Reincarnated With The Van Helsing System

Chapter 572: Challenges Thea’s version (part 8)

As one would expect the Lamia queen's declaration took all the nobles by surprise, in fact this also applied to Ferris and Naomi, the plan they knew about was that their mother would announce that either one or both of them would be engaged with Daimon, this was left completely to the discretion of Mirellia and Daimon, it would be done based on how things developed.

Seeing the though practically impossible to notice from afar, still existing reddish tone on her mother's cheeks, Ferris gave her young sister who was glaring at Daimon, a deathly gaze, making her shrink back into her seat.

'Humph, I bet he must have been the one to told mom to say that', thought Naomi but she still didn't dare to go against her older sister's serious gaze.

Ferris on the other hand felt the surprise around Daimon a second earlier, so she was sure he had nothing to do with her mother's sudden change of plan.

'Whatever, this is all an act anyway, mother must have her reasons, I'm more interested in that lineage projection of his, leaving aside that towering size for a Lord rank, the pressure radiated from it was no joke', she thought.

Daimon felt a couple of intense gazes well there were countless of gazes on him, but only two were worthy of his attention, one was coming from Thea and the other from his own shadow, still he decided to play fool as he was in the dark about too.

Leaving that little exchange aside, the nobles slowly but surely got over the initial shock and as expected a loud discussion among them exploded on the spot.

"Did my ears deceive me, a Lamia queen is considering marrying?", mumbled one of the Lamia/Naga male hybrids.

"The first ever Lamia royalty couple is going to include an outsider…", and similar whispers could be heard here and there.

Duke Nascenti who was previously focused on tending to his son's wounds, had frozen as if he had heard something outrageous, but the continuous ongoing discussion snapped him back to reality.

"Your Majesty, though the previous demonstration of talent was indeed amazing, there is big difference between an engagement with the princesses and an actual marriage, with the queen of the Lamia race no less, don't you think that is a bit too much?", he said with a voice that tried to sound reasonable, but with clear and unaltered anger behind of it.

"I have to agree with Duke Nascenti my queen, you represent the maximum prestige of the Meliun kingdom, a marriage out of nowhere would be "inadequate"…", added the Duchess Allmere.

"I think likewise, besides I would like the previous lineage clash's result to be rendered null and a proper investigation to look for cheating to be initiated, the lineage projection that young man created was in no way similar to the ones of the blood donors, meaning that his other powers might not have been sealed by the array", said the Yillian Naga king, which stirred the backers of the other guys who got their asses handed by Daimon merely saying a single word earlier.

"The Yillian king is right, a single person destroying the lineage projection of ten talented members of the young generation so easily, there sure is something suspicious about it!", exclaimed the nobles in unison.

They have seen Ferris train with three to four people stronger than her at once in the array with relative ease, but they refused to believe that ten of their geniuses would be defeated just like that.

Duke Nascenti saw the scale tilting his way and he decided to go all out.

"It saddens me to say that if the current Lamia royalty takes such important matters this lightly, my Nascenti family will have to consider breaking ties with the Melliun kingdom, we can't leave our future up to a shady person after all", he said with a slight threatening voice.

Some nobles gazed at Duke Nascenti with disbelief, that statement was dangerously close to what could be considered treason, however there were others who were also moved by his words.

It was then when a cold laugh interrupted the passionate act of the Nascenti Duke, all the presents turned their attention towards the origin of it, a silver haired masked youth.

"You all keep calling me "outsider", "shady" and stuff like that, let alone the the fact that had it not been for miss Mirellia's sake I would have ordered you to be executed just for that, you seem to be misunderstanding something, I don't need any cheats to crush those losers, I even went as far as to go easy on them not to embarrass you all", casually said Daimon.

"What did you say!", Duke Nascenti nearly lost it, but he managed to quell his anger and regain his cool.

"There must be a limit to someone's arrogance young man, no matter how talented you are, there is no way you could dealt with that many talented opponents without any pressure…".

