Chapter Nine: The Purebloods

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While Lynn dealt with the vampires covering the outside of the building, Daken Frost had already led his subordinates underground.

He had completely transformed the basement. The signs of extensive construction had not yet been removed—the arrival of Blade had been far too sudden.

Daken had to begin the ritual immediately.

He could already hear the screams of his subordinates. Blade was on his way.

He arrived at the third level he had painstakingly built. Beneath the dome at its very center lay a single pitch-black page. No words appeared upon it.

And yet, immense dark magical power poured endlessly from the page. Any mage with even the slightest understanding of magical energy would have realized that it contained some kind of overwhelming power.

Daken strode to the center of the page and began gathering that magical energy, while the vampire guards watched him display his extraordinary power.

His bat wings spread wide. The magical energy gradually grew violent. A nameless terror seized the guards, and they hurried from the stone chamber with almost no hesitation.

They left the half-dead pure-bloods behind.

“You… Where did you find the Scarlet Codex?”

“The Scarlet Codex? Your ignorance is truly laughable. That is nothing more than a term invented by the elders of another clan. This is no Scarlet Codex.

“This is a gift left behind by the great Creator—a fleeting glimpse of immense power. You dull-witted fools cannot possibly understand what I have found.”

His voice grew increasingly frantic, and under Daken’s control, the dark magic seemed to complete its initial release.

A beam of crimson light shot out and struck one of the elders. His body rapidly withered, while vast quantities of dark magical energy were drawn from him and converged within Daken’s body.

And that was only the beginning.

Soon, countless crimson beams linked Daken to the elders. Drawing upon the magic within the Dark Grimoire, he began purifying his bloodline.

Dark magic continuously entered his body through life itself as its medium. Daken’s entire body was undergoing imperceptible changes.

At that moment, Blade cleaved a vampire guard in two, reducing him to ash. Although Lynn had drawn away the overwhelming majority of the enemy’s firepower, Daken still had plenty of strength stationed at his side.

The heavy armor worn by these creatures seemed to have been designed specifically to counter Blade, rendering his firearms completely ineffective.

Only the blade Whistler had left him could effectively kill these heavily armored vampire soldiers.

Blade lunged forward. His blade pierced the weak point in a vampire guard’s armor, and moments later the creature howled as it lost its left arm.

Blade immediately withdrew his sword. Using the vampire as cover, he struck again from the reverse angle, driving the blade through the wound exposed beneath the severed arm and straight toward the heart.

In less than ten seconds, he had killed a heavily armored vampire veteran.

If combat was a talent, then Blade’s was clearly greater than that of most of the vampires present.

Even so, breaking through the guards’ blockade would still take time.

At the same time, Lynn’s psychic tendrils turned several gravely wounded vampires to ash. He then injected the dark magical energy and life force within their bodies into other vampires.

Those vampires visibly recovered. Before long, they were able to support themselves and rise to their feet.

While the vampire guards were still dazed, a single voice appeared in all their minds.

“Attention.”

Kara’s fleshy buds had taken root in their brains and spinal cords, forming a complex network throughout their nervous systems.

Like a parasitic barnacle controlling a crab, Kara had taken complete control of their minds. If she wished, she could even control their breathing and heartbeats.

The voice in their minds delivered an order they could not disobey. They quickly formed ranks, ignoring their aching bodies as they lined up on the floor.

It was just as they might once have done in an army or elsewhere. To put it in terms Lynn understood better, Kara had linked them together.

“Your abilities are perfect. The test was a success, Kara.”

“It was the least I could do, Doctor. I owe it all to you.”

“Have them coordinate with Jekutor and move out. We’ll continue upward. There must be a leader among the vampires preventing them from responding.

“We’ve encountered only scattered resistance on our way up, nothing like the fierce assault they launched earlier.”

Lynn glanced at the décor on the floor. The lower levels of the building were clearly an office area. Considering the vampires’ business interests, Lynn was certain employees worked here during the day as well.

He saw no problem with having people work for vampires. He was more than willing to take over a commercial building with an established management system.

He simply did not know whether these floors were leased out or used by the vampires themselves.

“Doctor, the vampires have assembled. Shall we continue the assault?”

“Have them attack upward. These combat employees are not our objective. There should be more important figures in this building.

“Move out. We intend to take control of the building. These security forces are of little use to us. We need someone at an executive level—that is where we’ll find our opening.”

“Understood, Doctor.”

Kara quickly had the vampire soldiers under her control organize their weapons and set out. After seeing that small arms were useless against Jekutor and Tom, Lynn knew the vampires would bring out weapons of larger caliber.

They would make excellent distractions.

After that, Lynn encountered no further resistance. They continued upward until they reached the stairwell.

The area above was Daken’s private domain. That hall divided the building’s entire administrative section, and Lynn could indeed sense the distinctive dark life energy above.

He raised an arm, signaling Kara and the others to stop for the moment.

“Let Jekutor and Tom go first.”

