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[Villain] Book 2 - Chapter 45: Death Knight
🕑 Added 2025-06-28 06:17:25 +0000 UTCA blond-haired woman stormed down a corridor that reeked of human excrement. Her high heels clicked on the stone, but it was hard to hear her movements over the screams and cries as she passed by many prison cells. Her breathing was ragged due to stress and unease. Her eyes darted left and right as she pulled the fur coat tighter around her slim figure—the night chills crept into her bones.
“Queen Elizabeth, I will ask that you stay right there,” an armored knight proclaimed, behind him, the final door of the prison. “Nobody may pass this point. The prince doesn’t wish to be disturbed.”
“Baron Marth, what is the meaning of this?” Queen Elizabeth stepped closer. “Why is my son screaming at the top of his lungs while in a prison cell, and you don’t help him?” As she got closer, Elizabeth saw the hazy look in the man’s eyes; his lips were cracked, and he had black bags under his eyes. Has this man not been here for days? she pondered. Nothing about this situation made any sense.
“The prince will kill anyone who enters,” Baron Marth said in a hoarse voice as he stepped closer and started to draw his sword. “I will not repeat myself. Stay back.”
Elizabeth ignored the man, stepped to the side with impressive speed, and rammed a dagger directly into Baron Marth’s eye. Despite his intimidating appearance, the man was clearly delirious from a lack of sleep and could barely stand straight. He sluggishly swung the sword—which Elizabeth easily dodged—before he collapsed to the side. The clatter of his armor on the ground made Elizabeth wince; she glanced over her shoulder and held her breath, but a few seconds passed, and the knights on the upper floor never appeared.
“Phew.” Elizabeth crouched down and, with a grunt, pulled the dagger from the baron’s eye and scowled at the blood and brain goop that coated the blade. She used the man’s hair as a towel to clean it, and with a final flick, she was satisfied. Queen Elizabeth then circled around, and after fumbling in the dim light, she located a set of keys attached to the corpse’s waist.
“Don’t worry, little Aug. Mother’s coming,” Elizabeth muttered as she walked over to the metal door. Sweat dripped from her brow despite the cold as she tried to shove every key, one by one, into the keyhole. The screams of August from within got louder and louder, and Elizabeth was scared the knights on the upper floor would figure out what was happening.
A minute passed until Elizabeth found the right key, and with a resounding click, the door gave way. With a mighty push, Elizabeth gasped as she saw August. Chains from the ceiling bound him—his skin was rotten, dripping from the bone, and what little skin remained was a sickly gray color with black splotches. His eyes were sunken and lifeless, and his screams grated on Elizabeth’s ears.
“My baby!” Elizabeth shrieked as she ran forward, but she almost slipped and fell as she scrambled back to avoid August, as he lunged forward like a starved dog and tried to ravage her face.
Tears streamed down Elizabeth’s face as she saw her beloved son reduced to such a state. “Why did they lock you down here? Who did this to you?” Elizabeth’s voice shook with rage and despair. Her hands shook by her sides, and shock took over her body. Then a brief flash of inspiration crossed her venomous green eyes. She turned on her heel and backed out of the room. Spotting Baron Marth, she spat on his corpse before bending down and hauling the man like a sack of potatoes by the arm. Elizabeth grunted with every pull as the armor weighed the large man down, and the queen had lived a pampered life and was by no means the strongest out there.
She was breathing heavily by the time she had dragged the body a total of three meters, leaving a trail of blood. August’s chains thrashed around as the prince pulled against them, trying to get closer to the scent of human flesh.
Getting behind the body, Elizabeth pushed it into August’s range, and the prince lunged forward and grasped the body’s outstretched hand. Despite how heavy the body of Baron Marth was, August easily hauled it backward and then began to devour the man’s face like a starved wolf. Blood and chewed flesh flew everywhere, and Elizabeth tried to tiptoe closer to her son while he was distracted.
“These chains are making you crazy,” she mumbled as she fished out the correct key and began to detach each chain. There were five in total, one around each limb and one around August’s neck like a dog collar. One by one, the clunk of the metal braces falling to the ground accompanied the snarls of August as he devoured his food.
As the chains fell, the magic suppression on August lessened, and green energy swirled around his hands. Finally, the little flesh remaining on his hands melted away, and August began to suck the life force from Baron Marth’s corpse.
Once the final metal bracket around August’s neck tumbled to the floor, Queen Elizabeth sighed in relief to see her son hunched over the corpse and his skin complexion improving as he devoured the corpse’s life force.
