After taking a bath, Orpheus took a seat across from Kaguya, and she offered him a glass of whiskey.
”It tastes quite strong.” He commented after emptying his glass.
Kaguya chuckled.
”You are sure a heavy drinker. As your level increases, it will become hard to get easily drunk.” She said she seemed to be hinting at something.
Orpheus chuckled, not saying. For him, it was not the only reason why he couldn’t get drunk; his body could never get drunk after he was reborn into this body since he became a vampire.
Just as he became lost in thoughts, Kaguya asked him a question he had been expecting.
”Sorry to ask you this, but what are you?”
Orpheus stayed silent; he was impressed by Kaguya’s sharp senses. She noticed something; she didn’t ask him who he was but what he was?
He looked at her, no Orpheus stared at the faint image of Ice phoenix behind Kaguya and chuckled. This girl was special; not only did she possess a special physics tailored for the Ice attribute, but she also seemed to be loved by the Elemental spirit. Elemental spirits or beasts are beings made of attributes living in the Elemental world. The Ice Phoenix is one of them, she seemed to have taken a liking to the Ice Queen, and the latter seemed unaware of this.
The illusionary Ice phoenix glared at him, but when he looked at the elemental spirit with crimson eyes, she immediately disappeared as if afraid.
Meanwhile, Kaguya was waiting for his answer, she was getting impatient, and just as she was about to ask him again, Orpheus’s eyes were locked onto her, and she felt like prey before the ultimate predator.
”Did you wish to know?” He asked while releasing a little bit of his power. A terrifying aura tried to crush Kaguya, but she ground her teeth and looked at him; however, she was shocked he was floating in front of her; his eyes were shining.
”!”
”Gulp!”
Kaguya felt a chill down her spine, and she gulped audibly.
”Forget it. I will slowly uncover your secret, but one thing is sure you’re not a simple human, maybe a demon in disguise. Either way, now that I’ve offered my body and I’m also planning to give you my heart, you better not abandon him, or else I will kill you no matter who you’re.” Kaguya declared after overcoming the fear of trying to swallow her.
Orpheus nodded, pleased with the look in her eyes.
”Don’t worry, I won’t throw you away if you are useful, and I’m still waiting to see how you’re planning to make me fall in love with you. I won’t fall easily, though.” Orpheus shrugged his shoulders.
Upon hearing his reply, the corners of Kaguya’s mouth lifted into a smile, and she was asked with her head tilted to the side.
”Will stay silent if someone tried to make me his woman forcibly?”
”If that person is tired of living, then he can try,” Orpheus responded; he knew what she was trying to do. He immediately added.
”You don’t have to play this game with me. You are my property; no one has the right to own you other than me. I’m not yours yet. So, try hard, little girl.”
”Tch! You’re no fun. I’m going back to sleep.” Kaguya said before leaving him alone.
Orpheus shook his and decided to visit a certain man to ask for some information.
••••••
Orpheus decided to visit Kratos after locating him.
Kratos was sitting in a lotus position in the middle of the forest; he seemed to be in meditation; he must have been sitting there for a long time, judging by the dust pilled up on his clothes.
Everything around Kratos was dead; there was no life around him. No trees, nothing, as if the man’s presence refused the presence of any living organisms, even the earth around him was dead, black.
Suddenly, Kratos opened his only eye; it was black like a bottomless abyss that could suck your soul in if you looked too much.
”Welcome to you, unexpected guest. I didn’t expect anyone to visit me; hence I can not properly receive you.” Kratos spoke, gesturing to his unexpected visitor to sit on the black chair he had just created.
Space around vibrates before being split in two, and from the other side, a silhouette could be seen walking out. It was a young man; he had black hair and beautiful eyes; they were crimson, a rarely seen pair of eyes.
Orpheus sat on the black chair comfortably before crossing his legs. He looked at the man in front of him and smiled.
”Kratos, how are you progress on the Death Law?”
Orpheus raised a question out of the blue. If one didn’t know about their past relationship, they might have mistaken them for friends.
