[The Angel Faction has requested to speak with Player Vlad Stoker! Do you accept? Y/N]

“The hell…is this?” Vlad muttered, unable to process what he was looking at.

Why was the Angel Faction, the very Faction that put Vlad and his friends in this situation, wanting to talk to him? However, after glancing at Lucy, the gears in his mind started to work overtime as he managed to put two and two together. And what he suspected only angered him more…

“Vlad, what’s going on?” Chloe called out to the vampire, bringing him out of his deep thoughts.

Glancing at his friends, he noticed how worried they looked, realizing that the ritual wasn’t activating yet. He took a moment to collect his thoughts before replying to them.

“You guys remember the Angel Faction that was responsible for adjusting the Quest?”

Hearing this, Chloe and Arthur stared at one another, their faces filled with confusion and shock. Turning back, Chloe spoke up.

“Yeah…why?” She hesitantly asked.

“Apparently, they want to talk to me…”

“What?!” Both players blurted out.

“Why the hell are those Angel guys trying to get in touch with you?” Chloe question. “Especially after they screwed around with our quest?”

“Vlad, I don’t think you should answer,” Arthur suggested. “We don’t know anything about the Factions right now. You’re basically going in blind.”

Arthur was right about Vlad not having enough information to go on with the Factions. Hell, he only theorized earlier that the Pantheon Faction were mythological gods like Zeus, Hades, etc due to the context clues Vlad received during his Fable Trials along with the Yggdrasil System being a main factor in it. Aside from that, he had no idea what the Factions were or what they were capable of.

There was also something else regarding the Angel Faction that bothered Vlad. For some reason, just staring at the panel that showed the Faction requesting to talk to him, filled the vampire with anger. He wasn’t sure why, but he couldn’t help but glare at the panel with a look of disgust and hatred.

However, he couldn’t let his emotions get the better of him. For one thing, he was on the clock, so he needed to make a decision fast, and he also couldn’t waste a lot of time with the angels or else he’d lose more time that way.

Vlad pondered for a single second, deciding whether to take the chance to talk to the Angels. If he did, maybe he could convince them to change the quest back to normal. However, when he thought about that, he immediately got rid of the thought, believing that those arrogant winged bastards wouldn’t do something like that. He then blinked at how he viewed the angels in such a way, surprised by his venomous tongue regarding them.

However, he also knew he needed to do something, and these angels were contacting him, so he should find out what they wanted.

“I’m answering them,” Vlad decided, prompting Chloe and Arthur to look at him in bewilderment. “They clearly want to talk about something, so let’s hear them out. Yes, I accept.”

After accepting the request, more panels appeared in response.

[Player Vlad Stoker has accepted the Angel Factions Request!]

[Initiating Chat Room Protocol!]

[Representative of the Faction for the Chat Room will be Administrator [Gabriel]!]

[The Chat Room is now available!]

Seeing the panels, Vlad then witnessed another large panel appear in front of him, the template looking like some kind of Chat Room window that Vlad would use on his computer. Looking closer, he saw the name that said [Gabriel], however, there were no messages next to his name, so the angel wasn’t talking.

Vlad stared at the panel with a confused look before speaking to the panel. “Hello…?”

[Gabriel: Do not perform that barbaric Ritual on Lucy West.]

The vampire was startled as he heard a chime noise along with a message from the angel Gabriel. He then paused while thinking about the name. Wasn’t Gabriel an Archangel from the Bible? If Vlad was correct, Gabriel was God’s messenger, which was a bit humorous considering that the archangel was messaging him right now.

However, after reading the message, the humor faded as a wave of anger came over him.

“Hate to break it to you, Gabe, but I don’t have much of a choice. It’s either using the barbaric ritual to save my friend or she dies along with the rest of us.”

Vlad could tell that the angel wasn’t one to mince his words. If anything, they were extremely rude and callous. Then again, they were angels, so that was no surprise. Vlad blinked after thinking about this. Why was he acting like he knew what these angels were like? This was his first meeting with the faction. And yet for some reason, he felt like he knew them better than most. And knew just how arrogant and prideful the winged bastards were.

The vampire shook his head, trying to get rid of those thoughts and continue the conversation, just in time for Gabriel to speak once more.

[Gabriel: The Ritual you are about to perform will corrupt Lucy West, and our Faction cannot let that happen.]

Vlad narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “And why the hell do you care about what happens to my friend? The hell are you angels playing at?”

[Gabriel: Lucy West is of Holy Origins. A being who is spiritually connected to Heaven and will be a huge asset to the Faction in the future. Corrupting her will ruin her purity and her future with Heaven.]

