The remaining vampires turned into ash after death in the hands of the brothers. Victor and James could go toe to toe with two but three or more becomes overwhelming for their untrained fighting style. What's more is that the vampires would sometimes cast some Jedi mind tricks from time to time that led them to go berserk.
John Jr. with the help of the old Howlett on the other hand fought and beheaded one vampire after another using his long claws. The bloodsuckers who managed to taste the brothers blood became enamored at the flavor and the filling sensation brought by their special blood.
When they saw how the brothers regenerated from wounds infinitely, the grin in their faces could not be hidden any longer. 'These humans are unlimited food supply! The coven will probably hand me a seat in the council just by presenting one of them, and there's more... hehehehehehe.' Their minds spun with such thoughts while happily licking the blood from their razor-sharp nails.
"Alright, that's it. Let's wrap this up." David flew over dragging a pod when vines snaked towards the remaining vampires. The weaker ones are killed immediately while the rest will serve as research specimen in his laboratory.
He looked around counting. Out of the thirty men that he brought for this trip, only thirteen remained. More than half of the group would not be able to get back to their families. Despite the hefty compensation and support that the Howlett estate would offer to those who rendered meritorious service for the family, losing a father is always going to leave a negative mark on those they leave behind.
He walked over to his grandfather and elder brother who are tidying up after the battle. "I'm supposed to die in this battle. I don't understand." Damian Howlett muttered while checking his body's condition.
"The future is affected by the choices we make today. The future as I see it, is not set in stone, so nothing is certain." David patted his grandfather's shoulder before the two smiled and gave each other a tight hug.
"It's good to finally meet you David, you look exactly like me when I was younger. Your father only mentioned you a few times in his letters before his passing. Look at you, even bigger than this old man." Damian sized him up and found that he is about two inches shorter than his grandson in their first meeting. 'Time sure moves fast.'
David on the other hand looked at the notifications and smiled.
[Precognition]
[Superhuman Physique]
[Healing Factor]
'As expected, grandfather is also not someone simple.'
"Junior," The old man looked over to John before saying. "Come and greet your brother." Damian even beckoned for John to come closer and the two shook hands.
"Did you know that the short one is only our half brother?" John asked with curiosity. David could figure that he was talking about James. David just smiled and shook his head. "It doesn't matter, mom and dad are dead. We are what remains of this family now. We have to stay united. Being brothers and half brothers won't change anything." He said.
"So you knew. Ah forget it. I was young back then so when I knew, I immediately confronted that bitch of a woman (their mother). In my anger I lost control and... Well, I suddenly grew claws hahaha. I almost killed her that bitch. If not for the old man, you wouldn't have been born." John reminisced about the events from his childhood that led to his isolated lifestyle.
"Well, I guess I'll have to be glad that you failed then." David smiled. "I've come to take you guys back, we... no, I need your help for what I'm about to do." David asked sincerely.
"What are you planning to do?" Damian asked.
"He's taking over a place where 'our kind' can move freely. Whatever that meant." James in his way answered for David.
"And wage wars against those who disagree. This part is what I like best." Victor added with a grin before looking at Junior who seemed to resonate his thoughts.
"Oh well, I guess we've been hiding out for a bit too long that we need a break from this. I do miss my bed in the manor. Junior?" Damian looked over to his eldest grandson who just looked at David.
"I'll need booze and women." The almost two meter tall man demanded outright. His expression is of utmost sincerity.
"Anything else?" David asked before smiling. To which, Junior shook his head. "That's it for now." He added.
"Consider it done." With his family's wealth, ladies would line up to marry his brother if a notice is put up for it. Who cares about love at this point in time when survival alone is already difficult for most.
"Then I'm at your service my liege." Junior made an exaggeratedly courteous bow for David and the two laughed heartily after looking at each other.
"Let's not stay here any longer. I'm guessing the ones who sent these guys are anxious to know the results." Damian spoke before pulling out a huge package from inside their cottage.
"I packed it for Junior but it should be enough for both of us." Damian handed the bag to John before the latter slung it over his shoulder.
"Burn the dead! Load those pods. Prepare for departure in ten minutes!" David gave his men some instructions and they executed with practiced ease.
