“Muhahaha! You are fools to have come here alone! Fear me, mortals! For I’m the vampire king, Zerefith!”

The self-proclaimed vampire king let out a loud maniacal laughter while sitting on his black throne.

Two adventurers entered his chambers, with the obvious intention of cutting him down.

“Your evil deeds end today, villain!”

Leon announced his heroism across the room like a roaring lion, brandishing his huge golden blade with one arm.

“I have to say, for a ‘king’ your security is very lax.”

Contrary to his enthusiastic partner, Ryx retained a calm demeanor while shrugging in indifference.

“Nobody even guards this rundown castle.”

Ryx sneered at the emptiness of the “king’s chambers”. There wasn’t a single guard or trap waiting for the heroes.

“Fools! I have no need for petty tricks! For I am king Zerefith! I have been terrorizing this kingdom for over a thousand years! Muhahaha!!!”

The vampire slowly rose from his chair, with flying bats hovering all over his black cape to provide cheap intimidation.

“But your tyranny ends today! You shall fall by my blade!”

Leon shouted louder than before, to match his enemy in confidence and determination.

“You know, in a thousand years, you could find a better castle than this one. It looks like it may fall apart any moment.”

Ryx’s lips curved into a taunting smile, calmly ignoring the aggressive auras emitted by Leon and the vampire.

“Let me guess: you are broke. You probably don’t even have the money to hire any guards.”

“Fool! I have amassed riches by terrorizing squishy mortals like you for over a thousand years! Do you dare question king Zerefith’s wealth!?”

“Oh yeah? I won’t believe it until I see gold with my own two eyes.”

Ryx shook his finger with a smirk on his face.

“Until then, in my book, you are a just broke vampire who plays make-believe as a king.”

“You fool! You dare question the fearsome king Zerefith!?”

The vampire slowly ascended into the air as he swung his arm in irritation.

A black wave burst out of his palm and blasted through the wall behind him.

Beyond the shambles of the destroyed wall laid a dazzling hoard of riches. Gold and jewels stretched as far as Ryx’s curious eyes could see.

“Behold my boundless wealth, accumulated over the course of a thousand years! You were a fool to doubt the great king, mortal!”

“Yeah, this is an impressive collection you have. I’m really sorry, you are awesome.”

Ryx spoke absentmindedly, with his glittering eyes glued to the vast collection of riches.

“You filthy vampire thief, stealing from the honest people! We’ll return everything you stole back to the people!”

Leon gritted his teeth in anger and wrapped both arms around his golden sword.

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He pointed his blade at the floating vampire and fiercely glared at him.

“Now then! Let us have battle, vermin!”

“Fool! Your sword will not even graze my majestic form!”

A black sword formed in the vampire’s hand out of thin air, surrounded by bats for a dramatic effect.

“You want a battle of the sword? Fine by me! My swordsmanship shall cleanse your evil deeds!”

Leon brought the huge sword closer to his body and prepared to dash toward his foe, for an epic close-ranged clash of souls and ideas.

“Wait a moment.”

“Huh?”

Ryx grabbed Leon’s shoulder and dragged him back.

“You have that super move which you mastered just the other day, remember?”

“Huh? You mean the Holy Slash of Divine Destruction?”

“Yeah, that one. No need to fight the guy sword-to-sword, just shoot that thing at him.”

“But we should let our swords clash to see who’s superior! That special move should only be used when I’m pushed to the corner and have no alternatives!”

“Okay, you can clash to your heart’s content. But first, give him a dose of that Holy Slash of Whatever. If he's a worthy adversary, he'll surely survive one shot of that, right?"

“Fine then...”

Leon sighed in dissatisfaction, but nevertheless followed Ryx’s advice.

He raised his golden blade and channeled all of his magical power into it.

“Haaaa!!! Holy Slash of Divine Destructioooooooooon!”

Leon swiftly swung his blade downward.

A beam of light erupted from his sword and wrapped the whole room in complete whiteness.

“Fool! You think that sort of thing- GAH!?”

The vampire was reduced to ashes in an instant.

"And we are done here. Good job."

Ryx smiled and clapped to congratulate the hero's victory.

"Huh? Is he really dead? Are you sure? Hasn't he lived for some thousand years and all?"

Leon hung his head in disappointment. He continued to eye the black throne, expecting his enemy to magically revive.

"Hey, just a few months ago you slew a dragon who lived for nearly one million years. A vampire who lived a lousy thousand years? As powerful as a goblin toddler against you."

"Yeah, I guess you are right..."

Leon sighed in melancholy and lowered his sword.

"Don't be like that. We just freed a kingdom which was terrorized for millennia. Think of all the happiness that'd bring to people."

With his eyes fixated on the vampire's treasury, Ryx's words didn't sound nearly as convincing as they should have.

"Oh, right! We totally did, didn't we? Hana, Justice prevailed!"

Leon conveniently didn't notice the dissonance between Ryx's words and expression. He naively drew encouragement from the simple words.

"So? Do you sense anything out of this gold?"

Ryx proceeded toward the treasury and Leon quickly followed.

"Let's see..."

Leon raised his right arm and pointed it toward the treasury.

His arm, clad in a golden gauntlet, began to flicker in a white hue.

"There's one here! It's in here somewhere!"

Leon announced happily with an excited grin.

A golden object began to shake inside the mountain of gold, attempting to break free.

After wiggling for a few seconds, the object dug up through the mountain and erupted out of it. It flew directly toward Leon and attached itself to his left arm.

"It's another gauntlet! Great! We are one step closer to completing the Armor of Destiny!"

Leon raised both arms in a sign of victory.

"Good, we are slowly but surely getting there."

Ryx wasn't nearly as thrilled, he merely spared a thin smile for the occasion.

"Now, we shall return all the wealth stolen by the vampire back to the kingdom! Back to the poor people!"

"Yeah... That's right..."

Ryx uncomfortably crossed his arms while gazing at the sea of gold.

"Leon, you go tell people the great news. Meanwhile, I'll stay here and examine the gold."

"Huh? Examine?"

"Yeah, it belonged to an evil vampire, after all. Who knows, maybe a few cursed artifacts made their way into this treasury."

"Oh! I didn't even consider that! Very well, do your thing, I'll speak with the people."

Leon nodded with eyes full of admiration for his friend's sharp thinking.

Without thinking twice, Leon left the room and headed back to the nearby town.

"Now then..."

With Leon out of the picture, Ryx could now do as he pleased with the mountain of gold.

A sinister smile twisted his face as he approached the gold.