Phew! All of the inspiration that I had for the past three weeks is coming back with a vengeance! So, I'm here to present the ninth chapter of Synchro Beast, Crimson Rose!
Chapter 9-Unlocking the Chains of the Unknown
~27 years ago, before the assault in the eastern district~
Moonlit skies became cloudy as rain started to descend upon the night of the eastern village, of which was home to one of the strictest policies ever to be practiced. The eastern lord Kiryu, promising the northern grand vampire Yami to fulfill his duties to his own territory, was actually more flirtatious than that of the northerner's cousin, Yusei Fudo. The eastern lord's mark was already on some of the eastern village's beautiful women, and it has one of them completely furious since the good ones were taken away from him by the time it becomes mating season every year. This year, however, will prove that this time around, he'll not be outdone by the eastern lord when finding a mate.
The eastern castle's military commander, considering his ruthless purple eyes could freeze an entire army by one glance, was not pleased with the results of the training performances of the soldiers that were just inducted into the assault force for the eastern castle. His voice booming throughout the halls as his temper was hammered upon his newly established military crew.
"Absolute bullshit!" Jack bellowed. "This is an unacceptable product of our ferocity as the eastern military! Is this not the best of the selection assessment protocol that our lord has chosen carefully to protect this vast land of ours?"
"Hey, we just got started, you know!" Grieger shouted. "Bastard, it's only been a couple of hours since the assessment test!"
"I don't tolerate any fucking excuses for slacking in my department!" Jack demanded. "If you idiotic morons do contain the power of Synchro, you have to unleash that power onto the enemy! Our very own lord Kiryu chose you sixteen as the eastern lands' best defense force, and I expect no mistakes..."
"Belittling the new recruits like old times...Your habits are always hard to break, huh, Jack?" a smug voice said.
"Yusei...Why the hell are you lurking about on my training field?" Jack angrily asked.
"I just got back from the northern castle; dealing with an unwanted hunter is such a bothersome, especially if he's so furious over something so trivial..." Yusei countered.
"Let me guess, the hunter took away your interest from you, huh?" Jack smirked.
"...Watch your tongue, pal. We may be childhood friends, but even you know not to interfere with my love affairs." Yusei snarled.
"Hmph...Whatever." Jack scoffed. "Anyways, Lord Kiryu's been looking for you. Said he's got something important to discuss with you."
"Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm not in the mood for conversations right now." Yusei said.
'Oh, he's definitely pissed. I'll make a note to tell Crow about this...' Jack thought mischievously.
"Don't you even dare..." Yusei said. "Recruits, head towards the barracks for training tomorrow night. Don't mind the asshole here; he's just in a foul mood."
"Why you little incompetent, smug, son of a bitch!" Jack bellowed.
~Later in the night...~
The orange-haired man was pacing back and forth within his chambers, angry about this cat and mouse game he was playing with the eastern lord. Within the past two months, all of the beautiful women in the eastern village have been claimed by the lord himself and it was soon closing near the mating season. Plus, it was nearing the year of the red moon, which according to vampire folklore that a woman's blood will be deemed unsatisfying and sour; this wasn't going to ruin his chances at finally landing a mate for centuries to come! There were also the problems dealing around his childhood pals, Yusei and Jack. The orange-haired vampire, known now as Crow Hogan, was desperate to secure a woman before Kiryu got the upper hand on him...again.
Crow already knew that Yusei was very picky about his women, and Jack...he absolutely laughed so hard that he literally turned blue at the sudden thought of a woman falling in love with that self-centered jerk. Just as Crow was about to head out his room, the door automatically met his face and somehow broke his nose with blood seeping out from his nostrils. The person entering the room looked behind and tried to hold his laughter while glancing at his friend.
"You know, you were always the unlucky one back when we were kids." Kiryu snickered.
"Sh-Shut up!" Crow barked, readjusting his nose back into alignment. "Anyways, what the hell are you doing here, Kiryu? Are you here to mock me once more about my love life?"
