Red Roots

1: The Golden Prey

The Golden Prey

It is a great avenue to participate in a game once in a while. Every ten years, the kingdom celebrates by carrying out an annual hunting game. The target is a golden deer that eats only gold, but the main purpose of it being the most wanted prize is not because of its extravagant fodder, but the releases gained from hunting it. Something normal will not do any good, which was why it was decided for the first time in history to choose an out of the ordinary ferine.

Predators are bound to hound by the end of the day. Pushing that kind of natural instinct in will not do any good. Too much pressure then the next thing that will happen is a city full of rampaging vampires. Not that such a kind of savages, we won’t use humans to satisfied our hunger, even for blood. Though we won’t murder them, there are just some times when we need to go all the way, in order to unsuppress the killing urges.

On the plus side, it is also not a sin to murder something that is not exactly alive. Golden deer were built out of strong concentration of piles of mine gold.

“Madams and Lords, please welcome to the one hundred and thirteenth annual hunting game, held by the royal family themselves. Would participants this decade be registering and be prepared for our latest and freshly cut challenges. The Emperor, His Majesty Julius zi Britannia himself will draw the random chosen players. Before I start the list of rules, shall we put our hands together for an opening speech?” Rytho en Britannia shouts excitedly from a podium across from us.

Billions of vampires all over the empire are invited openly for this game. The stadium is wide enough to be filled by three hundred thousand rows and fifty thousand levels and still leave enough space to sit properly. There are even some spare areas that are hidden beneath the folds, ninety sloughs for novel families and seven larger podiums for each of the royal households, chattered in the middle of the rows. Everyone already set on their assigned sitting and anticipating the starter.

“Are you planning to participate this time?” Altore asks from my left side, sitting alongside with Elric and followed by Charlotte at the end of the row.

At the same time, Rytho turns his head to me, “Would everyone please welcome your one and only Crown Princess, Her Majesty Amethyst zi Britannia.”

“Yes,” I answer for both. I take a stand and step forward, making sure that everyone has a clear sight of me. My heavy silver gown clashes as I move, producing halcyon sounds. My crystal earrings blaze daringly when the light it them, peaking brightly from behind my thick, half-curled white snow strands. For this moment of celebration, I also wear my wonderful crown, clapping my forehead as a solid graded necklace, the blood rubies glaring at any eyes that land upon it.

I rest my hands against the vine railings in front of me and face my citizen, speaking steady and clear.

“Today, or until the next week, are not about the game. These days, Ladies and Lords, are about you and your needs. Our creative team has prepared the most violent, twisted and savage challenges only designed for your highest expectations. There will be murders, and there will be spilled blood.”

They cheer at the sounds of my promising tone, especially the Lords, who have been registering since the last hunting game finished. They are jumping all over the moon, no pun intended, though I have no doubt that some will try out of the level of excitement. Not even a single individual can be still as death once they get their minds into this, pun intended. This will be the moment they all have been looking forward to, pun very much intended.

I begin to open my mouth again and they start tuning down.

“There might not be any involvement of titanium in this game, but I can guarantee you that there will be some ways that might be going to force the participants to scream for life throughout the game. You can work together or you can trust yourself alone, but don’t forget to watch your back, because traitor can pop out just anywhere. This game will allow all the previous impossible chances to come out and play, so participants, you are highly demanded to beware. Now, who is ready to be face to face with cruelty?”

After my warning and generous smile, I can see that a few participants begin to concern. In the other side, the spectators are cheering and clapping even louder than before. “All Hail the Crown Princess!” they shout. They sure know that I do not joke about this, though. We have set the level of complication in this game even higher that the bar of the last decade’s as demanded from the citizen themselves. And high we do.

Returning to my royal sit, Rytho proceeds by taking over to listing out the rules.

“I can’t wait to rip that golden flesh with my fangs,” Altore mutters to me.

“Just fangs?” I title my head to face him slightly, while at the same time still training my eyes in the middle of the stadium. “You’re that confident that it won’t require a full set of your teeth to do it?” I ask, my tone teasing.

“You can’t expect anything less, or I might just get offended,” he replies with the same hint, a smile playing on his lips. For this occasion, he is wearing his imperial suit, which consists of the colour white mostly, and decorated with brilliant ruby gem ornaments everywhere, like the colour of his eyes. The outfit has lots of layers, including robes and scarves hanging on his broad shoulders, but what stands out the most is that recently-pierced earring on his right, chained with silver from edge to edge. It has a simple yet fancy design to it. “So, what makes you want to participate this decade?”

“What do you mean? I was involved on the previous hunting game before.”

He lets out a ‘pfffffft’-ing sound. “Being a Chessmistress is not considered as participating when you are missing all the actions.”

“The role can make quite an impact, and I tend to do the same again this time around,” I tell him.

“Oh, come on, Big Sis. You know you want to,” Charlotte exclaims from the end of the row. She is wearing a pale ivory full-bloom gown that ends on her knees. It has long sleeves from a medieval age style, and there are real rubies sewed on her bottom skirt. The look is completed with a red chrysanthemum on each side of her tied up hair.

