Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

820 years ago, a terrible incident occurred between the Lord of the Werewolf Muzaka and the honorable Noblesse. The Union, a group consisting exclusively of humans, knew of their friendship and used this to their advantage. They killed Muzakad's daughter, who then wanted to exterminate all of humanity. The Union did not know why Noblesse would act like this, but they expected that he would do everything in his power to prevent him from going on a rampage and that is what happened. Both were seriously wounded in the fight, Raizel retreated into hibernation, into his coffin, which fall from a destroyed section of the bridge and sank into the depths of the ocean, the almost dead Muzaka was taken away by the members of the Union. They wanted to experiment on him and research him to find out more about these creatures, their enemies. They took his daughter with them for the same purpose.
The whole thing did not go unnoticed by the werewolves because although their lord often stayed away for years, it was never for that long. They heard a rumor that he had been involved in a fight with the Noblesse and asked their lord. He confirmed to them that Raizel had also disappeared and that there had been an explosion in the human world, near Lukadonia's border. Investigations indicate that there could have been a fight between them there and that it was caused by a conspiracy by the humans.
From then on, the werewolves and Nobles withdrew from the humans, deeply disappointed by their behavior, the way they behaved out of fear of them.
Frankenstein did not listen to the lord's wish to stay in Lukadonia and traveled off to find his master.
Urokai, Lagus, Zarga, Edian, Roctis and his daughter Ignes, as well as Gradius, who were always skeptical of humans, were only strengthened in their convictions by this matter and from then on, they did everything they could to protect the Lord and their homeland from them.
Time passed and the existence of vampires and werewolves became rumors and horror stories among humans, only the members of the Union knew that they existed and thanks to technological advances, they were able to expand their fighting powers in order to one day destroy them and live on in peace because for them their withdrawn behavior was just the calm before the storm. They created modified humans for this purpose, even if they used ethical and morally reprehensible methods.
Now in South Korea a legendary Noble has been brought back to life, it is the honorable Noblesse Cadis Etrama di Raizel.
The clan leaders, who will not be unaware of this, then set out to find their missing comrade and the Lord's right-hand man and bring him back to Lukadonia, where they experiencing their own personal difficulties in modern civilization.

Chapter Text

A white coffin with a golden cross is recovered from the sea and is to be taken to a laboratory for research purposes, but a handful of thieves stole the cargo to sell it on the black market. The Union has shown interest in it because they suspected that this object contained the body of a sleeping Noble, and they would not have the opportunity to get their hands on one of this species any time soon.

However, one of the traders betrayed his comrades and secretly agreed with the Union on a purchase price and the handover location was to be a building under construction in South Korea.

When the criminal made his way to the harbor to receive the Union members, Raizel woke up and, after sensing his subordinate Frankenstein nearby, headed in that direction and ended up at a high school, where he actually found him.

M-21 and M-24 were sent there to complete the deal, but the coffin had disappeared because Frankenstein had already taken it with him.

The man protested his innocence and that he had not deceived them, but that ultimately did not help him. M-24 bit him and made him an infected person.

While searching for the coffin, they met Rai and Frankenstein, as well as three children who were friends with the Noblesse.

Since they had not been in touch for a while, Marie and Jake were sent after them, who were tasked not only with returning the coffin but also eliminating the two potential traitors M-21 and M-24.

They found out that Yuna, Shinwoo and Ikhan had seen the infected person and thus had to be eliminated as witnesses.

In an attempt to save the children from being killed by Jake, M-24 lost his life.

M-21 was saved at the last second by Frankenstein and while he was in a duel with Marie, Rai and the now Ex-Union member set off for his comrade and the children. Unfortunately, too late for M-24.

Marie and Jake lost in the end, and M-21 became Frankenstein's security guard at the school.

Gejutel stood before his Lord. "As ordered, I sent two Nobles to the humans to find out whether the newspaper reports were true." They stayed away from humans, but got the daily newspaper in the neighboring country as a source of information, and that's how they found out about the hospital massacre in South Korea.

"Very good, and who exactly did you send?"

"My son and the future leader of the Loyard Clan, but they took their heirs with them, my grandchild Regis and also Seira. I hope you agree with that, my Lord. They have been interested in going to the humans world for quite some time and now saw this as their opportunity."

"If their fathers accompany them, not too much should happen, and perhaps it is not such a bad idea to establish a little more contact. Who besides the young, uninhibited generation would be better suited to bring our races closer together again?" The Lord smiled with this small glimmer of hope. He had always regretted having withdrawn, perhaps now was the time to reverse this and start a new. 'That would certainly be in your interest too, Cadis Etrama di Raizel.' He thought to himself.

When they arrived in South Korea, the four examined the crime scene, and it was clearly the work of a mutant.

“Father, what do you intend to do about this matter?" Regis, who was standing to his father's left on the roof of the building, looked up at him. The Noble, 1.70 m tall, had silver wavy hair that reached just above his shoulders and had two black strands.

As he remained silent, the Noble to his right, the heir of the Loyard Clan, Bernard, 1.76 m tall, with short silver hair and a thin strand hanging over his right eye, who wore a slim narrow glasses with silver frames, answered. “It was clearly the work of a mutant, and I think we know what to do in such a case."

His daughter to his right answered him. "We have to find the mutant and eliminate it so that no more people fall victim to it and perhaps turn into mutants as well, as this could draw attention to us."

"But that also means finding the creator of the mutant, either capturing him so that the Lord can judge him or, if he resists, killing him immediately." Regis added.

"You've been paying attention, but a question occurs to me, can you guess which one, my son?"

"You mean who the Noble was who created him? I've asked myself that question too, hardly anyone has left Lukadonia since the curfew, only the scouts once a day."

"That's right." He touched his chin with his right index finger and thumb as he thought.

"If I could provide a suggestion, Sir Ramon K. Landegre." Even though he was like a second father to her, it was worthy of decency to address him respectfully. "In this country, children go to a school, if Regis and I sneak in there, we might be able to gather useful information from them."

"That's my daughter, always keep a cool head and make excellent decisions, that's how we should do it." Her father put his right hand on her left shoulder.

His praise made her blush a little.

"I agree with you, Bernard J. Loyard. This would be a adequate option."

The next day, they appeared at Frankenstein's school and were led into his office by M-21.

They stood in front of the desk in the same order as the day before on the roof.

Frankenstein suspected they as Nobles, but he didn't recognize them, and they didn't recognize him.

"We want to enroll our children in your school, please complete all the necessary steps." Ramon ordered him with mind control.

Frankenstein continued to act as if he was a simple human and had been influenced by it, contacted his master and informed him of the situation, who in return ordered him to place them in his class so that he could keep an eye on them.

Several days passed, Regis and Seira then found out that M-21 was a modified human from the Union and reported it to their fathers.

"Are you sure, Regis?"

"Yes, father, absolutely."

"I can confirm that." Seira supported him to her right.

"Did he find out who you are?"

The girl answered her father. "I think so, since we confronted him. Forgive me, we should have informed you first." She bowed slightly.

"What happened is done and cannot be undone."

"Don't take this lightly, Bernard. If he informs the Union, and they find out we're here, they might send more of his kind to drive us out."

"You could be right, but what would someone like him want here at a school anyway? Is this a secret Union base?"

"It could be, or they found out that a Noble created a mutant and want to hold him accountable for his actions, like we did. Whichever is true, it makes matters more complicated. We mustn't act too quickly, tomorrow after class we'll take another closer look at him and deal with him in more detail."

After school, the two, who were wearing white suits and black shoes, wanted to pick up their children and kept an eye on M-21, who sensed the unpleasant looks being directed at him and went inside the building. Frankenstein advised him to stay away from them.

Their children left the building, Regis in the front right, Seira to his left, Ikhan behind him on the right and Shinwoo on the left, who were excitedly talking about a new video game, followed by Yuna on the right, Suyi and Raizel to the left.

“This presence, that's..."

“Yes, Ramon, that's Cadis Etrama di Seal, the brother of the Noblesse, but what is he doing here? Is he the culprit we're looking for?"

"Hey, look, who are those guys over there?"

"Shinwoo, behave yourself." Yuna scolded him.

"These guys, as you called them, are Seiras and my father."

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know that."

"Would you go ahead, we'll follow shortly." Seira asked the others.

"Okay, of course, but if you dawdle, we'll start without you." Shinwoo warned them and the four human turned left.

After a few meters they turned around because they noticed that one was missing. "Rai, aren't you coming?" Ikhan asked.

'Rai?' The two older Nobles thought to themselves, as the name was completely unknown to them, but perhaps Seal was using it as an alias.

"I will follow shortly, too."

"Fine, as you say, but don't get lost again." Suyi said and everyone turned around to continue on their way.

"It will be fine, after all, Seira and Regis will accompany him." Yuna reassured her.

"That's right."

When they were out of sight and hearing reach, Ramon began the conversation. "Would you be so kind as to explain to us what you are doing here without permission from the Lord, Sir Cadis Etrama di Seal? And are you responsible for the recent events in this country?"

Both were prepared for an attack on his part.

So it was Seal after all, they didn't see him often, but he seemed familiar to them straight away, but since he called himself Raizel here, they thought the resemblance was a coincidence.

"So you know my brother."

"Wait, did you say your brother? Then that means that you...!" Stuttered Bernard.

"My name is Cadis Etrama di Raizel."

When they realized who was standing in front of them, they knelt down in the usual manner. Now they were on their right knee, the left bent, the right fist on the ground and the left hand resting on the left knee, they also had their heads slightly bowed.

The two younger Nobles were confused as to what was happening.

"Regis, bow to him immediately."

"The same goes for you, Seira. Pay respect to the honorable Noblesse."

'Noblesse!?!' The two looked at him in astonishment for a moment, until they did what their fathers asked of them and got into the same position than they.

Fortunately for Rai, they were the last to leave the school and no one saw this unusual behavior towards him.

"Rise." However, he did not want to risk someone seeing it in the end.

They did as they were ordered.

"Let's go inside, I assume you have a few questions."

They followed him and sat on the couch that was facing the door with the backrest. Seira on the far right, then her father, Regis' father and then Regis. Opposite them, on the second couch, sat the Noblesse and Frankenstein stood to his left.

In addition, M-21 was summoned into the office to avoid further misunderstandings.

They quickly explained the events that had happened with the infected and that M-21 was no longer part of the Union.

The two older Nobles tried to convince Raizel to accompany them back, but he refused.

Frankenstein knew that his master would miss the two younger Nobles, so he suggested that they could live with him if the other two returned as announced. He used living with M-21 as an excuse for this, claiming that it would promote rapprochement through cultural exchange.

The fathers agreed and set off for Lukadonia, where all the Clan Leaders gathered to hear their report. From the throne on the right were Krasis Blester, his son Karius, Ragar Kertia and his sons Rajak and Rael, next to Gejutel K. Landegre, the father of Bernard, Claude J. Loyard, 1.91 m tall with silver hair that reached just above his shoulders, Urokai Agvain, Zarga Siriana. From the throne on the left were Roger Elenor, a Noble of average stature with short red hair and a small moustache, next to Rozaria, followed by the Mergas leader Lennard, he was 1.67 m tall, with kin-long straight cut gray/blue hair, whose bangs reached up to his eyes, his son Ludis, the Ru leader Konan, whose stature was comparable to a bodybuilder who had spent too much time in the gym. His biceps were too big to button his shirt; otherwise the buttons would have popped, he had extremely short gray hair and a long scar across his left eye, Kei Ru, Largus Tradior, his daughter Claudia, Edian Drosia, Roctis Kravei with his daughter Ignes and finally Gradeus.

Raskreia stood to the left of the Lord and Seal was also present and stood to the right of the throne. Even though he did not have the strength of his brother, he was above average in strength due to the same bloodline and in a way took over the role of his little twin brother while he was absent.

“Well, I am curious about your results and where are your children?” The Lord asked the two Nobles returnees kneeling in front of him.

Bernard, who was kneeling to the left of his comrade, spoke first. "They still stayed in South Korea. ..."

At the end of the report, everyone present was relieved and astonished at the same time.

"So he refuses to come back, how uncharacteristic of him."

"Yes, my Lord. We could not convince him to accompany us. Forgive me." Ramon asked for forgiveness.

"No need for apologies. ..."

Seal saw the satisfied grin on his Lord's face and knew what he had in mind before he even said it.

"... If our good Cadis Etrama di Raizel doesn't want to come to us, then we'll just go to him.”

Chapter Text

A murmur went around the throne room because after more than 800 years of curfew, should they now be able to leave their homeland? For some of them, this would even be the first time they have met humans, like Rael, Kei, Ludis, and even Rajak hardly remembers his last and only visit to a small human village, as he was still very young.

Urokai, Zarga and Roctis looked dissatisfied with the idea. However, Lagus liked this the least of all those present, and he said so.

“My Lord, I am against it.”

He had expected such a reaction from him. “And what exactly speaks against it?”

“You know that very well. The humans have already betrayed us once, and we almost lost the Noblesse and the werewolves their Lord, who is still missing. That is why you made the decision not to deal with them any longer. Just because the Noblesse is still alive doesn't mean we can just brush off the incident and forgive them for what they did.”

“Exactly.” Zarga agreed with him, what Bernard J. Loyard, who was good friends with him and had a rather positive attitude towards humans, was reluctant to hear.

Urokai also expressed his displeasure. “These creatures are insidious and will stop at nothing to ultimately destroy us. They are disgusting because they even modify their own kind and thus rob them of their humanity. They are simply dangerous and despicable.”

“Then you would like to mention that my brother, the Noblesse, who suffered considerable harm from them and still forgives them, is a fool?” You couldn't tell if it was a threat from Seal, but based on Urokai's reaction he took it that way.

"That's not what I meant, but your brother was always more fond of them than of us, so his opinion on this matter is hardly decisive.” This round went to the red-haired Noble.

“Touché. But remember that it is his duty to protect the weak, as well as our honor as Nobles. To date, he has never actually used his power against a human, only against us, but never without reason. He has only punished those who went rogue and wanted to exploit their superiority, which would have brought shame on us. Don't you agree with me?”

That made Urokai fall silent, except for a frustrated grumble that no one understood and, for his own good, perhaps it was better not to be understood.

This was a victory on points for the Noblesse's brother.

The Lord then took over the conversation again. “Lagus, I can understand your arguments and at that time I had no other choice than to take this step and stay away from them, …"

The oldest of the Nobles present suspected a but, which did come.

“... but the human from back then have not been alive for centuries. Shouldn't we take the Noblesse as an example and give this generation a new chance?”

“You say that so lightly, but the Union that was founded back then still exists today, which only proves that they always harbor a grudge against us. We should rather bring the Noblesse back, if necessary by force, just like Regis and Seira, erase the memories of them from the human who came into contact with them and continue to ignore these beings.”

'Forcing my brother to do something he doesn't want to do, hmhmhm. I would like to experience that.' Seal thought to himself.

“I feel sorry for the poor children that they have to stay there and in his house too.” Urokai interjected.

“Hatchie.” Frankenstein, who was sitting on the couch to the right of Rai, had to sneeze.

That worried Rael, was his beloved Seira in an unworthy place with unkind, uncouth scum?

“Hatchie.” And Frankenstein had to sneeze again.

“Have you caught a cold, principal?” Yuna asked worriedly, who was sitting directly opposite him.

“I hope not.”

“I disagree with you there. My daughter seemed to have made friends with the human children and Frankenstein also did not seem to be hostile towards them, which also applies to the modified human.”

“I can only confirm that, and either my son does not seem to be harmed by his stay there, he is maturing from the experiences he is gaining there.”

The Lord was able to use these two statements for himself. “There you go, Lagus, a renewed meeting of our two races could be of benefit to us.”

“My Lord forgive me, but you are simply too good-natured towards them and too trusting. You want to maintain peace with all your might, but sometimes this is simply not possible.”

“And what exactly is wrong with that? I do not deny that I would like to put my trust in them again and live in harmonious coexistence with them.”

“Then you seriously expect us to forgive them?”

The Lord sighed, disappointed that Lagus simply refused to understand his point of view, but he did not give up that easily. “Hatred inevitably leads to more hatred, the fire fueled by mistrust distorts everything and leaves only dead scorched earth if it is not nipped in the bud, and the water to extinguish it is in this case, forgiveness, trust, and hope. I share your fear that the Union will try to wipe us out one day and then there will inevitably be a disastrous war in which there will be numerous victims on both sides, which I want to prevent.”

Lagus just looked at him in silence.

“The incident back then was a bitter setback for us, but there was something good about it too.”

“What exactly was good about it? I can't see that, even with the best will in the world.”

“Before, we lived in competition with the werewolves. The friendship between the Noblesse and their Lord Muzaka was a curiosity and frowned upon by both of our species. After their disappearance and the humans' betrayal of our races, our relationships improved, and we put our enmities aside and instead created friendly bonds with them, which have become more and more solid. Without the humans, there might have been a conflict between us in the future, but this did not happen. We should be grateful to them for that and show our appreciation by trying the same thing with them again, by giving them a second chance. I think they deserve that, and if this endeavor proves fruitless, we can always return to where we are today.”

“You cannot change my mind on this, my Lord, but since it is my duty to protect you, I will follow you, knowing that you will not abandon your plan.”

“That's right. Does anyone else have any objections?”

Even if they did, the others kept it to themselves and everyone remained silent.

“Now that that has been clarified, I would like to ask you to make all the preparations to leave shortly.”

This time Frankenstein was shaking, as a cold shiver ran down his spine, which did not go unnoticed by his guests.

“Man principal, maybe you should lie down, you really seem to be hatching something..” Shinwoo commented.

“Don't worry, I'm fine.” He played it off and contacted his master via telepathy. 'My master, I have a bad feeling, you could also call it a bad premonition and unfortunately this turns out to be true in most cases, so be careful.'

Everyone left the throne room, only Raskreia and Seal remained behind.

“I can hardly wait to see Raizel again, don't you feel the same as me?”

“Of course. I didn't think I would be able to meet my brother again in this world because I assumed he was in Eternal Sleep.”

“I am also looking forward it too, but father, do you think it's wise for all of us to leave Lukadonia? Shouldn't at least a few of us stay behind for protection.”

“That will be taken care of elsewhere.”

“What do you mean, my Lord?”

“Oh Seal, how many times more? You and Raizel are like brothers to me, so there's no need to address me like that when we're alone, but you're probably just as stubborn as your brother. To answer your question, I want you and Raskreia to inform the Lord of the Werewolves Maduke about the news and at the same time ask him to send us a few of his warriors to guard our border.”

The following day, the two set off at the request of their lord and reached the werewolf territory that evening. Since they were now in their territory, Seal and Raskreia, to his right, remained at the border so as not to be considered as hostile intruders.

It didn't take long before four werewolf warriors appeared and surrounded them. There were Kaiyo in front of them on the left, Drakon on the right, Kuharu behind them on the left and Mount on the right.

