"Bang!!"
Duanmu Huai stretched out his hand and tossed the man, limp like a dead pig, onto the ground. Then he sat down heavily, glaring at him coldly.
Beside him, Guleya, Bambi, and the Vigilant also stared at the man.
Especially Bambi—her cheeks puffed, her eyes furious. Clearly, she was still outraged that her home had been taken over.
"All right, talk. Who are you? Why are you here? And why were you trying to capture Bambi?"
"...…"
The man no longer had any of his former arrogance. Perhaps because he had just witnessed the god he worshipped defeated by Duanmu Huai, his face was ashen. Soon, he confessed and explained everything.
And this story had to begin with the first generation of vampires.
As mentioned before, vampires like Bambi were nearly perfect creations—but more importantly, they were immortal. Unless killed, they would never die.
Naturally, this drew humanity's greed. As Bambi had said, there was once a time when humans deceived vampires into making them thralls, hoping for eternal life. When the vampires discovered humans' treachery, they lost all trust, and under the Queen's order, sealed their borders, living in isolation.
But humans, of course, did not give up. The man had once been a king, and as a human king, he too desired immortality. Yet the vampires' barrier denied him entry. Furious, he was approached by a mysterious figure who offered him a way.
If he ate vampire flesh, he would inherit their power and become immortal.
The king was eager, but vampires were no lambs to slaughter. Their kingdom was guarded by a magical barrier no force could breach. Attacking was impossible.
The mysterious figure gave him a way to break it. He told the king that if he sacrificed the blood and souls of his own family to a mighty Daedric Prince, he could obtain a crystal powerful enough to shatter the barrier.
In the end, the king's lust for immortality outweighed everything. He slaughtered his kin with his own hands, offering their souls and blood to the Prince. In return, he received a magic crystal. With it, he shattered the kingdom's barrier on the night of the new moon.
Death winds howled. Blood filled the air. The vampires—though strong—were living beings, not undead. The deathly aura weakened them greatly. The king's army poured in, slaughtering the vampires who had been celebrating the festival. And then…
"All right."
Seeing Bambi's pale face and trembling body, Duanmu Huai cut the story short. He glanced at Guleya, who nodded, placing her hand gently on Bambi's shoulder.
"Bambi, you're tired. Let's rest."
"Mhm… Bambi doesn't want to hear anymore…"
Terrified, Bambi nodded, letting Guleya lead her out. Only after they left did Duanmu Huai look at the man again.
"Continue."
As Duanmu Huai expected, the man explained how the soldiers killed and devoured the vampires' flesh, transforming under the crimson moon into new monsters.
But soon they realized they were flawed imitations.
They no longer breathed. Their hearts no longer beat. They could only survive by drinking blood, or else they would fall into slumber. They could not walk in the sun, nor eat normal food.
The enraged king confronted the mysterious man, who revealed that the ritual had been incomplete. Only by consuming the purest blood of the royal line, and corrupting the clan's sacred relic—the Elder Scroll—could they become true pure-blooded vampires, not the defective kind.
And only two carried that pure blood: the Queen and the Princess.
The Queen perished defending her people, her soul imprisoned in Oblivion. The Princess vanished. Since then, the king's followers scoured the land for her. Recently, they discovered her location.
So the man began his scheme. He stole Azura's Star from a necromancer and modified it. He then sent agents to the tomb where the Princess slept. His plan was to awaken her, capture her soul with the corrupted Star, and thus control the last pure-blood heir.
He dreamed of transforming into a pure-blood himself, even fathering a new race of sun-proof vampire royalty. With such an army, they could conquer the world… and gift it to their Daedric Prince.
"Crack."
The man's head shattered like a walnut, brains and blood spraying everywhere. Duanmu Huai shook his hand and tossed the headless corpse into the fire.
"All right. Enough delusions. What a bore."
"Yes…"
The Vigilant's face was heavy as he watched the corpse burn.
"I… I once believed vampires were the most evil monsters in this world. But I never imagined humans could commit something even worse."
"That was the Daedra's temptation."
Duanmu Huai's reply was flat. In truth, the gods of corruption always claimed it was humanity's nature—selfish, cruel, doomed to fall even without them.