Duke Nascenti's words were interrupted midway by a giant shadow being casted all over not only him but all the Naga nobility, it was that giant black inked water tsunami with an unknown being whose sun-like eyes could be seen bypassing the nightmarish water, but there was a difference this time, below the water there was a though smaller still noticeable, solid layer of ground.

There was another difference compared to the previous situation, this wasn't a projection, but just the flashing image created by Daimon releasing his aura, still the result was even crazier, since all the ones with Naga blood in them, fell to their knees, some even broke in cold sweat as if they were facing a sure death situation, at the same time Daimon finally noticed the change on his eyes.

Behing his mask he saw the reflection of a symbol that was similar to a "+" sign but with pointy ends, also the lower vertical end was significantly longer than the other ones.

Seeing Naga nobles, he targeted trying to get up but being unable to, no matter how much they force they applied, to the point that they cracked the ground below them but were still forced to keep their heads down, Daimon jumped out of the pillar, landing in front Duke Nascenti.

The Duke's field of vision was filled with Daimon's feet, that's how low his head was forced to be and as if that wasn't enough to make him burn in anger, Daimon's next words were the last nail for his coffin.

"You see, if I would have wanted to humiliate those losers, I would have used the part of my lineage that is related to your race, but I wouldn't have gotten to see the famous lineage related array of which miss Mirellia has told me so much about it, also she asked me not to be too harsh on you, unfortunately for you while I don't usually bother with trash, I also don't like clowns to flaunt themselves in front of me".

"Gulp!", the lower and middle ranked Lamia nobles swallowed at the sight of a member of the young generation, humiliating the most respected members of the Naga nobility, well, almost all of them since the Mein queen and her subordinates were spared from such treatment.

"Ahem, your Majesty I think our guest has proven his point, it would be better to solve things peacefully, don't you agree?", said with a calm voice, the Gramy Duchess, in other words, Nea's mother.

Mirellia gave Daimon a calm gentle gaze, to which he nodded showing that despite his prideful attitude he was completely calm.

Daimon jumped back to his seat and only after he had accommodated himself, he retrieved his aura, or more accurately the leftover aura from the blood of the Naga first ancestor which he has been restraining with the help of the Bracelet of the God of Mischief and the Hollow Suit, allowing the majority of the Naga nobles to finally be able to breath.

'How interesting, I just wanted to expose the aura from the Naga lineage that was leftover, but it came out along with my Dracolevia lineage's aura, otherwise the mark caused by the Ruler of the Sea wouldn't have appeared in my eyes', thought Daimon, completely ignoring the infuriated Duke Nascenti and Yillian king.

Unfortunately for those two, their humiliation wasn't over yet, but it was time for the queen to land the last blow.

"Is that enough of a proof for you, I don't have to justify my personal life decisions to you, but if you are that much settled on not having an "outsider" gaining influence on the kingdom, I'll tell you a little secret, young master Gabriel's lineage has a certain relation with the Naga one, an ancestor-descendant relation to be more accurate, in other words, he represents the "evolution" you have been seeking to attain by annoying the previous queens with your marriage proposals, and he attained it without relying on the Lamia race".

She basically said "He is better than all the Naga kings that had existed so far" and this is where two completely different sides formed on the Naga race, the Mein and Valiun, queen and king respectively, were in high spirits over the existing relation between them and Daimon.

It meant that there was a high possibility of cooperation between the Naga race and him, which included a way to break through the shackles that had been restraining them and return to the former glory of their race, after all while their first ancestor didn't get to meet a member of their race who had surpassed the Stellar rank, they knew that the Lamia race did and according to their history records, they were neighbors in their original galaxy, so there should have had similar strength, but seemingly worse luck.

Then we have the other side of the coin, the Nascenti and Yillian kings were seething with rage.

'Are you telling us to bow to that little bastard, just because he was born with the luck of a purer lineage!', is what they were thinking.

