Under the permanently dark sky of Upyr, well over eight million vampires had traveled to the royal capital to witness the coronation of the new king.
Erebus was thought to be quite the spacious and beautiful city, yet it was utterly flooded with travelers from all across the continent, each of whom seemed to be more eager than the last.
“I wonder what he’s like.”
“They say that it’s the son of the queen.”
“The father must be the luckiest man ever… the queen’s beauty is one of a kind!”
Everyone was abuzz with their own unique theories about the new king’s background, identity, and even his appearance.
To get to the queen’s castle, one had to cross a huge stone bridge that was as ancient as the castle itself.
It was here where the new king would address the people, and when the trumpets blared to signal the start of the coronation, the air became filled with a frenzied excitement.
“It’s starting, it’s starting!”
“Move outta my way, I want to see the new king!”
“Don’t shove me!”
“Get your hand off my dick!”
The trumpets of the guard finally ceased to blare, and the doors to the castle swung open via an invisible force.
The first faces to emerge from the castle were ones that the citizens knew all too well.
“It’s the vampire lords!”
Ooohs and aaahs filled the dark air as the vampires all clamored to get a look at their famed leaders.
Trailing out in two lines of three, each of the vampire lords walked out with lowered heads and enchanting clothing.
At some point, the people became aware of the fact that there were less vampire lords present than they remembered.
However, they lost their ability to focus on such a thing when a beast unlike any they had ever seen emerged from the castle.
“What..is that?”
It was surprisingly large, around twice the size of a bear.
It’s powerful sharp claws scraped up the ground beneath it, causing those present to shiver as they imagined death at the hands of such a beast.
Around it’s neck and head burned a mane of black flame that did not seem to produce any heat, yet it still gave off a chilling feeling that made them wary.
Inwardly, Entei was very pleased with the reactions he was receiving.
This is how things should be!
He is a guardian beast meant to be feared and respected!
Yet all of the members of his family only seem to think of him as something cutesy and call him weird names like ‘chonky boy’.
He was sick of it!
Entei stood in place dramatically just as the rest of the family came into view.
Everyone let out audible gasps as they stood in place mesmerized by the most beautiful group of people they had ever seen.
As soon as they stepped into view, it was as if they had all cast a spell over all of the onlookers present that left them unable to take their eyes away.
Everyone from Bekka all the way to little Mira were receiving stares of awe mixed with genuine confusion.
Even though Upyr did not have closed borders, it was fairly rare to see other races here, as almost no one enjoyed the atmosphere of 24/7 darkness.
However, they quickly forgot about such a thing when the queen herself stepped into view, and she was holding the hand of a man so perfect that it defied imagination.
Long blood red hair, a tall and powerful physique, paired with mismatched reptilian eyes that caused everyone present to flinch in fear.
“He… he’s a dragon!”
“Is that the one who was reportedly sighted last week…?”
“What is happening…”
Naturally, all beings in the world fear dragons. 𝐕xt.𝔬𝚖
But vampires hold a more significant fear of them in their hearts due to their innate ability to breathe fire.
When their eyes fell on Abaddon, they could practically envision the fiery death that would occur if he were to become enraged.
As the elected leader of the lords, Kirina stepped forward to provide some much needed clarity.
By channeling mana into her voice, she was able to reach all of the millions of vampires that were present today.
When she finally opened her eyes that were made anew by Abaddon’s blood, a cold chill swept through the crowd.
“Vampires of Upyr! Today you have been called here to bear witness, as queen Audrina passes the throne to her new husband, Abaddon of the seven sins!”
“It’s him!”
“He’s that hybrid…”
“The exiled prince..”
It had taken time, but eventually news of Abaddon’s excommunication from the royal family of Antares had traveled across the entire world.
He had easily become one of the most talked about topics in all of Dola.
The only bit of knews that even came close to his was the sudden and total annihilation of Barbello.
Audrina and Abaddon stepped forward hand in hand.
Gently, she removed the bloodied crown from her head and gestured for her husband to lower his.
Just as she was about to place the crown on his head, a man from the crowd suddenly objected.
“This is blasphemy! How can we allow a dragon to rule over us!? Surely his tyranny will be the end of us all!”
The man was absolutely furious.
