Chapter 3

The Apprentice

1403 A.D.

Aboard the escape ship where the remaining vampires took refuge in, Naruto was relaxing on the deck. He sat at the ships railings with his feet hanging out dangerously off the ledge. What made it more dangerous was that they were in the middle of a storm. The Demon Lord didn't mind one bit as the rain and waves didn't even get near him as the water evaporated into mist when it got three feet from him.

Even with the chaos around him, Naruto could still find peace as long as no one was around him. With the free time to contemplate, Naruto thought back on how things lead up to the present.

The great being had thought that Lucian and Sonja would be able to escape Viktor's notice but was sorely mistaken. One of the Elders lieutenants, a man named Andreas Tannis had informed him of the ongoing affair. Things started to spiral down from there when Viktor ordered the Death Dealers ordered the capture and subsequent torture of Lucian. It got worse when Viktor confronted his daughter and found out that she was pregnant with the Lycan's offspring.

Viktor couldn't handle the mere thought of the Vampire bloodline being tainted with such filth. He actually ordered the execution of his own daughter by sunlight! He put more salt in the wound when he placed the tortured Lucian in the same chamber where Sonja was going to be executed.

When Naruto witnessed Lucian's subsequent escape, he knew that hell was about to break loose. The first Lycan came back with the wild werewolves in tow and attacked the castle head on. Many Death Dealers had fallen because of the sheer number alone. Luckily the vampire 'civilians' had made their way towards the emergency escape boat along with transporting the sleeping Elders Sarcophagus'.

The Demon Lord witnessed the ensuing battles between vampires and werewolves with a smile on his face. At that moment, he was witnessing a moment in history that would grow into a long and bloody feud and he would be able to participate in it. The euphoria that coursed through him at the mere thought of the scale of battles he could fight and how many people he could kill was intoxicating.

A new era was dawning on them. An era filled with war and bloodshed that would last centuries and would span across the whole planet. Darkness was slowly descending on the world and the Demon Lord Naruto couldn't help but smile in pure joy.

XXXXXX

1410 A.D.

A few days ago, Viktor had woken up Amelia from her sixty year hibernation and had started his own century long hibernation. The female Elder was now up and about managing the coven and its financial issues. She was an intelligent woman; there was no doubt about that and also a fierce warrior in battle.

After arriving to safer and friendlier lands, they had settled into her old home, a keep much like Castle Corvinus was but the only difference was that instead of them being carved from the side of a mountain, her home was built from the side of a cliff. Naruto didn't know how they could build a castle inside a cliff with the level of technology they had but was impressed either way. The design was so the only time they had to worry about the sunlight was during the early hours of the morning. The stone roof over the property kept the sunlight and its harmful UV rays away from the vampire populace. What was also amazing about it was if you didn't know the way to the castle you had to climb up from the ocean to get to it. But if you did find the entrance, you were faced with a stone corridor small enough for only two carriages to fit though side by side with walls garrisoned by crossbowmen and Ballistae.

Lounging at the castle gardens with numerous others, the great being was thinking over what his stance would be for the upcoming century. He was asking himself if he should he be more active or be an observer in the vampires affairs? There were no more contracts between the coven and himself only a sense of gratitude that their blood had given him the keys to his prison. With the blood token of vampire blood, immortal blood in fact, Naruto could come and go as he saw fit. The only problem there was that he was a being of chaos, destruction and death; he did not want to go sightseeing, or traveling the world to learn its secrets. The Demon Lord wanted violence! He lived for the thrill of a fight, created for the battlefield, to be the one thing that overwhelms the adversary.

