Inside the vampire hideout, Aaron and Isaac had gotten saved once again. The vampire hunter stood before them.

Isaac observed him. “Black skin, you must be a southerner. Only a few people in the world possess light magic, and they all come from the South Continent.”

The two most popular human races in this world were the southerners and the northerners. The southerners originated from the South Continent, whereas the northerners originated from the Central Continent. Aaron and Isaac were northerners.

Long ago, during the Ancient Times, in 143 B.C., humans began discovering other continents they had no idea existed. These two races spread all over the continents.

However, there weren’t as many southerners on the West Continent. It was because the northerners found the continent first and established their own colonies, coexisting with the West Continent’s natives.

As Isaac mentioned the South, old buried thoughts resurfaced deep within Ejiro’s memories.

“Um… mister Sani?” Aaron looked at him, confused by his expression.

Ejiro walked towards the cages in the hall while faking a smile. “Let’s go liberate these poor souls first.”

“Oh, okay,” Aaron and Isaac followed shortly after.

Arriving at the hall, the people behind bars hadn’t bowed as they had done earlier. They all seemed furious, looking at Ejiro with wrath.

“Traitor!” One of them screamed as he stood up in his cage. He was young and energetic despite his tragic appearance.

His clothes were ragged and dirty like all the others. The boy had two dark circles under his eyes and multiple bruises.

*Slash*

“W-why did you kill him?!” Isaac was shocked. The teen hadn’t done anything worth killing him over.

However, Ejiro had struck him with his greatsword. “His current state was already a good enough reason to kill him.”

The vampire hunter’s face remained blank.

Aaron had seen this look before, an empty face with a hint of disgust. It was the same face his younger brother had before slicing his throat.

Ejiro Sani warned them.

“They aren’t humans anymore. That vampire probably turned them himself.

“Once a vampire bites a human, that human turns into one of them. As a result, they have to abandon their regular life, and most of their mana pool will change into cursed mana.

“With this mana, they can use cursed magic, the third type of magic which gets neglected often because of its rarity and novelty.”

While speaking, Ejiro kept on killing the other ones, ghouls. “If the vampire that turned them wasn’t of high nobility, they’ll often become beasts such as these. We call them ghouls, pathetic and worthless creatures.”

Aaron and Isaac couldn’t quite understand. How could the ghouls’ death be justified like this?

However, this opened their eyes to a new way of thinking. Sure, they could have saved them, but how were the ghouls different from regular beasts? Would they take time to do so regardless?

They couldn’t deny this fact: Violence is often a much simpler solution than kindness, whether right or wrong.

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For their personal revenge, violence would be necessary, and pity only secondary.

If Aaron was determined, maybe he could change his brother for the better. ‘But at what cost?’

Aaron pushed those thoughts away. “During the second war against the Dark Faction, some groups of people from the DF became cursed and obtained unique abilities. One of them was the vampires. So the rumours of their survival were true?”

Ejiro laughed at his innocence. “If you’d asked me a few months ago, I wouldn’t have believed it. But yes, they are.”

“Huh.” Aaron abstained from the conversation and started looking around the dungeon.

“Why are you fighting them,” asked Isaac.

Ejiro appeared annoyed by his question. “Well, I made a mistake and was placed here a few months ago doing this ‘work’ until my master says I can go back.”

Isaac crossed his arms. “Who do you work for?”

“The DA. More precisely, the West Democratic Alliance. To be honest, I thought you guys were messengers at first.”

Isaac suddenly realized that he and Aaron hadn’t formally introduced themselves. “Oh, this is Aaron Amon, and I’m Isaac Tremblay. Nice to meet you.”

Aaron also greeted Ejiro from afar. He was running around with keys in his hand.

Ejiro felt that Isaac’s name sounded familiar. “Are you Henri Tremblay’s adoptive son?”

“Yes-”

“I found it!” Excited, Aaron called them over. “Guys, come look at this!”

Ejiro smiled. “Looks like I finally discovered something good!”

Disappointed, Aaron remarked, “Uh… no, I did. The vampire you killed had keys to a drawer which contained this map-”

“Nevermind, this is just a map of Hellish City.” Ejiro’s enthusiastic smile suddenly collapsed after glancing at the map.

Aaron Amon pointed at the circles drawn on the map. Trying to keep a straight face, he said, “No wonder you’ve been here for months. Please look closer. What are these tiny circles?”

The vampire hunter took the map in his hands, observing each circle, one by one. Some had gotten hatched. Others remained untouched.

“The ones hatched are the hideouts I’ve already been at! That must mean these two circles represent the remaining hideouts!”

Ejiro then proceeded to explain the situation. Different groups of vampires ruled each hideout, but they all worked under one princess, Gabriella Rivampe.

Ejiro assumed that one of the last hideouts was her main base.

“What's so important about this base?” asked Aaron.

Ejiro walked past him, going towards the stairs. “It’s not about the base itself. It’s about the source. I need to kill the source.”

His words gave Aaron chills down his spine.

Before he could say anything, Isaac assumed, “Which would be the Gabriella Rivampe?”

“Yes. Gabriella Rivampe is the only pure vampire left in the world. Pure vampires are the only ones who can turn humans into high vampires. Vampires can only turn humans into the vampiric rank below them, thus forming a fragile hierarchy.

“The reason vampires managed to survive was because of the pure vampires, who can reproduce with humans or vampires and make children with the same ability and rank as them.

“Arthea Rivampe, the princess’s mother, passed away recently. That’s why I need to kill the last one, Gabriella Rivampe.” As Ejiro spoke his last two sentences, he narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, walking up the stairs.

…

Somewhere else in Hellish City, high in the sky. There was a large throne room with gothic aesthetics. Light shone through the murals, reaching after the new queen and her throne.

“My liege, a report just came in,” said one of the subordinates. In a tall black robe, the high vampire with grey hair bowed before his liege.

He raised his head and followed, “The Vampire Hunter, he discovered another one of the hideouts!”

The young queen was bored. “So….?”

The subordinate smiled mischievously. “I believe we should start thinking of a proper countermeasure.”

“Is that what my mother would have done?”

“Y-yes, I believe so, my liege.”

“Fine, it’s time we hunt him down,” declared the new vampiric queen, Gabriella Rivampe, the last pure vampire.

She was a 14 years old girl with green eyes, pale skin and curly red hair. Although still mourning her mother’s death, it was now time to start playing her role as the queen.