Chapter 87: What Will you choose?
Chapter 87: What Will you choose?
The sound of quiet conversations spread throughout the expensive dining room—various businessmen and rich couples enjoyed meals together.
Meanwhile, Nikolai and Nikita shared one of the most expensive and private tables on the elevated floor. This restaurant needed quite some time to book a table, meaning either Nikita planned this, or she had help from her mother, Nagisa, and asked for a favour.
L'imperatrice Firenze translated to be The Empress Florence after the former empress of I-Kingdom once visited the first restaurant before marrying the King of S-Kingdom as a princess as an imperial sponsored restaurant, and only with the highest standards could it remain open.
For 120 years, this restaurant remained. Even after the empires passed on, it remained a symbol of Empress Florence's legacy. She was a kind and benevolent ruler who came to a foreign land and devoted herself to helping her people and improving the state of the kingdom.
'Phew... Nikita's new dress, when did she buy it?' Nikolai thought to himself while thinking about the information he learned about this beautiful restaurant: diamond chandeliers, the windows created with a special glass mixed with gemstones. The floor was a special marble with red and white, the red identical to Florence's eyes and her silky white hair.
When they arrived, Nikita went into a private room, which seemed closer to a hotel. Or rather, it was close to the novels about royal families with private rooms for them to rest. It seemed from Nikita's words that the empress had ties with the Fenrir family in the past.
'To think the Fenrir family helped protect this empress in the past. I thought all monster clans hated humans. I should learn more about the past, humans and monsters.'
"Maybe there is a path to coexistence..." He knew it was a silly idea, but the message from Ryan and many of his old friends weighed on his mind.
After he killed Mari and Daiki, there was a feeling of guilt and wonder. 'Did Daiki hate me because of his feelings, or was it because of the Faust family's experiments?'
Now Nikita didn't wear her white, pure dress, but a black flowing dress with a low cut chest, shoulderless ballroom dress with flower patterns created by small gemstones the same colour as her eyes, a beautiful golden colour.
'Yellow Diamonds... One day, I will be the one to get her a dress that sparkles with thousands of them.'
***
"Do you like the food, Nikolai?" Nikita's eyes seemed to sparkle along with her dress as she looked up from her plate and gazed at her partner with a warm smile.
"Oh yes, the food is delicious. I've never been to such a good restaurant, and I'm sure it would cost a fortune."
"Ah, well, we are not paying for it, so enjoy yourself."
"You didn't have to go all out, I would be happy with any date with you, and I would never have complained."
Nikolai felt happy that he had lessons on how to eat properly from his mother when he was younger and his father while growing up. It never seemed strange to him until now. He realised both his parents were treated like royalty when growing up; thus, their manners when they wanted to were impeccable.
"Don't worry about the price, just enjoy it, okay? I want to see you smile." Nikita's cheeks turned rosy as she gave a warm smile to her partner.
'I always wanted to see you wearing these fancy clothes, to smile and not have to worry about food or the future... Nikolai, now I can do it without making you feel guilty or ashamed.'
"So, what do you have planned for tonight?" Nikolai asked Nikita because he had grown more curious about their date. While he enjoyed their main course, the restaurant was too amazing for him to comment well with a live mini-orchestra playing songs he remembered his dad liked. 'This female singer is talented.'
"Well, there are a few more places to go to before it gets too late. But it will be fun, I promise," Nikita spoke with a cute yet polite laugh and placed her hands on top of his. "Also, I need to tell you something later."
Nikolai didn't mind because she was so different tonight. He watched the current Nikita with an excited gaze. Her noble atmosphere and grace were nothing like her usual self. "That's fine. Tonight, you seem like a real princess, so elegant and beautiful."
'She is still the same inside, though.'
"You flatter me too much, Nikolai, you are the person who made me feel worthy of being called the princess of the Fenrir clan, the only one that makes me feel like this."
'The only one...?' He thought to himself after hearing her words.
"Nikita--"
BOOM!
Suddenly, there was an explosion.
Nikolai couldn't sense himself. Like a rag floating through the air, his body seemed powerless. Pain, heat and ringing filled his ears before he smashed into something, the sound of stone and metal beneath his body. The world became dark! Smoke filled the room, and the roof and ground trembled while the vision of Nikolai couldn't find Nikita anywhere!
"Ahhhh! What's happening?!"
"S-Somone... help! My husband! My Husband is trapped!"
The entire restaurant became a world of panic as Nikolai felt pain as people ran over his body, not even bothering to check on his state.
"Hurry, We have to capture her before she calls for her father!" A gruff voice sounded in the mixture of people panicking and screaming for help, a scent of burning and the heat from flames began to spread from the floors below as Nikolai clutched his chest, struggling to breathe while pushing his Vermillion and Celestial blood towards his heart, trying to create more Obsidian Tide to empower his senses.
