The northern region of the academy had always been silent, just like most cities of the vampire race. With the ability to communicate telepathically, most found it unneeded to voice their thoughts through their mouths. However today, this area of the academy was unusually quiet, eerily so.
The majority of the buildings populating this region of the second-year students were empty, except for a select few.
What was the reason for such an anomaly?
It wasn't the fact that today was another ranking war...
Neither was the fact that the majority of the students had assembled at the auditorium where the ranking war was to be held...
Instead, an unbelievable scene had taken place in the wreckage that was once the auditorium, rendering all the students and teachers, including the guests of grand status who had come specifically for the ranking war, silent.
The ranking war prematurely ended...
The venue of the event was destroyed...
One of the participants of the event, a one-of-a-kind supreme-level genius had died...
For the first time in almost a decade, more than fifty vampire lives were sniffed out in an event not related to the Evil Lord...and that too in their very territory...
And the cause of all this was...one boy.
A golden-haired boy who wasn't even eight years old, but just shy from it.
The students couldn't believe it. Not even the fourth-year students could wrap their heads around what just happened...and that included even their princess.
While the students couldn't, the elders and Counts and even the teachers had seen what had taken place clearly. Sure, everything had happened within the window of just five breaths, but they were beings who could accomplish a lot within that period too. And it was because of this fact, that they found what the golden-haired boy just accomplished unbelievable. In their carelessness, they lost many of their students.
For a moment, many forgot about Scarlett's command, the thought of ripping Arlo into shreds fully occupying their minds.
Count Hayes who already hated Arlo since he disrespected him at the awakening ritual was the first to move. The second was Count Cromwell who had still been feeling uncertain about his Lord''s order and his son's action. With his mind now clouded in anger, he threw his hesitation away.
The third to react was Jude's father...a higher-class noble. As a follower and direct subordinate of Count Cromwell, his son had followed in his footsteps, becoming one of Toon's minions. Now, however, that his son who was even more talented than him and had been his dream of reaching great heights was dead. And he died before him no less. If it wasn't for Scarlett's order and the suppression of his bloodline, he would have long erased Arlo from this world, of course, not before torturing him. He didn't care that the human boy was very young...wasn't his son also young? Yet he had been killed in cold blood. To him, Arlo was a cold-blooded killer wearing a child's skin. Unlike the first two Counts who had somewhat restrained their will, Jude's father unleashed a great portion of his will and sent it barraging forward. The two other Counts present and the Elders soon mirrored their actions.
With the will of several mighty figures pressing down and concentrating on just one point, the sky rumbled and the land shook. There was no doubt that even a red-core mage would be killed under such an attack...and there was even a chance an orange-core mage would suffer the same fate. Mages had weak bodies after all, and their bodies couldn't handle such pressure.
All these wills fell upon the golden-haired boy who was responsible for today's disaster. It wasn't until their attack fell on the boy that the great majority of them regained their senses, their faces turning pale in fear. They had disobeyed the one person they shouldn't.
Yet, what happened next totally surprised them. The boy fell face flat into the ground, without being able to resist the attack in the least. His body cracked in several places and blood seeped out of these cracks, a pool of blood soon congregating under his body. But...he wasn't dead.
Despite feeling thankful that the brat was still alive, they couldn't help but question why. Wasn't his body too powerful? Even a twelve-star warrior would have exploded under that overbearing attack and only a true astral warrior would have been able to resist it with their almost undying body. Did that mean that the boy before them was an Astral warrior?
Shocked again at how unusual the human boy before them was, the Counts and elders didn't notice a dark light streaking in their direction from the distance. And it wasn't until it drew near, that the Counts took notice. However, it was too late.
In just a second, the dark light stopped before the human brat, effortlessly destroyed their combined will...and slowly lowered her head.
"Evangeline..." Seeing the human brat call out her name with tears on his face, the four Counts and Elders thought he was happy to find someone who could save him despite committing such an atrocious sin. This fueled their anger once more.
"Evangeline, get out of the way! That human boy must pay for his crime." Count Hayes commanded angrily. The great majority of the vampires admired Evangeline, but he didn't. As a senior to her when they were in school, he didn't need to show any form of respect to her, not to mention that he was now also a leader of an entire vampire clan, so his status wasn't any inferior to hers. His only inferiority was his strength and that made him secretly despise Evangeline.
Even after several breaths, Evangeline didn't reply and merely kept her head lowered, her expression unknown. The face of Count Hayes who was about to speak suddenly turned unsightly when he saw an unfamiliar face help Arlo up to his feet. Soon after, she lifted the unconscious Joe who was still foaming at the mouth. Despite not being the target of the previous will attack, Joe was still greatly wounded just by being near it.
Arlo on the other hand...was all healed up. The regenerative ability of a dragon combined with the natural regeneration of a warrior produced an effect that was human standards...one that even vampires who prided themselves in their restorative ability fell short of.
'Just what and who is this boy?' Count Hayes thought in his head but he didn't let his thoughts show on his face. Instead, he momentarily ignored the presence of the werewolf who was the unfamiliar face that helped the human brat up and focused on the more pressing issue. His deep voice rang out, stopping Count Hayes who was about to burst from Evangeline's lack of reply:
"Evangeline, move aside. That human boy killed tens of our students and a great second-year talent. He must pay for his actions."
Evangeline finally reacted. Ignoring all those around her, she turned her head back and pierced Arlo with her cold eyes.
Arlo met her eyes calmly, but she could see the guilt and pain hidden within. Even the tears had yet to stop falling from his eyes. Despite trying to mask his mental state, his emotions betrayed him.
