Chapter 86: Daemon & Siegfried

*Thirty minutes earlier...*

The explosion of Nikmar’s body was so colossal that it destroyed the ground...

For a few seconds, time seemed to have frozen in a blast of dust and blood. The detonation, of colossal power, had not only pulverized what remained of the human in Conrad, but it had especially cracked the structure of the second level...

Daemon felt the ground give way beneath his feet; at his side, Siegfried and Lady Drigan were swept away in the same fall, passing through the flaming debris of the ceiling to crash violently onto the floor of the deepest level of the Catacombs.

Victoria, in an extreme reflex while they were still in the air, had activated her technique. < Second Sense of Water: Undulation >.

Managing to deflect about 50% of the explosion’s shockwave.

"Ah... Shitty Shit... *Cough*... What the hell was that?" Siegfried complained.

The second prince was lying on his back, his face smeared with dust and blood. His tunic was in tatters, and he was frantically pressing his hand against his ribs.

Daemon, for his part, was buried under a heap of rubble. He struggled to push aside a block of stone, while a deep cut on his forehead let a trickle of warm blood flow that blurred his vision. He got up unsteadily.

"What I wouldn’t give for a good chicken soup..." Daemon murmured, wiping his face with the back of his sleeve. "I really almost died this time..."

That fleeting thought of the dish Andromeda sometimes prepared for him in the Sandalphon Mountains was the only thing that kept him lucid for a moment. He turned toward his companions, concern replacing his usual sarcasm. He saw Siegfried covered in blood, but his gaze immediately went to Victoria. She was lying motionless a few meters away.

"Is she okay?" Siegfried asked, trying to sit up, one hand still on his side.

Daemon approached her limping. He knelt beside her and gently placed his fingers on her wrist. "She’s unconscious but she doesn’t have any too serious injuries on her body from what I can see... She really saved our asses this time. Without her Undulation, we’d just be piles of meat on the floor."

"Yeah..." Siegfried answered with a sigh of relief. "It could be better, but we survived, that’s already something."

Daemon got up painfully, scanning the surrounding darkness. The third level of the Catacombs was different from the previous ones. The air there was denser, more charged with corrupted Chi, and the silence was truly unsettling. This was where the warriors of the Third Sense rested, those whose bodies had become the most dangerous Daugrs.

"What do you think of all this, Siegfried?" Daemon asked, staring at the gaping hole in the ceiling. "The fact that Conrad exploded... It wasn’t an accident. Maybe his body had something special that wasn’t supposed to be revealed."

Siegfried nodded slowly, his expression growing darker. "You’re right. It must be linked to that famous Vamp... The one Conrad was talking about. If he’s capable of turning a human into an Eater like that, the threat goes way beyond the Sword Clan. We shouldn’t keep this to ourselves; I should inform the Emperor as soon as we’re out."

Daemon approached the prince and held out his hand to help him up. "We still don’t know exactly what an Eater looks like, or if Conrad really was one... we shouldn’t jump to hasty conclusions based only on our gut feelings. But it’s true that more people need to be informed."

Siegfried took Daemon’s hand and pulled himself up. The two men tacitly agreed to inform the powers behind them: the imperial family on one side, and the Sword Clan on the other. Nevertheless, in his mind, Daemon was very thoughtful. Conrad’s attack wasn’t a simple personal vendetta. He had targeted Prince Siegfried, and even killed the son of a powerful noble, then had relentlessly gone after him.

"This ’Vamp’ had a very precise plan in mind."

’I’m sure Conrad was just a pawn...’ Daemon thought as he looked at the debris. ’Maybe Markus Ravenna, his leader, and even by extension his ally, the entire Spear Clan, are linked to this Vamp.’

He turned to Siegfried. "Your Majesty, I hope you won’t spare your resources to find out the identity of the one behind all this. If the imperial crown is targeted, no one is safe."

Siegfried smiled while scratching his head, a bit embarrassed. "Well, for that, I should probably rely more on the head of House Winter... Even though I’m a prince, my words don’t carry much weight in Byzantia. I don’t even know if Emperor Dragonslay will believe me..."

Daemon frowned, surprised by this admission of political weakness. "Really? But isn’t the Empress your biological mother?"

In Daemon’s opinion, Siegfried should have had even more power than the crown prince Admon. Even if he was despised by his peers for his apparent lack of talent, he should logically have the unconditional support of the Empress. Yet reality seemed far more bitter.

"Hum... Shitty Shit... the explosion propelled us all the way to the third floor, we’d better watch where we put our feet," Siegfried declared, looking upward.

Daemon remained silent as he observed Siegfried. In a way, the prince resembled him. He reminded him of the Daemon of the past, that carefree kid from the Thirteenth District, despised by everyone because his core was sealed. ’The Empress must hate him for not being talented enough, nor ambitious enough to reach the throne,’ Daemon thought with a touch of sadness. Not wanting to make his companion even more uncomfortable, he didn’t continue the conversation.

He began looking left and right, activating his < First Sense: Sight > to see if there were any Daugrs lurking in the dark corners of the room.

"Ah shit! I hope I didn’t lose it!" Siegfried suddenly exclaimed, desperately searching the ground.

"No, don’t worry, I saw it..." Daemon answered. He cleared away some charred wooden debris and picked up Siegfried’s sword Gram.