"Only by merging our consciousness can we survive. Do you understand, kid? It’s us!”

The voice echoed, and Shino’s eyes snapped open. Before him stretched a dark, stagnant pool, a glassy surface reflecting the shadowed sky above. He stood upon it, and opposite him, across the bleak expanse, stood Faerûn Baji, his gaze steady and piercing.

“Do you really want to die?”

“No.”

“Then listen to me,” Faerûn continued, his voice a whisper of steel. “Hand everything over to me. Together, we’ll take vengeance on the one who tricked you—Lilith!”

Shino met Faerûn’s eyes, resolute. “Lilith? She saved me twice. I owe her my life for that, so I’m still in her debt.”

“But if I have a choice, I don’t want to die.”

Faerûn chuckled. “And if you let me consume you, you won’t. I’m dead; you’ll still be you. Just with a few more memories and thoughts added in.”

“I won’t replace you, and I can’t replace you. Believe me, there’s nothing bad about this.”

Shino studied Faerûn’s expression. “Do you even know what it means to accept someone’s memories and thoughts?”

“It may look like a simple merging, but in truth, it’s a transformation. More than half of who we are comes from our memories. A child raised in a twisted family grows twisted. Add a child’s memories of a loving family to that, and they’re reborn, changed. They’re no longer themselves.”

Faerûn raised an eyebrow, unperturbed. “Perhaps, but what’s wrong with that? Knowledge, experience—these things only make you stronger, more complete.”

Shino’s gaze sharpened. “There’s an ancient saying: ‘Bend to survive, circle to go straight; hollows to fill, the ancient to create the new; take less to gain more; greed is a temptation.’”

Faerûn laughed. “The ancients were wise.”

“Yet I agree most with the first two lines,” Shino continued. “Right now, yielding may serve me best.”

He held up a single finger, eyes unwavering. “That goes for you, too.”

Faerûn’s brow furrowed. “Do you think you’re stronger than me?”

In a flash, Shino was before Faerûn, his hand clamping around Faerûn’s throat. “When we were running together, few lasted as long as I did.”

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“Unless they had bodies stronger than mine, they wouldn’t know to take even one more step. But I know how.”

Faerûn’s eyes narrowed, fury igniting within them as the two consciousnesses clashed, beginning to devour each other.

...

As ripples spread across the stagnant surface, Faerûn Baji’s form gradually sank into the murky depths of the pool.

“What you’re doing is sealing away the slim chance of survival Lilith spoke of,” Faerûn’s voice echoed, fading. “You’re going to die. You will die!”

“Shino!”

With a final splash, Faerûn’s form vanished. The consciousness battle was over; Shino had won. He looked down at the darkened pool, where a faint gleam of light drifted into the encroaching shadows. "This,” he murmured, “is not the hope Lilith meant."

“The Blood Moon... that is the true path to survival.”

A warm breeze swept over him, dispelling the darkness, and Shino’s eyes flew open. Above him, the blood-red moon hung heavy in the sky, casting its eerie glow. With it came Faerûn’s memories, his abilities—yet only Shino’s consciousness remained.

Through Faerûn’s memories, Shino finally understood the grim truth of vampire consumption. Ingesting another’s blood instigated a brutal clash between consciousnesses, a clash that could obliterate the body. Normally, vampires avoided the battle, causing their bodies to rot in a twisted phenomenon known as blood corruption.

But the Blood Moon had offered him a loophole. It sustained his body no matter how violently their wills collided. In defeating Faerûn’s consciousness, Shino not only staved off blood corruption but could now ascend to royal status.

And if he’d lost?

Neither he, Lilith, nor Faerûn knew. No vampire had ever faced this exact choice. But even the mystery seemed preferable to Faerûn’s resurgence.

Shino lifted his gaze. Overhead, the city skies were aflame with battle. The vampires converged like storm-driven crows, clashing against a hundred-winged angel and a towering vampire. The magnitude of their struggle was devastating, buildings crumbling beneath them.

“It must be... the True Ancestor.”

Without joining the fray, Shino pulled up his hood, slipping into the city’s labyrinthine alleys. Whatever Lilith and the vampires fought over was no longer his concern. This whole ordeal had been an unwelcome collision with vampire society, and he had no desire to remain entangled.

He took out his phone, dialing a familiar number.

“Mom, I’ll be home in two days.”

“Good, hurry back,” her voice replied. “It’s too dangerous out there. Home is safer!”

...

Boom!

The angel gripped the True Ancestor’s head and hurled him into a skyscraper, which crumbled around him in a thunderous cascade of steel and glass. She swooped down and crushed his head beneath her heel.

In retaliation, his body sprayed blood, each drop a deadly spear that pierced toward her heart. Yet, a fierce flame erupted from her chest, incinerating the blood before it could touch her. She spun, landing a powerful kick that sent the True Ancestor hurtling through concrete walls until he struck a car, crumpling it on impact.

The True Ancestor’s shattered form knit itself together, his limbs stretching as he rose, unscathed.

“This is infuriating,” the angel muttered, realizing the stalemate. Her powers negated his blood, but the Blood Moon made him immortal.

Their clash tore the city to shreds, yet neither seemed closer to victory.

Elsewhere, Naira Sorkin and the others battled the vampires with relentless effort. Fan Ye, frantically casting spells, was barely keeping them at bay, only able to lull a few into sleep at a time. As soon as one vampire succumbed, another woke, the cycle spinning endlessly.

“It’s not enough,” he panted, nearly at his limit. “This can’t go on.”

Fan Ye’s brow furrowed in determination. “We need to break this deadlock somehow!”