1 The Man Cursed By Chaos.

On a dark planet covered by thunderous clouds and endless rain, the screams and shouts of battle could be heard.

Blood flowed like water down the battlefield as bodies dropped one after the other.

Now, one would think that all these deaths were the result of a battle between two armies or factions. But no.

This was a one sided slaughter.

On one side was an army, around 500,000 soldiers of varying alien races strong. This was the army of the current planet, Valium.

On the other side was an army of demonic night creatures numbering around 100,000.

Normally, the army of Valium would win on the overwhelming force of their numbers alone.

But, the night creatures were lead by a man, if he could still be called so, more terrifying than all of them combined, Dracul.

He walked in the midst of the battlefield as the night creatures tore apart the native army. What made the night creatures terrifying was that anyone they killed would be also turned into a night creature, multiplying their numbers rapidly.

"Kill him! As long as we kill their master, we can win! We still have a chance!"

A middle aged giant wearing ornate golden armor raised his battleaxe, shouting these words at his comrades in an attempt to raise their moral.

"Arghhhhhh!!!!"

"Please....n-noooo!!!!!"

But to no avail.

His soldiers were in terror as the creatures ripped them apart with extreme violence.

With no choice left, the man had to make a decision. He had to charge at the leader of the creatures himself.

As a giant, his race was unparalleled in close combat so he knew that if he got close enough, it would be an automatic win.

"AGHH!!"

So with a bellowing shout, the giant charged across the battlefield, destroying the bodies of any creatures unfortunate enough to stand in his path.

No matter how much they tried to stop him, he would keep going, his magical armor and his invincible body keeping all opposition at bay.

Thunder crackled in the sky, giving off eerie red flashes as the blood covered giant finally reached Dracul, the leader of these creatures.

The giant wanted to ask him many questions.

Why did he start this war?

What did Valium do to him?

How could he be so apathetic while all of this bloodshed happened around him?

But the giants anger was too much. He would destroy the man first and ask his wretched soul questions later.

Golden light shone off the giants axe as he raised it above his head, causing the skies above to respond in kind, sending down a golden ray of light upon his axe. It seemed to empower it somehow.

"Be destroyed!"

The planet shook as the man swung his axe down at Dracul, its power shattering space around it as it moved. The golden light was so overwhelming that any creature who was in a 500 meter radius was instantly disintegrated.

This giant had to have been a holy warrior blessed by the gods of his planet.

His otherworldly striking power couldn't be explained otherwise.

Dracul on the other hand, didn't even look at the giant as he calmly raised his hand.

BOOM!!

The explosion ruptured the surrounding area as the axe collided with Dracul's body. The giant had a look of satisfaction on his face when he saw this.

In his mind, not even a God could survive a blow of that magnitude.

"Weak."

When the giant heard this voice enter his ear, he immediately looked down at the place his axe landed. He tried to pull it back up, but to no avail.

The grip holding the axe was too strong.

The smoke from the explosion cleared, revealing Dracul holding the axe with one hand.

"H-h-how?!"

The giant roared in defiance as he refused to believe this outcome. How could such a small man block his power?

He let his axe go and raised his foot in an attempt to stomp Dracul into nothingness, but his opponent wasn't going to let him attack twice.

Dracul moved in a blur and suddenly appeared over the giants head. The giant managed to see this and tried to raise his hand to block mid-stomp.

BOOM!

Dracul punched the giant in the middle of its head, splitting it in half as he went down its body. The giant's body just collapsed lifelessly on the ground in two portions of bisected meat. It's blood trickled slowly down his vambraces.

Dracul held a massive golden ball of light in his palms as he finished killing the giant. This was its soul.

With one swift motion, he held it over his head and gulped it down, swallowing the soul within moments.

Now, there was no more opposition left on the field.

His creatures continued to slaughter everyone as they saw fit.

Dracul's red robes fluttered in the wind as he clasped his hands behind his back and looked into the dark, thunderous clouds.

