My stepsisters are sexy demons, and I must protect them
Chapter 66: A scheme five years in the making

Chapter 66: A scheme five years in the making

—SWISH!

The blades of Hakuto, Chantal, and Shin slash through Drakhul’s defenseless body at the exact same time.

Stripped of the Fallen One’s Eye, he crumbles into ashes.

Velune watches in terror, paralyzed by the sight.

Her agonized screams of rage and pain echo across the area.

The last undead under her command—the most powerful—has been reduced to nothing but dust.

She collapses to her knees, shaking violently, spasming as if seized by a convulsion.

Her tiny fists slam over and over against the tear-soaked ground.

Zhurvak stands silently beside her, watching. His expression is cold, detached, completely indifferent to her suffering.

«M-My Drakhul... my precious Drakhul... he’s been annihilated...» Velune whispers, her voice almost gone.

«And I’m afraid it’s not just Drakhul,» Zhurvak replies, his voice chilling her to the bone.

It’s not the shy, submissive tone he’s always used with her.

It’s cold. Sharp. Cruel.

Velune instinctively lifts her head to make sure it was really him who spoke.

«W-What... what do you mean...?» she sobs.

«You’ve made it clear more than once that you don’t care about awakening the divine Nyratalir. And you even planned to keep the mighty Cassian Thalukvar in the dark about the location of the two hybrids and to blackmail him...»

Zhurvak shakes his head slowly, again and again.

«...That kind of attitude can’t be tolerated. Especially now that your one and only use in the Cult of the Primordial Shadow—your control over Drakhul’s reanimated corpse—is gone. In other words, you’re dead weight. And you’ll be treated as such. Sadly, with my pitiful strength, I can’t kill a semi-immortal like you. But I’m pretty sure those guys with their Sacred Flame could turn you into ash in an instant.»

Velune’s despair grows even deeper.

The veiled threat coming from someone she once thought of as an ally—an idiot, even—hits her like a blade.

«P-Please, don’t...! Cassian... he said he has the corpse of someone even more powerful than Drakhul! If you let me die, no necromancer will ever be able to resurrect him!»

Zhurvak bursts into laughter.

«You’re really such a naive brat, you know that...?»

He pauses.

«There’s no second corpse, you foolish girl. That was just a lie Cassian told you to secure your loyalty. But clearly, even that wasn’t enough. You still defied his will.»

Zhurvak looks down at her with blank, lifeless eyes.

«And I have no intention of wasting one of my precious eyes to save someone as worthless as you. I’d love to say it’s nothing personal, but the truth is I’ve always hated you. That arrogant attitude of yours—like you were untouchable, just because Drakhul was there to protect you. But now that he’s gone, you look so small. So weak. A pathetic little insect. Goodbye, Velune.»

Velune reaches her hands toward Zhurvak, but his body turns into yellow smoke that slips through her fingers.

She’s left there.

Alone.

Defenseless.

Not far from where Hakuto and the others are.

Meanwhile, Akashi grips in his hand the fuchsia bulb torn just moments ago from Drakhul—the Eye of the Fallen One.

He stares at it in disbelief, completely petrified, while the white cross-shaped pupil darts rapidly in every direction, as if alive.

«Come on, Akashi, what are you waiting for? It’s better for everyone that artifacts like that are erased forever!» Shin urges him in a serious voice.

But Akashi doesn’t listen.

His gaze remains fixed on the Eye of the Fallen One, in total and silent contemplation.

«Go on, destroy it!» Shin insists—this time his voice is more threatening, worried by Akashi’s hesitation.

«Destroy it, you say...?» Akashi repeats, turning the eye in his hand, as if admiring it from multiple angles.

The cross-shaped pupil follows the movement of the eye, always pointing at Akashi’s face—like a compass that always points north no matter how it’s moved.

«It would be insane to destroy it, after all the time and effort I’ve spent to get my hands on it, don’t you think?» Akashi replies with a cold voice, laced with a hint of malice.

«Akashi, what the fuck are you saying?!» Itsu cuts in, his face starting to flush with rage moment by moment.

«I should thank you, each of you. I thought my little brother’s help would be enough to defeat Drakhul and take the Eye of the Fallen One, but I must have made a serious miscalculation—Drakhul turned out to be far more powerful than I ever could’ve imagined.