Kaiyo was the first to speak. “What are you doing here?”

“Is this how you receive your guests?” Seal asked ironically with a smile.

“Guests? You weren't invited, so you're more like intruders.”

Mount agreed with Kuharu. “Yes, intruders, intruders, and we don't like that at all.”

“My father sent us to deliver an important message to your Lord Maduke.”

Now their leader Drakon spoke. “I apologize for the inappropriate behavior of my companions, Princess, but your sudden appearance without any apparent reason makes us cautious. I hope you understand. Both of you.” Even if they have concluded a kind of peace treaty, subliminal skepticism is not so easy to switch off. It keeps coming back, like an old habit that you can't get rid of and that still keeps coming back.

“My brother has returned.”

This made everyone look surprised.

“Your brother? The Noblesse Cadis Etrama di Raizel? I thought he had died with our Lord back then?”

“We would like to report the details to Lord Maduke personally, if you would be so kind as to escort us to him now, we would be very grateful.”

"Of course, follow me, Lady Raskreia, and of course, you too, Sir Seal.” Drakon turned around, as did Kaiyo, and they immediately led them into the throne room.

“What a high-ranking visitors, if the Lord of the Nobles sends his daughter and his right-hand man, it must be a serious matter.” Maduke was a little worried.

The two told him everything they had learned so far and asked him for support.

“That is good news for you, and I will, of course, give you some of my best warriors.”

“Thank you, Lord Maduke.” Standing, Raskreia bowed slightly to him, as did Seal.

The two Nobles spent three nights with them.

The news spread like wildfire, both among the Nobles and among the werewolves.

Maduke hadn't promised too much when he said he would send some of his best warriors with them, they were Lunark, Kentas, Mirai, Urne, Juraki, Dorant, Garda and Gayare.

Meanwhile, an event took place in South Korea in which the Union had a hand in it. DA-5 appeared, and it ultimately came to a confrontation with Rai, his followers and that team, as the children who were friends with Raizel were involved in this matter. The two members Tao and Takeo were the only two survivors and joined them after they learned that they had only been used by the Union, but things got even worse for Takeo, as it turned out that Dr. Aris had manipulated his memories and that he didn't have a sister at all for whom he had committed all the crimes. Like M-21, they also became security guards at Frankenstein's school.

The time until their departure flew by and they set off, led by the Lord.

When they arrived in South Korea, they made their way to Frankenstein's school and were not exactly inconspicuous in their black coats.

“Are they foreigners?”

“Has time stood still in their country, or why are they wearing such old-fashioned clothes?”

“Is a medieval film being shot somewhere here and these are actors?”

All this and more was whispered by the human they passed.

They also ignored traffic rules.

A car drove towards the Lord, who was simply crossing a street like other pedestrians before him, with the small but important difference that they did not cross a red traffic light.

Ragar and Krasis stood protectively on the right side of their Lord.

“Don't be afraid, we will defend you with our bodies and lives!” Krasis shouted out loud.

The vehicle came to a stop with screeching tires, a hand's breadth in front of Ragar. The driver rolled down the window and leaned out to vent his anger. “Have you all lost your minds?! Why are you just crossing the street like that?! I almost ran you over!”

“I don't understand the mistake we're supposed to have made? The two ladies in front of us were able to cross this road without any problems?” Asked the Lord.

“Are you kidding me, or are you all colorblind? The traffic light was green for them. Ah!” He was hit by a vehicle behind him.

“Green?” The Lord looks at the traffic light, somewhat confused."

“My Lord, the human beings have introduced a system to avoid incidents like this one by only allowing them to walk when the light turns green, like now.” Reported Ramon, who had observed this during his last stay here, but forgot to report it, as did Bernard.

“Ah, now I understand.” He said as the traffic light turned green again.

Meanwhile, the driver of the second car, a bald bodybuilder, got out and roughly dragged the first, an average guy, out of his car and grabbed him with both hands, by the collar. “You idiot! Why do you just stop, look at my car, it was new and to boot an expensive sports car!”

“It's not my fault, if I had … ." The man was interrupted when the Lord stood next to him and grabbed his right hand with both hands.

"Thank you for your kind instruction.” Then he continued on his way, this time with green, and the two squabblers just stared after them in silence and complete perplexity.

At the school, the caretaker told them that there was no one else there except him and gave him the principal's address.

It didn't take long before the assembled team were standing at his door. The Lord looked for the door knocker to announce himself and ask for entry, as he was unfamiliar with a bell, but couldn't find it, whereupon he simply knocked with his right knuckle, three times.

Frankenstein, who was alone at home, sitting in an armchair and reading the newspaper, found this strange, as everyone who lived here had a key or usually rang the bell.

He put the newspaper on the table in front of him, took off his reading glasses, put it in his right trouser pocket, stood up, went to the door and opened it without first looking at the surveillance system. He got the shock of his life for the second time, but unlike the first time, this was not a positive one like being reunited with his master. His bad premonition was even worse than he had feared.

“Frankenstein, it's been a while since we last saw each other.” The Lord greeted him.

“Wrong address, no Frankenstein lives here. Try the neighboring country, I think he lives in Japan.” Then he closed the door again.

Chapter Text

Frankenstein looked at the closed door and hoped he was in a nightmare from which he would wake up at any moment.

The Lord was surprised. "That was unexpected."

'Not really.' Thought Gejutel and Ragar, who knew his personality better than anyone else.

"What does this man think he is, ... ." Urokai was silenced by his Lord's raised right hand.

The leaders tried it again with a polite knock.

Knowing full well that he had no other choice, since they wouldn't just disappear again, he opened the door with his right hand.

"Frankenstein, your antics are always amusing, you humans have a special kind of humor, but it's also somehow refreshing."

"Who says I was joking?"

"Don't you dare behave like that towards us again and lock us out again." Lagus vented his anger at the humiliation against them and especially at his Lord.

"This is my house, so it is my right to decide who I open to let in and who I don't."

"But of course it is." The Lord intervened before the situation escalated and tempers flared further. "Would you be so kind as to invite us in?"

"My Lord, you really don't need to ask this human for anything."

"I see it differently, Roctis. As he rightly said, this is his property and he decides. Besides, we are not in Lukadonia and my authority is therefore very limited."

Frankenstein noticed that passers-by were whispering as they walked past. He didn't want to attract attention here and attract the attention of the neighbors, so he gave in, opened the door further and stepped aside to allow them access.

Everyone went into his house, more or less happily, and went into his living room. The Lord sat on the left of two white couches in the middle, Raskreia to his right and Seal to his other side. The oldest Nobles sat opposite them, Gejutel were on the far left, then Claude and Lagus everyone else spread out in the much too small room and remained standing.

Frankenstein, who remained standing near the entrance in the room, tried to keep his composure during this invasion and to speak in a friendly tone. "May I know what this visit in such large numbers means?"

The Lord smiled at him. "We heard about Raizel's appearance and wanted to see how he is and how he lives here. We were a little surprised that he wants to live a life among humans instead of returning and we would like to know what the reason for his actions is."

"I thought you wanted to tell him that my master is doing well and wants to stay here because he likes it here and has made friends."

"We did, Frankenstein, but the Lord wanted to pay him a personal visit." Bernard defended himself and his comrades.

"That explains why he's here or why he brought a few of you as bodyguards, but that's a bit too much of a good thing, don't you think?"

"As if we'd like to be here." Commented Ignes, who was standing to the left of her father, with her arms crossed.

And again the Lord wanted to mediate. "Frankenstein, you just mentioned that Raizel has made friends. When I heard this from Bernard and Ramon, I almost couldn't believe it, since he had always lived a secluded life and avoided contact as much as possible."

"But that's the way it is now and I would appreciate it if you stopped trying to tear him away from this new life." He took on a threatening aura, even without releasing the power of the Dark Spear, which put all or at least half of them on alert. But Frankenstein was prepared to take on all of them if necessary, for the well-being of his master.

"Like many of us, I think that the Noblesse should return to his true homeland Lukadonia to fulfill his duty. That would be the best thing for him."

"So you're saying, Gejutel, that he should continue to live this life of loneliness, like a prisoner and outlaw? Do you really think that would be for his good? Who are you trying to fool here, us or yourself?"

"Personally, I'm on Frankenstein's side."

"But Sir Seal?" Claude looks at him in surprise.

"What? I just want the best for my brother and if he seems to be happy here, then I don't want to take it away from him. I think he deserves it, if only for a while."

"Hey, didn't you forget the chips, Ikhan?"

"Me? Didn't you want to buy them?"

"Ah?! You're not serious, are you!? I was in charge of the drinks today."

"Calm down," Yuna said.

"Yes, then we'll just eat something else, after all we've bought enough." Suyi added.

Everyone in the living room heard the children's conversation as they entered the house and stopped their own conversation with interest.

When they arrived at the door of the room, Shinwoo was standing at the front left with a white plastic bag in each hand, Ikhan to his right also with two bags, followed by Yuna and Suyi, behind Shinwoo stood Rai, then to the right Seira and Regis. They stopped in the hallway in front of the entrance.

"Um Suyi, I'm afraid you're wrong, we didn't buy enough snacks after all."

"... ." She remained silent at Shinwoo's superfluous comment, although he was also right in some ways.

The Nobles had to refrain from not paying the Noblesse the appropriate respect and kneeling before him, but Ramon and Bernard said that he did not want they to do this in the presence of human, so they complied and simply stood still.

"Seira! There you are. I missed you. Glad you're well." Rael's excitement to see her was clearly audible. Then his voice and expression darkened and he muttered something quietly to himself that only his brother to his right could understand. "What is this mob doing near you? A princess shouldn't have to deal with such vulgar human."

Rajak put his right hand on his left shoulder and when he looked at him he just shook his head to tell him not to speak like that and to exercise in restraint.

"Hello Rael." Her tone was quite cold compared to him.

"Director Lee, you didn't tell us there was a party here today." Ikhan complained.

"Yes, then we would have changed and put on a suitable costume for the 17th century vampire theme party. Now we look like complete idiots."

At the mention of vampires, Frankenstein flinched. Even if he only came up with the word based on their clothing, it was much too close to reality for his liking.

"I thought our existence had been forgotten by now, so how do you know that we, Cadis Etrama di Raizel, Seira J. Loyard and Regis K. Landegre, are vampires, although I would prefer the call Nobles." Lagus looked at the children skeptically. "Are you also part of the Union and are you modified humans, even though it was said that only one of you was hanging around here at the moment?"

Frankenstein was close to collapsing. Lagus hadn't really revealed everything to the children in less than a minute. The shock was written all over his face.

"What nonsense is the old man talking about vampires, the Union and modified human?"

"Shinwoo, that was rude again. You can't just call him an old man."

"But it's true."

"But that still doesn't work." Sometimes Yuna felt like his big sister or mother instead of a classmate of the same age.

This reaction made the house owner breathe a sigh of relief. Lucky, their identities were apparently still secret.

"Saying nonsense, don't be cheeky, little man."

When Lagus spoke again, Frankenstein knew he had to do something immediately, but then three more actors entered the stage, which didn't make his plan any easier.

"There really wasn't much going on today, not a single hacker attack in the whole time, I'm starting to wonder why I'm creating all these security programs if nobody is trying to steal data anyway."

"Be happy about it." M-21 said to Tao's left, who was unlocking the front door.

"But that way I can't determine whether my defense mechanisms are sufficient, maybe I should try to hack myself in there, that could be fun."

"Only you would come up with an idea like that." Takeo commented to his right.

"What's going on here? Why are you all standing around in the hallway?" Tao asked after they went in and approached the small group.

"There isn't enough space."

"Not enough space? What does that mean, Yuna?"

"See for yourself." The girl pointed with her left index finger into the room in front of them.

When they saw the overcrowded room, they also stopped, alongside Regis and the other children.

"Yes, now I understand what you mean."

"Do you feel that too, they are, ... ." Takeo whispered, but didn't need to finish, because his two comrades also recognized the charisma of the visitors, they were Nobles.

"But what do they want here?" M-21 asked just as quietly and looked at Regis next to him, who just shrugged his shoulders ignorantly.

"Hey, did you know anything about the party, brother?"

"No, to be honest, we're pretty surprised."

"Hey, a little warning, they'll probably think you're modli, no, what was the word again, mokol, mono, ... ."

"You mean modified."

"Yes, exactly, that's what I meant, for modified human from, from."

Before his friend made a complete fool of himself, Ikhan intervened again. "The Union."

That made the three of them flinch. So the children now knew about them!?

"Ugh, that smell. Disgusting, they're modified human, quite clearly." Rael held his nose with his right hand.

"See? They take their roles almost too seriously for my taste."

The three of them were relieved that the children obviously thought it was some kind of play and were still ignorant, but the derogatory manner of the blond Noble towards them worried them greatly.

"Young man, please no insults under my roof." Then Frankenstein turned to the children. "I'm really sorry to disappoint you, but I have to cancel today's meeting. This was a very spontaneous and surprising gathering for me too. Another time would perhaps be more appropriate. I hope you understand."

"Of course, Principal Lee." Yuna reassured him. "Come on, let's go."

"Sure." Ikhan said.

"See you tomorrow at school." Suyi quickly said goodbye.

"See you Seira, Regis and Rai." Shinwoo waved before closing the door behind them.

'Rai?!?' That's what all the Nobles thought when they heard the casual name for the honorable Noblesse.

When they left the house, one problem was solved for the time being, but the tension between most of the Nobles and Frankenstein's three security guards rose noticeably.

"Boss, what's going on here?" Tao asked him openly now that they were alone, because he sensed a threat coming from them, which only reinforced the contemptuous, angry, even murderous looks that were directed at them by some of them.

"If I knew myself. They claim to have come because of my master."

Well, at least it's not primarily because of them, which relieved the three of them.

The Lord stood up and walked towards Rai. "Raizel, old friend."

Only now did Seira and Regis realize that the ruler of the Nobles was also there and knelt down in their usual manner, whereupon the blond Noble remained standing again for the time being.

"What's that about?" Takeo asked, a little confused by the behavior.

"Is that some important person or something?"

"Tao, don't talk about the Lord in such an inappropriate way."

"Lord, who or what exactly is that supposed to be?"

The three looked at the friendly, smiling Nobles in front of them.

Seira answered M-21's question. "He's something for us like a king for you."

"Please raising again." He then continued to walk towards Rai until he stopped just in front of him.

"Lord." He also bowed slightly to him.

"Stop that, you'd better hug me to greet me after such a long time." He spread his arms, but his counterpart made no attempt to comply with this request, on the contrary, he contradicted him not only with his behavior, but also with his following words.

"I refuse."

'That was to be expected.' Seal thought and giggled quietly to himself.

After a moment of bewilderment, he lowered his arms again and laughed.

That was supposed to be a king? He seemed gentle and innocent instead of a strict monarch. That was not how the three Ex-Union members had imagined him.

Then he wiped away a tear that had formed in his left eye from laughing so intensely. "Cadis Etrama di Raizel or should I call you Rai, you haven't changed a bit."

"You don't seem to have changed either, my Lord."

"This form of address is no longer appropriate, at least not as long as we are outside of Lukadonia." He turned to his companions. "From now on, this rule applies not only to the Noblesse, but also to you. I want you to address me only by my name from now on."

His response was silence and confused faces.

"Well, that really goes too far, my Lord. Are you asking us to show you such disrespect?" Ragar was against it."

"Then you want to disobey my order. I would not have expected that from you, since you have never contradicted me."

That skillfully silenced him.

"I'm afraid we cannot obey your order."

"Gejutel, you too now?"

"Don't get me wrong, my Lord, but the reason is that we don't know your name."

The Nobles always addressed him as Lord and that's why only three of those present knew it, these were his daughter, Seal and Raizel.

"If that's the only reason, my name is Erga Kenesis di Balder."

Chapter Text

'Balder, then.' Gejutel thought to himself. He had often wanted to ask him or his daughter for his name, but found it too presumptuous and disrespectful.

The Lord's gaze then turned to the right. "And now to you modified human. ..." He turned to the trio and stood in front of them.

The three flinched slightly and only Tao stammered. "Yes, what is it?"

In a flash he grabbed M-21's right hand with both of his. "Nice to meet you, I'm Balder."

"M-21." He was a little taken by surprise by the noble's exuberant manner and simply said his name automatically.

Then he took Tao's right hand in the same way.

"It's our pleasure, Lord of the Nobles."

"But, but I just said, I want to be addressed by my name and even though I can't order you to do so, I would appreciate it if you respected my wish too."

"O-Okay, we're happy too, Balder."

Then he switched to Takeo to greet him in the same way.

Meanwhile, M-21 tapped Tao on his left shoulder with his right index finger.

When he looked at him to find out what he wanted from him, M-21's expression was very tense and he just pointed into the living room.

Tao then looked in and while he had just received murderous looks from some of the guests, now more than three quarters wanted to lynch him for daring to call the Lord by his name, whereupon M-21 took a step to the left to get out of the line of fire. Only Seira, Regis, Rai, Seal and Raskreia did not join the mob.

When Takeo now faced the Lord, he did not know what to say, so he simply introduced himself. "My name is Takeo."

"Balder. I'm curious to know what skills you've acquired, perhaps you could present them to me, if you'd be so kind." Then he let go of Takeo's hand again.

"Present?!" Takeo repeated the word, visibly confused by the apparently genuine interest in them and their skills, instead of contempt, and for his comrades it was the same.

Now it was Seal who had to intervene to stop the Lord from pestering them with questions or bothering them with requests.

He stood up and approached him and the others. "I think the three are a little taken aback, give them a little time to get used to the presence of so many high-ranking nobles first, after all you don't want to scare them away."

The three were relieved by this interference and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, please forgive me, I didn't mean to seem too pushy."

‘Don’t apologize to this rabble, my Lord.’ Lagus thought to himself.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter at all." Tao put his hands at chest height in a placating manner while he calmed him down.

"I'm glad to hear that, after all, first impressions always count. It's just that I haven't met any other modified human except Frankenstein back then. I was just excited to see if you had similar powers to his Dark Spear.

Now the three were surprised again and looked at their boss.

"Is that true? Are you really a human?" Takeo asked to be sure.

"Yes, I am. Why so surprised? It's no secret."

"Well, we assumed that you were also a Noble like Regis, Seira and Raizel."

"He and a Noble, how absurd thoughts you humans can come up with." Zarga was visibly hurt that he was being lumped together with him.

"Exactly, after all, he was known to us as the Noble-Hunter and as such he caused a lot of chaos and killed Nobles."

"Gejutel, you know very well that I only punished those who turned human into mutants."

"That may well be true, but you still had no right to do so. Punishing renegade Nobles who did not abide by the law, to protecting the weak human, was our responsibility and to top it all off, you also had to enter into a contract with Sir Raizel."

"It was always obvious to me that you didn't like it, but at least you held back your disapproval, unlike others." Frankenstein's gaze fell on Urokai.