"How long has it been?"

He blocked out the sounds of pitiful screams traveling through the air as he just focused on the thoughts within his mind.

"How many thousands or millions of years has it been since I've started thus cursed journey? So many worlds...defeated by me. So many planets plunged into war because of my actions...and no end is in sight."

Dracul sighed as the rain slowly traveled down his body. It has been too long.

"A world of idealistic pirates...a world of honor-bound ninja...a world of foolish magicians hampered by the ability of their weak grimoires...I've faced all of these and many more, yet I've haven't been truly defeated."

But as he thought about the idea of defeat, a smile appeared on his face. A smile that one would never expect from a figure such as this. He looked down at his hand and continued, "Dracul, my only friend, the one who gave me a name I could remember. You were the only one to constantly best me in battle, but in the end, you fell due to your own torment. I promised to take over everything from you, but, does it really have no end? Does the curse of Chaos really have no limits?"

Dracul looked down on the battlefield before him to see all of his night creatures sitting down or feasting on the dead bodies in front of them. The battle was over. This planet was as good as conquered.

"Another one down...how many more to go?"

Dracul had been alive for an untold amount of years. It had been so long that he had forgotten who he was when he first came into being. Sometimes, the words, Demon King, would enter his mind but without context, it was useless. The only thing he remembered was that he was cursed by his creator, Chaos after some kind of battle.

The curse caused war to find him regardless of what he did or what he was doing. There were times when tried to live a normal life on a small plot of land somewhere but soldiers would show up at his gates one day and start fighting him. Then whatever Kingdom the soldiers came from would be angry and send more.

It would eventually escalate into an all out war that ended with the complete destruction of said Kingdom.

Furthermore, when life had been extinguished on that world, a portal would open, sucking him into another world for that cycle to repeat itself again.

There were a few times where he tried to let his opponents kill him. When he died, he assumed his plan had worked.

He assumed that he would be free.

Oh how wrong he was.

Even in death, conflict would find his wary soul. He had fought Death itself, the Grim Reaper,, Angels, Gods, Demons in purgatory, anything one could think of.

Worse yet, he automatically returned to life 3000 years later to continue fighting again. This curse was diabolical.

But there was one time when he finally met a friend in a seemingly bleak world that he had been sent to.

This friend was Dracul, but commonly known as Dracula.

Like him, Dracula was an immortal being that couldn't be killed by normal means. Their magic was just too strong.

So when they eventually got into a fight, it lasted for 500 years. Alucard, Dracul's son, also joined the battle, but he was defeated quickly. Dracul and the stranger were out of his league.

When the battle was over, the two of them had a hearty laugh as they shook hands and looked each other in the eye. This was all that needed to be done for them to understand each other.

Years passed and their friendship only got deeper as they battled against the foes of that world. Even the Gods bowed their heads after fighting them.

Unfortunately though, Dracul always had a part of him that wanted to die, wanted to leave this world behind to just rest in the afterlife forever.

So he came up with a plan to be absorbed by the stranger, the man without a name. With this, he would be free of his responsibilities, while also giving his only friend an identity and his power. He also hoped that it would break his curse.

But alas, nothing changed.

This was how the current Dracul had came into being.

A man, now aimless, and alone once again, was forced to continue his journey through time and space, in an endless cycle of war.

"Go, my children, empty this world of all life. Maybe the next one will be our last."

The creatures howled in glee as they flew off into the distance to carry out Dracul's order. Now, he was by himself.

Dracul sat down on a rock and stared into the sky at the rain beating down upon him.

"I wonder what's going to be next."

Unbeknownst to him though, a giant door had opened under the area where he was sitting.

He immediately caught a glimpse of the light coming from the door but it had such a hold on him that he couldn't even escape.

"This isn't the usual portal...is this finally something different?"

Moments later, his entire body disappeared into the door, removing all traces of him from the world.

