This Level 2 infected life form was excellent. Lucius looked at her exposed spine bones with a hidden crimson luster wrapped around them.
She had evolved and awakened the flame manipulation gene! Being able to make her body scorching hot, the temperature at the tip of the bone could almost melt ordinary steel, right?
"....."
What can Lucius do now? Looking at the little one that pounced on her, but she was really trying to eat him. There's a flaw with these disguise glasses. Having the same scent as humans, the zombies will see him as food!
But Lucius hated the feeling of being bitten back by a pet. He struggled with his desire to put the glasses down and destroy the zombie. With his fair and slender finger, it was hard to imagine how many helpless beings he had killed. Now, there was just one enemy in front of him. As long as there was blood inside it, as a vampire, Lucius was able to manipulate the blood. The same thing applies to zombies.
Lucius took a step backward. Dodging the Level 2 infected life form's attack. Its small body exploded with unparalleled power. Smashing the table in front of Lucius into pieces. Even melting the ground with the scorching heat from her claw.
"Grrrrr!!!" Its eyes were no longer milky white, but a deep crimson. Heat soared up around her body. Lucius was cornered. She lunged at Lucius again with scorching heat. But suddenly, Lucius' eyes opened wide.
"Uh... uh... ah... uh..."
The originally berserk Level 2 Infected life form suddenly became like a puppet whose strings had been cut, suspended in mid-air, and shrieking. This wasn't Lucius' doing. A spike, forged from azure ice crystals, pierced into the chest of this Level 2 Infected life form. In front of him, the spike disappeared, and the Level 2 Infected life form's body fell to the ground.
Suddenly, the white mist filled the room. The temperature dropped to near freezing point. A silver-haired girl about his age stood in front of Lucius.
"You alright?" Her voice was as cold as the temperature.
Lucius glanced at the dead Level 2 infected body. The virus spilled out of its body like lava, melting the floor. But it couldn't shatter the ice crystals surrounding the young girl's body. She should be around B-rank Esper, maybe around a Level 3 or 4 life form. Lucius took another glance at her outfit.
The Church.
Silver robes. On her chest, she wore the thing Lucius hated the most. Crosses! It's the standard uniform for the Church's hunter squad, the Exorcists!
Lucius' hands clenched tightly, the faint blood circulating inside his body rioted. The Church… were the ones sending her sister to the stake.
A revenge?
Of course, he craved revenge. One of the reasons he turned this city into a hell on earth was to gain the power to get revenge on the Church. But now, he was still too weak. In terms of combat power, Lucius was already at his limit when facing the Level 2 infected life form. Yet, the person in front of him could easily defeat the monster.
He was still… too weak…
Lucius was sure he would become just like that infected body, frozen and shattered if he vented his hatred. Lucius wanted to live, not for anything else but for revenge. Impulsiveness would bring nothing, and stealth was vampire's greatest strength.
"Thanks..." Lucius sat down in the corner, forced a smile on his face, and shook a bit as he held the Black Star pistol.
In Lucius's opinion, giving a smile to the enemy was equivalent to turning around and stabbing him in the back... It seemed like this young girl didn't see him as an enemy. After all, now, he had the appearance of a human.
"...."
She glanced at the miserable scenery of the room, everything was frozen ice crystals from the outburst she had just made. The man crouched in the corner in front of her seemed to be still in shock, judging by his trembling hand holding the gun. It must've been hard to face those monsters.
Lucius'sAfter putting on the disguise glasses, Lucius's gentle appearance made the young woman brainstorm everything that had just happened. The woman lying on the ground was this man's girlfriend, and then came a zombie attack...before attacking him. That had to be it.
Lucius' hands were shaking solely because he had met the Church he loathes. But there's no way he could fight back. He couldn't control his emotions. After Lucius took a hard breath of the cold air, he stood up.
"Yuri. We have a wounded person here." At this point, she called out to the door.
There were others? Lucius looked at the door, and a teenager wearing the same attire ran in. He had a petite body, somewhat petite. Looking at his appearance, he must've been of a half New Federation of China descent. He was no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, and his appearance was pretty. A little too beautiful. Yuri walked into the room, trembled, probably because of the cold temperature.
"Yes, captain." The captain he was talking about should be the silver-haired girl.
The ice crystals that froze the entire room disappeared after the battle was over.
Apart from the two Exorcists, Lucius, the only ones left in the room, was standing unharmed and the woman who was lying dying on the floor.
No... the corner of Lucius's mouth lifted, unnoticed by the two Exorcists. That woman was dead. It wasn't Lucius who killed her, but she was frozen to death by the cold air emitted by that silver-haired girl.
What a shame.
"What a sad state these civilians are in, let's hope the Gods will bless them."