"That's how you talk to your lord? Unacceptable!" Kiryu growled. "As you already know, it is closing near the red moon phase of the year and folklore tells that a mortal woman's blood is considered distasteful and positively sour for us male vampires."
"Like I didn't know that; the fact that if I don't get a mate soon before then will make me a fucking sore loser in the castle until next year." Crow said.
"Well, Yusei's out of the picture for mating season...again." Kiryu groaned.
"Huh? I thought Yusei was going after that hunter Sherry! She was way too feisty for me to handle!" Crow said.
"Jack told me about how his soon-to-be mate was killed during a fight with her fiancé, Divine." Kiryu explained. "Not to mention that there's not a single woman over here in the eastern district that can match Yusei's desires. Jack...forget it. What woman would ever want to be with him?"
"How about if I force down my fist into your fucking throat; sounds better?" Jack threatened.
"Eiyahhh!" Kiryu yelled, jumping onto the ceiling and making both men laugh at his reaction. "...Y-Y-You bastard! I told you not to surprise me from behind like that! You know that I'm sensitive around my surroundings!"
"Hmph; you just don't like shitty surprises." Jack scoffed.
"Whatever." Kiryu scowled. "There's absolutely no way that you can find a mate before the start of the red lunar year. We all know you drain those bitches' blood dry well before the transformation."
"I can too!" Jack growled.
"Then, I purpose a wager!" Crow declared. "I wager an entire month of housework that you cannot find a mate without truly killing her within the time limit for the mating season."
"It only lasts for three weeks." Kiryu stated. "No mate, you become the housecleaner for a whole month. If you actually do the impossible, then Crow will have to wear that frilly dress one of my aunts oh so forgot to destroy."
"I reject that-" Crow started.
"Fine, I accept this wager!" Jack smirked. "Prepare to be humiliated, Crow!"
Crow threw a nasty glare at the eastern lord. Kiryu, however, was laughing conceitedly in his mind. He sure knew what to say that'll surely get his fill of laughter for the day.
"You are so gonna pay when this is over, my lord." Crow hissed.
"That is, providing that you have a back-up plan for this wager." Kiryu said.
"Oh, I do." Crow grinned. "But, I'm not gonna tell you anything, nor let you read my mind to find out. Anyways, I'm heading over to Yusei's room to see how the poor guy's holding up. Though, the moment he gets angry, I'm bolting the hell out of there."
~Two weeks later, following the bet...~
SNAP!
"Ow! This is what you get for traveling in the dark without any light, Carly." a woman said to herself. "Then again, that self-centered mayor sent you out here all by yourself, for what? Information about the vampire's new recruits? I'm no vamporant! I'm just a measly scout trying to make a living!"
Light escapes the shadowy woods of the night as a young woman, around mid-twenties, wandered around the darkness trying to locate the eastern castle of the vampires of which became residence to the legendary power of Synchro. Many mortals decades ago tried to obtain this unusual source of power, but after many tragedies and misfortune came to numerous people, the mortals gave up on trying to even master such a power. However, later on, it appeared that those born with a special blood type can control and use the power of Synchro. Vampire hunters were no exception to this rule since it was really rare for anyone to use this natural power; the craftsman were still pursuing on how to contain the Synchro power to use against the vampires when war strikes again.
As she gotten closer to the walls of the castle, the woman, now named Carly Carmine, was hired by the arrogant mayor to investigate what the vampires of the east were planning to do following weeks after the signing of the treaty. However, many of the mortals were skeptical about this so-called truce and still continued their observance of the vampires' movements. It was near the end of the mating season, and all of the male patrons in the village were preparing the necessary steps to protect their women from the claws of the seductive creatures. Clouds were staring to separate, revealing the white, glowing moon and became the hunting ground for the demon dogs that roam the woods for their next meal.
