Kran’s appearance quickly brought the confrontation to a close. He once again proved why he was one of the Top Three.
It was hard to believe that a single human was able to reverse the tide of the battle. But Elijah was thankful that such a human existed.
“Thanks for the help.”
Elijah approached Lukas, his tone much more polite than when they first met. This was natural. After all, he’d just seen Lukas single-handedly annihilate hundreds of hybrids.
He continued in a cautious voice.
“What about… Gullard?”
“Dead.”
Lukas covered Joanna, who had fainted, with his coat as he answered. The answer was short, but the effect that it had was by no means small.
“De-, dead?”
“The Vampire Duke…?!”
The survivors of the Gray Sun were shocked speechless. Even Elijah could not hide his surprise. The same went for Lee Jong-hak, who was resting a short distance away.
“You killed him?”
“To be precise, I helped Kran kill him.”
It was around that time when Kran returned, covered in blood. He shot Lukas a dissatisfied glare for a moment before turning away, not bothering to correct him.
“No way. To defeat one of the Five Dukes…”
“T-, Top Three…!”
Slowly, the heat of enthusiasm began spreading through all the people gathered there. It was so strong that they could practically feel it in the air.
Elijah couldn’t help but look at Lukas differently.
“Who the hell are you?”
Lukas looked at him for a moment before giving the answer that he’d thought of a while ago.
“I’m a member of Argento Spell.”
The value or fame of a name.
He knew just how important it was to humans.
So Lukas decided to increase his fame as well. It was a necessary process in order to eliminate the differences between the humans and unite the world into one.
The defeat of the Vampire Duke, Gullard Phisfounder, one of the Five Dukes, was an achievement that would become a cornerstone for this process.
Sooner or later, this achievement would spread throughout the world.
Not just to humans but to Demons as well.
And…
To the Demon King.
* * *
The Vampire Duke, one of the Five Dukes, the worst calamities for mankind, and the de facto ruler of Africa, had died.
Nevertheless, no large or significant changes happened right away.
“There are still many problems to deal with. For one, there are still countless Demons left on this continent.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“We’ll continue doing what we’ve been doing from the start. Only, it’ll be a lot better than it was before. First, we will get rid of the Demons and Demon Beasts still in Zinga and use this place as our base of operations to confront those bastards from the association.”
“What about the humans here?”
Elijah couldn’t help but fall silent for a moment at Lukas’ words.
The humans living in Zinga were practically traitors who had colluded and submitted to the Demons. And now, their masters had been defeated by the Gray Sun.
“…we’ll try to persuade them. But if they won’t listen to us, then we’ll have no choice.”
“…”
We’ll have no choice.
Lukas didn’t say anything for a moment because he understood the weight behind those words.
“I will let the North American and European Branches know that the Gray Sun isn’t a criminal organisation and that it is the African Branch that has become rotten.”
“…is that possible?”
“I will make it possible.”
It wouldn’t be easy.
It was highly likely that Neil Prand already knew the situation in Africa. And yet, he had done nothing about it.
Nevertheless, Lukas spoke in a clear voice.
Elijah couldn’t help but smile slightly at those words.
“Thank you. I owe… Argento Spell, as you said, a great deal. If you ever need our assistance, just tell me. Even if we can’t afford to, we will definitely come to your assistance.”
This created an allied force for the newly launched Argento Spell. Of course, they would be busy dealing with their own situation, but it wasn’t a bad thing to have this relationship.
Lukas nodded to Elijah before going to look for Kran.
He found him in the middle of the deserted street, scavenging through the bodies of the Demons. Lukas could guess what he was doing. He was looking for their soul crystals.
While carrying out his task with robotic efficiency, Kran raised his eyes to meet Lukas’.
Then, he spoke in a blunt tone.
“Is Frey an alias?”
“It is.”
“Looks like you’ve got a lot to hide. It’s my opinion that guys with a lot of secrets are the ones you should never trust.”
Kran looked down at the soul crystal that he’d just taken from a body. The crystal glowed resplendently in the dark.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t share these with you. I used too much against that guy, Gullard. Even if I harvest all of these, I’ll still be in the red.”
“I don’t need it.”
“Ah, right.”
“You never answered the question I asked earlier.”
“The one about joining your Argento Spell or whatever and working together to defeat the Demons?”
Kran said it as though it was not worth thinking about.
“I refuse.”
“Why?”
“Because I prefer to fight alone.”
“You’re lying.”
Lukas said these words in a low voice. Then, he continued before Kran could say anything to refute him.
“Did you think so during the fight with Gullard?”
Kran froze for a moment.
He hadn’t.
“You are strong. There’s probably no human stronger than you. Only Demons.”
Kran let out a soft chuckle.
“Did I say something funny?”
“You did. You just compared me to humans.”
Why was that funny?
When he saw this question in Lukas’ eyes, Kran shook his head.
“You saw me regenerate my limbs and destroyed skull in an instant. Do you think humans could do something like that?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. There are all kinds of unusual abilities in the world.”
“Bullshit…”
Kran couldn’t help the swear word that escaped from his mouth. This was because Lukas said those words with a straight face.
Lukas’ words came from experience. He had seen at least a few thousand humans who had even stranger abilities than Kran.
“…”
Kran could also faintly sense that he was serious. Of course, he couldn’t actually tell what Lukas was thinking. He just realised that this being in front of him was not saying those words just to comfort him.
He opened his mouth and spoke in a soft voice.
“Could you still say that if you saw my real appearance?”
“…”
“At first, I also thought of myself as a human. There wasn’t any real reason for it. It was just that I had an innate disgust for Demons, so I thought my essence was closer to that of humans. But it isn’t.”
Tuduk…
Kran’s face began to change.
Lukas silently looked on.
The small changes on Kran’s face slowly began spreading to the rest of his body.
His skin turned black, and his eyes turned golden. Fangs protruded from his lips, and large horns sprouted from his forehead.
After his transformation was complete, his appearance seemed similar to a human’s, but it wasn’t human.
“Now, do you still think I’m a human?”
A soft wind blew through the street.
Lukas looked at those strangely colored eyes. Unlike his devilish appearance, his golden eyes shined brilliantly in the darkness.
“You are.”
After a short moment, Lukas finally spoke in a calm voice.
“You’re human.”
When he heard that declaration, Kran became speechless for some reason.