Volume 4, Chapter 7-3 – What Do We Do About This?

Seventh Watch.

The night of the Abyss was as dark and oppressive as ever, the heavens still pitch-black like a bottomless abyss.

The wind sweeping across the wilderness brushed past the gates of the Blood Demon Manor. A dark-gold figure descended before the main entrance, his golden slit pupils surveying the enormous estate that covered three thousand square meters.

Ansel narrowed his eyes slightly.

Traveling from Lilith School to Nightmare Street by carriage required three Watches.

But Samael Dragon Attendants flying in their dragon forms needed less than half that time. They had even made a detour along the way, yet still failed to find any trace of Stella.

Had that little succubus with no sense of life or death really come here alone?

There was only one way to find out.

“Stella.” Ansel murmured softly, “We weren’t the ones who killed you. Your arrogance was what killed you.”

He raised a hand and waved it forward.

“Do it.”

One Dragon Attendant strode forward and kicked open the Blood Demon Manor’s front doors with his scale-covered right foot, sending up a cloud of dust.

Six Dragon Attendants filed inside.

Dark-gold magical power surged around them, brazenly announcing their presence.

This was both their response to Stella’s challenge and the customary style of dragon-type demons.

Whatever crooked nonsense there might be, just charge straight in.

But even after they announced their presence, the surroundings remained completely silent.

Deathly silent. Not a single figure could be seen, nor could the slightest sound be heard.

If not for the wind still blowing, the entire Blood Demon Manor might have seemed to have lost all vitality, becoming a grave, a grave capable of burying every living thing.

Yet even the wind carried a desolate chill, and the sound of it was frightening to hear.

The five Dragon Attendants exchanged glances.

“Dragon Attendant Captain,” one Dragon Attendant stepped forward and said softly. “Do you think… there might be an ambush? Since the Valentine heir dared issue a challenge, she should have made some preparations. But we haven’t detected the scent of any other demons at all. No matter how you look at it, that’s a little strange. And…”

“Along the way, we really didn’t spot the Nightmare carriage used by the Valentines either. Could the Valentine heir have played us?”

“What are you afraid of?” Ansel withdrew his gaze, his tone arrogant. “Everyone who comes out of a school is a bookworm. Do you really think she knows how to pull off some empty-fort trick?”

“Even if she really isn’t here, it doesn’t matter. We can burn the Blood Demon Manor down with one breath of fire. That alone will hurt her badly enough. Don’t forget, she was the one who issued the challenge. Whatever consequences arise are hers to bear.”

He sneered.

“Besides, we have Young Miss Veronica backing us up.”

“Dragon-type demons are the embodiment of strength.”

The Dragon Attendants all laughed, but their laughter sounded somewhat uncertain, as though they did not know whether they were supposed to laugh or not.

They only knew that their boss had made a joke. They had not actually heard it clearly, so they laughed a little too loudly.

Ansel waited a while longer. When he still saw no movement whatsoever, he finally lost patience. He was just about to order his subordinates to reduce the entire manor to ashes with dragon breath when he noticed something beginning to emerge throughout the Blood Demon Manor.

“So you finally couldn’t hold back and decided to come out—”

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The Dragon Attendant Captain laughed contemptuously.

He focused his gaze, only to stiffen in alarm.

‘What the hell are those things?’

What appeared before his eyes was not some Valentine Bloodthorn Guard, much less Stella herself. Instead, several spiritual bodies draped in pure white cloaks appeared.

They emerged from the end of the corridor, from the corner of the staircase, from the second-floor gallery, from everywhere within sight.

Floating in midair, silent and soundless, they spread throughout the entire Blood Demon Manor.

The sacred flames burning beneath their hoods all stared down at the six Dragon Attendants in unison, as though they were the only targets present.

The Dragon Attendants could no longer laugh.

“…Chastisement spirits?”

“Why…”

“Why are Chastisement spirits here?”

The Dragon Attendants murmured aloud. Behind those aimless words, as though they were blind men fumbling at an elephant, an instinctive sense of danger had already seeped beneath their skin, almost chilling them to the bone.

Chastisement spirits.

Law enforcers formed from highly purified Holy Light, the natural nemesis of demons.

As dragon-type demons, they knew all too well what these things meant.

The damage Holy Light inflicted upon demons was pure and lethal.

Even a single Chastisement spirit was enough to easily erase a mid-ranking demon and make a higher demon wary enough not to act recklessly.

Yet there was more than one in front of them.

“Dragon Attendant Captain!” one Dragon Attendant roared uneasily. “Do we retreat?”

Ansel gritted his teeth.

