“Mr. Blutrot, Mr. Blutrot!”

I woke up, looking to where the voice was coming. It was male and sounded worried, the people Quinn had sent have arrived. I was sleeping, covering myself with a cocoon of ice, the first time I had slept since I came on this wretched island.

A man, dressed within a silver suit and had long flowing golden hair had appeared, he was panting, and I could tell that his aura was weak from the ship ride. He was probably seasick, but he didn’t care, as he was trying to find me in this frozen wasteland that I had created.

I looked at him carefully, staring at his neck, eyeing it like an animal. He saw this and carefully put his hand into his suit and pulled out a brown parcel. He very carefully opened it, revealing that it was a large amount of meat, the blood still fresh.

I smelt the aroma and jumped at him, taking it out of his hands with my teeth. Very quickly, I drained the meat of its blood and began to chew on the dry meat. The man was shocked, but now he could talk.

“Forgive me for waking you, but I am Wilhelm Bewachem, a greater archdemon from a noble family,”

“I can feel the heat from you, could you lower your temperature a little?” I asked him, chewing on the dry meat.

“Sure” I could feel the air around him cool down, “I’m actually what is known as a salamander, so it is quite easy,” I could feel the area becoming cooler even more.

“So you’re like a demonic beasteal?”

“Correct, but I am a demon, I have three sources to prove it, beasteals can have the maximum of two,”

“So you are a demon, anyway, Wilhelm, are you part of the search team?”

“No, no, I’m here for you, under direct instructions from his majesty himself,”

“The demon king? Why would he want me? Or what is he asking?”

“Come with me.”

I followed Wilhelm towards his ship and went under the deck. We went into a room, it was dark, with only a single circular window, where the light didn’t come through. There were two chairs, and Wilhelm sat down, and I followed.

He sighed, “We found what Ace was here for,” I was immediately intrigued.

“What? Was he working on, so much that he had to side with the enemy?”

“Allow me to show you something.” Wilhelm took something out of his suit again and slid it to me, it was a square, which showed a scene, I looked at him, and Wilhelm explained that it was something called a picture.

I carefully examined it, and I saw something unusual. It was probably a banquet, and there were five people, Jododam and Wilhelm to the left, Ace and a mysterious man to the right, and in the middle is who I expected to be the demon king. Looking closer towards the strange man, I noticed that he resembled Wilhelm and I passed it back to him.

“You and Jododam worked together?”

“Correct Dyestral, that picture is why Ace was once here, may his soul rest,”

“And why?”

Wilhelm sighed again, “You know your body is known as a-”

“An artificial, yes, soon after I became a vampire,”

“Well done knowing that. I was Jododam’s partner, helping him design a way to create bodies without mothers. While Ace, and the man next to him, my brother, Geoffrey, were a part of another experiment to augment bodies,” He put his left index finger on his brother.

“And how did they?”

“Machine, creating a hybrid between metal and man,”

I sighed myself, “That doesn’t intrigue me in any way, in a week I’ve frozen an entire island over,” I decided to close my eyes, as I was still sleepy.

“That is an effort, but that is why we want you,”

“Why?” It was silent for a short while.

“Look, the Demon King is thinking of stopping one of the experiments, and if he stops us, you will die, no matter what any of us say,”

I opened my eyes slightly, just so I could see the image of Wilhelm, “... What do I have to do?”

“Isn’t it simple, in a bit longer than a month, you’ll face my brother’s creation, Feuer, his son,”

“And why should I be worried?”

“We’re not allowed to tell you his soul ability, but there is this.” He handed me another picture, and I looked through it, it was a hill of skeletons.

I wasn’t sure why I should be worried, but I knew it had something to do with Feuer, so I handed Wilhelm back the picture and began to think about the picture. It wasn’t his kill count, that would be too little to terrify me, and then it hit me.

“Are those?”

“His skeletons, over a thousand times, they removed it, to make him what he is now, also unlocking his soul and demon ability,”

“How long did it take? To do that?”

“Two months, no sleep, no food, just his natural healing capabilities, similar to yours, when you were captured by... I won’t say his name,” It seems Wilhelm knew how much I hated Gener and his chimeras.

“Hmmm, how can I kill him if I respect him? If he can handle pain, then I find him stronger,” I said in a sarcastic tone.

“Hmph, I still haven’t gotten an answer Dyestral, will you risk your life for the greater good?”

“You had me as soon as you showed me the first picture.”

We shook with our left hands, sealing the deal, before handing me some pieces of paper, each one with thousands of words. Afterwards, he told me that this would be my room and that the duel would be in a month, in the capital, where many high demon nobles would watch our fight.

It was like a sport to them; most of them have never fought and didn’t know pain, I did, the younger generation knew pain. I chuckled at Wilhelm and began to talk more to him.

“Tell me one thing, is he a salamander demon like you?”

“Indeed, but he is at your age, and is much stronger than me,”

“I see… I hope to see him on the battlefield.”

I exited the room and went through the roof, looking at the island one more time, as the ship had already begun to sail. The other people who were there had already finished looking around the island and had been on the boat for at least an hour.

I went to the back of the ship, slowly seeing the island gradually becoming smaller before I couldn’t see it anymore. A new battle was brewing, and I was in it all.

‘Feuer Bewachem I believe, I can’t wait to face you.’