As the sun fell down from its high throne in the skies, the moon once again showed itself, chasing the running sun.
Under these mighty celestial bodies, two figures streaked through the skies at unimaginable speeds.
Sporting wings easily over 30 meters long, these two figures cast a shadow over darkness itself.
Naturally, they were vampires. However, unlike normal vampires, these two seemed to carry an aura of rage. Their bodies would tremble every now and then, and they would also grit their teeth.
After arriving on top of a certain city next to a mountain, these two vampires decided to land. All beings, be it humans, beastkins or elves, they all fled screaming at the sight of these two figures.
A man slightly more courageous than the others thought it was a good idea to take out his sword and try to attack the two vampires. However, those two didn't even bother with him.
"Fuck off, we're in a bad mood right now..." One of the vampires said. His words seemed to carry power as the man's pants were suddenly filled with liquid. Screaming, he instantly ran away.
After the area was cleared, the two men paved a path of devastation as they headed towards a prohibited area. Some policemen and guards tried to stop them, however, they were all either scared away or died a horrible death.
To these men's eyes, no matter how many you kill, humans would always, always come back. Hence, they did not hold back nor did they really care about the consequences of killing these men. After all, the kingdom would never dare to offend them for the sake of a couple commoners.
Kingdoms. This was a word hated by every vampire. In their eyes, it was a useless thing made by weak beings that could not even manage themselves. However, for humans, the kingdom was their blood and bones.
There were around 5 kingdoms in the continent, with several dozen independent duchies and even more independent counties. However, all of them generally obeyed the king of one the kingdoms.
This king was normally just another normal king, however, he held absolute power during times of conflict, like when the Demon King would decide that he needed to wage a war against the humans or, for example, when the Blood Monarch appeared and destroyed everything in his path with his vampire companions and the demon army at his command. That time had been the closest the humans had ever gotten to extinction, and it was also the reason why vampires and humans held a blood-feud only resolvable by genocide.
However, the biggest blood feud of them all was the demons and humans. These races were like fire and water, they simply would never go well together.
For this, humans had allied themselves with elves and beastkin whilst the demons, although less scheming and shameless than humans, they too roped in their own allies.
These allies mainly consisted of the beastmen, which if you confuse for beastkins, but they will eat your guts. Also, the orcs too had recently become allies when the daughter of the current demon lord had married the Orc Emperor Saladin.
However, the biggest ally of the demons would definitely be the vampires. It is not unheard of for vampires and demons to have children, however, they would always be demons, not vampires.
Although vampires did not condemn this, they still were somewhat reluctant to see their own few members of the species get taken away like this. However, no one ever said anything due to an old law that the Blood Monarch had instilled.
It read: 'All demons are allies of vampires. As long as even a single humans remain alive and even after, we vampires pledge to keep our promise and forever remain friends of the demons. Hence, vampires will never take voluntary actions against the demon tribes.'
For this reason, vampires had for as long as everyone can remember, remained loyal allies of the demons. Although they didn't obey their orders, they would often agree to small requests from the demon lords.
However, right now, even if the entire demon race was to stand to stop them, these two vampires would not show any mercy. Their scleras were completely black, and after they arrived in the middle of an abandoned street covered by debris and filled with destruction, their pupils shrank.
"This smell... there's no mistaking it, it's the smell of a vampire's heart! Did Leon and Laura truly commit suicide!?" One of the vampires roared, his already red eyes turning even more bloodshot.
"... Those two were smart kids, there's no way they were tricked into doing it... however, why? Why did they do it?" One of the vampires murmured.
They had rushed here after disturbing news spread through the human nations. A mighty rising star, the rank S adventurer Daughter of Ice had slain not one, but two vampires! News of her glorious victory was like a slap in the face to all vampires, and the council had immediately sent out these two old monsters to confirm the news.
"We need more information... This smell... It's as strong as that of Leon and Laura, there is also another... Another pureblood was here? However, it already left... but... there is the smell of a servant still lingering..." The more composed vampire said as the other vampire clenched his hands hard enough to draw blood.
