The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness

The broken floor turned into gravel and struck me and Lufry. But, no Death Knight can match me in terms of endurance.

I fought with Senri. We fought and I confirmed the difference in performance between both sides. I’ve even thought about how to fight. Even I am not naive enough to believe that I can have a lovey-dovey life with Senri forever, without enemies.

Lufry moved back, reducing the damage caused by the gravel. Meanwhile, I moved forward without change.

“UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

“Kuh!”

The roar shakes the air. Lufry’s body glows faintly. It’s the light of purification, which would burn me if I make contact with it. The Lord who’s floating in the air warns me. But, I continue to move forward. The gravel pierces me, but I don’t care.

The pain isn’t scary. I’ve already experienced it more than enough. The only thing that’s scary ―― is losing her.

I raise the machete. Despite losing his posture to deal with the gravel, Lufry turns the tip of his sword at me. But, there’s no way he could win against the physical strength of a Lesser Vampire while moving back.

I won’t let him receive it. I won’t let him ward it off either. I raise Blood Ruler overhead and forcefully strike the holy silver blade. His chest side opens up. Without a pause, I ram into the white armor, the symbol of the Order of the Death Knights.

Lufry’s body was too light for a vampire’s power. A simple body slam strongly blew him away, making him slam against the wall. Perhaps it was an unexpected attack, as he wasn’t even in a defensive posture.

The light that dwelled in his body was transmitted from our momentary contact and burnt my flesh. The reason I didn’t stop was because I had already experienced that pain once.

I have already experienced everything, from the purification with blessing, to the pain from having my weakness taken advantage of, and the domination of overwhelming power.

I can’t see from my left eye. Looks like it was burnt by the light. The front half of my body is experiencing a strong searing pain. It’s definitely in terrible shape.

Damage from blessing inhibits a vampire’s power of regeneration. I want to use the blood power to regenerate but it’s being blocked by Sable’s curse so it’s not working out well.

I lick my lips.

“I won’t, kill you. After all, you guys, didn’t kill me, either.”

I was left as just the head though.

Lufry got up unsteadily after being slammed against the wall and falling down. It shouldn’t be fatal injury, but the damage he received wasn’t something he could scoff at either. Neville shouts. There are strong whirling emotions in his voice. Did he perhaps think that Lufry had the advantage between the two of us?

“Shit! Impossible… in just 6 months! ―― Senri, you created a monster!”

“… End… isn’t a monster!”

Only Senri is on my side. I respond to those words while still facing back.

“No… I’m a monster. But I’ll be satisfied as long as I have Senri. It’s not like I’m doing anything terrible, so just give up.” I’m not turning back because my body is in the middle of regenerating and I’m probably in a horrible state, with my face probably only being just a skull right now. Lufry glares at me while I’m still in the middle of regenerating. He still has more than enough fighting spirit. But, even with no damage, this was the result. He should understand that it would be hard to kill me alone.

“Kh…”

‘Kukuku… Death Knights will not fight with vampires one on one.’

The Lord is cackling. I see… for them, the fight with a vampire is not a battle, but an extermination. Now that I think about it, they had a firm position with Senri as vanguard when fighting against the Lord too.

Lufry made a swift judgment.

“Kh… Neville, let’s retreat for now. We should rethink our strategy.”

It would be nice if you guys gave up. Run away, run away… we won’t be here anymore by the time you come back though! I won’t give Senri to you. I will thoroughly pretend to be a victim.

“Gh… shit!”

Neville, who was crossing swords with Senri which they had come to save, glared at me with a furious expression. The reason why Neville was able to hold his own against Senri was probably because she was holding back. She doesn’t intend to kill her former comrade.

But Lufry and Neville have worsened their images even more today.

They have to listen to us first… Senri and I aren’t naive enough to give up because of these muscle-heads. And I’ll use today’s attack as an excuse to get blood from Senri.

‘… if they could hear what you are thinking, they would certainly desperately attack you.’ Well, even if they attack me without regard for their own lives, I doubt they could do anything as long as the hostage is on my side though…

Neville was looking at me as if I had killed his parents. But even for Neville, who abused me with one hand once, killing me with a single strike from the front was already impossible for him. I’ve become convinced once again after exchanging blows with them, that there’s a huge difference between third and second class knights.

Both in terms of fighting technique and the amount of blessing. Even if the power of third class knights can easily defeat weak undead, it would struggle against the vampire class undead. Therefore, they work in groups.

And, most likely, it’s when they’re working together that their true potential is revealed. I feel like if there was a mage that could pour water on the floor, I would struggle more…

Lufry and Neville moved back. Neither I nor Senri followed them.

The most important thing right now is to destroy this ritual, created by the Mirage King. The second most important thing is to escape. I have a general understanding of their power. With Senri and me, we should be able to manage even if the four of them attacked us. Naturally, as long as it excluded Epée. It would be the end if Epée was here.

Lufry glared at me for a second and said seriously.

“Senri, I’ll try to persuade you one more time. Come back, master is also hoping for that. You’re in trouble – but it’s not too late.”

“… Go back. End has never attacked a human and – he has never been overwhelmed by the feeding urge.”

“That’s because you’re giving him your blood! Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh, I did think that you were a softie but I didn’t think that you’d really do something ridiculous like this – didn’t you see it?! That fucking vampire is growing stronger from your blood! Soon, he’ll be impossible to deal with!”

I really don’t know what to say anymore…

That’s right. The reason why I haven’t been overwhelmed by the feeding urge is because I’ve been receiving Senri’s blood and also, I haven’t killed innocent people, but I’ve crushed several mafia to get money. But Lufry’s words are absurd too. I’ll try to persuade you one more time, he says. Did the attack just now count as the first attempt of persuasion for them?

Senri’s amethyst colored eyes take in their words and don’t waver. There’s no way she wasn’t expecting something of that level. She had been prepared for everything the second she decided to save me.

Then, suddenly Lufry’s expression changed. He opened his mouth with a somewhat cornered expression.

“Senri, you might not know this, but… master is-“

‘Kh!? This surge of mana — End, it’s coming!’

“?!”

The moment the Lord’s voice echoed, the ground shook violently. No, it wasn’t just the ground. The floor, the walls, the space itself shook violently. Unable to stand with the body eroded by the curse, I collapsed, but the attack didn’t come.

Lufry and Neville, who were so hostile until a second ago, weren’t looking at me. They were maintaining their postures on a violently shaking ground and glaring into the darkness.

“What’s this power–?!”

“Kh… it still should have been further ahead.”

And, power exploded in the direction where the presence of the Night Crystals were coming from just moments ago.