Even though he believed all of the words that had just came out of his mouth, a desperate voice in his head was telling him to do nothing and accept this man’s rule.
But the longer he looked at Abaddon, the more anger that he felt over his unfairly perfect face.
That anger was the only thing keeping him from falling under the influence of Maliketh’s blessing.
Evidently, a few more men in the crowd seemed to feel the same.
The women had already long fallen under Abaddon’s spell and voiced no complaints, but Abaddon now had a few hundred irate vampires screaming out their objections.
“We cannot let this happen!”
“That dragon will take everything we’ve built!”
“He’ll take my wife too!”
“Vladimir don’t say that! …But do you really think he’d be interested…?”
After seeing the disrespect their husband was receiving, all of his wives’ faces became ugly and it seemed like they were going to start cutting down the local population themselves.
Luckily, Abaddon raised a hand to calm their wrath. “Easy, my loves. They were getting a bit restless in the castle, so why don’t we let them handle it, hm?”
Suddenly, several black clothed figures appeared out of nowhere with their weapons drawn and unfriendly scowls.
The wraith moons led by Zheng and the small squad of Rabisu led by Absalom, had both shown up to subdue the main agitators.
“W-Who are they!?”
“What kind of demon is that!?”
“Get off of me!”
Zheng : ‘My king, should we kill them?’
Absalom: ‘You need but to ask and I will paint my blade red in your name!’
Just by hearing the voice of his subordinates in his head, Abaddon knew that they were already leaning towards offing the vampires.
Normally, he would have allowed them to, but today was not the sort of occasion on which he wanted to spill blood.
‘There is no need. Stand down.’
Both men ceased their violent tendencies, but they still kept their weapons trained on their targets just incase of rebellion.
Abaddon separated from Audrina and began to walk into the crowd slowly.
Like the scene of Moses parting the Red Sea, all of the vampires made way for him while simultaneously falling deeper under his charm.
Abaddon eventually made his way to the first vampire to voice his disapproval.
He was being held down by Zheng and the smell of fear coming off of him was so great that it almost made Abaddon dizzy.
“You believe I’m here to destroy? To pilfer? To suppress? I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth.” Even though it seemed like Abaddon was only having a mere one on one conversation, everyone was paying close attention to his words and actions.
“I suppose I cannot blame you for thinking that, since dragons do tend to have quite the unfavorable reputation after all.”
“However, let me make myself perfectly clear…” Abaddon got down on one knee and made it so that he and the vampire were looking eye to eye.
With the mismatched eyes of a dragon burning into his from so close, the man was only a few seconds away from wetting himself.
“I am here to empower, to make anew, and to establish a strong future. My desire to trample over those who I am going to lead is nonexistent.”
Abaddon stood up, and now turned to address the crowd surrounding him. “If you follow me, there is no limit to what the future will bring you. Do you crave more wealth? Do you crave excitement? Or what about power?”
By now, everyone was thoroughly entranced.
If at first Abaddon had captured their minds and hearts, his words now were making slaves of their very souls.
Like demons and dragons, vampires are beings fueled by their desires.
Just the thought of his words becoming reality was already more than enough to make him seem like a worthy king.
However his next words, made him seem like a god.
“If you follow me, I can even bring you freedom from sunlight.”
Abaddon had discovered that his vampiric hybrids gained a sudden immunity to the giant ball of fire in the sky.
It was an unexpected benefit, but it was certainly a welcome one.
“What did he say…?”
“He’s joking… he has to be!”
“Such a thing… is it truly possible?!”
Suddenly, Abaddon leapt up into the sky and changed into a massive black dragon with two heads and six massive wings that seemed large enough to blot out the sky.
Even though Abaddon was not actively using his bloodline skill, that did nothing to stop the feeling of fear that washed over the millions of vampires present.
Several fell onto the ground, and a few even wet themselves.
However, none of that did anything to stop his words from reaching their ears.
“Vampires, I offer you my blood! Take it and swear loyalty to me in this life and the next, and in exchange your wildest dreams will be within your grasp!”
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200 chapters!
It’s been a long journey to get here, and I didn’t always think that I’d make it.
Luckily the support of all of you has been more than enough to help me find my voice as a writer and enjoy this creative process.
Thank you for the continued feedback and support.