The Serenade of Blood (2)
I froze. The sight before my eyes was something I simply could not accept as reality. Helena Tudor. The woman who, until just moments ago, had been embracing her husband with such tender emotion. That same woman was now standing there, laughing while holding her husband’s severed head.
Her lips were twisted into a grotesque smirk. To anyone looking, it was the face of someone who had lost their mind. Madness. It was madness incarnate.
"Heh, hehehe..." She laughed aimlessly. Joyfully. Goosebumps erupted over my skin. Edwin’s head, clutched in her hand. His eyes were still open. His mouth was half-agape. His expression was frozen in place. Terror. Despair. A look of death, as if he himself couldn't believe what had happened. Helena held it by the hair, swinging it slightly. Blood dripped steadily from the jagged stump of his neck. That severed surface—it wasn't clean. It had been torn. Ripped. The flesh was ragged. Teeth marks. They were clearly visible. She had bitten it off.
"Lord Vesperion, it is finished as you commanded... Heh, hehehe..."
I shifted my gaze. Among the crowd, I spotted a man tilting his glass. Vesperion. He let the wine slide smoothly down his throat. And then, he smiled. As if he had been waiting for this very moment.
"Well done."
A low chuckle escaped him. He set his glass down and stepped forward. Thump. Thump. Everyone watched in a daze, bewildered, as his footsteps rang out clearly. The people parted ways for him. No one could stop him. He stopped in front of Helena. With those cold eyes, he stared intently at Edwin’s head.
"You performed the ritual well."
Helena raised the head higher with trembling hands. "Am I... am I a succubus now?"
"Of course. You have offered a perfect sacrifice, so you are now a succubus."
At that moment, Vesperion’s eyes flashed.
His skin turned a deep indigo, his ears elongated and rose to sharp points. His silver hair slicked back with a glossy sheen. Two horns sprouted from his forehead. His back bulged. His clothes shredded as black demonic wings burst forth. Soon, the garments wrapping his body distorted and morphed. A hideous, grotesque armor of metal. It writhed as if it were alive. In an instant, his attire shifted into the gloomy armor of a demon, and a dark red aura began to seep from his entire body.
An incubus. The very creature of legend. He looked exactly like the succubi and incubi described in the rumors I had heard. Screams erupted throughout the banquet hall.
"Aaaaargh!!"
"It’s a demon!! A demon has appeared!!"
"How could such a thing exist!"
"Kill it! Kill it now!"
He was only one. The number of people was overwhelmingly greater. But Vesperion was smiling. Satisfied. He slowly raised his arm and commanded, "Begin the hunt."
That single phrase. Immediately after, some of the people scattered throughout the banquet hall began to tremble in unison. Women’s dresses were torn as wings sprouted from their backs. Men’s faces twisted as horns grew and their skin turned indigo. Succubi and incubi revealed their true forms all at once.
"Keehehehe!"
"Essence... such delicious essence is everywhere...!"
"We shall eat our fill today!"
"I’ve been drooling since earlier!"
The ten women Vesperion had brought with him from the start were no exception. Two horns grew from their foreheads, and demonic tails rose from their hips. Their eyes turned blood-red, and their clothes were shredded, leaving them in revealing attire that covered only their private parts with leather straps.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!!!"
The party hall turned into a scene of carnage. People, terrified, scrambled in every direction. Chairs toppled, wine glasses shattered, and screams erupted from all sides. They rushed toward the exits, pushing, falling, and trampling one another. Some of the braver souls immediately drew their swords and lunged at the demons. Among them was Sir Ronald’s group. As knights by profession, they fought back with courage. But they were struggling, dressed in party attire without proper protective gear.
"Sir Ronald!"
A subordinate came running from afar, covered in blood. Yet, even in the midst of this, Ronald was lost in pleasure. A beautiful brown-haired woman was riding atop his lap. She had hiked up her skirt and was swallowing his stiff cock, rocking her hips.
"Hngh...! This bitch is good! Not bad! Good, tighten it more, you wench! I’ll pay you whatever you want!"
Ronald laughed, thrusting his hips. The woman let out a moan, her hips trembling. "Aah...! Sir Ronald...! It’s so big, it hurts...! Aah!"
The subordinate reached him, gasping for air. "Sir Ronald! This is no time for fucking! A demon has appeared!"
"What?! What are you talking about?"
"A succubus! A succubus! And incubi are running wild too! Look over there!"
"What kind of bullshit is that!"
Ronald frowned and turned his head. At the edge of his vision, the banquet hall had already turned into a mess. He hadn't noticed at all because he was busy having sex with a young, pretty girl in the corner.
"Damn it...!"
Ronald cursed and tried to stand up. But the woman wouldn't let go, her vagina gripping his cock tightly. She began to grind even harder, more obsessively.
"Move! It’s an emergency!"
When she didn't budge despite him telling her to move several times, he grew angry. "Get lost if you don't want to die, you bitch!"
