Chapter 57: To the Lawless City!

"I'm so dead…! I'm sorry… Lord Shadow…!" Muttered Beta while shielding her face with her arms.

"Lady Elizabeth….!" Mary followed, also shielding her face with her arms.

Beyond the red light of the dragon's breath attack, I saw the Necromancer and his minions leaving through the huge portal, which closes after they all passed through. He must love his subordinates so much if he came personally to bail them out. What a tsundere.

The bright light from the breath attack eventually vanished and the ground stopped trembling from the impact.

"Am I dead…? Am I dead already?" Muttered Beta as she slowly opened her eyes. Then she gasped as she saw the purple barrier that shields us.

Nothing inside the barrier is damaged. The lands surrounding the barrier is nothing but a crater now though. Even the old house has been vaporized. I let the purple barrier fade away in order to prevent her from tracing the source.

"Lord Shadow!?" Exclaimed Beta as she looked around trying to find me. Sorry Beta but I won't reveal myself to you yet.

"That barrier was… Shadow's? Impossible. To think a human have this much magic!" Muttered Mary in disbelief.

"Ahh… Lord Shadow… You're always watching over me!" Beta said with tears of happiness. Well, it's kinda hard not to watch over you when we're going out vampire hunting together like this.

"But please… don't overexert yourself, my lord!" Beta said as her expression switches from happy to sad in an instant. Her acting skills are impressive if she can switch emotions so fast!

"What happened… to Necromancer?" Mary asked.

"He left… along with his subordinates." I answered.

"Then… we shall face them again in the future." Muttered Mary in frustration.

"Let's go back." I said as we began walking back to the capital.

That dragon from last night was fire! I never thought that he also have a dragon on his side! But I suppose I should've expected that from my beloved archnemesis. I have to note that his dragon was stronger than the Mist Dragon and I sensed its magic to be… different from the Mist Dragon's… or anyone else's for that matter.

The next day my sister woke up. It's amazing how energetic she is despite being unconscious and haven't consumed anything in days.

She' wearing bandages on her left hand which conceals some cool tattoo. She was talking some cool stuff last night too. I wonder if she's going through that phase.

"Cid! Where is he!? Cid!" Shouted my sister as I hid from her. Of course I avoided her as usual but this time… I absolutely must avoid meeting her. Because…

"Cid! He has been missing for days! Where could that idiot be!?" Claire shouted as she ran across town searching for me.

This is bad. I forgot to make regular appearances in the dorm and thus Po told sis that I went missing since the night I began taking the Van Helsing disguise. When she finds me, she definitely won't let me get away. She might even imprison me in a dungeon or something!

Now she's even more desperate to search for me and I have no idea what excuse I should give her. Maybe I should leave town for a bit and think of excuses later.

Oh? Beta's approaching. But I have to avoid her too. I sneaked into an inn and closed the window while waiting for her to leave.

"Lord Shadow is not anywhere! I knew it! He's taking matters into his own hands! But it should be expected when his dreaded enemy has a dragon!" I heard Beta muttered as she passed through the inn.

"W-Who are you!?" Shouted a bare chested mean looking guy who I assumed must've rented the very room I'm hiding in.

"Tch! You must be one of Claude's agents! To think that you could find me so fast while I'm hiding as a mercenary… But too bad! You're facing Justa Nodergoon the Iron Skin! A Named Child of the-" I cut him off by piercing his chest with my bare hands, ignoring whatever thing he said. Since he looked and behaved like a bandit, I treated him like one.

"Aghh.. Impossible… my impenetrable skin…" The mean looking bandit muttered something, unable to scream as my hand is lodged deep in his chest. I let his body fall to the ground.

"It seems that I must avoid Beta and the others too. They must be mad because I went out to play instead of staying in bed like they wanted me to. What to do? Hmm…." I muttered without looking at the bandit while wiping off the blood off my hand with a blanket from the bed.

"Who… are you…?"

"Maybe I should go to this Lawless City place?"

"Lawless… City…? Oi… Are you even… listening to me, boy?"

Mary told me that there's a Lawless City where the vampires are gathering. A city of bandits where I can rob anyone and no one bats an eye because it's commonplace to rob people. A place where might makes right. Basically heaven for me.