[On the first floor of the tower]

Dracul arrived in a dimly lit hallway with a purple light hanging from above.

"Ugh...why was I laying down?"

He got up and rubbed his head. For the first time in a long time, he felt disoriented. Maybe this place was different.

The moment Dracul regained his senses, he confirmed that theory. This was place was indeed different.

"The connection to my magic is gone...I can't feel my night creatures, my spells, or any magic power at all. It's like it's been drained out of me. I only feel my weapons and my innate abilities. What is this place?"

Dracul heard the sounds of voices up ahead, just down the hallway. He glanced up and he saw three figures standing there, looking through what seemed to be a glass window.

Dracul started walking down said hallway, his eyes trained on the three figures in front of him. He didn't know when his curse would become active, so he watched them carefully.

Suddenly one of them, which seemed to be a rabbit like creature, turned its head towards him and said, "Oh? Another one? Today seems to be a special occasion."

The other two figures turned towards him in shock.

He couldn't understand what they were saying but it seemed as if he wasn't supposed to be there.

"What is this place?"

The white rabbit smiled as dracul asked his question.

He opened his arms wide and said, "This is the tower. May I ask why you've come here?"

Dracul simply responded, "I was brought here. So I should be asking, why did you bring me here? Are you trying to offer me something?"

The white rabbit chuckled.

"Let's start with our names first. I am Headon, Guardian of the lowest floor of the tower. What is yours?"

Dracul nodded. He could sense that the creature wasn't lying.

"Prince of Da...well, just Dracul."

Headon rubbed his chin and responded, "It's good to meet you, Dracul. Now, as for why you're here, the tower seems to have chosen you. Do you know what kind of place this is?"

Dracul shook his head.

"Explain."

Headon raised his staff towards the ceiling.

"What do you desire? Money? Glory? Power? Revenge? Or something that surpasses all others? Whatever you want, it is here, at the top of the tower."

Of course, Dracul didn't believe that. How many years had he lived and how many magic spells had he tried? None of them could break the curse on his soul.

But, he still wanted to try. After all, there was no reason not to. It wasn't like he was going to run out of time.

"Can it break a curse?"

Now, Headon broke out into a full smile.

"Everything is up there."

Dracul looked up at the purple light shining above him and then turned his focus back to Headon. Again, he could sense that the creature wasn't trying to trick him.

"Then, how do I get up there?"

Headon moved his staff once again and pointed towards the glass they were looking through at first.

"Pass the tests, climb the tower."

Dracul chuckled inwardly as he heard this. When was the last time someone tried to test him?

"Then lead me to your first test."

Headon led Dracul towards the 'glass' window.

"The first test is called Ball. It's simple, do you see that creature in there?"

Dracul nodded. The creature floating around just looked like a giant eel. Nothing he should be worried about.

"You need to avoid or defeat the monster and apply enough force for it to pop. Then you will pass the test."

Dracul simply walked through the 'glass' wall and entered the testing area. If that's all he needed to do, then this test was already as good as passed.

"I'm ready."

Headon nodded and test began as the Eel sized up Dracul as if he was his next meal.

"Come, creature."

"SCRZZZZ!"

The eel made a strange sound as it rushed towards Dracul with its mouth open, attempting to devour him where he stood.

The moment it's maw tried to encase him, a crimson light shone for a split second on his hand and the creature was suddenly bisected into two, it's blood splashing wildly upon his face.

"Hm, my shadow whip is still strong."

Dracul walked towards the ball and pierced it with his fingers, causing it to fall apart. The moment that was achieved, he felt a light coming over him and he disappeared from that floor.

He had passed the test.

The three figures standing there watched in silence as Dracul left. Suddenly, one of them, a female, let out a nervous chuckle.

"So that's how true irregulars are huh...scary. Evan, how would you evaluate this one?"

Evan gulped as he remembered the feeling he got when he looked at Dracul. That man was anything but normal.

"A legit monster."