He shoved the woman with his calloused hands. But—she didn't move. The woman’s back twitched, and then... Rip! Suddenly, black demonic wings unfurled from her back. Ronald’s eyes widened.
"W-what are you!? Fuck, you... were you a demon all along!"
He cursed at the woman who had transformed into a succubus, dumbfounded. "Only just realized?"
A long, slender demonic tail coiled around Ronald’s waist. The woman’s lips curled upward. "Heh, too late."
"...What?"
Squeeze. His cock was crushed violently inside her.
"Ugh! Gyaaaaaaah!"
Ronald screamed. It wasn't pleasure. It was agony.
"Get off the Commander, you evil wench!!"
The subordinate swung his sword. Thwack— but his head was sliced clean off by an incubus that had lunged from the side. Blood sprayed. Meanwhile, Ronald’s sturdy, 190cm frame was rapidly shrinking.
"Agh...! Aaaaaah—!!"
His muscles shriveled, his skin withered and dried up, and his physique rapidly became stunted. "Let... let gooooooo—!!"
His essence was being drained away completely. In just a few seconds—thud. His massive body became a dried-up mummy and slumped onto the sofa. His eyes remained open. He was dead. The succubus stood up leisurely.
"Hngh♡" She licked her lips. "That was delicious."
"I-insane."
Hiding behind a large jar in the corner, I watched the entire scene of Ronald having his essence drained to death. My heart was pounding like a drum. The fear that I was screwed. This was a situation I couldn't handle. I couldn't fight. My weapon was music. But that didn't work here. My first thought was that I had to escape quickly.
'How do I get out...?'
I scanned the surroundings in a panic. The banquet hall was already hell. Screams. Blood. Madness. The moment I was caught, it would be the end. I would undoubtedly be raped by succubi and incubi and have my essence drained until I died. A chill ran down my spine.
"Han Seru."
I turned my head. Vesperion. From afar, he was looking directly at me. "How long do you intend to hide?"
...Damn it, I’d been spotted. He tilted his head at an angle. "Come out here. You have your uses." His red eyes flashed. "I hear you have deep ties with Queen Regina III. Lead me to her."
Fuck you. I didn't hesitate. I bolted. I slipped out from behind the jar and sprinted straight for the exit. The path to the exit was better than before. The demons were busy grabbing people and copulating, so there was no one blocking the way. There were only things sprawled on the floor, vigorously thrusting into human women or having human men’s cocks struck by their vaginas. This was it. I ran with all my might.
I felt his gaze on my back. A cold, amused gaze. "Where are you going?"
I gritted my teeth. 10 meters to the door. 9 meters—8 meters—at that moment. Rustle. Rustle-rustle. A strange sound followed from behind. When I looked back, I saw black things. Shadows without clear shapes. The evil spirits Vesperion had sent were crawling along the floor and ceiling, rushing toward me. I clicked my tongue. 'Is this the end?'
Just as I gritted my teeth—Zing. A transparent barrier enveloped my body. The next moment, the evil spirits touched me. Or rather, they tried to—Ssssss! They were blocked by the transparent shield, letting out wretched cries as they burned away.
"Kieeeeeeek!"
The distorted shadows scattered like black smoke and vanished all at once.
"...Huh?"
The necklace hanging around my neck was emitting a faint light. It was something I had received from Regina just a while ago. "It is an amulet that repels demons. Since demons have been running wild lately, please always keep it on your person."
A smile spread across my lips. "Your Majesty...!"
I was alive. My heart was beating as if it would burst. My legs didn't stop. I ran with all my strength, not even looking back. I burst through the exit and safely escaped the banquet hall.
Vesperion’s eyes narrowed. "...Rat-like bastard."
He chuckled. "Do you think you can escape from here?"
He raised one hand. Dark red magical power swirled and surged from his fingertips. The magical power pierced the ceiling and shot into the night sky, covering the entire mansion grounds with a massive red veil. A complete blockade, where no one could leave and no one could enter.
"Go and catch Han Seru."
"Yes!"
The demons kicked open the windows and flew up in unison. Vesperion turned his head. Beside him stood Helena, who had become an entirely different existence. A fallen woman. A succubus. She was licking the blood from the back of her hand with a long, sticky tongue, wearing a satisfied smile. Edwin’s severed head lay rolling on the floor.
"Han Seru... he’s a man I’ve been drooling over for a while now," Helena said with a seductive smile. Her voice was no longer human; it was permeated with a very gloomy and lewd energy. "As my first prey... give him to me."
Vesperion laughed. "That would be fine, too. But don't kill him. That bastard has his uses." His red eyes glinted with a strange light. "He is the bait to draw out the Queen of this country."
"Hehe... if he pleases me, I might just get excited and break him."
Helena swayed her hips seductively as she exited the banquet hall. In front of the entrance, black wings spread wide, and she flew up into the darkness.