“それはすべての*に、***に**のための**であるにもかかわらず、*々はすべてここに*る**の*い**があります,” Elric adds up from her right side in Japanese. There is a strong reason why we all come here even though it is practically an early morning for humans, after all. “あなたは、この**を**にしたくはなりません、あなたがいないのだろうか？” You must not wish to waste this opportunity, won’t you?

Today he’s having a high collared suit, tailored to perfectly with white strings that blend well with the shiny fabric. Some silver lines are decorating his clothing, and he has small shaped swords as his jacket buttons. There are epaulettes on his shoulders in silver, holding on to his half-length cape.

Altore’s eyebrows are curling by that.

“What’s so great about humans that the two of you prefer so much, anyway? It’s not like there is any merit in defending them,” he says, recalling that in every conference gathering, Elric and I are almost in the same page. And I must say, that the two of us have become even closer after he has got back from his previous mission from the human continent.

“Brother, just admit that you are jealous, and I will tell you the reason,” Elric replies casually, causing Altore to blush.

“No, I’m not!” he snaps as Elric shares a look with me, a sneaky smile twitching on the edges of his lips. It seems like our little brother is in the mood for teasing.

“You’re not, or you won’t?” he questions. Charlotte sneaks a peak, seemingly looking forward to see her oldest brother’s reaction. Altore blushes even deeper when she plays that satire smirk.

“That’s okay, Brother. It’s good to be jealous. Sometimes I do too, when the two of you are so close with Big Sister. But what’s important the most is that you guys know that I am the closest to her,” she says.

“Really?” Altore arches an eyebrow. “And what makes you think of that?”

Charlotte says nothing, but lifts her doll up. Her full set of teeth shows up when she says, “The ultimate weapon, for the ultimate beloved.”

“That’s not fair. Yours only last this long because it’s not even alive,” he protests.

“Well, I don’t care about the being fair part, but at least I can take care of my gift,” she replies.

“Now, now, Charlotte. It’s not really Altore’s fault that he don’t know how to take care of a cub,” I tell her. “I guess I was putting too much life in it, and didn’t think that he would fail that horribly.” I mask a sad look.

“Hey, my skills are not that horrible,” Altore objects, knowing that I’m just teasing him as the rest of them. “Who knows how to take care of a newborn bear when he is only one hundred days old, anyway? Besides, I didn’t know back then that I had to feed it at least once a day. I had expected it to have much higher tolerance.”

“It’s a newborn, Altore. Of course it should have been fed more often,” Elric adds in, a disappointed shield on his face. Inside, the three of us are laughing out loud for him.

“Alright, alright. Why don’t we just turn our attention back to the game, shall we?” Altore grunts upsetly ─ well, not that serious as well. He knows that we are just bedeviling him.

Around the stadium,

“Ladies and lords, without any further delay, I would like to officially start the annual one hundred and thirteenth hunting game. Who will seize the chance to hunt down the golden deer this time? Don’t leave your sit yet, because things are about to get bloody,” Rytho declares elatedly from the podium across.

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞

“Participants in the field are allowed to strike each other without any limitation, except for erasing another participant permanently. Other means of methods, such as torture, internal bleeding, and body parts pulling are permitted. There will be no titanium allowed in the ground,” Rytho lists out the rules. “The Emperor will push the button that will allow the engine to randomly draw names and divide the participants into groups. Each group will consist of twelve participants. Chessmasters and Chessmistresses will be randomly set separately. Are you ready?”

A flat screen rolls down from the sky above his podium, fading in from blank to series of column. Father presses the button that was given to him and faces and names start to scramble quickly on the screen. After half a minute, the scrambling slows down and finally setting the groups.

The first group shows that Charlotte will be joining Vilvia as a fighter. There are some high ranks that got into the same group, along with a few more Varnaculars spread fairly.

Moving on, Elric gets the second group. He will be joining Lancel, who is posing as the Chessmaster. This will be an outdaring combination.

Altore gets to join the fifth group. Mauvet is there, taking part as another participant. It also turns out to be the group Vallénce will be acceding.

Meanwhile, I get to string along with older purebloods in group seven. Wallow of the ‘en’ household and Dablovo from the house of ‘el’ are among those entrants.

“Next up, our system will randomly choose each opponents of a group.”

On cue, the screen scrambles again. This time, when it stops, it shows two numbers face to face, two and eight. The first round will be on Elric. He rises up from his royal sit and climbs down one of the stadium’s pillars by locking his hand and leg around it in a standing position. Others move as well. Lancel joins an opposing group’s Chessmaster and enters his prepared pod.

There are two pods on the each end of the field, post up high to get a clear view. The game itself will start off like a chess board. Lancel gets the black one, while his opponent gets the white. The fighters will be the chess pieces, and the Chessmaster will be the King. Movements of the chess piece will determine who will be allowed to attack. If a piece gets close enough to the pod, he or she may launch attack on the King holder.