Carly was becoming much more nervous since she was entering way too deep into the woods, looking back and the realization hit her mind like stones crushed under the beasts of hell itself. The tracks that she made had been lost within the darkness of the trees' shadows leaving her stranded and alone; she violently jerked back, forth and all around, making sure that nothing was blending in the shadows. White, sharp fangs showed up with dark red eyes following in packs, and Carly was not too happy since she didn't even have any weapons to defend herself. As the beasts of the dark approach closer, the black-haired woman stepped back to avoid her inescapable fate. Leaping with murdering intent, the fiendish animals rushed towards Carly, of which she responded to running away for her life, but it ended with her body trapped against a stone brick wall and every one of the dark creatures surrounding her to prevent any getaway.
'Well, so much for the life ahead of you, Carly.' Carly thought, miserably.
She closed her eyes, hoping to not see her attackers pounced on her. However, after one minute of her sight entering darkness, the yelps and screams of the beasts hollered as Carly opened them and saw the person that saved her life, but her body became enveloped in fear as the light of the moon revealed the creature of the night. His blond hair and cold purple eyes glared into her very soul, constricting her breath into thin intermissions; it was very unlikely for a vampire of his caliber to save a mortal of her stature.
Jack smelled something off before his daily rounds of feeding near the edge of the castle walls, and spotted someone surrounded by demonic wolves in the midst of the midnight hour. He wasn't in the mood for saving, until he took a second look at the person that was cornered, realizing a perfect opportunity to settle that bet he made sooner and quicker. Descending into the conflict, Jack invoked a spell so rapidly that no one even heard him coming from above. In a matter of seconds, dark crimson arrows plunge into every wolf and ridding them of their existence. He then turned his attention to the woman he just saved, who eyes were already showing fear. Luckily for Carly, he couldn't see her eyes through her makeshift glasses...
"Already showing fear to the person who saved you? That's rather rude, don't you think?" Jack scoffed.
...Or maybe not.
"Hey, it's normal for a person to show fear every time they're in danger!" Carly quarreled.
"I have no need for such emotions." Jack sneered. "I am the strongest vampire of the eastern lands, and you expect me to show fear when driven into a corner? Ridiculous! Now mortal, state your business as to why the hell are you wandering in this time of the night."
"Look, I just got lost, okay?" Carly lied. No way was she gonna let a vampire know why she was truly outside at this time of the night.
"I am not fucking stupid enough to know that you were sent here by someone to spy on us." Jack smirked. "Every vampire knows that mortals such as yourself cannot handle the dark creatures that roamed the darkness; you cannot be a vamporant, so you must be a low-level scout sent by the village."
"S-So what?" Carly redirected. "I was forced on this mission! I didn't agree to this, dammit! It's not like I have anyone waiting for me back home!"
"If you don't have anybody to come back to, why on Earth would you still continue to listen to those that you barely even know?" Jack asked.
"Well..." Carly said. "Maybe I wanted to find my own identity through trials of life and death!"
"Ha...! What a preposterous reason!" Jack laughed. "Unfortunately for you, your ass ain't going back to that miserable village for good."
"What...? Why the hell not?" Carly demanded.
"Have you forgotten about what just transpired here a few minutes ago?" Jack said. "I saved your life, and you're going to start repaying right now."
Carly couldn't believe what she just heard; this vampire was taking her as his slave! But from what she heard about this very vampire, all of his female victims were sucked dry to the bone and vanished into dust, and it shook her body to the core. To think that she was saved from one danger only to enter into another one; Carly thought that she was cursed from the day that she was born.
Jack knew that this very woman will surely finish off the bet and prove those sarcastic friends of his that he can keep a woman alive; maybe this female mortal might keep him entertained for years to come. However, keeping her alive when the mating ritual commences wasn't going to be easy, since all of the women Jack had been with were dehydrated out of their blood and their bodies turning into bone dust. It serves them right for not being able to produce enough blood to satisfy his hunger!
Picking up his little and yet soon-to-be mate and placing her body on his shoulder, Jack leaped back into the castle to present his catch for mating season. Carly wasn't too happy about this; she put her hands into fists and kept pounding on Jack's back, demanding that he put her down and take her back to the village. He didn't care about her temper tantrums; Jack just wished that she stop hitting and kicking him like a madwoman!
"Take me home, this instant!" Carly shouted.
