"Is it done?" Aamon asked Lycaon.
"Yup, Cygnus station is no more and neither are you. Congratulations on being officially dead." Lycaon replied uninterested, "So what's next?"
Aamon turned his gaze towards the freshly destroyed space station as its debris floated aimlessly in space. He wasn't one to feel remorse for the innocents that died on board the station, as far as he was concerned, they were mere pawns who could be replaced at any time by the Xyran high command.
The only thing he felt sorry for was the loss of his brand new ship, but if he was to fake his death, his space glider had to be destroyed as well. Considering everyone knew how much he loved his vehicles.
"Where's Dracula and Frank?" Aamon asked before finally taking his gaze off of the space station.
"Dracula is in the canteen, probably chugging down some Horikotan blood." Lycaon mumbled and sat beside the Xyran, "As for Frank, the last I know he was off to deal with some problems in his kingdom on earth."
"He never listens, does he?" Aamon shook his head and got up, "Let's talk while heading towards the canteen. There's something I wanna tell both of you."
Lycaon nodded and both of them headed towards the canteen. Although Aamon had said he was going to talk, he didn't utter a word, and since Lycaon wasn't one to talk much, the duo were silent throughout the way.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe door connecting the hallway to the canteen opened up with a loud bang, alerting everyone inside of their arrival. All of the people inside looked at them with admiration in their eyes.
Lycaon and Dracula shouldn't be considered pirates, because they usually devoured the so-called pirates. As for their crew, they were the ones Dracula, Lycaon and Frank had rescued from various places in an attempt to build up an army.
They had a bunch of secondary ships as well and had almost a hundred thousand subordinates spread throughout the galaxy. However, it was nothing compared to the hundred million-strong army the Xyrans commanded.
That's why rather than starting an all-out war, they had decided to wage a series of skirmishes against the Xyrans. While also being the ones who had been protecting the earth from far away, stopping anyone or anything that headed towards the solar system the earth was a part of.
It was one of the reasons why no one frequented the Orion arm of the galaxy. As most of the people were aware of what would happen to those who dared to do so.
However, it wasn't like everyone hated them. The number of followers they had gained over the years was proof of that. Aliens of various colours, shapes and forms could be seen walking around and enjoying the food and drinks served on board.
Their ship was more of a nightclub than a pirate ship. But it was to be expected as they spent 99% of their time hovering in space looting and at times serving as mercenaries for hire.
"Where is he?" Aamon scanned the room but couldn't find Dracula anywhere.
"You're looking in the wrong direction." Lycaon tapped on his shoulder and pointed above, "He's a vampire after all."
Dracula was hung upside down, enjoying his tetra packed blood while maintaining his distance from everyone else. The blood belonged to an unintelligent alien species called the Horikotan. These mammals were more of livestock than a full-fledged spacefaring species.
Their blood was used in cooking but Dracula liked to drink it raw as it was the only thing that barely came close to what human blood tasted like.
"Stop drinking and get down. I have important info to discuss." Lycaon shouted at him.
Dracula made an annoyed face but did as he was told. The way Lycaon behaved with him, one would think Lycaon was stronger than the progenitor of vampires, but it wasn't true. Dracula was much superior to Lycaon when it came to combat.
But Lycaon had his own qualities, after all, he was a creationist and his gadgets could give him an edge over any being who was in the same grade as him.
Dracula jumped down and landed straight on his feet. As he did so, everyone around him began clapping and cheering him up, except Lycaon and Aamon.
"Thank you, thank you- ouch!"
"Focus here." Lycaon slapped Dracula in the back of his head.
"Right, what did you wanna talk about? The Key?" Dracula asked while rubbing his head.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAamon nodded as Lycaon led them to the private room, at the back of the bar.
"What about him?" Dracula continued.
"I'm afraid Lucifer spilt the beans to Beelzebub about Astaroth and effectively our key." Aamon sighed, "I don't think Lucifer told him everything, because if he did then an entire fleet of ships would have headed towards earth as we speak."
"My guess is, Beelzebub only knows that Astaroth is alive. He doesn't know how or in what capacity." Aamon continued, "That's why he asked me to go and investigate, but unfortunately, the pirates found and 'killed' me before I could do anything."
"That means it should be enough to stop him from doing anything else for a couple of years, right?" Lycaon chimed in, "I mean, the news of your death itself would take like a couple of months before it reaches his ears."
Aamon nodded while Dracula kept gulping down the blood, looking uninterested in the conversation, when the conversation was the only thing he had all his attention on.
"That, however, is inconsequential." Aamon said, "The fact that Beelzebub is aware of Astaroth's existence, puts our plan in rush. We have to get the boy and make him strong enough to fight against Beelzebub and his clan of masters. Turn him into an S-grade for fuck's sake."
"Do you have any information on the kid's levels or anything?" Dracula chimed in, "It wouldn't require much effort if he has evolved twice. If not then... good luck to us."
"That's... the problem." Aamon had a worried look on his face, "Lucifer no longer has the admin rights over the boy. He gave it up to Astaroth when he realised Beelzebub was too corrupted to come to our side. And the last time he checked... the boy was still due his first evolution choice."
Aamon's words fell on the duo like a supernova bomb. The boy's progress was much slower than they had expected, especially with Lucifer guiding him. But if what Aamon had told them was true, then they needed someone stronger than anyone on earth to guide him as soon as possible.
Preferably, they would have liked it if the boy could board their ship so that they would be able to train him personally. But now that they had destroyed a Xyran space station, going anywhere near earth would only arouse Beelzebub's suspicion even more.
"So... we're fucked?" Dracula shook his head, "We had to go through all that trouble only to give all that potential to a moron?"
"Don't be so quick to dismiss him." Aamon tried calming everyone down, "You said Frank is on earth right? Contact him and tell him to figure out the boy's current strength. There's a high possibility of Lucifer's information being outdated. As for us, we'll figure out what to do after Frank gets the information for us."