Rytho starts the countdown and each side prepare for themselves.

“Hunt on in.... Three.... Two.... One....”

Number two was mentioned on the former, which means that Lancel is allowed to make a move first. Without taking time, he lifts up his Knight and places it up front. A red square appears on the field, showing Mauvet where to move from his position. The opposing Chessmaster, Reya la Britannia of the west resident, moves one of his Pawns, causing another fighter to change position. Lancel proceeds by moving a Pawn of his. Reya seizes that chance to move a Bishop.

The battle of the chess pieces continues, but oddly, there is no real fight. None of the chess pieces has come down to an epic end yet. Nobody is fighting, and I can see from beside me of how sour Altore’s face is of not being able to see anything bloody at all. Lancel and Reya concentrate on their tactics a lot. Lancel keeps fishing him, and Reya eats all of this inducement unconsciously. His blunt desire to want to win badly really controls him. And before we know it, the game finishes, with Lancel checkmating Reya’s King with a Pawn.

“What a strike,” Rytho admits complementarily, “As expected from a previous champion!”

Nythalie cheers from her podium loudly, along with the rest of the spectators. Lancel comes down from his pod, along with Reya. They walk to the middle of the field and bows in the same time, placing their right hands on their chest, as a sign of respect. The first round ends without any blood spilled, but I know that Lancel was not completely holding back. This achievement itself is a way to release his stress.

The screen randomizes again, and this time it reveals two whole new set of numbers; ten and seven. Which means I get a black.

“Alright, Ladies and Lords. The first round might not be as bloody as you expect it to be, but I can assure you, these ones want blood to spill.”

My opponent Chessmistress is an elder ─ Elder Wilhelmina, to be exact. I can see her from a lower row slowly going rigid when her eyes locked with mine, before being able to turn away in time. I smirk at her, showing what’s hidden underneath, and she shivers. We both walk into our own pods, followed by each group members. She starts first, but I don’t mind it at all.

“Yeah, Big Sis! Knock ‘em dead,” Charlotte exclaims from our podium with an accent.

“Well, technically, we aren’t allowed to really kill them,” Elric tells her as he settles back into his sit.

“Oh. Sorry. I am just so in the heat of the moment,” she mumbles as a respond. Then to me, she corrects, “Then knock ‘em half-dead.” Which cause some of the participants on field to gulp.

And I will.

Once it’s my turn to move, I move a Pawn. Elder Wilhelmina has no other choice but to move the obvious. I take my turn and she does. By the time the third move comes, I strike her Queen down in one go, causing the spectators to cheer excitedly.

Dablovo, my Rook, takes his chance to claw his hand around Elder Wilhelmina’s underling. The underling screams out loud for help as he bites into her shoulder and rips her skin off. I catch his wife smirking at him from their podium, as if encouraging him to go on silently. Dablovo lets the underling go and she falls on the ground. He steps on one of her wrists and breaks it straight away, causing another wave of scream of go off.

“Blood, blood, blood, BLOOD!” The spectators rise.

I throw my own smirk at Elder Wilhelmina, really challenging her this time. She looks pissed, especially when one of her favorite servant is being tormented and there is nothing she or the other members can do about it. Gripping one hand into a fist, she uses the other one to moves one of her Bishops. A male vampire, stuck in the age of thirties, comes striking towards where Dablovo stands.

It is true that this game is not just about hunting the prey, but also to provide a chance. If Elder Wilhelmina had a plan, then this will be her biggest moment to shine it on.

Her Bishop raises his sword up high, but Dablovo doesn’t even make a move. At the final second when the sword is about to s***h him, the pureblood catches it with one hand, completely treating this small assault degradingly. The Bishop gets pissed, putting more force into his sword by using both hands. It’s no use though. As long as the Varnacular is facing a pureblood, there is nothing he can do.

Much.

When it is time for me to make my move, I use a Pawn and knock down one of the white’s Knight. The Knight doesn’t stand a chance when the holder of the Pawn is Wallow. The older pureblood rips a leg and throws the Knight out of the field so disposingly. The crowd emboldens for more blood.

Dablovo throws me a glance, knowing obviously that I do it on purpose. According to the rule, I have to move his chess piece if I want to let him strike back the Bishop. But right now he just have to stay still and keep up his defenses until I allow him to charge back.

Elder Wilhelmina takes my bait like a hungry lion, without even thinking twice sets off her Queen at Wallow. She is really giving her all, but she is also giving out her all. She is going reckless, and without even realizing it already giving up her protection shields. With an opening like this, being checkmated is bound to approach by any waking second.

Wallow stops the noble vampire by the head, taking strong yet simple grip on the skull. The shorter vampire struggles a lot, punching and kicking, but all he gets is the air. The older pureblood is really utilizing his unusual height to make fun of his attacker. But any more move and in defensive, then he will be disqualified.