Kratos let out a sigh and said. “Not too much. Why are you asking me this? Because you’re in a good mood?”
He was displeased by the way Orpheus talked to him even after he offered him a chair. Still, he was curious as to why he purposely came here.
”You can say that,” Orpheus said, and the corner of his mouth lifted upward.
Kratos’s face twitched; he knew Orpheus was trying to play with him. He must not fall for his trick. He quickly controlled his emotions.
”What brought you here? I’m sure that you did not come all the way here to tell me that. Am I wrong?”
“Well, you’re right.” Orpheus shrugged his shoulders and stayed silent. The atmosphere turned heavy; looking at those crimson eyes which looked down on him as if he was nothing, Kratos swallowed hard. He remembered the past before everything became a mess. How did this man become so powerful?
It was because after Emea used the stolen box containing the blood essence of the seven to perform the resurrection spell on Orpheus, something incredible happened. After he was brought back from the dead, he could use the laws (the highest form of attributes) Emea and the other six. Even though he could not perfectly use them, Orpheus could use them to some extent, even better than others.
Orpheus was a monster even without his racial characteristics.
”I want to know the whereabouts of Elliam and Aatox.”
Kratos rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming due to what those had done. He didn’t even know where they were; to be exact, he didn’t know their real location, and even if he knew it, he would not tell him. Although, their relationship was not what it used to be, he would still protect them.
Kratos took a deep breath and decided to test the water; he felt something was different about Orpheus since the last time they met.
“Do not act too arrogant, full of yourself, thinking that you’re the strongest,” Kratos warned.
Orpheus chuckled and released a powerful pressure due to anger, and the space in the forest became distorted.
Kratos gulped, thinking that this pressure was no way inferior to Emea’s fiancé, the Dragon Prince, Arthur’s pressure back then.
Gritting his teeth, Kratos said something normally he shouldn’t.
“He will kill you and take back what was his. And nothing you can do about it because facing him, you’re like an ant.”
Suddenly, everything became frozen; time itself stopped; Kratos shivered in fear when he looked at Orpheus’s eyes; he was trembling. He had never been so scared in his whole life until this very moment, the current Orpheus.
“You should know how to speak. I thought you were clever and had good self-control. O guess I’ve overestimated you.”
”And you better answer my question. Where are those two? Beyond the sea? In one of the forbidden zones? You know I’ve limited patience, so do not test my patience; you can’t afford the price.”
Time restarted working again, even when back to normal, except for Kratos, who remained frozen for some time; his clothes were drenched in sweat, and he was still shivering. There was one thing inside his head.
‘What the hell was that? I’m shivering just by remembering it.’
‘It’s an abomination; that thing shouldn’t exist.’
Kratos thought, feeling scared by that what had just happened. For a moment, Kratos felt death was closer; he saw something sinister, a mix of crimson and purple energy, the combination of the two made him sick.
Kratos couldn’t help but lament his fate; he was genuinely unlucky; even his old injury, his missing eye, started hurting. He caressed his eye patch and heaved a long sigh.
”I don’t know exactly where they are, but I know it somewhere beyond the sea, maybe on one of many inhabited islands.” Kratos finally answered his question, and Orpheus smiled.
”You see, I would have left if you had done it from the start. Now I’ve another question.”
Kratos almost coughed blood, but with a smile, he asked.
”What do you want to know?”
”He is here, right?” Orpheus asked with a voice that wouldn’t appreciate a lie as an answer.
”Yes! He is at the Saint Star Academy.” Kratos responded, not hiding anything. He knew he was there, but he didn’t visit him because he was afraid, afraid of what the other party could do.
”I See. Take care. I’ll see you later. I’ve got a job for you, and you know you can say no.” Orpheus said before leaving.
Kratos cursed after he left.
”Fuck! Why did everything become like this? Just because I supported my friends back then?”
He felt pity for Grim, who was with him in the academy. He better not awaken his memories, or else he would suffer hell.