A few minutes later... - The Royal Dining room - Klaus' Point of View...

"Your majesty, if you would, please take a seat while you wait." One of the nearby butlers practically begged me whilst still maintaining monotone, keeping up a nonchalant, closed-eyed expression whilst pretending that there is not a literal river of sweat falling down his brow. Hmm, I wonder if they'll get punished if I don't sit or something.

"I think I'll do as I like, servant. If that bothers you, go deliver a complaint to the cooks for not having my meal already prepared!" His mask was broken for only a moment as he swallowed and bowed, seemingly deciding to keep his mouth shut, much like the other twenty or so servants that lined the walls of the room.

The place was linear and T-shaped, with a great door in the upper middle that leads back into the great hallways which seem to stretch, unimpeded, through my entire castle. On each of the sides of the T is another, much less splendourous ebonwood door that leads to one servant workplace or another, even if both pathways have a resplendent crimson carpet leading to and from them. After all, what else could be the greatest form of expressing one's own wealth but the fact that even those serving you are afforded such luxuries? The walls of this place are built of strange stones, red as the carpet, with lines of gold rushing through the walls, much the way of beatific marble, though there is no actual gold inside of the walls.

Believe me, I checked multiple times. No, instead, this is a form of strange, very bright, sandstone-esque rock that seems to latch itself on other forms of stone likely filling in the gaps normally created by the flow of water. The mineral its embedded into is also not something you could find on Earth, at least not to my knowledge. Stone, red as blood, stretching beautifully through every corner of the room, its structure resembling that of uniform crystal, though not quite akin to that of a ruby.

Splitting the walls in the middle is a form of black wood, seeming as if it was charred to colour it that way, set into the stone in order to separate it from the gleaming marble above, which in itself held many works of art. Two statues carved out of slate depicting well-endowed maidens, both of whom seem to be elves, are placed on each side of the door leading to the hallway. The door itself seems to have been made out of another form of stone, yet it moves as easily as wood and is filled with intricate carvings as well as painted with exotic imagery. Its almost like whomever designed this room seemed to believe that the best way to incite an appetite was with pornography and other such exotica.

Hmm... then again, sex after a good meal has always been a favourite of mine, too.. so its not like I have any right to complain. In fact, I love the place!

They were even intelligent enough to not put any windows around so that no would-be-assassin can snag a shot at me while I'm eating. However, this place is also a dead end, in a way. Guess, I'll have to watch myself while in here. And, on the note of 'watching myself', I'd like to ask the architect why exactly there are mirrors on the sides of the kings seat at the ta-

Oh!

OH!

So I can see if someone dares to pull a knife behind my back!

Holy shit!

This guy's a genius! I'm definitely going to have to visit whomever made this place and offer them my sincerest respects.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes.

I am currently staring at myself in one of the aforementioned mirrors, effectively creeping out the entire servant populace in the process. Why am I doing this, you may be asking?

Wait, who even are 'you' anyway?

Ah, whatever.

I'm staring at myself cause I just had this sudden thought, you see. Been pondering Vivian's entire spiel about 'lying to yourself' in order to cast specific magic's and how those very magic's require the absolute truth in order to actually have the optimal effect. In short, you can lie to yourself, but in doing so, you only limit your own powers.

And I like power. I want, power.

So how could I ever possess it when I am already lying to myself? With this ridiculously sexy body, with accepting the name of 'Klaus Exuperius', with giving people I normally wouldn't care for the benefit of the doubt. Its almost like I've become a different person! Yet, everyone around me says that, even if I am not the past Klaus, I am still very clearly him.

In other words, I've actually allowed myself to become Klaus Exuperius, the ex-prince and current King of Exuperia. However, I am most certainly not him nor do I want to be him.

I am not the same hedonistic, misogynistic prince-ling that aided in the construction of the eventual shitfest that I have now been made to unplug in his stead. No, nope, not at all.

Heh.

You see, my name is actually Zach~.

Or Zachary.

Zachariah, Salem.

