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Vampire King Apollyon

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Apollyon stood there with his jaw slack in awe, mesmerized as he watched the two demon familiars battle with each other.

He almost released his sword because what else can he and the rest of the Spring Monarchs do?

They could only fight fire with fire—a strong demon against a weak demon—so they should trust and leave everything up to his wife.

These unknown devils knew better than to mess with an Archdemon—Apollyon's Empress—if they were aware of the Demonic Hierarchy in Hell.

Apollyon knew that these evil spirits knew how powerful Luna was from the demonic familiar she summoned to defeat them.

Snakes had long been associated with dragons, and the ascended masters of dragons were Archdemons.

The jaded snake opened its mouth wide, let out its tongue as it squirmed, wriggling in the air.

It didn't take long before the loud hissing turned to a piercing scream.

Apollyon thought it came from the snake, but the loud shrieks reverberating in his ears were closer to him, and it sounded familiar.

When Apollyon glanced around in panic, his eyes widened in shock, immediately materializing behind Luna, who was crouched in a crawl, with one palm and both of her knees on the wooden docks stained with blood—blood that wasn't hers, thank the goddess!

Fixing her stare on the ground, Luna's long silver hair curtained her face while her other hand clutched her throat, clawing at her skin as she coughed uncontrollably.

Apollyon licked his dry lips in worry, observing her with wrinkled brows.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her back to a sitting position so he could see what was wrong with her.

Apollyon's gaze flitted from her to the chaos around them.

He situated himself in front of his wife as he forced her to face him by cupping her jaw with his shaky hands.

Sweat trickled on his temples as he shook her hard, waking her up from her lucid dream.

"Luna." He growled low as he gently slapped her cheek awake. "Stop hurting yourself."

Why was she raking the sensitive skin of her throat with her fingernails when there was nothing—

Hurt clenched his heart into a tight squeeze.

Apollyon couldn't stand seeing Luna rip the front of her embroidered top, exposing the bloody lacerations oozing from her ivory skin.

Grabbing her clawing hand from her neck, Apollyon replaced them with his fingers on her slender neck, raising her head towards him.

Her head bobbed sluggishly from side to side as if her neck couldn't carry the weight of it… or perhaps, she was drunk with the unlimited power the Archdemon Magic had given her.

"Luna." As he crouched closer to her and bent forward, Apollyon murmured as he caressed her silver hair away from her face and tucked them behind her ear.

Apollyon gazed at her with rasping breaths, and Luna watched him with a blank stare with bloodshot, hooded eyes.

"Are you alright?" It was like talking to someone whose consciousness wasn't present in this dimension.

Yes, Luna's body and soul were here, but her mind…

She wasn't present.

Luna's green eyes dilated into glowing red pupils, taking over the opaque whites of her eyes.

What he saw just now affirmed his speculations about her mind.

Luna's consciousness transferred to the demonic serpent.

Apollyon had seen the same sharp gaze when it glanced down at him during the fight.

The summoned demon spirit was a part of her.

When some of the dark apparitions molded into a thick dark band shrinking to choke the serpent, it led to Luna's pain as she clawed at her throat, trying to get rid of it since she felt the attack deep in her bones.

"Wife." Apollyon urged as one of his arms supported her back, cradling her, while the other one shoved the silver strands away from her ashen face.

Luna's eyes appeared dead to him.

'No!' He shook his head in refusal.

Apollyon clung to her as he took deep breaths to calm himself.

He wouldn't let himself feel fear, or he would be providing the enemy with more strength instead of helping his wife.

"Luna." Swallowing hard, Apollyon repeated with calm. "Tell me if there is anything I can do to help you."

"There's nothing you can do to help me." Apollyon knew she heard him when Luna smiled.

She let her eyelids fall shut, and his eyebrows knitted in confusion when she added with an apologetic sigh. "You should let go of me before you get hurt."

"Why?" Apollyon clenched his fists, continuing to stroke his knuckles on her cheeks.

She wasn't going to sacrifice herself and their heiress for the greater good, will she?

Infiros." Breathing hard as if it was her last, Luna gritted her teeth as she recited the magic spells. "Ignitio."

There was no response for a few seconds before a blinding light covered her entire form.

Apollyon placed one forearm over his vision so that it wouldn't damage his sensitive sight.

The immense heat and lightning sparks jumped out of Luna's body.

Apollyon prided himself as a pureblood with a high threshold for pain, but the hurt forced him to let her go but in the blink-of-an-eye before Apollyon could remove his burning arm that cradled her, the weight lifting off him.

Luna vanished from his embrace.

Muscles tensing with extreme vigilance, Apollyon stood up in a hurry and aimlessly ran around the demonic trap.

The mirage kept distorting his perception because of his rising panic, making him lose all hope as he looked for his wife.

He jerked a frustrated hand through his hair as his eyes scanned the spring faeries--the pure and the tainted ones as they fought each other--looking for his wife's silver hair.

Where had she gone off to?

Did Luna suddenly have the power to teleport or was she taken back to Hell by the Grand Torturer?

'Please not now!' He beseeched and when Apollyon glanced above him to pray to the gods and goddess, the colossal serpent entered his vision.