"You were made for battle, molded into the perfect warrior, the perfect killing machine! You, my dear child, are a tool built solely for war." The voice of his mother and master rang in his ears. Since the day she was able to get a hold of his soul, the mistress of the realm of Evergloam molded him into her ultimate weapon, her sword to wield and strike at her enemies. He was trained and conditioned never to lose, never to fail. He was taught to love the smell of death and the feeling of bloodlust. His childhood, so to speak, was spent training in the arts of battle and war. He was thrown into battles in the mortal realm to gain experience and by the end of it all, he was a child monster who loved to kill and fight. A millennia's worth of fighting had changed his mind set into one his mother approved of. When he was considered an adult in her eyes, he was given the title of Demon Lord and was recognized by the other god-like beings in Oblivion.

At a point in time, she created ten scrolls that detailed on how to summon Naruto and the dangers of doing so. She then scattered the scrolls around the mortal realm and waited.

Back to the present, Naruto was disturbed from his thoughts by a presence sitting by his side.

"A pleasant day to you Lady Amelia, how goes the daily rumble and tumble of daily life? Is it boring you yet?" He sat up and looked at the Vampire Elder, Naruto was surprised to see her in her custom Death Dealer armor instead of the dresses she wore. Perplexed at this, he asked the elder what was going on.

"Today will be the first training day of our Death Dealer recruits. I want you to be there with me when I talk to them." Amelia looked on as the Demon Lord stood from the ground and dusted himself off. "Will you accompany me?" She asked when it was evident that Naruto wouldn't give a reply whether or not he would. The demon smiled at her before giving a bow.

"Of course my Lady, I shall accompany you. What gentleman would I be to deny a request from such a beautiful and deadly rose as yourself?" The Demon Lord offered an arm for Amelia to hook hers around. She did so without question wanting to amuse the great being. "Seeing as you're in armor, I should probably look the part myself, yes?"

His outfit seemed to shift in form as it turned smoky and intangible one second and solidified into a set of black, demonic looking armor. The whole set was made out of segmented metal and had an eerie red glow to it. The sections on the shoulders were spiked and the plating on the hands was designed to let Naruto's claws out. The armor covered everything from his joints to his neck and looked quite heavy. He did not wear a helmet and left his hair untied. "There we go, determined to intimidate people of all ages. You think I should wear the helmet, or will it be too scary?" The Demon Lord mused to himself as they walked towards the training fields at the back of the castle.

To be honest he was expecting at least a few dozen soldiers, maybe even a hundred strong at the very most. The Demon Lord was granted with the sight of ten thousand Death Dealer recruits, all clad in armor.

How could I miss this many? I'm beginning to slack off too much… mother would be furious if she knew… Naruto laughed in amusement at the sight of such an army. "My Lady you surprise me with an army this grand! I can see it now, the Death Dealers marching into battle killing thousands upon thousands of foes!" The Demon Lord pulled Amelia closer and looked into her eyes, his own hellfire red reflecting in her shining blue eyes, "Let me train them and I shall give them back to you an unstoppable force! With these ten thousand vampires under my training…" Naruto let out a laugh so evil, so demonic that the collected warriors-to-be shivered in fright from the echoes it made, "The world will be at our fingertips!"

XXXXXX

1443 A.D.

The years slowly went by and the number of vampire recruits just kept growing. The other vampire covens sent their Death Dealer hopefuls to train with Lady Amelia's own army and soon, the castle was housing an army that could make the tremble from their march. They had to expand their hidden keep naturally and Naruto was kind enough to expand the caverns deeper and deeper into the earth that he told Amelia spanned the entire country. The Vampire Elder was pleased with the growth of their race and was glad that the Demon Lord was by her side during her time to rule.

Lady Amelia and the Demon Lord Naruto were currently discussing their plans on what to do with the Lycans who drove them from their original home when they were disturbed by the arrival of two people.

There standing by the grand doors were Kraven, the commander of the Death Dealer army and Selene, a young vampire sired by Amelia by the request of Viktor himself.

Selene had joined them during the last few years of Viktor's first sole rule wherein they had found her family's farm in the middle of nowhere. Viktor, in a fit of rage from their forced exile by the Lycans had attacked and killed everyone in the farm and tore everyone like he was a rabid animal. Only one had survived his rage by chance. Selene had avoided the Vampire Elders killing spree and had hid in the barn in fear.

