Chapter 19: Isabella Thorne:The Blade
Ragnar Vhagar, Demon King and now a creature of the eternal night, spent a long, unsettling hour simply getting used to his new body.
The world smelled different, tasted different.
He could sense the faint thrum of the magic crystals in the ceiling, the dusty scent of ancient stone, and the warm, metallic tang of blood from a Ghoul he had created, which was currently drooling in a corner. The hunger was a constant, gnawing presence. It wasn’t like being hungry for a pizza; it was a deep, instinctual need that made his new fangs ache.
He stood up, his taller frame feeling surprisingly natural. "Alright, new body, new powers, new problems," he muttered to himself. "Let’s see what kind of mess the world has gotten into while I was busy having my skeleton rearranged."
He sat on his throne, and pulled out his phone. The first thing he did was check the hero forums. His "Farm" was still the hottest topic for low-level students, a place where they could get a taste of glory and a single, ugly sword. But there was a new, much more alarming thread pinned at the very top of the page.
Title: [OFFICIAL] The Liberators of Aethelburg Purge Fourth Domain!
Ragnar’s blood, now cold and sluggish in his veins, ran even colder. He tapped the thread. It was filled with heroic pictures and over-the-top propaganda. A team of powerful, high-level heroes stood victoriously over the smoking ruins of what looked like a converted office building, another Demon King’s dungeon. They were being called the saviors of the city.
He scrolled through the pictures of the team. Most were generic, serious-looking people in shiny, matching armor.
But then he saw their leader. A young woman with a long, dark ponytail and a fierce, determined look in her eyes. She held a katana with the kind of practiced, perfect ease that made his own clumsy attempts at anything physical seem pathetic. The caption identified her as Isabelle ’The Blade’ Thorne.