Oh! That's right! I forgot to ask for my sword back from her last night and it'll be awkward to ask for it now! I suppose I'll just let her keep it as a reward for letting me know about the Lawless City.

"Alright! Lawless City! Here I come!" I exclaimed as I walked to the window, ready to leave.

"Urghhh…." I heard the bandit grunted in pain and frustration. Which reminds me that I haven't robbed him.

"Oh. Thanks for reminding me. Now where's your wallet?" I searched through his belongings and found a bunch of stuff. An enchanted sword that's common among bandits these days, a vial of suspicious and likely illegal red drugs, and oh! 3400 Zeni!

"Wha….?" The bandit can only watch as I took his wallet happily.

"Thank you for your contribution to the cause of the Eminence in Shadow, Random Bandit-san! If you are reborn, please become a bandit again so I can rob you all over again!" I said while smiling at him.

The bandit makes a funny confused face before he eventually succumbs to his wound and dies as I left the room through the window.

In the throne room of the Necromancer, namely me, a desperate voice can be heard. I sat on the bone throne with the Acolyte standing at my side.

"Please… I beg for your mercy, my lord!" Cried Carmilla as she kneeled and begged me to spare her for some reason. I actually didn't care if she got defeated by a vampire hunter with weapon specifically designed to be effective against her. I can forgive things that are beyond my subordinate's control.

That Van Helsing guy must be a reincarnator too. An unoriginal one at that. How else would he know about Carmilla's characteristics, like the repulsed by garlic stuff, which is different from this world's vampires? I know he survived thanks to Shadow's barrier, though I didn't have time to detect where Shadow was back then due to my hasty retreat. I'll deal with the wannabe vampire hunter in an appropriate manner later.

It's not like she failed her mission or anything. I saved her because not only does she still have some use to me, I also need the latest sample of her blood for another project of mine and that Van Helsing guy reminded me of it. Not to mention she is currently the only undead I have that still have her original soul, which makes her an important sample for my soul research.

Still, her constant defeat does stain the name of the Seven Wraiths so I have to be strict on her.

I stood up from the throne and walked towards her. The sound of my footsteps made her get more and more nervous. I put my hand atop her head and inject my magic to her brain to read her thoughts. She got REALLY scared at that, and I found out why.

"Please… my lord… Don't erase her memory… I'll do anything… I'll love you… and you alone… So please…" She begged while crying so pathetically. I haven't seen her being this desperate since the days I experimented on her.

As I read her memory, I found out that she has remembered about her deceased sister Laura. Last time I experimented on her brain, I actually deleted said memory by accident due to my inexperience in brain magics back then. And she thought I erased it as part of my emotional manipulation of her. I'm almost embarrassed that I did villainous things by accident that I can't exactly take credit for.

Also funny how hers and her sister's name matches characters from that old vampire novel. What a coincidence. Is the author running out of ideas while trying to be clever?

But this still works out for me. Now I have an additional leverage against her. I once again erased said memory, causing her to scream as the images of her sister fades away from her memory. But I didn't erase it completely this time. I left just enough memory for her to still know that her sister once existed, just that the memory is now vague and I also let her know that I have erased it.

"NOOOO! LAURA!" She screamed.

"Listen to me, Carmilla. Perform well during the Red Moon and I'll give you the memories of her back. Fail me and you can say goodbye to her memory forever. Understand?"

"Y-YES!" She shouted with a scared expression which is full of tears.

"Good. Now you should head over to the Lawless City and wait for the Red Moon. And also, if you happen to find that girl called Claire, bring her to me alive."

"Claire…?"

"The one you mistook as Laura."

"Laura… alright… I'll bring her to you. Then we both shall swear our allegiance to you and you alone, my lord."

"Good. Now leave." I ordered and she left the throne room.

I wonder if her mental state will be good enough for her to continue her infiltration jobs after this. I was planning to let her infiltrate the Thirteen Night Blades' camp. It is why I taught her hypnosis after all. I'll have to see if she's still up for the task after the Red Moon.

Anyway, the reason I want her to bring Claire Kagenou to me is because last night I saw something intriguing. I saw the spirit of the Witch of Calamity floating around her, glaring at me warily. There were some strange symbols appearing in her left hand too.