"You can do magic?" James leaned over and whispered his inquiry. He thought David's ability is flight but in the earlier battle he used wind, fire, and even controlled plants to fight against the vampires. He had no explanations for such except for magic.
"My flight and other abilities actually came from my main ability called elemental manipulation but I did learn shamanism from Mr. Greene. You can go and ask him if you're interested." David answered vaguely. James who got his answers is still confused but nodded his head.
"What about the yellow light thing?" Victor asked with interest he and James had to go berserk just to be freed from the vampires mind tricks but David did not seem to have the same plight as they did.
"That... I created that myself but I hadn't thought of a proper name to call it. I could teach you when we get back to the manor." David patiently explained, he too wondered if others could learn this skill that he made so he would set aside some of his time to develop it. Teaching is the best course of action if one wanted to attain mastery. This topic of imparting his skills intrigued him a bit. "Are you guys interested?" He asked.
James and Victor looked at each other and spoke at the same time. ""We'll think about it."" They both laughed realizing the almost telepathic link between them. Or it could be that they just didn't have a knack for learning new things and came up with the same response. Either way, all is well as long as they have each other's back.
Without any further ambushes along the way, the group reached the Howlett estate in just two weeks of continuous travel.
David looked down from above in his invisible state. This is John's unearthed ability that David copied. The original Alpha level ability became Omega after the optimization so David needed to familiarize himself with it during their trip.
When this ability called [Phantom Walk] is in effect, David will be both invisible and intangible. This means he could not be seen nor touched in this state, literally like a ghost or ghost form.
Some of the abilities of the vampires intrigued him but he did not dare integrate all of them, especially the undead ability which is a passive that would turn him into an undead creature at the time of his death.
This goes the same with pyromancy which is a redundant ability since he already possessed elemental control. In addition, pyromancy isn't even omega level in potential after the optimization so he just left it there.
[Abilities: Regenerative Healing Factor S, Phytokinesis S, Phantom Walk S, Life Drain A, Flash A, Telepathy A, Endurance A, Heightened Perception A, Superhuman Physique A, Elemental Manipulation A, Spiritual Guidance A, Necromancy A, Shapeshifting A, Healing A, Longevity A, Fertility Boost B,]
[Potential Points: 32]
Instead of reduction, he even gained more potential points after meeting the vampires. Each one of those he killed contributed an average of one point so he gained quite a bit on this trip.
David did not go back to the caravan and directly appeared in the mansion. He then gave instructions on how to receive the returning family members, the dead members of their party and the 'materials' he brought over for scientific/biological research.
He took a quick bath and prepared for the new and brighter tomorrow. He felt more at ease now that he managed to obtain Jr's ability. At the very least, he would not be caught easily.
He sat in his chair looking at the current distribution of territories, the Howlett occupied quite a substantial part of the lands of the northwestern territory.
'The rail is progressing as planned but British Columbia will not just let me bypass without a fight.'
Although David planned to expand the scope of his influence, he wanted to consolidate his territory's power for a while before declaring their independence from the ruling powers.
'For that I will need technology, I need a technopath ability, but the only technopath I know should still buried somewhere in Egypt. I can probably look for that eternal in Africa. Since I can copy from vampires, I can probably copy from other species as well. Maybe I should be bold and move the entire family over.
Wakanda shouldn't be that technologically advanced at this point. But there's that cat god... I'll have to think this through. I should probably ask for their opinion on the matter as well.'
David arrived at his steam engine research company to check their progress on researching the feasibility and efficiency of petrol oil as fuel for the new engine design.
David isn't planning to wait for others, he is going to advance the technology of his territory to the utmost level at the shortest possible time.
But as he did not know much about engines or practical mechanical knowledge in his past life, he still learned some general knowledge taught in elementary and high school books from his past life. Furthermore, he can enhance his cognitive capacity through his self-made buff so he could somewhat guide and participate in the research.
But that wasn't all, he is always open to getting talented individuals in the field to do it for him. His money spent on lookouts placed in various places in America and England will be for naught if they could not even recruit a single talent. Money talks even in this period of time, and David has plenty of it.