Rudy dashed at the Vampire Monarch at a very high speed and swung his fist back to punch him, but the Vampire Monarch didn’t flinch or even move from his spot.
He simply dropped the glass he was holding and uttered, “Can we do this somewhere else? I don’t want my guests to get caught in the fight.”
Rudy stopped because he saw the sincerity in the Vampire Monarch’s eyes.
“Fine.”
“Thank you for your cooperation. I truly appreciate it.”
The Vampire Monarch turned around and started walking towards the door nonchalantly. He didn’t even keep his guard up, thinking Rudy could attack him from behind.
“…”
Rudy followed him even though he was getting stares from everyone, especially the guards.
After reaching the open balcony of the palace, the vampire monarch turned to Rudy and asked, “Can you fly?”
“I can.”
“Hmm…” He looked up at the red moon and said, “Today is…. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. It’s too early for ‘that’ day.”
“What are you muttering about?”
“Oh, my apologies. I was lost in my thoughts.” The Vampire monarch spread his wings and said, “Follow me.”
Rudy jumped after the Vampire Monarch and asked, “Where are we going?”
“Do you see those streets and houses?” he asked. “My citizens live there. I wouldn’t want to destroy their houses in some stupid fight. So I am taking you to the arena where we can fight if you want to.”
‘Not going to lie, this guy is not as I expected,’ Rudy uttered inwardly. ‘I was expecting an arrogant bastard who would be ruling over all the vampires in terror. I guess I have read too many stories about the rulers being the villains.’
“Oh!” The Vampire Monarch looked at Rudy with a shocked expression on his face and asked, “How are you flying without wings?!”
“I literally have no idea.”
“Hmm? Can I ask if Rias knew you had such powers?” he asked with a curious yet calm look on his face.
“No.”
Rudy sensed something from behind him, so he turned around and saw thousands of vampires following him.
“What’s that? Do you plan to ambush me or something? Just saying that it won’t work on me,” Rudy scoffed arrogantly.
“I think they are simply tagging alone to watch our fight…” the Vampire Monarch sighed.
A few minutes later, Rudy and the Vampire Monarch landed in the middle of the area.
The arena was 50 times the size of a standard soccer court. There were many pedestals and stairs around it, seemingly for the people to watch the fights and enjoy themselves. On the highest point, there was a balcony made for the royals to have a clear view of the entire arena.
‘Wow…’ Rudy was awed. ‘I saw this from afar, but it looked like a dessert to me. I have never seen an arena this big. Heck, it’s nearly five times the size of my town.’
“This arena is big enough to gather the vampires of this entire world. It’s called the royal arena,” the Vampire Monarch stated.
The vampires who were following them also reached the arena and stood in the wait for their king’s order.
The Vampire Monarch smiled at Rudy and said, “May I know your name?”
“It’s Rudy.”
“Rudy…? Family name?”
“Don’t have one.”
“I see.” The Vampire Monarch cleared his throat and said, “My name is Vlad the thirteenth, but my citizens call me Virgil, and I prefer the latter one. Vlad is the name passed over the generations.”
“Are we done with introductions?” Rudy asked in an annoyed tone. “I can’t hold my anger.”
“I would appreciate it if you could hold it for a while longer. I first want to talk with you.” Virgil shrugged his shoulders and said, “Why should we fight if we can solve the matter by talking? That’s a mature way to resolve disputes, after all. Or perhaps humans are still barbarians who don’t know who to talk to?”
“…”
“So Rudy, can I ask why you want to fight me?”
“I am just here to pay you back for what you did to Rias!”
“Hmmm…” Virgil pondered for a few seconds while staring at Rudy and said, “Say, you are a human, right?”
“Stop asking me that! I myself have no idea what I am!”
“But you live in a human world, so I will proceed with my example.” Virgil furrowed his brows and asked, “Tell me, Rudy. The human world has rules, right? What happens when someone breaks the rules?”
“They… get punished.”
“Indeed. What is considered the biggest crime in the human world?”
“Murder…?”
“Hmm… that makes sense,” Virgil nodded.
“What are you getting at?”
“Here in the vampire world, we have a rule that vampires can’t fall in love with humans, which is the biggest crime. Rias fell in love with you— a human— and she was punished for it. Now, you tell me, what I did was right, or wrong?”
“…”
“For you to take revenge on me for punishing Rias is the same as a human trying to punish the judge for punishing the murderer. That’s nothing but pure madness.”
Rudy frowned his face and said, “Did you seriously compare murder with love? When you kill someone, you take their life. And love doesn’t take one’s life!”
“…!”
“Either you are a maniac who thinks that people will blindly follow any rule you make. And what’s wrong with a vampire loving a human?!”
“It is… sad. YOu say love doesn’t take one’s life, but you couldn’t be more wrong. You know nothing, human. You are barely mature enough to make any decision while I have lived for over 2000 years.”
“That doesn’t matter! It seems that old age has rusted your brain!” Rudy cracked his neck and said, “Now, can we fight?”
“What… do you want to achieve after fighting me?”
“I want you to remove the spells you have cast on Rias.”
“Alright. If you win the fight, I will remove all the spells from Rias. But What if you lose?”
“That’s never going to happen.”
“I like your confidence.” Virgil chuckled and clapped his hands before saying, “But you won’t be fighting me. You will fight my strongest champion.”