My turn comes up, but I still do not checkmate her right away, which causes Dablovo to slightly frown in irritation. I know that it is meant for me, even when it is not me he is digging hole to but the sky. I use my chance every time to eliminate yet another member from Elder Wilhelmina’s group, just to haunt her by knowing what is coming for her. She will try to take down another of my chess piece, but I will always make sure that the opponents her group members get are even stronger than hers. It is so that every time she risks a piece, she loses one.

I let this little haunting game goes on until there is nothing left on her zone board than that one final piece, the King ─ herself.

Instead of using any other chess pieces though, I use mine instead. But since the Kings can only move one square per turn, it takes time to eventually catch up to her chess piece. That’s alright, though. The chasing itself is fun enough for me. Then, when it finally comes to an end, I checkmate her.

The second hand from the clock tower seems to stop when I dive down from my pod, down and pass across the entire field, before climbing up her white pod. I give her my Devil’s sneer, causing her to struck with shock, and then bestow her with a much higher level of shock when I punch my hand into her chest. My crawls achingly extort her heart ─ one last sign of mortality that she has left after being turned almost two thousand years ago ─ gouge it, before eke it out from her chest.

Her dead veins get pulled along when I tore her heart out. The cold red lump moves slightly, as if coming back from the grave by pumping up. Elder Wilhelmina can only watch as I extend my hand out, her organ still being held. My nails have gotten so sharp they barely scratch the outer layer of the heart. All the way, I keep my smirk on, the spectators voicing out their wishes.

“Crush it and shove it down her throat!” a male voice exclaims.

Thump.

“Put it back in her and tore it out all over again!” another male joins him.

Thump.

“Tear her heart and throw it on the ground, then make her crawl on dirt to pick it up!” a female gives me another idea.

Before I can do any of those vicious options though, I turn my palm upside down and let the heart slip off.

It lands on the ground with a surprisingly loud ‘pop’ sound, much like a balloon that is pierced by a needle. Elder Wilhelmina’s eyes roll back from the eye sockets before falling down from her pod oh-so-not gracefully.

The crowd goes wild as paramedics are ready to take her away. I kiss my blood-covered hand at her unconscious corpse to say goodbye.

Until we see again.

“What a show, what a show,” Rytho whistles in awe. “And that, Ladies and Lords, is why our crown princess is called the White Devil. Cross her and you are officially six feet under. Now, who’s ready for another round of madness?”

Another powerful wave of cheer comes from all over the stadium. Adults and elders, youngs and newborns ─ they all want the same thing.

“Wow, you really knock them all half dead. Not even a single one spared,” Charlotte states in awe-stuck once I get back to our podium, still not breaking any eye contact from the field I left behind.

“Yeah. You were so bad that I think that old haughty will not rise up until the next half a year,” Altore chips in.

“Half a year? I think she won’t be gone for that long. A month of recovery, perhaps. Two months top,” I say.

“Nah, I don’t think so. She’s so old that I don’t think even her corpse can function that properly. I will give her at least three months in the coffin.”

“Really?” I fold my arms underneath my chest. “And what makes you suddenly an expert in this? I thought I am suppose to make the analysis.”

“Because you totally kill out there,” Elric precepts, bending his body slightly to face me. Then, in a lower tone, he says, “You really got your vindicate done on her, didn’t you?” He is mentioning about the time when I overheard Elder Wilhelmina talking with her fellow elders as they passed a hallway after their meeting with the Emperor, which happened before he got sent away for his mission. Pompous ancient cadavers, they are.

“What can I say? A vampire never forgets. There might be those who are high and noble, but I am certainly not one to suppress my grudges like crazy,” I smile as I say that, more to the enjoyment of recalling the second I held that rotten heart in my hand.

“That you totally don’t, Big Sister,” he shares a smile as sinister as mine.

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞

The next segments move up to yet another showdown. The system pulls out two set of numbers, and this time the screen shows number five and one.

“Alright. That’s more like it,” Altore jumps up his sit, inflamed. “Are you ready, Little Sister?” he throws a challenging look at her before walking up and jumps right off the podium, so he can land directly on the field in one go.

“You bet,” she resuscitates and overhauls him, bringing the mechanical doll along.

“What’s with you guys and jumping over the podium today?” I ask, noticing the repetition.

“It’s much more in a certain style. You should have done that,” Elric tells me.

“Maybe on my second orbed.”

“Oh, but I’m sure not Charlotte will be left victorious this time. It’s him they are facing against, after all.”

At the same time, Vilvia leaves a peck on her husband’s lips and joins with the rest of her group. She’s playing the part of a Pawn, while Charlotte becomes the Black Knight. The Chessmaster himself is a high-ranking noble named Cornelius Gaund, a Viscount.

On the other side, the White Knight is Altore, followed by Mauvet as one of the Pawns. The Chessmaster in the group is none other than my fiancé.

“You are right. Expect if Vallénce purposely lose, which I highly doubt he’ll do, I don’t think there is a way for the Black to win.”