Another Exorcist.
Lucius was silently observing the three people who walked into the room. How many people are in this Exorcist squad?
It was a young man with short black hair and the standard church attire, leaning against the door with a smile that made you feel warm, examining the room.
"Captain." The cross hanging on his chest flashed, "Although it is our duty as Exorcists to save these civilians, please don't forget what our mission is. I will be very annoyed if we can't complete the task on the deadline."
She faintly swept a glance at the young man leaning against the doorway and didn't say anything, probably not wanting to justify anything more.
"Whoa!" Suddenly Yuri, who was about to save the woman from what looked like the worst injury lying on the ground, yelled out.
"?"
"Vampire wound..." Fear spread over Yuri's face as he pointed his finger at the woman's neck, "She's...dead. She was...killed by a vampire!"
Hey, hey, hey. Is it okay to jump to conclusions like that? Lucius didn't kill the woman, that was the truth. Even though her blood had been mostly sucked out of her, she wasn't really dying.
In ancient times, some female humans sought more violent pleasure in sex. They would willingly fall into the vampire's embrace. Vampires were a seducing and corrupting race, though vampires were also good at killing. But Lucius was sure. If it wasn't for the icy coldness emanating from the silver-haired girl's side that seemed to be able to freeze human souls, the woman would still be alive.
But her death was a relief for him. After all, this woman knew Lucius's true identity!
"A vampire? Well done, Yuri!"
Instead of showing empathy at the death of his own kind, the young man was excited. He walked over to the corpse and squatted down, examining the woman's neck. It was indeed a wound caused by a vampire.
"This wound...appeared...kind of fresh..." Yuri's words became stuttered as the young man approached next to him. "That...vampire...should be...nearby."
"Keep up the good work, come on." The smile on his face obviously gave off a friendly expression. And the conversations were like a normal senior-junior relationship. But...
"Yes… Mr. Stein…" Instead of saying thank you, Yuri, who just got encouraged, lowered his head even further.
"Is it around here? Captain, before we rescue these poor civilians. Let's go find the target of our mission." After placing his hand against the already frozen blood, Stein scanned the room. Almost everyone unanimously gathered their attention on Lucius...including the silver-haired girl. The entire Exorcist squad, looking at him.
Did they recognize him? Lucius wanted to escape! There was only him and the dead woman in this room. The Church's Exorcists immediately recognized the wound in a single glance. Lucius gathered faint scarlet energy in his hands, ready to deal with the attacks of these three Exorcists.
But… as soon as they glanced at Lucius' body, they ignored him and began to check out other places. What's...going on?
"The mission instructed that the vampire should be hiding around here."
"Let's go to find that monster named Lucius that had tainted God's divine light. We will save as many civilians as we can after that."
Stein looked at the dead woman and reached out to close her eyes before closing them and drawing a cross on his chest. "What an unfair fate... I hope you will be compensated in heaven, and we will avenge your death."
Lucius?
Heh...is someone finally going to take my life that's worth 700,000 New Federation of China dollars? Lucius looked at Stein's action in silence.
After finishing it, Stein stood up and walked over to Lucius, who was sitting down on the floor, still smiling warmly.
"Civilians, don't worry. We'll do our best to keep you safe, and we've always taken care of the weak and vulnerable in our Church."
Stein's eyes narrowed as he smiled, not letting anyone saw his eyes.
Civilians?
Civilian, my ass!
I'm the target you're looking for! I'm Lord Vampire Lucius!
Lucius really wanted to shoot this smiling guy in the face. But Lucius knew his current situation, and the disguise glasses were too good. So good that these church people subconsciously thought of Lucius as a normal person.
Vampires prided themselves on their ability to manipulate blood, which was the way the Church identified them. Technically, vampires also belonged to a type of Espers. The disguise glasses completely concealed Lucius' scent.
If he revealed his true identity, not to mention the guy named Stein, the woman called the captain would freeze him into ice.
The Church never had mercy on vampires. Sympathy for the weak? That's just for humans!
"Ah… I'm so grateful." Lucius also faced him with the same gentle smile, "I don't know what I would have done without you guys..."
I don't know...how to get revenge!
So what if we're weak? So what if you're strong? No matter how powerful you were, a bullet through the heart or brain would kill them. No matter how strong they were, they can always be killed.
If your goal is to kill me, then you should be careful not to be killed by me.
This ordinary person's disguise was exactly Lucius's best choice. Just as the two of them were shaking hands, he could feel it. This man's smile was just like Lucius. It was a disguise!
Interesting! When Lucius stood up, he pretended to be frightened and followed behind these Exorcists.
On the other hand, Stein took out a handkerchief and wiped the hand he had just shaken with Lucius. And threw it out of the window without anyone noticing.