Blood Warlock: Succubus Partner in the Apocalypse

"Orc! You better give me an explanation of what's going on or else..."

Inside the central tent, Bai Zemin didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he looked at the second princess of the Gales Kingdom glaring at him with fierce eyes and her little white fist raised at him.

Should he tell her that instead of looking intimidating with her gesture all she was doing was looking adorable like a little puppy dog? Bai Zemin seriously considered it for a few seconds before deciding it was best to keep his mouth shut to live another day.

"Your majesty ponytails, why don't you better take a seat first so we can talk like two civilized people?" Bai Zemin pointed to the seat in front of him and said with a suggestive smile, "In Gales, we civilized people take a seat to have serious conversations."

Seraphina opened her eyes and stared at him trying to hold back the urge to jump on him and bite him to death.

How dare this orc mock her and say back to her the words she had said to him the first day he regained consciousness? Despite her thoughts, Seraphina sat obediently.

Seeing her stare at him in search of answers, Bai Zemin sighed.

"First of all, would you mind telling me the reason you came all this way?" He frowned and said in a serious voice, "Seraphina, this battlefield will only get worse as the days go by. Many will die and the blood of humans will run like rivers."

Seraphina's face turned slightly pale but the flame of determination in her gaze did not waver, "I want you to tell me why you and my dad suddenly decided to turn all the kingdoms of the world into our enemies. What you are doing is madness! Even if you and my father are powerful, taking on more than forty kingdom kings and millions of soldiers is simply impossible! Not even the Demon Lord managed to do something like this hundreds of years ago despite being the most powerful soul evolver in Eventide World!"

"... The Demon Lord is the Demon Lord and me is me. I know this may sound a bit arrogant, but believe me you will come to understand me better if you don't compare me to anyone you have ever met in your life or heard of." Bai Zemin shook his head and advised.

Seraphina took a deep breath and held the air in her lungs for a few seconds before releasing it all at once, "I know you are powerful, even Liam is not as strong as you even though you are only a First Order soul evolver. But, Eventide World is clearly several centuries more developed than the world you come from."

"... How do you know that?" he asked with a slight frown.

After all, Bai Zemin had never discussed anything about Earth with anyone from this world.

Seraphina hesitated for a moment before deciding to be honest. She blushed slightly and looked down at her clenched fists on her knees as she said quietly, "Actually, when I found you unconscious it was me who took off your armor and the cloth robes you were wearing so I could clean the wounds and blood from your body before I could heal you.... My good friend is an excellent rune-encryptor, she told me that whoever drew the runes on your equipment was clearly learning but was definitely very talented."

Before even Bai Zemin could say anything, she raised her head with her face so red it looked like a bomb about to explode and shouted exaggeratedly, "Don't misunderstand me! I only did what I did as a sign of kindness since I am the second princess of Gales! It's only natural for me to help a fallen person in the territory of my kingdom!"

Noticing the anxiety in the eyes of the young girl in front of him, Bai Zemin lost all desire to poke a little at her.

"I know it was you who helped me and who healed me." He nodded, surprising her. His voice was earnest and full of honesty as he said with his deepest sincerity, "Thank you for what you did for me that day.... If it wasn't for you I might have died in the mouth of some strange creature. I still can't afford to die, many people are waiting for me and depending on me to survive in my world."

The nerves and shyness Seraphina was feeling after revealing the truth vanished as quickly as did her surprise at hearing Bai Zemin reveal that he already knew everything. Instead, her expression became somewhat hesitant as she asked in a somewhat sad voice: "You.... really have to go back don't you?"

Bai Zemin forced a smile as he considered in his heart whether to reveal to the girl in front of him the truth or not. However, there wasn't much to consider as he believed and trusted her completely; at the end of the day, Seraphina had seen him at his lowest point and still took the trouble to help and care for him despite her position.

"Seraphina, do you want me to tell you about my world? I'm sure you'll understand a little more about me and my situation by then."

"I want to! I do!" She nodded, perhaps a little too fast as her eyes shone.

Seraphina had always wanted to ask more about his personal life, however, she was aware that to do such a thing would be impolite. Especially considering the fact that Bai Zemin was clearly a very cautious person, he would definitely not reveal anything about his personal life to a person he had just met less than a month ago.

"So... Sit comfortably, because even though it's a not-so-distant story it's quite long and complicated." Bai Zemin sighed before he began to narrate everything he experienced during the past months, omitting some events and pointing directly for the most important ones.

At first, Seraphina's expression was one of mockery after hearing that half a year ago Bai Zemin was just a normal level 0 human who worked and studied simple stuff without even a shred of mana in his body. However, seeing the complicated expression and mixed feelings in his eyes, the expression on Seraphina's face soon turned to shock as she realized that he was not joking.

The more she listened the greater the shock became. However, that shock eventually changed and at some point in his narration turned to sadness.

Approximately 20 minutes later, Bai Zemin looked at Seraphina and said slowly, "Now that you know how things are on my home world I think you should understand a little more about why I need to return. If it wasn't because I need the technology and knowledge of this world in order to power my faction and save the humanity of my world from being annihilated by the enemy races I definitely wouldn't be willing to stay in Eventide World for so long."

Seraphina was unable to say anything for several minutes. She covered her mouth with both hands as she looked at him with trembling eyes and looked like she had a thousand things to say but in reality it was hard for her to even say any words.

