The [King] heard the flapping of wings. He looked at the sky and saw a silver bird flying toward the ship. At this distance, it was impossible to tell, but he knew the bird's eyes were locked on him.
The bird landed and took on the shape of a black-clad woman. Her face looked like a retard's, one plagued by a birth malady uncommon on the continent but famous enough to be recognizable. She moved like a predator.
She was Death incarnate. She also had a tiny sphere of clear red blood floating next to her.
The [Death Princess] waved her hand and tossed a crown at his feet. He knew that crown. He saw it countless times on his father's head. Then she tossed another. And another. A dozen.
"Every single time," she huffed a sigh. "Every single time I get involved with a Royal Family it becomes a purge," she lamented and raised her head to meet his eyes. "Why?"
"Do you hate [Kings] and [Queens]?" He tried.
"Funny. I'm both," she let out a wry chuckle as her title flickered between both titles. "But no."
A long pregnant pause ensued and she confessed, "It is because Kings and Queens violate the three rules I hold as prominent to judge if someone should live or die."
"What are they?"
"I won't waste air with a dead man. After I killed your father, do you know what was the first thing your brother the [Crown Prince] did?"
He knew. Richard was an ambitious and haughty man. He didn't speak out loud, though. She spoke, though.
"He rushed into the vault with seven girls. Seven sacrifices. His first act as [King] was to make a mad bid after forbidden power!" She shouted, drawing the attention of the sailors on deck.
Words failed the new [King]. The woman, however, was far from done. He saw tears glimmering in the torchlight. She touched her own breasts. "They were old enough to be activated, but they looked like children! Why was your family so miser they couldn't even give a decent meal to their sacrifices?"
She spat to the side. "The only silver lining was that you needed them to be virgins. Otherwise..."
Rhenius made his peace. He was going to die today.
"Please, Arista. Do what you must to me. But spare Callisto. She's innocent. She doesn't know."
"I am well aware she's innocent. Your father..." The ghost of his father appeared floating behind her. "Your brothers, your mother, the wizards, knights..." As she spoke, the ghosts appeared, forming a legion behind the [Death Princess]. "the cultists hidden in the castle dungeons, everyone involved."
Hundreds of ghosts. How many have her killed? Was there a single living soul in the palace? He was supposed to be [King] of what? The sailors on the deck didn't seem fazed by the horde of ghosts. It took a while but he knew why. They were all those she brought back to life.
"All of them confirmed Lady Callisto Was innocent," she finished. "They told me everything. About your uncle the Duke too."
The ghosts looked at him without any emotion. Their neutral faces felt as if they were judging him from beyond. He knew he was found wanting. All for a stupid promise of power. One that had already devastated half of their continent. it sounded so idiotic now.
"Would you let me appoint her as my heir?"
"Of course. There's only one thing left to know."
----------------------------------------
I summoned the [Archmage] that knew {Blood Magic}, "Marlowe."
The doll popped into existence from the item box. I also used the opportunity to retrieve my collection of crowns. I never bothered to clean the dried blood from them.
"You know {Blood Magic}," it wasn't a question. "Can you trace family bonds through blood?"
"Of course," the golem mage replied mildly insulted. "I do require a sample of blood from both parties."
I placed the silk doll on my shoulder. "Good. Rhenius, you come with me. Let's visit your cousin."
"I shall do as you asked," he replied with a muted voice. He disliked what was about to come and I didn't blame him.
We walked down the stairs into the lower decks and quickly found the Lady's cabin. I could hear sobbing coming from inside. I stopped as I sensed the Duke and Callisto in the room.
"Rhenius, go inside. Say your last words to your cousin and convince her to do the same to her father and you. Tell her what you must, but the secret of that vault dies with you two. Don't tarnish her innocence. Paint me as the villainess if you want, but I believe it would be easier for her if we could stay as allies. Make it happen."
He nodded. "I agree. I'd wish for her to count you among her friends."
"Go," I said barely containing my anger.
I threw a sound barrier over the room. I didn't want to know what they talked about. I would just ask their ghosts if she knew the secret.
Everyone that knew about the demons and diabolism was purged, be they commoners or nobility. Virturia lost their elite that week. The girls meant to become sacrifices, I left them in the palace with some of my cloth golems, these ones life-sized. I made them with some souls that had minor involvement in the issue like guards and cooks but everyone that knew anything about diabolism and their rituals died.
Going all over the city, I raided libraries, magic shops, noble houses, vaults, storerooms. All knowledge of diabolism was erased this week. It was boring and repetitive work. Once dead, the souls quickly told me who their associates were and where I could find the tomes and grimoires. As the network started to fall, I quickly caught all of them.
