Chapter 75:

The blood-stained mask was slashed by the blade and flew to the ground amid a howling noise. The clashing of blades brought about brief but intense clangs, the fatal rhythm of life-and-death combat. The dawn’s sunlight was rising, the red dots of light radiating heat to herald the departure of the Night Mother. She took back her blessing with some regret, leaving those creatures that could only be active at night in a weakened predicament, while the scorching light turned into flames, beginning to ignite those creations that did not belong to the day nor favored by the light. Arthur felt like he was about to catch fire! Even though he was wearing armor that could withstand sunlight, the inherent repulsion and resistance to heat and light from the vampire tradition caused his every swing of the sword to lose power during this morning hour. In contrast, Maxim across from him, though covered in wounds, had not been defeated by the accumulated pain. Instead, emboldened by his opponent’s weakness, he began to rally his strength, pushing the battle to a counterattack climax. “Puff” The rapiers in both their hands, sharing the same stance, almost simultaneously pierced through each other’s armor, which was already riddled with holes. Maxim was forced to take a step back, clutching the fresh blood gushing from his chest. His body swayed, but the vampire opposite him fared worse. Not only was the sunlight burning through the cracks in his armor and scorching his skin, but the accumulation of spirit poison from being struck too many times by the poisoned blade had finally reached a threshold. Weakened by the sunlight, the vampire could no longer resist. He staggered backward, continuously spewing blackened fresh blood from his mouth. Arthur felt the powers of the night draining away, the shadow of failure growing ever thicker as Maxim raised his sword and advanced, enveloping him! Leaving him nowhere to go, sparking panic in his eyes. No! It shouldn’t be like this! Lord Jed had granted him true power! This monster before him was just an ordinary human, how could he be stronger? It’s not fair! “I betrayed everything for this! How dare you?” Arthur roared. He swung the rapier wildly and weakly, screaming hysterically: “I risked life and death for him so many times just to earn his attention and favor. I even sacrificed you, my brother who grew up with me, for this. You should be dead! Max! You were already dead, right? What appears before me now is just an unwilling ghost! That’s why I can’t beat you. I can’t possibly beat you, because you were already dead so how can you die again? You monster! Go to hell!” The vampire mustered his last strength to lunge at Maxim, his body already emitting wisps of smoke in the sunlight. But Maxim nimbly sidestepped with a shadow step, swung the rapier named Ambition and Dreams to disarm his opponent, then followed up with a kick that sent him crashing to the ground. “I am! Not a monster!” Maxim’s mask had been slashed open across his face and nose bridge, fresh blood covering his unnaturally pale skin. But his eyes burned with a fire. He loomed over and straddled his former brother’s waist, blade at the heart, roaring: “You! You’re the monster! I used to feel inferior about being different from you, feeling innately lowborn. But now I know! Being different from you is my uniqueness. To be like you would make me feel disgusted! You! Arthur, you’re just like those who mocked me! Drawing petty joys from others’ misfortunes to sustain your clinging to life amidst hardship, indulging shamelessly in that contemptible desire. You You! Are the real monsters!” “Poosh” The blade plunged down with the weight of a thousand pounds. Piercing through Arthur’s armor amid the mingling green and crimson light, slicing open his heart and embedding in the earth behind his back. The vampire’s struggling convulsed violently at this moment, then lost all strength as his mangled hand fell onto the ground. “Huff, huff” Severely wounded but having succeeded in taking down a vampire, Maxim panted heavily. At this moment, he felt all the forces sustaining his battle draining away. But conversely, it seemed a new power was continuously welling up from the hollowness of his body. He had crossed that threshold! The boundary between the ordinary and the transcendent realm, finally unleashing his hidden potential to sculpt a stair ascending from “mediocrity.” Maxim staggered to his feet, extracting his weapon and retreating a few steps while clutching his chest. He shakily took out a roll of bandages and medicine from his spirit bag, failing to notice that behind him, the “dead” Arthur had suddenly opened his eyes. As the smoke-emitting body struggled to rise, his crimson eyes grew ever more savage and bloodthirsty. “You fool!” He berated: “I am a vampire! I am the undying descendant! I am the creature that drinks fresh blood to live forever! You won, but you will die!” Maxim completely ignored him. Sorry, it was impossible before the Tomb Guard, famed in vampire society for dual