After the clash on the Government Square Lily had ordered the soldiers who had followed her from the market to take control of the scene and calm everyone down. The other soldiers and the mages who had fought her on the square had also surrendered. But Lily knew it was nothing substantial yet, at least not in the long run. It was mainly because the authorities present had not really had a choice after the display of dominance she had shown. For the moment they followed her because they did not know what else to do.
Since Mayor Rottfeld was nowhere to be found, Lily had fetched a few of the city officials who were present and made them explain several facts that Tessa had not known and that were important for her to get an overview. She was not completely inexperienced in city management from Xantia, but this was real life and not a game. She had to understand how things worked here before she made decisions. Tiara was not a small village, and she wanted to avoid problems that could have been prevented with simple information.
So, Lily was now sitting with a big headache in the mayor’s office in the town hall and looking through several papers. Her helmet was resting on the desk and her sword was back in her inventory, while some city officials were staying with her and were bringing her more documents, pulling old ones aside and showing her the city books.
When she first entered the mayor’s office, the unsettling feeling she always experienced when using a skill for the first time had overcome her again. A sudden sharp wave had rushed through her head, and it had felt as if several pieces of information were being forced into her thoughts at once. It had faded quickly, but it had left her with a strong headache. When the dizziness passed, she understood immediately what it had been. A passive management skill had activated, which meant something had recognized her as the one now in charge of Tiara, whether it was the system, some gods, or her own subconscious reacting to her new position.
The skill that had activated was [Governance Mastery], and Lily had reached its evolution [Governance Mastery: Kingdom Regent] back when she had taken her official role as one of the leading princesses of the Xares Empire in the game.
She rubbed her temples for a moment before she looked back at the officials who stood nervously near the wall.
According to what they had told her, Tiara had around thirty thousand inhabitants. It was less than she had expected, but she had always been bad at estimating numbers like this anyway. More importantly, the city employed around three hundred and forty guards and soldiers. One percent of the population was considered a normal value for a peaceful trade city. Tiara was not a border city and had no monster problems, so there was no need for more stationed guards. The armies of the Kingdom of Burm were stationed near Burma in the south, far away from here. Tiara was also the capital of the northern duchy Valtiara, but to her luck, at least for today, the Duke who ruled the duchy had all his troops and soldiers stationed in his castles and did not live in Tiara, but in his estate far outside the city. And since the Church had no troops stationed in Tiara either, Lily now realized that she had most of the city’s guard under her control, or had knocked them out, or worse, during the confrontation.
But for taking over a city like Tiara, everything had gone surprisingly smoothly, even with a few casualties. Even though the casualties left her with a bitter taste again, she did not need to fool herself. She was living in a fantasy medieval world now, one that was essentially a complete knock-off of Xantia, a game that in hindsight had a very twisted morality. It had been an open-world sandbox where most of the so-called living beings were simply resources for players. There was no way she could hold on to her twenty-first-century Earth morality completely here.
Yes, she did not want to commit useless slaughter or genocides, or anything worse if such things were even possible. But now that she had taken over Tiara and gone as far as reviving an empire that had been forgotten for centuries, there was no room to hesitate every time she needed to choose violence. Wondering whether it was appropriate would only get her killed.
However, that did not solve her problem with the inner voice that pushed her in directions she did not want to follow. She knew it influenced her, and she did not like it. But there was no real time to deal with it now, so Lily forced the thought aside and turned back to the work in front of her with a sigh.
The moment the passive skill triggered, her to-do list had increased dramatically, because now she understood far more about what she needed to manage. She had to stabilize the guard, create a temporary chain of command, reorganize the markets, check the tax structure, and find out who was in charge of each district. She also needed to prepare for the possible reaction of the Church and the Kingdom, and she had to do it quickly.
One of the officials stepped closer and cleared his throat politely.
“Lady Nocturne, there are some nobles outside who wish to speak with you.”
Lily looked up from the papers, surprised. “Nobles?”
She had honestly expected the nobles of the Kingdom of Burm to flee the moment she declared Tiara part of a foreign empire. The fact that some had stayed was unexpected and a little suspicious.
“Yes, my lady,” the official said. “They say they want to speak with you about the future of Tiara.”
Lily paused for a moment and then nodded. “All right. Lead them in.”
The official opened the door. A small group entered, dressed in fine clothes that were slightly out of place after the chaos of the morning. Lily immediately recognized a few familiar faces from the Noble Connoisseurs. Gideon Vexley was among them, though of course he did not recognize her at all. She was not the elf he had met yesterday. Now she was a full Demon Princess in heavy armor, which made recognition impossible.
Oh, what is Gideon doing here? A collector never misses an opportunity, hm?
They approached her desk and all of them bowed deeply.
And Lily sighed inwardly. Well, nobles will always be nobles. Etiquette is probably their religion. At least someone finally reacts to a princess properly. It is somehow strange to see Gideon here when he does not recognize me…
Lily looked at them, waiting for them to do something.
