Rebecca had no mind to look over there at all. She crouched down, then sliced open her own palm. Blood flowed out.

“Lorin, drink it!”

Lorin’s lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but no sound came out. Rebecca had no mind to care what she was trying to say.

“Hurry, or you’ll die!” Rebecca pressed her cut hand to Lorin’s mouth, and the blood flowed into Lorin’s body.

Then something miraculous happened. The wounds on Lorin’s body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even the severed arm lying motionless not far away began to move.

“Bastard! Get away from my sister! You filthy vampire!”

A fierce gust suddenly rushed over. But Rebecca didn’t even turn her head. She simply raised a hand and blocked the attacker.

“Meredith! Enough!” Rebecca shouted angrily.

The girl finally stopped. She slowly stepped back, cast a cold glance at Lorin, who was lying on the ground and recovering, then said, “Sister, you gave noble Demon Race blood to this lowly creature. You’re defiling our Demon Race!”

Rebecca didn’t bother responding at all. She picked up Lorin’s two severed arms and placed them back at the broken points. To anyone’s shock, the severed parts stuck together, then healed.

“Sister!”

“What are you here for?” Rebecca said flatly.

The girl before them looked delicate and spoiled, and she resembled Rebecca by ninety percent. She was Rebecca’s younger sister, her biological sister, two years younger. Well... before adulthood, the Demon Race had no gender. She could’ve chosen to become a boy. But for some reason, Rebecca had no idea why she had always presented herself as a girl...

“You shouldn’t be with this kind of lowly creature!” Meredith stared at Lorin, anxious and furious. She was deeply unhappy that her sister had actually given her own blood to Lorin.

“We’re not talking about that. I asked why you came. Did Father send you?”

“Father can’t even be bothered with you.”

“Isn’t this exactly what you wanted? I can give you the position of Dark Lord. I’m not interested in it in the slightest,” Rebecca said lightly.

That was right. Meredith’s dream was to become a Dark Lord revered by all things in the dark world. But the first heir to the throne was Rebecca. Rebecca, however, had no interest in it at all. And that casual, almost charitable attitude of hers infuriated Meredith.

“You disappoint me too much, Sister!”

“Alright, alright. Go back. I’m not interested in playing with you. And I won’t pursue the fact that you almost killed my blood thrall.” Rebecca waved her hand, then glanced at Lorin, who had mostly recovered and whose eyes had regained their clarity. She finally let out a breath of relief.

The blood of the Demon Race contained immense power, but it couldn’t be used for any purpose. The Blood Clan, however, was the only exception. They could draw energy from blood. Normally, Demon Race blood was seen as the most violent and unstable liquid in the world, and only the Blood Clan could extract power from it. That was why the Blood Clan all wished to follow the Demon Race. They could gain tremendous strength from Demon Race blood.

Meredith gritted her teeth. Looking at Rebecca’s calm face, she grew furious.

From childhood to now, Rebecca had always shone with a blinding light. She was the center of the dark world. Her talents in every field were absurdly powerful. Even their father, the Dark Lord, marveled at her intelligence. Yet she had willingly sunk low, studying the despised art of Demon Potion and spending all day mixed up with races Meredith saw as inferior. Even so, Meredith still couldn’t catch up to her.

Meredith had always worked hard. No matter the field, she gave it everything she had. Nearly all of her short fourteen years had been spent studying. Yet her sister was still stronger than her. And their father, the Dark Lord, had always reacted coldly to Meredith’s efforts, while showing overwhelming enthusiasm toward Rebecca in every way. Meredith refused to accept it. She truly refused to accept it. What she wanted was to defeat her sister fair and square in every aspect, then claim the position of Dark Lord herself, not receive it as alms from her.

Without a word, Meredith charged at Rebecca...

Boom!

A violent roar shook the sky.

Not far away, Rucadan fell into chaos.

“The south! There’s a powerful magical fluctuation in the south!” The Imperial National Defense Department of the Kasmo Empire, located in the capital Rucadan, was the first to detect this unusual surge of magic.

“What level?” the head of the department asked.

“We can’t determine it in such a short time, but... it’s at least Dragon-class...”

“Dragon... class? A dragon? Why would a dragon appear near Rucadan? Hurry! Inform His Majesty and send troops to investigate!”

“Yes, sir!”

This sudden upheaval was like a steel blade cutting through the workings of prosperous Rucadan. Countless uneasy people climbed onto tall buildings and stared at the explosions in the southern sky, born from violent collisions of energy. Mushroom clouds rose one after another. Some magical power spilling in from afar even reached Rucadan itself. Quite a few people were blasted away or injured by those straight-line bursts of magic, and some buildings were damaged as well.