There it was again. That Holy Origins topic. The system said something similar when Vlad tried to use the ritual on Lucy. But what exactly did that mean? According to Gabriel, it seemed that Lucy played a role with the Angel Factions, but what kind of role?

“You mind telling me what this whole Holy Origins thing is about? Sounds pretty important if you guys are making contact with me.”

[Gabriel: It simply means that she is valuable to us, which is why corrupting her must not happen.]

That explanation was way too vague, and those angelic pricks knew that. Not letting his anger get the best of him, Vlad took a deep breath before continuing the conversation.

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“Well, like I said before, I don’t have much of a choice at the matter. Lucy is extremely weakened, and we need her to recover so my friends can get healed by her. And I wouldn’t be going through these measures if your damn Faction along with the Pantheon one didn’t fuck with the Quest. You kind of put me on the clock here, alright?”

If Vlad wasn’t desperate due to the timer, he could’ve come up with a different solution to help Lucy. But between the time they had left along with how severely injured his friends were, the vampire needed to do something or else his friends would die. And those angelic pricks knew that.

[Gabriel: You are a dangerous existence, Vlad Stoker. We don’t know how, but you have become part of a species that should not be here. The longer you continue to live, the more damage you will cause.]

So that was why they messed with the Monster Next Extermination Quest. It really was because of Vlad. He could feel a vein throb on his head, as his irritation got the better of him. These bastards knew how to annoy someone. Just talking with Gabriel was enough to make the vampire’s blood boil with rage.

“Well, thanks to your little plan to try and get rid of me, you also put Lucy in danger. Bravo!” Vlad mocked the angel with a series of claps like he was part of an audience that just witnessed a great performance.

Suddenly, the vampire felt his skin crawl as a wave of pressure came over him, nearly forcing him to his knees if he hadn’t resisted. He could tell that this pressure was the same one back when the Factions discovered him, but this kind of tension felt more…emotional. It was just him facing raw power but also a strong emotion. And that emotion was anger.

[Gabriel: Do not toy with us, abomination. You may be part of a dangerous race, but you are far from being at the level to mock us so freely.]

Instead of feeling afraid, Vlad felt elated more than anything else. Looked like he managed to get on their nerves to the point where they were dropping the pretense. A smile crept up Vlad’s face as he realized this.

“You can act high and mighty all you want, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re putting my friends at risk here, asshole. So unless you have something to offer me, I think I’m going to cancel the call…continue with my plan. Corruption or not.”

Making this declaration, the intense pressure that overwhelmed Vlad immediately vanished, relieving the vampire of the force placed upon him. After the force was gone, the angel spoke once more.

[Gabriel: Our faction is willing to give Lucy West sanctuary in exchange for not performing the ritual on her. That is our offer.]

Reading this, Vlad was immediately interested. If these angels were able to offer his friends sanctuary, they would be safe while Vlad tried to clear the monster next on his own. It would’ve been a daunting task, but it was definitely better than having his friends getting put in danger.

However, Vlad felt that something was off with the Angel’s offer. And after reading the message a second time, he realized the problem and his brows creased irritably.

“What about Chloe and Arthur? Aren’t they going to be offered Sanctuary as well?”

Although these angels gave Lucy the option of Sanctuary, it was obvious that Vlad’s other two friends were missing from the deal. And he couldn’t let that stand.

[Gabriel: The other two Players known as Chloe Cribbs and Arthur Wood are not of Holy Origins. Our Faction will not offer Sanctuary to lower life forms.]

“…Come again?” Vlad blurted out, his tone sounding cold and hostile, causing Chloe and Arthur to flinch out of fear.

[Gabriel: Our offer only applies to Lucy West. The other two are not our concern.]

Reading the message, Vlad slowly started to laugh, going from a light chuckle to a loud cackle like some psychopath. Arthur and Chloe couldn’t help but grow fearful of Vlad’s behavior, their bodies stiffened with fear as they watched the scene unfold.

“You know, you guys really need to refresh your memories regarding the concept of making deals. You see when you are negotiating, you make a deal that the other participants would want. And what I want, is for all my friends to receive sanctuary. Not just Lucy, but Chloe and Arthur as well.

“I don’t give a damn about them not being of Holy Origins. If you want Lucy, then you need to take Chloe and Arthur as well. Otherwise, you’re wasting my damn time with this. After all, I am currently trying to complete a quest you winged Pricks put me in!”

Once again, the intense force from before returned, bearing down on Vlad as if a massive car was pressed on top of him. This time, he couldn’t help but fall to his knees, as he struggled to resist the pressure.