As for the Lamia nobility, two of the three Duchesses had approving expressions on their faces, the Zullie Duchess who is known for being neutral was utterly convinced aster witnessing such a demonstration of power and the Gramy Duchess whose support belongs to the queen, stopped worrying after seeing how he didn't look down on Mirellia.

The queen clapped her hands a couple of times to settle the matter.

"Okay, since there doesn't seem to be any more complains regarding that matter, is there anything else you would like to discuss, if not I'll allow this meeting to end", she said.

Duke Nascenti was trembling due to anger, he was humiliated just like that and it was being ignored by the queen, the Yillian king was the same, he approached the old Duke who was the leader of their united front to ask for his advice, only for the Duke to place his hand on his shoulder.

"Is that it…", a low but burning with hatred voice echoed through the room, making the nobles turned to see the Duke, they couldn't believe he still wanted to stir up trouble after being taught such a heavy lesson.

After all, the Naga nobles knew pretty well what happened to them earlier, it was the suppression caused by a superior related lineage, the strongest among themselves had used it with commoners or their subordinated families, but never in their wildest dreams, they imagined to be subjected to it, specially because they are all at least half Stellar ranks and that suppression diminishes if the difference in realms is too vast.

However, they were forced to bow by a member of the young generation who isn't even an Arch rank, meaning that his lineage must surpass them quite a lot, enough to make up for the difference in realms and also, they being nobility among Nagas.

"Do you have anything else to say, Duke Nascenti?", coldly asked the queen, her voice now completely deprived of even the normal respect she shows to the nobles, which only made the flames in the Duke's heart to burn even more furiously.

"I see, so you have decided to completely throw yourself towards that little bastard", said Duke Nascenti, which made the other Naga representatives take in a breath of cold air, one thing is going against the queen between lines, but directly insulting her is a capital offense.

Even the Yillian king couldn't help but cough a couple of times as he approached the old Duke to whisper at his ear.

"Ahem, uncle, why don't we leave, we can further discuss this… blegh!", the Yillian king vomited blood midway, he slowly looked downwards just to see a hand piercing his chest, disbelief flashed through his eyes.

As a Stellar rank, a hand through his chest was not enough to kill him, so he directly asked.

"What are you doing uncle!", the old Duke raised his head and gazed at the Yillian king with a calm but cold face.

"You have a better use for me than an "ally", don't worry I'll make sure that your lineage lives on through your sisters and daughters", with those ominous words, the Yillian king who has been casting a spell in secret to blow the Duke into smithereens with his fire magic, suddenly felt all his power disappearing.

"Aghhhh!", a miserable scream, escaped the mouth of the Yillian king, dark wine-red marks appeared all over his body making his flesh distort in a gruesome way before his body dried turning into a mummy.

In exchange a thick dark red fog was expulsed from his body and then absorbed by Duke Nascenti, who then suffered an amazing transformation, it was as if time was rewound for him, the wrinkles on his skin disappeared, his slightly scarce dark gray hair became abundant and the beginning of a hunched posture was rectified, in a second, he went from looking like an old man in his fifties to a middle-aged man in his early thirties.

Naturally such a bizarre spectacle took both Nagas and Lamias by surprise, the guards of the now deceased Yillian king were the first ones to react.

"What the hell are you waiting, apprehend him!", shouted the captain of the Yiilian guards, who was actually a distant cousin of the king as his red hair suggested, also an early High stage Stellar rank mage.

Just when the other guards reacted to surround him, Duke Nascenti snapped his fingers with a smirk on his face and then a series of beastly screams came from various directions.

"Agrghhhh!", for starters, dark red marks appeared on the bodies of all the guards of both the Yillian and Nascenti families, then they gazed all at different people and their eyes got bloodshot, this same reaction happened to guards and noble representatives of on both Nagas and Lamias sides.

"Tsk, couldn't you wait a bit more, old bastard!", a different voice drew the attention of the nobles who had gotten up to call reinforces, just to listen to the battle that had broke out outside of the throne hall.