The reason? Leon was his own son! He had sent him here along with his wife because it was a relatively poor and newly-established city. The main reason behind this was so that they could train smoothly and learn how to hunt.
Never did he think that his son would be hunted down! If he knew beforehand, he would have never let him leave the vampire capital, Noctem.
Yes, vampires do have their own city. There, the Council constantly argues and decides on what to do, for example, whether elven blood is tastier than human blood or whether to hold a feast at 6 pm is better than holding it 7 pm. Yes, really important matters.
However, jokes aside, now that a real startling news had reached them, the council was silent, waiting for these two to report back. Based on their reports, they would act accordingly.
They would naturally never take this lying down. They would instantly demand the culprit to be handed over and then torture him or her for the rest of eternity, constantly in excruciating pain.
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Suddenly, the two vampire's eyes fixed on a large figure walking towards them. This figure was, in fact, the fat man that had talked with Leon before his demise, and his face was extremely pale.
When the two vampires saw the fat man, their eyes narrowed. The calmer vampire instantly appeared in front of him, and before he could speak, he shoved his hand into his head, piercing his skull and directly entering his brain.
After a couple minutes, the calm vampire slowly retracted his hand, letting the corpse fall to the ground. However, the trembling in his whole body betrayed his calm.
"Ryan? What's wrong?" The angrier vampire asked, somewhat startled. Without a word, Ryan, the not-so-calm vampire, put his hands on the angrier vampire's forehead, projecting memories directly into his brain.
Images of the entire battle, the shamelessness of the witch hunter, the young vampire girl, the demise of Leon and Laura... all of it was transmitted in less than a second.
"Filthy... Bastardly... MORTALS!" The now really angry vampire screamed, the earth trembled under his roar and all the people that hadn't run nearly far enough instantly died.
Taking a deep breath, Ryan said, "Now I understand... They had a talented kid, so they decided to stay and raise her here, where she can learn and thrive... this also explains their suicide, they were basically guaranteed to die, and if they didn't, the child would... I... This is an insult to all vampires. That man dared to... dared to stomp on her!?" Ryan's eyes suddenly glinted with a cold light.
"Go. Report this, I will go and talk with the child..." Ryan said. The other man nodded and took off after Ryan handed him a strange, blue crystal.
After his companion flew far enough, Ryan spread his own wings and flew towards the nearby mountain. After he arrived, he easily passed through the illusion and entered the main cave before walking towards the large mansion at the center.
However, before he got fat, he suddenly felt his heart clench. This feeling was familiar to him, and he instantly thought "She's forming her core!"
Not daring to disturb her now, he quietly sat to the side and began to wait, looking at the mansion with a pitying gaze. It could be said that a vampire's growth was very simple.
From when they were born all the way 50-70 years old, they would naturally accumulate mana from the blood they consume and the air around them. Slowly, this mana would be used to form their core.
To fully finish the core, a vampire needs a large influx of mana. This was a problem that plagued many vampires under 200, as they would need to spend hundreds of years slowly accumulating mana until they reached enough to finish their breakthrough.
There is a very, very large difference between vampires without complete cores and those with complete ones. Complete-core vampires can safely cast powerful spells, and furthermore, they will awaken their innate ability, which they would then spend the rest of their lives training. Also, after finishing their core, a vampire's growth would be accelerated by at least fivefold, as the mana-gathering power of a finished core is not weak.
They would use that mana to slowly strengthen their bodies and core, getting stronger over time. Vampires could be said to have been lucky, as other then when they form their full core, their path to strength was very smooth without any bottlenecks.
However, for a girl this young, only around 40-50 years based on what Ryan gathered, he could tell that she was a genius! No, a monster!
Meanwhile, inside the mansion, Luna was sitting cross-legged. Her chest was shining and around her were several circles made of blood.
"Mother... Father... your deaths will not be in vain... I promise!" She murmured, her eyes showing resolve. She had decided to wait to use her Soul Devouring Tactic for later as if she used it now, it's effectiveness would decrease. Rather, she still used it, but in a much subtler way.
