Therisa was about to die. All of her blood had burned away, and her fragile soul and life were rapidly fading away to nothing. Anyone else would’ve been terrified of death, but she wasn’t. She had finally seen him in his true form.

Just like the nuns at Eris’s church described him, he was massive, standing at over three meters tall. And in this room, his head and shoulders have already cracked the ceiling and were poking into the floor above. Even standing, Therisa won’t even reach his knees.

His legs were as massive as tree trunks, and his neck was thicker than thickness. He didn’t look alive at all, but like a marble statue of a god carved out of the most precious stone. This was Poppy’s end; it was as clear as day that she couldn’t face him.

As Therisa’s consciousness faded to black, her body melted into blood and merged with Arad’s blood, leaving him alone with the monster called Poppy. The fight was about to start, or that is what should’ve happened.

Without knowing it, Poppy found herself kneeling in front of Arad, feeling happy, thrilled, aroused, terrified, scared, excited, worried, nervous, guilty, and at peace with whatever was going to happen to her. As a creature, she didn’t even have a chance to resist. He was in a whole other class, and just as she could dominate lesser vampires, his will dominated hers the moment they faced each other.

"You’re coming with me." He spoke, and she shivered. "With pleasure."

The fact that just his addressing her made her feel so happy didn’t even make sense. Arad had never exerted his Blood Lord will on any of his vampires or spawns; he always let them live free and only counted on their sense of duty to obey him. Even he didn’t know the full extent of mental manipulation that his will could cause.

But this was a special case. Poppy was so dangerous that fighting her in the middle of the city would result in thousands of innocent lives being lost. So, Arad decided to use that will and try to dominate Poppy the same way Vlad dominated his vampires for the sole reason of neutralizing her for the moment. Whether he’ll execute her or not, that would have to wait for later.

Arad approached and grabbed Poppy by the head, lifting her up to look at her face. "You’ve been such a pain."

The fact that he touched her, the fact that he spoke to her, Poppy couldn’t even look away, her blood boiled, her soul rested easy, and an unnatural level of happiness and pleasure jolted her entire body. The Blood Lord is addressing her directly... she couldn’t be happier.

"Have anything to say?" He growled, and she smiled.

"Please tear my body open and suck my blood dry. I want to become one with your blood." She was far too happy, and Arad knew that he would need to work on his blood domination later. Even if he didn’t want to use it on his vampire, it would be a waste to leave such a power untrained and uncontrolled.

But then, Poppy’s hands moved, she tapped Arad’s wrist, and smacked his forearm down, cracking his bones. It all happened too fast that Arad had to look at his arm once more, and then, by the time his eyes glared back at Poppy, both of her feet were flying at his face with a drop kick.

She broke out of his domination, but how did she do it? Arad didn’t have time to think about that. His mouth opened wide, and then clenched shut. Poppy screamed her lungs out and fell on the ground, both of her legs bitten up to the hips.

Arad’s enlarged lycanthropic jaw quickly returned to normal as he spat her legs out, "Attacking my face is a stupid idea, the same way it is with a bear or a tiger."

Poppy was shaking on the ground as she tried to sit up. "I’m more worried that my whole legs fit down your throat." She glared back at him. "What do you use that mouth for?"

"Swallow people whole." Arad stared at her with a passive face as he wiped the blood from his lips. "I don’t know what you’re after, but I suggest you obediently give up. I know some people who want you to stay alive, so you’ve got a better chance than nothing."

She giggled as her legs struggled to regenerate. "Is there anything I can do so you let me? I’ll do anything."

"Yes, in fact, there is." Arad smiled, "Revive all of those that died because of you, pay them for damages, and apologize. Then I’ll let you go."

She frowned, and sighed. "I meant something more interesting... but it won’t fit anyway." She smiled as her legs healed. "I’ll cut it in half then."

At that moment, blood flooded into the room. Down in the sewers, Poppy’s true body was pissing herself in fear. How is she going to win against that terror called Arad? The answer was simple: she isn’t going to win.

[Resist, but not to the point that he has to kill you on the spot. I’ll grant you power, so struggle well. Once the flesh golem is captured, they’ll drop their guard, thinking that the biggest threat is gone, and that is when we’ll strike and achieve our goals.]

A tentacle emerged from the sewer water in front of her and handed her a large jug of disgusting black blood. The moment Poppy smelled it, her guts twisted, and she was about to throw up.

"Is this your blood?" She gasped, and Cain chuckled. [Not mine, but the womb blood of the Mother of all Demons, Shub. They would find out about me if I gave you mine.]

While rare and impossibly hard to get, Shub’s blood was a far more explainable if Poppy were to have some strange connections to the abyss. It won’t immediately draw light toward Cain himself, and it’ll give her a decent boost of power to face Arad for a while.

Poppy gulped, stared at the jug, and then closed her eyes as she chugged it all down. It tasted worse than horseshit and piss, all mixed with rotten eggs and spoiled meat. How did she know what that tasted like? Well, that was what the witch fed her in the past.

Poppy’s eyes almost burst from their sockets, and her blood boiled. She fell face first-into the ground, growled, and tried to puke her guts out, but nothing came out but her hoarse breath.

Back at the surface, as Arad easily smacked the blood away and jumped to grab Poppy, her fingers suddenly burst with black smoke. He felt that something was off about her, but still charged through and kicked her like a ball.

As Poppy flew out of the house and hit a wall, Arad looked down at his foot and found several lacerations on it. He frowned and glared toward Poppy. All of her clothes had torn away, and she was now wearing a robe of red blood, her entire body had turned pure black, and she looked more like a humanoid poppy than a child. What was more, flesh tentacles covered with sharp bone spokes were starting to emerge from her back, and they were the ones that cut his leg.

"Demon Blood Release?" Arad healed his leg, "So I’m a dragon Pricolici, and you’re a demon Pricolici. How come no one knew about you being a demon?"