The origin of the voice was the Allmere Duchess, who similar to Duke Nascenti has gotten younger out of nowhere, the marks on her body disappeared after her transformation unlike what was happening to her guards who appeared to have lost their minds based on the empty but aggressive bloodshot eyes they gained.

"Shut up you old whore, this happened because you couldn't fulfill your part of the deal, if only you would have killed that brat, everything would be fine!", shouted Duke Nascenti.

The previous took long to explain but happened in a matter of seconds and while the still sane nobles had retreated to reorganize themselves, they didn't trust others now, so they were spread in many groups, the obviously hostile guys on the other hand had formed a sole group, which consisted in around three hundred guards the weakest being half Stellars and twenty leaders who had reached the early high Stage Stellar realm some in exchange for their sanity while others were already high stage Stellars prior to this, there were also a few middle Stage Stellars who used to be the leaders of the noble families subordinated to the two Naga kings and the Lamia Duchess, not to mention the Duke and Duchess who went up from the middle stage Stellar rank to the peak after their transformation.

The leftover guards barely amounted to around a hundred and the early high Stage Stellars remaining were only five including Karaam and his subordinates who as Daimon expected had a couple of guys that deserted to the other side, as for the middle grade High Stage ones a couple who served the sole Naga queen and one from the remaining Naga king were clean, that's without taking into account the four guards of the Lamia queen and Nea of course, still they were outnumbered three or four to one, so things didn't look that good.

The sole reason as to why the newly revealed enemy hadn't started attacking, is the existence of a big variable, Thea and as much as Duke Nascenti heated to admit it, Daimon.

"This is an internal problem of the Meliun kingdom, take the princesses as a token of goodwill and leave, after things had settled down, we can talk about business between the new kingdom that will rise and the force that is backing you", said the Allmere Duchess, which made Duke Nascenti fiercely glare at her.

"To hell with that, this brat dared to make me kneel, I must rip his flesh and crush his bones as payback, also I want the three of them, remember you owe me one", he said.

The Duchess sighed, but she decided to cooperate, Duke Nascenti just killed and used a Naga king as his nourishment, so he was the strongest in their alliance, it was wise a decision to obey him at least for now.

Naturally ever since this whole situation started, the four guards as well as Nea were surrounding Mireallia and the others, the queen angrily glared at the Duke to then say.

"We have had our differences, but the Nascenti descend from the first Naga ancestor who was a friend of my own ancestor, never did we entered in a conflict that would justify this".

The Duke snorted in response.

"You can blame your mother for this, if only she would have seen the bigger picture and become mine, the young generation would have been monstrous like that bastard, but no se had to be a stubborn bitch, she died without being able to even reach the High Stage Stellar while I managed to reach it but exhausted my potential with that, so now you will be the one to solve this, feel honored, you'll marry the first king of the Meliun kingdom… no Meliun Empire after I reach the Maximum Stellar rank!", he grandiosely exclaimed.

And with that declaration, the army of corrupted guards and nobles charged towards the queen and the others, while the Duke and Duchess remained behind like generals observing.

The remaining sane people had no choice but to intercept their former companions and colleagues to take on two or three at the same time, or at least that was the idea until they horrified noticed that their attacks seemed to have no effect on the enemy.

"What the hell is this, I punched a hole on his stomach but there was no reaction!", shouted a knight who was fighting three mages, he thought that since they didn't seem to be in their right mind as they dared to fight in close quarters with him, there wouldn't be a problem for him to deal with them, but the enemies took his attacks head on and didn't flinch.

Duke Nascenti haughtily laughed as he shouted.

"This is the new power I have obtained, those who follow me will be protected, if you show your loyalty to me, you'll be allowed to keep your freedom unlike those bastards who were showing signs of betrayal, join me and enjoy eternal youth and greater power!".

"Pfft", his moment of glory was interrupted by the younger Lamia princess no longer being able to contain her laugh.