And… they are still bowing…
Ok these people respect hierarchy a bit too much maybe. Let us go back into princess mode then.
She made a smooth, elegant gesture with her hand. “Rise.”
They rose in unison, watching her with a mixture of respect and uncertainty. She was technically, and also factually, the highest authority in Tiara at the moment, so she took the role seriously.
“I am Lilithia Nocturne,” she said, letting her voice carry a little more of the regal tone she had used outside. “True Princess of the Eternal Empire, Princess of the Abyss, Blood of the High Demons. I heard that you sought an audience. Since you have come to me directly, I am willing to hear you out.”
???
Tessa had seen the red moon first. At the beginning it had only been strange, because there was an actual moon hanging inside the inn lobby and it was the only thing that still had color. Everything else had gone gray and empty. She knew she should have looked away, especially when the three corpses on the floor began to twitch and twist into awful shapes, but her eyes stayed locked on the moon. Demonic undead meant nothing to her in that moment. They were not the moon, so her mind pushed them aside as unimportant.
And she felt that the moon looked back.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
At first it was only a strange sensation crawling up her spine, but then the entire inn vanished. She was suddenly alone, standing beneath a dark sky. The demoness was gone, the corpses were gone, even the walls of the inn had disappeared. Only the endless gray and the red moon remained above her.
Then an eye opened in the sky.
Then another.
And more.
Eyes with red pupils blinked awake across the heavens, all of them staring directly at her. Tessa should have felt terror. She knew she should have screamed or collapsed, but she felt nothing at all. Her mind drifted as if she were dreaming, watching herself stand there motionless, gazing upward while the sky gazed back.
Everything shifted. The world turned fuzzy, as if it was melting around her ears, and a terrible voice echoed inside her mind. It scraped against her thoughts like jagged metal, inside her head and outside of it, everywhere at once.
“Mortal child, bathed in the light of the Demon Moon. Your soul has been seen. The all-seeing Moon has marked you. Your essence has been judged and chosen to bear its gifts and its curse alike. The eternal Moon deems you worthy—be its herald upon this plane, and bring forth the balance long denied.”
Pain exploded through her.
It was indescribable, burning and freezing and crushing all at once. She screamed until her voice broke. She cried until she tasted blood in her mouth. Then, in the next heartbeat, she felt hunger. A deep, primal hunger that wiped everything else away. Her vision became red, pure red, pulsing and throbbing like a heartbeat she did not remember having.
When the color snapped back, she was no longer under the moon. She was in the inn again.
And there was someone in front of her.
She could not stop herself. She leapt forward, and her body moved like it belonged to something else. Her teeth sank into warm flesh. She tasted blood, sweet like honey, no sweeter than honey, perfect, wonderful. She drank and drank until she felt whole again. The hunger eased, her vision sharpened, and the world became clearer than she had ever seen it. Colors she never noticed before shimmered at the edges of her sight. Every sound, every breath, every heartbeat was vivid.
She looked down and saw a man lying on the floor. There was a gaping wound in his neck, still bleeding. He was not moving.
Something beside her spoke. “I see why the Princess wanted me to protect you. Congratulations. The god of the Demon Moon has noticed you.”
Tessa turned slowly. A demon crouched at her side. That was her first thought, though it did not frighten her. She felt no hostility from him, only curiosity. The words echoed strangely in her mind.
Princess.
She blinked. “Princess…?”
The demon cocked his head, examining her. “Our Princess Lilithia Nocturne, our master and the one who will care for us in the mortal realm.”
He sniffed at her as if checking something. Tessa felt the odd sensation of being inspected. She wondered if she should be afraid, but the emotion did not rise.
“You are also no mortal anymore,” he said with almost childlike excitement. “The god living inside the Demon Moon has gifted you a new life.”
Tessa froze. A new life? She tried to remember, but her thoughts slid around like wet stones. Who was she again? Tessa? Tessa who lived in… Tiara? Her head hurt. Her own memories felt distant and blurry. Her name came back first, then her job, then the lobby she had cleaned earlier.
And then she looked at the man on the floor again.
Her boss.
Memory hit her like a knife. “Oh Goddess, I killed my boss! I… I mean the superior officer in charge!” she screamed.
The demon stared at her, genuinely stunned. “But you needed food, and he was only a mortal…?”
Tessa ignored him completely. “What did… what… how… what… I ate him? What… oh freaking…” She looked down at her hands and saw long, sharp nails instead of her normal ones. Panic surged. She grabbed her face with those claws, feeling her skin, her cheekbones, the strange shape of her teeth. Her canines were sharp enough to cut her fingertips.
“What… how do I look…?”
“Much better than before,” the demon said proudly.
Before another wave of panic could rise, a sudden thought hit her. Something instinctive.
“Status,” she whispered.
A window opened in front of her eyes.
[Tessa Noze]
Race: Undead / Vampire
Level: 1
Alignment: [Evil]
Class: [Demon God’s Progenitor Vampire (Vampire Origin)]
Her heart almost stopped.