Using the blood of her parents and their hearts which she collected, she had refined a tremendous amount of pure vampiric mana to assist her in her breakthrough. Although she was only 90% finished with her core, she was confident in her ability to complete it.
Once finished, the Soul Devouring Tactic would instantly become her ace. With it, she could basically endlessly get stronger, however, it too had its limits.
If she used it too much, there was a risk that the mana she ate would go berserk, destroying her. The best way to use it was to gather lots of mana-filled blood and slowly absorb it over a long period of time, unlike what she did with the wizard.
Otherwise, if she abused it, even she couldn't know what side-effects there would be! She wasn't willing to try either, so she chose the safe approach.
After a long breath to calm herself, Luna began chanting, "Might of vampires! Blood awakening!"
A slight tremble went through each circle of blood surrounding her. Slowly, the blood moved towards Luna as if attracted by a great force.
After it reached her, it entered through the pores in her skin and traveled over to the small, black and red bead inside her chest. When it touched the bead, it dissolved and was then absorbed by it.
As if it was a hungry wolf, the bead continued to wolf down the blood. Slowly, it began to grow as Luna concentrated.
90... 91... 93... 95... 98... 99... As it reached 99, a great force seemed to want to block the process, however, Luna was prepared for it.
With a yell from Luna, the blood surrounding her all entered at the same time and merged with the bead. The mighty wall that plagued so many vampires was quickly destroyed with plenty of leftovers.
Suddenly, the bead inside her chest began to move. From her chest, it slowly floated next to her heart, and then entered it.
This was the reason a vampire's heart was their weak point: Their heart was also their core! The moment the heart was taken, the core was too, and without a core, a vampire would die.
After a while, the mana finally stopped flowing into her heart and Luna slumped down onto the ground, her already torn clothes filled with enough sweat to make them even more useless than they already were.
However, a happy smile was plastered on her face. Her core had not only finished, but it also had grown by a large amount, comparable to that of her own mother.
After all, she had basically absorbed the purest of mana for vampires without having to slowly refine it whilst wasting a great deal by doing so. Normally, she would never absorb a fellow vampire's mana like this, however, her parents were different.
She was sure they would agree. Their corpses had disintegrated, however, this way, she felt like they were still with her.
Thinking so, she couldn't help but grasp at the earring in her right ear. It was moon-shaped and silvery in color.
This was the same earring her mother always wore. For Luna, this was the best reminder of her parents, and also their legacy to her. She would get revenge soon but now was not the time yet.
As she shakingly got up, her body was suddenly lifted up by something. Yelping, she quickly turned and found a middle-aged man with a kind smile on his face holding her.
"Shhh... It's okay... You're safe now..." He said. Holding Luna in a princess' carry, he draped his large wings over them, effectively enclosing her.
To a human, this would seem weird, but to a vampire, it was a show of affection. After seeing his wings and teeth, Luna let go of all restraints and broke down into tears. She could smell a scent similar to that of his father on this man, making her feel even worse than she already was.
A nearly 3000 years old man crying was shameless? Luna honestly could not care. To be honest, she herself didn't even feel that old, as most of her second life was spent in a dream-like state as she would constantly train, train and train.
Furthermore, the events had simply shocked her. Now that she was held by secure hands, she hugged the man and buried her face in his chest whilst crying.
"It's okay dear, grandpa Ryan is here..." The middle-aged man, Ryan, said as he gently rubbed the back of Luna's hand. He knew what she had gone through, and even he would be traumatized, much less this young girl.
His own innate ability was Mind Control. The name was pretty obvious, however, being the old monster he was, his ability had slowly evolved into basically being able to do anything with a person's mind as long as basic requirements were met.
One of such things was mind-reading. He saw what happened to the fat man who had been hiding whilst observing the fight. He saw how the witch hunter killed her parents in front of her whilst using her to basically kill them. He saw how powerless he made her feel, and it made him... really, really mad.
However, he suppressed this rage as he slowly soothed the girl down. After a while, the girl fell asleep in his hands. Lifting her up gently, he carried her out of the mountain before heading towards Noctem, where the council waited for them...