The Duke stared daggers at her trying to use his mana pressure to attack Naomi, but before it could even reach the pilar, it was extinguished by Thea's.

Daimon also gazed at the younger Lamia princess, which made her look downwards in embarrassment.

"Oh well, I guess it's time to end this before the dead count increases", he said as he stood up.

"Humph, you think I'm afraid of your backing, I have someone supporting me as well, besides since you'll die here and become nourishment for my glorious Naga lineage, no one will know what happened to you", shouted the Duke.

"Well, if you call being a slave to Nethereals "support" then you are even stupider than I what I thought", retorted Daimon.

'Especially since that nether you seem so proud off is the one I am more accustomed to deal with', he inwardly added, a bright yellow crux (I decided to call it that instead plus sign because it sounds better), appeared on his violet amethyst pupils.

The Duke angrily witnessed that image which brought him to his knees, flashing behind the silver haired masked youth, but he snorted to then say.

"If your plan was to end the fight without throwing a punch by relying on the privilege of having been born with your lineage, then you…", the voice of the Duke froze midway, as if the sun had descended into the room, a blinding white light appeared behind Daimon.

An impending sensation of doom, rained upon all the nether corrupted Nagas or Lamia and Naga hybrinds, which accounted to more than 80% of the army amassed by Duke Nascenti and Duchess Allmere, after all it was easier for them to tempt those guys with power than to the female Nagas who idolized the queen.

"Aghhhh!", a loud scream broke the temporary silence brought by Daimon's Demon Light making its appearance, as one of the nether corrupted Nagas suddenly started bleeding before collapsing on the ground… dead.

"L-Lord Nascenti, you said that we would be invincible and imperturbable… blegh!", another Naga seemed to have recovered his sanity and with that, the wounds he had casually disregarded burst on the spot, bringing him to the brink of life and death.

And that scene repeated all over the recently created battlefield, of course not all the nether corrupted Nagas were severely enough wounded to render them useless on the spot, but watching their supposed "invincibility" being cancelled did the job, some who had declared their loyalty to Duke Nascenti knew that they would temporarily turn into mindless ground soldiers, but willingly accepted in exchange of the marvelous powers and future high positions they were promised and in the inside they witnessed those words being true, but their joy was long lived.

The result was the constant which any being can't avoid to feel when after having tasted superiority no matter how shortly, gets by being brought back to where they truly stood… fear.

Duke Nascenti saw half of his army in this room suddenly collapsing and felt the despair coming from his forced in the battlefield outside of the throne hall, unknown to him, his hands began shaking, while he roared in an instinctive try to shake off the dreading sensation that was drowning him right now.

"This is a trick, I am no longer a mere Naga tied to the lineage of that traitorous ancestor, with this power my potential should at least equal hers, I won't be humiliated by that lineage of yours again!".

Daimon casually nodded as he gazed at Mirellia, who with a gracious wave of her hand created a myriad of space portals from which, around thirty Hugh Stage Stellars who grades went from the early to the middle one, descended, perfectly encircling the rebels, it was as if everything was perfectly calculated, because it was.

"You see, with nether or not a loser's fate when facing me would remain the same, Thea, miss Mirellia if you'd do the honors", said Daimon.

And then another surprise, which would have been pleasant under other circumstances, revealed for the rebels, the Lamia queen stood up from her throne and her figure was enveloped in a dazzling emerald green light, as her lower body turned into a gracious snake tail.

"Y-You got rid of the poison!", exclaimed Duke Nascenti in disbelief, only for the queen's words to put the last nail on his sanity.

"Thanks to young master Gabriel, all the fronts of your betrayal were previously dealt with".

Those words resonated within the Duke's mind, he turned to see Daimon with blood thirsty eyes.

"Aghhhh, I'll take you down with me!", he roared as he charged towards Daimon, only for two elegant figures to intercept him, Thea appeared behind of him, her spear travelled through space, piercing the throat of the Duke, while the Lamia queen stopped the spell that was taking form on the Duke's right hand by grabbing and twisting his arm off, let alone his hand, his mana itself melted away as a sign of how strong was the queen's acid battle aura!