“You don’t know that,” a deep voice comes from my right. Elric and I turn to look at our father, who is keeping his eyes on the field below with a secret rare smile of his own. “There are just some things that my older brother will still keep for surprises, no matter how well you know him.” And that is saying something, considering that he is probably the only one who is still exist that knows my fiancé really well, other than Vallénce himself.

Vallénce gets a head start, being the white Chessmaster. It is somehow rather predictable when he moves his Pawn, Mauvet, forward for two squares. The young pureblood steps upfront without even suspecting a thing, until a series of giant knifes comes out in the middle of the field, cutting across the arena. Mauvet has no other choice but to back down, recessived by another giant knife that is coming his way. Then another, and another. By the fifth, he jumps off the ground and lands hard back on his first spot. The knife barely misses him by a millimeter on his head.

Some vampires shout in excitement while some look strangely at the display. Good thing our host fills them in immediately.

“Oh, what a bad luck. It seems like Mauvet li Britannia has triggered one of the traps we have set especially for this time’s annual hunting game. Now, I must warn the other participants that you might find these hidden traps as well. There will not be any clue of where they are placed, since each new trap is renewed in every round. It will be placed randomly. It can be at where you will be going to. Can be where you must walk pass. Can also be where you are currently standing, waiting to be activated. So beware, all the time.”

By that warning, the participants on the field starts to look around, trying to sense any upcoming trap before it cuts them in the neck. Altore snickers, whether on the newly installed traps or at Mauvet’s reaction after being chased by those knifes. He does look a bit paranoid after that, and Altore can be laughing at both of those things.

Viscount Cornelius takes a longer time to make his decision, before moving a Pawn up ahead on his chessboard screen. On the field, a female Varnacular walks ahead, cautions in her head. She looks at her left and right, and then all over again as she steps further. Once she reaches her destination, nothing happens.

She signs in relief, and the spectators goes in silence, until a forty feet morning star comes from below the field horizon and smacks her to the ground. She screams out loud instead of getting out of the way, but still reacts at the second wave by dragging herself away. Lucky for her, the nailed medieval weapon only reacts to one square. Still, her injuries are opening and it will takes about fifteen until she fully recovers from all the nails that have been punctured into her body. One needle is at least one meter long, so it probably tore her insides awfully.

“Two bad lucks in a strike for both sides of our participants this round. Will there be a third?” Rytho taunts, gripping the railing of his podium tightly as he bends down to the match.

Vallénce cuts to the chance and lets Altore steps forward. My brother walks pass a Pawn in front of him and stops at the end of the L. No trap is triggered. It will be odd if it does, since there aren’t suppose to be that many. The first two rounds have passed without a single one being triggered, so it will be slightly suspicious if all the traps just suddenly come down in a go.

The Black Chessmaster moves up Charlotte as well, seemingly wanting to balance this fight. Vallénce proceeds to his White Knight again, as Viscount Gaud does the same in his Black Knight. Our two siblings are smirking at each other, ready for their face off. But before Altore gets his last turn, Vallénce another chess piece instead.

A Bishop that was standing behind Mauvet diagonally before begins charging in, heading straight towards Charlotte. Viscount Gaud makes his move as well, forwarding a Pawn, Vilvia, off his position. The attempt can not help him any more than having Charlotte to block the attack. Charlotte flips the Bishop of the ground with one hand ever so flawlessly, before planting the heel of her boot on his back. She can’t be taken out, but she will be preoccupied. That’s when Vallénce uses that opportunity to checkmate the Black King right away by using his White Knight.

Altore climbs up the pod and mercilessly tears out Viscount Gaud’s guts. His throat bursts out with blood alongside with his abdomen. The crowd encourages Altore to torture him more, and he complies to their wishes, slicing the Viscount’s throat open and making a pool of out his blood even more.

“It’s not that I have any grudges against you. This is purely a deathly game, and you are just so in it for the worst,” Altore athwarts his arms in the air, letting fresh noble blood dripping down from his extended fingernails, before walking away.

The next round plays off and it is group three against group four. Altore hops back into the podium, one hand still covered in blood. He retracts his nails back until they reach the usual length, before he licks the blood right off of his skin as he returns to his sit.

“Well, that was quick,” I mutter.

“That’s because our uncle here made it so,” Charlotte aforethoughtly says out loud in irritation, so that Vallénce can hear her from beside Father.

The four of us siblings are arranged to sit on his left side while Vallénce sits on the Emperor’s right side. Scarlet sits right next to him to balance the arrangement a little bit, but in times like this, he is mostly doesn’t to be bothered. He is concern that something will come up from the system.

He has been taking notes ever since starter of the game, calculating every late loading and odd respond, rather than enjoying the show. And participating will be out of question, since he knows every inch of the systematic in this machinery. He will know what he can exceed or avoid in the game, which technically will be consider as cheating or an easy win for him.