Retreat?

How?

The Chastisement spirits had already surrounded the entire Blood Demon Manor and locked onto them as attack targets, leaving no path of escape.

“Form up!”

The Dragon Attendant Captain roared.

The Dragon Attendants closed ranks and formed a defensive formation back-to-back. Dark-gold magical power surged wildly as scales began spreading across their bodies.

Ansel glanced at his five subordinates.

Even if all of them were higher demons, their chances of victory were slim.

There were simply too many Chastisement spirits.

One, two, three… and more were still appearing.

Ansel’s gaze swept over them one by one, cold sweat pouring down his body.

Chastisement spirits?

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Where had these Chastisement spirits come from?

Twenty-four.

A full twenty-four Chastisement spirits.

When pursuing ordinary criminals, a force of a little over ten Chastisement spirits was already considered a full deployment.

So why had so many White Tower Chastisement spirits suddenly appeared in Nightmare Street, in the middle layer of the Abyss?

Chastisement spirits were the jailers of the White Tower. They should only appear across realms when summoned by a Chastisement Brand.

So why had they appeared inside the Blood Demon Manor?

The Dragon Attendant Captain thought about it very seriously.

Waiting for disaster to strike was even more agonizing than suffering the disaster itself. Especially when there was no way to escape it and one could only sit there waiting for it to descend, the fear and anxiety were impossible to shake off.

Had someone triggered a Chastisement Brand?

Aetlana?

As far as they knew, she was the only person carrying a Chastisement Brand while wandering around the middle layer.

But according to the latest sighting reports, the Bone Dragon had already left Nightmare Street. How could she possibly be hiding inside the Blood Demon Manor?

If it was not Aetlana’s, then whose could it be…

A very vague, extremely vague suspicion gradually took shape in Ansel’s mind. Before he could clearly grasp it, fear had already seized him. An unprecedented chill made him feel as though he were standing naked in the middle of a frozen wasteland.

It couldn’t possibly belong to Stella herself, right?

But how could that be possible?

Stella Valentine, a succubus, the Valentine heir, some little girl, had gone and spent several years imprisoned in the White Tower while still so young?

Then she had casually broken out right under the noses of hundreds upon thousands of Chastisement spirits, swaggered back to the Abyss with the Holy See’s highest-priority wanted notice hanging over her head?

And after that, she had even attended Lilith School while carrying a Chastisement Brand, served as the Valentine heir, and somehow not had a damn thing happen to her?

What kind of hardcore Abyssal monster was she?!

But there was one thing the Dragon Attendant Captain simply could not understand.

Why weren’t the Chastisement spirits going after Stella, the host of the Brand, and were instead making trouble for them?

‘Young Miss, save us…’

—————

Nightmare Street.

Cloudtop Manor.

Franleya Belphegor stood before the floor-to-ceiling window of the Night King Suite, her pale pink eyes gazing at the cluster of buildings directly across from her.

That was the Blood Demon Manor.

It stood across the street from Cloudtop Manor, occupying the spot directly opposite Nightmare Street’s busiest Third Intersection.

From where she stood, she could clearly see the towering clock tower, the spired main building, and the walls covered in vines. Yet everything that finally came into view was wrapped in a thick layer of dark-red blood mist, leaving only faint, indistinct shadows.

“You want to eliminate me from the running?” Franleya’s cherry-colored lips moved as she murmured to herself. “If you want to, come find me at the Blood Demon Manor at Nightmare Street’s Third Intersection during the Seventh Watch. I’ll be waiting for you there.”

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She glanced back and asked.

“Stella really said that?”

Directly behind Franleya, several wisps of pale pink mist began to churn, gradually condensing as the outline of a human figure formed from nothingness. Before long, a Belphegor Nightmare Maintainer slowly stepped out.

“Yes.” The Belphegor Nightmare Maintainer replied respectfully, dropping to one knee. “This subordinate heard it perfectly clearly. Stella Valentine personally declared war on every faction lurking in the shadows and told them to come find her at the Blood Demon Manor. After saying that, she disappeared from Lilith School. She has most likely already arrived at the Blood Demon Manor.”

“She reached Nightmare Street in less than one Watch.” Franleya frowned slightly. “In that case, does Stella also possess some method of movement similar to Dreamwalking?”

Within the Abyss, demons of every race had their own specialties. The Samaels could transform into dragons, the Valentines excelled at manipulating blood, the Fausts inhabited books, the Bathorys drew power from shadows, and naturally, the Belphegors had their own unique abilities as well.

