Villain: The Play of Destiny

Monday, January 1st, 2046

Essra Space City, Red Desert, Luxaria, Netheria

A convoy of cars stopped outside the Spiral Tower of the beautiful futuristic town that had been officially declared a Modern Wonder of the world, and as soon as Keith stepped out, the men in black, who were the guards of the city, deeply bowed to him.

Since he had already been here before, he did not require a guide this time, and after the guards dispersed, he gave the ladies a tour around the Tower before leading them to the top floor to take a good look at the entire Space City.

"Mother is planning on making this place a Scientific Hub of the world, and some Governments are already showing their concerns about it." Qingyue could not help but speak about the news and rumours she had read and heard and gauged Keith's expressions.

"She is not planning it as she has already achieved it." He chuckled, making her eyes go wide in surprise. "And they are not wrong to be worried about it." He meaningfully said.

This was the place where some of the most genius scientific minds on Gaia were now gathered, and Venessa had secretly expanded her projects beyond just simple Aeronautical and Aero-Space research and manufacturing centre.

Earlier this year, Essra had sent the Next-Gen Intelligent Satellites and Space Drones into the atmosphere and beyond, and all of them were capable of hiding from any of the modern radars that the Governments around the world possessed. With this alone, she was already capable of spying anywhere on the planet, and there was nothing anyone could do about it even if they somehow found out that they had been spied upon.

If it was not enough, a Space Station was already under construction, and Venessa planned on creating one on the Moon's surface, and another on the Martian surface in the coming years.

Had Keith not known her, he too might have thought that Venessa was trying to take over the world and form her own Space Empire, but the truth was that she was doing all of it out of boredom and curiosity.

And of course, she had a goal too, and that was to excavate vital resources and ores from the Asteroids, including Gold that he was accumulating as much as possible to take with them to the Lower Heaven.

It was not a resource as valuable in Lower Heaven as it was on Gaia, but it was still a key component in most basic Magical Artifacts, and thus, it held some value.

Another interesting thing that Venessa had going on here in Essra was the research on the creation of Mutants, artificial Espers. And unlike other such projects being secretly conducted around the world, this one was showing some results but was still far from perfect.

"Brother, those men in black with red crescents on their chests are quite powerful." Ingvild suddenly commented on the people who were the guards of this Tower and City, and Keith could not help but smile.

Of course, she had noticed it. And so had Ingrid, but she had been here before with Kiara and already knew about these people.

"I am not surprised that you can tell that, dear Ingvild." He glanced at her. "All of them belong to very powerful Ancient Houses of Vampires. Two of the Strongest on Gaia that even Hades is not aware of." He saw how the light in her eyes dimmed a little at the mention of Hades, the man whom she no longer held any good feelings for. "These two Houses have been residing in Netheria for thousands of years, and they submitted to me a few years ago."

"You left them under Venessa's command?" Diana, who heard his words, narrowed her eyes.

As much as she loved her niece, who was like a daughter to her, she also realised how dangerous of a lady she was. Her methods were cruel and unforgiving, and they even terrified her at times.

Even she, who knew most of the secrets of the country, did not know who these people were until now. And when they were hired by Essra years ago, she was still the Deputy Governor General of this country.

They had all assumed that they were the same as the rest of the people who were hired, who belonged to the Underworld and were recruited after thorough and rigorous investigation.

"I did not tell them to do anything." He shrugged. "They decided to approach her when I left for my Military Training, and she hired them."

"Of course, she did." The old lady sighed. "Well, not my headache anymore." She shrugged, and he could not help but chuckle at her words.

She may care for the country a lot, having served it for decades, but even then, nothing surpassed her family in her heart. She would never divulge the information she just learned to anyone, and nor did she pry into the matter.

When they all reached the top floor, and the door of the lift opened, the girls who had not been there before all gasped in surprise at the wonder of a city that could be seen in its entirety from this height.

Amira and Reina ran up to the glassed walls and laughed as they took the sight in, and seeing their reaction, Kiara giggled a little.

Keith somehow knew that she was amused at the thought of how the twins would react if they saw their Palace inside Aerzaar.

