RD 3 Ch 43 (Patreon)

Chapter 43

"General," the boss asked, "is it complete?"

The boss watched the demon general's face change, hoping this abysmal post would be over soon. The general had sent most of himself inside and had split off a small section to keep command of the vault outside.

It wasn't something most demons would do, but then again, a demon had to be extraordinarily powerful to become a general. 

The boss aspired to reach such heights. However, he came from a fairly weak demon who had only split his soul to create more workers in an attempt to feed the main body resources. In its own way, it made the boss despise the weak demons like himself.

But his joy that his job might be over, or that his post might finally be done, came to a roaring end as the demon general's remainder of his soul scattered. 

"Release everything! Kill Bran Heros!" Ten little shadows dove in every corner and every direction as the demon general shouted his order. His voice faded into the eerie white vastness of the vault.

The boss couldn't disobey. This was his one chance to really make an impression on the demon lord and get his ticket to a better life, hopefully off this wretched system. That meant doing exactly what the demon general said.

He wanted to shout questions and expletives at the fleeing demon general about why he was left here alone, but he could only assume something went horribly wrong with the possession. 

"Rick, code red, level five," Boss called out with as much swagger as he could muster. But no answer came forth, and he stared down at Rick's lifeless body. Right, he'd killed Rick in a fit when he messed up the spreadsheet. Who forgets the… never mind he had other things.

The boss stepped up to the console. He'd once done some of the lower level jobs in the vault, as had all of them. They'd been here forever, and it was time to go.

He pushed a series of buttons, initiating the protocols in case of a breach. Sirens and lights blared amid the empty white room. Every monster, every human, and every demon within the seat of demonic souls was freed.

The sudden drain on the resources was staggering, but they were almost done, all he had to do was kill Bran Heros.

Meanwhile, a giant flashing neon arrow blinked in the distance as Bran Heros was punted from his scenario.

A recording from General Zaydelin, coming through a mechanical dinosaur, resounded throughout the space. "B-b-bonus round! Kill this man for all of the p-p-prizes!"

It was an obnoxious voice, yet it still made the boss grin. He flipped a couple of other switches. As far as he was concerned, his job was done. The boss raced away to execute his own contingency plan.

***

I had to be quick and decisive with what remained of General Zaydelin's soul when I absorbed it. Most of it was weak enough that the absorption was fairly quick.

A system menu popped up in front of me, as I pulled myself from my soul and back into reality.

[Name: Bran Heros

Level: 98

Class: Blood Hegemon S

Status: Healthy 

Strength: 3471

Agility: 3147

Vitality: 3937 

Intelligence: 2042 

Spirit: 12993 

Skills: 

Soul Gaze SSS 

Soul Resilience S 

Blunt Weapon Proficiency C 

Endurance A 

Throwing Proficiency E 

Blood Boil A 

Blood Siphon A 

Blood Bolt A 

Bloodline Collection 110 

Regeneration A 

Ax Proficiency D 

Charge B 

Bloodink Quality B 

Stealth D 

Inscription B 

Swim D (Bracer) 

Last Stand E 

Blood Hex A 

Blood Transfusion A

Blood Blade A 

Crimson Barrier A 

Sword Proficiency S 

Worshiped D 

Sanguine Locking A

Drop B (Sword)

Soul Absorption Arts E

Bloodline Manipulation S

Powers of Blood B

Training F

Primordial Titan Bloodline M

Bloodrage Ascension D

Primordial Confluence Titan Physique F]

I wasn’t much interested in Zaydelin’s skills, but I absorbed plenty of stats from him, funneling most of them into Strength and Agility. My style had always leaned towards overwhelming strength, however it was apparent that too many people were focusing on speed.

Bright neon lights hovered above me and the stupidest voice I had ever heard echoed through the space. 

Monsters clashed with humans and demons, creating a bloody battlefield around me. Yet the space I was in remained pristine.

"Did I miss something?" I asked, sitting up fully and glancing around at the current situation. Between my body and the possessed monsters was a ring of the Mul Branova and my women, the most surprising of which were my servants, fused into a single body. 