Naruto had 'found' and saved the girl, telling her of the feral werewolves that they followed to her home and apologized for being too late in saving her family. While this happened, Viktor hid in the shadows watching the Demon Lord embrace and comfort the devastated young woman.

When the group was about to leave Selene had pleaded for them to take her in and train her in how to kill Werewolves. The group looked to Viktor for orders and Naruto only looked on in amusement in how rage and revenge danced in her beautiful hazel eyes.

"Take the poor thing in Viktor"Naruto remembered himself saying as he approached the girl and offered his hand, "Anger and the spirit of revenge is the best friend of any competent warrior."

No one could say no to a Demon lord of course, but Viktor only agreed to train and eventually turn her on the condition that it will only happen when she turned twenty four years old or older. That was thirty years ago and the once human farm girl was now one of the best warriors they had in their fighting force. That wasn't mentioning that she had the second highest number of kills next to Naruto himself, he didn't count his kills before he was summoned by Marcus since that wouldn't have been fair to anyone.

The Demon Lord was impressed by her ferocity and how driven she was to kill every single Werewolf and Lycan alive that she asked Amelia's permission to apprentice the girl. And as stated before, no one said no to a Demon Lord.

"Kraven… and Selene, to what do I owe this visit?" Amelia asked aloud not looking away from the maps and notes that she and the Demon Lord were studying. She looked up when no one spoke up and noted that Selene was not looking at Naruto. "Well," the Elder started as she crossed her arms over her armored chest, "What is it?"

"Our spies have returned from their scouting of Castle Corvinus," Kraven said as he pulled out a piece of parchment from his hip pouch and handed it to Lady Amelia, "Lucian has been busy."

"He's been building an army of his own, eh?" Naruto hummed as he tapped the table with his claws. "Our unstoppable force meets Lucian's immovable object…" He turned to the two vampire warriors and gave them a congenial smile. "Thank you for this report, you are both dismissed."

XXXXXX

When they were alone again Amelia could only laugh at their situation. The Vampire Elder sat down on her throne before she spoke up, "The chance at taking back our home has shown itself! When we march on the Lycans in Castle Corvinus and take it back the history books will speak of how I, Amelia, in her first sole reign as the leader of the vampire covens across the lands exterminated the mongrels that are squatting in our home! We will take back Castle Corvinus from Lucian and drive them away from the lands with their tails between their legs!" She sighed in excitement at the mere thought of the victory. Then she remembered what she had observed when Kraven and Selene were in the war room and looked to the Demon Lord who was idly creating flames in the palms of his hands. "And what was that about then? Have you and that Selene girl been… training after hours?" There was a hint of jealousy in the Vampire Elders voice that Naruto ignored completely.

"Oh, nothing of the sort Lady Amelia, little Selene looks at me as her hero of sorts, a person to model after. I think the hero worshipping began when she saw me training with a few of the new Death Dealers. Selene probably wants to be someone like me when she grows up!"

Amelia nodded and stood from the throne, approaching the Demon Lord with even and measured steps. As soon as she was close, the Vampire Elder pulled Naruto into a heated kiss. Her arms went around his neck to pull in him closer as she deepened the passionate exchange. "Good," Amelia had said once she pushed away from him, "You're mine and I won't let some farm girl soil you with her filthy hands…"

As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, Naruto found himself preparing to travel with Selene at his side. She had asked the Demon Lord one day if they could take her training to the next level, seeing as she could beat down anyone in the army as long as it wasn't an elder or Naruto himself. The Demon Lord agreed to increase her training, but they couldn't stay with the other vampires. He needed to keep some secrets after all.

"You're leaving when we wage war a week away?" Amelia had approached him when the Demon Lord was alone in his private quarters. The vampire was furious that her mate and biggest trump card in the upcoming battle was suddenly leaving. "Could this… trip not wait until we finish exterminating the mongrels from Castle Corvinus?"