He practically growled at him in anger and his eye began to hurt again, as it always did when he was near this person or even just thought about him.

"What do you mean by that? That I can't stand you to death? Then I agree with you for once. You invaded our country back then, committed all those crimes and in the end Sir Raizel protected you by employing you as his butler. Moreover, instead of punishing you with death for my eye that you took from me, he awakened you to prevent you from being devoured by the power that you had illegally acquired."

"As if you were completely innocent, Urokai. You provoked me to the extreme and hoped that I would die that day, either from you, the Dark Spear or otherwise."

"You lousy,..."

At this point Urokai was interrupted by the Lord. It was always exhausting to be in the same room with the two of them.

"Whatever happened cannot be changed and we should look positively to the future. It seems that I have to apologize again to you three and Frankenstein, too. I didn't think you didn't know that Frankenstein was human, especially since you belonged to the same organization, this Union."

This information was not just a surprise for the three of them, but rather a real shock, whereupon they stared at Frankenstein again, waiting for confirmation or denial.

"That is also true, but I did not agree with their ideas of world order and especially the ruthless enforcement of it. Since I did not want to be exploited any longer, I destroyed my notes and went my own way again until I met my master."

"That explains your great knowledge of our modification. So did the Union modify you back then too?"

"No Tao, that was me."

"Oops, it seems that this was also unknown. I guess I won't say anything else more for now."

'Was there anything else more?' The three thought to themselves.

Seal then turned to the three and introduced himself, not individually, but in general. "Excuse me. If I may introduce myself, I am the Noblesse's twin brother, my name is Cadis Etrama di Seal." He bowed his head slightly to them.

"His twin brother? Hence this astonishing resemblance." M-21 stated.

Until now, neither he, his two comrades nor the children had seen him, as he was hidden by the Lord on the couch.

"That's right, and to be precise, he is my little brother, as I am the firstborn of us." He loved saying this, as for some reason Rai always found it uncomfortable. As big brothers are, they protect you but they also like to tease you sometimes. He now looked at him on his right. "That's right, little brother."

"Cadis Etrama di Seal." Rai's expression was serious and his voice stern. "I'm glad to see you again."

"Is it just me or is the relationship between the two a little cold?" Tao whispered to his comrades, which Seal heard.

"It's not cold at all."

"Did you hear that?"

"Yes, you must know, Tao, that I have very good ears. My brother just has a little trouble showing his feelings and is very taciturn."

'Yes,' this time, everyone who knew Rai was in agreement.

"So, I would suggest that everyone introduce themselves."

At the Lord's request, everyone in the living room began to introduce themselves one by one. Ragar Kertia, Clan Leader of my Clan, ... it ended with Erga Kenesis di Raskreia. Which brought the three of them looking back to the Lord.

"She is my daughter."

Now that the introductions were officially over, Rozaria asked a very crucial question. "Where should we spend the nights, my L..., I mean Balder of course."

"Well, I was expecting a somewhat larger property than this one and was hoping for Frankenstein's hospitality." He rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly with his left hand. "Since that is obviously impossible, I have no idea. Hahaha."

Now it was Frankenstein's turn to organize a place for them to sleep, although he would have preferred to suggest that they simply turn back.

He sighed and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket with his right hand.

Some of the Clan Leaders thought it was a weapon and were on alert. Roctis, Lagus, Urokai, Zarga, Edian and Gradeus even called their Soulweapons.

The three human prepared for battle and stood protectively in front of Frankenstein, as the following attack was obviously aimed at him. Takeo with his two pistols, Tao with his cable that he pulled out of his left sleeve with his right hand and M-21 with transformed forearms.

"But, but, take it easy." The Lord stepped between the parties together with Rai to his right, facing the Nobles.

Then the Lord continued. "I thought I made it clear before we left that I only approve of using Soulweapon in an emergency, and that is unlikely at the moment."

"So we are not allowed to defend ourselves against his with our weapons?" Asked Zarga.

"Weapon? What is he talking about? Our boss didn't even pulled out one?" Takeo looked at him over his left shoulder. "Did he mean the cell phone?"

"I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding, isn't it." The Lord directed his question to Rai, as he knew Frankenstein best and could assess him.

In response, Rai also took his cell phone out of his right trouser pocket and showed it to everyone. "This is not a weapon, but a communication device. Although you can fight with it too, it is harmless."

To confirm the Noblesse's statement, Seira and Regis also took theirs out with their right hands.

"Oh, that looks interesting, you have to show me how it works, Rai."

He just nodded in agreement to the Lord.

"You see, no reason to get excited or fight, and now please put your weapons away again."

On the orders of their leader, they did so, even though Urokai, Gradeus and Lagus would have liked nothing more than if Frankenstein had actually drawn a weapon to attack them, because then they could have justified finally killing him.

"It seems they actually thought the cell phone was a weapon." Tao said and all three relaxed, transformed back or put their weapons back.

"You really don't come out often if you think this is a weapon." Then Frankenstein left the room with the words: "I have to make a few calls."

Even though the Clan Leaders, who had just been so aggressive, didn't know what he meant by 'make a few calls', they ultimately didn't care, the main thing was that they no longer had to breathe the same air as him and no longer had to bear the sight of him.

"And what do we do now, brother?" Rael asked the man on his left quietly.

"It's obvious, we... . We... ." He wasn't sure himself. If he knew what Frankenstein was doing, the answer would probably have been easier to give. He was a little embarrassed not to be able to tell him anything, but his father rescued him from his predicament.

"We're waiting for Frankenstein to return."

It took him over three hours to rent a small hotel. But so that the human guests wouldn't suspect who their roommates were, he had to negotiate with them to change hotels. In return, he offered them the full cost of another hotel. The guests agreed, but almost all of them booked a room in a luxury hotel that charged horrendous amounts, but Frankenstein was forced to accept anyway.

He returned to the others and announced the result of his efforts. Immediately afterwards, he led them in small groups of 4 to 5 Nobles so as not to attract attention, to their hotel, which was very close to his house.

Frankenstein noticed the looks of the other people again, because of their old-fashioned clothing. He had to do something about that next.

Chapter Text

The next day had dawned and Frankenstein took the day off to buy contemporary clothing for the more than 20-strong group. He gave Tao the task of stepping in as his replacement at the school in urgent cases.

He was just able to fit the many bags and boxes into his car before driving to the hotel.

As he stood at a red light, he quickly checked his cell phone, which he hadn't turned on since yesterday evening; it showed 7 new messages. That couldn't mean anything good.

Message 1 on the mailbox at 5:13 in the morning: Mr. Lee, come quickly, two of your people want to commit double suicide. They are standing on the edge of the roof and want to jump!

You could hear her entering the hotel from outside and storming up the stairs that led to the fifth floor. Then the 43-year-old, 1.73 m tall woman with shoulder-length medium brown hair and green eyes, wearing a dark gray pinstripe suit with a skirt instead of trousers and black heels, slammed the door open and breathed heavily.

Since she still hadn't hung up, the following conversation could also be heard.

"I beg you, gentlemen, that's not a solution, you can sort everything out if you want to. So just come back in and I'll listen to your concerns."

Rajak and Ramon to his left looked at each other in confusion.

Since they were silent, she continued to speak to them gently until the police and fire department, who she had called before Frankenstein, finally arrived.

"If you want, we can just talk here, but please don't do anything rash."

"We're sorry, Miss, but we don't understand what exactly you want from us." Ramon said.

"I just want you to see how much life still has to offer and that it's worth continuing to live. Because after hard times, good times always follow." She put on a very strained smile. 'Why isn't anyone coming!? I'm slowly running out of ideas to stop them.' She was just thinking the last part, of course.

Now Rajak whispered something to his comrade. "I think this woman is confused, we should talk to her carefully, otherwise she might hurt herself. I've heard human tend to do that in these cases."

"Do you think so? When I listen to her, you could be right and that grin looks very scary too. Should I use my mind control?"

"Better not, with an unstable mind like hers, it could cause more damage."

"You're right."

'What are they talking about? I can't understand them. Please just came down.' She pleaded inwardly.

Then Rajak tried his luck. "We are well aware of that, but we thank you for the lesson nonetheless."

Before she could say anything else, Ludis appeared, stopped briefly on her right to greet the woman before moving on to Ramon and Rajak.

'What is he doing here? Has he noticed that his friends want to jump and now he wants to stop them? That would be wonderful. Maybe he can do it, after all he knows them better than I do. Come on, you can do it!'. The hope for a happy ending was visible on her face and she folded her hands as if she wanted to pray.

Then he jumped up onto the edge on the right, right next to Rajak.

The woman collapsed, another one! She had owned this hotel for 14 years and nothing like this had ever happened before. This scandal would ruin her. Suddenly it burst out of her. "What are you doing! Stop them and don't join them!"

When Ludis turned around and looked at her in confusion, she realized her mistake. Don't shout at someone who is about to kill himself.

She put on a strained smile like before. "What I wanted to say was, that's not a solution, you can sort everything out if you want to." She tried again and started over, only this time with the third crazy person, maybe she'd get more lucky with him.

"What's wrong with the woman?" The newcomer asked the man next to him in a whisper.

"She's confused. Be gentle with her and choose your words carefully."

"Look, what's going on down there?"

When Ramon said that, the other two also looked down and saw cars with flashing lights and sirens driving towards the building.

Immediately, four officers jumped out of the cars, left the doors open and stormed into the building, while three firefighters laid out an oversized air mattress and activated the pump to inflate it.

An ambulance also stopped.

'Luckily, they're finally here.'

Then the police reached the roof. "Three? I thought there were two?" Said the man standing to the right of the owner.

"Until now there were only two."

"It doesn't matter now, hey guys, that's not a solution, you can sort everything out if you want to." Said the same policeman.

"We've already come this far and they're still standing there." She slumped her shoulders in frustration that they couldn't think of anything else, as she did.

Ramon whispered something to his two comrades. "The last time I was here I found out that human, who wearing this clothing are called police officers and they say they're your friend and helper, similar to our Royal Knights."

"Really? Then maybe we can leave the task of looking after the sick woman to them."

"I agree with Rajak, she might trust them more, as us. Oh, by the way, Rajak, your father wanted to speak to you."

The policeman was confused and spoke out his thoughts, but so quietly that the three Nobles hadn't heard what was being said. "What are they talking about? Can any of you hear them."

There was only a collective shake of the head in response.

"Tell me, are you policemen?"

At the blonde's sudden, stern question, everyone flinched and the one who had been talking the whole time, since he was obviously in charge, answered him. "Yes, exactly."

"Very good." He stepped down from the edge of the roof and walked towards the man, closely followed by Ramon. "Please take good care of this young lady, she's talking incoherently."

"We didn't know how to deal with her so that she wouldn't hurt herself." The silver-haired Nolbe added.

The four men now looked at the woman, who was equally stunned and outraged. "I think I'm going crazy!"

"Yes, we could see that very clearly." Ramon noted.

"I'm not the crazy person who wanted to jump off the roof, that were you!"

"There's a mistake, we were just enjoying the cool morning air and chatting a little."

"What? Really? Then you didn't plan on killing yourselves?" The owner replied to Ramon's words.

"That's right." Rajak put his right hand on her right shoulder. "To put it in your words, 'please don't do anything rash. These gentlemen will listen to your concerns. Life still has a lot to offer and it's worth continuing to live. Because after hard times there are always good times.' " Come on, Ramon, let's go in.

"Yes, gladly, I was getting cold."

Now the policeman to the left of the woman spoke. "Okay, the two of them didn't want to commit suicide, but what about the guy over there?"

Then the first one answered again. "Probably just a misunderstanding too, I assume."

"Well, now that the young woman is safe, I'll go." Ludis turned away from them and crouched down.

"No, that wasn't a misunderstanding, he's about to jump!" The lady screamed in panic.

"Quick, grab him!" The leader gave the order to his three companions and even the owner rushed forward.

They tried to wrap both arms around him or just grab his clothes with their hands, but they were too late and grabbed at nothing.

The owner became overweight and threatened to fall into the depths, but was grabbed and pulled up by two officers at the last moment. Since the mattress was not yet fully inflated, this could have ended badly.

They watched the Noble jumping from roof to roof.

Everyone wondered how on earth he managed it.

Behind Frankenstein, cars honked as the light had turned green for the third time and he wasn't moving forward.

Then a man, 46 years old, 1,78 m tall, with short black hair, brown eyes, narrow glasses with black frames, wearing a black suit, white shirt, black tie and black shoes, who was waiting in the fourth car, had enough, went to the person who caused the traffic jam and shouted at him through the quarter-rolled window.

"Hey, don't you have any eyes in your head, get your car out of here, we want to move on. Some of us have to work. You can take a nap somewhere else!"

"I have much bigger problems right now than listening to your whining, so I would advise you to step aside and stop talking to me." Frankenstein looked at him angrily, and even without the Dark Spear, he gave off such a terrifying aura that the man just politely apologized several times and quickly left.

Before he listened to the next messages, he drove to a parking lot nearby. Fortunately, they were less dramatic.

Message 2 at 7:17 Congratulations, you're having won the dream vacation, ... Frankenstein didn't listen to the rest, but jumped straight to the next message.

Message 3 at 7:41: "Boss, Tao here, I just wanted to say that two people have announced that they'll be coming later, who are looking for talented kids for a scholarship at the school. I'll check them out just to be on the safe side. There was something about them that bothered M-21."

Message 4 at 8:02: "Wait, Shinwoo, that was the wrong contact." Ikhan tried to warn him, but he was too late because the voicemail answered immediately after dialing.

"Damn! What now?!"

"Just say something."

"Ah, hello principal I just wanted to say that we'll be by later, so bye then."

Message 5 at 8:43: Unfortunately, we still haven't received an answer from you as to whether you'd like to go on holiday with us... ." Again he skipped the advertising call.

Message 6 at 9:06: This is your last chance to take your vacation, ... ."

Message 7 at 10:10: Mr. Lee, this is the receptionist at the hotel you booked. I just want to tell you that my boss won a vacation and started it this morning. She has given me further responsibility and I hope you are well insured because your friends are vandals and you have to pay for the costs of repairs and maintenance of the damage. Please contact me as soon as possible. I hope you have a pleasant morning.

Chapter Text

With the message in mind that his acquaintances were vandals, he made his way straight to the hotel.

As he parked in front of the entrance and turned off the engine, he took another deep breath to prepare himself for what was to come and not to lose his temper and, in the worst case, activate the Dark Spear and cause even more devastation. There didn't seem to be any damage to the outside of the building, but there had to be some damage on the inside and, from the sound of it, quite a lot.

He got out and went inside, where the friendly but also assertive young lady and at the same time the daughter of the owner, since it was a family-run hotel, seemed to be waiting longingly for him, or rather for his credit card. Kaori, 22 years old, 1.71 m tall, with chin-length blonde hair, green eyes, in a black suit, was still smiling, which he hoped was a good sign.

"Good morning, Sir."

"Good morning to you too. I received a message from you, something about repairing damage?" He didn't mention the first call with the mistaken assessment of the suicide attempt and hoped that she wouldn't do it either.

"That's right. The behavior of these people is very, how can I put it nicely, special, as my boss had to experience this morning herself." She unfolded a piece of paper and placed it on the counter in front of Frankenstein so that he could read the contents. It was a list of the costs for the operation.

"Since when are such operations subject are to charge? After all, I pay taxes."

"Usually you are right, sir, where they don't cost anything, but since it was just a fake, the costs get to those who responsible, but they said they had no money and we should give the bill too you. I mean, if at least one of them had actually jumped, and that doesn't include onto another roof, things would look very different."

"Very well, I'll pay the bill." Better than having to explain to her how Ludis could jump from roof to roof.

"Then I'll go to them now, if you'll excuse me."

He only managed to take three steps to the right when she stopped him. "Actually, that wasn't all."

"Somehow, he had suspected that. So he turned back to receive the next bad news. "What else is there to discuss?"

She stood up and moved around the counter before answering him. "I think you'd better see for yourself. If you'd please follow me." With these words she went in the opposite direction to where Frankenstein wanted to go.

Knowing full well that he had no other choice, he followed her into the hotel kitchen.

What he found there was a battlefield. No, a battlefield looked more orderly than here, it really couldn't be described in words, you had to see it, as the lady rightly said. The 'picture of horror' could be described as follows: White walls were charred black, up to the ceiling, which itself was also partially discolored. Craters could also be seen, from which spiderweb-like cracks emanated, which partially overlapped with those of the next crater. All electrical devices were destroyed, halved, dented or completely unrecognizable what they once were. The smaller ones, such as the toaster, coffee machine and microwave, were scattered on the floor, which was completely covered in white fire-fighting foam. Even the faucet was not spared, as it was hanging half-torn off in the sink.

This could have been his kitchen! "What the hell happened here?" He didn't assume that the kitchen had always looked like this.

His view of the chaos was cut off by a folded piece of paper that the woman to his right held in front of his eyes with her left hand.

He took it in both hands and opened it. Another bill, for a fire service operation.

"And of course you also have to pay for the renovation and replacement of the appliances and cupboards."

They went back to the reception where he had already made a cost estimate with a gold card so that the Nobles would not be reported and thrown out of the house.

"Here, here's your card, please." She handed it to Frankenstein with her right hand and he took it with his right hand too, before he put it loosely in his trouser pocket and could finally go to the Nobles. They would have to have a damn good explanation so that he doesn't forget his manners.

He tried it first in the communal dining room on the ground floor, where there were a total of four long tables with white tablecloths and eight chairs on each side of them.

There he also found some of them sitting at the table opposite the door, on the window side. It was the Lord, who was sitting with his back to the entrance, opposite him sat Gejutel and to his right Lennard (Ludi's father), behind him, at the narrow piece of wall between two windows, stood Ragar with his arms folded and his back leaning against the wall.

When the three of them looked towards the entrance, Balder followed their example. "Ah, Frankenstein, oh excuse me, Mr. Lee, come over and sit down, let's a little talk to each other." He waved him over with his right hand and spoke as if nothing unusual had happened in the last few hours. That annoyed Frankenstein, but something else surprised him, which made him forget his anger for a short time and linger in the entrance.

All of the Nobles present were wearing school uniforms instead of their black clothes. At that moment he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Yes, we really should talk." He walked over to them and stood at the narrow part of the table. "What did you do that required two operations in the few hours you've been here. Wait, I'll correct my question, from what to why did you do that and who?"

"The incident on the roof was the fault of the woman who called those people, my son and Ramon just wanted to enjoy the morning and Ludis just wanted to explore the city a little."

If it had been someone other than Ragar who had said that, he would have assumed that the person was trying to make fun of him, but the humorless Noble didn't do that, so he tried to explain it in calm words that no clear-thinking person would show such behavior and that the woman had basically acted correctly. Then he added that wearing school uniforms when not a student is also not permitted, not forbidden, but also not appropriate and would be laughed at.