The two beast soldiers did not hesitate. They walked directly up the stairs. The instant Jekutor’s silhouette appeared in the pitch-black hall—

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The entire hall erupted with flashes of gunfire. A torrent of ammunition poured onto Jekutor’s chitinous armor. Guided by the tracer rounds, two rockets screamed through the air and struck Jekutor and Tom.

The violent explosions sent clouds of dust billowing through the hall. Tom had no way to block an attack capable of destroying heavy armor. Directly struck by a rocket, he was hurled to the ground, gravely wounded.

Jekutor, however, remained completely unharmed. Apart from a few scorched marks on his dark chitinous shell, he had suffered virtually no damage.

Of course, Jekutor had no intention of continuing to absorb their attacks. Taking advantage of the smoke, he leaped into the air and landed directly on the second-floor balcony of the hall.

With a heavy backfist that tore through the air, he sent a ring of vampires flying, scattering them like bowling pins.

“Heavy weapons! Keep firing!”

As the vampires hurried to prepare their heavier weapons and continue attacking Jekutor, a large number of vampires under Kara’s control streamed into the hall.

While Jekutor’s arrival threw the enemy into chaos, the controlled vampire guards launched a decisive assault. The bullets of both sides struck each other’s bodies.

Though the wounds were not fatal, the vampires could not ignore the impact of the bullets, not even with their superhuman bodies.

Under such sustained bombardment, they would eventually be worn down.

Lynn and Kara did not join the battle above. Kara was linked to every vampire under her control and could share the vision of any one of them whenever she wished.

“Doctor, no high-ranking vampire has appeared.”

“Be patient, Kara. The big fish will not take the bait so easily. Give them some time.”

“However, Lamo Chis has been disabled. As expected, a balanced-type unit does not have enough defense against anti-armor firepower.”

“It has only lost its combat capability, Doctor. As long as we recover it successfully, it can still repair itself in its current condition.”

“Have two vampires bring it down.”

While Lynn waited for Maria to take the bait, Maria stormed toward the hall where the battle was taking place. The power of a pure-blood was fully revealed at that moment.

Each time she moved, she teleported in a cloud of mist. Her speed was likewise extraordinary, reaching a level almost impossible for the naked eye to follow.

Maria gathered all the forces she had left. She could not understand why her subordinates had gone out of control. Because of the dark magical energy within them, these hybrids should have been incapable of defying a pure-blood.

But that did not matter. The black beetle creature might have been powerful, but it was not beyond her ability to handle. Maria was confident she could defeat it.

That was the confidence her pure-blood status gave her.

Leading the building’s final group of security forces into the battlefield, Maria immediately used her supernatural vision to see Jekutor in the darkness, batting the vampire guards around like balls.

At that moment, another rocket struck him.

It did nothing more than leave a few marks on his shell. The old rule of “all smoke and no injury” still held true.

Lynn sensed that fallen darkness as well.

“A high-ranking vampire… Kara, stay below. Order those soldiers to keep away from Jekutor. They cannot interfere in the battle to come.”

As if to confirm Lynn’s words, Maria revealed her pure-blood form the instant she entered the fight, transforming into a massive gargoyle-like beast.

Perhaps because her original form had been female, the gargoyle’s body was somewhat slender and retained several distinctly feminine features.

To make an inexact comparison, she resembled a fusion of Leah and Diablo. Yet her slender frame did nothing to diminish the essence of a pure-blood within her.

Her enormous claws, wrapped in dark magic, struck Jekutor’s chitinous shell without mercy.

Her evil flesh, empowered by dark magic, was many times stronger than that of the hybrids. For the first time, Jekutor’s shell was pierced.

Fortunately, he reacted in time. His massive fist shot back, matching Maria’s vampire form in sheer momentum.

But Jekutor’s blow failed to connect. A shield formed from dark magic blocked his attack, and Maria kicked him away.

“Wretch! How dare you invade this place!”

Neither of them seemed to possess even the slightest fear.

Lynn watched everything from below the stairs. He did not join the battle. Instead, he calmly assessed Maria.

“She should be the person in charge here. Blade is capable of killing pure-bloods; otherwise, he would not have been so confident when facing Daken. That means her combat power in this world should not be especially high.

“Jekutor has not suffered a fatal injury. A Lamo Chis-type unit is more than capable of maintaining security in this world. But considering the technological capabilities of Hydra and AIM…

“Perhaps Jekutor’s current condition can be considered moderately powerful. Blade does not seem afraid of this vampire at all. If they fought, he would probably have plenty of ways to defeat Jekutor.

“Her dark magical energy is troublesome. Jekutor’s defenses can withstand a direct hit from a light tank cannon, yet they cannot stop her attacks. That suggests this is not something physical armor can defend against.

“Perhaps I need to consider energy-based defenses…

“Let’s continue and see how powerful a pure-blood vampire really is.”

Lynn had made a preliminary assessment of Jekutor. He wanted to see how far Jekutor and this pure-blood could push each other in battle.

The other vampires continued fighting as well. Their battle was not especially important, but it had to be maintained. Even the slightest shift in the balance could affect the final outcome.

