CHAPTER 99: THE DEMON RACE

Ames was seated on a chair while Lamia stood beside him and Shatun stood with a grumpy expression at a distance. The man with the blindfold was still kneeling in front of Ames, and the young woman stood behind him, her expression one of displeasure.

"Take a seat. I don’t feel good seeing you kneeling like this." Ames said.

"How can I sit at your equal Great one? I’ll stay like this." he replied.

"Then take a seat on the floor. I have a lot of things to ask you. Think of this as my command." Ames said in a serious tone.

"As you command." He cupped his fist and sat in a lotus position on the floor.

"Who are you? And why are calling me Demon king?"

"I am Zankoku, and I’m a demon. And I’m calling you Demon king because you are one, o Great one."

"Stop calling me Great one."

"What should I call you then?"

"Call me...call me leader then."

"As you command Gre...Leader." He bowed as he accepted the command.

"And who is this with you?" Ames asked, pointing at the young girl behind him.

"That’s my niece leader, Carmilla. She is a vampire."

Ames and Lamia were surprised. Vampires were almost non-existent, they were a thing of the legend. No one had seen them in almost five centuries.

"She’s not a born noble vampire, she was made into one through experiment." Zankoku said with a sad expression.

Ames was even confused now, how can one be made into a vampire, it was unheard of.

"When she was young, she was being..."

"Stop spouting out bullshit in front of others old man! who the hell is this young boy you’re worshipping so much?"

"How dare you speak like that to the Demon king!?" Zankoku yelled at her suddenly, shocking her, as he had never spoken to her like that, no matter how annoying and spoiled she acted. Her face went red as she puffed her cheeks and turned the other away.

"I apologize for her conduct leader. As I was saying, her parents were killed in their home, and she and her brother were kidnapped and sent to a facility, where both of them were experimented on. Unfortunately, my nephew didn’t survive the hellish procedures, but she somehow survived and turned into a vampire." A sigh escaped him as sadness took over his face.

"I tracked her down and when I finally reached the facility, she had killed everyone present and was feasting on their blood. She had transformed completely. Even now I feed her my blood to control her urges, or else she’ll transform into a bloodthirsty monster."

"I’m sorry for your loss. I didn’t know you two have such a tragic past." Ames said with a sad face.

"Thank you for your kind words leader."

"Even now, we could meet you because we were chasing one of the members of the kidnapping squad. So that we can find the true culprits behind this."

Ames and Lamia nodded in understanding as they now realized why Carmilla was so ruthless with them.

"What about you? I never knew that demons do exist in our continent, I thought they were in the lower realms, and when you’re this strong, how come we’ve never heard of you?" Ames asked.

"The one in the lower realms are the devils, leader. There is a difference. Just like how there is a difference between the angels in the upper realm and the human priests here." Zankoku replied.

"Realms, devils, angels? What are you two talking about, how come I’ve never heard anything about this?" Lamia asked, confused.

"As per the great ancient records, the universe we are in, is divided into seven realms, three lower realms, the hell is one of them, where the natives are the devils, the forest of corruption lies at the edge of the hell, that’s why the beast in the forest got corrupted from the energy leaked from there and transformed." Ames said.

"Leader is right. similarly, there are three upper realms, heaven is one, where angels reside. And the one we all are in, is the middle realm, the mortal realm. After a great cataclysmic war, the mortal realm was sealed off from the other realms, thus over time the existence of angels and devils became a concept of fantasy."

"But there are always some gaps that are left, and both the factions are trying to find ways to come in, the forest of corruption and the sky lands are examples of this. Only the top authorities are aware and are defending on their levels, the common people are not allowed to know of this." Ames said.

Lamia then nodded in understanding. Even Carmilla listened with her ears perked up.

"Then what about demons?" Lamia asked.

"We were born from the grace of the first demon, endless darkness, our one true God, demon king Shikami." Zankoku said as he clasped his hands in reverence.

"Our first ancestors were blessed with a seed of naraka in their hearts along with the circles, and demon king Shikami blessed one hundred individuals with this seed, thus were born the first generation of demons."

"After he was defeated, we demons were chased and killed, but since the humans had lost majority of their forces in war with him, they couldn’t end us completely, and some of them survived. The seed ingrained itself and became a part of the demons, and every new child born later was born with a seed in their heart."

"The moment you used your energy, the seed in my heart shook in excitement, just as lord ancestor said it would when one day we’ll meet our one true God again." Zankoku said as he looked at Ames with reverence.

"This lord ancestor, is he..."

"He is the last surviving member of the first generation demons." Zankoku said.

Ames was surprised, it meant that he was the only one who knew what had happened during the period of endless nights, and had seen and experienced it with his own eyes.

"Can we meet him?"

"That’s...a bit difficult leader. For safety reasons, his location is known to only two people, our race leader and demon saint. We have to find one of them to meet the ancestor."

"Where can we find them then?" Ames asked.

"The last time I met the saint, he said he’ll be going deep in the Samahan deserts, for what purpose though he didn’t say. We can try looking there."

"Let’s do that then. But first let’s catch that bastard you came here looking for." Ames said with a smile.