He just imagined Lagus in such an outfit and had to bite his tongue to stop himself from laughing at the image in his head.

They agreed to stay off the roofs in the future if possible and to wear the clothes he had brought them.

"That was one thing, now let's move on to the second. I assume you know what I'm talking about."

Since Gejutel turned his head away from him, Frankenstein was sure that he was involved.

"Gejutel K. Landegre, do you have something to tell me?"

"I don't know why I should account to you for anything, Nobles-Hunter."

This reaction and the name given to him were proof enough that he definitely had something to do with it.

Since his comrade refused, Ragar told him about the incident.

Ragar, Gejutel, Lagus and Konan (Kei's father) wanted to look around and see if there were any servants here, but they found none, so they decided to look for the pantry and the kitchen. They found the latter.

"This must be the kitchen, but what are all these strange utensils?" Lagus and the others were of course familiar with pots, pans, knives and the like, but not with the electrically powered items.

Gejutel went closer to one of the unusual devices. It was a white stand mixer. At the base of it were four buttons, a red one on the far right for turning it on and off, then three more in white for setting the different levels.

He took the lid off with his right hand and looked inside. "There's something inside that looks like a blade." He put the lid back on before using his right index finger to first press the white button on the left with the number 1, then the middle one with the number 2 and finally the one on the far right with the maximum level 3. He wondered why nothing happened until he pressed the red one.

The mixer came to life and frightened Gejutel so much that he grabbed it with both hands and threw it to the ground, where it finally went quiet again because the plug was ripped out of the wall during the action.

Lagus stepped on it again to make sure it was really 'dead'. "What was that? A cursed object? Have human now also taken hold of black magic? We should have eradicated them instead of retreating because they are more dangerous than expected."

"Let's not jump to conclusions too fast, Lagus, like with Frankenstein's communication device. If we accuse human of wanting to attack us without proof, the Lord will be dissatisfied." Said the blond Noble directly behind him.

"What more proof do you need, Ragar? This thing here is proof enough, I would say."

Then the ventilation system, which was located diagonally on the top right of the wall, started to emit a dull sound and turned their attention to it.

"Well, I won't wait until I'm attacked. After all, attack is the best defense. Dolor!" He called his Soulweapon and fired four tendrils at the defenseless device, which only wanted to provide pleasant air and was massacred for it. "Now it is quiet."

The owner, who lived next door, heard the noise from her hotel, got dressed quickly (but elegantly) and wanted to see what was going on there, when she discovered the two supposed suicides and had to take care of them first.

Shortly after the second electrical appliance was defeated, the refrigerator, to the left behind Konan, and the freezer to the right behind Ragar were the ones that were threatened them by a 'growling', which was actually more of a simple humming. And Gejutel had also just activated the microwave.

The four of them stood with their backs to each other to give the others cover, when the other three also called their Soulweapons.

"Well, is that enough evidence for you now? These devious human have lured us into a trap. They are probably working with Frankenstein to destroy us."

"You actually seem to have been right, Lagus. Well, then let's take out these strange creatures." Konan commented, and banging his knuckles together. They attacked everything they didn't recognize, and even the stove caught fire when Konan hit it with a right-fist punch.

This in turn caused the smoke detector to emit a shrill sound until Ragar silenced it with the help of Kartas. However, the smoke detector was connected to a silent alarm that led directly to the fire station.

When they thought they had defeated all the enemies, Ludis appeared, attracted by the noise.

"What happened?"

"We were attacked. Don't worry, everything is back under control. Do you know where my son Rajak is right now?"

"Yes, he wanted to go to the roof with Ramon."

"Would you please tell him that I want to speak to him." He wanted to warn him about these strange metal creatures and let him fight too if more appeared, after all he was to be his heir one day and needed to gain experience, more than Rael.

Ludis left and decided, since his help was not needed, to do a little exploration while he was on the roof.

Then some of the creatures that were thought to be dead came back to life and sparked. But since the water tap had already been torn off, they were standing in water up to their ankles. When they were given an electric shock of the highest quality. They then hit everything again, because they believed that these devices would otherwise regenerate and repeated strikes like the one before.

Meanwhile, Ludis had already left because the incident on the roof was over. Only later did he realize that he had not told Rajak where in the building Ragar wanted to meet him and simply hoped that he would find him anyway.

And that's what he did, together with Ramon, who heard the sounds of fighting from afar and rushed to help.

They reached the room and stormed in to find an almost complete 'picture of horror'.

"Father, what's going on?" Asked Ramon, who was standing to the left of Rajak.

"Be careful, these metal creatures are alive and are attacking us."

A second fire engine and a third stopped outside, which surprised the colleagues from the first vehicle.

One of them spoke to his colleagues. "What are you doing here? This deployment is a bit excessive for two jumpers. We have everything under control, as it was just a mistake."

"What are you talking about, we're not here for that, but because of the fire?"

"Fire, what fire?" Then there was an explosion and the smell of burning fat could be detected.

Just ten seconds after they arrived, the stove in the kitchen exploded and caused another fire, the flames of which spread to the fat in the open deep fryers and also caught fire.

"So they're even blowing themselves up to defeat us, these sneaky beasts." Lagus complained about the rebellious behavior of the machines, who simply did not want to die, at least not without taking them with them to their deaths.

Unfortunately, it did not stop there, because the sideboard in which the two deep fryers were installed broke and the fat ran into the water on the floor, which immediately led to a fat explosion and everyone was surrounded by fire.

"We are trapped." Rajak became a little nervous, standing in the middle of such a sea of ​​flames.

Then the firemen stormed into the room and sprayed the all-suffocating extinguishing foam around them, without paying any attention to anyone else, because they did not expect that anyone was still in the kitchen and if they were, they should be happy that they had not been fried but only half fried.

When the fire was extinguished, the Nobles, dressed all in white, stood there in silence, only Lagus said something.

"I hate human."

Now the owner came over. "What's going on here,..." She collapsed in shock at the now completed 'picture of horror' and a fireman shook her slightly, which brought her back to consciousness.

"What kind of people are these, my poor hotel?"

Then she got the advertising call with a dream vacation she had won. She had never taken part in a competition like this, but she didn't care. This advert was sent from heaven.

"You are my saviour, I really want the trip."

The caller was surprised, as most people reacted negatively to him if they didn't just hang up. "Thank you Miss, when do you want to go on holiday?"

"Today, oh no, forget it, immediately!"

For a moment, the usually talkative advertising caller was silent. "Then we just need your details and you can go to the airport right away, we are currently booking your hotel and flight." For the first time, the man felt guilty towards his victim. The flight and hotel cost just a quarter of the price he was asking for and claimed that because of the win, they would save 70% of the actual costs. It's a third class ticket and the hotel was a cheap dump where the cockroaches shook hands, the beds almost fell apart and the noise of trains passing by every half hour, even at night, was the best he could offer the obviously desperate woman.

When Ragar finished his explanation, Frankenstein thought again that he was making fun of him, but it wasn't, because it's Ragar, and he saw the damage with his own eyes.

"I really don't know what to say." And he meant it seriously, Frankenstein was really speechless.

"That wasn't a kitchen, it was a torture chamber." Was all Gejutel had to say, referring to the electric shock and the sea of ​​flames.

Frankenstein turned around and took the remote control that was lying on a small round pine table with his right hand and switched on the television that was diagonally in the corner above it. He wanted to know if it had already been reported on the news. If not, he could perhaps bribe the station not to broadcast this report in order to keep the Nobles as secret as possible.

But that didn't matter anymore, because another report in which the Nobles were also involved had already appeared.

A reporter, 33 years old, 1.78 m tall, with short black hair, brown eyes and a black suit, interviewed two men.

"... and what exactly happened then?"

"This guy with the long blond hair thanked me."

"Oh, those are the two from yesterday, hello." The Lord waved at them with his left hand and smiled. "Is it just me or have they shrunk?"

Frankenstein just remained silent on this comment.

Then the other man spoke. "This group seemed to belong to a cult or something, I mean, who wears such black clothing? I'm telling you, it's better not to mess with these guys, they might even drink the blood of their victims. After all, this is normal for nartistic occult weirdos."

"The man is exaggerating, after all, we only need a few drops of blood for an blood pact and I wouldn't call them victims, but rather contract partners." Lennard commented on the statement.

"You heard it. Other residents also reported about this group of 20-30 people. If you come across them, stay away from them for your own protection and contact our station on the number displayed."

Frankenstein's finger slipped onto the shift key and a gangster film appeared in which a Kalashnikov was being fired at the television viewer. But the picture only lasted four seconds because Kartas, who had been thrown by Ragar with his left hand, got stuck in the screen and destroyed the flat screen TV.

"Ragar, why did you do that?"

"The thing was just about to shoot us with small fireballs, you saw that with your own eyes, Frankenstein." Then he made his weapon disappear again.

And again Frankenstein said to himself: 'That's Ragar who says this, he's not making fun of you, because he's the most humorless Noble of all.' But he was beginning to doubt it.

The woman from the reception heard the noise and appeared to the right of Frankenstein. "Um, Sir. ... "

"Don't say anything." He switched the remote control to his left hand and took the golden card out of his right trouser pocket and handed it to her, while he continued to look at the hole in the television. "Put it on my bill, I'll pick up the cards later."

The woman took it from him and disappeared again. Her mother didn't like these guests, but she did. So they would get a complete renovation, oh no, even refurbishment, for free. She kissed the card in her right hand.

Frankenstein took out his cell phone and called Tao.

He came to the hotel as ordered, where he had to hold back his laughter at the Nobles' clothing, as it would certainly not be wise to laugh at them. Then he saw the broken television and finally his boss.

"What's wrong with him?" He didn't ask any Noble in particular.

"We don't know." Gejutel said. "Ever since Ragar defeated the thing, he's been standing there as if frozen."

"Defeated?" What did he mean by that?

"Tao."

"Yes, boss?"

"You're fired."

"What?" That was a shock for him. "But boss, why? What did I do to get throw out? Is it because I hacked in your computer?"

"No."

"Then maybe because I installed cameras and microphones all over the house without telling you, including in the bathroom."

"No." A vein slowly became visible on Frankenstein's left forehead.

"Then maybe, ..."

"Tao, for your sake, be quiet. You will remove the cameras and microphones from the bathroom immediately. I have another job for you and in the meantime you are relieved of your other position, believe me, this will take up more of your time and energy than your previous one."

"And what kind of work exactly is that supposed to be?" He scared him a little.

Only now did Frankenstein turn to Tao. "You're going to be their technology teacher."

"Technology teacher? I don't quite understand. Which devices should I explain to them? And why should I stop working as your security guard for that?"

"You will understand why very soon and you will start from the beginning, preferably with the light bulb or even earlier, what electricity is and what it is used for, everything from the beginning to a hologram, right up to the nuclear missile. Good luck." Then Frankenstein walked past Tao's right side without another word.

"But boss?" Had he just left him here alone with a bunch of Nobles, from which the most of didn't like modified human?

'Okay Tao, calm down, no panik. You will just stay close to the Lord, then nothing will happen to you.'

"I'm going to take a little walk, see you later." The Lord said goodbye and left the room. So much for his plan.

To make matters worse, Lagus, Zarga, Urokai, Roctis and Ignes entered the room, also in school uniform, which made him laugh again and, despite his efforts, came out as a chuckle.

"What is that scum doing here?" The red-haired man asked disparagingly.

Tao slumped his shoulders. 'I'm as good as dead.'

Chapter Text

Frankenstein went straight to school and was visited by two KSA agents that same day, which neither he nor anyone else knew about, since Tao was appointed to his new job before he found out who the guests were.

The departure of the Nobles did not go unnoticed by the captain of a Union battleship that was guarding the island with his fleet.

Since they had not returned after 24 hours, he reported this rare event to his superior, the Twelfth Elder.

He was also astonished by the departure and ordered his subordinate to hold his position and watch closely what was going on and report back to him every three hours.

Even though he said he had understood the order, he did not follow it, but wanted to become the great war hero who had razed the home of one of their arch enemies to the ground. That's why he attacked the country Lukadonia without permission, which immediately alerted the Royal Knights, who in turn kept an eye on the ships that had been in position for years but had never moved towards the shore. Except today.

"Look, the ships are moving." Said one of the guards with a bald head and brown eyes.

"Oh, nonsense. They're probably just swapping positions again, nothing special." Said the Noble with short black hair, a full beard and brown eyes, who seemed a little older than his comrade and was lying on his back in the sand on the beach with his arms folded behind his head.

"That looks completely different to me, just look for yourself."

And he did, only to discover to his horror that the other was right. He immediately jumped up and grabbed his sword, drawing it from the scabbard with his right hand. "You're right, go on, report this immediately to the other knights and especially to the werewolves."

"Will do." The younger one turned around and set off.

"Damn, we should have expected that the departure of the Clan Leaders and the Lord with their descendants would not go unnoticed." The one who remained behind cursed.

Knights who had already learned from their comrade that their enemies from the Union were on their way took up positions at the beach, there were seven of them.

The Noble finally reached the building that had been made available to the werewolves and literally stormed in, completely out of breath. "Hamn, hamsnamane, heee."

"What is he saying? I don't understand a word? Is that perhaps their actual language?" Mirai asked her sister.

"I don't know, can you repeat that?" It was extremely rare for them not to be able to understand something acoustically, as they have very strong hearing.

"Hamn, hamsnamane, heee." And once again, none of the four werewolves present understood what exactly was being tried to tell them.

"I think he's trying to make fun of us." Gayare didn't like that at all.

"Hamn, hamsnamane, heee." And he tried a third time, but no coherent words came out of his mouth because he was too busy to gasping for air.

"Stop this nonsense, or do you want to make me angry so that I'll fight you, you can have that with pleasure." Gayare was already standing up from his white armchair and rolling up his left sleeve as he walked towards him.

The poor Nobles became scared and anxious, because he didn't want to fight such a strong opponent and he broke out in a cold sweat, but he didn't dare to speak again and again not be able to articulate himself accurately, which would only make the werewolf in front of him even angrier.

Luckily for him, Juraki stepped between them and stopped his comrade with his right arm stretched out to the side. "Wait, I think he's trying to tell us something and not challenge you to a fight, am I right, Noble?"

He just nodded, relieved that he wasn't going to be turned into mincemeat.

"You see."

"Too bad, I was looking forward to a little fight." He crossed his arms in front of his chest, insulted, and began to sulk.

Juraki now approached the Noble, who had fallen to his knees when he arrived, and crouched down in front of him so that he was in his eye socket, leaning a little closer so that his right ear was only two fingers away from the knight's mouth. He hoped that this would make the words clearer, as it could be an important message for them. He succeeded in doing this, and better than he expected.

The Noble took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

That made everyone curious, and the other three also pricked up their ears.

"Union ships are currently invading our country and attacking us!" This time understandable words came out of his mouth, but in shouted form, and to everyone's suffering, he had a rather shrill and loud voice.

He was glad that he had finally managed to convey the message to them until he opened his eyes. In front of him, the two female werewolves and Gayare were covering their ears.

Then he looked at the werewolf directly in front of him, who remained in the same position as before without covering his ears.

He fell over as if stunned, onto his left side, whereupon the Noble covered his mouth with both hands in shock when he realized what he had just done.

Gayare helped him up. "Are you OK?"

"Whaaat?" Juraki shouted in his face.

"Don't shout at me like that, I only asked you are you OK!" He replied to his group leader.

"Whaaat?" He replied again, shouting.

"What do you mean, by whaaat? I asked you are you OK?!" This time he looked at him more grimly and his tone was a little louder.

And for the third time he received the same answer, shouted right in his face. "Whaaat?"

"Say, are you take the piss out of me?! If you want stress, then you can have it, come on, come with me in front for the door and we'll sort it out werewolf to werewolf." He rolled up his sleeve further until it reached his elbow.

"Whaaat?"

This time, it was the last straw and only the courageous intervention of the sisters, who pulled him back a little away from their team leader, prevented a catastrophe.

"Calm down, Gayare, he doesn't seem to hear you." Mirai soothed him to his right.

"Exactly, I wouldn't be able to hear anything either if someone had shouted directly into my ear at that frequency." Urne added to his left before her sister finished.

"It will soon pass, as we werewolves regenerate pretty quickly, of course that also applies to his eardrums."

"Whaaat?" Juraki was slowly starting to feel like he was being made fun of, as everyone was obviously just pretending to say something, which was starting to make him angry too.

"Then he would be able to hear again, he's doing it on purpose, let me go, I'll show him that he can't do that to me!"

He tried one last time without freaking out. "Whaaat?"

"Um, guys, excuse me for interrupting your conversation, but the ships are still attacking us, don't you slowly want to stop them?" The Noble asked cautiously in a reserved tone.

Only now did they notice him again and the reason for his appearance came back to them.

"This is your chance, Gayare, you can take out your frustration on the Union instead of our leader." Urne suggested.

"With pleasure." Was the short answer before he stormed past Juraki's left side, grabbed the Noble by the collar with both hands and pulled him up. "Where are they!"

"Um, eh, well, they, um ... ." Intimidated by the fearsome wolf, he was once again unable to utter a coherent word.

"Not this nonsense again! And don't you dare shout in my face, or I'll kill you, got it?!"

He nodded quickly.

"Fine, if you can't tell me, then just show me the way!"

"Ahhh!"

He roughly pulled the Noble by the collar behind him and took him out of the room.

"Where are they going? What's going on?" Juraki shouted.

The Noble's voice was apparently an extremely good weapon against werewolves, as he still couldn't hear the slightest beep.

Mirai grabbed Juraki by his left upper arm, which caused him to look at her. "Just follow us."

Then Urne grabbed his right upper arm and Juraki looked at her. "We're taking you to the battlefield."

"Whaaat?!?!"

They took him with them. The two, who admired him and constantly vied for his favor, didn't mind this closeness to him, they just would have preferred if the other hadn't put their paws on him. This is where the bond between the sisters ended and the rivalry between two female werewolves for a potentially strong partner began.

"Do you have to cling to him like that, Mirai?"

"You have to say that, his right arm is already turning blue because you're holding him so tightly." With that, Mirai demonstratively pressed her arms tighter around her crush's left arm, which of course annoyed her sister and she then did the same.

The two of them stared at each other angrily, sparks flying between their glances.

"So if I understood you correctly, then the Union is attacking right now." Juraki understood a little again, but still spoke louder than necessary because he couldn't really judge this at the moment.

That interrupted the twins' little argument.

"Exactly, but why didn't you understand when the Noble said that?" Urne asked, also raising his voice a little so that he could hear her.

"After the first word, everything was quiet and I think I even lost consciousness for a moment because everything went black in front of my eyes and I only came to my sense again when I was on the ground.

"That explains it, of course," Mirai commented.

On the way to their destination, cannon fire could be heard and when they reached the scene, the knights were already involved in duels with a few soldiers.

