Chapter 12: This is just a beginning...
In a dense forest where even the moonlight of the night couldn’t slip through the thick canopy... deeper within, stood a dark black castle that remained untouched by time or destruction.
Its structure was forged from pitch-black marble, exuding a cold, lifeless aura that sent chills crawling down the spine of any who approached. An eerie silence surrounded the massive building, pressing down like a suffocating fog that whispered secrets of ancient horrors.
Inside the shadow-cloaked halls of the castle,
Ophis Dracula and Gluttony knelt in silence before a towering obsidian throne.
A figure sat motionless upon it, his posture regal yet utterly still, his eyes closed, as if asleep... or deep in thought, lost in the vastness of memories that stretched far beyond time.
For a long, heavy moment, nothing moved. Even the flickering torches seemed to dim. Then, slowly, the figure raised two fingers with quiet authority.
Ophis parted her lips, her head still bowed low, her voice steady yet cautious as it echoed softly through the grand hall, "Father... I’ve made contact with the Fated One."
"..." No words came from the figure. He remained perfectly still, as if weighing her statement in silence.
Without looking up, Ophis lifted her hand, revealing a slender glass tube. Inside it swirled a thick crimson liquid.... Leo’s blood.
The figure flicked his fingers once, and the tube floated gently from Ophis’ hand, gliding through the heavy, cold air until it settled weightlessly in his grasp.
He held it between his fingers and finally opened his eyes—deep crimson, glowing faintly like dying embers in the dark. He stared into the blood, his gaze unwavering. Swirling it ever so gently, he watched with interest... until there it was. A flicker—just a fleeting wisp of black and gold mist formed within the blood and then vanished as quickly as it appeared.