"Damn it! Where the fuck is the bitch! Our sources said she booked a room at the hotel and this restaurant tonight! Hurry, if the SSS or Fenrir come, our clan is fucked!"
"Lord Hati... Understood!"
'Hati?! That fucking clan that wanted to marry Nikita?!'
Nikolai's body immediately moved from the table. He suddenly realised that the target of this attack was their table, and the bomb that exploded seemed to have been at their table! The explosion both flung him across the room and made him disorientated and fall to a lower floor!
"Wait... there are other orders. Find the male who was with her and kill him, understood?"
"Yes, Lord Hati!"
As Nikolai's eyes opened, he saw a man with grey hair and dirty blue eyes gazing at his surroundings, and then he seemed to vanish, jumping up to the next floor; what followed was several wolves in green uniforms rushing through the floor and killing any males that they found.
Nikolai didn't need to guess what was happening. 'Those bastards... did they set a trap? They planned to get rid of me and take Nikita because of our engagement?! Those Bastards!'
Blood flowed from his head; his ribs felt broken, and he felt a familiar sensation of pain and tight pressure. He was used to it, but now there was no time to focus on it.
He couldn't help but be furious. Nikita's safety was his priority, so he rushed to his feet and tried to fix his head, which was still fuzzy with his ears ringing.
"Whats.... Ugh... my head..."
'I'll kill any male that approaches her...' a dark voice inside his heart, Nikolai's voice, yet twisted like a monster with broken voice chords... black smoke and blood began to pump through his veins and muscles.
A loud crack sounded, his arms deformed, growing twisted and large. Nikolai's black fur was both beautiful and deadly, glossy like a raven king's feathers.
"Ugh?! Grrr...."
Nikolai's eyes became jet black, with a golden ring around his iris, while unlike before, the pupil turned dark blue instead of red pupils and a silver ring.
'I want to taste their blood...'
He groaned with a low growl as his legs twisted, deformed and evolved, becoming like the hind legs of a wolf.
Thick, explosive muscles replaced his humanoid thighs with a distorted pair of wolf legs, with feet both thick and long, digging into the ground with claws that could shape a velociraptor and a beautiful flowing black fur covering both limbs.
Nikolai's claw-shaped hands grew long, sharp blades instead of fingernails with a palm larger than his head. This change was the first time he transformed to the limit after taking the black crystals into his body; his arms and legs were now complete as a bizarre and monstrous werewolf.
'Ah... I feel so GOOD!'
"W-Who are you?!" Another werewolf with dirty grey fur looked at Nikolai with a pistol in his hand before pointing it at Nikolai's head.
Woosh!
Nikolai's left leg, like a deadly whip, smashed into the werewolf's stomach. The sound of organs rupturing filled the air as the man spat out a mouthful of blood with eyes turning white. With a crunch, a sharp set of blades tore out his organs, and the werewolf's body became nothing but a mangled mess.
"Ahh... More..."
The feeling of intense pain and drain assaulted Nikolai, yet because of his mind-elated state, the desire to kill and find Nikita overtook him.
Despite feeling drained because this form continuously sapped his vitality and stamina, thanks to killing the wolf, his instinct knew that he could recover the lost things with their blood and lives.
"F-Found him!" A female voice suddenly sounded in the mix of flames and smoke as Nikolai turned his head towards the voice. His eyes focused on a beautiful woman with a pair of blue eyes that seemed to glow like a wolf's in the darkness.
'Not her.'
Like a gust of wind, his legs sounded with an explosive bang as his muscles tightened and relaxed like a gunshot. He flung towards the female from the Hati clan, his leg like a whip as he aimed for her head.
"Die!"
An explosion sounded after his leg tore the female in half. Nikolai's leg smashed into the ground. Cracks and holes formed on the marble floor as his body smashed into the ground with the force of a cannon.
"Kaya?! Noooo!" A man cried out while Nikolai let out a howl of pleasure, feeling her blood replenish his vitality and stamina while his leg devoured the blue blood crystals and slowly fused with his heart.
'She had blood crystals? I can use them...' Nikolai felt pleasure at the thought, and he looked at the wolfman with dark, evil eyes.
"What will you choose... Fight or Die?" A dark, eerie voice, the handsome base tone distorted by his growl and violent tone.
"N-No... monster... please.... stop... Kaya..... forgive me...
I have to live!"
The man ran, leaving behind Kaya's corpse as he tried to get away.
However, watching the male, Nikolai's black eyes narrowed, with his blue pupils shimmering with a cold light.