Urne and Mirai supported the knights and defeated the human with ease, while trying not to kill them at the request of the Lord of the Nobles if such an attack should take place.

Gayare and Juraki destroyed six of seven battleships without any problems, but made sure that all passengers jumped into the water first or they carried them into it themselves if they refused to jump. Even those who claimed they couldn't swim were not spared. However, they left one intact so that the wounded Union members could use it to leave the island.

Defeated, the captain withdrew with his men. He was not particularly happy about having to explain this to his superior later and he would almost have preferred to go down here with his ship, as it befits for a captain.

On the beach, Gayare, who had let off some steam, spoke his thoughts out loud. "They won't be back anytime soon, which is a shame, it was just starting to be fun."

The man on his left then answered him in his usual manner with a loud "Whaaat?" in his left ear.

This slowly surprised the wolf and he turned around to the sisters. "Doesn't the arrogant wanna-be leader still hear anything?"

"Yes, the arrogant wanna-be leader can hear you well."

Gayare flinched briefly and looked at the voice to his right that had just repeated his words.

"So that's what you think of me." He said with his arms folded in front of his chest.

"You tricked me!" Gayare tried to cover his shame with anger. Which should explain his blush.

"Indeed. We'll talk about that later, my friend."

And by talk he meant, as was usual with werewolves, a duel, not to the death, but serious enough to put the runner-up in his place.

Chapter Text

After his ignominious defeat, the captain was forced to inform his superior, who, as expected, was less than pleased.

The Seventh Elder called a conference of all eight elders to discuss the current situation.

"Something like this hasn't happened in centuries. Was your subordinate able to find out where they went?" Asked the Fourth Elder.

"Yes, indeed, he had sent one of his ships after them and found out that they are currently in South Korea, but I do not know the reason for this invasion of the country." He looked at the monitor on which Crombel could be seen to see if he showed a reaction when this area was mentioned. He distrusted his colleague because not only his two bodyguards Marie and Jake disappeared there, but also his former test subjects M-24 and M-21. A lockdown was also declared, which, miraculously, only the scientist survived; not even the pilots who had brought him out of the country managed to do so. To make matters worse, Kranz's unit had also been defeated and Dr. Aris had returned as a wreck. Even if no one could see the signs or everyone ignored them, he would not do it. He will find out what the Eighth Elder was up to and whether there was a connection with the mass departure of the Nobles, even if he would have to investigate the matter personally.

"If they had attacked the city, the news would have already spread around the world, so obviously their goal was not to take over the land." Commented the Fifth Elder.

"Nevertheless, we cannot simply leave it at that. But perhaps we can use this to our advantage by attacking their now unguarded land." Added the Sixth.

"Unfortunately, this is not as easy as expected. The captain of the fleet stationed there had the same idea as your Elder and wanted to seize the opportunity."

"Good, then you should award him a medal for his initiative."

"However, he failed because werewolf warriors took over guarding the land."

Now the Sixth took back his praise. "Delete what I said earlier, you should demote him for arrogance."

"And what should we do now? If we just wait and twiddle our thumbs, it will be interpreted as weakness and they will strike back."

"I agree with you, Third Elder, and that is why I suggest that I personally go to South Korea to get an idea of ​​the situation there and, if possible, take out one or two of them."

"Don't take it too easy, Seventh. None of us have ever faced a Noble or Werewolf in a duel. However, according to old records, they are not to be underestimated. So don't make the same mistake as the captain."

"With all due respect, but I know my strengths and weaknesses very well. I will not fail, Second Elder."

Now the First Elder intervened. "I have a vague feeling that there is also a personal motive behind your desire to travel there."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't play dumb. You recently sent DA-5 to the country and they were defeated by an unknown enemy. But you didn't send them to investigate the siege, since it wasn't even taking place at that time, but to obtain information about the Eighth and the events during his stay there. Isn't that right?"

"The events there were extremely strange, I'm just trying to protect this organization, even if it has to be from one of our own."

"If I could say something about that? I fully understand the doubts and distrust that the Seventh has towards me. But I have nothing to hide and I agree with his suggestion that he should investigate the matter personally, perhaps it will dispel his skepticism towards me."

The Seventh was very surprised to receive support for this from Dr. Crombel of all people, but instead of making him distrust him less, it only made him distrust him even more. 'What are you up to now, you devious rat?!' he thought to himself.

"Well, if even the Eighth has no objections, I'll vote for it too, who else agrees?"

The others agreed to the proposal like the First.

The Seventh Elder was thus tasked with carrying out the investigation. He would set off shortly and take his bodyguard Cerberus with him, as well as Yuri, since he had already come into contact with the Unknown Enemy.

Just a week had passed when the captain refused to accept defeat. His flawless career in the Navy had been tainted by it.

Day in and day out, he pondered how he could make up for his failure. The only way he saw was to destroy Lukadonia and eliminate the remaining Nobles and Werewolves, but how should he start?

Then he had a sudden realization. The Nobles and Werewolves concentrated on their large remaining battleship, but what if they only two small rowing boats went to the back of the island and sneaked ashore in a cloak and dagger operation to poison the drinking water reservoir. It was a sneaky tactic and not exactly his style, but this required insidious means to eradicate an overwhelming enemy.

He rounded up seven of his sailors, each carrying a deadly poison, and implemented his plan at night.

They actually didn't seem to be noticed by the guards on the beach, who were even more alert after the attack and increased their numbers, often supported by two werewolves.

Shortly before they reached the mainland they saw two shadows moving and so they stopped for the time being. Their eyes had already gotten used to the darkness and so they now realized that there were two werewolves fighting each other. One female and one male, the two were Garda and Dorant.

Their speed could not be described in one word and every time they collided with two simultaneous blows, it released energy that caused the water surface and the boats to tremble in the form of a pressure wave.

With the sudden swaying, some of them made a quiet noise, which the two fighting men of course noticed and stopped their match.

They now turned their attention to the uninvited guests.

Dorant stepped closer to the coast and was the first to speak. "Who are you? Humans are not allowed on this island, so turn back or we will have to force you to."

This threat made all the Union members tremble. The captain had to think of something quickly, because these two were apparently even bigger monsters in terms of strength than the four they had to deal with last time.

"You've already finished your training fight, we're here to relieve you." Lunark, followed by Kentas, emerged from the forest behind the both.

'That was just a training fight? I thought they were fighting each other to the death.' The captain swallowed the lump in his throat that formed from fear. One wrong word or gesture and they would surely kill them.

Kentas now noticed the boats. "Who are those figures there?"

"I have no idea, they arrived just as Dorant and I were in the middle of a fight."

"Answer, what do you want here?" Dorant's voice became more demanding.

"I, well, we just wanted to politely ask for directions to the American mainland, our ship capsized and our compass is broken, but without it we are completely lost."

The sailor to the right behind him then had a question that he should have kept to himself. "But captain, didn't we really want to... ."

A blow to the head with the right fist from his captain sent the chatterbox to dreamland. "Shut up, you idiot, or I'll keelhauling you!"

"What was that? What did you actually want?"

The werewolf with the blond fur now seemed to finally lose his patience with them and looked as if he wanted to attack at any moment.

"We didn't want anything, absolutely nothing. This man is unfortunately suffering from an illness and is hallucinating a little, am I not right, men?"

Everyone just nodded hastily in confirmation.

"Then it's fine. The mainland is in this direction, always straight ahead, you can't miss it." He pointed with his right outstretched arm and index finger in the direction from which they had just come. "Then I wish your friend a speedy recovery."

"Thank you, thank you very much for this information. Come on, row back, do it! Will it be soon!?" He was happy and grateful to have escaped with his life once again.

Back on board, he ordered everyone to keep this incident to themselves. A second such disgrace would have ended him.

The Nobles had already been in the hotel for eleven days and Tao had been their teacher for ten.

M-21 and Takeo were gradually becoming worried about their comrade, as he had already left the house before them in the morning and they heard him return sometime in the middle of the night.

They asked Frankenstein what it all meant, but he only answered cryptically that Tao had received a special assignment from him.

They decided to stay awake tonight and wait in M-21's room for their roommate to return.

Then the time had come, they were standing at the window, Takeo on the left and M-21 on the right, when they saw a figure swaying towards the house with slumped shoulders.

"Is that Tao?"

"It seems so, but what's wrong with him?" M-21 was just as worried as Takeo. They had never seen him like this before. If they didn't know better, they would think he was drunk, but so far he hadn't touched any alcohol, or at least hardly any. Something was strange.

Next they heard someone come up the stairs at 2:56 in the morning and shuffle through the hallway before the door to Tao's room slammed shut.

They looked at each other and nodded in confirmation that they would check on him together.

Takeo knocked on the door three times, but entered the room, which was diagonally to the left of M-21's without being asked.

When he then turned on the light with his right hand, they were confronted with the image of Tao collapsing on his stomach on his bed. "Tao!" He and his companion rushed to their friend full of concern and stood to the right of the bed.

Takeo at his chest level, and M-21 directly to his right, turned him onto his back and were shocked at the sight.

Tao's eyes were half open, bloodshot and swollen. His skin, which had always been pale, was now even a shade paler, even though that shouldn't really be possible. He looked more dead than alive.

"Tao, what on earth happened to you?" For M-21, it almost seemed as if the Nobles had sucked his blood day after day, until shortly before the fatal limit. Could that really have been the case? Was this really what Frankenstein meant by special assignment? Was he supposed to serve as a source of food for the vampires? But why only him and not both of them too?

Takeo probably had the same suspicion, because he turned Tao's head with his right hand on his chin, first to the left and then to the right, to check his carotid arteries and then his wrists, but there were no bite marks.

The half-conscious man did not resist this examination and just wanted to be left alone. He would have to be back with them in three hours and since the journey there and his shower also had to be deducted, he only had about two hours left to recover.

He closed his eyes without speaking to them as tiredness overcame him.

This caused his comrades to panic and Takeo grabbed him by both shoulders and shook him. "Tao, stay with us, you must not die. Can you hear me? Tao, open your eyes again!" In his desperation, he was about to give him a few slaps in the face to bring him back to consciousness.

The man, who had been rudely torn from his recovery phase, was not happy about his comrades' concern, at the moment it was more of a nuisance. With the last of his remaining strength, he grabbed Takeo by the collar with his right hand and opened his eyes, which stared at him full of anger. "Let me sleep or I'll forget that we are friends!"

His appearance was now more frightening as before, whereupon Takeo immediately and without hesitation followed the order and both took a step back from the bed.

The next morning they confronted Frankenstein again and demanded a more detailed explanation, which they then received.

Chapter Text

Another four days and three nights passed before Tao finally successfully completed his mission. It took a lot of energy, as Frankenstein had correctly stated at the beginning, and 47 more household appliances to be demolished before they understood what was dangerous (nuclear missiles, for example) and what was harmless (a telephone), but in the end he could count it as a success.

He would sleep through the next 24 hours, however, before returning to his old job.

To the hotel heiress's dismay, the damage caused by her guests had been limited recently, but as long as they were still here, there was still hope. Perhaps one of them would damage the roof in some way, as it had been due to be repaired four months ago and so it would be free for her. She was already thinking about how she could get them to do it, but unfortunately nothing had come to her mind so far.

Frankenstein now paid them another of his frequent visits, this time with a gift for the whole group. Now that they no longer see everything as an 'enemy', he was able to equip them with cell phones so that they could reach him in emergencies or if they had questions. He had saved his number in each of them under speed dial #1. But he made a crucial mistake: he didn't let Tao hide the numbers, so they were still reachable by advertising calls.

Balder, who was wearing black trousers and a yellow shirt, with matching black elegant shoes, received such a call that same evening as he looked out of his bedroom window at the sunset. This play of colours, made up of red and orange tones, was always fascinating to him. He would have preferred to watch it from the roof, but he had assured Frankenstein that they would stay away from the roof .

The vibration in his right trouser pocket surprised him for a moment, but he immediately remembered what it was that was causing this tingling sensation and at the same time emitting a melody.

He took it out of his pocket and followed his teacher's instructions on how to take a call, then switched it to the loudspeaker. "Good day, this is Balder, who do I have the unexpected pleasure of being my first telephone conversation partner with?"

The caller was silent for a moment, by given such a greeting, with such high-choice words. At first he thought he was speaking to a nobleman from a royal family (if he only knew how right he was with this), but he immediately dismissed the thought. Someone like that wouldn't buy a cheap product like their cell phone.

He immediately switched back to the sales mode. "Good day, dear customer, I'm glad you chose our cell phone model (even if it was only the cheapest discontinued model in our series, you cheapskate). As I can see, you chose the XS Package (again, cheapskate, because that was the cheapest possible), but could I perhaps offer you one of our higher-quality contracts?" He didn't let the Lord get a word in edgeways and continued speaking uninhibitedly.

"As you are a new customer, I can make you an exclusive offer. You could choose the S Package, but you won't get any major advantages. The M Package would be more desirable, as it would increase your internet data volume three times and for just four times the price you are paying now." Of course, this wasn't a saving - three times the data volume in terms of value for money at four times the price - it was an overpayment, but with a bit of luck the customer he was trying to talk into it wouldn't notice it.

And he was actually lucky. "Really, that sounds interesting. Do you happen to have any more generous offers like this?"

Dollar signs and a devilish grin appeared on the advertising caller's face, unseen by the Lord. He had found a fool who he could perhaps even talk into buying the Ultra Package. This smelled like a career advancement opportunity, because none of his colleagues had ever been able to sell this offer to a customer and that was their lure to try it, even at the risk of losing the customer after the offer because they felt cheated after hearing the conditions.

"Sure, I would be happy to offer you our Ultra Offer. It includes unlimited data and free SMS, but before I get to the price, I would like to draw your attention to a clause. The contract is for life span and can only be canceled within a week (false honesty might have helped him here and since these calls were recorded, his customer could not later claim that he had not told him if he let the deadline pass and only then realized what a rip-off his Ultra Offer really was). "But the advantages obviously outweigh this small, insignificant flaw and between you and me, normally you would have to spend twenty times the amount you are paying now, but you get it for just ten times the price. What do you say?" He put everything on the line and hoped to win.

"That actually sounds like a particularly good deal, but ... ." He wanted to ask him if it would be okay to give him a discount.

No, no, no, no buts, please no buts. He was so close to selling him the Ultra Package, where had he gone wrong? But he wasn't going to give up that easily and wanted to price it at eight times the current amount, that would still impress his boss and in reality the amount was only that price anyway, he just wanted to get a little bonus, but he could do without that if necessary. He couldn't let this fish (customer) off the hook.

"Is there anything against this offer, Mr.? Because actually, I'm even getting into trouble with my boss because of my discount for you."

"Trouble?" His fears seemed to be coming true.

"Yes, very big ones." He really pulled out all the stops he had learned and even sniffed as if he was about to cry.

The Lord equated the word trouble with punishment. He could not allow a human to come to harm because of him, that would violate everything he and his people stood for. "I would like to choose the Ultra Package, ... ."

Yes, jackpot! And he didn't even have to give a discount. My own house, here I come! And he still had the number of the travel agency where he had won a vacation and had put it on ice for the time being to save money, but now he could book it.

"But ... ."

No, that couldn't be true, not another but!"

"... I want to pay the original offer of twenty times. Oh, you know what, let's make it thirty times." That way the human would certainly be spared by his superior, since he didn't know what level of punishment/torture was planned for it. He would have to learn more about the laws and culture of the human to avoid risking making such a mistake again by almost accepting his offer.

Suddenly Balder heard a bang on the other end of the line.

"Hello? Has something happened to you? Do you need help? Just tell me where you are and I'll come to your rescue."

The man had fallen off his chair to the right when he heard the counter offer, which was not less but higher. But he picked himself up again, as the businessman in him demanded, which he was.

"I'm fine, don't worry." 'Take a deep breath, don't show him your excessive joy, otherwise he'll become suspicious. I should seal this deal immediately.' "Then I thank you very much, Mr., and I will send all the necessary papers to your address."

"No, I have to thank you."

The conversation ended and the Lord put his cell phone back in his pocket. "A very nice human. He was even willing to receive punishment just to help me. I always said, most the human are just very nice beings."

The customer, registered under the surname Lee, had bought over twenty cell phones, and he called this guy first on his list of newly sold contracts and cell phones, but so that this man wouldn't back out, as he might feel harassed and maybe even cheated by further calls of this kind on his other cell phones, he entered on the other numbers that he had already contacted them without success and that the owners had already imposed a call block so that they would not be harassed any further. That's how it would work. He took the rest of the day off and literally popped the champagne corks.

Three days later, Frankenstein received the documents for the Ultra Package to sign and threatened to fall off his chair when he saw the amount and especially the terms, but he just about managed to stay upright.

He recognized the phone number of the contract, it was Balder's. After class, he would have to pay him a little visit, together with Tao, who should manipulate the cell phones and block them from further advertising calls.

The Lord sat alone in his room, on the foot of his bed, which was covered with green sheets and bedding, its head end was against the left wall. He was watching a comedy show on the TV opposite him to expand his knowledge of human behavior. Unfortunately, he completely misunderstood the behavior that was being presented there, not as parody sketches, but rather as serious (like a documentary).

One of two men hit the other on the head with a book from behind as he entered his room. Then there was a commercial break and Balder muted the TV.

"Hm? A rather barbaric method of welcoming." But as they say, 'when you are in Rome, do it as the Romans do'.

He went to the bookshelf that stood to the left of the bright, matching-colored table with the television on it and looked at the selection of greeting objects on the five shelve boards. There were many thin ones with flexible covers that didn't seem very suitable, since the gentleman on television had also used a sturdier and more multi-page version, he wanted to at least match him, if not surpass him.

But there were also three thick ones with hard covers. The encyclopedia had 800 pages, was big enough to have to be held in two hands, was extremely heavy and had a hard cover. That was the biggest thing he had at his disposal to properly greet his next guest, after all he didn't want to be rude.

Then there was a knock on his door and he saw his chance to test his new knowledge.

He imitated the host in the show and stood behind the door with the book in both hands above his head and used the same words. "Come in, it's open."

As soon as Frankenstein entered the room and walked further into the middle to see where his host was who had invited him in, he crept out from behind the door.

Tao, who had accompanied him, saw the attack coming, but was too slow and perplexed to warn him in time and so the Lord hit him over the head with the encyclopedia.

Even Frankenstein, who could take a lot, was so unprepared for this sneaky attack that he fell flat on his stomach.

"Phew, that's quite a chore." The Lord held the book in his left hand for the time being and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his right forearm.

"Um, boss, are you OK?"

Tao flinched a little when Balder turned to him, raised the book again with both hands and now wanted to attack him with it as well.

When the blow came from above, he jumped backwards, out of the door frame back into the hallway and went into a defensive position.

What was wrong with the usually peaceful Lord?