"Keith!" They all heard a cheerful voice and then watched Celine enter the hallway, brisking over to them. And funnily enough, she passed right by her daughter and hugged him first, which made Qingyue narrow her eyes at her.

"Oh, sorry, I did not see my Yue." The grey-eyed lady mischievously said as she finally hugged her daughter, and then greeted Diana before greeting everyone else.

Everyone in the Family, including Diana and Raizer knew by now what kind of a relationship she shared with Keith, but she was still very mindful of being intimate with him like a lover when Qingyue or his grandparents were around.

"Nessa is busy today, and she will be back in the evening. Ginara and Sibyl are with her." She informed them. "I stayed back to give you all a tour around the city. But first, we will have our lunch!"

"You made it?" Qingyue hopefully asked and smiled when Celine nodded her head. "Come."

When they arrived inside the dining room, they all could not help but smile at the feast that awaited them.

She must have spent the entire morning preparing everything, and they all made sure to graciously thank her for it. And they all meant their words as the meal was finger-licking delicious.

Keith then excused himself to his room, citing that he needed a nap, and Celine was quite blunt about how he was being lazy. However, she did not insist that he came with them since he had already visited this place a few months back and was well acquainted with it. But she did pout when Ingrid asked to stay back as well.

Since the Carmilla Princess did not give them any reason, they all assumed that she wanted to spend time with Keith, so they let her stay back and left to look around the City.

"Come." Keith gently said to Ingrid after the ladies left, taking Yingying with them, and the girl with auburn hair blushed as she obediently followed him to his room.

She did indeed want to spend time with him, and, in fact, she terribly needed him.

As soon as they entered the room, Keith picked her up and twirled with her, making her giggle and then he took her to the bed, where he made her sit in his lap, wrapping her arms and legs around him.

She knew she had his permission, and so she planted a kiss on his neck before she sank her sharp fangs into his skin, almost moaning at the taste of his blood.

Her body trembled a lot, even after she retracted her fangs, and Keith hugged her tightly to help her settle down.

Like before, she did not immediately faint, but she was still in a very dazed state with sleep whispering in her ears. And so, he gently lay her down by his side and then hugged her to sleep as he drifted away to his dreamland.

When the girls returned in the evening and checked on them, they did not have the heart to wake them up seeing how peacefully asleep they were.

And Venessa forbade them from waking them as well when she returned to the tower.

When the two finally woke up, it was well past dinnertime, and everyone else had already had their meal.

They found the ladies sitting in the main lounge, and Keith walked straight to Venessa to hug her tightly.

"What's going on with you?" She asked, and he guessed that either Amira or Reina must have said something about him being a little too sleepy in the last couple of days.

"Everything is fine," He informed her and then hugged Sibyl before sitting down by Venessa's side.

Ginara left right after she greeted him, returning minutes later with his and Ingrid's meal.

"The launch has been delayed by a week." Kiara happily informed him, and he knew what she meant.

They would now have to stay here for at least a week, and Keith nodded to her, much to everyone's glee.

"Brother, can we go to the Moon on the next launch in September?" Reina suddenly asked, and Amira continued with her words. "Mother told us that it would be very safe." And then they both expectantly looked at him.

"Wait until we have built our station there. I will take you with me when I visit it." Venessa told them. "It will be somewhere around the end of next year."

"Thank you!" They were not dissatisfied that they would have to wait, as they were going to get their sudden wish to visit the moon and experience the Space fulfilled.

The chat soon turned to what everyone believed about Aliens and if they existed somewhere in their Solar System or outside, and when they asked if he knew anything about it, he smiled.

"There's no one out there." He told them, much to their surprise, and then explained to them why it was the case. "This world exists in an isolated Realm, and though there may be thousands or even millions of worlds similar to ours, we would never be able to reach them through Space Travel. Space is a maze. However, there exist some planets where life can thrive, and if humans reach them at some point in time, they can settle there."

Keith was very knowledgeable about the subject and knew a lot more than what he told them. But those other things were secrets that were better left unsaid for now.