“August, if you can hear me, you need to tell me what happened?” Elizabeth rattled off as she fought for breath. “The king has summoned the court and showed a recording of you discussing with a knight about a werewolf. Did you do something that stupid? Hey!” Queen Elizabeth tapped her son on the shoulder, and August turned.
His face was a blank skull with glowing green whisps for eyes.
Elizabeth shrieked as August grabbed her wrist with a skeletal hand. “Son…it’s me…your mother!” She tried to hit his hand away, but the grip only tightened, causing her to groan in pain. “S-stop…it hurts!” There was an audible snap, and she went silent for a second as she stared at her limp hand and exposed bone.
The thunder of metal boots echoed down the corridor behind Elizabeth as the knights heard her screams. She stood there stunned, in total shock, as she looked at her son’s skeletal face. Then, before she could scream again from the pain, August’s other hand reached up, and two fingers rammed into Elizabeth’s eyes and the other down her throat.
August said nothing as he activated his spell and consumed his mother’s life force. Her face rapidly aged before her skin started cracking and dissolving into a black sludge. Finally, August’s face reformed, and his eyes blinked in confusion. “Mother?” He quickly withdrew his hand, but it was too late. The decay didn’t stop as it ravaged Queen Elizabeth’s body. August panicked as he tried to hold his mother up in his arms, but her body melted between his fingers.
August’s hand fell limp to his side as he looked at the puddle staining the fur coat his mother had been wearing.
Without a word, August clutched the fur coat still in his hand, used it to cover his naked body, and set his sights down the corridor at the approaching knights. His body was so hungry he almost wanted to eat himself. “Mother.” The words got caught in his throat. “I’m sorry,” August managed to say as he stepped over the puddle, and a single tear of blood ran down his face. “Those vampire bastards will pay for this.” He gnashed his teeth as he threw the door open, causing it to clang against the stone wall, and marched down the corridor.
“Prince?” a knight called out, his voice echoing. The dim lighting didn’t hinder Prince August as he recognized the knight standing at the base of the stairs a hundred meters away.
“Yes, Henry, it’s me,” August said, but his voice sounded like rocks grinding together, making the knight wince.
“W-we heard screams… Queen Elizabeth, is she with you?”
August paused. The hunger was eating him from the inside, but so was the misery. Even with his dulled emotions, he still clenched his hand. If he had been alone for one more day, he would have died and respawned at one of his summer houses. But instead, these buffoons had let his helpless mother into his cage. And now she was dead. “My mother?” August gripped the stained fur coat around his body, warding off the chill. “Yes, she is with me… She will always be with me now.”
“Right,” the knight replied and sent a signal to the knights behind him. August could hear one running off, likely back to the castle. The knight at the base of the stairs gulped quietly, drew his sword, and stared down the dimly lit corridor. To the knights, August was a vague figure at the far end, slowly approaching with green light swirling around his arms, and two green whisps stared him down.
“Shit,” the knight cursed under his breath, and his breathing became rapid. “Shit, shit, shit.” He was a knight under Prince August’s direct employ, and although he turned a blind eye to his master’s nefarious activities down here, some things were hard to forget. The knight knew of his master’s true nature.
The figure drew closer, and the knight felt weak in the knees, and his conviction faltered. “Fuck this.” The knight twirled around and tried to push his way up the stairs, but a hand appeared on his shoulder before he could go far. He gulped and turned to see two green whisps and a mostly human face glaring at him—and then it all went black.
The knight’s body slumped to the ground, and Prince August cast a spell he hadn’t used in a while. “Create Death Knight.” Black mana swirled from his hand, and the armor began to shake. The other knights up the stairwell shouted and attempted to swing their swords, but the tight space and the dead body in the way made it difficult.
The dead knight suddenly stood back up, black mana swirling around his form.
“Attack,” August commanded, his voice cold, and the newly raised Death Knight complied. Screams echoed out as, one after another, the knights were pulverized to death under the immense strength of the Death Knight. Once the prison fell into an eerie silence, the front entrance was smashed open, and a horde of Death Knights strode out into the open air.
August glanced at the evening sky before setting his sights on the royal palace that loomed over him across the garden. August knew it was suicidal to invade the palace, but he didn’t care. Only his endless hunger and rage spurred him on.
There was also a certain vampire he really wanted to kill.
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Marin Schmidt
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