But to Duanmu Huai, that was bullshit.
Without you? Reality doesn't deal in ifs. You whispered in their ears, you tempted them. Without your cultists meddling, would these cowards have dared attack a vampire kingdom?
No. This was Daedric corruption. Period.
Blaming "human nature"? Don't make me laugh. A rabbit bites when cornered. Should we blame the rabbit's "nature," or the bastard who cornered it?
Ridiculous logic.
One day, when every Daedra was slain, then humanity could sit and debate its nature. Until then, the blame was theirs. Always theirs.
"All right, that's enough for today. The rest we'll deal with tomorrow."
Duanmu Huai stood, leaving the room. The Vigilant lingered, staring at the burning corpse, before following.
In the corridor, Guleya was waiting.
"Where's Bambi?"
"Asleep."
She nodded toward a nearby door, speaking softly.
"She's truly shaken… it's no wonder. Her whole race destroyed, leaving only herself… For her, it must feel like a nightmare."
Indeed. To Bambi, only days ago she had been at a banquet, living happily in her castle. One nap later, her kingdom was gone, her kin slaughtered, her home defiled.
The world changes, the people no longer remain.
"Stay with her. We'll handle the rest tomorrow."
"Okay."
Guleya nodded and returned to the bedroom. Duanmu Huai stepped onto a balcony, gazing at the great pyre below. After killing the vampires, he had summoned dolls to throw their corpses into the flames and scour the castle for stragglers.
So far, everything seemed under control.
Then, a voice echoed in his mind.
[Knight, Knight, are you awake?]
"Anne? What is it?"
He smiled. Through the soul cards, he could speak with his summons across any distance—a convenient ability, even if they could only contact him, not each other.
[You're still awake? Where's Guleya? Are you two all right? Nothing bad happened, right?]
As expected. Three sentences in, and she's already asking about Guleya.
"Guleya's fine. Just a little trouble…"
He explained briefly about the vampire kingdom. Anne fell silent, her tone complicated.
[I never thought such a thing existed… and that Bambi girl, is she all right?]
"She's shaken, but Guleya's with her. She'll be fine."
[That's good. Guleya's very good at taking care of others… ah, but actually, I called for another reason.]
"Oh? What is it?"
Duanmu Huai knew she wouldn't just chat idly in the middle of the night.
[Well, the College organized an expedition into some ruins, and… we found something interesting. It's called… the Eye of Magnus, I think?]
"Mm-hmm… wait—what?! The Eye of Magnus?!"
At the name, Duanmu Huai's eyes snapped open.
The Eye of Magnus? That Eye?!
"What does it look like?"
[Um… a huge glowing sphere, wrapped in metal rings that keep spinning around it…]
"Damn! It really is!!"
He swore aloud. He knew this relic very well.
It tied back to the Sixteenth Primarch he possessed—the Crimson King, Magnus. One of the Emperor's sons, the most gifted psyker among them. His Thousand Sons Legion overflowed with sorcerers.
Magnus had but one eye, claiming he had sacrificed the other for knowledge. But whispers from the Warp said he had lost it in a wager with the Trickster God.
To flaunt his victory, the god made that eye into an artifact—the Eye of Magnus. Magnus himself had tried and failed to reclaim it.
In-game, the Eye of Magnus was a psyker amplifier. In game terms, within its radius, all psychic attacks were vastly boosted, and its bearer gained near-invulnerability. As a fleet artifact, it doubled void shields and even allowed safe passage through Warp storms.
Powerful. Invaluable. But with a hidden curse.
All psykers risked mutation the more they used their powers. The Eye was no different. There were stories of players using it, only to watch half their sorcerer army mutate into twisted, colorful abominations.
Of course, that danger meant nothing to soul-walkers. Their soul cards were only projections of the Warp—mutation was impossible.
"Where is it now?"
[Oh, the Arch-Mage took it back to Winterhold College. He said he wants to study it.]
"Wait there. I'll be there tomorrow!"
All of Duanmu Huai's gloom vanished in an instant. He hadn't expected to find the Eye of Magnus in this fragment world.
It seemed this continent had been worth the trip after all!
(End of Chapter)