A blink broke me out of my trance as my current form was replaced in the mirror, showing instead a somewhat shorter man with an exquisitely joyous expression on his face, malnourished flesh, pallid skin, not pale but sickly. Oversized blackness reached around every single corner of this man's grey, soulless and jaded eyes, each carrying cracks within the iris like a broken gemstone, with bright red veins gripping every corner form all plausible angles.

Zachariah Salem, doctor, serial killer, icon of 'depravity', the monster of the modern age~.

I could not help but laugh on the inside as my reflection began to chuckle, his blood-stained, greyish blonde hair ruffling as his glasses jumped up and down from the barely-restrained giggling.

Me.

Yes, this is more like it. This is me. The 'true' me!

Come to think of it, my hair colour and posture do seem very much alike to that of Klaus and if I wasn't as malnourished from the blasted cancer and repeated chemotherapy sessions, I could very well pass as some kind of bastard, a long-lost sibling or perhaps even a child of Klaus'!... hmm, come to think of it, am I really my esteemed fathers only child?

Vivian told me that I am the only one, yet I hear that my father was a 'hero king' and a 'conqueror'. Not to mention that he has a name which just screams 'Viking'!

Yeah, there's no way that I'm the only one around, yet why would she lie about this to me? Hmm, on second thought, that woman has been imprisoned for over a decade, how the hell would she know the reality of the situation? It was idiotic of me of even ask her this in the first place! Guess I'll ask her father once he finally arrives.

Come to think of it, wasn't that meant to happen later today? Yet, it seems like I haven't heard anything of it ever since I gave the order. How curious~.

"Y-y-your m-m-majesty..?!" A familiar voice croaked to my side as I blinked and turned around. "Hmm?" Then I blinked some more as I realized that the entire room was staring at me, with the cooks carrying the food standing very, very still right at the entryway. I looked around, hiding my confusion with a quirked eyebrow.

"Ye-?" I opened my mouth to ask, yet what came out of my throat was not Klaus's monotone. Quickly, my head turned back around to stare into the mirror, only to find that I was still gazing at my own, 'true', reflection. I seem to have transformed myself into Zachariah. Looking at my pale, weak arms, at my twisted fingers, malformed from being broken multiple times in an effort to lengthen them, I could feel a twisted smile etch itself on my expression.

"Oh my. Did I shape-shift while looking into the mirror?" The butler swallowed down hard and nodded, seemingly managing to break through his fear. "T-that's what I was trying to ask about, your majesty.." He swallowed down again and continued quickly. "A red m-mist gathered at your feet and grew until i-it consumed you entirely... when it settled down again, your appearance had c-changed."

I let out a hoarse laugh, filling myself with nostalgia at the incessant tone, manually made to sound grating and demonic, as my teenage self downed copious amounts of various concoctions. Makes me wonder if there's an equivalent on this world to Earth's famous 'sandpaper cigarettes', which would serve me well in keeping my voice this calm and sexy. "You don't need to worry, my friend." My expression twisted itself from a grin, to a smirk, as I rose my chin up and looked at the man as if I were an abusive parent, staring at a scared and very confused child. "I may have changed my flesh, but I am still very much your king."

Then I turned my gaze back towards the cooks and sat down at the table, joining my hands together and seating my chin on my fingers with closed eyes, only opening them after taking a moment to incite dramatic effect. "Now then, serve me."

"Y-yes! Y-your m-majesty!" Each of them quickly turned away from my dreadful gaze as they scurried hastily to place the food on my table, to line its edges with exotic wines and other products as I contemplated my current form. How did I do this? My arcana, most likely, as it does have the power to reshape flesh on the atomic level but...

Just how did I manage to recreate my favourite lab coat alongside this form? Don't tell me that I made it from my own flesh and blood too?!

... ah, no wait, this fabric looks the same, but it feels just like my royal dressing. This silk is beautiful, yes, but its not quite hyperweave. My lab coat, you see, was a suit of armour on its own, fully capable of blocking bullets from small arms, as it was a fibre woven, atom by atom, by nano machines.

Damned expensive is what it was!

Good thing that I had a copious amount of involuntarily extracted organs to exchange for it on the black markets of New York. Ahh, I'm going to miss that city... so, so many wonderful opportunities for research, all stuck inside of a single metropolis!