He seemed seriously surprised by Tao's escape. "Did I do something wrong? Oh yes, of course, I wanted to greet you head-on instead of from behind. Wait, I'll close the door, you knock and then we'll just start the greeting ceremony again from the beginning."

'Greeting ceremony? What did he mean by that? How did he come up with this harebrained idea that this was an appropriate form of greeting? That didn't exist in any country or culture, not even in those that have already died out.'

Meanwhile, Frankenstein got up again and rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, where he would definitely have a bump tomorrow, as he turned around. "Balder, what on earth induced you to attack me?!" He tried to control his anger, which was particularly difficult for him at the moment.

"Attack? You've completely misunderstood that, my dear Frankenstein, I just wanted to give you a polite welcome."

"By hitting me from behind with a book?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a larger copy that the shelf had provided me, but it was still thicker than that from the gentleman."

"Which gentleman?" Tao was getting more and more confused and Frankenstein wasn't feeling any better.

"I mean that one over there." He pointed to the television with his right index finger and outstretched arm.

Now Tao came closer and everyone saw the old comedy show.

"Tao."

"Say nothing more, boss, let me guess, I'm fired and I'm supposed to work as the Nobles' culture teacher, this time."

"You guessed right, after you blocked the cell phones, which is why you came along in the first place, and while you're explaining, teach them the difference between fictional and real shows at the same time."

"Will do, boss." That meant at least another week of little sleep and that was only if everything went smoothly. He sighed dejectedly. Why did he have to be so intelligence to get these jobs? At the moment he was cursing himself for being a genius.

Frankenstein didn't sign the contract of course and called the operator to say that the number belonged to his cell phone and that the person he had signed the contract with had no authority to use the cell phone at all, let alone sign contracts. The person did this as revenge for beating him several times at poker, which of course wasn't true, but as an excuse it served its purpose.

The man on the other end of the line was disappointed, but it had been too good to be true and so he fortunately didn't tell it his boss until he had the signed contract in his hands and the objection period had expired. That way he at least didn't look like an idiot.

Chapter Text

When Tao left the house before Takeo and M-21 the next morning but did not show up at work, they already suspected their friend's current fate.

However, they wanted to confirm their suspicions to be sure and asked their boss, who gave them the same cryptic answer as last time, but this time they understood the meaning. The two felt sorry for him.

This time it only took eight days to complete his culture course and in return he gained insight into the behavior and laws of the Nobles, which he wanted to tell his comrades later so that there would be no misunderstandings like the one with Balder's greeting.

Of course, he apologized to Frankenstein on his next visit when he realized what a mistake he had made.

When this task was also completed, Tao could finally devote himself to the task he had wanted to do before his first fireing. Namely, checking the teachers of the special education program. It turned out that they were KSA agents and at the same time not legally modified human.

They agreed not to get in each other's way and Tao even gave them a cell phone to contact in special cases.

The Nobles in the hotel, however, did not want to see their trip to this country as a vacation or culture course, but rather to continue to train their physical strength. Konan, who, like his son who accompanied him, was wearing something that could be considered martial arts clothing, and asked the young lady at the reception whether there was a possibility of holding a training fight here.

She got dollar signs in her eyes again, because training fights could mean wrecking with these guys. This was the opportunity she had been looking for to get her roof repaired. It was a sign of fate.

"Of course, if you gentlemen would please follow me." She stood up and led the Nobles up the stairs.

When Kei noticed where the woman was leading them, he stopped. "Miss, we can't accompany you any further."

This surprised her a little. "May I ask why not?"

"After the incident with Rajak and Ramon, we had to promise Mr. Lee that we would not go on the roof again."

"My son is right, is there another place here?"

What a bummer! This Lee was just about to thwart her plans, but two people could play that game.

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on offering you the roof as a training ground, since it doesn't have a railing, it would be far too dangerous anyway.

The two looked at each other in surprise, because they were already on the top floor and there were only bedrooms here, which were unsuitable for their plan.

The woman opened a small storage room with her right hand and took out a stick with a rake on the top with her left hand. She hooked it onto a metal ring under the ceiling of the floor, turned it and revealed a staircase that she let down.

She leaned the stick against the wall to her left and went up the stairs, again followed by the Nobles.

"Well, gentlemen, this should give you enough space to let off steam."

They both looked around. This room, or rather attic, stretched over the entire floor, the only disadvantage was that the ceiling was very low, barely higher than themselves, and therefore of course would not allow high jumps, but they could at least practice their direct attacks and defensive skills.

"Forgive me that it being a little dusty here, but this area is only used very rarely. I'll just clear the boxes away, then you can start (with the destruction) right away."

"That won't be necessary, we'll take care of it." How could a Noble like Konan be let a weak human woman do such a job for him.

"If that's okay with both of you, then I'll leave it to you. If you need anything else, you know where to find me."

When she got back to her place, she immediately researched for roofers. Maybe this time she would have the attic completely removed and skylights installed instead, that would add a little more flair.

Not even three hours had passed when an ear-deafening thud was heard.

'Bingo!'

Shortly afterwards the Nobles appeared before her, covered in dust.

She naturally pretended to be ignorant, although she suspected what must have just happened. "Oh my goodness, what happened? Are you both OK? Should I call an ambulance for you?"

"No miss, nothing happened to us." Which was the truth.

Kei added the unpleasant news, at least in his eyes, "Your roof, however, was not as lucky as we had."

'Yippee, you can rely on these guests.' She thought to herself. "What? My roof?"

"Yes. It collapsed. There's a big hole in the middle now." The Clan Leader confessed and knelt down in front of her, with his hands on the ground and his forehead as well. He learned from Tao that this gesture is used as a request, but depending on the situation it could also express gratitude or, as in this case, serve as a sincere apology.

His son, just behind him to his left, did the same.

This extremely display of remorse made the woman a little embarrassed and made her feel a little guilty, since she knew about the instability. It was a miracle that it hadn't collapsed with all the people who had recently entered it.

"Ple-please stand up again, I'll just get a worker to come and fix the damage. After all, your friend Mr. Lee agreed that any damage that happened during your stay here would be repaired at his expense. At least nothing happened to either of you."

She assumed that they would not be harmed by the collapse of the roof, otherwise she would not have brought them up there, because these people were abnormal and she knew that they were not even human. No one behaved so abnormally, not even actors who wanted to stay in their roles, as Mr. Lee told her. Her suspicions grew more and more when she played the video from the surveillance camera from the kitchen on the same morning after the incident, which had miraculously survived the fire unscathed. At first she thought she was hallucinating, but she had not taken hallucinogenic drugs that day, as she had three days before. These men there, one of whom was Konan, who was kneeling in front of her now, could make objects appear out of thin air, cut devices in half with little effort and use something that looked like tendrils of blood, at least the oldest of them could.

At that time she was about to inform the press, KSA or even the army that aliens were in her hotel. With the video, she would at least have proof that she is not suffering from delusions. She already had the black telephone receiver in her right hand and was halfway to her ear, but hesitated and then hung up again.

Her motive was not of a noble nature, however, because the reward for such a discovery of non-human life forms might get her a few television appearances on news programs and talk shows and a small reward, but her instinct told her that she would make more profit if she used the apparently rich man, who could rent the entire hotel, for her purposes. After all, it seemed as if he wanted to prevent a human from finding out about their secret, and he seemed to spare no expense to do so. Afterwards, when her guests wanted to leave and return to their home planet, she could still hand them over. So she had double the profit.

The lessons she secretly overheard about electricity and human culture and law were also proof that what she had on tape were not cheap magic tricks, but real magic, or something similar.

After the two of them had got up again, they withdrew and she set about repairing it, of course also informing the owner of her favorite card, who wanted to see the damage for himself.

He drove to the hotel with Regis and Seira, who wanted to visit their fathers and grandfathers, where a construction crew was already there, removing the rubble and in the process of completely exposing the top floor.

However, there were currently no guests on this floor, neither humans nor Nobles, which is why no one had to be relocated due to the construction work.

He had turned off his cell phone during the inspection so that no additional bad news, of which he had received a lot recently, could reach him. However, he did not expect that his help could be needed at this very time.

At the same time, Rai and his brother Seal, who was wearing a dark brown trousers, a light blue button-up shirt and dark brown shoes, were sitting on the couch in Frankenstein's house. The Noblesse was playing a jump and run game on his smartphone. Even though he had already gotten better than when he started, he was still miserable.

"Ahahaha, oh brother, I didn't know that you had other weaknesses besides your disorientation. I'm at a loss for words." His brother commented to his right.

Rai blushed a little and then handed him his smartphone. "Prove to me that you're more talented at it than I am."

"With pleasure." And he was actually better than Rai, although it wasn't too difficult. "Hah, you see, that's how it's done."

"It seems to me that he enjoys being better at something than his brother." Takeo, who was sitting opposite him on the far left on the opposite couch, whispered with his left hand held out for his mouth to his comrades M-21 and Tao to his right.

"Indeed, I enjoy it very much."

Takeo forgot his super hearing.

Then the good mood was spoiled by an unpleasant call from their allied KSA agent.

Tao took the call and learned that he was being hunted by two Cerberus members, namely Ked and Lutai. In order not to put them in contact with them and thus in danger, he destroyed the cell phone shortly before they caught him.

Tao immediately tried to reach Frankenstein, but it went straight to the voicemail. "Damn, the boss has turned off his cell phone."

Takeo, M-21 and Tao got up from the couch and wanted to help their ally, alone if necessary, when Seal stopped the game and gave the smartphone back to Rai.

"Problems?"

"You could say so the Union has shown up and they are currently after one of our allies."

Seal then stood up, followed by Rai. "Then we will help you."

"Is that okay?"

"Don't worry M-21, we're taking less of a risk than you three. We're already on their blacklist anyway, just because we're Nobles, so do you want our help or not?"

Since they were still hesitant because they didn't want to drag them into their problems, Seal rephrased his question.

"How about we just accompany you and stay out of it if you don't need any help."

Tao knew why he was seeking their permission to accompany them, because he had learned that they shouldn't interfere in human's affairs without asking. "Gladly."

With that, they set off and M-21, who was wearing a black mask, was able to prevent the agent, from being killed by Ked, at the last moment. He received support from Takeo with his nerve-paralysing ammunition, which threw Ked off track. Rai stood to the left behind the sniper and Seal to the right. These three also received a mask from Tao, well, actually only Takeo and Seal were supposed to put one on, but when the Noblesse seemed disappointed, Tao gave him one too.

Tao had gone to another roof, from where he had a good overview of the battlefield and could direct the two of them strategically.

"Looks like we're completely superfluous, little brother."

Rai just nodded in confirmation. He was happy to see that his roommates could work together so well and thus face strong opponents.

Then one of the two enemies disappeared unnoticed, as everyone was concentrating on Ked and M-21's duel.

Ked transformed and caught M-21 with a direct hit, which sent him to the next roof. Fortunately, Yeonsu had already fled, albeit reluctantly, and at least wasn't in his way right now.

Worried, Takeo shot at Ked again, who now seemed completely immune to his bullets, which made him nervous.

"Stay calm, we'll, ... ." But suddenly Tao cut off his sentence, which made everyone hear up and take notice.

"Tao, what's going on?"

Lutai had appeared next to him. "I'm really sorry guys, but I'm having a few problems here right now."

"What do you mean, you have problems? What's wrong with you?" M-21 asked, but didn't take his eyes off his counterpart for a second.

"Did you get caught?" Asked Takeo.

Rai became restless, as he could hear everything because he was also wearing a communicator, just like Seal.

"It looks like I'm going to break off communication now so I can concentrate fully on my opponent." With that, he switched it off. His actual thought was that his friends wouldn't be distracted by his fight.

"Tao! Tao answer! Tao!" But Takeo got no response.

"Go and support him, I'll take care of M-21's safety."

"Okay, thanks." Takeo stood up and was about to leave when Seal announced that he would accompany him. So the three of them split into two teams to offer support to the two who were fighting.

Chapter Text

Tao, who had lured Lutai a little away from the others, was about to be defeated in his duel when Takeo came and defended him.

"Everything OK?"

"Yes, but what are you doing here? You were supposed to support M-21."

"Don't worry, Raizel is with him." Seal said.

Now Tao noticed for the first time that it wasn't just Takeo who came to support him, but him too. However, he stopped a few meters away from the battlefield.

Lutai looked with contempt at the traitors in front of him who had defected to the enemy to save their lives, otherwise none of the invaders would be with them. "Now the fun is over, I'm defeating you once and for all."

Their opponent activated his chainsaws, which he used as a weapon, and suddenly began to spin like a roundabout before racing towards the two Ex-Union members. He ignored the third enemy for the time being, he would deal with him later. There was a reason for this, however, he wanted to ask him about the background of their invasion here and what they had to do with Dr. Crombel before he eliminated him.

Tao and Takeo tried to flee from their opponent, as their instinct and combat experience told them that their techniques would be useless against this attack, it would only bounce off.

As the three moved away from the Noble, he followed them.

Lutai looked behind him worriedly, because if the Noble got involved, it could be difficult for him. After all, this was an enemy he had no experience with.

He was catching up more and more, which relieved the two who were fleeing. Maybe he had a technique that would allow him to stop him before they were chopped into small pieces. They were now relieved that he insisted on coming with them.

But they had rejoiced too soon, because Seal did not attack Lutai, but quickly moved past his right side and simply joined the other two, to the right of Takeo.

'What's going on?' Lutai was confused, did he want to help them or not?

Takeo said out loud what the Cerberus member was thinking. "What are you doing? I thought you came with us to help us?"

"So you want my support?"

Was he just making fun of them? Wasn't it obvious that they desperately needed it? "YES!" They both shouted at the same time.

"Very well, if you insist." He looked back over his left shoulder and his eyes glowed red. "Mind control."

Suddenly Lutai froze in the middle of his movements and the three in front of him also stopped.

Tao applauded a little. "An impressive ability that you have."

"Indeed." Takeo confirmed his comrade's statement.

"Oh please, you're flattering me, that's really nothing special."

Lutai was afraid, these Noble were even stronger than expected. Was that it for him now? Would he now meet his end shamefully, at the hands of a vampire? But he would go down with his head held high and prepared himself mentally for it.

The two standing next to Seal also wondered how he would deliver the coup de grace and were surprised by him for the second time.

The Noble turned to the left and took a few steps before turning back to the three people who were looking at him in confusion.

These looks were unpleasant to him and he did not understand why their attention was now on him and not on each other again, or was there someone behind him that he had not yet noticed?

He looked over his left shoulder, but could neither see nor could he perceive elsehow anyone else, so he looked forward again, but all eyes were still on him. "Is something wrong?"

Lutai was slowly boiling with anger because he felt like Seal was making a fool of him. "What are you waiting for? Finish it, vampire!"

He took the words right out of the duo's mouths.

"Me? Oh no, no, no, I'm just here to support the two of them, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to kill a human. From now on, I'll just keep watching."

'Is he serious?!?' All three thought. But that he dissolve the mind control confirmed his statement and the fight starts again.

While they continued their fight without any further support from their companion, they worried that Rai could act just like his brother and that M-21 would be mostly on his own. Not that they wanted to say that he was weak, not at all, but the two of them already had their hands full trying to stop this monster of a modified human, how was he supposed to do it alone? In the end, however, they defeated their opponent with difficulty and effort.

Now Seal applauded as he slowly walked towards the two of them. "You actually did it, congratulations, even though you took a little too long, don't you think?"

They weren't exactly happy about this comment, but swallowed their anger about it.

"Tao, we have to go back to M-21 and Raizel."

"You're right, even if I don't think we're much help to them in our current state."

Seal was impressed, they were obviously at the end of their strength and yet they set off for the next battle to help not only their comrade, but also his brother, even if he didn't need it. So they risked their lives to protect others. The Lord didn't seem to have been completely wrong with his belief in the good in human, which pleased him.

The three set off and immediately afterwards Yuri appeared, who had already treacherously eliminated U-EG on his way here and stood in front of Lutai's supposed corpse. But when Lutai was still moving, he gave him the coup de grace and continued to follow the others unnoticed.

Takeo and Tao to his right led the way, closely followed by Seal behind them in the middle.

The latter unexpectedly grabbed both of them by the neck and pushed them down onto the roof below them, so that they lay flat on their stomachs and he was crouched between them, with his right knee on the ground.

They both remained lying down, even after he loosened his grip, and looked at him.

"Why did you do that?" The sniper asked. Why did he just attack them out of the blue?

Then they heard a dull noise that caught their attention. The bit on top that led into the stairwell from the building next to Tao's right shifted partially as if it had been cut through and now the severed piece slowly sagged before falling onto the roof with a thud.

"What the hell was that? What just happened?" After this question, Tao and Takeo both looked back at Seal to get an answer from him, but he just looked to the left, which was the opposite direction, with a serious look. "There's someone up ahead."

After this statement, they also looked in the same direction and the Twelfth Elder and Taiz, with a scythe appeared in front of them.

"What a pity, you noticed my attack. I thought I could send all three of you to the afterlife in one fell swoop, but this way I can at least have fun a little longer."

Now everyone stood up again. Tao and Takeo now understood that Seal had not attacked them but had just saved their lives. Later, when it was all over, they would have to apologize to him for their hasty accusation.

"You are a Noble, am I right?" The Twelfth ignored the two traitors for the time being and concentrated on the main enemy.

"Quite right, my name is Cadis Etrama di Seal and who do I have the pleasure of meeting?"

"You can call me the Twelfth Elder. I am one of thirteen leaders of the Union."

"Boss, leave these three to me, I want to make up for my failure from just now."

"Don't underestimate this opponent, I sense a particularly intense power emanating from this Seal."

"I can only return the compliment. You don't seem to be an opponent to be taken lightly, as well, Elder."

"Don't worry, as the captain of your bodyguard, I won't disappoint you."

At first the Twelfth hesitated briefly, but then decided to leave the field to her. "Agreed, but hurry up, I'll go where we sensed Ked and Rodis' energy."

"I'll hurry up. You have my word."

Ked and Rodis! That means M-21's opponent had received support and now he and Rai are dealing with two Cerberus members! Rodis, as Taiz's deputy, was on top an extremely dangerous opponent, more dangerous than Lutai, U-EG or Ked. To make matters worse, the Twelfth was now on his way to them too, whose strength even Seal acknowledge.

They couldn't waste any time here and prepared to attack. Takeo with his reloaded pistols and Tao with his cable from his right sleeve.

"Takeo, we have to end this quickly."

"I know that, they need our help now more than ever." He looked at the Noble between them for a moment, then back in front before continuing to speak to his comrade. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I guess so. Seal, ... ."

When he was spoken to, he looked at the man to his right. He was sure that they would now ask him for help again to defeat this enemy.

"Please go ahead and support Raizel and M-21. We will hold her off here as long as we can."

That surprised him. "You really want to fight her alone, don't get me wrong, but you're not exactly in top form. Aren't you overestimating yourselves a little?"