Her cold eyes locked with his silver eyes for several breaths trying to pierce deep into his soul. She cared for Arlo more than a teacher should care for her students. Arlo had become someone close to her despite the short time they had spent together. It started with her curiosity, which soon grew to admiration for his talents. At some point though, her admiration soon grew to genuine liking. She wasn't sure why but she knew it was when Arlo had lost himself at the first-year training center and was subjecting himself to great pain by continually punching one of the building's sturdy pillars. A bond had formed between them at that point...one that slowly grew these past days...and became further pronounced in his absence.
Yet, despite her liking for him, a part of her wanted to crush his head where he stood. He had killed her people after all...and many of them at that. Young kids with great futures ahead of them were now forever lost. Most importantly, she had once promised Scarlett she would defend their race with her life.
Two contradicting emotions raged within her mind, rendering Evangeline stumped on what to do.
Being outright ignored made Count Cromwell frown in displeasure but before he could react, his more grumpy friend burst out first:
"Didn't you hear us wench! Get out of the way! Or do you think you alone can stop us?" It was quite surprising how Count Hayes was related to someone like his Lord who was renowned for his silence and tranquility.
Evangeline finally turned back and pierced Count Hayes with her cold eyes, "I will personally punish him. You can all leave!"
"What!?" A look of displeasure appeared on Count Cromwell's face while Count Hayes's eyes turned red in anger. The two other Counts and Elders around them also shared their emotions.
"We should get out? Aren't you being too arrogant?" Count Cromwell voiced their thought.
Pierced by their angry eyes, Evangeline merely smiled coldly, her smile bewitching. Her slender figure hugged by her characteristic black suit became more pronounced, and as she took a step forward, a crushing pressure exploded from her body outwards rooting all the vampires in place.
"And so what?" Her voice dripped with arrogance, but her confidence was not unfounded.
Nobody responded to her question as they found it difficult to breathe. The Counts were not exceptions...
Count Hayes glared at her hatefully and used all his effort to remain on his feet. He couldn't humiliate himself before many eyes.
It seemed Count Cromwell's state wasn't far different from his, because while he tried to hide it behind a calm visage, Count Hayes could feel his body trembling ever so slightly under Evangeline's will.
Thankfully, the students seemed to be unaffected by her will, as she only focused on the elders and Counts...with the only exception being Toon.
As the only student pressed under Evangeline's imposing will, Toon was the only one currently spread out on the ground in a humiliating posture. No matter how he gritted his teeth and tried to fight against the crushing force, his body didn't budge an inch.
After almost a full minute, an angry voice suddenly fell from the sky.
"Little girl, stop this instant!"
A cold sneer found its way to Evangeline's beautiful face. Still after a few more breaths, she stopped exerting her will.
Remaining unfazed, Evangeline looked at the sky and spoke with a cold voice:
"You finally decided to appear?"
Lord Cromwell's face distorted in anger but he tried to suppress it as much as he could.
"Release the boy to us!"
"Have you finally grown senile?" Evangeline's eyes turned more cold...chilling cold. Shifting her eyes to the second figure in the sky, she nodded in greetings.
"Lord Hayes..."
"Evangeline." said the quiet Lord, reciprocating her greetings.
"Surely, even you won't go against our Liege and kill the boy, right?"
Lord Hayes remained silent for several moments before his short reply came.
"I assure you the boy won't die."
All the figures below them had already kneeled in silence to pay their respect to the two lords, and that included the Counts.
Evangeline watched the two lords coldly for several breaths before shaking her head.
"You need not worry. I promise to enact a just punishment to the boy."
Lord Hayes's eyes shone with a bit of surprise. Vampires were a noble race, and as such cared about their honor. They despised telling lies, which was why the quiet Lord was surprised by Evangeline's reply. She really didn't mean to protect him but was just afraid that harm might come to him. The quiet Lord wasn't sure of what to do...
But he wasn't the only lord present.
Lord Cromwell had grown fed up with Evangeline's arrogance. He already felt unhappy about only her following Scarlett and felt like their liege thought more of the girl than them.
He didn't mind putting the girl in her place. How can a girl who was still in her twenties compare to old men like them? Sure, Evangeline was a rare talent, and that was proven by how she was a first-level yellow-core mage at such a young age. Still, Lord Cromwell felt angry about how the rumors had spread that she was among the top five of the vampire race. Then, was she stronger than him who was a seventh-level yellow core mage? Surely, the rumors were unfounded.
Before anybody could react, the vampire lord moved with uncanny speed and appeared before Arlo in a split second, his hand stretched out to grab him. His target was too weak to even follow his movement, as his eyes were still fixed on the sky, at his previous position.
To be fair, all the people present couldn't follow his movement and we were still gazing at the sky. But he couldn't help but feel a bit surprised when he saw the tail behind the human boy react ever so slightly to his movement. Still, it was too slow, and couldn't stop him.
But it didn't have to...
A small pale hand suddenly fell on Lord Cromwell's outstretched hand, and with a loose yet firm grip and fluid movement, the hand twisted, and borrowed his body's moving force to launch him into the air.
Before Lord Cromwell could react, his back slammed into the ground, the air almost knocked out of his lungs.
The ground beneath him sank greatly, and his mouth opened uncontrollably, giving way to a jet of blood that flew into the sky.
His vision clouded for only a moment during which the sound of shocked gasps drifted into his ears, but soon after the clear blue skies entered his vision.
'Huh!?'
As he was feeling lost, a familiar young and beautiful face poked into his sight, two crimson fangs bared at him, and two ruby eyes pierced into his head coldly.
"Old fool...are you looking to die?"
AN: Thanks to all those who are following the novel.