New York, high above the streets inside a towering skyscraper.

Faerûn stood by the window, gazing at the city below. Without turning, he sensed a presence behind him and saw her reflection.

“Lilith, coming here now isn’t the wisest choice.”

Lilith’s laughter was light and cold. “Oh, I’m not one for grudges, Faerûn. I prefer settling scores while they’re still fresh.”

“If it fails, it’s a lesson learned,” she added, eyes glinting.

Faerûn turned slowly. Outside the window, a host of vampires gathered, ready to strike. “The True Ancestor’s appointment is tonight. Only three hours left.”

Lilith lifted her hand with a smile. “Three hours is plenty of time to kill you.”

With her signal, the vampires smashed through the glass and swarmed into the room.

Faerûn turned his gaze toward Shino. “Killing so many vampires—quite the talent to waste following Lilith. Why not come to my side?”

Lilith’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “You think everyone—”

“Alright,” Shino interrupted, moving toward Faerûn.

Lilith blinked, thrown off guard. “Wait… what are you doing?”

Faerûn smirked. “See, Lilith? Not everyone is as foolish as you are.”

Yet, as Faerûn relaxed, Shino lunged, morphing his blood into a blade and striking Faerûn’s neck. But Faerûn whirled around, catching Shino’s wrist in a vice grip.

“Not as foolish as you think,” he sneered.

Shino gritted his teeth as the blood blade transformed into a thin thread, shooting toward Faerûn. “Coagulate Blood into Threads?”

“Impressive. I see how you killed Podor and the others,” Faerûn murmured, unbothered. Shino’s blood thread veered off as if it had lost all control.

Faerûn threw Shino backward with a powerful kick to the stomach.

With a crash, Shino smashed through the wall, flung out into open air.

Lilith acted instantly, charging at Faerûn as their factions erupted in a storm of battle. As Shino tumbled, a wave of enemy vampires turned toward him, but he managed to fend them off with his blood-thread technique. In the next instant, Lilith’s allies surged to his side.

“Need some backup?” came a gruff voice. A muscular, bald vampire punched a vampire’s skull into fragments with brutal ease.

“You are…?” Shino asked.

The vampire flashed a broad grin. “Saudi. Another one of Lilith’s dukes, like you.”

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Shino gave a half-smile, amused at the thought that Lilith had an entire team of dukes at her disposal. As he looked skyward, he saw the clash above: Lilith and Faerûn, both royal vampires with control over blood that far surpassed the dukes'.

Their blood threads slithered like vipers, each thread moving precisely as commanded, a level of manipulation only royal vampires could achieve. From his encounter with Faerûn, Shino could sense the vast gap between himself and a royal—Faerûn could even partly control Shino’s blood.

He recalled the chilling moment when he nearly lost command of his own veins.

“Only a royal can fight a royal,” Shino muttered, then steeled himself, blood threads slicing forward as he charged into the fray.

...

Meanwhile, Naira Sorkin stood poised, a bubble of chewing gum perched between his lips, as he surveyed the unfolding chaos through binoculars.

“Two royals,” he murmured.

“Where’s the True Ancestor?” one of his companions inquired.

“The True Ancestor still hasn’t moved.”

“Seven days,” another added, his tone heavy with concern. “It’s been seven full days since the last time the True Ancestor appeared and fought the angel.”

“Could he have left New York?” the first voice pondered.

Naira sighed, unable to provide a clear answer. “Hard to say…”

Just then, a youthful voice chimed in from behind him. “I think he probably hasn’t left.”

Startled, Naira turned to find a white-haired young man standing silently nearby. One of his eyes glowed red, emanating a chilling aura that sent a shiver down Naira’s spine. A vampire, without a doubt.

Naira pulled out his phone and scrutinized a photo, his body suddenly aglow with a purple light.

“Target located!” he announced. “008, the True Ancestor, in his young form!”

As the words left his lips, the purple light shot toward the young vampire.

The True Ancestor lifted off the ground, inspecting his hands with a curious expression. “Interesting. Is this your ability?”

Naira popped his bubble. “If I can lift him, I will. If I can’t, then I can’t.”

His excitement surged. This was a chance; angels and Celestial Beasts were far beyond his strength!

“Or perhaps we can negotiate? Come with us, and you’ll be unharmed.”

The True Ancestor shook his head, his demeanor calm. “No, it’s not time for me to leave. If it were, I would’ve gone already.”

Naira’s eyes flickered with irritation. “Then I’ll send you off.”

With that, he exerted a sudden force against the True Ancestor, pushing him away. The vampire was launched into the air but stopped abruptly, defying the laws of physics. Naira’s excitement turned to bewilderment as he pressed harder, but it was like trying to budge an immovable mountain.

“Okay, it’s over.”

“Everyone!” Naira called out, summoning his companions. The two elderly men dashed toward the True Ancestor, one from each side.

Swordsmith leapt into the air, wielding the Blood Flesh greatsword. The True Ancestor clapped his hands together, preparing to reverse his blood flow and self-destruct, but the old man remained untouched.

The Blood Flesh greatsword swung down, but the True Ancestor leaned aside, his gaze honing in on the necklace that adorned Swordsmith’s neck.

“Mithril necklace?” he mused. The vampire had warned him of its properties—a magnetic field capable of blocking his blood manipulation.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, a bullet hurtling toward the True Ancestor.

He casually extended his hand and caught the bullet, yet black smoke erupted from his palm as the bullet detonated with a second explosion. The True Ancestor, reacting swiftly, severed his own arm to escape the blast.

In an instant, he regrew a new arm.

“Mithril bullets?” he observed, impressed. These humans had come prepared.

But if this was all they had, it would hardly be enough.

With a dramatic flourish, the True Ancestor spread his arms wide, his blood morphing into hundreds of thousands of sharp, thorn-like projectiles that stabbed downward toward the earth.

Bing, bing, bing, bing!

The cacophony echoed as the blood thorns pierced through buildings, causing skyscrapers to crumble under the assault.

Naira quickly utilized his ability to restrain the two old men, knowing full well that they were mere mortals. One hit from those thorns would bury them alive.

“Nightmare!” he shouted, urgency lacing his tone.