And just like that, the light disappeared from the Duke's eyes, the last thing he saw was a mocking smirk appearing on the face of the silver haired masked youth who had frustrated all his plans.

It's worth mentioning that while the Nagas and Naga/Lamia hybrids were shaken to their core and then succumbed to a mix of their wounds/fear, the Lamia rebels weren't in a way better state, they felt intimidated which is why they were frozen but physically they were completely fine, this included Duchess Allmete who was in a loss for words since earlier.

She woke up from her stupor as she felt the scythe of the good of death approaching her neck, it was revealed earlier that the assassination attempt towards Naomi was orchestrated by her, so of course Mirellia was angry enough to torn her flesh and grind her bones with her own hands.

Unfortunately, since fear drowned her within Daimon's presence which further amplified it, she lost her chance to surrender, but in what probably used up all the remaining luck of her life, a casual voice saved her neck.

"There are fates worse than death", listening to Daimon's words, the Lamia queen's hand which was a millimeter away from melting Duchess Allmere's neck, stopped in cold.

"Hisss!", a sizzling sound came from the skin on the Duchess's neck as the mere proximity to the queen's battle aura, melted the natural mana barrier around the Duchess's body and burned her skin, but besides crying in silence she didn't dare to let out a scream.

The queen pouted, but she took a deep breath, her anger indeed got the better of her earlier, but it's not like she was blinded, after all there were other High Stage rebels who got to keep their sanity, so she could "extract" information from them anyway, killing the Duchess wouldn't affect her plans, still since it was Daimon the one speaking, she listened, not without expressing her doubts.

"Like?".

"Putting a leash on someone that valued being in a position of power more than her life, is a better punishment than death, not to mention that it would be a waste not to use peak High Stage Stellar cannon fodder, of course the premise to this decision is the fact that obedience can be absolute, otherwise death it is", said Daimon.

It was then when the queen was reminded of the fact that Daimon actually got a high ranked official from their sworn enemy to change sides with ease, the weighted the pros and cons for a second before taking her decision.

Daimon didn't interfere more, whether the queen killed the Duchess or not it didn't really matter for him, the benefits of a peak High Stage Stellar would have more impact for her kingdom than for him, he just wanted to test if he could recreate Zia's terror contracting situation, but it was unsuccessful according to the undead head maid's words.

'Nope, she isn't like us~', happily said Rita who for a change was in good spirits about Daimon not being in the right, ultimately the queen restrained Duchess Allmere with chains made with her battle aura, allowing her to live but also giving her horrible chemical burn scars, as she returned to her throne.

"Later I would like to listen to what she has to say, if you don't mind", she said to Daimon who nodded in response.

And with the recently arrived reinforces and the guards and nobles who were clean, joint forces, the rebels both sane or nor, who were still alive were apprehended, chained and piled in a corner of the room, giving way for the true motive of this meeting.

"We'll be launching an all out offensive against that tyrant woman tomorrow, prepare till the last soldier you have, this is a royal decree not a petition of course", said Mirellia, which made the nobles tremble.

Throughout her life, any Lamia who is crowned as the queen, has three chances to demand the full support of the kingdom, this includes Lamia and Naga nobility's, they are normally used in a moment of crisis, since it requires each and every noble representative to vote against it for it to not proceed, which would be incredible to witness considering the queen also has allies among nobles, like the Gramy and Mein families for example.

And this was her first royal degree in more than a thousand years of reign, even when she had to face Thalia personally, she didn't resort to this, so no one dared to raise their voice and instead nodded in response.

"We listen and obey!", they exclaimed, what a joke after witnessing their newest "ally" toying with Duke Nascenti like he was nothing, even after he got those strange powers from who knows where, any thoughts of dissidence were eradicated from their very hearts.