Chapter 110: True Vampire
’Had someone told him?’ Edward frowned.
Not many people knew... But his suspicions pointed to Albey, Andre, and... Lander.
He still didn’t know if Lander was alive, but the way he died was exactly like what had happened to Albey and Andre—both confirmed traitors.
"According to the report, the Fire Caterpillar and the Wind Caterpillar were butterflies." The vampire snapped him out of his thoughts. "But what I’m seeing now..."
"Is more interesting." He laughed and created a sword from his blood. In that instant, he leaped forward, telling his allies that he would handle it. "You got away from me before; now I want to see how you’ll manage."
Edward took a step back to maintain his balance and gripped his sword.
CLANK!
The first attack struck, trying to knock him down, but Edward’s strength came to the fore and his legs dug into the ground. He made a powerful horizontal swing, aiming for the vampire’s head. But his sword sliced back and forth.
The vampire jumped a few steps back, feeling heat approaching his face. He frowned when he saw that the sword was ablaze.
He hadn’t noticed it.
"You have extraordinary magical summoning speed." He couldn’t help but praise him.
"And yet you managed to dodge it." Edward grumbled.
"Heh." The vampire let out a mocking sound. "From what I’ve seen, three of your caterpillars seem to have evolved, and one of them has reached a new stage of evolution..."
The vampire looked at the fire. "And you have such a peculiar fire... You’re a Lux whose bloodline is the purest, aren’t you?" he theorized.
What he was saying wasn’t far-fetched. Someone capable of growing at such a rapid pace and in such a manner couldn’t possibly be a normal person from this world. Not even the bloodlines of royalty or the great, centuries-old families could accomplish such a feat.
Perhaps only a Lux could.
Edward merely moved his lips slightly. He didn’t answer.
"Oh. You think you’re going to escape again... Unfortunately, you’ve misunderstood one thing. You are surrounded in the truest sense of the word." He said, and suddenly, a tremor shook the surroundings.
A thud was heard from the other side... from above!
It was striking the exact same spot as Aurora.
"Do you get it now? Almost the entire city is under our control. Coming here was your biggest..." Before he could finish speaking, a swish sounded by his ear.
Edward attacked him head-on, nearly slicing off his ear in the strike. The vampire managed to dodge it, though.
"You talk too much." Edward laughed.
The vampire saw several strands of his hair fall to the ground and frowned. Finally, he fell silent.
"So you want to play like this... Heh, fine. It’s time to show you who’s the toughest."
CLANK!
CLANK!
CLANK!
Edward attacked fiercely. His sword struck the vampire’s blood-stained blade; he had the advantage in technique, but lacked in strength.
This man was more powerful than he had judged the previous time.
Soon his body reached its limit on how much spiritual energy he could use, and he was struck in the side.
His body tumbled to the ground.
At that moment, the other vampires sprang into action. "Stop messing around and kill him. The Lord is about to arrive."
With those words, the vampires launched a fierce, coordinated attack.
Edward had to rush in to get between them and parried the attack multiple times in a split second. He managed to weaken it, but the blow still landed, striking him fiercely in the lower abdomen.
His body was sent flying straight backward. Although he had managed to stop the attack, his abdomen was bleeding.
"Idiot." A vampire sneered, appearing from Edward’s right, aiming to kill him with a single blow.
"I think the biggest idiot is the one who forgets what kind of mage he’s facing." A cold, feminine voice suddenly rang in his ears.
"Imprisoned Blizzard of the Cursed Poison," Aurora murmured softly in that moment, and suddenly, a combined defense she had been preparing ever since she arrived here materialized and rose up between each of the attacking vampires.
When they tried to break free from the wind, the prison she had created began to strike them relentlessly, and the poison began to slowly eat away at them.
They froze instantly to avoid touching it. "Nice move," one of them admitted. "But it’s not enough," he said and began gathering blood on his hands, arms, legs...
Aurora laughed mockingly and, without thinking, leaped forward. "Berserker’s Whispering Wall."
A seemingly defensive wall rose between them. It looked like a wall, like the ones Edward had made before. Just as the vampires were about to mock such foolishness, the wall suddenly went berserk.
