𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖐 𝕷𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘: 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝖐 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖊

Chapter 10

Ayato felt another stab of Carla's sword fall upon his left arm. Battered and bruised, he felt his intestines being dragged behind him as he crawled away from the Founder, crying in sheer pain and agony. His every pore could feel the pain being inflicted on him by his perpetrator, a gnashing torment that destroyed everything in its wake. His nervous ends frayed, he slowly felt his body become numb and insensitive to the torture that Carla inflicted upon him.

He felt stinging tears in his eyes, but he held onto his broken sword, crying out another painful scream. Pain and numbness combined made his surroundings hazy, his senses starting to lose focus, even Subaru's mother's cries for help faded in a distant, as he could only see a piece of his flesh and bone drop down on the ground.

"Whether the son of the vampire king or not, I am going to win," Carla said, jabbing his sword right into his chest, gaining a torturous screech from Ayato. A mixture of blood and sinew escaped from Ayato's chest, his internal organs tumbling out after. Ayato spit on the ground, unable to believe he was alive at this point.

"You," Ayato started, his voice hoarse with the strain he'd put up with during Carla's sadistic assault over him, "You think you will get away with stealing Pancake from me?" A sickening laughter escaped him, as Carla looked on in bewilderment. "I was careless and let her wander away from me before. But I don't make the same mistake twice, you bastard. You have ten seconds. I will forgive you right now if you take your tail between your legs, run off and never show me your face again, but if you even fucking touch a hair on Yui, I will personally make sure you regret your own meaningless existence. I won't kill you, but you would wish I rather did. You will neither get her blood, nor her body." He paused, taking in a shaky breath. "Her body, her blood, her soul, her very life belong to Oresama."

Carla looked at the young vampire in astonishment. Here he was, gutted out, dragging himself on the concrete, not only refusing to ask for forgiveness, but actually threatening him. Raising his sword, he said, "How dare you talk to me like that!"

And he swung, aiming for Ayato's head.

But he couldn't deliver the blow, for a dense white light invaded his vision. Ayato looked at the blinding light, believing this to be a hallucination. He shielded his eyes with his right hand, his hair wet with blood as he touched his face. soon, through the gap in his fingers, he saw an imposing figure, long whitish hair, huge robes, and a red cape fluttering in the wind.

"Long time, son."

Anything but this, Ayato prayed to whoever was in heaven or hell. Anything but my father.

"I think you should heed to my son's warning and respectfully step back," Karlheinz said, stepping in between. "If you want to go back with both of your legs intact, that is."

Ayato was taken aback by the sharpness of his father's tone. He'd only seen that sass and no-nonsense in Shu and Reiji. He stared at the man for a long time as Carla took in the shock of seeing Karlheinz in the flesh. Nobody in the demon realm had seen him in his true form, but most agreed upon the fact that he didn't have one. He could appear as anything or anyone, as you most cherished dream or your most horrifying nightmare. Falling back on his hands, Ayato saw his father merely flick his hand towards the Founder, and he was sent tumbling down across the estate at a force unimaginable by both immortals and mortals. The shock of Carla's body impacting the ground was such that Ayato bit into his tongue.

He gulped, his mouth tasting tangy blood on his tongue. Looking up at his father, he said, his tongue heavy, giving him a lisp. "Hey, popf."

Karlheinz turned towards him, his half lidded eyes focusing on his son. "Ayato, you look in the best of spirits."