The Duke's Passion



859 The fall of the Kraken

Kristina had thought of countless scenarios upon the reappearance of the Kraken. She knew even if they fought, the casualty would be too severe. Thus, she was prepared to fight it on her own and order her men to flee as far and as fast as they could.

Never in her muddled mind had she ever considered the Kraken retreating. What was going on? What happened? There were so many whys and hows and whats, but all of those series of questions halted when she heard a cough and grunt.

"Blergh! Ah, goodness... I feel dizzy- Claude threw up, coughing in between. I le crawled on the concrete ground, his entire body was drenched and covered with sticky fluid. Meanwhile, Stefan was grunting as he pulled himself to sit up.

Deep lines appeared between Kristina's brows, darting her eyes between the two. Disbelief filled her countenance while her thought bubble overflowed with question marks.

"You two..." So these two were what fell near her. "... how?"

Claude winced, casting Kristina an irritated look. Stefan, on the other hand, caught up to his breathing first.

"There's the answer," Stefan answered whilst panting for air, jerking his chin in a particular direction.

"Ich." Claude glared daggers in the direction Stefan pointed at. "Is that the only method he can think of to throw us back here?"

Confused, Kristina slowly shifted her attention to where the two men were looking. As soon as she did, a little bit of enlightenment dawned on her.

Alphonse.

"Damn it." Claude flung his arms to get rid of the thick fluid on him. "This is disgusting. I'd rather bathe with blood instead of this fuck! What the hell is this?"

While Claude was busy cleaning himself up and cursing, Stefan helped himself up. He wiped his head, flicking his hand to get rid of the slime on him.

"Alphonse can puppeteer. If certain conditions were met, he could control even the Kraken," explained Stefan, gazing down as he caught his sword just a few steps from him. Alphonse probably took it and dropped it with them.

"What a show-off-taking all the credits that weren't his," Claude hissed to himself, but everyone around heard him loud and clear.

"Alphonse!" Stefan called, ignoring Claude's complaints.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Alphonse was still standing in the same spot motionlessly. Knowing Alphonse was unconscious all along, yet managed to remain standing despite the waves and turbulence earlier were commendable.

"Alphonse!" Stefan called once again before his brows furrowed. "Al - oh, he's back."

Stefan heaved a sigh of relief when Alphonse moved slightly. The latter flexed his fingers and then stretched a little bit. When Alphonse got his blood circulating in his body once again, he turned on his heel and advanced to where everyone was.

"How are you feeling?" asked Stefan as soon as Alphonse stepped into their vicinity. "Thanks for taking us here."

Claude glared at his uncles, showing he wasn't slightly pleased. But he didn't make a fuss as he focused on cleaning himself up.

"I'm alright," said Alphonse, glancing at Kristina and then at the knights who were still in the fort. "Why are you still here?"

"That was our fault," Stefan answered for her.

"Was it true that you were able to control the Kraken?" Kristina didn't beat around the bush to get the answer she wanted.

Alphonse didn't answer immediately as he assessed her. 'Is that a question, Dame?"

"So, it's true? Then why didn't you do it in the beginning if you could control the Kraken?" "Are you dumb or what?" this time, Claude chimed in the conversation. Ile already took off his top, twisting it to dry it. "Stefan already said that guy can only use his abilities if all the conditions are met. And by that, he meant they should be dead."

"Ah..." Kristina was speechless, but unlike the irritated carl, Stefan and Alphonse had more patience to sparc.

"Taking down the Kraken was not my intention," Alphonse continued, keeping his eyes on Kristina. "That was His Majesty's job"

Claude stopped, casting Alphonse a look. "What did you say?"

"Alphonse's ability isn't dangerous because he could control animals or people. What made it dangerous was that whenever he took charge, he could see that person's memories, knowledge, habits, and so on. Thus, it is what makes this ability believable. It was dangerous," explained Stefan in simple terms, making Claude and Kristina knit their brows.

"Does Uncle Hell know about this?" Claude blurted out.

"Even if he doesn't, he is one among the very few who wouldn't be affected by this ability," Alphonse answered. "I know I wouldn't take down the Kraken all on my own. I tried taking charge of it in the beginning, but to no avail"

"Why is that?"

Alphonse set his eyes on Claude after the latter inquired. "You have seen the parasite on top of its head. I can't control it if another one was already controlling it."

"The Kraken was being controlled?" Kristina blurted out.

"Not directly, but those parasites were affecting the Kraken's action," Alphonse clarified, moving his attention to Claude. "Thanks to you, I got to hold on to the information the Kraken holds"

He then moved his gaze to Stefan, nodding at him reassuringly.

"What did you learn from it?" Stefan inquired solemnly. "Anything useful?"

"Useful?" Alphonse let out a short and sarcastic laugh, scanning everyone's face. "Was confirming the darkness surrounding the Spade is done by a demon considered useful information?"

"So, your theory was correct?" Claude frowned while Kristina's countenance turned firm.

"I didn't get enough memories from the Kraken because of its old age. However..." Alphonse trailed off, looking heavenward to gaze at the thick darkness over the land. "We need to hurry. We are no longer in the Spade Kingdom, but in another dimension. Time within this darkness

can be slower or ten times much faster outside."

Stefan, Kristina, and Claude stayed quiet as they processed Alphonse's remarks. However, they hadn't completely absorbed anything when their hearts pounded against their chest once again. The four of them, and even the knight present, had their eyes wide open, sensing a deadly aura from a distance.

"Samael," whispered Stefan, holding his breath as he turned in a direction. "We have to hurry" As if his words were already an instinct to everyone, they all disappeared from their vantage point to go back to the capital, where they could feel two monstrous auras clashing.

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