"Fall back!" Malachai's voice boomed with authority from atop the wall parapet. "First and second cohort hold the courtyard. Third and fourth to the—" Vance, who was thirty meters away along the wall, raised his hands to signal for Malachai to stop. "I'll take it from here." Vance added as his eyes began go gleam red, activating his blood anomaly. *SLAY YOUR ALLIES* Vance ordered using Blood Decree, and instantly it took effect. The five hundred vampires from the Sixth Castle that were charging through the breached wall suddenly froze, losing control of their bodies for one moment. When their bodies gained control the next, it wasn't in accordance to their will again, but rather to the will of Vance. The bloodbath began. "Vance." Malachai's voice mattered in a low tone, staring at him. "Release them." Vance didn't turn around and responded with a single flat word. "No." "They are fighting their allies, Vance. They are dying by their own hands. This is not the way of vampire

Herria's fists flared with pure essence energy as she lowered into a fighting stance.She and Erwin were locked in gaze, no one making a move yet, but now Erwin was also taking a stance, staying on high alert."Herria, I don't know what has gotten into you, but you need to stop. I was warned to destroy the ritual chamber and prevent anyone from ascending, and lastly, this Haemagogi thing! You need to—"She was already moving again.[Dimensional Creation Activated]Erwin wasted no time as fifteen dimensional swords materialized simultaneously in a spread formation, launching toward her from different angles and heights.Not to kill. Not aimed at anything vital, but at positions that required her to deal with them instead of striking him.'Damn! He's cornered me!' Herria's jaw tightened in realization as her eyeballs frantically darted around the swords coming at her.'My Impact requires me to strike a particular

Moments earlier. The dust settled slowly as Vance stood at the broken edge of the parapet, staring down at the narrow gap in the wall where the passage opened into the castle's lower underground floor levels. To no surprise, the passage was empty and Erwin was gone by the time the last of the rising dust thinned out and dissipated into nothing. "That boy had the ring." His mismatched eyes—crimson left, gold right—stayed fixed on the gap for a long moment. "I need to take care of him before Xed arrives, or he might truly prevent the ritual." He stepped over the rubble calmly and dropped into the gap and— Swoosh. Vance's eyes widened as something flashed towards him. Not from below, but from beside the passage entrance, where a figure had been waiting patiently for a surprise attack. Gideon. That was right. Selene and Malachai had been the ones keeping an eye on him, but they were no more. The champion of the Sixth Castle stood with his crystal blade extended, point leveled at

The Blood Explosion hit Vance point-blank. BOOOOOOOOOM! The shockwave tore across the open ground, hurling debris and dust violently into the air. Even the parapet wall fractured at the base. When the smoke cleared, Vance was still standing. Just barely. He had thrown up a hand at the last instant, and blood essence energy that had started burning around his palm countered a direct hit. That unfortunately didn't stop him from being blasted away and rolling on the ground to a halt. "If you want to be all righteous, why don't you fight without the stolen blood explosion?" He exhaled slowly, and the red faded from his mismatched eyes. "I got the blood explosion through a worthy battle, not will manipulation." Xed lowered into a stance again, his legs glowing red, ready to blast forward with greater s

It began when the godhood ascension ritual was introduced into the vampire world over a thousand years ago. It is common knowledge that vampires are creatures that take pride in strength. War was normalized in the vampire world, but the moment the ritual became known, the war rate skyrocketed and intensified. With the uncontrollable urge to be the strongest, all the vampires wanted to perform the ritual and ascend above their peers. Unfortunately, however, the ritual had a major restriction. It needed the blood of all six blood anomaly possessors. And blood anomaly, unfortunately, was not something all vampires possessed because it cannot be learned, only passed down from the previous owner. Due to the fact that a blood anomaly is not learned but inherited in the vampire world, there were only six anomaly possessors at a time. The six total blood anomalies in the entire vampire world were owned only by the sovereigns of the first to sixth castles, respectively: the instant telepo