Although demons who controlled dreams were not particularly skilled in direct combat, all manner of strange and ingenious techniques emerged from them endlessly.

Dreamwalking was one of them.

Nightmares did not possess true physical bodies. Or rather, their bodies themselves were a kind of medium that could be altered according to their needs.

Because of this, they could make use of a dreamer’s dreams to leap from one dream to another, freely traveling through countless consciousnesses before reforming their bodies wherever they needed to appear.

They could also leave exclusive coordinate markers inside dreams they had invaded. As long as the distance was suitable, they could descend there at any time.

Cloudtop Manor was the culmination of the Nightmare race’s abilities.

A hotel built atop countless dreams, allowing its guests to experience everything while asleep, wake up with empty wallets, and become the Nightmares’ eyes and ears.

“So, the Samael people have already gone inside?” Franleya asked.

“They have.” The Nightmare Maintainer replied. “I personally saw six Samael Dragon Attendants kick open the front doors of the Blood Demon Manor. Veronica remained outside and seems to be merely supervising the operation.”

Franleya thought for a moment.

Six Samael Dragon Attendants.

Every single one was a higher demon with the ability to transform into a dragon.

With a force like that, forget dealing with an eighty-year-old little succubus. They could flatten a small city-state with power to spare.

“…Stella is in serious trouble.” She said softly.

“This subordinate thinks so as well.” The Nightmare Maintainer agreed. “Six higher dragon-type demons. As embodiments of pure violence, Samael’s Dragon Attendants have never bothered much with tactics. That little succubus will have more than enough to deal with. The Blood Demon Manor is probably already caught in a bitter battle.”

Franleya did not answer immediately. She gazed at the buildings shrouded in blood mist.

After a moment, she slowly spoke.

“But… Why can I clearly sense that she’s sleeping right now?”

The Nightmare Maintainer froze.

Six pure-blooded Dragon Attendants who specialized in demolishing buildings had already charged into the hall.

Yet the Valentine heir, their number-one target for elimination, was sleeping soundly in her bedroom?

“And she’s sleeping very comfortably,” Franleya added. “Disaster is already at her doorstep, yet the fluctuations of her dream are remarkably stable.”

“…Perhaps it’s arrogance.” The Nightmare Maintainer said after some deliberation. “Or maybe she simply let her guard down. She’s only a little girl, after all. She doesn’t understand how terrifying dragon-type demons are…”

Franleya said nothing.

She did not think her fiancée was a complete idiot at all.

Admittedly, she did not look particularly intelligent.

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But truly intelligent people never made others think they were intelligent in the first place.

Arrogance? Carelessness?

Before tonight’s banquet, Franleya might have agreed with such a judgment.

But after interacting with Stella several times, she had indeed discovered that Stella was full of fascinating secrets and completely unlike any demon she had ever encountered.

As the Pale Daughter, Stella could never be underestimated no matter how one looked at it.

Perhaps every outward appearance was a deliberate disguise.

Lies were her clothing, deception her mask.

Stella hid everything real within the deepest reaches of her heart, facing this cold world with a false facade. That was who she was, her true self.

How could a succubus who had managed to thrive amid the storms of the Abyss and even dared to proactively issue a challenge possibly be sleeping without a care when her enemies kicked down her door?

Would someone like that knowingly return to the Blood Demon Manor while people were preparing to attack her, then simply lie down and go to sleep?

Unless sleeping itself was the most important part of her plan.

Stella had hidden something critically important inside her dream.

Franleya narrowed her eyes slightly.

“I’m going into her dream to take a look.”

“Young Miss, please be careful.” The Nightmare Maintainer warned. “We still don’t know Stella’s true background. If the owner of the dream you invade is too powerful, they may seize control instead. If that happens, you…”

“What is there to fear?” Franleya shot her a disdainful glance. “I’m a high-ranking Nightmare. How could I possibly suffer a setback at the hands of some little succubus?”

‘Twice, at that.’

She silently added the second sentence in her heart.

Last time at Cloudtop Manor, Stella had indeed countered her dream manipulation. But that was because Franleya had been careless and caught unprepared.

This time, she had made every possible preparation.

And besides…

Franleya was simply far too curious.

What exactly was Stella Valentine trying to accomplish?

Who exactly was she?

What secret could possibly be so important that she would rather expose herself as the daughter of the Pale Lord than reveal it?

Franleya took a step forward.

Her body began to turn insubstantial, like melting watercolor gradually dissolving into the air.

The person vanished and the wind fell still. Only a faint floral fragrance lingered, growing weaker and weaker until it finally disappeared entirely.

“Young Miss, take care…”

“I’m going in.”