The Vampire King's Toxic Consort (bxb)

Chapter 84 You Raise Me Up

Holding onto his own body had never been so hard for Lucius. It felt like he was in the middle of a full-blown tornado, and his entire survival depended on whether he could hold on to a tiny bending tree or he would be blown into oblivion.

On top of that, Asmodian's wrath befallen him mercilessly. Azreal told Lucius that Asmodian would hurt him in the worst way, but he didn't expect in which way the punishment would be delivered.

Asmodian showed him death and suffering, but not of his own. He heard screaming first, and then saw a man on fire, rolling and screaming in excruciating agony. That was no other than his father, burning alive in his dragon fire. Those hands that used to hold him when he was a baby now shriveled and charred like wood sticks.

And then he saw Lord Rosenfield in the hospital, wrapped in layer after layer of bandages that were stained by red blood and brown discharges from the third and even fourth degree of burning wounds covering his entire body. Many tubes were plugged into him, and the only other sound accompanying the beeping of the vital monitoring machines was the weeping of his mother.

And that was not all of it, for those images were interspersed with fragments of memories from Lucius's childhood. He saw Lord Rosenfield carrying him on his shoulder during a firework festival when he was four, teaching him the rules of basketballs when he was seven, and their whole family going on a camping trip when he was eight. His parents used to love him when he was a little boy, and now they were both dead because of him, and they cursed him before their lives ended.

Lucius's mind burned with his father. The scream, the suffering moaning, the weeping...each tearing a big chunk off his soul. It didn't matter that his father sold him and used him so many times in exchange for some pathetic favors from the Churches, didn't matter that his mother never opposed any of it as long as their favored son Julian was safe. Guilt was a ravenous leviathan hibernating in the deepest part of his consciousness, and now it was awoken.

But Asmodian didn't stop there. He wouldn't stop until Lucius let go of his hold on his body. The next thing he revealed to Lucius was Julian's death. His twin brother, who was cherished by his parents, his country, and all the believers, who had never hurt a fly in his life, pushed his neck down at the sharp silver blade and cut his throat open with such deliberation, even though he was so scared. Lucius also heard him telling Dorian: "Go save my brother!"

One of the worst sins that condemns a soul to Hell, yet Julian committed it. Julian, who had dedicated his entire life to God and the Luminion belief, gave it all up at the last moment of his life so God couldn't hurt his brother.

"Look what you did to your family.''Asmodian taunted relentlessly, "Your fire destroyed your father, and your mother wasted away in grief. The plague you helped to develop killed your sister, and your brother sacrificed his own life to save you. Perhaps they were right to be wary of you, don't you think?"

Lucius knew he shouldn't listen, but how could he not when what Asmodian said was true? His entire family was gone, and it was all his doing...

No...he must not fall apart. Azreal told him no matter what Asmodian was putting him through, he could not give up.

Just a little longer...he could do this. He had to do this!

Azreal's mind invasion was aggressive, and Asmodian was getting impatient and nervous. Seeing Lucius was not letting go, the Devil decided to crush his chosen, even though he was reluctant to do so moments ago.

Subsequently, an indomitable flood of images like fast-forwarded footage drowned Lucius's soul. People were dying in these flashing images. Human slaves that were abused and killed because of his betrayal, infected vampires and Anthorians, people in Aeros that he promised to save, young and old, innocent or not, soldiers or civilians...so many were dead or dying a horrible death because of his decisions and actions. They used to be numbers or some abstract notion, but now he was witnessing every single death caused by him.