Leads pointed to all places in the continent. If I wanted, I could wipe out diabolism from the face of the Scorched Continent, but I didn't want to embark on yet another crusade. Wiping out the Church of Bundeus was stressful enough and I am nowhere near that powerful anymore.
I kept the souls bound to me. Some of them only dabbled but that knowledge was still dangerous. I intended to purify these souls, excising the knowledge along with part of their memories, and then reincarnate most of them as Silk People.
The leadership, those that did human sacrifices would come back to life too, but in another capacity. I intended to use them to farm the heck out of their Exp potential. They would suffer as many deaths as the victims they sacrificed. For the King Romulus IV of Virturia, for example, that meant hundreds of times.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
{Soul Shepherd} was a huge cheat. Before the upgrade, I could purify only undead souls but now any soul is a fair game. Purification drained some of the soul's innate power and memories, draining them of Levels and Skills. But a purified soul could be subject to {Last Chance} regardless of cooldown. I could resurrect the same person over and over, disregarding the twelve-year cooldown or the one-hour limit after death.
Purification could be done to a small degree or all the way. The extreme case was the Fourth Demon Lord, which was purified until only the most atomic characteristic of the soul remained. It couldn't be reduced further than that.
I needed to experiment with that and know how far I had to go to strip the knowledge of diabolism. A one-size-fits-all solution seemed impossible. That's why I would use the worst offenders, the Royal family, as guinea pigs. These would die and come back as much as necessary. Once I had the gist of it, I would bring back the others.
"You may enter now," Rhenius said as he cracked the door open. It startled me out of my reverie and dreams of mass murder.
Inside, Callisto was sitting on the bed with her father sitting by the bed. The girl was hugging the old man, crying her brains out. Both men were resigned but Callisto still had her fighting spirit. She stood up and jumped from the bed, pointing an accusing finger at me.
"Kill me!" She screamed with her voice breaking. "Take my life, leave my father alone! Don't you dare touch him!"
I stood motionless, letting her vent her grief. "Uncle, aunt, cousins, the guards, everyone... How much death will satisfy you? Why did you do that!"
Still silent, I let her strike me. "SAY SOMETHING!"
Callisto punched me until she broke the delicate skin of her knuckles. Bawling and mumbling curses at me, she struck me with increasingly weaker punches until her legs faltered. The noblewoman fell into a heap in front of me. Her sobs punctuated the grave silence.
"I'm sorry," I said.
All I wanted to do was to hug the girl and soothe her worries. I couldn't. Not after seeing the dozens of girls, they were kept captive in the palace to use as sacrifices for the Demon Lord's containment spell.
"Then be sorry as one should be sorry and don't murder my family!" Her sadness became rage as she quickly regained her footing.
"But I'll do what must be done," I added with as little emotion as possible.
"Get out of Virturia! That's our kingdom! Outsider! Invader! Murderer!"
I grabbed her hand as she tried to throw another punch. She was bleeding from the frayed knuckles. "Rhenius, be a gentleman and bring me two clean goblets."
The [King] nodded and took two crystal cups from a nearby cabinet. Callisto struggled but she couldn't escape my grasp. I let her hands bleed on one of the goblets until it had an ounce of blood.
"What's that for?" She asked, confused.
"Duke, please hold your daughter. This is for a quick blood magic spell, Callisto," I replied. I summoned my trusty Elven daggers and sliced my palm, adding my own - actually Apricot's - blood to the other crystal goblet. "Marlowe, is this enough?"
The doll on my shoulder answered, "It is, my Lady. Allow me."
The [Archmage] worked his magic circles and the two samples of blood rose from the cup, floating in the air and wobbling. As if magnetic, they pulled each other in and mixed, churning and rapidly changing colors from a deep crimson to light pink. As the spell reached its climax, the blood settled in a light red with specs of gold.
"It is done," Marlowe announced. "And yes, you are related. Though you are between twenty and thirty generations apart."
That's when the dam broke, and my tears fell down. "It is true. You are her descendant," I said looking at Callisto's eyes. "My niece."
Sending the doll back to storage, I hugged the baffled noblewoman. A quick exercise of my will and a gentle stream of water healed her bruised knuckles.
"Wha... What's happening?" Callisto pushed me away. I let her.
Duke Arlington put his hand on the woman's shoulder. "Callisto, your mother's lineage come from a neighbor country to the north. That bloodline was related to the first [Hero]."
I waved at her at the mention of my title. "You are probably my last living relative, Callisto."
Confusion gave place to comprehension that was quickly smothered by the indignity of the situation. From its ashes, defiance was born. "If you kill my father, I'll cut my throat. You can't bring me back as the twelve years aren't over. Your bloodline will end."
Actually, I could. That wasn't the point. She was irreducible. It was time to cheat. My Earth-born XXI century sensibilities were screaming at me to not do it.