“V-Vlad…!” Chloe and Arthur called out to the vampire in surprise.

[Gabriel: You have no right to speak to us that way, monster. If you continue to toy with us, we will take Lucy West by force.]

“T-the hell…you are!” Vlad snarled, resisting the overwhelming force thrust upon him. “You so much…as lay a finger on her…I will make you pay!”

Vlad knew that these angels couldn’t be trusted. Not just because they completely ignored Chloe and Arthur, but their obsession with Lucy. If Vlad actually made this deal with those winged bastards, he feared that they would do something to Lucy, and he wasn’t going to let his friend get involved with them. Not if he had anything to say about it.

[Gabriel: You are too much of a danger, and she is too important for us. Our Faction cannot afford to lose a potential Apostle!]

“Y-you…huh?”

While enduring the pressure, Vlad felt someone tug on his arm. Looking down, his eyes widened as he saw Lucy staring at with. She still looked dazed from the mana exhaustion, but her eyes somehow possessed a stern and firm aura to them.

“V-Vlad…” She spoke up. “I-I…trust you. Do…whatever you want.”

After saying this, the cleric passed out, laying back on the blood circle. Vlad stared at her for a few moments, processing her words.

It was clear that Lucy had faith in Vlad…and he knew what kind of faith he was talking about. She trusted her regarding the Blood Ritual and the corruption. Whatever was going to happen…She placed all of her trust in him. And Vlad was going to make it count.

“S-sorry, you winged pricks…but, I made my decision!”

[Gabriel: We will not allow this!]

“N-ngh?!” The pressure got even worse than before, practically making Vlad slam his body to the floor with a loud thud.

“Vlad!”

Both Chloe and Arthur got concerned, immediately standing up despite their injuries. As the pair rushed over to Vlad, he took one last look at the panel before getting rid of it.

“C-cancel the Chat Room! Now!”

[Cancelling Chat Room! Connection between Representative [Gabriel] and Vlad will now be severed!]

Despite Vlad canceling the Chat Room, the pressure he felt was still there. He hoped that getting rid of the chat room would do the trick, but that didn’t seem to be the case. However, he already knew how to stop that.

Vlad moved over to the blood circle and placed his hand on it. “A-activate the Ritual! Now!”

[Activating Healing Sacrifice Ritual will result in Corrupting the Target! Do you wish to-]

“Yes, dammit! Just do it!”

Starting up the Ritual, the blood circle started to glow even brighter than before, to the point where the entire floor was blinded by the crimson light. Vlad, Chloe, and Arthur couldn’t help but cover their eyes to shield them from the light.

As the circle glowed, crimson sparks erupted around Lucy, coursing around her as if she were surrounded by lightning rods. The crackles of electricity could be heard as they sparked all over the circle. Then, for a brief moment, red veins started to course over Lucy’s body, slowly engulfing her in red as the veins spread across her body.

A few moments went by as the ritual continued until the light from the blood circle started to fade along with the lighting and crimson veins on Lucy. Once everything was gone, all that remained was Lucy in the center of the blood circle.

Concerned, Chloe rushed over to Lucy first, trying to see if she could wake her up.

“L-Lucy? Are you okay?”

A moment later, Lucy opened her eyes slowly, her gaze panning over to Chloe who was next to her. “Chloe…?”

Chloe smiled, as she felt a wave of relief come over her. “Yeah, it’s me. H-how are you feeling?”

Lucy slowly stood up with the help of the brawler. “I feel…fine. At least, I don’t feel tired now.” She turned over to Vlad and Arthur, her expression somewhat blank. “Did whatever you guys were doing work?”

Vlad paused, hesitant about how to answer. The system said that the ritual would corrupt Lucy. Even the Angels feared this which was why they tried to trick Vlad into giving her sanctuary. And yet, nothing seemed all that different with their friend.

Could it be that the corruption didn’t take effect?

While pondering this, Vlad was startled as another panel appeared.

[The Angel Faction will not forget this act of damnation.]

The vampire grimaced at the message, realizing what he did to the Angels. But more than that, he realized that the corruption did happen to Lucy since the angels wouldn’t have acted like that if it failed. Which begged the question…just how exactly was Lucy corrupted?

Vlad pondered over the question while staring at his friend. And for a brief moment, he saw Lucy’s eyes flash crimson…like a vampire.

While staring at Lucy, the cleric herself noticed his nervous gaze and tilted her head in confusion. All the while, a part of Vlad started to feel anxious regarding Lucy’s future.