"I agree with this pretty boy. You don't have the slightest chance against me."

"We know that ourselves, but even if we lose here, we might be able to save our friends."

"It's worth it to us, even if we die for it. So come on, hurry up, Seal!" Tao added.

After everything he heard from them, however, he had no intention of following this request and stepped a little closer to their opponent. "You two impress me. Rest, this is my fight."

"But the others, ... ."

Takeo didn't get any further before he and Tao were rendered immobile by Seal's mind control. He was sure that they would chase after the Eldest instead of him, but he couldn't allow them to get involved in another confrontation, because that could mean the end of them with these opponents.

"You don't need to worry, my brother won't lose and won't let anything happen to M-21, you have my word on that. Now to you, Miss. I would prefer to avoid a physical confrontation with a human and I should warn you, because it could end in your death."

"You won't intimidate me with your threats. My weapon, Death Scythe, is not called that for nothing, because I have used it to send every opponent to the afterlife, but you should feel honored, because you will be the first Noble whose lights it turns out."

"Would you please repeat the name of the weapon again?"

"Death Scythe, is my darling's name. A really beautiful model, isn't it?"

However, her counterpart simply ignored the counter question and repeated his own in different words. "What was the name?"

"Death Scythe."

"What?"

"Death Scythe!" Her voice became more aggressive. What was wrong with him, did he not understand her language? No, until now he didn't seem to have any problems with it.

"What?"

"DEATH SCYTHE!" This time it wasn't just Taiz who screamed, but Takeo and Tao at the same time.

"Are you kidding me?! Should I spell it out for you or something so it goes into your head?! The name is D-E-T-H S-C-Y-T-H-E!!!!!!" She was breathing heavily from anger and from screaming and this resulting to increase her blood pressure, that's why she turned red.

"Ah, then I heard correctly, Death Scythe. I thought I couldn't believe my ears, because a comrade of mine, the Clan Leader of the Loyard Clan, has a Soulweapon that also looks like a scythe and has the same name. Claude is actually a pretty reasonable Noble and not easily provoked, but if he heard that, nothing and no one could stop him from turning this cheap copy into small wood and using it as firewood. Because he takes things like that very personally."

"I don't give a damn shit what bothers him or not, I don't care one bit. I'll shut your cheeky mouth with my cheap copy, as you call it, and then I'll take care of the two traitors behind you that you kindly captured here."

She held her weapon in both hands, reached over her right shoulder, stormed towards the Noble and swung it in his direction, but he just stood still.

"Dodge!" The two behind him shouted worriedly.

But he still didn't move, because if he had done that, the attack would have hit them. He just raised his left hand and grabbed her left wrist with it.

She was amazed at how easily he was able to stop her and looked at him, perplexed.

Now Seal made a counterattack and only one word was enough for this. "Begone."

His opponent was thrown back, made a screw, did a back flip and landed elegantly on her right foot, left knee, with her head bowed and her arms stretched out to the sides, while she held her weapons with her right hand.

Now Seal applauded for her. "Bravo, with this stunt you should rethink your profession and become an athlete instead of a Union killer."

Now she looked up at him grimly and stood up again. "You arrogant ass, I'll kill you!"

Now she swung her scythe with both hands several times from top right to bottom left and vice versa, a total of seven times, causing white energy blades to appear that flew towards Seal.

However, a protective shield was enough to make the attacks bounce.

Suddenly, however, his opponent disappeared, or rather moved unexpectedly quickly. "Got you!"

When Seal heard that, he looked back over his left shoulder in shock and saw Taiz, now behind Tao and Takeo, attacking the two from above, with the scythe raised over her right shoulder.

With effort, as they were still under mind control, they managed to look between behind them and expected to die now.

However, Seal suddenly rushed between them, stood with his arms outstretched between them and their attacker, which meant he took the full hit, as he could not activate his protective shield in that short time.

Taiz grinned devilishly, full of malicious joy at having caught her favorite opponent with this selfless or, in her eyes, stupid act. A wound now appeared on his chest, from top left to bottom right, from which blood spurted out.

"Hihihihi, that serves you right!"

"SEAL!"

The man in question then grabbed Taiz's left wrist with his right hand, then held his left hand in front of her chest and let a small whirlwind of blood fly horizontally towards her, which piercing her. He chose a spot that would kill her immediately so as not to make his opponent suffer for an unnecessarily long time. She fell dead to the ground in front of him.

Then he released the mind control and grabbed his wound with his left hand, whereupon he hissed a little in pain. He hadn't been so wounded in a long time, but he had to blame himself for being careless, since he had underestimated the Union's underhandedness and hadn't considered such dishonorable tactics.

Takeo stood to his right and wanted to assess the damage the Noble had taken for them.

Tao did the same to his left. "Are you OK?"

"Everything's fine. Let's move along." But first he picked up the scythe with his right hand and took it with him, not as a trophy of victory, but to give Claude the honor of destroying it himself.

He would later have to justify to his lord for having interfered in this conflict uninvited and even taking a human's life in the process. In doing so, he had violated two of the most important rules that represented their values ​​and would be severely punished if ignored.

Chapter Text

M-21 is about to receive a fatal right punch from Ked and prepares himself by crossing his arms in front of his face.

Just a hand's breadth away, however, he suddenly stopped when they both heard the words 'Stop immediately.'

Rai landed to the right, just behind the edge of the roof where the altercation took place, and slowly approached M-21, who now lowered his arms and relaxed his tense posture.

"Are you okay?"

But before M-21 could answer, the Cerberus member interrupted the conversation. "Why are you interfering here? Who are you even?!"

The Noblesse simply ignored him and continued talking to the man in front of him. "You haven't answered my question yet."

"I'm okay, thanks to your intervention, thank you."

"You're welcome. Let's go home now."

This sentence left both the Union and the Ex-Union member looking somewhat confused. After all, they were still in a fight?

Rai turned to his right and started walking toward the edge of the roof, while both watched after him. Then they realized he was actually serious.

M-21 looked again at his still-paralyzed opponent. It would be easy to take him out in his current state. As a Union member, M-21 probably would have done so, but those days were over, so he too turned around and followed Rai, but after just a few meters, he was rudely stopped.

M-21 felt a stabbing pain in his right shoulder blade and chest. A spear stood out from it.

"You're not going anywhere, traitor." Rodis' words now caught Rai's attention, causing him to stop and turn back.

"Rodis? What are you doing here?"

"Saving you from a defeat that would have brought shame on the Team-Cerberus. Besides, I received a message from the Twelfth Elder earlier that he was heading here with Taiz. He had ordered me to this spot, where he sensed strong presences. Somehow, I already suspected you would cause trouble, and I was right."

'The Twelfth Elder was heading here?! That wasn't good. Rai was strong, but compared to ordinary Union members, the Elders were a completely different caliber. This could be difficult even for him.' Thought M-21.

"By the way, where is Lutai? Weren't you two traveling together?"

"He was, but he's chasing another troublemaker to take him down."

"And he's still not back? I don't like that. We should end this quickly. If Taiz sees you in this pitiful state, she'll punish you for your carelessness. Go on, move and take out that black-haired guy, I'll take him out here in the meantime."

His comrade, however, made no attempt to comply with his deputy team leader's request.

"What is it? Do you need an extra invitation?"

"I can't move. That guy with the poker face paralyzed me, or do you think I like to play petrified?"

Rodis, of course, understood this, so he now had to first convince the Noble in front of him to release him. "You over there, let my comrade move again immediately, or the traitor here will pay a much more painful price." To emphasize his threat, he pushed his spear a little further through M-21.

"I can't comply with that request."

"Oh yeah? And why not? Believe me, I mean it, what I said." Then an idea came to him: Could it be possible that this state of affairs was permanent, irreversible? Was that what he meant?

"I'm not capable of that, since I released him from my mind control long ago."

After Rai said this, Ked suddenly moved normally again. "Indeed, I seem to have tensed my muscles so much trying to free myself from his technique that I've immobilized myself. Hahahaha." He laughed and rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, a little embarrassed by this mishap.

A vein on Rodi's left forehead popped out as his blood pressure rose, because of the anger by his teammate's more than embarrassing behavior.

For this behavior, Ked received an extra-hard left donkey kick to the stomach, sending him flying three roofs backward.

Rodis then looked back over his left shoulder and yelled after him. "Complete idiot, stop this nonsense and come here now, we're not done here yet!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay. You didn't have to kick with full force right away," Ked said as he returned to the roof and, as he walked over to his comrade, dusted himself off his arms and tilted his neck left and right, which making a cracking noise.

'This guy is driving me crazy sometimes.' Thought the second Cerberus member and looking forward again. Only then did he notice that M-21 was no longer in front of him. The image of the impaled traitor appeared and disappeared before his eyes three times, until he realized he wasn't actually in front of him anymore. Then he looked to where the Noble was standing, but he, too, had disappeared.

He didn't find the slightest trace of them on the roof either, neither left nor right. "Where did they go?"

"They both went straight ahead." Ked answered when he finally reached him and stopped behind him.

Rodis looked back over his left shoulder again, his face slightly reddened with shame that he hadn't noticed their escape, not even that M-21 merely walked forward to free himself. "You saw it and didn't say anything?!"

"No, should I have? I thought you were intentionally letting them go, to chase them down and thereby increase the entertainment."

The vein, which had just returned to its normal size, swelled again, only this time another one appeared right next to it. He gritted his teeth, his grip on his weapon tightening so much that he almost broke it, even though it was made of a particularly robust material, virtually indestructible enough to withstand the Noble's Soulweapons or the penetrating power of a werewolf.

"YOU IDIOT!" The muscleman had a brain smaller than a walnut. The Union should have focused on that part, during his modification, rather than anything else.

For the second time, Ked received a left donkey kick to the pit of the stomach, landing even one roof further back than before. One thing he'd definitely learned today was, never stand behind Rodis, especially not when he's angry about something.

"FOLLOW THEM, MOVE!!!!"

M-21 pressed his left hand at his wound, which, although bleeding profusely, didn't seem fatal. Fortunately, Rodis hadn't punctured an artery, so that should heal shortly, but it still affected him if another fight ensued.

To his dismay, it didn't take long before they were caught, and the two Cerberus members leaped over them, spinning in the air before landing a few feet in front of them. This forced them to stop and skillfully blocked their path.

M-21, who was to Raizel's right, moved into attack position. He didn't want to be a burden to his companion.

Rodis, who was directly opposite him, spoke first. "Excuse me, but we have to cut this short and end it here and now, before the Twelfth Elder finds out about this."

Suddenly, the expression on M-21's face changed from battle-ready to fear.

Ked looked to his left at his comrade, who mirrored him. Both were surprised by his sudden change. Did the words have such a profound effect on him? They soon learned the true reason.

"Before I find out about what?"

The voice, now directly behind them, made the two flinch before they turned their heads further and looked back between them to meet the eyes of their leader, who was staring at them with a stern look and his arms crossed.

"El-Elder?" He arrived earlier than expected. Ked shivered a little at his icy, authoritative presence.

M-21 was hardly better off than him. He transformed his forearms again and stood in front of Rai. "Run away. Get to safety. I can't hold them off for long, but I'll buy you as much time as possible to escape."

"Your opponent is M-21? Don't tell me you're struggling with him here, with a failed experiment."

"Well,..."

"Shut up, Rodis, I'm not interested in your excuses."

Suddenly, the two felt a fist pressed against the center of their backs.

"I can't use dilettante like you." With these words, he sent a beam of energy through them both, literally pulverizing their hearts and killing them instantly.

The beams continued flying, now toward M-21 and Raizel. The latter made a protective shield, which shielding them both.

Chapter Text

So now M-21 and Rai, stood face to face with the Twelfth Elder.

The Noblesse didn't like how easily he sorted out his subordinates. The Union was very ruthless towards its members, as Rai had to realize this time again.

The Elder now turned his attention to the black-haired man. He could deal with this traitor, M-21, later; gathering information about the invasion of this country and Dr. Crombel was now his priority.

"You're a Noble, right? Tell me right now what you want here? If you answer my question, I'll put an end to both of you quickly, just like Rodis and Ked. Otherwise, I'll bring up other sides, and you won't like that." He expected that his modification would allow him to compete with a single Noble. Unfortunately, he didn't know which one he was facing.

Instead of answering his question, Rai reacted with his mind control. "Who gave you permission to speak in my presence?" With this question, he forced his counterpart to his knees and elbows, but that wasn't enough for him. "I didn't even give you permission to move." With that, the Noblesse interrupted the man's efforts to regain an upright position.

M-21 was always impressed by how strong Raizel was.

"Hey, M-21!"

Tao's voice sounded from behind the Eldest, and so everyone looked in his direction. At least, everyone who was still alive and able to move.

It wasn't long before Tao, accompanied by Takeo and Seal, landed on the roof, which let the Elder between them on one side and Rai and M-21 on the other.

"I'm glad to see you're okay." M-21 was relieved to see them relatively unharmed.

"We feel the same way. We were worried about you two, too." Takeo looked down in front of him. "But apparently it was unfounded."

This shame, lying on the ground in front of Nobles and traitors, aroused great anger in the Union Leader. "If you think you defeated me so easily, you're mistaken." He carried out his transformation and suddenly looked like a bat that had grown too big. This allowed him to break the mind control over him, but he was no fool; he knew full well that with so many opponents and apparently a particularly strong Noble among them, it wouldn't be easy for him to win without support.

By taking out Ked and Rodis, he'd shot himself in the foot, so to speak, and since the three had appeared here, that meant Taiz had been defeated. It was all to no avail; he had to pull him back first, but they certainly wouldn't let him go that easily, so he decided to take a hostage to keep the others at bay.

The Twelfth had heard that a Noble could best use his power when he looked his opponent in the eyes, so he chose Reisel as his hostage, so as not to be caught in his mind control again. He positioned himself behind him, and held his sharp fingernails directly against his right carotid artery. "Now everyone stay back, or this pretty boy here will be die."

Takeo, Tao, and M-21 watched this with horror. Seal, on the other hand, started to giggle, which confused the three of them, but also the Elder.

"You think I'm not serious, or you don't care about your comrade's life?"

"First of all, he's extremely important to me because he's my little brother. And secondly, I don't need to worry about him. He knows how to defend himself very well. So I would advise you to let him go and not overexert his gentleness towards humans."

The Eldest didn't like that really, but he should feel safe behind him. It was conceivable that this was just a bluff to scare him. "Not bad, but you don't intimidate me that easily, or did you seriously think I'd fall for this trick? You'll have to come up with something better to make me let your little brother go."

"Well, how about this? If you want to survive, I, in your place, would get out of here as quickly as I could. You have five seconds to do it. After that, no one can help you anymore."

"Why should I listen to your warnings?"

"You don't need to, because it's too late now anyway. But don't say I didn't warn you in time."

Before the Elder could understand what Seal meant, several black spears pierced him from behind. This made him look like a failed cross between a bat and a porcupine.

Frankenstein made sure the spears only penetrated his back, but not through him, so as not to endanger his master.

The attacked man looked back over his right shoulder and saw a blond man who seemed to be quite angry.

"You seriously dare to threaten my master? This will cost you dearly." Frankenstein was already angry from his last hotel visit, but this was the last straw.

He even summoned his Dark Spear.

His employees had seen this weapon for the first time, but it was terrifying, and their boss also took on a slightly insane expression, better expressed, more than ever.

Instinctively, M-21 moved slowly and carefully backward until he reached his comrades and Seal.

We can settle this one of two ways: either you apologize to my master for your improper behavior and I'll kill you quickly, or you refuse and I'll teach you a lesson before your demise. Unfortunately for you, I'm very furious today, thanks to a few Nobles who have caused chaos again, and I'd love to take out this pent-up anger on someone, so I sincerely hope you choose the second option and resist me. You'd really be doing me a great favor, if you do so."

Raizel just sight at that comment. Frankenstein was always a little overexcited when it came to fighting.

"You dare speak like that to an Elder! The only one getting a lesson here is you, and that from me, one you'll never forget."

Unthinkingly, the Elder let go of Rai and instead charged to the blond man. In doing so, he had abandoned his only defense, which would ultimately prove to be his downfall.

Frankenstein's plan worked; his attention was now fully focused on him. He only waited for him to move a little further away from his master before attacking him.

The Dark Spear had to wait a moment longer for its use. Once again, Frankenstein created small black spears in the air, and a whole lot of them. He let one of them smash into the roof right in front of the Elder, which brought him to a standstill for the time being.

"Look up."

Unsure whether this was a trick or not, the Twelfth did it anyway, unable to believe his eyes. When on earth had he created so many spears, and that unnoticed?

Frankenstein recognized the nervous look in his opponent's eyes, which pleased him, because he didn't deserve to feel anything else but fear. "Don't worry, I won't unleash them all on you at once. After all, it would be boring if you died quickly."

And he actually didn't. He only rained down a few at a time on the Union member, and not directly on him, but only on his feet, which forced the man to repeatedly dodge.

This scene seemed familiar to Seal from a western-movie. There, someone had shot at his opponent's feet with a gun to, and let him as he said it, 'make him dance for him.' Frankenstein probably knew that film too.

After a while, Frankenstein had had enough of the fun and put an end to it all by plunging a spear into each of the Elder's legs and arms. Before the Elder could heal his wounds, he stabbed him with his Dark Spear, right in the middle of his chest, but still next to his heart.

"It's over. Personally, I would have liked to play with you a little longer, but my darling simply desired you too much."

His three employees stood there, wondering what their boss could mean by that statement.

Then the process began, and the spear devoured the Twelfth in a flash, absorbing his power along with him.

To Frankenstein's left, he then heard someone applaud, that causing not only him but everyone else to look in the direction of the sound.

It was none other than Balder, who was standing on the adjacent roof and applauding before joining the others. "An interesting performance, but what did I hear from you, Nobles have caused chaos again?"

"Oh yes, although this time the entire roof of the hotel was involved and was destroyed."

"Oh dear, you have my deeply apologize for that, Frankenstein."

"My Lord." Seal stepped forward from the others and stood directly in front of him to confess his crimes. "I had earlier ... ."

He interrupted him, however, and simply raised his right hand at chest height. "Explanations are unnecessary, because I saw everything you did earlier. Raizel, would you accompany us somewhere else for this matter?"

The three of them immediately set off together, heading east. Seal, however, had said a few final words to the three humans beforehand. "It was nice to meet you."

"What did he mean by that? Do you understand?" Takeo asked, while watching them go.

"I'm just as clueless as you are." M-21 replied.

Frankenstein found this behavior strange. "What did the Lord mean when he said he saw what Seal did?" To him, it sounded as if he had committed a crime, which wasn't entirely wrong.

Takeo was just about to tell him when they heard Tao cursing.

"Damn it! After him, we have to help Seal, he's in serious trouble. Follow me!"

