While Lyle was resting at the edge of the forest, unaware of what his transformation had done to the demon that had just appeared on the planet, the empire of the vampires was also going through a commotion when it came to the higher-ups.
There were currently 6 vampire lords in the empire, each one was a Tier VI being that could make kingdoms and weaker empires shake by themselves. Each one was staring in Lyle's direction at this moment.
They had felt it.
The appearance of a new vampire lord.
The moment that Lyle had activated his transformation, the bloodline inside the other lords reacted and they immediately found out about his existence.
They weren't as powerful as the empress who was able to sense him the very first day he managed to evolve his bloodline, but his turning into a lord and leaking out his aura was enough to make them know of him.
Even Isaac, Lyle's father had sensed him.
As a vampire lord himself, and the one that shared the closest bloodline with Lyle, Isaac had not only sensed his existence but the approximate location of him.
Of course, the location he sensed was simply that he was thousands of miles away and if he was to travel to it, he could find out the region in which Lyle stayed. By region, I mean the area where multiple kingdoms and empires could be found, it was a huge expanse of land that would take weeks if not months for Isaac to comb over.
He wasn't going to do it, however, as he already knew about Lyle.
The other lords, however, called for a meeting.
The lords all gathered and discussed what had just happened. Isaac was the last one to arrive, and upon seeing him, the others all went silent for a moment.
Isaac 'The Executioner'.
That was his title, Isaac was the one in charge of dealing with traitors and those that had failed the empress, he had even killed a lord by himself in the past and was considered to be the 2nd or 3rd most powerful lord in the empire.
Amongst the lords, one wasn't present, the one not present was the oldest and most powerful among them.
Even the existence of a new lord would not shake him and make him show up as he would only appear when there was a dire situation that needed to be resolved, or when the empress called for him.
"Lord Isaac, what should we do about the new lord, did the empress say anything?" One of the lords asked as Isaac sat down on a chair.
"Yes, her majesty told me not to do anything."
"What?!" All the lords exclaimed unanimously as they stared at Isaac in shock.
The birth of a new lord was not a small matter, each one was a powerhouse in the world, and they were a valuable resource to the empire and the most respected beings in it. The change the world had gone through was an even bigger reason to find the new lord and bring him to the empire in order to join them.
"I don't know the specifics, but her majesty has told me that the new lord is a special case and that when the time is right, he will come to us by himself."
"Oh, so it's another man, ahh, and here I hoped to get a new friend with whom I could gossip." A woman said as she glanced at another woman at the table.
Amongst the lords, only 2 were women, and one of them was the one that contested for the place of 2nd strongest with Isaac.
"Well, if the empress had said so, then I guess we have nothing to worry about." Another lord said as he leaned back on his chair.
"Now, do we maybe have something else that needs to be discussed, it's not often that we all gather like this after all." A fourth lord said as the others all glanced at each other before they started talking.
The meeting lasted for about an hour, there were many lighthearted conversations, but there were also heated arguments that almost led to fights.
Back in the Golden Lion Empire, Lyle had finally rested enough.
Transforming into a vampire lord was not as simple as his previous blood knight transformation as it not only gave him more power, but also made him quite weak after it ended.
The mana consumption that Lyle had gone through after using the veil of darkness and after pouring all of his mana into his legs was very high and had left him empty after he had arrived at the edge of the forest.
Lyle moved closer to the city after using the disguise of a Khilman. Upon reaching the gate, he was surprised to see over 40 soldiers that were being led by a Silver knight waiting at the gate.
'Shit, did they see through my disguise?!' Lyle thought as he calmly walked towards them.
He knew that there was no going back, if they had truly managed to see through him, then he would simply show the symbol of the Midnight Dagger that he had with him. Turning around and trying to escape would be impossible since there was a Silver Knight present.
"Ah, sir, you have returned." The soldier that spoke with Lyle last night was the first person to respond.
The other soldiers simply nodded at Lyle as they knew of his identity already.
"Yes, there were, some issues at the forest," Lyle said as he looked calmly at the soldier who seemed a bit confused.
"Issues, I'm sorry sir, but, I wouldn't call such a powerful aura just an issue, we were ready to face death after sensing it, and the commander himself told us that it was a monster that was above a Titled Knight, a Tier V or above that released that monstrous aura."
Lyle was suddenly shocked.
'They felt it too?!'
'Dammit, I never thought that my transformation would do something like this!'
"Well, the truth is, that was no monster," Lyle said as he looked at the soldier with a serious expression.
It was now the soldier's turn to be shocked, even the Silver Knight stared at Lyle with surprise.
"Sir, you, you came across it?"
"Yes, and it is a he, not it," Lyle said in a serious tone before glancing at the other soldiers.
"There is no need to worry, that person had no ill intentions, he had only released his aura after I started interrogation him, if he had any notions of causing chaos or killing people, I wouldn't be alive right now."
Gulp.
The soldiers all gulped as they imagined the scene of a lone Khilman trying to interrogate a suspicious individual in the forest, only to be shocked by finding out the person was actually such a powerful being.
"He said that he was merely passing by and wanted to do a quick check of how much the forest had changed, after that, well, he disappeared," Lyle said before shaking his head.
"There is no reason to think too much, none of us are capable of meddling in the affairs of such powerful beings, hell, I can't even remember what he even looked like." The soldiers all nodded after hearing Lyle's words, even the Silver Knight seemed to fully agree with him.
"Sir is probably exhausted after what happened, please do go in and get some rest." The Silver Knight spoke as Lyle nodded gratefully at him before stepping inside the city and disappearing from their sight.
"Sir?" The soldier at the front asked as he looked at the Silver Knight.
"No good, I wasn't able to sense anything from him, I did notice residual traces of that powerful aura, but that was probably the residual energy after being exposed to the aura of that powerful being, anyway, go and inform the commander, it seems everything will be alright." The silver knight said as he removed his helmet from his head.
Silver hair fell down his forehead and partially blocked his blue eyes as he gazed at the forest in front of him.
"Yes sir!" The soldier shouted before running to the castle.
'A Khilman, plus the appearance of an incredibly powerful being, is my empire fated to fall?' The silver-haired man said as he stared in front of him.
'Master was assassinated, by the help of his son, nonetheless.'
'The vultures around the empire banded together and attacked, barely being pushed backward after the empire had lost a lot of land.'
'Then, when we finally had some time to rest, the entire world changes, monsters start running rampant and nobody knows what will happen next.'
'Will we survive all of this, is it our destiny to fall down, to crash and burn and be forgotten in the history books?'
'No, I will not let that happen, I will be the one to raise the empire higher than it ever was once I inherit the throne.' Said Sied Silver, the 3rd son of the emperor and the only personal student of the old god of war of the empire.
Even though he had 2 brothers and 2 sisters that were older than him and were closer to inheriting the throne, he was the one that most of the empire believed would become the ruler in the end.