"I brought you back from the dead and asked nothing in return. Now I'll ask you one boon. Trust me unconditionally in this matter. You are my family, Callisto. I would never hurt you. Everything will be fine, everything will be as you want. Just tell me what it is."
"My father..."
As the System started to do the math, I hugged her and caressed the crown of her head. "I promise you, Callisto. Everything will be fine. Trust me. I'll give you everything you ask for."
"What if I ask for your life?" She asked as a challenge to me.
"That would be cheap," this life was numbered in months, anyway.
> Social Queen Bee (+33 to the test, -2 Aggression +2 Reaction)
>
> Melodious Voice (+38)
>
> Divine Negotiator (+41, half resistance)
>
> Friendly (+4 Reaction)
>
> Mostly Harmless (Cancels 4 steps of negative modifiers)
>
> Oratory (+27)
>
> Moving target's reaction six steps from the negative. Initial disposition -5.
>
> Contested Charisma test. 239 vs 86 (halved, 43). You won. Target reaction modified by 12 Steps. Final disposition +7
She mollified in my arms as my Perks and [Diplomat] abilities did their magic. "I will. I trust you, aunt Arista."
"Good. Go with Nenandil to the deck and get some fresh air. She can tell you of my adventures back in the days before Lord Ackerton became King."
The fairy made her appearance and giggled at the noblewoman. "Oh, I will. Come, Callisto, you'll become intimate to all her dirty secrets."
The girl went with the fairy.
"Leave the gruesome details out of it!" I shouted as they went out.
Duke Arlington closed the door. "Can you make it painless?" He asked me. I nodded.
> You killed level 138 Duke Arlington. Exp deferred.
The body vanished before the first - and last - drops of blood hit the ground. I turned around to find Rhenius staring at me.
"So that's how you could take over the world," he said regarding my blatant use of Perks to change Calllisto's mood. "Such power. You could sway the hearts of everyone," he spat. "What a waste. Why the charade? Why pretend to be a weak mermaid?"
"Because that's what I am, at least in this life. This?" I pointed at Apricot's body, "this is just a disguise. A vestige of an age long gone. Thankfully, not forgotten. At least I have to thank your family for not burning the mementos of my history."
Not only the paintings but the library in the vault had also signed originals of Hazel's romance novels. "The Death Princess versus the Dread Pirate Ninefingers," "The Death Princess and the Trapped God," among others. Too bad they were on the wrong shelf. They should be in the non-fiction section.
"So you don't want to take over the world? Is that it? Are you as dumb as your face suggests?" He asked, out of himself. I think the fear of imminent death broke something in him.
I took a deep breath.
"No! Only two kinds of people vie for world domination, Rhenius. Those that don't have the power to achieve it, and those that don't know what it entails. As Douglas Adams would probably say about the topic, 'the problem with absolute domination is that suddenly everyone's problems become your problem'.
"Then you have those that have the power to do that and know the consequences if they ever do. Those stay the heck away from that path. As far away as possible. Trust me, those that truly have those two qualities, don't even bother with puppets.
"Last, you have everyone else. Normal people, comfortable in their mediocrity or not, living their lives. Without the raging ambition, you Royals are so plagued with. I am definitely on the latter two groups. Which one, doesn't matter.
"So no. I have no interest in ruling anything. Goodness, when I was king Locksley of Windemere, all I looked for were ways to get away from there with Lorna and leave someone on the throne. In the end, I had to sacrifice myself yet again and leave her on the throne. She wasted her life as Queen. My tenure as Queen Aloralla of Fulgen was even shorter. And I dumped it on Sariandi at the first opportunity, with great fanfare.
"No, I won't take Virturia away from your family. My family, now that I've confirmed the blood relation. I loathe those that threaten my family, even the memory of them. I loathe those that enslave people. I told you of those two."
I locked my eyes on his. "And third, I loathe diabolists. Demons are a plague in this world, one that brought too much suffering, suffering which I've seen upfront. With these two eyes, Rhenius. I've seen Demon Lords eat people. I have seen demon lords crush people under their boots. I have seen cities turned graveyards because of them and the greedy wicked men that brought them here."
I pointed the Elven dagger at him, "You, Rhenius, is guilty on all three charges."
Rhenius, no, King Romulus XI looked at me. "So that's the end for me."
"Yes, and be glad you won't be the shortest-reigning King of Virturia. That honor falls upon your third brother, he ruled for forty seconds. Not that anyone will know that."
He lowered his head, exposing his neck. "Do what you must them. Please remember your vow."
"I will. Pray that Callisto will be a good Queen."
I sliced his head off. Rhenius died without knowing he had a daughter in the oven.