Hmm, could I recreate that kind of capitalist utopia here?

I would require an army to enforce the societal change, as well as the industrial complex needed to support it, which would in itself would require a massive economic power structure. Military spending is, after all, just a way to eradicate economic excess and further the capitalist machine. Without ceaseless war and conflict, the rich grow richer, the poor grow poorer and eventually, boom!; you are now a communist.

Shame I won't be there to see this happen back on Earth, things were just getting real good back there~.

Anyway, back on track, how the hell did I do this? A red mist...

I closed my eyes once more, focusing inwards and channelling my mana as I was taught by Vivian, causing a massive pool of liquid metal to appear within my mind, seemingly drained by roughly twenty to thirty percent of its usual, stationary mass. How odd... normally, that level of expulsion would definitely require a wilful calling of these energies out of myself, not to mention how much of it would be lost in the process during my casting of the spell required.

Then again, I was subsumed in red mist, which I can only imagine is a new form of my crimson tendril, right? Wait, why am I referring to it as a tendril? An arcana is a reflection of the user, not the other way around. And, as soon as I thought that, the red tendril that normally protrudes from my back burst into red mist, seemingly able to change its form in accordance to my will, as it should be.

Hmm, it must have evolved somehow without me realizing it.

... or, maybe its just that I am the one that has 'evolved'? My understanding of magic has most certainly grown in these past few days, especially since I've managed to dislocate my scientific views from my spells. Contrary to popular belief, knowing science does not increase the power of your spells, only makes more elaborate and detailed magic's to be cast without expending too much of your mana.

Magic is, after all, not a science, but the power of wishes.

Mana, on the other hand, is a form of energy and thusly falls under the criteria of scientific understanding. It has a form, a function and can seemingly transform itself through wilful observation by a sapient being, into other forms of energy. It is a true marvel! However, like I said before, magic, which in itself is a way to use mana, is not science. In fact, to apply definitions and eloquence to a spell is to betray the intent!

Sure, it makes casing less mana-intensive and easier over-all, but wishes are pure theory and imagination, not practical appliance.

In other words, I must have 'wished' to transform back to my original self in order to prevent 'lying to myself'. Aha! Now things make more sense.. but still, why did my magic act without my orders? Does it have a will of its own? And if this is the case, how do I control it? Hmm, this sounds like a problem people in this world should be acutely aware of.

Surely, there are ways to masters ones own powers... and if there are not, then I simply have to become the pioneer of such arts!

"Your majesty, the food has arrived." My servants seem to have collected themselves properly in my mental absence, having silently placed a wondrously healthy assortment of food on my table, causing me to smile at them with pride. "You have done well, servants."

Taking a spoon into my hand and beginning to consume the chicken soup before me, I could not help but wonder... "Hey, was my father an overly eccentric king?" I turned and asked the poor butler that was the closest to me. This man was obviously shaken as his eyes flung themselves open and then he pointed to himself, causing me to roll mine in annoyance. "Yes, you. Now, answer me!"

"N-no! H-his previous highness w-was just a nor-" He shook his head out of a stupor. "The previous king was a resplendent and genius man, but not eccentric in any way, your majesty." Oho!

To manage to save yourself from such panic.

It made me chuckle and grin. "I see. So pray tell, why are you people so well-adapted to my apparent madness? I reasoned that my father was insane as well so you're used to it, you see."

He swallowed down in a very familiar fashion, closing his eyes in seeming momentary prayer before answering. "Your majesty, I cannot speak for everyone.. I may only give you my personal, honest opinion, if you wish for it still?"

Shrugging at the man, I nodded. Why not? He may not 'speak for everyone', but he is still part of the majority, as one of my servants and unlike what most egotistical people may believe, other people whom share their class usually think the exact same thoughts. "Then.. I will speak honestly."

Closing his eyes for the umpteenth time and steeling himself, the man answered with a clear tone. "Your majesty, you are an indecipherable entity, seemingly human in every way, but also acting as one whom is everything but a man."

I tilted my head with a smile. "Oh?"