mastery of physical and spirit arts. “You little bitch! Stop for me! This day shall be your deathday!” Jed roared with rage. A fire blazed in his heart. He had clearly planned everything, but fate did not favor him. Instead, it slapped him hard, telling him your plans are worthless, this world has its own ideas. This sense of his schemes collapsing from the start enraged Jed even more than the failure itself. But it didn’t matter. Weak teammates and foolish servants be damned! As long as he had the Desire Fragment in hand, he could still claim the inheritance by taking out Femis! Facing Jed’s insults and provocations, the young lady paid no heed. She simply continued evasively fleeing towards the depths of this ash-covered land while deflecting the energy blades flung behind her with even greater speed. This was not fleeing! The brave and ancient bloodline never flees! The young lady told herself as the arrogant enemy pressed his attack. This was all part of the plan! Indeed! All of this was part of Murphy’s plan. “Hmm?” At that moment, on the ashen grounds below, the old knight Finoch, casually riding a red warhorse through the silent ruins, looked up to see the young and old vampires darting across the city skyline like children playing hide-and-seek. The old knight pursed his lips, glancing at the two petrified Blood Vulture skulls hanging from his saddle, considering acquiring another worthy trophy from his hunt. Though already a Golden Rank veteran, this was Kadman City, the lair of the Blood Vulture, one of the seven major vampire clans. Slaying vampires here was naturally more commemorative than elsewhere. Old Finoch felt himself a two-hundred-plus year old genius at that moment, so he took a black oak seed from his saddlebag and aimed straight at the sky with one arm. “Forces of nature, heed my call! Blades of gale, answer my summons! Avalon, your great power shall manifest here!” He murmured a line. In the next instant, the oak seed’s spirit spell was triggered... The black vines rapidly bursting from the seed grew along the old knight’s fist, forming a gnarled green war bow with vines and blooming flowers in the blink of an eye. Finoch drew the bowstring, a green spirit arrow of pure nature energy appearing at his fingertips. As a top warrior of the old church, archery was a basic skill. “In my god’s name, descend!” As the old knight invoked the divine name, a faint mist rapidly enveloped the emerald bolt’s tip, which, after a brief aim, he loosed with his fingers. “Shiii” The spirit arrow shot skyward at far greater speed than any normal arrow, directly piercing at the young lady’s face. Femis barely dodged with a classic “leaf on the wind” evasive flying technique at the last possible moment. But the closely pursuing Jed was not so lucky. By the time he sensed the threat of the needlepoint arrow, it was already before his eyes, forcing Jed to desperately swing his sword in an attempt to cut it. But at the very moment he swung, the old knight on the ground snapped his fingers with a subtle smile. “Shaaaaa” The originally solitary green arrow instantly multiplied into seven identical spirit shafts filling Jed’s vision, then accelerated in a sudden second gust of wind to pierce straight through his body in an instant. Like a bursting blood sack, crimson whirling chaos. Too fast for even a Silver Rank vampire to react. This was no ordinary spirit spell This destructive power! This was divine magic! “Ahhh!!!” Agonized cries rang out over the ruins. Under the young lady’s stunned gaze, Jed, over half his wings torn away, spiraled down in a spray of blood like a bird with clipped wings, crashing into the somber ruins below. “BOOM” His body slammed into the ground, kicking up disheveled ash. But old Finoch wanted his head, so that arrow lacked true divine force, only inflicting grievous but not fatal wounds on the vampire. Though unable to fly, Jed could still stand. But then he heard footsteps approaching from behind. The battered Jed whipped around to see Murphy, holding the Blade of the Desire Clan and draped in a cloak, emerging elegantly from the shadows. His handsome face wore that trademark refined, dignified smile. Yet to Jed in this moment, that smile looked so evil and insane. “You! You actually collaborated with Witch Hunters to betray your own kind!” Jed clutched the green arrow piercing his chest, wrenching it out as the clan patriarch’s guard roared: “Murphy! You despicable traitor!” “Yes, I collaborated with Witch Hunters. I plan to bury you fools who barged nonsensically into my game. By vampire customs, I am indeed a traitor. This is not the first time I’ve done this either. I must say, witch hunters really are quite useful as blades to eliminate dissidents.” Murphy’s fingers gripped the hilt as the Desire Blade slowly left its sheath with a ringing sound. Giving Jed an even more elegant, dignified smile, he said: “What? You’re not satisfied? How about this, I’ll send you to the Night Mother, you can follow proper procedure to file a complaint against me, sound good?”