I'll deal with that mess later, I thought to myself. 

"Bran, you're awake," Simone hurried over, grabbing me by the arm and hauling me to my feet. "We have a little bit of a situation."

"Of course we do. That fucking cockroach is trying to get away. All of you are helping him," I retorted, glancing around at the large number of monsters that had recently been possessed by demons and prowling in a large circle outside the Mul Branova. Several of the humans had been possessed as well and even started their transformation. The black carapace of demonification, bulged out in random places. 

I didn't have time to use soulgaze on all of them, but I suspected there were at least a few fragments of General Zaydelin among the crowd.

While he was a coward, the best way to survive was to gather as much information as possible. The only slight relief was that the dracoon was not present in the room.

The fighting slowed as less mindless beasts were present and their formation pressed in around those protecting me.

"Bran, it isn't that I have anything personally against you," Vincent stepped forward, armored up with a giant golden gauntlet on his hand. "It is simply the fact of the situation. We all came in here to gain great advantages, and currently, you are one of them." He gestured to the giant neon sign, still blinking above me, pointing down.

"Vincent, I think we should both agree this is quite strange," I said, trying to get a grasp on the situation and realized what the neon arrow above me must be for. The general must have essentially put a bounty on me to escape. 

Antonio stepped between me and Vincent, his rapier drawn and pointed threateningly at the banker. "Leave Lord Bran alone," Antonio said.

I knew he'd make a good dog. I could almost see a tail poking out of his pants and wagging a mile a minute.

"What are you doing, Antonio?" Vincent smacked the rapier away with his gauntlet. "Have you not even consumed any of the fruits?" A quick check showed me that Vincent was now stronger than Antonio, which hadn't been the case before we had entered the vault. 

Antonio shook his head. "On my honor, I have found someone who endeavors to do good in this world, and I have decided to become his knight, if you'll have me, Lord Bram," he spoke over his shoulder without taking his eyes off the encirclement of opponents.

"If you want a fight, I'll happily give you one." Matthais Volker, the demonic swordmaster, licked his blade as he drew it from a sheath at his hip, though he fit the name far more spectacularly this time.

While he still looked human, a brief Soul Gaze told me he wouldn't for much longer. The man was possessed, as were several others who edged in closer. It seemed the demons were going to force a conflict.

That was fine, after he assaulted Gloria and me on our date, he was on my shit list.

"All right," I held my hands up. "Step aside. How about we make this into a set of rules?" I continued to stall. I had known since watching Boss that the vault was struggling with resources.

It wouldn't be able to last. Anything I could do to stall the situation was a chance for the vault to break up naturally. At the same time, I needed to find the remaining pieces of General Zaydelin’s and ensure they didn't escape. This was a chance to kill the cockroach, and I was going to make sure he was finished.

“But Bran,” Nyx didn’t move, she had a cute pout on her face as she tried to stay between me and the people wanting my head.

I gently moved her aside and gestured to everyone. "So, how are we going to split the rewards of defeating me?" I pointed up at the arrow. "Imagine all of you dogpile and manage to get me. The resources of whatever bonus round, how do those pay out?"

I gestured around to everyone. "Instead, why don't we find some way to make this a little more fair? How about a series of duels? And if you manage to defeat me during your duel, then you're welcome to take the rewards. Of course, then I assume everyone else here will fight you for the rewards. But regardless, we can draw lots, set up a stage, and fight one-on-one."

I could see the wheels turning in some of their heads, however, Matthais was beyond caring about fairness or any particular reasoning behind it. The demonic swordmaster just wanted to kill me. 

Using a small break in the Mul Branova, the demon ran towards me. He dashed forward, his blade leaving a glowing red trail as he drew it out of his scabbard and slammed it into my chest.

Wicked red energy poured out from his blade, ripping at my skin as I grabbed his head between my two hands and slammed my forehead into his.

The man staggered back, but I grabbed him by the wrist and spat blood on him as Sanguine Locking activated. Red thorns of my blood punched into his skin and held him still. 