On the way, Tao gave them a brief explanation, which included that according to the laws of the Nobles, they are not allowed to simply kill humans or impose their will on them; this would usually be punished with Eternal Sleep, which is the equivalent to death, and that this should be carried out by the Noblesse, i.e., Raizel. In other words, Seal would have to die simply because he prevented them from engaging in a hopeless battle and killed a human to save them, and that at least at the hands of his brother.

Frankenstein unfortunately confirmed his suspicion about Seal's fate.

They managed to catch up with the three Nobles ahead of them before the sentence was pronounced and ultimately succeeded in convincing the Lord not to sentence Seal to death.

Balder was extremely grateful for their dedication to one of his men, as they gave him the reason to spare him.

Chapter Text

A few days after the Cerberus incident, the trio visited the Nobles at the hotel, where they met Lagus in the lobby.

Tao, in his usual direct manner, greeted him in a friendly and casual manner; after all, they already knew each other a little better after his intensive teaching sessions with him.

But he just glared at them grimly, as usual, before treating them like air and walking past them, out the door. "These human are unbearable."

"Do you still think that about them?"

After being addressed, he realized he wasn't alone and looked to his left. "Why should I have changed my mind, Gejutel?"

"Well, at least they saved Seal from being sent into Eternal Sleep."

"So what? They certainly had some ulterior motive, I'm sure of it."

"You're a stubborn old Noble, Lagus. Would you like a little walk? The park is just around the corner."

"Stretching your legs a bit, as far as I'm concerned, can't hurt."

They wandered around there for half an hour, attentively observing mothers playing with their children, some walking there with their dogs, or simply couples holding hands for a romantic stroll.

The world seemed to have become more peaceful than the harsh and warlike era in which they had decided to retreat to Lukadonia.

Lagus saw Gejutel's look, obviously pleased by this harmony. "Don't be fooled, this isn't their true nature. We've witnessed firsthand how cruel and barbaric these creatures can be when they want to be."

"I haven't forgotten that, of course, but one should enjoy the peace while it lasts." They stopped mid-run when a small dog ran towards them, barking happily. Then, wagging its tail and panting, it stopped in front of them.

The animal's gaze first looked up at Gejutel, then at Lagus. However, his expression frightened it so much that it ran away again, as fast as its legs would allow, whimpering in fear.

Gejutel couldn't suppress a giggle, which the other Noble didn't like at all.

"What's so funny?!"

"Well, it seems the dog notices your negative attitude too."

With slightly pink cheeks, Lagus turned around. "I'm going back."

But he hadn't even taken three steps when a man, Ibisu, 27 years old, 1.78 m tall, with short black hair, blue eyes, wearing white grooming clothes and matching shoes, grabbed his left wrist with his right hand. "I've got you!"

"What are you doing, take your hands off me!" The Noble became furious and shouted into the face of the man next to him. He tried to break free, but the grip that held him was unusually tight.

"You might could like this, you're coming with me!"

"I'm not going anywhere with you, and now take your hand off me!" He would have preferred to kill him right there and then for his behavior. What did a lowly human think he could do, touching a Noble Clan Leader so roughly, but unfortunately, the laws didn't allow it.

"Excuse me, may I ask what exactly you want from my companion?" Gejutel noticed how Lagus was barely able to control himself and intervened before the situation could escalate. This, however, got him into trouble, too.

The man now took a closer look at the other Noble. "Aha, that's you. You must have luck, what I always say."

This confused Gejutel, because he was sure he had never seen this person before.

Ibisu took his smartphone out of his pocket with his left hand and dialed his work colleague's registered number one-handed, without loosening his grip on Lagus.

After one ring, the man on the other end answered. "Yes, what is it?"

"Misuki, come to the park, I found them both."

"Honestly? I'm in the park too, where exactly are you?"

"In the center."

"Good, I'll be right there. Don't let them get away, I want to finish work at some point. After all, I'm already putting in three hours of overtime looking for them." With that, he hung up.

"Now let me go, you useless larva!" Attacking was taboo, but he was allowed to insult them, and he would use that opportunity.

"Forget it, and you, ... ." He quickly put his cell phone back in his pocket, switched hands, and grabbed Gejutel by the left wrist with his right hand. "... stay here too. How many times are you going to run away? When will you realize it's completely pointless."

Gejutel continued to calmly explain the situation to the man. "I'm afraid there's been some kind of misunderstanding here. We're just taking a walk here; we didn't run away from anywhere, as you describe it. After all, we have permission to move freely here."

"Yes, yes, tell that to someone who cares. My job is to track you down and bring you back."

Then Misuki arrived, a 31 years old man, 1,98 m tall, bald, with brown eyes, almost more muscular than the members of the Ru Clan, if that's even possible, and wearing identical clothing to Ibisu's. In other words, an intimidating monster of a man.

He cracked his fingers as if he were getting ready for a fight, grinning as if he had the upper hand and was already the victor of a battle. "You actually tracked them down."

Even though the newcomer didn't seem particularly friendly, Gejutel took a chance on him. "I've already tried to explain to your friend that there's been a misunderstanding here, we ... ."

"Shut up, you old fart."

'Ol- Old fart?!?!?!?' He couldn't believe what he'd just been called. No one had ever dared to say something like that to him. It literally shocked him. Maybe Lagus had been right all along, and these human beings are actually all fundamentally corrupt, uncouth barbarians?

"So how do we proceed from here? Do you want the gentle or do you prefer the harsh approach? I wouldn't mind the latter option, because I'm pretty angry with both of you right now."

Gejutel was still unable to think clearly and just stood there motionless, his shoulders slumped.

"Hey Misuki, take care of this one, I'll take the one with the monocle."

"Okay, you found them, so you can choose."

Lagus's wrist was finally released, but his joy was short-lived, as the giant positioned himself behind him, crouched down, and before the Noble even knew what was happening, the human's arms wrapped around his chest and stomach. He pressed him to him like a constrictor, with a far more merciless intensity than his predecessor had held him.

To make matters worse, as the man stood up again, Lagus was lifted off the ground. "What's going on?! Have you humans completely lost your mind?! What do you think you're doing!" Slowly, the threat of having to go into Eternal Sleep, no longer bothered him at all, if it meant taking these two with him to his death.

"Keep wriggling, no one has ever been able to escape from my arms, and an old man certainly hasn't." He squeezed a little harder, causing a small squeaking noise as he forced the air out of Lagus's lungs. That silenced him.

"Be careful, or you'll break his ribs."

"Don't worry, I won't break anything, well, perhaps one, but as the saying goes, 'one is no one.'" Misuki headed for the eastern exit of the park, where his car was parked, with his prize in his arms.

Ibisu, on foot, followed him, with a completely mind-numbing Gejutel in tow.

"Old fart?" He repeated these words monotonously the entire way, and even in the car, until they reached their destination.

Chapter Text

When Gejutel and Lagus disappeared for a whole day, their children became worried. Claudia decided to ask Frankenstein for help, while Ramon and Regis searched the area, with the help of some of their comrades.

Fortunately, it was weekend, and Frankenstein was at home when the doorbell rang.

He immediately opened the door to find Claudia standing behind it. Naturally, he invited her in, but she declined the invitation.

"Frankenstein, I need your help. My father and Sir Gejutel are missing."

"Missing?"

"Yes, they haven't come back since yesterday, when they left the hotel together. I'm worried, the others are already searching the area and the park."

"Don't worry, they'll know how to defend themselves if they get into trouble." But then he remembered the recent confrontation with the Elder and Cerberus. "I think maybe I should help find them after all."

They got into his car and drove around aimlessly at first.

"Any idea where we might find them?"

"Unfortunately not. My father isn't exactly the most sociable Noble, especially when he has to pretend to be human to avoid being noticed, what he really is."

"So he still hasn't overcome his distrust and dislike of us humans. Stubborn old Noble." Frankenstein looked at Claudia's concerned gaze, while she locked out of the car window. "He'll be fine, both of them. Look, if something had happened to your father, you would have inherited his Soulweapon. If that's not the case, then he's alive."

His passenger smiled gently at him, even if it was only a fake smile, at least partly. "You're right, thanks for the encouraging words."

They drove around for another ten minutes until Frankenstein spotted two people wearing similar clothes and also matching sizes. However, he only saw their backs. "Up ahead, that could be them."

Claudia looked around, not seeing them at first, but when she spotted them, she confirmed his suspicions. "You're right." She was relieved to see them, even though it seemed strange to her that they hadn't even responded to phone calls the whole time.

At the side of the road, in a parking space just behind the two of them, they stopped, got out, and walked after their targets, calling them by name, but were still ignored.

Frankenstein increased his pace and grabbed Gejutel with his left hand on his right shoulder, forcing him to stop, which caused his companion to do the same. Then he turned him towards him. "Gejutel, where...?"

He froze his sentence when he realized he was standing opposite a complete stranger, his gaze now wandering to the second person, who wasn't Lagus. They say everyone has a twin somewhere in the world, apparently that also applied to Noble, because the two could be their doubles. "Sorry, I confused you gentlemen."

Then Frankenstein saw a bracelet on the fake Gejutel's right wrist and read the inscription 'Sin retirement home', but didn't think much of it before the two turned around and walked on.

He sighed. "Well, I guess we'll have to keep looking." That would have been too easy.

Almost an hour later, Frankenstein came up with the idea of checking the retirement home and was turned away by the receptionist.

However, he simply walked into the lounge without permission and actually saw Gejutel sitting in an armchair, completely dazed. "Gejutel?"

"Oh, look who it is, Frankenstein. Oh no, I mean Mr. Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, that name sounds so much better than Frankenstein, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee. Hmmhmhm.

"What's wrong with him, and where is my father?"

Before Frankenstein could say his theory, the two male nurse who had brought Gejutel and Lagus here, want to escort the intruders out, using force if necessary.

"Gentlemen, calm down, there's been a misunderstanding. This man and his companion are not residents of this facility."

"Who says that, blondie?" The taller of the two, Mizuki, didn't seem particularly pleased with this news, because if that were true, he would have made a mistake yesterday, along with Ibisu, and that was impossible, because Mizuki didn't make mistakes, and anyone who said that he did, he rammed into the ground without a sharpener, until he was proven right in the eyes of his critic, and he said he has done everything right.

Now Ibisu intervened. "You just waltz in here and think you can take our residents with you? What do you think this is, a supermarket?"

Frankenstein took a deep breath so as not to teach them one or two manners at the hard way. "Like I said, a case of mistaken identity. Your real residents are currently wandering around the town."

"Do you have proof of that?"

"Yes, prove it or I'll throw you out, then the lady will surely follow you willingly. I'd hate to have to handle a delicate creature roughly." Mizuki first cracked his fingers threateningly as a warning, then he winked seductively at Claudia.

"Well, how about this? We bring the two real residents here, and then you let the other two come with us. Agreed?"

The men giggled before the smaller one replied. "Of course."

"Good, Claudia, please follow me."

"Bye, Leeleelee."

They got back in the car, now searching for the Noble's duplicates. Frankenstein had little interest in this scavenger hunt, but if they'd had to present documents proving Claudia's relationship to Lagus, it wouldn't have been possible, and so he had no choice but to make this suggestion. Getting noticed wasn't an option.

"What was wrong with Gejutel? And I haven't seen my father anywhere. In a situation like this, the two of them would never voluntarily separate."

"It seemed to me that Gejutel was under the influence of medication, so he's in a state of dizziness. Either this was intentional from the start, or a medication triggered an unexpected reaction, since all the medications there were made only for humans and not for Noble. I think your father must have had a similar experience like Gejutel. Would you please inform the others that we've found the missing Nobles and will be bringing them back."

"Sure."

They did indeed find the men again, but they had other plans than to go back. When Frankenstein grabbed the fake Lagus, with his right hand right, by the left wrist to take him to the car, he shout out for help and that he was being kidnapped.

When passersby became aware of what was happening, the scientist reflexively released his prisoner and raised his hands at chest height in a surrender gesture. "This is a misunderstanding, honestly, we..."

The men used the opportunity and practically sprinted away.

"Damn, they're fast for senior citizens. Claudia after them." The two pushed through the crowd of people that had now surrounded them.

As they threatened to be caught, the senior citizens pulled their next trick out of their sleeve. In front of them stood a young woman looking into a shop window. She wore an elegant red dress with matching shoes and a white handbag, as well as a pearl necklace. She herself had brown chin-length hair and blue eyes. She was ideal for their purpose. The two grinned devilishly at each other, while they ran, obviously having the same idea.

They stopped right next to the woman and let themselves be caught. But then the fake Gejutel grabbed the woman's Butt. When she turned around to confront the culprit, the perpetrator pointed at Frankenstein. "He did it." It was the behavior of a toddler, but effective in this situation.

"You Boor !" Before he could defend himself, Frankenstein received a resounding slap in the face, and the two men ran off again, around the next corner to the right.

Claudia was so stunned and taken aback that she just watched as the woman angrily mumbled something incomprehensible and walked away.

Without paying any further attention to what had happened, Frankenstein and Claudia hurried to the alley, crossed it, and looked around at the other end. Nothing, they had escaped them. So the hunt continued into the next round.

Chapter Text

After this experience, Frankenstein and Claudia hurried after the two, turning into the alley where the older men had disappeared. But when they reached the end, they looked around and found no trace of them.

"I can't believe this!" Frankenstein was noticeably more dissatisfied the longer this matter dragged on.

"Maybe we should split up. I'll go right and you go left," Claudia suggested.

"That'll probably be best. Call me as soon as you find them." So they went their separate ways.

Frankenstein was the lucky one who took the right direction.

He saw his targets leisurely strolling down the street a little ahead of him. To avoid being caught off guard again, Frankenstein changed his approach. He turned into the next side alley, he want to emerging in front of them at the end, thus cutting off their way.

Actually, a good plan, actually.

As soon as he turned left into the alley, Gejutel's doppelganger grinned. "That blond guy thinks he's very clever."

"But it takes more than that to outsmart us."

Both then turned around and went on.

Frankenstein hurried and reached his destination. He didn't see them, so he waited. Ten minutes passed, and slowly he realized they must have noticed him. "Those two!"

Frankenstein now ran back down the street, but the two jokers simply hid in a nearby café and watched that their pursuer ran past them.

They took their order (two croissants) and continued walking down the street, in the opposite direction from Frankenstein.

When he didn't spot them, Frankenstein decided to get a better view, namely from a bird's eye view. He finally went into the nearest alley and climbed to the roof of a skyscraper, but even from there he didn't see them.

He was beginning to regret this deal; to catch the two again before getting Gejutel and Lagus back, but it was all to no avail; now he had to finish it. Slowly, it dawned on him that he'd been duped a second time. Now more determined than ever, the scientist moved across the rooftops in the other direction again.

Finally, he spotted them; after all, he was able to go unnoticed from the roof and this time he was able to sneak after them.

The fake Lagus was just making fun of Frankenstein when he was close enough to hear everything. "He was easier to fool than our nurses. A real twit, I feel sorry for that guy."

His companion also found the whole thing quite amusing. "Yeah, I've never met such an idiot before. Tricking him and shaking him off is as easy as stealing a lollipop from a toddler."

At that moment, Frankenstein was close enough to his targets to place his left hand on the left shoulder of fake Lagus and his right hand on the right shoulder of fake Gejutel. "This idiot is going to give you both a free ride to the retirement home, what do you think?"

Apparently not much, so they wanted to try to run away again, but their 'new friend' tightened his grip, a grin resembling that of a psychopath etched across his face. "Don't even think about it, guys, otherwise I can become very unpleasant, and you certainly don't want that, I can promise you that. So what do you say about a short walk to my car so I can take you back home?"

The two instinctively realized the danger posed by the man and frantically agreed. Without resistance, they followed their chauffeur.

After putting them in the car and making absolutely sure that the doors were locked, he called Claudia. Despite all the security measures, he kept an eye on them the entire time until her arrived.

Together, they made their way to the rentirement home with their two passengers. Thankfully, without further incident.

Once there, they brought the runaways inside. Both the receptionist and the nurses were embarrassed that they were all actually wrong.

"Now that that's been cleared up, can we finally have Gejutel and Lagus back?"

In response to Frankenstein's question, the receptionist began to utter incoherent sentences.

"Well, you're welcome to take one of the two, the gentlemen you saw earlier, but as for the other one, well, how should I put it... He's no longer here."

"What does 'no longer here' mean? Where is he?" Claudia was worried about her father.

"Well, he was causing quite a disturbance here and insulting us, so we were forced, as required by Rule 5, Section 3 of the house rules, to move him. I'm sorry."

"To moves him?!" They said in a duet.

"We work in cooperation with another hospital, as we often accommodate people here with special personalities."

"And where exactly is he now?" This scavenger hunt was really starting to get on Frankenstein's nerves."

"In the psychiatric ward."

The two immediately set off for the psychiatric ward, with Gejutel in the back seat.

Since he was still distracted by his medication, they locked him in the car as they entered the building.

The nurse at the reception was on the phone with her colleague from the rentirement home when the two arrived. "...they're just coming in." With that, she ended the call.

"Good evening, you're probably here to pick up our new patient?"

"Quite right. Where is he?" Frankenstein was slowly forgetting his politeness a little.

In the background, you could hear clinking dishes and several people talking at once, but one voice was clearly audible: Lagus's.

"Let go! I want out of here, immediately!"

Claudia rushed in the direction she heard the voices, closely followed by Frankenstein and the nurse from the reception. The image which was presented to them was, in Frankenstein's eyes, at least a little amusing and a small compensation for the hardships he had to endure today.

Lagus was lying on the ground, a somewhat corpulent man sitting on his back, and both his arms were being held by two nurses.

"Father?!"

"Claudia, finally, you have no idea how happy I am to see you, my child. Tell these dim-witted people to let me go." Normally, he would have been able to free himself easily, but rules are rules, and he was following his lord's orders to play the weak human.

The receptionist ordered her three colleagues to release the man.

Just as rescue for the Noble seemed in sight, Frankenstein received a call from M-21. It said that the Tenth and Eleventh Elders had just shown up.

Frankenstein had never been as excited as he was now, to hear of the Union's appearance. It gave him the opportunity to release all his pent-up frustration.

"Excuse me, but would it be possible for us to come back at a later time to pick up our friend? Unfortunately, we have an important appointment right now."

Somewhat hesitantly, the woman finally agreed.

"Thank you. Claudia, we have to go. Have fun here, Lagus. Get some rest, you really need it." He turned around and walk to the exit.

"Fra... Lee! You can't be serious? Come back immediately! You'll pay for this, you hear! If I get my hands on you, you'll have nothing to laugh about anymore. Rules or no rules, I'll make an exception for you, even if it costs me my head. Come back immediately!" Lagus's screams didn't help in the slightest, and he also thrashed on the ground like a fish out of water.

Claudia just stood there silently for a moment, looking back and forth between Frankenstein and her father, who looked at her pleadingly not to leave him behind. "I'm sorry, father, I'll be back soon." She followed Frankenstein.