Scarlet was the one who build this new and improved version of hunting game system. Any slight error will cause him to be frustrated. So he has been sitting on his chair in silence, waiting for something to go wrong. It is not until the game is finish that he will be fine again.

“There are still plenty of chances though. In the match off. If I can proceed to the final round, I can trade one of my members with you,” I tell her.

She stomps back on her sit. “That’s okay. I don’t want to feel like I’m cheating when my older sister can obviously win this game easily,” she smiles at me, purposefully listing out Vallénce from the possibility. Our brothers notice and smirk as well.

Vallénce knows what my little sister is trying to do, of course, but even when he can hears her as clear as day, he doesn’t react to anything. In fact, he just sits there, as if nothing just happens and continues watching the match. And then finally, the moment we all have been waiting for....

“Welcome to the second stage of the hunting game,” Rytho announces. “With higher level, come higher risks. You will find more hidden traps on the field.” At the same time, the dirt ground changes and the system provides a new set of arena; a vampire-size chessboard, in red and white colors. “Now, without further due, let’s see which group is against which.” The giant screen flips the numbers in random orders until it stops in the same split second.

Charlotte practically bulges her eyes at the screen, along with half the stadium. The first is number two, and followed by that the second is number five. It is Lancel versus Vallénce in strategy, Elric versus Altore in fight. With so much power and cunning clashing into one round, everything is tense and alive at the same time.

I turn to the right to see what Vallénce reaction might be, and I am greeted by his innocent smile, causing me to carve his touch instantly. But before I can reach my hand out towards him, he already leaves his sit right at the same second. Inside, I am wondering if he does this on purpose, so that my arching can be more longing by the time he is in my arm’s reach again.

On the wider size of the chessboard, participants are gathering. Elric and Altore already jump in when I cut half the webs of my attention to Vallénce. It’s just so hard to completely let go when I know that he is intending something.

The spectators welcome them with a much higher enthusiasm because they know that this will surely be a thought one for sure. Vallénce is the second in command of this empire, and it requires a lot of different sorts of skills in the occupation. Planning strategy is one of those requirements. In the other hand, everybody who knows things also knows that Lancel has a mad skill in playing chess. That was one of the reasons why we could become best friends in the first place. He has an intelligent that can match mine. We often competed when we were little, and the result had mostly been a tie all long. While I and Vallénce never really get it on the chess board, I am positive that they will be tough opponents once controverted.

Lancel makes the first move, being at the white side. He starts off with a pawn, from G2 to G4, and so does Vallénce, moving E7 to E5, when it comes to his turn. The next step Lancel takes is a huge one, using his right Knight and moves it to G3. He just leaves it there, as if silently threatening Vallénce to use his turn to move his pawn, before Lancel takes it down.

No big player is being used yet, though. Still, the participants are torn between watching out for their backs and watching at how acrimonious the Chessmasters are.

Vallénce keeps his face expressionless as he reaches out and passes through the chess board, intentionally leaving curious minds all around. The other arm is bent to prop his chin, wedging it on the back of his hand. However, instead of taking Lancel’s bait, he moves another pawn. The exchanging turns are used by moving up each side’s pawns, to make a way for the bigger pieces. Then Vallénce takes out one of his Bishops, moving it from C8 to G4, automatically launching an attack. Below us, two Varnaculars are trying to eat each other. To us, it is only a Bishop and a Pawn giving up all of their might to stand in position.

The two vampires are struggling, but in the end, the black wins. The white pawn receives several injuries including having half of his face torn by the skin. It might visually be savage for the first five minutes, but after passing that time limit, he will look exactly the same as when he came; untouched. That is the strong reason why this game is built for vampires only.

After that, Lancel does not have the need to conquer Vallénce’s pawn anymore. Instead, he focuses on protecting his King. By sacrificing one of his pawns, he moves his Knight to keep it from being eaten. Vallénce doesn’t move his Bishop, knowing that it will be defeated if he proceeds on checkmating the King. The White Bishop from F1 would have killed it if he had done so.

So instead he retrieves the Bishop, waiting until his next turn, and continuing on his Queen, which hilariously ends up with Altore. He moves it from E8 to A4. This time, Lancel is not safe, because Vallénce is officially checkmating his White King.

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞

“Someone’s holding his grudges against me,” Altore mutters under his breath, “but that’s alright, as long as I am getting some killing this time.”

The rush of the game is pulsating through the entire stadium. The next step Lancel is going to make will be the deal breaker of this round. We watch austeringly as the scene unfolds in front of our eyes.

Lancel notices that the first mistake he did was moving away the pawn that was placed in front of his Bishop at F2, which eventually leading him to get to this point. Vallénce used this opening to checkmate him, while Lancel was concentrating at someplace else.

But this is so unlike Lancel, though. He was usually very careful and calculative at every motion. I guess the years out of practice have changed him.

What’s so good about playing this quarry is that this is no ordinary chess game. Because even when Lancel already gets checkmated, he can still have a chance in withstanding Vallénce’s tactic. So, without a single doubt, Lancel makes a side move in one of the pawns. That might look like a stupid stir, but I know that he has a plan.