"Y-yes.. you ... I do not know how to properly describe you or why I am even still here.. you have killed people close to me, you know? Several of them..." He seemed ashamed as he grasped his own hand tightly, the fabric of his white gloves stretching as he did. "Yet, I am here. Here, as your servant, faithfully delivering my services as if nothing even happened, as if I am rejecting myself." Opening his pale blue eyes, he answered with honesty and horror that I had only known from those who choose to aid me back on Earth, even as they knew full well of my supposed madness.

"As if your presence makes me reject my own humanity, s-sir." Hmm, to reject ones own humanity? I put a hand on my chin, rubbing it in thought. "A-and, I'm not the only one!" Swallowing down again after unintentionally rising his tone of voice, he continued his tale. "The horror which you radiate, your majesty... it .. it gives people hope."

"Hope?" I blinked in confusion as I looked around the room, with every man and woman present staring at the butler next to me with disbelief in their eyes, as if he was making their very hearts unto words. It was quite the touching sight. "Y-yes! Hope! Hope, because your madness is causing even the most cruel of tyrants to bow, monsters to come out of hiding and heroes to put down their weapons... and that's not even taking into account what you're actively doing."

The butler turned to look around and nodded towards the others. "Your majesty, your works, your actions, your deeds in these past weeks cannot be described as something that a man, a demon or some kind of monster would do." He let out a light, uncertain chuckle. "After all, what sort of demon would shift its shape while others can see it? What monster would so openly, so honestly behave as if nothing it does could ever be wrong? What man, would be capable of being so tyrannical, yet save so many lives in being so?!"

He let out a breath, placing a hand on his heart as he continued. "Your majesty.. you asked why we tolerate your eccentricity, yes? Well, to be frank, we have no idea how to react to this. It is so abnormal that not even calling you the worst things our minds can imagine feels correct. You have an aura that swallows hope and fear in equal measure, leaving only horror and faith behind."

Then he rose his right hand and removed one of the gloves, pointing with the other to a marriage ring on his pointer finger. "Two weeks ago, I denied the love of my life the chance to join ourselves in marriage because I did not think it safe enough to have a family. Because this land of war, conflict, strife and famine, was not a land that I expected to live long enough to become old and die surrounded by my progeny."

He swallowed down hard. "And perhaps, considering your murderous nature, I am a fool for having changed my mind, but with the way your strange powers keep the monsters in check... I have hope that the long wars are finally over and that an era of peace, no matter how forced it may be, has finally arrived."

He put the glove back on and moved against the wall once more as I remained silent, completely and utterly speechless. An 'aura' of horror? What in the hell was this man talking about? I keep the monsters in check?... what the fuck?

Blinking and scratching my forehead, I promptly commanded the servants to leave the room with a wave of my hand. "... an era of peace, eh?" Thinking of this would have made me laugh if I was not shocked out of my soul right now. I mean, who the fuck even is that butler? Aren't peasants supposed to be uneducated idiots in this day and age?

No, wait, I'm the King. My servants aren't peasants, they're the third sons and daughters of lowly nobility. Alright, that makes him being on this level of comprehensive capacity somewhat believable, but still?..

I am so confused.

I've been nothing but a madman and tyrant to these people, yet they think of me as some kind of cruel messiah? What am I, evil Jesus?

... wait, I am a reincarna-

NO!

NOPE!

HELL NO.

I am a proud athei- wai-, on second thought, am I even an atheist anymore?

I mean, the gods of this world have physical proof of their existence, but that does not mean I actually buy into the shitfest that is their churches! A 'god' should prove its worth if it wants to be worshipped, not force that worship on people though intermediaries like priests and acolytes!

Argh, what the hell, lets just eat.

The good food ought to help me get these ridiculous contemplations out of my head... still, thinking about it makes me feel a bit guilty. Vivian, Sebastian, Katrin... have I been taking away their free wills all this time with some kind of unnatural, out-of-my-control aura? Shit, I have to learn how to control my own power soon!

I have no need for fake loyalty! That just makes getting rid of weeds a thousand times more difficult. How can I ever uncover the traitors within my court if the traitors themselves aren't sure they're traitors in the first place?!