Maria’s claws slashed wildly. Her strength might have been sufficient, but she was not an exceptional fighter.

The same was true of Jekutor.

Neither had undergone systematic combat training. That was precisely why Lynn could observe a battle relying almost entirely on brute force.

It would allow him to better evaluate the true combat power of his creation.

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“Kara.”

“I’m here, Doctor.”

“Record some of my thoughts.”

As he observed Jekutor and Maria’s battle, Lynn gathered data with his psychic abilities.

But as soon as he began using his power, Maria finally noticed him.

The purple radiance was far too conspicuous to conceal, and for some reason, an indistinct fear welled up inside her.

It was as though she had glimpsed something terrifying. Her movements slowed.

Jekutor seized the opening. He grabbed her lower body, and before Maria could react, he used overwhelming strength to slam her into the floor.

Fortunately, a shield of dark magic absorbed the impact, preventing her from suffering excessive damage.

When Jekutor attempted to press the attack, Maria’s body suddenly blurred. She instantly dispersed into a cloud of smoke, then rapidly re-formed behind him.

“An ability that allows her to turn into mist. Interesting. It is more like a supernatural power approaching magic.

“Their physical strength is not particularly outrageous. It does not exceed that of the beast soldiers.

“Still, she must be a relatively weak vampire.”

While Lynn was delivering his assessment of Maria, Jekutor had gradually fallen into a disadvantageous position. He was not inferior in strength, but when it came to his ability to inflict damage—

He seemed to be restrained by that strange dark magic. His single-minded attacks could not break through the shield.

After all, he was not the Hulk. He did not possess the kind of strength capable of overcoming every technique through sheer force.

At the same time, his chitinous shell had undergone only preliminary modification. It could not defend against excessively strange energy attacks. Maria’s dark-magic claws inflicted genuine damage.

The wounds were shallow, but even those tiny injuries were enough to steadily drain Jekutor’s strength.

“At this stage, Jekutor is not her equal…”

After assessing their battle, Lynn quickly reached a conclusion.

“Then it is time for me to contribute. I only hope situations like this can be avoided in the future.”

Lynn took a step forward.

At that instant, Maria dispersed her form into mist and became a streak of black smoke, flashing rapidly through the air. Within a few breaths, she appeared in front of Lynn.

Her enormous bat wings even blocked out the flashes of gunfire from the surrounding battle.

Maria did not even dare to threaten him. The purple psychic energy made her deeply uncomfortable. She had to end this quickly.

But her claws stopped in midair, caught against a wall of purple psychic energy and unable to advance.

The dark magic and Lynn’s purple psychic energy scorched one another relentlessly.

Maria had just begun to retreat when purple psychic energy overflowed from every inch of Lynn’s body. Countless psychic tendrils emerged from the void and coiled around her.

At the same time, Lynn brushed one hand across his temple. Psychic energy, almost condensed into physical substance, wrapped around his hand and crackled with arcs of electricity.

Maria remained trapped by Lynn’s psychic tendrils, unable to move. She tried to turn into mist, but the dark magic within her body had been disrupted by Lynn’s purple psychic energy and no longer obeyed her commands.

Before she could utter a plea for mercy, the psychic attack in Lynn’s hand—powerful enough to illuminate the entire battlefield—was unleashed.

A terrifying hum filled the air. Every vampire on the scene covered their heads in unison, Jekutor included.

It felt as though their brains were about to explode.

Only Kara remained expressionless as she operated the tablet she had stolen, recording the notes Lynn had dictated earlier.

The attack, wrapped in crackling arcs and psychic flame, pierced effortlessly through Maria’s body. It continued onward, punching through the building’s outer wall, and finally came to a stop after tracing an almost imperceptible purple arc across the New York night.

Several unfortunate vampires struck along its path were ignited by the purple lightning and flames. Their entire bodies erupted in violet fire as they screamed and collapsed to the ground.

Lynn planted one foot on Maria’s pretty face after she had returned to human form. Purple psychic energy still rippled across his body.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am giving you one chance to surrender.”

His voice entered the minds of everyone present, whispering as though he were standing beside each of them.

A few seconds later, every vampire guard dropped their weapons and raised their hands, abandoning all resistance.

“A wise choice. Kara, take control of these intelligent friends.”

Lynn then looked down at Maria beneath his foot. The pure-blood was not actually dead. Instead, she gazed up at him with a fawning expression.

Lynn lifted his foot and crouched beside her, whispering into her ear.

“As for you, my dear friend, I’ll save you for last.”

He then patted her cheek. It was soft and pleasantly plump.

“Would you like me to restrain her, Doctor?”

“Do what you need to do, Kara.

“Now, I have one more question for you. Where is the elevator that goes directly underground?”

Maria concealed nothing. Lynn quickly pressed the button and waited silently as the elevator descended.

When he neared the third basement level, a tremendous explosion and a great deal of roaring reached his ears.

It seemed Blade and the Blood God had been fighting for quite some time.

“Let’s see how powerful this version of the Blood God is.”