Many of Rucadan’s powerful figures also came out one after another because of this sudden magical disturbance. They watched the raging power in the distance with pounding hearts. The stronger they were, the more clearly they understood what was happening over there...

“What in the world is that? I can’t believe such power exists in this world!” a young powerhouse said.

“This isn’t energy the Dragon race could produce. This is the Demon Race,” said an old man with broad experience.

“The Demon Race? Why would the Demon Race appear near Rucadan? And who’s fighting them?”

“No idea. We can’t go investigate right now. Our top priority is protecting Rucadan. That matters more than anything. All we can do now is wait for the soldiers at the front to bring back news.”

...

Far away...

The dense forest had already turned into an infernal sea of fire. The woods on this plain had vanished from the world. The once-flat ground now looked like the surface of the moon, full of craters and pits. It was obvious just how fierce the battle here had been moments ago.

“You can’t beat me, Meredith... give up. Go back and stay by Father and Mother’s side. Don’t interfere in my affairs anymore.” Rebecca pinned Meredith to the ground and spoke calmly.

But Meredith, blood spilling from her mouth, glared at Rebecca with stubborn defiance. Then she reached out, grabbed Rebecca’s arm, opened her mouth, and bit down hard. She had no strength left now. This useless resistance was all she could still manage.

Rebecca frowned slightly. She didn’t stop Meredith. She only looked at her in silence.

“I hate you, I hate you! Rebecca!! One day, I’ll defeat you!”

Rebecca shrugged indifferently, then let Meredith go.

Meredith got to her feet and glared at Rebecca in fury. She still wanted to attack, but she was already utterly exhausted, while Rebecca showed no sign of fatigue at all and stood there at ease.

“Hmph!” Meredith gave a cold snort, then used a teleportation spell and vanished.

“...Sigh.” Rebecca let out a breath and shook her head helplessly, then walked over to Lorin, who had been protected inside her barrier.

“Master, are you a princess of the Demon Race?” Lorin had heard the conversation between Rebecca and Meredith just now.

“I guess so...”

“Really?”

Rebecca smiled slightly, then patted Lorin on the head.

“Master... I’m sorry. Lorin has defiled you. You shouldn’t have given your blood to Lorin.” Lorin’s thinking was actually the same as Meredith’s. That alone showed how rigid the hierarchy of the dark world was.

“You would’ve died otherwise,” Rebecca said.

“I know, but...”

“No buts. This was my decision. Since you’re my blood thrall, you should obey my will unconditionally, understand? And besides, staying alive is what matters most. You’ll still have to help me in the future...” Rebecca said with a smile as she reached out her hand to Lorin.

Lorin froze. In that moment, it was as if she had been reborn. She had received the acknowledgment of someone from the most exalted family of the Demon Race. What could be more intoxicating, more thrilling than that?

“Master... Lorin will always belong to Master...”

“Yeah, yeah, sure~” Rebecca said carelessly. Then she looked around with a pained expression. All the materials she had gathered today had already burned to ash and vanished without a trace.

“Master, was that person your younger sister?” Lorin asked.

“Yes. A younger sister who isn’t cute at all. She’s always causing me trouble. This time, you were almost killed by her.”

Lorin shook her head and said indifferently, “It’s fine. To a noble princess, I’m no more than dust. If Her Highness had killed me, I would’ve had no regrets.”

Rebecca felt utterly helpless. She really had no answer to the dark world’s deeply rooted hierarchy.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go back. I can sense humans approaching. We need to leave now.”

“Yes, Master~” Lorin replied obediently. But beneath that obedience was a new layer of reverence and gratitude that hadn’t been there before.

Rebecca looked at the devastated surroundings and thought, When exactly did Meredith become like this? She was pretty cute when she was little. How did she get this calculating after growing up just a bit? Did I offend her somehow? No, I didn’t. I spoiled her a lot when we were kids. But now this child won’t listen to a word. There’s no communicating with her at all. Maybe she’s hit puberty... sigh...

With a sigh, Rebecca left with Lorin. What remained behind was a string of questions the Kasmo Empire couldn’t explain and problems it couldn’t solve. Because of this incident, Rucadan even entered a long period of martial law. But that was a story for later.

Right now, Rebecca was only frustrated that she had gained nothing today and wasted an entire day. She returned home in a gloomy mood. But the one waiting for her was a flustered Anna.

“You’re finally back. I was worried sick about you,” Anna said anxiously.

“What’s wrong?” Rebecca asked, puzzled.

“The Demon Race appeared outside the city. Rucadan is in complete chaos right now. Thank goodness you’re back. Where’s Professor Lorin?”

“She went back...” Rebecca said flatly, feeling helpless at the same time. What even was this mess? She and her sister had one fight, and Rucadan was thrown completely into chaos. Seriously...