I assume that the fragment of Diablos that was sealed in Lindwurm, more specifically her left hand, has been freed by Shadow and she coincidentally used a random girl as her medium. Perhaps by using the Diablos cells within Claire as a catalyst.

I have to make a point about re-reading Claire Kagenou's dossier. Last I checked she was afflicted by Possession in her childhood and yet there she was, healthy as if nothing happened. Did Shadow Garden cure her Possession? Or did she cure herself? The latter is now more likely than I thought considering that's probably why she was chosen as a medium by Aurora.

No matter. I shall find out once I catch her and experiment on her.

"Lord Necromancer… Claude… Was that necessary? That was… too cruel and even I felt pity for her even though I didn't even like her." Acolyte—Sherry said with pity in her voice. She wouldn't bat an eye about killing people but it seems that she still draw the line when it comes to emotional manipulations. She still have much to learn in the ways of villainy.

"It was necessary... to show them that I'm not to be trifled with. We must not be soft, Sherry. We must not…" I answered.

"What about… Adra?" She asked about the beastkin of the Seven Wraiths. A wolf beastkin whose mother I cured from Possession and helped escape from his tribe in exchange for his services. Despite all of that and although I hold his mother's life hostage, his loyalty is… questionable. He disagrees with many cruel things we've done and intended to sabotage some of my operations, including leaking intel to the enemy back during King Midgar's assassination.

I was angry at him for that… But that's not why I sent him to kill his sister, who is a member of Shadow Garden. I told him to do it because… I want to see if he have the resolve to do that… for I know I do not have the resolve to kill my own sister at this time.

"We shall wait and see… if he will be able to do it or not." I answered.

"I see. Then I suppose we should find replacement for him. Perhaps Gettan." Said Sherry, already predicting that he won't be able to do it. To be honest, so do I.

I stood up from my throne to head towards my lab.

"Where are you going, Claude?"

"I'm going to do an experiment."

Author's Note:

That ends Carmilla arc, which is part of the whole vampire arc. Despite the title, the next chapter won't get into Lawless City yet. Did a classic Eminence in Shadow joke in this chapter. Adra's backstory is revealed too.

Did you hear that sound? The sound of the 4th wall breaking?

Also are you as excited as I am for the 12th episode of The Eminence in Shadow S2 anime tomorrow?

King0fP0wers: Cid simply doesn't get that the "weakling with potential" trope, aka his mob obsession, is attractive to the girls here instead. Man, it's such a shame that there isn't a character who genuinely sees through him and calls him out on how cheesy some of his ideas are.

"For the record,I think John Smith is an awesome alias!"

"Says the guy who considered 'Stylish Bandit Slayer' cool..."

"Dude, I was six years old! Give it a rest already!"

Answer: Lol, even Claude thought his performance against Rose in the school arc was a shonen protagonist material. But that is the beauty of The Eminence in Shadow. XD

Rhaveno: i thought it was nidhoggr? im expecting the dragon to not die here because if he does whos gonna do this speachMy armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!"

Answer: Well, I followed the game's spelling. And no, he's not gonna die yet. I gave the Necromancer's team some luck this time.

Bolvar57: ¿Yuri? Ew, que inesperado bro

Answer: As unexpected as Claire's kiss with Mary in canon?

When I decided on the name Carmilla, I already decided that she would target girls and then be obsessed with her "Laura", like her namesake.

King0fP0wers: So his trump card is Nidhogg. Nice! I don't quite know the game, so is this before Shadow killed the black dragon or after? I'm guessing before, since Claude still needs some sort of artifact to manipulate it and he wouldn't need it if it's an undead.

I wonder if Claude will take some inspiration from Resident Evil in the future. When it comes undead and biological abominations, that game comes first to my mind. Plus he already fullfills the classic mad scientist of noble blood trope the game so loves.

Answer: In this fanfic, Shadow never killed the dragon. Necromancer already took Nidhogg long before the end of Sanctuary arc (where Zeta and Eta's Truth Seekers event starts). The dragon is still kept alive as part of experimentations. The options are a bit more limited if it's dead.

Since he already got a progress on souls research, his undead minions may get upgraded.