"Do not worry, my Lady. I leave for a significant reason." Naruto gently placed a hand on her cheek, the physical contact making Amelia relax into the touch. "I want the covens to remember that you, the Vampire Elder Amelia, won this war with your own powers and succeeded. If I am there the historians would be too busy writing about what I had done in the battle. I do not know why they have to do that but my point remains…" The Demon Lord placed a soft kiss on her forehead before smiling at her. "Just remember that if things look bleak… Call my name and I shall be by your side."

The Demon Lord Naruto and the Death Dealer Selene left the underground castle the same time the army sailed for Hungary where Castle Corvinus was. Both of them rode on horseback and wore full armor. The reason being that if people, humans to be exact, saw their status as Death Dealers, as Vampires, then no one would cause them unneeded trouble. Naruto wore his own armor just to look the part. His usual clothing was of the extravagant nature and would surely attract attention. Wearing his armor told everyone that he was someone not to be messed with. He could deal with a threat, of course! But he wouldn't trust his bloodlust to stop at just one of the bandits. If they were close to a village he might attack the settlement as well.

Their first stop was a small fishing village a few miles away from the hidden castle. It would also serve as the perfect training ground for their first lesson.

The Demon Lord would reintroduce Chakra to this world… that he would promise.

As they leisurely made their way towards the town, Selene used this quiet reprieve to think about certain things. It had been thirty years ago when her whole family was killed when feral werewolves attacked her farm.

She had woken up to the screams of her twin nieces, Selene remembered. When she ran to the barn to get a weapon of any kind, she was greeted to the ravaged bodies of her family strewn about the front porch. She had screamed when she saw them and ran towards the barn still. Whoever had done this was probably coming for her and she would not go down without a fight. As she neared the barn she saw firelight coming from the structure and was relieved when she saw armor clad forms scouting the area. She actually ran into the arms of the closest warrior she could get to and cried in his arms.

After that moment, everything was a blur. The realization that she was the only one in her family left alive had numbed her to the world. When the warriors were done killing the Werewolves, they had gathered at the front of the property gates and was prepared to depart when she called out to them saying that she would like to become one of them, hunters and killers. She could remember little bits of the argument they had, saying things like 'We cannot bring a human with us!' and the like, but the apparent leader, the man with the sun kissed hair, had told them that she would be a great warrior.

Selene rode with the leader, holding onto his armored form for dear life as the horses ran like the wind non-stop.

They arrived at the entrance of a cave, the wind from within carrying a bitter cold that chilled Selene to the bone. Seeing this, the leader had handed her a black overcoat that was obviously well made and looked like it felt. Expensive

The cave entrance made way to a stone hallway made of walls reinforced with steel. Guards were stationed above them carrying crossbows and Selene could make out the shapes of ballistae mounted at equal intervals on top of the walls.

"What is this place?" She had asked the leader who turned to look at the girl with his blue eyes.

"This is our stronghold, built to be a fortress that cannot be breached. It is built into the side of a cliff face and the hallway we just passed through is the only way in or out, unless by boat." The man's voice was strange to Selene. A deep and terrifying baritone accompanied by the voice of a young man. It sounded like to people were talking at the same time. Nonetheless, she had held on to him tighter when the castle was in view.

The unnamed castle was built out of black polished stone, making it shine even in the darkness of the cave. Around the castle was a small village for the warriors to reside in. People around them stopped and stared at her, as if she was unwelcome.

"They are unused to new faces," The blonde had said before patting the top of her hand to comfort her, "None shall hurt you Selene, I will make sure of that."

When they had arrived at the castle gates, all of them dismounted and made their way towards the throne room where they were greeted with a group of a dozen people standing idly by around the magnificent black throne. She was expecting the blonde who stood beside her to walk up and sit on the throne but was surprised to see the elderly looking man from their group stride to it and sit down, everyone bowing as he did so. The blonde did not for some reason and only gave an amused smile to the girl.

"You are not the leader?" She asked the man who shook his head in reply.