It was only after what seemed like an eternity that a small voice came out from through her fingers, "I.... I'm sorry... I didn't know your world was like that..."

In contrast to her and the humans of Eventide World, Bai Zemin and all the humans of Earth had no point of reference. Since many generations ago, every time a baby was born in Eventide World it slowly learned about the dangers of the world so it was nothing strange, however, the Earth had started to evolve half a year ago... All of humanity had literally been thrown without warning and without explanation into a pool of burning water where everyone had to fend for themselves to avoid the areas where the water was the hottest without even knowing what they were facing.

Seraphina could only try to imagine how much hardship Bai Zemin and the people of his world had to go through to reach this point.

Remembering how she scoffed when he told her that he knew a 9 year old girl who was probably already on her way to the Second Order and remembering how she raised her chin proudly when she revealed to him that at the age of 16 she was close to level 70, Seraphina felt ashamed and guilty.

It was only after learning the fact that Bai Zemin's world was so abnormal and that everyone he knew or not knew experienced the baptism of the apocalypse just as mankind's ancestors in Eventide World had done that Seraphina realized how great the difference between the two was.

Seraphina had been born a proud princess who had everything from birth and when she went out hunting to level up she was always under the guard of powerful soul evolvers. In contrast, the 9 year old girl that Bai Zemin mentioned had nothing, and to avoid going through some hardships again she did not hesitate even for a second to get blood on her hands while putting her life on the line to gain a little more Soul Power and raise her level.

Bai Zemin couldn't help but feel a little regretful about telling Seraphina the whole truth when he saw the expression she had on her face. He had only did what he did so that she could understand a little more of the reasons why he was obligated to take this opportunity while offering great benefits to Gales, however, he did not expect this kind of result at all.

"First Generation."

Lilith's voice sounded next to Bai Zemin. Only he was aware of her existence as she slowly explained.

"This is how the existences that experience in flesh and blood the beginning of the evolution of a world are generally called. Usually, First Generation existences always become more powerful than those of later generations because they are nurtured with battles to the death from the first minute until the moment their lives end. At the end of the day, every First Generation existence like you always experiences a crueler world than those yet to come and precisely because of that they grow to be much stronger warriors."

It took Seraphina more than ten minutes to manage to calm down enough to speak properly.

"No wonder you are so powerful even though you are at level 50." She said with a forced smile and red eyes. Although she hadn't cried, it hadn't been too far away from doing so. "But, to think that you actually managed to build a faction of several hundred thousand in such a short time even though you were just a student when the Soul Record arrived in your world... You must be pretty incredible even in a world as crazy as yours, aren't you?"

Bai Zemin winked at her and said in a joking tone to lighten the mood a bit, "That's why I received the title Irregular. I once even weakened my world's spatial barrier which led to another race invading us after all."

"... Don't say that with pride please." Seraphina shook her head not knowing whether to laugh or cry seeing the expression on Bai Zemin's face.

Before he could say anything, Seraphina closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at him with determination as if she had made some kind of important decision.

"Orc- Bai Zemin, you should return to your world as soon as possible. Just as you said, many people are waiting for your return and need you to survive in a chaotic world like Earth. Ah, don't worry, I will take care of gathering all the most important blueprints and formulas of my Gales and I will have other people work to make copies for you."

Hearing Seraphina's words, Bai Zemin's eyes flashed mysteriously and his pupils trembled for a split second. He maintained his composure as he slowly asked, "If I return, your father the king and Gales will have to face the wrath of many kingdoms. Are you sure of what you are saying?"

What he meant was that the entire Gales Kingdom would be submerged under a sea of flames before 24 hours had passed. After all, it was impossible for King Philip to fight two kingdom kings at the same time unless he activated some suicidal skill to exchange his life for the lives of others. However, Gales would immediately fall without the protection of a soul evolver with the strength of a kingdom king.

"Hmph, my kingdom isn't weak enough to fall down in front of some small fries." Seraphina snorted and said with confidence, "If the other kingdoms know what's good for them they will surrender, or else my father will kick their butts. Even the demon general Bel'gos who was ranked number 5 among the ten general demons was slaughtered by my father's spear in less than 3 hours."

Bai Zemin stared at her for several seconds, perhaps too much for the little heart of the innocent princess.

"You... What are you looking at?" she looked at him with suspicion.

He sighed and closed his eyes as he thought in his heart, 'Child, try repeating those words in front of a mirror and you'll see how pale your face turned.'

Seraphina was a terrible liar. However, this was one of the reasons why Bai Zemin believed he could trust her.

He opened his eyes and said gently, "You are really kind, little kid."

Before she could say anything, he stood up and patted her head several times.

Seraphina subconsciously brought both hands to her head and stroked the still warm spot where his palm had just touched. As she turned to look at him and was about to ask what he was doing, Bai Zemin's voice thundered through the camp.

"Soldiers, get ready to depart! In 10 minutes from now we will be entering the territory of the defeated Maiston Kingdom and will continue advancing in a northerly direction to subdue the neighboring kingdom of Maiston after meeting up with the allied troops of the Dazia Kingdom!"

Seraphina looked at him with wide eyes, "You..."

Bai Zemin looked over his shoulder at her and said with a faint smile, "Ponytails Princess, you'd better return home. As I said before, this battlefield will be much bloodier soon when I start conquering the rest of the kingdoms located northwest of Eventide World."

* * * * * * *