Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four (23 page)

Perhaps catching the hoarse voice’s remark, Valcua said, “It’s not you that I’m after. However, I’m forced to treat you as a foe now. The reason I’ve called you here is because there’s something I’d like to ask you before your life is snuffed out.”

D didn’t move. His hand didn’t even go for the blade on his back. “I’ve heard you’re a Vampire Hunter. I’ve also heard you’re a dhampir. However, I know nothing else about you. And I, the great Valcua, can consult the ether that records everything in the universe—the akashic record. D, who are you?”

“Do you still intend to go after those children?” D asked in return, as if that were the only thing that interested him.

“Five thousand years ago, their ancestor helped exile me into space. Five millennia is a long time. It would appear you’ve entered into an agreement with a client, and you’ll risk your life to uphold it. But I, too, swore an oath: that I would visit my wrath on that dog’s descendants.” A gaze burning with hatred locked on the figure in black gliding closer. Even as he leaped toward Valcua’s chest, D was gorgeous. His sword came out through the back of the cape. Without a second’s delay, D leaped backward. Still standing stock still, Valcua grinned sharply.

“Lousy fake,” the hoarse voice spat.

The resistance the sword blade had encountered wasn’t that of a living creature.

“I still haven’t gotten my answer.” The voice that fell from the black space above him seemed to be that of a god inhabiting the heavens. “Now demonstrate your gratitude for being allowed to come here. If not...”

A golden light connected heaven and earth . . . but it wasn’t lightning. Rather, it was a blistering stream of charged particles. Heaven and earth alike dissolved into gold, and within the light, D’s form wavered like a fleeting heat shimmer.

The hundred-million-degree torrent suddenly vanished. Particles of light burned here and there in the black clearing, but D stood in the same spot as before with his left hand raised high. A tiny mouth in his palm had swallowed the blistering stream.

“Truly it was worthwhile calling you here. That particle beam was fired from a cannon I have on Mars, and it burned through half the asteroid belt. It could effortlessly punch through a planet two or three times the size of this one.”

Once, when the Nobles had gone out to battle the fleet of alien invaders from the blackest depths of space, no one won more renown than the Ultimate Noble. But that was before his fall. Refusing to fight alongside the other Nobles, he not only devoted his own resources to building military outposts on every planet in the solar system, but he also captained a great battleship that was considered a hundred years more advanced than the science of the Nobility at the time, bringing the fight to the enemy in the very front lines.

The encounter between these two life forms fundamentally different in their ethics and way of thinking—particularly when one side was clearly intent on invading—could only end with the utter annihilation of one faction or the other. Unfortunately for the aliens, the rulers of their tiny planet were imbued with a love of battle and an undying animosity unmatched by any other living creature. After nearly a thousand years of fighting, the Nobility’s forces finally defeated the invading army, following the survivors as they fled home and wiping their home world from the cosmos. It was Valcua who stood at the fore, and his team of scientists had developed the secret weapon that reduced the enemy’s planet to dust. For someone like him, it was child’s play to make a particle beam that could penetrate the Earth.

“No Noble could ever withstand that weapon without using a force field. D, could it be that you’re—”

The voice wavered, as if the words had stagnated.

“Oh, D! I, too, am—”

Now that he was back, Sue didn’t know what to do with Matthew. This was the same brother who’d tried to violate her. It hadn’t been some sudden fit of insanity; rather, it had clearly been an all-too-intentional act. If she’d been entirely the victim, it would’ve simply been a matter of forgiving him. Checking her anger and hatred, she might’ve been able to make it appear that things were back to normal. However, Sue had stabbed Matthew. Her intention of killing him had been obvious. And to say that it’d been because her brother was crazy would only be lying to herself.

Soon after returning to his senses, Matthew had gone into the room he’d been given and hadn’t come out since. Did he regret his own actions, or was he feeling a black anger over Sue’s murderous intent? Sue couldn’t stand not knowing which it was.