"More of a trusted advisor of sorts…"

The day after arriving at the castle, they had begun her training. Hand-to-hand combat, sword fighting, archery and all manners of training to get her in top form were thrown at her. When she started to think that there was no way the training could get any harder, she was brutally proven wrong. Instead of the ridiculously strong warriors she sparred with she was thrown into a pit with a live werewolf. She was then ordered to kill the creature or survive long enough for Naruto to consider she was worthy enough.

Selene knew the definition of 'worthy' in the demon's book and decided to just kill the damned thing.

The days just got worse after that. Either Naruto would add another werewolf in the pit with her or decide to shoot at her with his crossbow.

Every day she was pushed past her limit.

Every day Selene would overcome it.

She quickly rose in the Death Dealer ranks until the day she achieved so much in her relatively short career that Naruto himself had taken notice and decided to apprentice her. The night she received the letter of acknowledgement was possibly one of the best days of her life.

He had finally seen her, took notice of her!

Selene was no longer the weak farm girl they found a few years ago but now someone who was worthy enough to be seen as one of them! A comrade in arms

With the apprenticeship came her long awaited reward, immortality.

Now that she was old enough, she was allowed to request the Vampire Elder to turn her into a vampire like them.

"Selene" The voice of her hero broke her out of her thoughts and brought her back to the present. They had finally arrived at the small secluded fishing village and were now at its borders. Naruto smiled at her before speaking again, "We will now begin your first lesson" He dismounted his war horse and tied the rains to a thick tree branch before walking towards the village. Selene did the same and quickly followed him, her own armor clanking loudly as she caught up with the Demon Lord.

As soon as one of the villagers saw them, the whole town exploded into a silent buzz. They rarely got visitors and the two that entered looked like knights. The two strangers stopped in the middle of the town square and subconsciously everyone who was still up at this time of night gathered around them.

"Now Selene, how many people do you think are in this small fishing village?"

"At least fifty civilians, I think. That includes the women and children." Selene said taking in mind how big the houses were and how many people could possibly live in each one.

"Close… there are exactly sixty five humans in this village alone. Forty adults and the rest are people under the ages of nineteen." The Demon Lord looked at the female Vampire, "How are you in controlling your bloodlust, my dear?"

"I am confident enough to walk into a town full of humans without ripping into one," the Death Dealer whispered as the crowd was still observing them. Naruto didn't bother with hiding what he was telling her which was strange. "But if I smell fresh blood… a different story altogether." Naruto hummed in thought before grinning wickedly. Selene had only seen him smile that way a few times. One instance was when he was about to indulge in violence of the worse nature.

"There are many ways in controlling ones bloodlust, Selene. The usual way is through silent meditation. Almost all the Vampires do this. It is a long and difficult road to travel. Another way is through prolonged exposure. A way in which dulls the feeling until one can shrug off the effects." He paused before flexing his claws and tensing up his body, "The path I took was indulgence. The easiest and most rewarding path creatures like us who feed on other sentient beings to live. Letting your bloodlust take control of you let's you get used to how it feels when it heightens your senses, how it makes you stronger, makes you harder to kill. When you are accustomed to how it feels well…" His blue eyes slowly darkened into its original hellfire red. "First Lesson: Indulgence"

The smell hit her first; fresh, warm human blood. Selene felt a sudden emptiness in her gut that demanded to be filled. Her mouth watered at the thought of feasting directly from the source. She did not act on it, however. Decades of training had ingrained that feeding directly on a human would draw unnecessary attention to the coven and endanger everyone. She looked to Naruto who was chuckling at her show of restraint. "I… can't"

"You will"

The smell was getting stronger and the voice of her hunger started to get louder. Finally, her beautiful hazel eyes shined a luminescent blue and her fangs seemed to extend just a little bit longer then what was normal for vampires. Her heartbeat was increasing by the minute and her muscles tensed in anticipation at the upcoming feast.

"Feed on them Selene, leave none alive!"