It began to move like a blizzard—wider than it was tall—and frantically lashed out at the trapped vampires, separating them from the group they were trying to attack.
The fierce wind created a massive curtain of smoke. "Damn you, bastard, it won’t work again!" roared the vampire who had already fallen for the trick more than once.
Even so, suddenly the surface collapsed.
They looked up in shock and tried to defend themselves, but that pile of concrete came crashing down with terrifying force, burying them in an instant.
The humans on the other side and the vampire guards had to run to avoid it.
"You’re just in time, Jerry," Aurora said with a smile as she helped Edward and Harry.
"It looks like it, miss. I’m glad to see you’re okay." Jerry laughed. "It’s time to get out. Those guys are trapped under one of my spells and won’t be getting out anytime soon," he said, jumping up and helping them back to the surface.
There was a huge hole in the middle of the road.
"Weren’t there any vampires nearby?" Aurora asked, looking up at the clear sky.
"No. It seems they didn’t want to risk getting close, because I sensed some in the vicinity." Jerry replied, though suddenly he froze and stared at the sky.
"Well, what do we have here..." Jerry let go of Edward’s arm and took two steps in front of them.
At that moment, Edward, Aurora and Harry froze.
Their flesh trembled; even their bones trembled with fear. Their brains screamed "danger" as if they’d gone haywire, and the world turned deadly cold.
Even though he had never seen him before, Edward recognized this aura.
"The true vampire..." he murmured as he looked into his face.
He was floating in the sky, staring intently at Jerry.
"Human, where are my subordinates?" the true vampire asked suddenly.
"Dead. Can’t you see?" Jerry sneered.
"Humans don’t eat vampires. If they were dead, their corpses would be lying around here," replied the true vampire. "We are strong, human. We don’t need to fight among ourselves. I like this city—can you tell? I want to make it more to my liking." His haughty yet elegant manner of speaking betrayed his composure.
His tone of voice wasn’t hoarse like it had been in Edward’s vision; it was softer. It almost sounded like a woman’s voice, though it still had some hoarseness to it.
"You’re a vampire—a member of the cursed lands that have plagued my homeland. There’s no way I can look at you without wanting to tear you apart. So now that you’ve come, I’ll make you understand the power of humans." Jerry clenched his teeth, and his body suddenly swelled. The spiritual energy within him began to amplify his strength.
"Hahaha." The vampire burst out laughing. "The power of humans? Tsk, I know they have strength, but nothing more. Humans, we come in peace, did you know that? Our lands only want you to accept our God... Once he can..."
"I don’t believe in false gods, vampire. Save your words."
Faced with his interruption and disrespect toward his God, the vampire clenched his fists.
"We can’t exactly turn humans who refuse into vampires. Most of those who refuse to betray their own kind become defects in mine when they transform," he said suddenly. "That’s why I wanted to convince you to join me."
"It seems that won’t be necessary." He descended from the sky and stood on a small house in front of Jerry. "You dared to insult our God... he himself will make you pay. And he’ll use my hand to do it."
"Miss, please, run from here. Send a message to My Lord... Tell him that Rebirth City will need to be rebuilt. I’ll give him the details when I return," Jerry said suddenly. The only thing stopping him from attacking right now was Aurora’s presence in this place.
"Young Edward, remember my words. This is only the beginning," he said before urging them to run in one direction.
"Escape? I think you’re overestimating yourself if you believe you can protect them from my hand," said the vampire as he watched the three of them run, and he attacked them with a powerful strike that split the earth in two.
Before it could strike, Jerry’s figure stepped in its way and stopped it with a single hand. That powerful attack shattered against his grip.
"I understand you want to die, but there’s no need to get ahead of yourself, vampire. Let me enjoy the moment."
The vampire sighed. That guy was going to slip away again...
"Did you know you’re helping the very person who brought us here, human? Isn’t it hypocritical to attack the guest but not the one who invited him?"
"Don’t think I don’t know anything about history, vampire. Even though I’m a butler, I’m not just any butler. I know what you know, too."
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