Volume 2 Chapter 98 Request For Reinforcements From Izerland Fortress III
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
When Christy still spoke such words, Owl quietly said.
”If you can’t believe it, why not take a look out the window from the highest floor of this mansion? You’ll surely have to face reality when you see the countless bonfires shining like stars.”
”…!”
”Let’s go see it together later, Christy.”
Maribel quietly grasped Christy’s hand tightly.
The blonde princess turned back to Owl again.
”Lord Owl, it may be a dreadful order, but I will not allow the Bloodsucking Kind to enter the castle. You and your subordinates must fight alone. ──In exchange, I will permit you to reveal your true form.”
”…Is that acceptable, *Maribel*…?”
After an exaggerated silence following the young princess’s words, Owl’s knight asked this.
Maribel looked back at Owl with a resolved gaze.
She tightened her grip on Christy’s hand.
”Yes. Please show your true self.”
”Kuku.”
Owl raised the corners of his mouth up to his ears.
The candlelight in the room flickered.
It seemed as if his shadow swelled to twice its size.
In the dimness, he approached Maribel silently.
”Ah, Maribel. I was captivated the first time I laid eyes on you. Even now, that feeling has not waned. Your soul is transparent, beautiful… it carries a fragrance unlike any other.”
Mid-sentence, Owl’s high-pitched, rapid voice began to shift—slowly deepening, stretching into something slower, heavier.
It was unnatural.
A voice that rang hollow in the higher notes yet rumbled with a deep, vibrating bass beneath.
”…!”
”Eep!”
Christy gasped.
Fringilla, watching from behind, let out a small, startled cry.
Owl’s body *twisted.*
Bones cracked, popping loudly as his form contorted—his very skeleton warping before their eyes.
His skin darkened into a reddish-purple hue.
His once-narrow, thread-like eyes snapped open, glowing red and razor-sharp.
His body stretched taller, his armor shifting, reshaping into a hardened, red-violet carapace.
”I longed to be your knight, to protect you. A knight of love and justice, celebrated in song.”
His voice was thick with emotion—almost reverent.
”And now, as I prepare to slay a mighty foe in your name, I feel a thrill unlike any since the dawn of this world.”
”Ngh… ngh…”
Christy staggered back.
Maribel stood frozen, eyes wide, unable to move.
The tips of Owl’s head *stretched* upward into jagged protrusions.
Four clawed limbs—no, *legs*—dug into the plush carpet beneath him.
”Maribel…”
This was no longer a man.
Before them loomed a colossal, skeletal creature—bat-like in only the vaguest sense, nearly three meters in length.
No, it was far *too* grotesque to be called a mere bat.
His mouth split open *all the way to his ears,* jagged fangs bared—so large that even with his mouth shut, his canines jutted out.
His long, sinewy arms still bore traces of membranous wings, but surrounding them, sharpened, blade-like bones protruded outward.
”Heh heh heh heh! Ha ha ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
A crimson wind roared through the chamber as the monstrous figure unfurled its dark, fully-formed wings.
The air *swirled*—the scent of Azrael perfume clashing against the thick, metallic tang of blood.
Christy trembled and collapsed to her knees.
”Guh… vampire…”
Maribel remained standing, though her fingers, clutching Christy’s hand, were slick with sweat.
Still, she forced her voice steady.
”So that’s what you truly are.”
Owl—no, the *creature*—stooped low, peering into Maribel’s face with glinting, predatory eyes.
”You once told me I was the most human-like of knights. The noblest.”
She inhaled sharply.
”Yes, Owl… You are—the best knight.”
Her legs nearly buckled, but she held firm, locking eyes with the monster before her.
And she asked the question that had begun to fester in her heart.
”Just who are you?”
The creature let out a quiet, amused chuckle.
”My name is Tobal Cain… A remnant of the accursed Night Clan, a people lost to an ancient civilization long since turned to dust.”
Then, he tilted his head, a wicked smile creeping onto his grotesque face.
”But that name means nothing to me now. Heh heh… Maribel, my dear…”
His glowing red eyes burned into hers.
”I am—your knight, ‘Owl’.”
The whisper curled through the air.
And in the very next instant—
—A *razor-sharp* wind slashed past Maribel’s shoulder.
”……!”
The young princess’s face twisted in pain.
The fabric of her dress had *broken*, and blood flowed.
”Ah, sweet…♡”
Owl licked the blood of Maribel from his right foreclaw with a long, anteater-like tongue.
He continued, his voice filled with emotion.
”This blood, that noble soul! Like a knight from a story, I desire to obtain you as my reward…! Maribel? When this battle is over, will you swear to offer me your soul?”
”…! You, I believe you prefer the souls of virgins just before adulthood, do you not?”
”Yes. Therefore, on the night before your 15th birthday, I will drain every drop of blood from your body, and in its place, I will inject mine, making you a Blood Servant. If you promise me this, this Owl will risk his life to defeat Oswald, I assure you.”
Owl said this, directing his long claws towards Maribel’s shoulder wound.
”…”
The wound began to heal.
In its place, a complex red pattern appeared.
”That is the proof of the contract.”
”…I haven’t answered yet, have I?”
”You have no choice but to answer. Don’t you agree? I am the only one in this castle who can defeat Oswald and Aisha.”
”────”
”I will prepare to meet Oswald and Aisha. Await the hero’s return.”
Owl said this, and then transformed his body into a black mist, leaving the room like a sudden gust of wind.
Fringilla was blown away with a scream.
Scattered about the room were remnants of the monster-Owl-black pieces of magic power in the shape of feathers.
”Ugh…”
”Manon!” “Princess!”
Christy quickly approached the young princess, who was clutching the pattern on her shoulder.
”…Christy, can you erase this pattern?”
”No, I don’t know. From the shape of the characters, it looks like a very old and powerful magic. At least, it’s not the ancient elven language used in magic language.”
”I see, hehe.”
Maribel gave a faint smile.
Fringilla, who had been blown away, stumbled over to us.
”I may have paid a rather high price, I suppose…”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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