The Duke's Passion

Meanwhile, in the throne room where Samael and Stefan engaged in an intense fight, Samael's eyelids fluttered as he gazed up. 

"Rufus," he whispered, balling his hand into a fist because the second Rufus' heart stopped, Samael felt it.

"It seemed Sir Barrett died." Samael snapped his eyes upon hearing Stefan's voice. "Don't worry, you will follow him soon so he wouldn't be sad."

"It wasn't you," Samael whispered with narrowed eyes. "The humming… it was the same as that night in the banquet. So, it wasn't yours."

"I will deal with those mice after you."

"Stefan." A smile turned up on Samael's face, running his bloody fingers through his unruly argent hair. "I didn't know how blind and foolish you are. Those rats in hiding… can't you feel their uncalled participation in this?"

"Alphonse, Quentin, Beatrice, and a lot more people, Stefan," Samael continued in an arrogant tone. "You're so fucking dumb not to see the situation you're in."

"You're not in any better situation, Hell."

"Well, I don't think so. I actually think I'm a genius. If I use my head often, I can rule this world!"

A ridiculing scoff slipped past Stefan's lips, sizing him up from head to toe. "You boast despite your current state, it's amazing. Just look at yourself, Hell. Your wounds don't even heal anymore."

Samael quirked his brows as gaze down to see his arms covered with his own blood dripping down the floor. He couldn't feel the pain that much, and because of that, he didn't realize the loss of blood.

"Oh? Do I look pathetic in your eyes?" he asked nonchalantly, raising his head to him. "Losing a bit of blood is not a terrible trade for tonight's agenda, though."

"Tonight's agenda, hah…" Stefan stared at his brother's pathetic state, smirking when blood suddenly dripped from Samael's nose. "And what is tonight's agenda, Hell? To mobilize that number of undead, what is your goal of making such a huge sacrifice? And to top it all off, this darkfield… everything is going in my plan… and that makes it more suspicious."

Silence enveloped the two as they stared at each other. The only sound they could hear was another faint humming from somewhere.

"That humming again." Samael broke the silence as he tugged his earlobe in irritation. "Am I the only one who gets affected by it?"

His eyes scanned Stefan, and it seemed Samael's conclusion was correct. That humming he had been hearing had restricted and weakened him. If Samael wasn't sealed into slumber for a long time, the humming would affect him greatly.

"That humming… whoever is doing that will pay the price for giving me unwanted help. However, that is not my problem now." Stefan's expression turned grim, discerning the reason Samael couldn't fight like he used to. It just confused him whether Samael couldn't go all out because of this unnecessary help, or because mobilizing those undeads had already weakened him.

Either way, one thing was certain. That humming was only restraining the people on Samael's side. Rufus died because of it, and the chances of winning against Samael just skyrocketed, even if Fabian was still alive.

"That makes me proud as your brother, Your Majesty." Samael smiled, finally taking out Catharsis. "We had played enough. Shall we end this now?" 

"Finally, it seems you will take me seriously now."

"That humming is out of tune. It's annoying." Samael spun his sword until its tip faced down. "Silence."

A strong swirl of wind circled around him as he thrust his sword into the floor, causing turbulence. The dark field that was around the two of them suddenly widened its range, expanding across the entire palace.

"No rats will leave the palace." A smirk resurfaced on Samael's lips as he raised his eyes towards Stefan. "You asked about tonight's agenda…?"

Stefan narrowed his eyes as he gazed around, seeing that Yul and Silvia, and a lot of knights, came into sight as the dark field expanded. It was twice larger than the darkfield Samael created long ago.

"Tonight's agenda is to see all the rats sneaking around… and kill them all in one place." A sinister grin turned up on Samael's lips, licking his fangs as his eyes glinted in malice.

"Your Majesty!" Jayden, the twelfth prince, called out through his gritted teeth, surrounding them with their weapons up. "Hell, stop this madness now."

"Oh, Jayden? Since when have you been here?" asked Samael, gazing at the shadow knights of Stefan who were surrounding him.

"It doesn't matter. You are surrounded, Your Grace. Please, surrender."

"Jayden," Stefan called, and the young prince clenched his teeth. "This is a battle between Hell and me. If anyone interferes further, I will kill him."

"Hell…" Yul called with a shaking voice, gazing up to see that darkness covered the entire palace. Even the light from the rising sun couldn't penetrate the darkfield.

"Did you plan on killing every La Crox tonight?" came out a question from Yul, as that was the only logical answer to all this. 

A purge.

"Well, why not? The La Crox had lived long enough. It's time for everyone to rest, don't you think, Yul?" 

"You!" Jayden's eyes darkened, grinding his teeth as he took a step forth. However, he froze when Stefan cast him a look.

"Do not interfere. I won't repeat myself again." Stefan cast everyone a brief look and the ground underneath him cracked. "Lancelot, bloodfield."

"Great!" Samael clapped, gnashing his teeth as he pulled Catharsis from the ground. "The purge will start with you."

In a heartbeat, Stefan and Samael disappeared from their position. Everyone could only see their shadow and loud explosion of auras each time their sword collided against each other. The impact was so strong that some could not help but look at the high ceiling, only to see cracks crawling across it.

*****

Meanwhile, somewhere in the inner palace, Klaus looked up and then shifted his eyes towards the broken window. There was just darkness with no presence of light as if they were inside a void.

"Can you see that, Hanz? It seems Hell literally brought up hell in the world of the living," Klaus uttered calmly, wiping the blood that was covering the right half of his face. "Did you hear me?"

He raised his hands, holding Hanz's severed head, and stared at it with a grin. "Of course you can't. You're dead." 

From Klaus' state, Hanz put up a good fight. However, the result was obvious. In the fight between Hanz and Klaus, the latter… undoubtedly won.

"Let's see go, Hanz. Knowing Stefan's people, they're probably ganging up against my king.." Klaus slowly stood up, strutting his way towards the throne room while tossing and catching Hanz's head nonchalantly like a ball.