Chapter 114: The Blood Court Tribunal!
The Crimson Church's development brimmed with vibrant vitality, radiating a sense of all things competing to flourish.
The vampire clans multiplied daily, with nearly every second-generation vampire sent out establishing their own families and developing minions to attain exalted status.
Due to Progenitor Norton's decree, these families were compelled to recognize the Crimson Church as their leader, reporting information about their established families, the numbers of their subordinate minions, and even their locations to the Crimson Church.
Abraham, who had always been passionate about power, now seized this opportunity and genuinely dedicated himself to management, becoming so engrossed daily that he couldn't extricate himself. He even grew somewhat lazy about paying respects to Norton, which gave Elizabeth an opening to exploit.
However, his management skills were truly impressive—Norton handled absolutely nothing, yet the vampire clan continued to grow stronger daily, expanding outward in an unstoppable manner.
But some individuals without capacity for independent thought would lose themselves upon gaining power, just like the incident back in Rino City.
Gradually, a few vampires began to disregard the rules established by Your Excellency Norton, engaging in rampant slaughter and treating human life as worthless. They believed that obtaining supernatural power entitled them to special status, that being vampires meant they should view human lives as mere grass, that everyone should be their servants to be taken or discarded at will—completely deranged and insane.
They either flaunted their power extravagantly or violently indulged their desires without restraint.
They raped women, tortured and killed commoners, and didn't even spare children. Their methods could only be described as cruel, bloody, disgusting, and brutal!
As for why they tortured commoners instead of the nobility of Sethvia? Simple—the nobility had knights!
These third-generation vampires, who had never witnessed the majestic power of Progenitor Norton, could be killed by a simple wooden stake through the heart. Bullying unarmed poor people was one thing, but facing knights? They wouldn't stand a chance.
It was only because the various lords of Sethvia, including the main army, were away campaigning against the Papal States that they could cause trouble within Sethvia. Otherwise, just the armored knights alone would give these third-generation vampires more than they could handle.
But their brazen violation of Your Excellency Norton's laws was nothing less than a challenge to the Crimson Church! A defiance of Duke Abraham's management methods!
Your Excellency the Progenitor had repeatedly emphasized that no vampire should violate the prohibitions, maintaining a strategy of sustainable development for long-term growth. But these damned third-generation vampires—newborn calves unafraid of tigers—were utterly disgusting. Since they violated the vampire clan's laws, they deserved to face judgment!
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Countless snowflakes drifted down, gathering on the mud-covered ground, gradually freezing the soil solid while dressing the world in a pure white garment.
But this heavy snowfall couldn't wash away the pungent smell of blood permeating the small town, and the howling cold winds couldn't disperse the women's agonized screams.
When humans are suppressed for too long and suddenly gain tremendous power, they only give birth to demons devoid of humanity.
And now, this small town was filled with them.
Snow fell on the corpses hanging at the town entrance, completely covering them in mere moments, showing the snowfall had reached blizzard proportions.
What was once a moderately prosperous town had now become a living hell.
Dozens of men's corpses hung from the archway at the town entrance, all with their abdomens sliced open, intestines dangling three meters down to drag on the ground.
The extreme cold had even caused red crystals of accumulated blood to form on the ground, quickly being buried by the blizzard and disappearing from sight.
Looking further inside, corpses could be seen throughout the town. The men's bodies all showed signs of brutal torture—some hung from roof beams, some collapsed on the ground, others with completely broken bones contorted in strange positions, some even soaking in wooden tubs. Someone had even deliberately piled human heads into a small pyramid, demonstrating the sheer brutality of their methods.
Compared to the men, the women suffered even more tragically.
Regardless of age, they were all completely naked. From the remaining bloody tears on their bodies and the blood-stained sharp knives or rod-like objects nearby, it wasn't hard to imagine the horrific torture they endured before death.
Even the Holy Church wouldn't torment people like this!
Yet the torture hadn't ended. At the town center, a massive stage had been erected.
Several naked women were tied up on it, while three pale-skinned, sharply laughing humanoid creatures held needles over thirty centimeters long, experimentally piercing them into the women's bodies.
Surrounding this stage, a large crowd of commoners actually knelt on the ground, watching this bloody, terrifying scene unfold without daring to offer any resistance.
This was because at every direction around the crowd stood pale-skinned vampires, forcing them to kneel and appreciate this spectacular performance that shattered the very foundations of human morality.
The snow fell rapidly, covering both the stage and the spectators with a layer of accumulation in just moments.
The vampires' maniacal laughter on stage mingled with the women's screams—colder than the snowflakes, more chilling than the ice!
Across the vast wilderness, everything seemed submerged in the quiet of winter beneath the blanket of white snow.
Until.
At the farthest edge of the falling snow, along the boundary of the pristine wilderness, over a dozen black dots quietly materialized in the distance.
After a few more glances, these black dots grew larger, eventually revealing clear figures in the snowscape.
Identical black hooded cloaks wrapped around their bodies, with strikingly red clothing visible underneath. The typical court-style garments appeared exquisite and elegant, complementing these figures' pale complexions and golden hair like true nobility—graceful and noble, gentlemanly yet proud. The black hooded cloaks they wore externally added an air of profound mystery.
Just in terms of appearance alone, this row of vampires perfectly matched Norton's fantasy of those noble vampire gentlemen from Central Europe. They particularly resembled the vampire families from the Twilight series.
As these dozen-plus vampires appeared from the wilderness's edge, an inexplicable sense of pressure seemed to emanate from them, pressing down upon the bloody village. The third-generation vampires indulging their beastly desires unconsciously halted their actions, then as if sensing something, turned to look toward the distant edge of the falling snow.
They stopped their despicable laughing, ceased their violence, becoming as obedient as frightened dogs, with expressions of fear and dread spontaneously appearing on their faces.
Although their weak third-generation vampire powers couldn't clearly discern what approached from the distant snowy horizon, they genuinely felt a pressing sensation.
Of course they would sense it—after all, all vampires at this stage were born from Abraham's bloodline. When their ancestral progenitor Abraham approached, they would naturally sense it through their blood connection.
Just as their fear intensified to the point where they considered turning to flee, these dozen-plus dark figures finally drew near.