She had never seen a race appear in her status before, and why was she suddenly marked as evil? And why was her level suddenly level one? And her class… her class was so absurd she felt faint. She focused on it, and another window unfolded. While checking her class and staring at it, her face turned pale. She felt dizzy again, but not from the transformation. Not from the new instincts. Not from the hunger. She was dizzy because her life, her job, her everything had just been rewritten into something she did not understand.
And she had no idea what she was supposed to do next.
???
[Demon God’s Progenitor Vampire (Vampire Origin)]
Rarity: Unique
Class Type: Blood / Dominion / Corruption
Source: Granted only by the Demon God
You are not simply a vampire. You are the origin of all demonic vampirism.
Class Description:
The Demon God has rewritten your soul and infused your blood with its divine corruption. You are the First Fang, the Abyssal Bloodspring, the vampire from which all others will descend. You command blood, fear, darkness, and the demonic essence itself. All future vampires are bound to you by fate and soul. This class grows through feeding, dominion, and the spread of corruption. Bring balance back into the world and walk side by side with the champions of the Demon God.
Class Skills:
[Godblood Ancestry] (Passive)
Your blood carries divine demonic essence
- Immune to all vampire weaknesses
- Sunlight damage is replaced by minor discomfort
- Feeding regenerates instantly and empowers permanently
- Your blood can corrupt, heal, enslave, or transform
[Progenitor’s Dominion] (Passive)
Your presence enforces absolute authority over lesser beings
- All vampires cannot disobey
- Mortals suffer instinctive fear, awe, or devotion
- Thralls gain increased stats within your aura
- Bound kin grow stronger the longer they serve you
[Abyssal Hunger] (Passive)
Your feeding is both vampiric and divine
- Mortal blood grants temporary buffs
- Magical blood grants permanent stat increases
- Divine blood permanently strengthens your soul
- Demonic blood triggers evolution
[Abyssal Blood Frenzy] (Passive)
Your divine vampiric blood requires nourishment.
If you deny it for too long, the abyss within awakens.
Stages of Hunger
Stage I — Restless Blood (Minor)
After a moderate period without feeding:
? Irritability
? Reduced self-control
? Heightened senses
Still fully manageable.
Stage II — Fractured Will (Moderate)
After prolonged starvation:
? Intrusive hunger thoughts
? Difficulty focusing
? Minor aggression spikes
You remain conscious and aware, but struggle to restrain your instincts.
Stage III — Frenzy State (Severe)
If starvation continues:
? Predatory instincts take over
? Rationality weakens
? You may attack enemies or threats instinctively
Allies can restrain or calm you, although it is difficult. You still recognize familiar people, but cannot fully control your actions.
Stage IV — Abyssal Madness (Critical)
Reached only after extreme, dangerous levels of starvation.
At this point the Demon God’s corruption overwhelms your mind:
? Self-identity fractures
? Overwhelming bloodlust
? Sanity becomes unstable
? You risk losing conscious control entirely
This state is not permanent. Feeding or direct intervention can restore you, but the psychological scars remain.
???
Skill Evolution: [Governance Mastery]
[Governance Mastery: Hamlet Overseer]
Granted when a player owns a settlement.
Effects:
? Basic population overview (approximate numbers)
? Simple resource flow display
? Shows daily production (wood, food, ore)
? Minor decrease in village disorder
? Unlocks “Assign Worker Roles” menu
[Governance Mastery: Village Steward]
Requires village stability.
Effects:
? Exact population numbers
? Shows happiness, hunger, and morale
? Minor boost to settlement growth
? Alerts for attacks, fires, and crop failures
[Governance Mastery: Town Warden]
Unlocked once settlement reaches town size.
Effects:
? Town crime and unrest indicator
? Basic tax adjustment options
? Unlocks public projects (wells, roads, defenses)
? Reduces corruption chance in low-level officials
? Settlement produces +5% more resources
[Governance Mastery: City Administrator]
Unlocked when controlling a city (~10,000+ population).
Effects:
? District-level management
? Guard efficiency increased
? Precise trade flow data
? Prevents market collapse and famine
? Unlocks “Policy Edicts”
? +10% infrastructure construction speed
[Governance Mastery: Provincial Governor]
Requires controlling multiple cities or villages.
Effects:
? Territory-wide logistics interface
? Roads auto-optimize travel routes
? Rebels and criminal groups appear on the map
? Diplomatic modifiers with nearby regions
? +15% tax efficiency without lowering morale
[Governance Mastery: Kingdom Regent]
Unlocked with large-scale rule.
Effects:
? National resource balancing
? Army upkeep reduced
? Stabilizes new conquests
? Predicts uprisings weeks in advance
? Negates one random disaster per month
[Governance Mastery; Imperial Sovereign]
Unlocked when controlling a massive empire.
Effects:
? Empire overview (economy, unrest, magic activity)
? Auto-delegates competent NPC governors
? +25% productivity empire-wide
? Corruption purges itself over time
? Catastrophic threats immediately reported
? Unlocks “World Policy” menu