Apparently the count didn’t know what to do, either, merely telling her, “Be careful of your brother.” He then ordered his computer to wait one day for D’s return and elected to ignore the situation entirely.

Sue decided she’d simply let things run their course for a while. Everything had gone topsy-turvy since they’d started out on this trip. No matter what ending lay in store, when they reached it, she and Matthew might be able to look at each other again in a fresh state of mind. Though she realized she was counting her chickens before they hatched, Sue had no choice but to believe the situation would improve if she was to find any peace of mind.

Not feeling particularly sleepy, the girl walked to her room to try to get some sleep anyway, and there she found Matthew standing in front of her door.

“Matt. . . I...” was all Sue said, and then she couldn’t continue. “Come here, Sue,” Matthew said with a smile. It was the kind of smile that sent a chill through a person’s heart. “I wanna show you something good. Something I learned to do while I was
there.”
“Matt. . . You’re not...”

“Not still under Valcua’s spell? Don’t worry. I’m the same person you know better than anyone.”

Matthew opened the door to his room, which was across the hall from hers.

“Come on. This is something we’re gonna need to stay alive.”

Sue remained hesitant, but then she suddenly remembered that Count Braujou had surveillance cameras sweeping through the vehicle, and Matthew didn’t seem to be able to control the computer. Matthew’s left hand touched his side—it was the spot where Sue had stabbed him. The second she saw his features contort in pain, Sue stepped forward and laid a hand on her brother’s shoulder to support him. And with that, the siblings stepped through the doorway without another word.

The door closed.

If the car’s computer had been operating correctly at that point, it would’ve recorded the following conversation. However, from the moment Sue spotted her brother, the computer witnessed a different scene and heard other words.

“What did you want to show me, Matt?”

“Sit right there. It’s okay. Now, watch closely. If you go
there,
this is what you’ll be able to do!”

Silence.

And then the girl screamed.

I too, am
—

, What had Valcua been about to say? Before anyone could figure that out, the black-garbed vision of beauty hung in the air above his head. This young man gave no consideration to the inner workings of those to whom he must deal death. The wind swirling in his wake, the Hunter brought his sword down hard enough to sever this very same wind. However, the Ultimate Noble was able to stop it in a shower of sparks that turned night into stark day.

But look! D’s blade and Valcua’s longsword—neither one pushed forward nor was driven back, but as D came back down to earth, his trim form seemed to take on the weight of a boulder, driving one of the Ultimate Noble’s knees to the ground. Gripped with the Hunter’s right hand alone, the blade was slowly but surely driving Valcua’s longsword down with its overwhelming might.

However, while their blades locked together in the form of a cross, the Ultimate Noble smirked beneath them. Stretching from ear to ear, his smile was a malevolent one.

“Although it’s not like me, I seem to have been too occupied by my thoughts. D, you’re the first one to ever drive me down on one knee through sheer force.”

Valcua’s smile grew deeper. His blade had stopped moving.

“And you shall be the last!”

Not only did the longsword come shooting up, but as D was thrown into the air he saw that Valcua was now standing tall like one of a temple’s guardian deities.

Was the Ultimate Noble really
that
powerful?

As soon as the figure in black landed, however, he broke into a run. The deadly thrust that would’ve sunk into Valcua’s chest was batted aside by the Nobleman’s blade, but D maintained his stance and made a second slash—a horizontal swipe that left the Ultimate Noble staggering even as he parried it.

It was Valcua who had to fly away with the swiftness of a swallow to escape yet another thrust. The golden robe clung lovingly to his body. His shoulders heaved as he caught his breath.

“I should’ve expected as much from a man who would enter Valcua’s castle alone. I’m sure the Sacred Ancestor must be quite satisfied. I haven’t begun yet in earnest, either. D, see if I don’t accomplish my goals elsewhere. We shall settle this then.”

And with these words, he retreated.

D followed him, his footsteps equally silent.

As he was on the move, Valcua shut his eyes.