“Hoi, James,” One of the bandits that Arad sent to the city approached his friend. “Can we go?” He asked.

“Go where Araman? Remember our job?” He sighed, “He said no slacking,”

The two walked out of the city, heading to the nearby village to keep searching and expanding their network. It wasn’t like they didn’t do such jobs before. It’s just that this was the first time they were looking for clients instead of clients approaching them.

“I’m saying that we should make a run for it.” Araman smiled, “We’re going to a village already. All we need is smear ourselves in some ** from the animal pens so he won’t track our smell and ride a carriage to another city.”

FLAP! FLAP! FLAP! A crow landed on a tree near them, “GWAAAAAAAAA!”

The two looked at the crow for a second before looking at each other. “What do you say?” Araman smile.

“You must be insane. I doubt that would get us out of his grasp. Dragons are relentless.” Jame pointed at Araman’s face, “Take that silly idea out of your head,”

“If you aren’t coming, then I hope you won’t die later,” Araman stared back with a smile, “I’m getting the hell out of here.”

Before Araman could get away, James caught him by the arm, “Listen, you idiot. Don’t go. Dragons aren’t creatures that you cross, ** around, and find how ruthless and dangerous they are.”

“You’re a coward. But it was nice knowing you.” Araman smiled, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Araman shook James’s hand and started walking away.

“GWAAAA!” The crow lifted his wings, flapping them, “GWA! LAGWAAAA!”

The two stopped to look at it again. “What’s wrong with that crow?” Aramin asked, and suddenly his left arm twisted like a rage, each bone shattering in the blink of an eye.

GRAAAAAAAAA! Araman fell on his face, screaming in agony as the crow flapped its wings, a faint purple glow in its eyes. “I’m letting you off the hook easily for James. Next time, I will twist you from the legs to the neck.”

James stared at the crow, his knees shaking, “This…He’s watching,”

FLAP! FLAP! As Aramina cried, a hawk flew down from the sky, landing beside him with a red potion in his claw.

“That’s a warning. I’m only giving you this because I rather not have injured people slowing the search down or drawing attention.” The crow said, “Next time, I rather bury your corpse than waste my potions for a warning.”

James rushed to feed the potion to Araman, watching as the hawk flew away while the crow remained.

****

On the other side of the city, a rat controlled by Arad walked into a large mansion, sneaking beneath the expensive wooden floor and listening to everyone inside. It’s Count Almore’s mansion.

“Damn it, she survived.” A voice growled, and the rat stopped, listening closely.

“We can always try again. Our orders were clear, and we got the funds to back it up,” A woman’s voice replied with a sigh as if disappointed.

“Aren’t you two complicating it? Just hire a carriage and drug the horse so it’s ramage toward her, a plain accident, and it’s over.” A third voice replied, “No need to rely on stupid assassins.”

Inside his cave, Arad stood, a purple flame gushing from his eyes. Their next words would decide if he doesn’t care or if it’s their last day in life.

“The guards would never let such a thing closer to her,” Count Almore said, standing beside the balcony with his wife as their son sat inside the room on the couch.

“Tch!” The son growled, “We would never know if we don’t try. Can’t we hit her another way?”

The father snorted, staring outside with his wife, “Son, you’re still too naive. Such silly tricks are easily traceable. We need to lay low for some time and hire another assassin later.” The count sighed, “Albeit, they’ve been ignoring our messages later. Are they chickening out mid-game? We thought they had the spine needed for a royal assassination.”

His wife put her hands on her thigh, “That princess is just too lucky. We’ll get her eventually…” CRACK! As the two spoke, they heard a crashing sound behind them, followed by snapping wood.

The two turned, and their faces turned pale. Arad stood there with his foot stomping their son’s head to the ground alongside the couch. He turned toward them, his eyes burning with a disturbing purple flame.

Arad might have been on the other side of the city, but he was only one void step away from them. All he needed to do was set the teleportation point to one meter above his rat.

“Who are you!” Count Almore cried, his knees shaking as Arad walked toward them, the furniture shattering upon contact with him.

ZON! Arad teleported directly into the wife’s face, staring her down with a raging face. His mere height and bulk dwarfed her.

“Who sent you?” He growled. The glass windows vibrated at him growl.