Vallénce proceeds by putting Altore in motion, coming across half the chess field. On the third step, he activates a trap that sets a twenty feet hammer to swing at his direction. He jumps it off easily and proceeds on charging at Lancel’s pod. Altore tears open the door rampagingly, but then he freezes in the middle. He is surprise to find that the pod empty.

His eyes behind to look around, but there is no sign of Lancel anywhere. Then how did he get out in the first place? The answer is particle transformation.

I spot him figuring on the bottom of the pod, standing just beside the towering pole. He is looking at my direction and our eyes lock instantly. There is confidence in his sharp gaze, with a thick mixture of pride and faith. It seems like he has perfected the tricks I have taught him years ago, when he was still living in the castle.

Years ago, I discovered that the particles of a pureblood’s body can be changed physically by a strong will. It can also lowers its presence until it falls to the term of invincible, as in no one can see the body until the pureblood allows it to happen. He is using it now, and he is allowing me to spot him first.

It is only seconds later before the other notice where he is, after he releases the aura he has been holding in, from zero to a perfect one hundred. Altore lets himself fall freely, making a flip at the last second, so that he can land directly in front of Lancel on his feet.

Lancel greets him with a smirk, inviting him to make a first move. Altore gladly swings his arm horizontally, aiming to cut off his head. Lancel bends on his back easily. My brother swings his arm at the opposite direction, targeting his side this time. Lancel saltos with a back flip and lands a few meters away, exactly at the edge of his position, though still stepping on his square.

Altore chases after him, jumping up high and kicking his feet in the air. He wants to push Lancel out of his position, but Lancel circles to the opposite at the last minute, causing Altore to going on the square next to his. He tries to flip back over to the White King’s square, but Lancel immediately stops him by catching my brother at his boots and slams him right against the field board. It fractures half a meter deep, with Altore landing on his back. This automatically causes Altore to be disqualified, because he is landing on a place that he is not suppose to be.

“Exilation has made you tough,” Altore comments as he strengthens his back, not sounding irritated at all, surprisingly. Since he loses fair and square, this does not seem to upset him at all.

“You have no idea,” Lancel replies, glancing at him while regaining his composure, “You are bound to always plan ahead when hunters are at the left and right, even in a hand combat.” Then he climbs back into his pod, taking the Black Queen piece into his captive.

At the same time, the sun rises above our heads, reflecting on the globe glass on top of the stadium. The change of setting causing a few vampires to get distracted, especially the Varnaculars. The light will not harm them, but it is still too bright to what they are used to. Varnaculars are just one of the castes’ night crawlers, after all.

The sardonic battle of chess continues, as pieces eat other pieces, violence following, and the two Chessmasters trying to dominate the board one way or another. Traps after traps are getting set on. A few vampires suffer from minor injuries, though most of them receive more provisional damages. Vallénce gets a handful of white pieces in his hands while Lancel gains a batch of his own. They keep wipe out each others’ pawns so crazily skillful until there are only two pieces left standing ─ the two Kings.

“Finally, a match off!” Charlotte shouts ecstatically from beside me. Even Elric has been knocked out from the game and rejoins us in the podium, alongside with Altore who has been disqualified earlier.

Vallénce moves his King.

“It’s rather hard to believe that they are really getting into this,” Elric huffs back to his sit, tapping dust that is still left off his shoulders.

Lancel moves his own last piece.

“I was believed to almost lose a leg when Lancel knocked me down. Good thing that he is your childhood friend, or I would have gone through one hell of a pain,” Altore admits to me.

The game of chase starts, their pods moving along the way.

“Well, it’s a game. I don’t think I will be holding grudges even if he done it,” I reply, causing him to stare at me.

There are some times when they are close enough.

“You mean you’ll let my leg gets pulled off if Lancel had decided to? And you won’t do anything about it after that?”

But when they get too close from the distant, they start pulling away.

“Why should I? We all know both the consequences and the joy of joining this hunting game, after all. Besides, I know for sure that you will recover almost immediately. You know that you should have taken those lessons to get used to pain. So when the bad ones come, you shouldn’t fret about it,” I say with a smile. He shivers at this.

They come close enough and retreat all over again.

“If you are this strict towards your own brother, I don’t want to imagine what it feels like to be a total stranger to you,” he replies apprehensively.

When it seems like the White King and Black King are ready to battle each other, it seems like one of the other doesn’t find the right moment.

“Oh, suck it up, Big Brother,” Elric pats his back. “Look at the bright side; at least we are not her children, or else she would have been even stricter to us than as her younger siblings.”

They keep pulling in and pushing out.

“What makes you think that she wasn’t strict enough as our older sister?”

But then Vallénce strives in.

“Because she allowed Scarlet to hold a weapon at the age of two, duh,” Charlotte states the obvious.

And Lancel makes the checkmate.

