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nSHING

nThe vampire’s head went flying as soon as the duchess disappeared from right beside me, a long bone-white blade with a spiky red handle gripped firmly within the center of her palm.

n“Let’s get going,” The duchess smiled once again, and this made me only warier as now I could hardly wage the gap in power between us… I needed to evolve or class up fast. Otherwise, this city would devour me.

nFor the rest of the journey outside of the colosseum, these same bugs came flying in, only to be swatted away by the duchess, who effortlessly tore her allies apart.

nAnd then, we finally reached it… the exit.

nAs soon as I stepped outside, I was hit with a wave of excitement as the streets of this place were nearly identical to the streets of Satan’s city.

nIt was massive, busier than one could ever ask for, and most of all, extremely intense, as even the nearby children running down the street were strong as **.

n“Since you were a slave before becoming a gladiator, I’m sure you didn’t have time to explore or even see the city,”

n“Well, yeah, but it’s not like I care much,” I rolled my eyes before following the vampire down the streets of this place, quickly shrouding our presence with a dark aura.

nThe cloak which was currently hiding our presence was thick and dark, making everything seem suddenly ten times hotter within just a few seconds.

n“Hey, can I get some better clothes? These clothes that they gave me are like sandpaper when walking,” I requested and the woman looked back for just a moment before turning back around. “Guess that’s a no….”

n“You’ll have better clothes once we arrive at my estate,”

n“Ah, that’s fine then,”

n…

nIt took about a day to get to her estate since we were practically just walking the entire way there, mostly so I could get a feel of the entire city and map out the streets just in case something came up.

n“Does it… have to be so big?” I asked, my jaw dropping to the floor and hitting the concrete so hard that it left a massive bruise on the bottom of my chin.

nIn front of me was more like a palace rather than an estate, and I knew it would be massive, but I was expecting some kind of mansion… not an entire fortress right before my very eyes.

nThe guards on the outside of the massive dark fence noticed the both of us, immediately opening the gates and not even questioning my existence in the slightest.

n“Now, don’t touch anything in this place. The only things you have to worry about are my son and me. No need to follow the orders of the guards around you. If they try to pick on you, I give you permission to teach them a lesson… though, I doubt you’ll have the time to even converse with them,”

nShe’s a widow… from what I can tell, as she didn’t say husband, who I would presume would most likely be as strong as her or around her level of power.

nI mean, I could just ask the son, but bringing up old wounds definitely won’t put me in their favor… so I’ll hold off on that now.

nWe both keep tons of secrets from each other, and I’m sure the gap between our mysterious personalities will only widen with each piece of knowledge learned.

nClearly, she has a fleshed-out history that I doubt would be useful to me, but if there is some kind of weakness… like a dead husband, then I wouldn’t mind learning more about it.

n“Also, do not use that persuasion skill on my son again. If I catch you doing it, I’ll have your head on a stick,”

nShe said it so casually that it made me almost believe that she didn’t really care about it, but from what I’ve learned, if she says something, it will happen, and this was to reinforce that idea within my mind.

n“Sure…”

nAs we walked past her garden and to the very front doors of her estate, several shadowy figures rose from the surrounding splotches of darkness, completely ignoring me as they turned to their ruler.

n“We’ve completed our mission,” A man with long silverish hair and dim purple eyes announced, his fangs slightly protruding atop his lower lips as he opened his mouth to speak.

nHis mouth continued to open even after finishing his announcement until it looked like his jaw was unhinged, and from the depths of his esophagus, he pulled out a burnt and bloody head.

nTorture marks… so these guys are the Duchess’ shadow corp or something similar to that.

nI could probably beat them, no doubt, on a one-on-one, but groups like this are most likely more powerful when they’re in battle together, supporting their every move.

n“Good… get some rest for a few days, but keep your body warm and ready… I can feel something bad coming,”

n“A bad premonition? Then shouldn’t we gather all of our forces here? Your premonitions have always been right,”

n“No need for that….” She slyly smiled, her eyes slowly dragging towards me, garnering the attention of the entire corp straight on my face.

nPremonition? I guess her powers aren’t as shallow as I had initially anticipated…

n“Miss, who is this demon? Shall I turn him into a vampire so you don’t have to sully your flawless fangs?” The man who I presumed to be the leader continued, redirecting the conversation to me.𝒐𝑣𝓁xt.𝗰𝑜𝗆

n“No need. We have a contract since this young man is so stubborn, but don’t worry about that… he won’t betray me,” The vampire smiled, sending a shiver down everybody’s spine as we all witnessed that demonic smile of hers.

nShe’s strong… way too strong… and smart… dammit. This is going to be harder than I thought.

n“Well, then we should fulfill part of my end of the deal at least. Help me find the person I’m looking for, and I shall return the favor tenfold… in terms of the contract at least,”

n“*sigh*… Alright, follow me,”

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