A loyal Worshiper

Many people in the city covered by clouds had the potential to become a spiritualist, which was a term the vampires use to describe a human who can interact with the spiritual energy present in nature and use it to perform supernatural feats.

Spiritualists had a total of 7 grades. It started from grade-5, which was the worst, and continued until Grade-0. The seventh grade was known as the Supreme grade.

Grade-5 to Grade-3 spiritualists were limited to absorbing the spiritual energy present in nature into their spiritual energy, and that's why they could only use their spiritual energy to manifest weapons and special attacks made out of spiritual energy. They were, therefore, called spiritual manifestation masters.

Above Grade-3 began the true path to power!

Every spiritualist above grade-3 had a spiritual mark on their spiritual core that allowed them to use superpowers and the common people knew them as Mystics.

Mystics, ah, they were able to command the wind and clouds, change their body shapes into that of beasts, and even go as far as to rain down Hell's fire or rain down meteorites on their enemies.

"No spiritual energy!"

Seeing his results, Lord Sebastian felt devastated.

Even though he knew his spiritual core was deteriorating for inexplicable reasons that even famous healers had no understanding of, much less a solution, he was still shocked to find out that he now didn't even have a single unit of spiritual energy in his body. Didn't that directly indicate that he now lacked a spiritual core?!

Fate was too unfair to him!

Sorrow flooded his reddened eyes while resentment and negativity surged into his heart.

What did he do so wrong that God took everything away from him, his parents, his spiritual mark, his talent, his spiritual energy capacity, and now even his spiritual core??!

Without a spiritual core, he couldn't even interact with spiritual energy, let alone become a well-known spiritualist, which was his dream.

Now, there was no chance for him to accumulate strength, fame, or fight against the evil spirits of the spirit and ghost realms. Even training day and night would result in a futile and tasteless outcome. A human can not use his physical body to harm the worst enemies of humanity!

Without spiritual energy, it was impossible to fight the spirits!!

"Y-you don't have any spiritual energy! It means you lack a spiritual core and have no talent as a spiritualist. As bitter as this sounds, it's true nonetheless. I hope you can take it." Inspector Daniel nearly choked while saying those words.

Without spiritual energy, a person can not even hurt evil spirits, creatures that escape from the spirit realm and come to the human world to kill and consume humans.

Daniel never believed that a lion father could beget a dog son, but since the evidence was right before him, he had no choice but to believe in these words.

The fact that Lord Sebastian didn't even have a spiritual core came as a pleasant smile to some of his enemies hidden in the dark and in plain sight.

After the initial shock, they didn't waste a single more before degrading him and assaulting him with their words.

"Looks like the rumors are true. Lord Sebastian, who the people hailed as a genius because he purified his spiritual core ten times and also condensed a spiritual mark on it before he was even thirteen, is now no more! Fellow, he had done the most stupidest thing in history. He carelessly shattered his spiritual core, lost his spiritual mark, and became a Hollow. What a stupid guy!" said Hayden, a fraternal cousin of Lord Sebastian.

Hayden Craig had always disliked Lord Sebastian because his presence made him feel inferior, so he didn't waste this chance and taunted him at the top of his lungs.

Hollow was a derogatory term that spiritualist used to call out those who lacked a spiritual core which was something that allowed a person to interact with the spiritual energy.

"A Hollow? Are you joking with me, or are you honestly blind?" Jake Craig, who was in his twenties, said to Hayden, who still had baby fat on his face.

Hayden blinked at him, confused, and asked, "Huh? Elder cousin, why are you being mean to me again?"

Didn't they both dislike Sebastian? Why were they running their sword-like tongue against each other when they should use it to cut only Sebastian!

"Sigh, God gave you eyes; why don't you use them? Can't you notice those dark circles under Sebastian's eyes, the yellow mixing with his pale skin, his unstable steps, or his ragged breathing? He is ill, so sick that even a Hollow would be physically better than him. At least a Hollow can pick up weight like a donkey and run if they encounter an evil spirit, but our dear lord can't even do that! He is more useless than even a donkey, haha!"

Jake hated Sebastian; one could tell it from his words.

His hate wasn't without reason. One time he tried to force himself on a person he found beautiful, but Lord Sebastian found him and beat the crap out of him. Ever since that day, he hated him and wanted to take his revenge. But even though the other had lost his strength, he was still above him in the hierarchy.

Jake Craig knew that making a move on Lord Sebastian would mean losing everything he has right now.

Of course, that didn't mean he had given up.

He was just waiting patiently.

He knew that soon Lord Sebastian would lose his status and get deported to a waste planet far away from Earth.

Once that happens, paying an intergalactic assassin to get rid of him would solve the matter of taking his revenge.

"I was wondering why he was wearing a fur cloak over his thick clothes when it is not even that cold. I now understand that it is because he can't stand the cold without them. After all, his body is too frail like a precise porcelain vase." One of Lord Sebastian's many cousins joined in on the fun, which was taunting him to the utmost and see if they could make his heart bleed, make his eyes shed fresh tears.

"I never knew that there existed an illness that made men weaker than females."

"It is God's curse, I say! He must have done something immoral to attract God's ire!"

"Your words seem true." One of them stood up with a laugh, pointed at Lord Sebastian, specifically at his brain, and continued, "There are such stupid-looking leaves stuck in his hair and popping out of his clothes, yet he is still not removing them. Isn't that because he is ill in that department too."

"Youngest Craig, What are you trying to say?"

"God had also taken away his intelligence."

"Hahaha!"

Everyone started laughing as if her words were the greatest joke of the night.

Under the jeers and taunting laugher assaulting his ears from all sides, the rim of his eyes turned red for a few moments before they started twitching. Whether it was because of immense sadness at getting backstabbed or anger at getting ridiculed, no one knew.

One thing was clear as day; Lord Sebastian felt bitter at their behavior.

"The words of people old are true indeed; a man sees the truth of his relatives when he is no longer helpful to them or worthy of their admiration. The people, who used to crowd around me when I was a talented youth and wanted to befriend me, are the very ones kicking me when I am down."

When had he ever treated them wrong?

Yet, even in front of an outsider, they didn't hesitate to make fun of him.

Was this how they should behave as his family?

Their behavior made him wonder whether they were his enemies or blood relatives!

"Enough! Don't laugh at the misfortune of others."

The one who spoke was Victoria Twilight, Sebastian's little dumpling, the one who he dotted on the most. He liked her because she was the best sister any brother could ask for in this universe. She wasn't pretentious, obedient, and loved to accompany him whenever she had free time. She was his little dumpling, and he trusted her a lot!

Victoria also had a lot of good things to say about Lord Sebastian.

Victoria, who the parents of Sebastian had kindly adopted into the family without changing her surname, loved being around him as he treated her with respect and kindness, protected her from bullies, and never made fun of her for being an orphan or an ugly monster. Her brother was the total opposite of her cousins, who disdained her because of her face and bullied her by using harsh words.

Because of all the good things Lord Sebastian had done for her, she liked him a lot!

No!

She worshiped him like a god!

She didn't want to hear or see others ridiculing her idol, her lord, who was also the person she worshiped the most!

In her eyes, Sebastian of the past, who was shining so bright that it was hard for her to look at him in the eyes, was no different than the sullen youth of today.

That's to say, her feelings for him hadn't changed.

No!

In truth, there was a hard to describe change!

Her feelings for him had grown stronger than four years ago.

One could compare their relation to Earth and the sun; she was the earth revolving around Lord Sebastian, who was the sun. And she wanted to do that forever and ever.