Chapter 37: Secrets - 2
"Except that this world is held hostage by a single entity called the World Government." ended Nius by saying this with a hating expression.
"Ohh, this World Government, could it be formed by the traitors who betrayed the Ancient Kingdom and my ancestor?"
"Indeed, but this is unimportant. You said something about the Great Priest that betrayed the Great King Joy Boy and Sun King Louis Vermilion with their allies, I think I've seen some records in the royal library talking about such person."
"It should be his moniker, so don't stress yourself about this." commented Vlad, calmly while looking at Nius, seating close by on a rock.
"Maybe you are right. However it is worth mentioning this, the former kings that created Kaysang, to not draw attention from that certain person, speculated that he still lives after all this time. And control the world to his liking from the shadows using his minions, the Celestial Nobles, or shortly the traitorous bastards who betrayed your ancestor and Great King." revealed Nius, something that made Vlad play a bit with his strands of hair that were not tied down while his face looked serious.
Turning his head at Nius, he asked calmly, after that completing himself by adding. "So, my enemy in the future should be those celestials? Or just the Great Priest? Sigh, I might sound hypocritical, but I don't want to fight anymore. After a life of relentless killing, I thought that maybe I would relax once I arrived here. But from how things progress, I doubt that I can even escape this fate."
"Don't worry lad, I, Galeot Nius also have the responsibility to help you and your grandfather as Commander of the Royal Army. As for that Great Priest, there's only speculations of former kings of who this person could be? Did he die? No one know. But we'll find out sooner or later."
"True words old man. Ok, I think it is not worth our money to talk about those big shot guys that would kill us by only giving us a stare. Tell me, what's going with this kingdom? How come you a commander of the Royal Army got yourself done in such a state?"
"So it came to this. From where to start." said Nius while sighing hard, taking a while to focus himself.
"Take your time, gramps." said Vlad, while Aerius on Vlad's head also let the old man get his thoughts in order.
After some minutes of waiting by the lights of the torches that slightly illuminated the mine gallery, Nius finally looked at Vlad with serious eyes.
"The kingdom not too long ago, about 14 years, was your average kingdom, with nobility, commoners, and peasants or those slaves that escaped from their masters. The royal family was the center of this kingdom, but this doesn't mean that it had the entire power of the kingdom in its hands. Your grandfather, the king, Vermilion Opheltius, did everything in his power to balance the rebellious noble houses that disliked the way the kingdom was taking.
Your father, the Crown Prince Vermilion Lucius, was the future shinning start the kingdom had to offer. He was liked by everyone, the peasants loved him, the commoners likewise, even the nobles had him in high regard because of his innate intelligence. But what that intelligence forgot to warn him was not to get too close to every dog that kneels before you and asks for continuous favors.
Then, when the prince discovered something that could actually change everything in the kingdom, especially the strength of the kingdom. This discovery he made was an unconventional method to train in the energy that resides in us humans, Haki."
"Hoh, there's such a thing? Let me guess, did he found this inside a hidden room, that held very old scrolls?"
"Huh, how do you know this?" asked Nius, surprised but figuring out that most likely, the founding king said something about that. "Right, the founding king told you that."
"Anyway, let me continue my story. So the prince put in plan to teach this training method to every soldier of the royal army, and in this way making an army that could bring us back to glory. The success of each human awakening this potential in their bodies is low, this is also the reason why most people remain ignorant about such potential that resides in their bodies, me included."
"Then that bloody day where I was away from the capital city, it was exactly the day everything started collapsing over my head and his Majesty Opheltius. The nobles seem to have banded together while keeping the facade of being loyal to the royal family and invited a group of assassins experienced in high profiled assassinations.
I only know that I rushed back to the capital as soon I heard that chaos starting appearing in different districts from Noble District, Commoner District, Forgotten District, and Royal District. Everything was thrown in chaos. My soldiers were massacred like chickens while my officers died trying to protect the royal family's safety. All was for naught. Those cursed nobles and assassins managed to kill your father, and by the time I got there. There was nothing to save. Only 3 of my minor officers Gif, Vem, and Ramoth who barely survived that crushing attack.
"I fought the leaders of the assassins with everything I had, at that time I was a simple human who didn't unlock haki, but being surrounded by my dear soldiers I went into a mad rush and awakened my haki, everything awakened. Conqueror's the ability most famed for kings and rulers, my observation was instantly raised to levels I've never experienced while my skin got so tense that when I fought that rat, I managed to wound him well. But as I pushed ahead to rescue what I could, they started surrounding me from all sides, like I was a cornered beast."