I stepped back and grabbed his sword, pulling it from my chest, only to let my regeneration work in front of everyone else, the wound quickly healing over. "You're going to have to try a lot harder than that." I pulled out a sheet of talisman paper. 

The whole situation felt like a powder keg ready to blow. The Mul Branova had tightened up their circle as soon as the swordmaster had slipped through.

I was going to try and use the situation to convince the remaining humans they did not want to fight me.

"Da Vinci, you old coot," I say, turning to him as I scribbled my blood on the paper. "You want to help me prove to everyone that this is what I say it is?" I showed him my work, a sloppy talisman. The old man scoffed, and I rolled my eyes at his poor ability to tell a quality inscription from slop. "Regardless of how you deem its quality, can you confirm what it's supposed to do?"

Da Vinci fanned himself with a bundle of talismans, showing off their neat and perfect lines. "It's to project the image of one's soul," he says, squinting. "But what would be the point of that? Show what that person thinks of themselves?"

I finished and slapped it to Matthais’ forehead.

A ghostly apparition appeared above him, but it wasn’t the man standing in front of me that appeared. It was an actual demon. The sinister appearance and the blood-red blade in his hands caused those remaining to gasp.

"What are you doing?" another possessed human snapped, holding a crossbow up level with my head. "Are you two working together to try and cause us to fight amongst ourselves?"

Da Vinci, however, seemed at least moderately concerned, turning to the other person, the possessed speaker. "And what about you? Would you willingly undergo such a talisman?" Da Vinci asks.

"I doubt he will," I said over him. "After all, he's possessed too. There's a number of people and beasts," I gesture around, "that are possessed. It's my impression that this whole thing was just a plot to bring in powerful humans and possess them. Unfortunately for them, myself and my organization are resistant to such methods," I said, fibbing a little.

With their use of me and how they had soul-absorption arts, they were in fact resistant. However, I spoke as if that was the reason for their intrusion to the vault.

Vincent narrows his eyes. "Yes, Bran, I can't help but notice the number of individuals you've brought here who did not pay for their entrance."

I could only grin back at him. "Apologies, Vincent. You had in your hands a powerful artifact storing an untold number of demonic souls. Yes, I opened it for you, but I also intended to cleanse it."

Others were unconvinced, yet some backed away, glancing at the people around them suspiciously. Though there were a few people stirring it back into a contentious situation.

Demons stared at me among the crowd like hungry monsters. Many of the humans drooled over more opportunities for fruits.

Merlin touched her crystalline staff against the ground as ice began to coat the ground and scoffed to get everyone’s attention. "This is all strange. There was considerable effort put into this whole endeavor, not to mention the crypt. I've heard several of you talk about it. I however never entered the crypt. But what Bran is saying makes some sense. I too questioned why we were being given such generous treasures."

“Someone left them behind when they were no longer going to live.” Vincent insisted.

I sighed. "Vincent, think about it. Who set this all up? Some of the initiated here are thousands of years old. How have they never heard of these people? Where did they come from?"

"The Clans," Vincent says, but I can tell that he is grasping at straws trying to explain something that simply isn't an explanation for.

"Vincent," I said, staring him in the eyes. "If the clans had this capability they would be far behind their current strength. Something is wrong, admit it. Take the benefits you've gotten thus far, and let's focus on leaving the Vault alive so that you can actually enjoy them."

The banker squinted at me, but his shoulders dropped. With him backing down the tension bled out of the situation. Others weren’t going to start something if the one who arranged all of this was going to back away.

In that moment everyone relaxed.

A possessed initiated screamed, "Kill him," as they thrust their spear into one of the Mul Branova. He was fast enough to catch her off guard and run her through before flicking her away.

The chaos of a battlefield unfolded instantly. As the Mul Branova retaliated, it drew in people from beside the spear wielder.

Some people stood around confused, others backing up. But those who wanted to escape had nowhere to go. On a battlefield, preferences became unimportant. The fight and desire to live consumes everything as people were quickly forced to use abilities to protect themselves and the fighting spread like a wildfire through the group.

My brain had already shifted into the battle. I was ready for a fight.