The Duke's Passion

THUD!

Lilou wiped the blood that squirted onto her cheek with the back of her fist. Her eyes were fixed on Zero's severed body lying on the ground, watching the dark mist come out of his wounds. "What a troublesome lad," she murmured with a deep exhale while the severed body slowly disintegrate in the air. "No wonder he was so brave to face everyone head-on. He had another card up his sleeve."

Lilou kept her focus on Zero's body just to study what was there to expect. What she learned as she watched his body disappear into thin air slowly was that Zero's body was shallow, like a balloon that was popped. Although he appeared as though the real Zero spoke like how Zero would speak, and even his attacks were fierce, once he inflicted a fatal wound, he would be like a balloon with a leak. "So there's no other way to know if he was the real Zero, not unless he gets inflicted by a wound, huh?" she rocked her head in understanding, turning on her heel when the last part of his body turned into mist. Lilou gazed up, blinking when another loud crash caught her attention. Her husband was still fighting this gigantic thread. Usually, she would question Samael for being held down longer than expected, but since she had a brief conversation with Zero, she understood that Zero was a worthy opponent. "Sam!" she shouted her lungs out.

Despite the great distance between them, Samael, who crashed into another castle, heard her loud and clear. A grunt escaped his mouth, pushing a huge rock that landed on him upon his crash. "Fucking —" Samael snapped his tongue in irritation, stretching his neck that produced loud cracks. He gazed up at the hole in the roof his body had caused after the crash.

"Sam! I will find his body! Keep him busy!" her voice echoed in the air while Samael didn't move from the floor immediately.

"I knew it." Samael breathed out, catching up to his breathing. "So he prepared stand-ins, huh?"

Samael already realized something was off when he first clashed with Zero before these black threads launched continuous attacks. Now that Lilou confirmed his suspicion, everything made sense. "Hell's gate, huh?" he mumbled, listening to his wife's footsteps that sounded distant every passing second. Samael trusted his wife more than he trusts himself, and when she said she would find Zero's body, he knew he had to do his part. Keep Zero busy. Zero might be listening somewhere and knew their plan, but that didn't matter. But instead of attacking the black threads, Samael idled. He kept his eyes on the hole in the roof, gazing directly at the unnatural dark sky. "Hell's gate," he repeated, assessing the hell's gate that was covering the sky. "So he was really working with the people on the mainland, huh?"

There was only one person Samael could think of who could've granted this power to Zero. Although hell's gate was a natural ability of a powerful vampire like the king of the mainland or an Original Grimsbanne could unleash, it was not impossible for others to do so. Many tried, and many failed, though. The cost of trying such a dangerous technique was heavy.

There were only rare cases in which someone had succeeded. But Zero?

Samael was certain there was another party that was at play for him to reach such a height. But then again, considering the Moriartys' were involved in the massacre of the Bloodfang clan that bore a fruit which was Lilou's core, things such as this shouldn't be surprising. "God damn…" Samael slowly dragged his body to stand, dusting off the dirt on the apparent crease of his trousers. He swung his heavy sword, Catharsis, resting the back of its blade on his shoulder. When Samael gazed up once again, he bent his knees before catapulting through the hole in the roof. Samael landed safely on the roof, raising his brows as he searched for the black threads that gave him a break for a minute. Samael narrowed his eyes, assessing the black thread from the banquet hall coming out of the hole it made in the walls. It was just waving in the air like leaves, making one wonder why it wasn't attacking anyone. "Ahh…" he rocked his head in understanding and then his lips stretched from ear to ear. "... so he needs some time to recover, huh?"

"What a downside." His eyes glinted menacingly, grinning. In a heartbeat, Samael disappeared from his vantage point like a shadow. At the same time, the black threads that were previously waving in the air also sped through, stretching in a particular direction. As this was happening, Lilou was skipping her steps away from the royal palace. Her brow arched upon sensing danger coming behind her like a bolt of lightning. However, instead of looking back, she kept her eyes ahead. Even when the black thread caught up to her and was a palm length away from the tip of her hazel hair, Lilou didn't attempt to block it. SLASH!

A small part of the tip of her hair was snipped, falling behind her speeding figure. This time, her steps skidded to a halt. Looking back to see what was going on, the corner of her lips curled up. There, standing a meter from her, was Samael. He had his back facing her, swinging his sword after chopping the tip of the black thread which fell on the ground along with her hair. "Thanks, love," she expressed with a satisfied smile, watching Samael languidly cock his head back to look at her. "My wife trusts me so much she didn't even attempt blocking this ball that looks like Quentin's nasty pubic hair he collected for years." He grinned, a misplaced chief plastered on his dashing face. Samael then faced the black thread that was pushed back, bolting in his direction. However, from the way it was going, he quickly realized that the black thread wasn't going for his head but to his wife a meter behind him. "Haha." He let out a dry laugh. "Don't stop, my love. I'll deal with him."

Lilou let out a shallow breath and smiled mildly. "Don't die," was all she said, turning on her heel to flee this scene for her own mission. As Lilou ran away, the black threads split into many parts to avoid Samael and stop her. But alas, just like what Samael said, Lilou didn't stop. Instead, she kept moving forward while Samael kept his promise. Not even the tip of her hair was touched, successfully leaving the royal palace and leaving Samael to deal with this troublesome opponent.