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Taking a break after saying all of this, Nius gripped his fists tightly while the rocks and dust around the gallery started shaking. A pressure similar to what older Aerius and Charles gave off started to surround him, but it was still manageable. Looking at the furious yet sad old man, he could only sigh and keep quiet.
Then after Nius will ravaged the gallery for a while, the old man took a deep breath, calming himself down.
"Sorry for that prince, but this old man feels like the worst being to let his men die like some worthless people while I wasn't with them. To finish the story, I escaped with only Gif, Vem, and Ramoth, who were wounded heavily, and while I was away treating their wounds. I suddenly heard from my hideout that the nobles and the king pushed a killing order on me and my boys for revolting and killing the prince.
As if it was our fault for everything. So, with time the nobles slowly stripped the king of his powers, turning him into a puppet king without any power, even imprisoning him to live in his castle.
Meanwhile, my boys and I were on the run, place to place, in order to escape those pesky assassins while I was training myself. Then by chance, we heard in a tavern that Mayer Loftso needed guards and miners. I applied for the miner job since I was old by that time, about 50 years old, and Gif, Vem together with Ramoth were just right for the guard post being young guys."
"It makes sense. Sigh, to think you guys would have experienced this. Don't worry gramps, you remember what I told you two years ago? You'll get my entire help against those traitors. I'll tell you another story about my first life, I was betrayed so many times in my reins as a ruler by my nobles that I don't mind kill this kingdom entire nobility." said Vlad with cold eyes that started glowing a bit dark.
"I know that I can count on you lad, but is good to know that you have experience with dealing with those nobles. I myself I'm only a simple soldier that is a bit more experience than the average, but I never got interested in politics of the kingdom." commented Nius with a disgusted face when remembering the bunch of nobles that licked his ass just for some favors.
"It's an annoying domain for me too, but we'll see what I can pull off when I get myself at the reins of the kingdom."
"Right, so did you manage to gather any guys on your side to fight against the nobles and assassins? Or it's just me, and the other four?"
"You forgot about me, the mighty gryphon Aerius. I really want to see what happened to Atlas in the time I sleeped." said Aerius while getting on Vlad's shoulder and staring at Vlad's face.
"Sure, you too, little guy." chuckled Vlad while giving Aerius a flick on his beak.
"No, lad. We're close to getting ready, in about 3 years or earlier we will start our counter-attack. Your soldiers are exactly the guards that are on Gif so called faction. I'm glad that those brats are quite disciplined and didn't pick any fight with the miners. You can say that me being a miner is also to observe who is worthy or not being a royal guard."
"Also, another news for you lad, those new boys are starting to get trained in haki. At least I try to build their body enough so they can awaken it hopefully. But as I said, the rate of them awakening is low."
"Ohh, what is this training for this Haki ability about?" asked Vlad with interest after constantly hearing about this ability.
"It's simple, constantly training the body, with diverse drills that focus on the muscles, endurance and explosivity of their attacks. That's the path of Armament. Mental treatment is to have the Gif, Vem and Ramoth spar with them, until they drop down. As for Conqueror's, this is something unique, only happening to 1% of population of this world."
"There's such a thing? Conqueror's Haki? It's that pressure that you released from your body?" Asked Vlad with a severe face while also remembering the slight moments that he felt like something was wrong with him. As if he was turning to his bloodied version, where only his life mattered and no one else's.
"Indeed lad, that's the manifestation of my will, and I'll be honest with you, even you have one with you. It seems that your will also followed you in this new life, but I observed some mutations on yours." said Nius to Vlad with a serious face that made the latter also frown.
"Mutations? In what sense?"
"Look, I'll show you an example of how my Conqueror looks" As Nius said that, his eyes focused, and all of a sudden, shockwaves of dark blue started pressuring Vlad, pushing him and Aerius in one direction.
Vlad tried to push back, but he couldn't move forward at all. He saw constant waves pushing him like a storm would do a boat on the sea.
Then as if nothing happened, the focus on Nius eyes turned to normal. He no longer was staring intensely at Vlad.
"Do you understand now, what I did? This is called the Conqueror's Haki."
After he said that, Aerius, who got back on Vlad's shoulder after getting pushed by Nius conquerors Haki, said to Vlad.
"I saw you do the same thing inside the temple when you turned all scary. Dark waves clashed with the wills of the generals."
"Dark waves? Does that mean that my so called Conqueror's is not normal?"
"That's right, your first life experience and will influenced this life body and spirit, and now, how should I put it to sound nicely. You're an abomination because your will has the properties of darkness."
