Charlotte was naturally the source as she belly laughed with her arms wrapped around her stomach.
It took several minutes before she recovered, her previous angered state all but gone, replaced by a more jovial tone.
Still chuckling lightly, she met eyes with Damian who was still laying on the floor with a hole in his stomach.
"... Did I say something funny, Commander?" Damian couldn’t help but ask after having to watch her mock him for five minutes straight.
He considered the chances of killing Charlotte if he jumped her but quickly swept the thought away.
Even though she just woke up, the fact that she was able to toss him around like a ragdoll showed that she was still a force to be reckoned with.
And that’s not even mentioning the 12 Knights that remained stiff as statues behind her.
Damian understood where the red-armored knights got their tendencies from.
Charlotte let out a deep sigh as she finally stopped laughing and with a smile, asked.
"So let me see if I understand you correctly... the Dark Lord has risen, allegedly and he is currently in Krobridge."
"But you don’t as you have plans to become a god... uhmm, what did you call it?"
"I see." Charlotte nodded. "So you woke us to help you kill the Dark Lord?"
"Can you not do it?" Damian asked.
"How about I remove you from this world instead?" Charlotte inquired, half-jokingly, half-serious.
"I was awake when the Witch of Fables gave the prophecy so the Dark Lord isn’t a fluke as you think him to be... he is our savior yet you expect me to kill him?... Are you an idiot or something?"
Damian gritted his teeth. "The Dark Lord might be the savior of the Creatures of the Night but he is not the savior for our race!"
"You dare raise your voice at me, boy!"
"Tch, fine." Damian clicked his tongue as he rose to his feet. "I knew you wouldn’t listen to me... so maybe you’d listen to them."
"Them?" Charlotte raised a brow as she watched Damian with interest.
Damian reached into his breast pocket and took out a fruit knife.
Running the blade across his palm, he let his blood flow, falling onto the stone slabs of the tomb.
With each drop that fell, he muttered something in a strange tongue, one Charlotte was quite familiar with.
With the 11th drop, Damian sealed his wound and stepped back.
"So what now?" Charlotte asked while looking down at the bloodstains.
Damian said nothing as he closed his eyes and in a deep voice, called out. "Arise!"
The bloodstains glowed red and exploded with tremendous power, shaking the tomb to its core.
For the first time since her awakening, Charlotte was flustered as she watched faint wisps of red energy gather just above the location of the blood stains.
The red energy continued to gather until a humanoid figure was formed.
Possessing hands, legs, and a torso, it was mostly human but then it had no head above its neck, and plastered all over its body were 11 faces, some facing back and the others facing forward.
Charlotte was too familiar with the faces on the body and so were her men behind her.
".... Is this real?" Charlotte muttered. "Great Monarchs... are you truly alive?"
The faces looked at one another before one of them spoke.
"Dear Charlotte, it is us."
Completely shaken, Charlotte quickly fell to her knees with her head bowed with her men following closely behind.
"Great Monarchs, please forgive me. Despite everything you gave us, the Silver Knight Order was unable to prevent you all from dying at the hands of those despicable Warriors." Charlotte remarked, her expression filled with regret.
Another face replied. "Do not blame yourself, child. Our defeat was inevitable, after all, the Great Families are undefeatable with their control over antimagic."
"..." Charlotte remained silent as she clenched her fist.
The memories of that day from several centuries ago still played in her head.
It was a day when the proud Silver Knights experienced defeat for the first time and were forced to run with their tails beneath their legs.
A day that had stayed with every single member to this day.
Snapping out of her reverie, Charlotte inquired. "My lord, forgive me for asking but what happened to you all?"
"An unfortunate circumstance." One of the faces replied. "After we were beheaded, our spiritual states somehow intermingled with one another, and due to our great desire for revenge, it culminated in the formation of this grotesque state... a phantom."
"I see." Charlotte nodded.
The faces looked over Charlotte’s group and Damian stood behind before addressing Charlotte.
"We want you to do as the boy says."
"What?" Charlotte was left confused as she raised her head.
"The Dark Lord is no savior of our kin. It is time we stop thinking that the other Night Creatures are equal to us. Vampirekind were meant to dominate Eventide."
"The Dark Lord will reign forever which would mean our race will forever be treated the same as the others. So we have decided on a different means to reach the top."
"One of the many means we have planned. Our kind will surely reign supreme once it is completed."
Charlotte gritted her teeth, unsure of what to make of everything.
If there was anything she knew, it was that her loyalty was not with the Dark Lord but with the Monarchs that raised her.
So albeit slightly hesitant, she replied. "I will do as you have said."
"We await the good news."
With that, Charlotte slowly rose to her feet and accompanied by her men, approached the stairs.
"Do you know who the Dark Lord is?" She asked without bothering to glance at Damian.
Damian replied. "Everything has been prepared. His likeness and even a guide... all you have to do is kill him."
"... Understood." Charlotte swiftly ascended the stairs alongside her men.
Damian watched them go and once he was sure they had entered the gathering hall above, a sinister grin formed at the corners of his lips.
Behind him, the grotesque humanoid creature with no head and faces on its body lost its earlier composure as the faces on its body began to let out slurred and uncomfortable noises.
Their expressions distorted in pure rage, it was hard to make any connections between its current state and its previous calm and stately demeanor.
"It was hard deceiving a Knight Captain but it was worth it. With her powers, I doubt that Dark Lord bastard would survive what’s coming..." Damian’s expression distorted as he clenched his fist.
"Nothing will stop my apotheosis... my rise to the top is inevitable!"