'Vile woman! What makes her think that I'm gonna listen to her demands? And I wish this bitch stop rampaging and kicking me like I'm some bastard!' Jack thought angrily.
He thought that he wouldn't find a woman that the eastern lord had taken already.
But, luck has finally come to his side for once.
Although, sometimes fate can be so cruel when you least expected, but it didn't matter. Crow finally found a woman that he can claim as his own. It had taken decades of searching due to Kiryu's unrelenting pursuit of suitable women, or in his friend's words, pleasure dolls. His stupid friend kept telling them that those women couldn't satisfy his needs! What needs did Kiryu had besides getting on his nerves and bending the rules for his own delight? Hopefully, this time around...Crow might actually beat Kiryu at his own game.
"Now, sweetheart. I wouldn't dare to hurt you in the ways of mortal love. No, I'm gonna show you the wild side of us vampires when we become quite lustful for physical intercourse." Crow grinned.
"My, oh my, aren't you the passionate flirter?" the woman giggled.
"Now, let me bite that neck first before we get crazy tonight." Crow smirked.
"Uhh...maybe when we done having sex..." the woman hesitated.
"Why you are resisting me...?" Crow started, but his senses started to pick up a scent and one so familiar that he wanted to kill the bastard. He grabbed her by the wrist, using his other free hand to look at her neck and true by his instincts, two bite marks were there.
Crow knew it...! That sneaky bastard of a friend Kiryu snuck a spell on his now not-so-lucky catch of the night, and his anger flew into a rage that surely made Kiryu laugh so much.
"KIIIRYUUU!" Crow screamed.
He wasn't in the mood for visiting the eastern lord hours after he was running away from the orange-haired friend that apparently was furious that his love life was being played with all over again. But, alas...the northern grand vampire's cousin needed to know what was so important that the eastern lord wanted to talk to him about. Having a lighted orb guide him down the stone stairs down to the sacred underground library of Mylomti, Yusei needed to deal with this issue before calling it a night. The black-haired vampire had not been inside the library in over a century; he studied spells with his father and mother, before they were executed by the ruthless vampire dictator Solirais for defiance.
Kiryu was getting bored; so what if Crow vowed vengeance against him for ruining his love life? It's not like he had a permanent woman in his life! And he couldn't believe that Jack actually did the impossible and kept a mate alive before the end of the mating season. Well, at least his friend's end of the bargain didn't come without laughter from most of the inhabitants of the castle. But now, the eastern lord's attention has shifted towards a few of the forbidden books laid across the table.
Several weeks ago after the treaty signing, Kiryu suspected that the western lord was planning something huge after cutting off connections with the rest of the clan. In anticipation of this secret iniquity, he looked into the forbidden books for some sort of clue; what he discovered was truly frightening for himself and his clan. He needed someone trustworthy and level-headed to keep the information an undisclosed topic until the time was right. The only one who fitted that profile was the northern grand vampire's cousin, Yusei Fudo. There was something strange when Kiryu looked deeper into the forbidden manuscripts, and what he found was something that needed more time to investigate.
Minutes later, Yusei spotted Kiryu glancing what appeared to be a few books that belonged to one of the three vampire sages. He mentally sighed; of all of the books to choose from, why these ones? Everyone knew what was written in these manuscripts, and deemed them forbidden due to the destructive power hidden in the spells contained in them.
"I thought I was going to help you research something in this library, but I never thought that you go this low just to keep your seat in power, Kiryu." Yusei said, sarcastically.
"Very funny, Yusei." Kiryu chuckled. "But, that's not what I'd called you here for."
"Then, what the hell is this all about?" Yusei barked. "I'm already in a foul mood since my only chance for a mate was taken away two weeks ago by a bastard hunter."
"Relax; I gotta call the damn bookkeeper before we proceed." Kiryu said, piercing his hand and muttering a spell on the ground not far from where they were at.
"Cum stilla purus lamia scriptor cruor, ego devolvat sigillum mille lunas: intra O potens triae de veris! (1)" Kiryu chanted.
