Paladin of the Dead God

‘Stop or kill the human hunters and Hastel Gulmar.’

To an outsider, it might seem like an impossible request.

He was, after all, asking her to fight against those who shared the same faith, were from the same country, and were of the same blood. But Isaac already knew that she would accept without hesitation, even before she responded.

Hesabel smiled brightly.

“I always wanted to kill my mother with my own hands. Thank you for the opportunity, Isaac.”

With a soft sound, two stilettos slid into her hands as if by magic. She flapped her wings and shot out through the hole in the ceiling. The human hunters, who had regrouped after scattering, were startled by the sudden appearance of the crimson-winged beauty.

Without giving them time to reform their ranks, Hesabel spun and stabbed her stilettos into the chest and neck of the two nearest hunters.

She wasn’t trying to merely wound them.

The two stilettos served as both ‘straws’ and ‘spouts.’

Modified through Hesabel’s enhanced bodily mutation ability, the stilettos were equipped with numerous tiny holes and channels. The moment they pierced the human hunters, they began to rapidly draw blood into Hesabel’s body.

“Hesabel! It’s Hesabel Gulmar!”

One of the hunters, recognizing her face, shouted urgently. As soon as Hesabel felt she had absorbed enough blood, she withdrew the stilettos and swung them at the other hunters.

The human hunters gathered here were the direct guards of the Gulmar Duchy. They had watched over Hesabel since she was a child, and some had even been her instructors. However, Hesabel didn’t hesitate at all.

It wasn’t that she was particularly cruel or lacked empathy.

It’s an unspoken but well-known fact that the ones who kill the most human hunters in the Red Chalice Club are often other human hunters. And most murders occur within the same family.

It’s also common for a successor to suddenly inherit a title due to the sudden disappearance of the head of the family, and it’s just as common for successors to disappear as well.

To say it’s horrific simply means one doesn’t understand their society.

Vampires continue to grow stronger until they are killed. If even this cycle of murder and conspiracy isn’t acknowledged, Wallachian society would stagnate in an instant.

The tacit encouragement of assassination and schemes is to prevent such stagnation. Thus, when a child kills a parent, the appropriate emotion isn’t betrayal but pride.

Hesabel was merely behaving like a typical follower of the Red Chalice.

However, during her journey with Isaac, she learned that the world wasn’t solely driven by daggers and blood. Instead of killing them, she drained just enough blood to incapacitate the human hunters before knocking them out.

Watching her, Isaac prepared to move again. He could now leave his back to Hesabel and head straight for the Bessia estate.

Swish!

“Damn it…”

Before Isaac could leave, the Reaper’s scythe suddenly tore through the wall and roof of the building, slashing at Isaac.

His body was flung through the air and out of the building in an instant. The human hunters, seeing their chance, prepared to attack again.

But Hesabel shouted sharply.

“Stop!”

***

Hesabel currently had no authority to give orders to the human hunters.

However, she was still the designated heir of the Gulmar family and carried some of the Dancer’s blood. The human hunters hesitated involuntarily.

During that brief pause, Isaac disappeared from their sight.

Hesabel, relieved that her command had still held some weight, pressed them further.

“Under whose orders do you dare raise your blades against me? Do you not know who I am?”

The human hunters realized they weren’t being ‘controlled’ by Hastel as they usually were. But one of the human hunters, staying calm, spoke to Hesabel.

“Young Lady, the Duke is very angry. Please, return now.”

“Return? What do you mean, return? Why now, of all times?”

“Are you really planning to betray the Red Chalice? The Duke has ordered you to return.”

Despite the desperate plea, they had already received orders to eliminate Hesabel. Their words were nothing more than a ruse to lure her into a vulnerable position so they could kill her. They planned to return with her, chopped into dozens of pieces, inside their bellies.

However, Hesabel simply smiled condescendingly.

“Betray the Red Chalice? You’re just spouting nonsense without knowing anything.”

Hesabel reached behind her back. The human hunters, expecting her to draw a new weapon, tensed, but what Hesabel pulled out was something completely unexpected.

“You foolish wretches. Only now do you realize your eyes are being scorched by the sun.”

What she pulled out was none other than the Rite of Division.

It was the dagger with which the Dancer had torn out Elil’s heart. It was a relic revered even among the highest echelons of the Red Chalice Club. Seeing the relic before them, the human hunters felt a wave of confusion.

Hesabel had been sent to retrieve the Rite of Division. They had heard she had failed and had been captured by the Holy Grail Knight, enslaved, and stripped of her ‘tainted’ blood. Their mission was to eliminate her and retrieve the desecrated ‘blood.’

But Hesabel already possessed the Rite of Division. They had no idea what was going on.

“Then why didn’t you return?”

“Do you really not understand what I’m doing?”

Hesabel didn’t give a clear answer and stared at the human hunters with a haughty gaze. For a moment, they felt a chill run down their spines.

Hesabel had clearly grown much stronger since she left the Kingdom of Wallachia, had succeeded in retrieving the relic, and, despite committing an unforgivable sin, had not faced any condemnation from the angels.

The human hunters began to think that perhaps the rumors circulating among the common folk might be completely different from the truth.

“Could it be that you’ve succeeded in seducing the Holy Grail Knight?”

“Do I need to prove anything more to you?”

Hesabel placed the Rite of Division back at her waist.

She hadn’t explicitly confirmed anything, but the way she spoke in veiled terms was typical of Wallachian nobility. The human hunters felt a chill as they considered this shocking turn of events.

Perhaps it wasn’t Hesabel who had become the slave, but rather the Holy Grail Knight Isaac of Issacrea.