Nameless King



Ereg was actually able to transcend his ambition which had long held back his potential, and began to learn from his mistakes. He realized that it was impossible to let Gael gain an advantage. If he stayed under the hail of ash swords, it would be tantamount to defeat, at least in one of the many rounds of their battle.

'Fine... In a way I was lucky to see Alucard's fight, now I know exactly what to do to win!' Ereg inwardly exclaimed, finding himself facing Gael, who was clearly surprised by Ereg's actions. 

The ash swords were still chasing him, but Ereg was considerably faster. His movements were ghostly, there was barely a trace of his footsteps on the ground, light and sure, carrying with them a clear threat.

Then, a shadow fell upon Gael from two pairs of claws, long and sharp, cutting through the currents of air in their path.

Gael's pupils narrowed as he raised his sword above his head, struggling to block the attack of his opponent, determined to win their battle.

Crackle. Crackle. Crack.

The ground beneath Gael cracked, while his hands shook violently. It was difficult for him to withstand the strength of the Progenitor of Beastfolks. After all, in terms of physical stats, Ereg was one of the strongest, exactly taller than Alucard, slightly stronger than Gael, and was on roughly the same level as Liang.

However, it didn't happen immediately, unlike people who reached the peak of their strength during the middle of a battle, Beastfolks took a very long time to accelerate. 

  With every minute, with every cut or bruise, Beastfolks grew stronger, until the very end of their battle.

Gael, as well as everyone else was obviously aware of this peculiarity of the race of which Ereg was the leader. So, he realized that he had to do something right now, otherwise, Ereg could just overwhelm him with force, leaving no chance of victory.

'That's bad... From this position, there's no way I can attack, but he won't be able to do anything in a few seconds.' Gael pondered, as his gaze traveled towards the ash swords that almost reached Ereg's back.

It seemed that Ereg didn't notice it and now his back would be pierced by many weapons, but he didn't need to worry about something like that as he was already prepared for it and Gael noticed one detail just at that moment.

'Wait... Shouldn't there be three claws on each of his gloves...?' Gael's eyes went wide looking at the four claws trying to get through his sword.

Whoooooooooooooooooooooosh.

Two dark ghosts with crimson aura appeared behind Ereg. They were a smaller and weakened version of the phantoms that were his weapons. However, Gael didn't know that Ereg could so freely manipulate them as well as split and weaken them for specific purposes.

Alucard smirked, watching as the phantoms' long paws reached for the ash swords, clutching them in their long claws. 

"Why are you smiling...?" Krana asked with a confused expression.

"Isn't it obvious? Because Gael is in a difficult position! Because he's losing! Hahaha!" Alucard exclaimed in excitement.

Krana got an awkward look, she didn't understand at all what Alucard was talking about, to her his words sounded wild and strange.

If Alucard was Gael's best friend, why was he excited about this? Wasn't he supposed to be sad or cheering up his friend?

Krana didn't understand it, she tried to make sense of it and understand the secret meaning behind his words, but it was impossible for her no matter how much she frowned while thinking about it. 

Liang noticed this, so after, sighing he decided to help her figure it out. Yeah, for all the other Alucard's actions and emotions were obvious, but Krana had in a way just been born. She had consciousness but didn't have the ability to speak as well as contact with other beings who could talk. Her level of socialization was as low as a child's, if not lower. 

"You shouldn't make that face, from the looks of it in trying to understand what Alucard said, your mind might break. There's no need for that." Liang calmly said, taking a short step in her direction but continuing to watch the fight.

The phantoms destroyed most of the swords, among them only two remained that by Gael's will, tried to fly off to the sides, but the phantoms were ready for it. They grabbed the swords with their long paws and gripped them tightly between their jaws, gnashing their razor-sharp teeth. 

The ash swords, created in a few moments from parts of the vortex, were unable to withstand such pressure, so they shattered into particles, carried away by the first wind current.

Krana glanced at Liang, "What do you mean?" 

Liang pointed at Gael, "You probably don't understand why he's happy about his friend's predicament, do you?"

Krana nodded silently as a flame of curiosity lit in her eyes.

"It's all about friendship. If the situation were critical, or if Gael was actually in real danger, Alucard wouldn't behave like this. In that case, he would try to help him, however, Alucard is well aware that Gael will be perfectly fine no matter the outcome of this battle." Liang calmly said.

Then, he shrugged and continued, "There's no point in always taking everything as seriously as possible or worrying about every little thing, as later the really important things can get lost in the background. You have to leave a contrast, but obviously, that's only possible if two people know each other very well and trust each other."

"I see..." Krana nodded meaningfully.

In fact, she understood only a small part of what Liang had said, but she wasn't the only one. Of the four of them, only Alucard wasn't listening to what Liang was saying, since all his attention was focused on the fight.

However, Nitra, Nila, and Krana were listening to him attentively. Nila was interested in learning more about the relationship between Alucard and Gael as well as about male friendship in general, while Krana was trying to understand what friendship was.

There were probably still many questions left for each of them, but they understood the basic idea.

'Only if the friendship is at a very high level... Only if both persons appreciate each other... perhaps something like that...' Krana muttered internally as she looked at Alucard with a slight sadness in her eyes.

She pressed her palm to her chest and thought, 'I wonder... Will I ever be able to achieve the same thing? Will I always be just a pet to him, though... He definitely won't treat me as an equal if I'm weaker than him, that makes sense.

After receiving her name, Krana took on a humanoid form, but she was still a monster. They understood better than anyone that strength was the most important factor in this world, everything else depended on it.

Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh.

The two phantoms returned to Ereg after destroying the ash swords. Then, a devious smirk appeared on his face and the phantoms rushed towards Gael's chest, with the clear intention of seriously injuring him.

"Shit!" Gael quickly muttered before stomping his foot on the ground with all his might.

A slight tremor spread through the colosseum, quickly gaining strength. From the cracks, thin streams of ash rose up, heading swiftly towards Gael, becoming a shield between him and the phantoms.

"Well, well, I didn't think you'd jump to defense so quickly. Looks like I did the right thing." Ereg uttered in an excited tone as his long fangs showed.

"However, defense is not what I want to see from an opponent like you." Ereg muttered as his claws quivered, transforming into four more phantoms.

Sure enough, that was enough for Gael's sword to sweep further as the claws were no longer there, and nothing prevented the sharp blade from slicing its way through.

Gael instinctively decided to seize the opportunity despite the risks involved. After all, the six phantoms were rapidly approaching him, surrounding him on all sides.

He might have been injured, but Ereg was in an even more dangerous situation since he had nothing else to defend himself with. Nothing could stop Gael's sword from heading straight for Ereg's neck.

Ereg's gaze grew deeper, then he smiled mockingly and opened his mouth wide.

Crackle.

The ash blade caught between Ereg's strongest teeth, which could hardly be damaged by any weapon, especially his fangs. They gnashed, but barely held Gael's sword, even though he was exerting great force for this attack.

Of course, there was no way Ereg could stay in such a dangerous position for long, in less than ten seconds he would run out of strength, and Gael would simply cut his head in two, but Gael didn't have that much time.

"ARGH!!!!" Gael exclaimed in pain as the six jaws of the phantoms bit into his skin, and blood rushed outward, hot as the brightest star.