With white smoke enveloping the small figure appearing from the blue circle, a small demonic kid wearing what appeared to be hiking gear was not happy that his vacation was cut off short.
"Hey, man! I told you that I was on holiday for the next six months! How dare you cut me off in the middle of my vacation!" the kid argued.
"Oh, shut it, Seyria." Kiryu said. "This is important business to be taken care of, so after this is done, I'll send you back."
"Whatever!" Seyria huffed.
"Amazing how twenty years can do to a half-demon." Kiryu muttered.
"So, what's this important thing that you wanted to talk about, my lord?" Yusei asked.
"It's about my suspicions of what Gozaburo was about to go through with as a grand plan to eliminate all of the mortals before the treaty was signed." Kiryu explained. "He talked to me about it before Lord Yami called us to discuss about the conditions of the war back then."
"A grand plan? Surely you jest; Lord Gozaburo wouldn't try to endanger our survival by destroying all of the mortals in one fell swoop." Yusei said.
"That's what I had thought at first, but what he said after that truly made me concerned about something." Kiryu said, seriously. "Gozaburo told me to acquire the sacred books of Mylomti and deliver them to him, but I refused the notion to even take these fucking books out of here."
"He's right; the manuscripts that the eastern vampire sage Mylomti written in his time before passing away was to protect our clan from an even more sinister threat." Seyria explained. "An enemy even much more powerful than the current grand vampire."
"Someone much more powerful than Yami? Preposterous!" Yusei barked. "Who would be that strong enough to wipe our clan from extinction?"
"Rather than explaining it to you, I'll show you." Kiryu said. "At first, looking through the pages of every book was the key to taking out the mortals was his plan, but at second glance, the binders were encrypted with some kind of message and rearranging them ended up with a message that warned anyone else not to even use these books to even bring him out..."
Placing book after book on top of each other, the message hidden on the binders revealed a warning that even shook Yusei to the core. The message was written in ancient text, only to be read in Latin. The passage read as follows:
"Testimonium enim illi veteres...frangi non resurget Etsi rex invindicando ausos rebellavit contra eum." (2)
"W-What does this all fucking mean?" Yusei asked, flabbergasted. "What do you mean by him?"
"Mylomti, Cresahan, and Dilao used their own books to seal away the vampire dictator Solirais and Dracula ordered that these books were to be condemned and never used at all." Seyria explained. "All three of them encoded this message to warn the next generation of the danger of using these books. Normally, the seal encasing the former king of the undead is a very powerful one, but the sages took the necessary precautions to prevent the summoning spell from being broken."
"In other words, Gozaburo was about to unleash Solirais when the war reached its' climax." Kiryu said. "All the forbidden books have to be placed in a certain way to order to recreate the seal; even placing our own damn kind in the crossfire of the war was the cost the western lord was willing to take."
"That's insane! We have to inform our grand vampire about this sort of treason!" Yusei said.
"No, I need more time to decipher the rest of the encoded words on the rest of these manuscripts." Kiryu said. "What we have right now is nothing more than baseless conjecture of the facts; telling Lord Yami without any evidence to back up our claim will surely have us shunned by the clan themselves. I need you to keep quiet about this until the time is right."
"But what if it's too late to tell him about Gozaburo's original plan?" Yusei asked.
"He'll know when we have enough to back up our suspicions." Kiryu said. "I just hope when Solirais is unleashed, we'll be ready for him this time."
Finally done after almost three months of head-scratching agony! Next chapter, we get a little kinky and follow up with a part of Bruno's past before he became a priest!
1- With the drop of a pure vampire's blood, I unleash the seal of a thousand moons; enter O mighty caster of truths! (Translated from Latin)
2- The seal of the Ancients must not be broken...for the former king of the undead shall rise again to seek revenge on those who had dared rebelled against him. (Translated from Latin)
Next chapter: Serenity has an unusual vision in her mind that prompts her to visiting the brunette vampire Seto for the first time in person, and we head into a part of Bruno's history before he became a priest...
R&R, people!