"My what!? Since when? Wait, are you serious? Did I really killed so many people that I got cursed to deal with such powers?" pondered Vlad with loud voice when he heard Nius explain to him the differences of his powers, compared to normal people.
"Don't worry lad, you'll be fine. Always remember that you're the master of the power and not otherwise." said Nius to put Vlad to peace.
"I'm not worrying that much, I just hope I don't turn into something I hate to become, a monster. Anyway, enough with this discussion." replied Vlad while feeling a breeze of a wind similar to the night's wind.
"It seems we talked quite a lot about our problems. I found who you guys are, while you also found who I'm in actuality. However, I hope you don't disclose this information to anyone, not even Gif, Vem, and Ramoth, regardless if they are trustworthy.
"To many people knowing my origin from the start, it might bring bad outcomes to me. Still, you can say that you found that I'm the lost prince of Kaysang to the rest of the soldiers on our side, build them their confidence, so they train more.
Any more than that is disclosing too much. I hope you understand, gramps.
"Also, we'll move our talk about what awaits me outside this camp because our time here seems to run." Ended Vlad saying that, as to make not disclose more about him.
The old man only chuckled and said with a smile on his face. "You're worrying to much, but that's a good trait for a leader. Sure, I'll tell you what I know about what could await you when you leave."
With that, they ended their extended conversation about their secrets and, at the same time, prepared to move outside.
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As Vlad started moving upward, he could sense the changes the Blood Powers gave him. All could be said to be only improvements, but only to his experienced eye that could judge what happened in his body.
His body seemed to have the muscles more empowered while only walking and not trying to do any strenuous activity. He felt like the restraints around his body, which was shackled, started to be lifted. So light he felt that his steps also started feeling like they were floating.
This sensation was also transmitted to Aerius, who was swinging on his hair.
While walking out of the mine, Vlad exited faster, but only because he was experimenting with the blood powers on his muscles. The two didn't encounter any disturbance from the guards or other miners. It was a dense silence that started enveloping the mine from the depths until going to the upper floors.
One could only see darkness welcome them in her embrace.
The first to comment when reaching out of the mine was Nius. With a pesky old tone, he started saying. "We really took our time with the cover up and the discussion."
Vlad nodded his head and replied. "That's not something we have control over it, time. If I could stop time, I would gladly do it, over and over again.
"Still, this is mostly your fault for taking to long to explore the temple. Also the cover up was done in a slow manner. You clearly could have got it done faster."
Grinning evilly, not bothering much with old Nius, he said sarcastically.
"Yes, yes, this is all my fault. Now can you give me a break old man, is it not like you will starve this night because the canteen is closed now? Or could it be? You no longer have any provisions for worse days?" chuckled Vlad while walking beside Nius, who was staring back at him.
When Nius heard Vlad's sarcastic question, he stopped from staring at his face and a bit of Aerius's curious-looking eagle eyes. While moving forward together, he pondered for a bit, and after some minutes, the old man face palmed himself, saying with gnashing teeth.
"Boy, how the heck did you know this? I didn't let anyone inside my shack those last couple of weeks. Damn, with the canteen closed at this time what now? Hmmm, wait I remember." looking with a gentle face at Vlad and Aerius, he continued.
"My prince, you know that this poor old man is in need right now, so can you help me out a bit with some food that you got left? This is a request from the poor old man that saved your skin and treated you while you were so pathetic many times, you have to remember this favour my Prince."
With a disgusted face but still cracking a chuckle at the old man, adding with a salty tone.
"That's not fair, old man, you're clearly attacking me emotionally by using the moments when you treated my wounds or saved me. But sure, I will not be an ungrateful scum to not help you out. I'll treat you for this night, but what now? There seems to be no one around, even the guards, they seem to be a small number of themselves to watch over, while the managing staff seems to disperse all together."
Looking around himself, Nius also noticed this point and, slowing a bit in his walking, continued saying after some time. "If there's no managing staff around let's see the administrator himself and tell him our little story. This would make the plan even more solid with his approval. What's with the long face kid, haven't you met administrator Pholbor?"
Thinking for a bit about his interactions with the administrator all these years, he replied. "To be honest with you, I haven't got the chance of meeting him personally. Only by the distance, I've seen him lecturing the managing staff for the mining operation details. From the distance he seems your average guy who tries hard to make the life easier for others. At least if they collaborated with him. Why do you ask, do you want me to employ his services after we get the country back?"
"That would be a good idea. From what my little officers have told me, he's quite trustful. He doesn't complain much about his work and when he complains he does it for good reason. His abilities surprisingly are also good quality."
