was already destroyed, a mere shell of the past. After all, his close friend seemed to have done his search for her after marrying Nagisa.

The sound of lightning echoed with a low rumble as rain fell atop Ivan's jacket, the flash of lightning soon following before he looked towards the hidden moon with a melancholy gaze. "Sister, the traces are so faint... will I find you after destroying all those clans? However, I cannot leave here yet. Those children need my help. You'll understand, right?"

Sulley was the child of a maid that served Anastasia, though he didn't know it himself. Ivan remembered the maid's name, and even though she was from the Silver Clan, his mother was determined to find Ivan's sister more than the Volkov clan was.

'I hope that she didn't suffer—it seems that the Silver clan must have used that child's affection for my sister.'

"Haa.... Nikolai, I wanted to solve this and come home quickly, but these damn fools just couldn't leave us alone. Do they have anything to do with what happened on that night too? It feels strange, like a series of cobwebs unravelling to guide me in the same direction."

After the second flash of lightning, Ivan's body vanished from the dirty back street—instead, a stream of blood flowed from the puddles through the cracks of concrete leading into the gutter.

***

Meanwhile, back in S-Kingdom, it was already afternoon, and Nikolai was once again sitting across from his old friend Ryan as they shared a coffee and some ramen at the old restaurant they usually visited.

"Thanks for seeing me again, Nikolai, although you said you won't join me. Are you serious about helping?"

Nikolai wasn't being soft or weak but using his friendship. He could only grow stronger through becoming intimate with Nikita and Selene, or fighting and killing powerful enemies and devouring their blood crystals.

"I cannot agree to help all the time because you know my situation as her squire. However, if you need help fighting monsters, I will come as much as possible to save the bloodshed of humans."

"..." Ryan's eyes widened at Nikolai's words while he began to suck on his booster, a special herbal stick that slowly improved the body of humans using research from monsters and their improved muscles and organs.

'Though that stick just looks like a vape pen or cigarette. Well, at least it smells good, and the scent makes my body improve slightly.'

[Well, if you directly used one, it would be far better, but the passive smoke is quite nice and has no negative effects. From the conversation, it seems the SSS plans to refine one for those addicted to nicotine instead of causing cancer. It would help improve the health of citizens.]

'So only the SSS and rich get one that makes them stronger?'

[Well, it makes sense—imagine the world if everyone was superhuman. It would cause chaos, haha.]

Nikolai's face seemed happy and positive on the outside, but inside, he felt a strange feeling of doubt and distrust. This was why he signed a part-time contract with Ryan and would become like a mercenary who gets paid for when he helps and how many he killed or captured.

'However, it means they experimented on monsters to create that thing, right...?'

[Yeah...]