“You bastard!” Count Almore picked up his sword and lunged at Arad, Action Surge Adrenalin rush Even for a noble, he’s been a well-trained fighter capable of dishing a blazing fast eight attacks a second.

CLAN! CRACK! Arad lifted his hand, catching the count by the neck after the first swing hit, and his blade shattered. Arad’s scales were too tough to be cut by normal metals.

“I ask you again,” Arad growled without even staring at Count Almore. “Who sent you?” CRACK! He broke the count’s neck with one hand while still interrogating his wife.

The wife gulped down, “HA!” She swung her hand at Arad’s neck.

CRACK! Arad opened his mouth, biting her hand off and spitting it on her face.

“This disgusting blood. I knew that rat was hiding somewhere here,” Arad growled as the wife stared at him, her eyes turning black and her wound slowly healing. A vampire spawn she was.

She stared at him, shaking like she never went into a toilet in her life. ^I couldn’t win. There is no way. That reaction speed doesn’t belong to a human.^

She turned toward the balcony to run away, but Arad grabbed her by the hair. “Doma,” He said with a passive face, his blade carving her back.

She screamed, but no voice came out. “Die in silence. That bitch rat will think you fell to a paladin.”

As she fell, Arad cut her into hundreds of pieces in the blink of an eye to make sure she wouldn’t regenerate and revive. “What was that?” He tapped his own head, asking Doma about the earlier explanation. He just repeated what she said.

Chuzuke is a brat, so I called him a bitch rat which can form B-rat. You’re quite dense on jokes, aren’t you?

“That doesn’t matter now, does it?” Arad turned around, swinging his sword and shredding the husband and son’s corpses to pieces just in case they were vampires as well.

He was right. The son’s body twitched one last time before halting. He was pretending to be dead, awaiting Arad to leave so he could run and warn Chuzuke.

^First you attack Mira, and now Isdis. You’re really trying to drive me mad,^ Arad teleported away, counting the seconds till he rips Chuzuke apart.

Thud! Arad landed back in his cave, shifting into his draconic form and sitting down. He already located Chuzuke’s location by comparing the smell of the woman’s blood to anything his rats and birds smell.

“North-east of the capital, he has an isolated mansion where he lives.” He sighed, “Should I attack now?”

Probably. He won’t be able to face you that well in daylight

“I see,” Arad lay down, closing his eyes, “I will attack at midnight. Rip him apart in his own domain.”

^Don’t let the draconic arrogance cloud your decision.^

“I need to set an example for him. Even the night won’t be safe for him anymore.” Arad replied, “And, do you think he won’t be prepared for a day attack? He might not even be in the same location.”

Arad waited until midnight. Under the full moon, Arad stood and flew into the sky, silent as an owl.

****

Inside Chuzuke’s mansion, he sat on a chair, sipping on a wine glass as he revisited his plans.

“To think that woman Mira is here, should I go for her as well?” He looked at one of his maids.

“Do what you think is best, Master.” She replied.

“What worries me is that Arad bastard. Unhinged monster is the least I can say. He will surely attack us at some time. We best be prepared.” He smiled, shaking his glass.

“He would attack at noon while we’re the weakest.” She said.

“You’re right. Even a dragon like him won’t take his chances with a vampire lord at night. So I set several barriers and explosives to kill him when he comes.” He giggled, “Those spells take a lot of blood to keep active, so I’m happy his movements are easily predictable.”

“You called him unhinged. What if he came at night.” The maid asked again.

“He won’t. As much as I hate him, he isn’t a fool. But I kept the barriers up in case he sent some minions. Dragons usually order a lot of monsters,” He was about to stand.

****

Up in the sky, Arad was silently flying down at top speed, diving head-first toward the mansion.

****

Mid-standing, Chuzuke’s eyes opened wide as he sensed Arad’s magic at the last moment. ^Death has called your name,^ As if he heard those words radiate in his chest, he could see Arad’s horrific image. A six-eyed, four-winged, two-tailed furry draconic monstrosity flew toward his mansion engulfed in the burning void. A raging vampiric wyrmwolf.

“Fu…!” Before he could even finish cursing, Arad crashed into the mansion headfirst, shattering it into a million pieces.