Emperor of Steel

Not knowing how much time had passed, Henry woke up and looked around him.

He was surrounded by gray bricks. There was an iron bar window that was as long as a person’s forearm.

Perhaps, it was a prison. Apparently, a dungeon in the Rakan.

‘Why didn’t they kill me?’

The answer to his question was going to come very soon.

‘Kuk, those stupid men. They thought that they can suppress me just because I got caught.’

Assassins who fail in their missions were often captured.

And in preparation for that situation, assassins had a method to kill themselves.

The same was true for Henry. Assasins had a vicious poison that could kill a giant troll hidden between their molars.

He bit his molar and tried to release the poison.

However, when he tried to crush it, nothing was crushed in his mouth.

“Are you searching for this one?”

He suddenly heard a voice.

As Henry turned his eyes to where the voice was coming from, he could see a man seated in the dark.

He was Marquis Luke. No, it was Sebastian who was in Luke’s form.

Sebastian, who was playing with the poison capsule, dropped it on the floor.

The capsule rolled on the floor and fell into a nearby sinkhole.

“Oh my, what am I supposed to do? It just slipped out of my hand?” Teased Sebastian.

“Uhhh, don’t you dare mock me. Just kill me already!”

Henry, whose body was tied with a rope, shouted.

Sebastian laughed out loud and shook his head.

“What is it? Do you hate it?”

“I-if you think that I’ll open my mouth if you torture me, then you are mistaken!”

“Why would I even bother torturing you? The one behind you is Emperor Rudolf. I can tell just by looking at you.”

Henry was flustered with Sebastian’s words.

“T-then why keep me alive?”

“Kukkk. I had to perform an experiment with you.”

As Sebastian gave an evil smile, the door of the dungeon opened with Belfair slowly coming in.

He was holding something in his hand. He handed it over to Sebastian with an annoyed look.

“Do not make me go on such an errand ever again.”

“Understood.”

Rather than the thing that Belfair brought, Henry was more amazed at the people who followed him.

A young mercenary, a middle-aged pebble, a girl in a waitress uniform and a wandering wizard.

They were the members of Hydra who had come in along with Henry for the purpose of supporting him and providing information.

Henry wondered how did the two men know about them and capture them even though they were disguised?

No, they might have been caught.

But why were they following Belfair like they were his subordinates? And why were they not shackled?

“What the hell did you do to them?!” Shouted Henry.

“What do you mean by that? I made them my demon subordinates.”

Belfair smiled, showing his sharp fangs.

Henry didn’t seem to recognize it, but there were teeth marks on the Hydra members who turned into slaves.

It was the evidence for Vampire Delusion.

In the case of small animals, dominant eyes were enough to subdue them, but when it came to higher organisms with intellect, it couldn’t be used for long durations.

So, in order to control them, vampires would strengthen the fluids in their bodies to dominate their victims.

“D-demon subordinates? Aren’t you two humans?”

“Yeah, we are demons who won’t fall for you humans.”

Thud!

Henry fell into despair.

Belfair smiled while looking at Henry’s face.

Belfair wasn’t a demon who could feed on a human’s emotion like Sebastian, yet after seeing Henry’s desperate face, Belfair felt happy.

“De, de, demons! Why would demons be helping Marquis Luke? Did Marquis Luke summon you? Did the descendant of the warrior sell his soul in exchange for power?”

“That…”

Belfair’s expression was troubled when he heard Henry’s questions.

Actually, the relationship between the demon and the human was reversed, and the demons weren’t ready to say that they were the faithful servants of Luke.

“Aht! The captured subject is asking a lot of questions! What are you doing Sebastian! That experiment or whatever it is, do it quickly!”

Whether Belfair had said it or not, Sebastian drew a magic circle on the dungeon’s floor.

After a while, once the magic circle was complete, he placed the objects that Belfair brought to complete the circle.

“It is done. Now bring him over.”

At the words of Sebastian, Belfair moved the slaves.

Subsequently, the slaves approached Henry and dragged him out.

“Let me go! You guys! Have you forgotten your loyalty to His Majesty?”

Henry’s cries and screams didn’t reach the hearts of his subordinates.

They did remember their past very clearly, but they had already changed their loyalty toward Belfair and not Emperor Rudolf.

The slaves bound Henry who was struggling and placed him at the center of the magic circle.

Henry looked around.

The objects he saw were of demon stuff. Cow’s liver, pig’s intestines, goat’s skull, and a snake’s skin, they were all gloomy and wicked.

He didn’t know what they were trying to do, but it didn’t seem like it was being done for a good thing.

“You men, are you trying to perform a demonic ritual in the land of the warrior? But…”

“Are you caught by the information around you? You don’t have to worry so much. This is originally the Devil King’s castle.”

The Magi remaining in the Devil King’s castle would mask a demon’s acts.

No, even if it couldn’t cover it, it didn’t matter.

The retainers who felt the psyched Magi would simply dismiss the anomaly as it came from the Devil King’s castle.

Sebastian, who was looking at Henry with mocking eyes, began to recite the spell by burning an incense.

“Ahura De Madrakara, Wusel Re Wuz Boger…”

Henry’s eyes changed as Sebastian began to recite the spell in the old demon language. He started to get dizzy and blurry like a drug stricken patient.

He felt dizzy with tiredness, and thirst and drowsiness began to overcome him.

Henry bit down his lip to endure the pain and for him to not lose consciousness as well. However, his body had lost its strength.

‘What are they planning to do?’

Henry looked down and was startled.

It was because he saw his own body that was tied and was lying to the ground at the center of the magic circle. It was a scene that people normally couldn’t see.

‘T-this is Astral Projection (Out of body experience)!’

Things about it were known to few.

Demons normally took one’s soul after making a contract with the warlocks, but sometimes, they would perform despicable tricks to force the souls out of their bodies.

It looked like Henry’s soul had gone out of his body because of a demon’s act.

No, it wasn’t entirely separated. It was only separated halfway from his physical body.

‘No way! They are trying to force my soul out of my body!’

Souls that were possessed by demons would forever suffer.

It was a punishment that was worse than death.

“Huhuhu. This is my first time doing this, and it worked out well!”

Sebastian approached Henry’s body with a dagger made of monster bones. Henry struggled, trying to find means to escape.

However, because of the evil technique, his soul couldn’t escape nor could it go back to his body.

He had no choice but to take in Sebastian’s dagger.