"Nevertheless, we'll act as usual around the guards since they don't know that I'm their real boss behind Gif, Vem and Ramoth. It would really be awkward if I started conflicting with them, so in this sense try to act casual. Don't take to heart their crap, I'll see that the guys who are from Gif's faction receive extra training."
"No problem, I'm also strict on my soldiers in order to build their discipline. As for what you said, you most likely figured out that I don't really care about those insignificant little guards. As long they don't threaten my life or the little kids I took under my wing, I will be quiet as if I'm a slumbering predator."
"Haha, good analogy. Then it's fine, just follow behind me and try to hide that little guy. People get suspicious really fast. Use your hair or something to hide that little friend of yours because your shirt is already used up by those fruits of yours.
Hearing what Nius said, Vlad turned to look at Aerius, who was sitting calmly on his shoulder, listening to Vlad and Nius's conversation along the way.
"Hey Aerius, can you stay behind my neck or something and hide in my hair? To think that I would ever use my hair in such a way. I'm turning crazier than in my first life."
"Ehh, but I will not be able to see anything if I do that. Sigh, fine, I'll hide. I don't want to create troubles for you." said Aerius with a dejected face, slowly moving along Vlad's shoulder and reaching his white neck.
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Then as if in doing the following thing on purpose, he hugged his neck and started covering his paws and the rest of his body in Vlad's jet-black hair.
Seeing Nius nod his head when not even noticing that something was behind his neck, he said.
"Everything is set, old man. I'll just let you do the talking." ended Vlad while looking towards the guard stationed to look over the mine.
When the guard stationed for his night post noticed the old man and young man going towards him, he took a guard stance with his weapon and said towards the approaching couple with some fear around him.
"Stop at once workers. Why are you just now coming out of the mine? Should your working hours end by a long time?" asked the guard from a decent distance with a sword in his hand, also having a questioning face at the situation he was in right now.
Old Nius was the first one to talk back. He stopped in place after walking a bit more to see the guard properly, only after that saying. "Sir, we got a situation inside the mine while working and had to fix it. That's why we only came out just now. We're heading right now towards administrator Pholbor to explain what happened inside the mine."
The guard lessened his aggressive stance but kept remaining vigilant against the old man and young man when hearing Nius say that. Nodding his head to indicate that what the old man confessed might be right, he said.
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"Then you shouldn't waste more time here, go report to the Administrator and make sure to not stay for so long inside the mine next time."
"That's for sure, why would I want to break my old bones doing additional work? I only got caught in this accident and had to fix it before reporting to the administrator. You should go about with your task." said Nius while waving his hand towards the guard to get him started.
The guard put his sword back on his sheath and turned away from Nius and Vlad. Seeing the guard distancing from them, Vlad was the first one to open his mouth. "Old man, let's get going. I get this itching on my stomach that bugs me off since we stopped working on covering the sinkhole, so we better end this charade fast before my hunger grows even more."
"Ohh, since when do you even get this hungry? Most of the time you would be fine with small portions of food and yet you're now complaining. Did that devil fruit powers started messing up your body structure?"
"That's right old man, it's a weird feeling. My muscles start tensing up all over my body. I can feel every single bits of blood in my body circulating, from toes to the brain. While I can command my blood, I think that even the slightest mistake in controlling blood can kill me. And that's mine. For now, I can't even imagine how much mental strength I need to control other's blood.
When Nius heard this, he could only whistle, impressed, almost having a chill on his spine.
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'Damn, this boy apart from being sharp and calculated. He even has the intelligence to figure out in just some hours how his devil fruit works and what limitations does he have for now. Hehe, the future with this Vlad will sure be crazy.'
"That's a really convenient change I say, you're worrying too much right now. Take it slow, let time pass so you can adapt to those new changes you're going through. These blood powers most likely require you to eat food so it can convert the nutrients inside foods for your own use. This can also be an accurate guess as to why you feel all of a sudden hungry." ended the old man saying while walking beside Vlad towards the administrative block.
With the explanation Nius could think at the moment, Vlad pondered for a bit while walking and replied back." That's a good explanation to why I feel hunger. From what I know, blood is the source of life and death and needs food to efficiently run. You sure are sharp for an old man."
Nius could only laugh at the boy's assumptions. "That's because I'm an old man and experienced many things, boy. When you reach my age maybe you would know more than me." ended Nius while slapping Vlad's shoulder.
Vlad only snorted a bit at this reply. But in no time, they seem to have arrived at the administrative building.
"Ohh we reached our target. Damn, look Zagreus how guarded this place is, doesn't it look like a fortress or castle? Who I'm kidding with, you kid haven't even seen how a fortress looks like, I'm asking too much even saying castle to you."
