Couple of blood essence vials later YuJu's burnt skin fell off to reveal a pink new layer, tender and weak as it was barely regenerated

'Only the bones and the injury to the head remain'

Every now and then he could feel the world spinning, his vision gaining a ting of violet, probably because his eyes were strained by the momentary counter attack of the Witness during the process of bringing it under his wing, rendering him shortly blind, and charred

Not only that, even his senses were playing games on him, right now he could feel three pairs of eyes staring at him, only their direction was sked somewhat downward

"Hmm?"

Turning his gaze to the three women he saw them turn away real quick, avoiding eye contact, this made him trace their earlier gaze to look downward as well

"Oh, right"

Out form his spatial storage came a set of clothes for each person, throwing them to the three while he donned his own

"Why does my Lord carry around woman's clothing?"

Ika asked nonchalantly, the other two noting the peculiarity like her but choosing not to ask, just in case…

"Since our clothes are not fit for combat they tend to get ripped, or burnt away in this case, a lot of the time, thus I prepare a few emergency ones in case such an accident happens"

It was all mainly due to Ellis though, though she now had no need of such items with the special hairpin allowing her to conjure whatever clothes she liked out of her own aura

Finished with reciprocating and prepping up to go back outside YuJu turned to leave along with the three women

"Are we not having the new member follow?"

"No, it will stay to keep an eye on those minions, leave them be and they would rampage about, at the very least run away, the new ability acquired from this flame is strange enough to help them cause much too chaotic to my liking"

"If they can be so dangerous then should we not kill them from the get go?"

Interjected Ika, once more with her direct comments, this time however she received a mean look from him

"Why would I waste living resources like so? Of course we must make full use of them before killing them"

"Oh…"

She could only blame herself for forgetting how merciless this man can be

Without Ika commenting any longer they made it back to the newly made den, finding Imy and Ellis dressed in white princess outfits, with Ellis's being a tad too elegant, that along her already dignified presence deceived any who didn't know her to think she really was a princess

"Uncle! Your back!"

Imy ran to hug his thigh, pulling him by the hand toward a small table with a mini tea set on it

"Come join us for a drink, I dare say my tea is one of the tastiest in this land"

She boasted smugly, not at all a lie however since no one else made tea within a fifty kilometer radius considering everything else drank blood, or was dead

Not refusing the little girl he shrank into the small sized chair and grabbed a cup which she filled, raising a pinky to have a sip

"Indeed it is good, another one if you may"

"Of course dear sir"

Quickly falling into their supposed rolls the three, shortly joined by Zero, enjoyed the party of bitter tea with a smile

"Mother"

"Yes?"

"Does the Lord seem weird to you?"

Watching having so much fun Ika couldn't help but raise a question to the more knowledgeable Mia

"Perhaps he is merely happy to gain a new strong follower? Or maybe he is glad that you were able to get stronger so quickly"

She praised indirectly, leaving the place thereafter to check on Nee's progress in constructing the underground prison and arena of their new place

"Is that really the case…"

Ika question after her mother left, those two reasons fit not her lord's personality, he was more serious most of the time, pulling this fake mask of joy only when taking on his hidden roles, the person drinking tea before her….how could Mia not recognize the difference in them?

Alas she couldn't make heads or tails from the situation, sinking into a gray haze as she headed out to learn what her new skills entailed, and how she may use them in a fight

An hour or so later YuJu excused himself from the small game they played after the tea, going into the depths of the den to check on the progress as well

'Let's see, what did I want to do'

Cracking his stiff muscles he thought on what the immediate plans were

'Right, I must check upon the Witness's status'

"Master"

Before he could call upon it however Mia interrupted him, walking along with Nee by the side, the latter looking more than ever

"The pre-construction of the arena is finished, all that is left is equipping the place, then we could move to finish up the prison"

"That is rather quick"

"Its all thanks to Nee finding a good candidate among the thralls to acquire an earth manipulating class"

"That is good"

He nodded in satisfaction, as long as humanity's good seeds were not taken away he did not mind what they had the thralls do, at least not those he wanted to experiment on

"Show me the arena"

"This way"

Leading him forward and down a few stairs hidden behind secret doors they came upon an observation balcony looking over a large pit, bars doting its circular walls, each hiding a pair of killer eyes

"Simple but good enough, touch it up a little and start putting those useless thralls here"

The ones that failed the experiments is what he meant, there was an idea he wanted to test, a myth long told of vampires, one that needed ascertaining, if it proved wrong then it was only a few useless thralls, if proved right...then he could turn some of his failed experiments into what could only be described as a war machine

'It is their honor to be of use to me'

He? Thought, gazing at what would be a slaughter ground with a glint in his eyes

"My Lord?"

Nee's voice brought him out of the small trance, turning to look at the woman whose eyes seemed to be redder than usual for some reason

"Lead me to the prison now"

Forgoing the earlier thoughts like they never happened he followed behind her, going through more secret doorways until the sight of a large underground dome came into sight, one of many many more bars, lining up from the bottom where the top of the round stairs toward an unseen bottom

"I made this place like a descending level of power, going from the weakest who could be kept near the top to the most dangerous and strong thralls who would be kept below"

She explained as they made their way down, passing by many empty chambers with but a few housing red eyed humans, some looking more like monsters than any normal beast

'This place reminds me of something'

YuJu couldn't quite put his finger on it but his memory told him of a structure much like this one, its spiral style especially ringing a bell

"Kukhaaa!" Bang! Bang! Bang!

Once more his thoughts got interrupted as a crazed thrall banged its head against the bars, rattling the metal heavily which echoed across the dome, spiring all the others into going into a fit as well

"Loud and obnoxious as ever"

Her voice giving off a charming feeling Nee turned to the thrall, staring him dead in the eyes causing the crazed thing to calm down slowly, until it finally quieted down, sliding against the bars and falling to the ground with its eyes still stuck to her

"If they keep at it then these metals won't hold my dear"

"I do realize mother, but crafting such things is out of my hands, perhaps Subrina could?"

"She's a chemist, not a blacksmith"

That wasn't entirely true, Subrina could in reality be anything from a cook to a blacksmith, her skills allowing near infinite possibilities with the right set of knowledge, YuJu couldn't be bothered to correct them on the matter however, eyes stuck to the man staring dumbly at Nee with drool rolling off his mouth

'I wondered why I didn't see you out there clipping away wraiths, turns out you became a simple tool'

He crouched to take a closer look at the person once holding the reputation of the best human seamster

'Such a loss, if only I provided Nee with more information on who not to harm then things wouldn't have ended this way'

As heartbreaking as it was to lose war assets his heart also birthed some other unnoticeable thoughts

'Look at you, once glorified as a human lord now in the dredges of an inferior race, life in the palm of my hand!'

With them there crept a smile, eerie and sinister on his face, giving him a look unfitting of his usual uncaring self

By the side Mia was none the wiser, on the other hand, a similar more evil smile crept on Nee's face, one of utter joy, and wickedness