“Mother taught us how to handle a titanium way earlier before we were two!” Altore exclaims. “I don’t see the point. That was even stricter!”

Vallénce dispatches from his pod, and so does Lancel. They both jump off their pod and meet in the air. Lancel has longer arms that can strangle my fiancé quicker, but Vallénce has a shorter body that can facilely be bent away. They are intertwined in hand combat, dodging and attacking and twisting and turning each other until the two land on the field board with so much force, the floor cracks underneath their feet.

Lancel gets the red end while Vallénce gets the white one. With two Kings trying to consume one and another, it really seems like the battle is in balance. But of course, Vallénce is still the stronger one. He can exceed any when he wants, once he gets serious.

“That was different. Mother was Mother, and I am me,” I tell Altore. “The point is, we might look alike, but our priorities are different.”

It doesn’t even cross my mind that anyone in the stadium will turn their eyes away from the fight that is being manifested in the middle of the field. Lancel then says something to Vallénce, but he is really controlling voice to the point that it is just too low for anyone to hear except the two of them.

Whatever he says to my fiancé seems to upset him for some reason, even when Vallénce can’t be disturbed that easily. Lancel must be mentioning something really sensitive that it gets Vallénce to be so riled up that he changes into his real form and fight Lancel off with all his might.

At almost in the same height, Vallénce long locks are disarrayed, scragging around his face heavily. His crimson-violet eyes are gleaming brutally, as if he is this close from losing it.

Lancel tries to hold him off, but Vallénce just keep pushing him with so much force that he is starting to back down. Lancel is struggling to defend himself at this point, though it seems like even he knows that it is useless to have a hope in winning against Vallénce at this point.

In the end, he allows Vallénce to dominate him and push him down to the floor. Lancel is barely holding up on his knees when he suddenly screams out loud it pain. The sound is so sharp that the wildering crowd goes so quiet. All we hear is his torment, as Vallénce twists his arm so disangledly that it almost gets pulled off.

I wait for Vallénce to let go, but judging from the more force he puts in this hold, it doesn’t seem like he is stopping. Lancel’s scream in pain keeps getting intense, and this only brings the crowd to its highest excitement yet. Then finally, the last crack gives off. Blood fuses from his upper arm as Lancel tries to hold into his remaining skin as Vallénce tosses the bloody limb away and walks off from the middle of the field.

He doesn’t seem to be like going to return to the podium, so I excuse myself and run after him.

“What did he say to you?” I ask him once I find him back in an old wooden pavilion, surrounded by wild veld. This is the place where I officially met him for the first time, back when I was just a newborn child.

“Something inappropriate,” he mutters through grinned razors, his tone directed to Lancel.

“What is it that he said that made you so out of it?”

The corner of his lips twitch in a flash, before turning back to furious once more. “I wasn’t out of it. I was enraged.”

“What was it about?”

Vallénce closes his eyes, and even though still in his adult form, his eyelashes look so long and elegantly brushed. Then after a while, he opens them back again. “Who else? It’s about you, of course.”

“What did he said about me?”

“I told you; it’s something inappropriate.”

I sense that he wants to be left alone right now, so I walk off.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

Well, at least I try to.

“I’ll go and ask him then, so that I can resolve whatever ticked you off before.”

In a rush, he is already there in front of me and takes hold of my upper arm, like how he did when he tried to take Lance’s arm off, though this time without as much force being put through.

“You don’t have to. I can assure you that what he had said before will mostly make your skin turn blue once you hear about it.”

I just keep staring at him, until he gives up and reveals it to me.

“He said he wanted to bed you, and I am only summarizing this lightly. You have no idea who much further details he had drilled into my head in that arena until I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

“Surely you know that he was just trying to get you serious,” I say.

He pulls me closer until I collide against his abdomen when he replies in a dark whisper, “Does it ever come across your mind that it is not just your brothers who have interest in you more than they should? That childhood friend of yours was trying to show that by attempting to beat me. Well, of course you are aware of that, somewhere in the back of your consciousness. But you just have to keep ignoring them. And I don’t like it when they think that they somehow have these possibilities of taking you away from me.”

My eyebrows shrivel at this. “Vallénce, I am your fiancé. I have accepted that, and I want to be with you. Not anyone else,” I tell him.

“It would have helped if you make sure that they really understand in every single way.”

I blink at him. “Are you assuming that....” I start off slightly. There is only one mean to really seal of the deal, to never make any possibility of anyone else ever thinking that they can sweep me away from Vallénce. It is the most vital, vigorous bind that can ever be created in this empire. It is even more powerful than the bind of an engagement. It was the same thing that bound my grandparents together, and my parents together as well.

Vallénce looks at me in the eyes, his gaze so soft that neither even silk nor feather can compare to it. He holds my hands in his, one finger brushing against the surface of my amethyst ring ─ the ring that he gave to me long ago as prove of our engagement. It still looks like new. Then, he slowly asks me, his gules lips forming a series of words in perfect formed syllables.

“Will you marry me?”

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