At Nius's sarcastic remarks, Vlad could frown slightly at how badly Nius could imagine himself. Still, it was better not to respond to the old man's plays and could only be thinking in his head. 'Old prick, I might know a bit more than you think on some subjects. But it's fine, I know you're just messing around.'
His only response to the old man was a loud snort that suddenly ended with Nius saying. "We arrived boy."
Both of them stopped looking at the still clean, spacious house that got built on high-quality bricks. At the front door, four guards stood there, not gesturing any sign of emotions. When the 4 of them noticed Nius and Vlad, recognizing both of them, one of them asked in a high tone.
"Old Nius, Blood what are you doing here? Aren't you guys supposed to rest or do whatever you want in your spare time?"
At the guard question, the first one to respond was Nius. He gave a dry chuckle saying. "Young man, do you think I would bother myself to come here if it wasn't for something inside the mine that bothered me?"
Thinking for a bit, the younger guard replied in kind. "Well I kind of guess why you came here, but what's with Blood's visit, is he with you old man?"
While Nius and the guard talked for a brief moment, Vlad only looked calmly at the guards with an emotionless face while thinking of testing some other abilities he conjured that could work using his blood.
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Sometimes his eyes would wander around the guard's swords or their posture. He kept focusing more than usual on the guard's stances and various parts of their body. Vlad's eyes started to turn a bit blood-red from his irises for a short period. 'Ahh I failed big time, my body doesn't know what to do now. Now my eyes are feeling weird, as if they will soon burst out. Easy my blood, calm down, this was just an innocent test.' thinking that in his mind, he was closing his eyes hard and rubbing them around where he felt weird.
The guard noticed the changes Vlad was going through and asked Nius. "I got the reason you're here, but is that freak fine? Did he get smashed by someone beside us guards?"
"Nah, he might still have some dust in his eyes that he didn't manage to clean out. So that's why he keeps rubbing his eyes right now."
"Ohh I've seen some people with eyes problems. Hey Blood, take care of yourself, only us guards can handle you. Got it?" said the young guard towards Vlad, who had his eyes closed while rubbing them. Ending that, he turned towards Nius and told him to finish his checks. "If you old man say that flooding is waiting quite close to where you have dug with the others, go talk with the administrator. Open the doors guys, they are clean."
The standing guards responded to the younger guard with actions, opening the door to the administrative house. Old Nius smiled slightly and nodded towards the tall young guard with blonde hair and a straightforward appearance. After that, he grabbed Vlad by the hand and entered the administrative house.
When the two of them entered inside, the guards closed the door and looked around at each other. One of the four guards said toward the blonde guard. "Enjio, why are you so worried about that guy Blood? Have you started feeling sorry for his fate of being tortured most of the time by the majority of guards? You don't have to, he's just a slave at the end of the day."
The young blonde guard, Enjio, looked at his colleague and said while frowning at him. "You don't understand. That brat is not normal, so you should be more careful around him. If you get him in a bad mood, you might just have a meeting with death. I still remember vividly that incident 2 years ago, where he walked out of the mine, strolling around with a guard's sword in hand. Many of you forgot about that incident, but I did not. That kid's face was calm, cold, and collected, even when he rushed towards head guard Belpel, his eyes and face didn't change one bit."
"Also, commander Vem said not to mess with that guy Blood, specifically for this reason. He's to dangerous for this place. The camp was quite silent for those 2 years he stayed quiet."
"Well, if you say this. I also remember the time when some of Belpel's guys boasted that they tortured the crap out of Blood, started getting insane, and suffering from all short of nightmares. The worst part was that some of those guys even suicided from not being able to face those nightmares and feeling of insanity. What do you think guys? Was that Blood weirdo the responsible for those guys acting out crazy?" commented back another of the four guards stationed to guard the front of the house.
Enjio knew some inside things from Vem but didn't want to comment on Vlad. Still, that didn't mean he gives up on advising them.
"Guys I don't know if I should say this, but anyway, it's between us. That Blood guy, if he ever tries to escape and you are tasked on that day to look after the mine camp exit then don't join the fight from the start, go somewhere else, especially if a fight starts out. In no way you should join Belpel's guys to fight him or you might die like those poor 6 guards back then without even knowing that you stared into the abyss."
A chilly silence followed Enjio's comment. After some long minutes of contemplating, the rest of the guards agreed with what he said about Vlad and his possible deeds.
[author] A/N: There are lots of things being told here, lots of secrets being revealed in all directions from those two guys, old and young. It also shows a scenario that holds importance, so it is really exciting for me to get to see what would happen in this regard.[/author]
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