Positions.(1)

As Dracul approached the room Anak dashed off to, he overheard her making some kind of deal with Lero-ro and the young boy known as Bam. The deal involved the weapons the both of them wielded, which were the Black March and the Green April.

If Bam's team won the Crown Game, he would get both weapons. But if they lost, they would go to Anak. The terms were fairly simple while Lero'ro was the intermediator for the two.

Hearing this, Dracul said nothing.

He went back to his teams room and sat down, thinking about how he would prevent something like this from happening in the future.

'I will take that weapon, but that wouldn't prevent her from acting foolish in the future. I need to control her, completely. I could forcefully turn her into a demon or vampire, but, the process of them becoming loyal is usually easier when they do it of their own accord. Hm, I wonder why she's climbing this tower...'

Dracul sat back, crossed his arms and thought about the different ways he could tempt her into falling under his control. If Anak didn't have as much potential as she did, he would've just killed her the moment he had the chance.

A few moments later, Anak and Hatz arrived in the room. The atmosphere between them was hostile, to say the least.

Hatz sat on Dracul's left while Anak sat on his right. They said nothing to Dracul as they both silently watched the Crown Game unfold in front of them.

"Anak Jahad, you caused me to fail."

She looked at Dracul with annoyance on her face and simply replied, "So what? This game didn't mean anything anyways. Tch. Shut up and get over it."

Dracul nodded as he heard Anak's clapback. This response was well within his expectations.

"You'll pay for it later."

Anak suddenly turned her head towards him, her expression grave and her eyes filled with animosity.

"Is that a threat? Do you think because you pulled off a lucky win before that you'll be able to do it again? This time, I'll kill you."

Her aura encapsulated both of them, causing Hatz to put his hand on the hilt of his sword from the fearsome pressure it created.

"Anak, calm down!"

But Dracul was unimpressed. This aura was much too weak to even be called one.

"Girl, I've indulged your unfounded arrogance for far too long."

Dracul released his aura, causing the entire hall to be covered in a blanket of darkness. Every single being in that place collapsed on their knees from his aura flowing through their bodies.

Some even fell unconscious immediately.

This aura wasn't just felt on a physical level, it was felt on the spiritual. Their very souls shook as the depths of Dracul's darkness encapsulated them.

'Barrier!'

Lero'ro immediately covered himself in Shinsu to stop the aura from affecting him, but it only helped just enough for him to stand up.

"W-where is this coming from?!"

In the next moment, the aura disappeared, causing everything to return to normal.

Dracul could hear Lero'ro trying to help the regulars up on the outside of the room while everyone else tried their best to recover.

No one knew what that was or where it came from. Some were even thinking that the administrator was responsible.

Unbeknownst to them through, they weren't even the focus of the aura. They just caught the aftermath.

The center of the storm was completely focused on Anak.

The lizard in question was curled up on the ground hugging her knees, shivering profusely. Tears ran down her cheeks as the sound of her chattering teeth permeated the air of the room.

Hatz himself just started to shake off the aftereffects of the aura as he sat on the floor and leaned on the side of the bench.

"Y-you, what are you?"

Dracul didn't respond. His attention was on Anak, the cause of all this.

"What you felt was just a small piece of who I am. Yet here you are, cowering on the ground, with fear rising from your very soul. The special blood flowing through your veins means nothing before me. Where is the arrogance and bravado you love to display?"

Anak flinched as she heard Dracul's voice addressing her.

"I-i-i-i...."

She couldn't even form the words within her mind to respond. It was so close to being shattered that it was a miracle that she didn't become completely incapacitated.

"Hm. Just know that I am the one who controls this team. If you cause my progress up this tower to be delayed again, I wouldn't be as merciful as I am now."

This decree was put out to the both of them, Anak and Hatz. Dracul wasn't going to let the fate of the team be controlled by the whims of two children any longer.

As time went on, everyone required for the game recovered and the game went on, surprisingly enough. Whoever was giving orders to Lero'ro didn't see the need for it to end.

Eventually, the Crown Game was over with and a winning team wasn't decided. Something strange happened with Bam and some girl he seemed to be involved with, causing things to go awry.

This naturally meant that Bam lost the bet.

By this time, Anak Jahad had recovered enough to be cognizant of what was going on around her so when Lero'ro brought the weapon over, she barely managed to collect without him noticing that she wasn't in the right state of mind.

"Hand me the weapon."

Anak froze up when she heard these words. Normally, she wouldn't have given up the Black March without a gruesome fight, but Dracul's influence on her mind was still there.

She slowly outstretched the Black March towards him and with a flick of his finger, the weapon floated into his hand.

"Hm. There's a presence in this weapon. Interesting."

Dracul played around with it a little more and just threw it back at Anak as if it was a piece of garbage.

"Take it. Compared to what I already have, that weapon is useless."

Anak caught it with surprise on her face. She wasn't expecting to get it back after Dracul's attitude earlier.

After getting the weapon, Anak turned around to leave the room and Dracul followed behind right after.

This test was over so they had no reason to remain.

Hatz, the last one sitting within the room, had his trembling hands resting on the hilt of his sword as he watched Dracul walk away.

'The image of that Dragon is planted in my mind like a curse. Everytime I see him I just want to attack him out of fear. But those words...'

The words Dracul had said when he released his aura still rang through Hatz' mind like a rocking bell.

He was sure of what everything pointed to.

Dracul wasn't a man, but a creature of darkness that was a manifestation of evil itself. The opposite of what it meant to be human. A curse on life itself.

If such a man continued to exist, evil would spread rapidly through the tower.

His mind was flooded with thoughts like these.

But in the end, his rationality won.

"I'm overreacting. Even though his presence just spells evil, I don't even know what he really stands for. I'm reacting out of fear here. Anak rightfully deserved what she got. But still...what is the outside of the tower like for men like him and King Jahad to appear?"

[Two days later]

After the rigorous Crown Game, Lero'ro had given the regulars three days to rest and recover. During this time, the projected positions of each regular were revealed.

"So both me and the girl are fishermen while Hatz is a scout. This reminds me of the crew compositions of that one world where pirates ran amok."

Over the past few days, Dracul had changed his appearance from the blood red cloak to a white sleeveless coat with black x-shaped buttons around the high collar. As usual, he wore black pants with matching color boots.

It was nothing eye catching, just a change of pace from his normal "Prince Of Darkness" look.

As he turned away from the board to leave, he stopped midway as he noticed a short girl with primrose colored hair standing behind him.

Even though he almost walked over her, she stood there, staring at his shadow as if she had seen a ghost.

"Hm? Do you need something?"

Her yellow pupils suddenly trembled as they shot up towards him, looking him up and down.

"It's you...isn't it? The Dragon from the Crown Game. Your shadow...feels the same."