But as they say... all’s well that ends well, right?» Akashi sneers.

Itsu stares at him with a rage that looks ready to explode any second.

«So... this is the real reason you sought me out, why you helped me bring out my latent potential.»

Akashi smiles and shakes his head.

«Oh, little brother... things go much deeper than that...

Not that I care to tell you everything I had to plot to get this eye in my hands, but it’s such a damn brilliant plan, so twisted and perfect, that keeping it to myself and not bragging about it would be a crime.»

Then, Akashi turns his gaze toward Velune—collapsed on her knees, still within their sight.

«It all started five years ago, by chance, when I discovered that among the members of the Cult of the Primordial Shadow there was also that necromancer... the one who had managed to bring back to life the legendary Drakhul Volkom. Countless necromancers have tried for millennia, but fate decided that during this era a necromancer would be born powerful enough to succeed. I couldn’t just stand by and watch that incredible fortune. That’s why I chose to join them—the first step toward this glorious day.

But I needed a way to isolate Drakhul and the necromancer. I obviously couldn’t attack them in front of the other cult members. And the hunt for those two little hybrid brats became the perfect excuse. As you already figured out, I made sure that vampire girl left a blood trail.

A trail that would lead Velune here, isolated from the rest of the cult—the ones who could’ve interfered with my plan.

Here, where I could count on the help of the legendary Shin Tendo in the very likely case that I wouldn’t be able to take the eye alone.

A brilliant plan, don’t you think?» Akashi asks with an almost hysterical and euphoric smile.

«Y-You...» Itsu stammers, his body trembling with rage.

A devastating surge of energy explodes from him.

«You... just to join that gang of criminals... you killed our parents! You killed our parents for that stupid eye!»

Akashi tilts his head slightly—he stares at him with a diabolical smile.

«You figured it out a bit late, little brother.

But I don’t blame you.

You’ve never been the sharpest one.»

«I... I’LL KILL YOU!»

Itsu launches at Akashi—his blood rapier forms instantly in his hand.

And he’s not alone—Shin orders Hakuto and Chantal to do the same, and joins them himself.

Killing Akashi—stopping him from claiming the ancient and devastating power of the Eye of the Fallen One—is the top priority.

But it’s already too late.

Before they can reach him, Akashi gives Itsu a strangely serious look, totally different from the ecstatic and wicked grin from earlier.

He stares deep into his brother’s eyes.

«Watch closely, little brother.»

And then...

He presses the Eye of the Fallen One into his right eye—pupil against pupil.

A burst of fuchsia flames explodes from his body, forcing Shin and the others to leap back immediately to avoid the blast.

Then, a blinding flash of light—followed by terrifying, anguished screams.

Screams that speak of pain beyond all comprehension.

Akashi’s screams.

But when the light fades...

...Akashi stands.

His body is now wrapped in a faint layer of fuchsia flames—his right eye replaced by the Eye of the Fallen One.

His breathing is heavy.

His body trembles.

His veins bulge beneath his pale skin, glowing a vivid purple.

«Such senseless power... you can’t even begin to imagine the strength I feel flowing through me right now... Thanks to this eye, I’ve inherited the power and knowledge of its previous bearers—the most powerful dark emissary that ever lived—Lucypher—and the strongest vampire of all time—Drakhul Volkom. And with this power... I can destroy anyone!»

«I knew you were insane, a criminal, but I never thought you’d go this far!» growls Itzu, consumed by fury.

Shin, meanwhile, trembles in fear—for the first time in his life.

He’s the only one, along with Akashi, who truly understands the magnitude of the power at stake.

He’s never backed down from anyone—not even when his body told him he should.

But this time is different.

His concern is all for his son, for the girls, and for Itzu—more than for himself.

The fear that Akashi could wipe them all out without them being able to resist even slightly grips his heart.

Then, the unexpected happens.

Without saying another word, Akashi dissolves into a whirlwind of fuchsia petals.

They spiral upward, vanishing from their sight—except for a single petal, which drifts gently down and lands on Hakuto’s head.

Then, it disappears, as if absorbed into Hakuto’s skin.

Shin collapses to his knees, his eyes wide in disbelief at the apparent miracle.

He exhales a long, deep breath—cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

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