The instant Naira Sorkin shouted, a piercing sound echoed from afar.
"Darkness!"
As the voice reverberated, a massive, fog-like black hand emerged from the sky, slamming down upon the True Ancestor, wrapping around him.
"Sleep well."
Whoosh!
The black hand dissipated, and the True Ancestor fell unconscious, plummeting towards the earth. Wasting no time, Naira seized the moment, using his power to control the True Ancestor's body.
"Success! Let's go!" he called out.
"Where do you think you're going?"
The sky filled with vampires, dense as a dark shroud, ten thousand strong. Fan Ye appeared before Naira.
"You take the True Ancestor!" he commanded. "We'll buy you some time!"
Juan nodded at Swordsmith. "Let's do this!"
Swordsmith inhaled deeply. "Here we go!"
In an instant, countless vampires charged toward them. Swordsmith lunged forward, grabbing two vampires by the neck.
Splat, splat!
In moments, their bodies twisted, merging into a grotesque blade of flesh, still pulsing with life, the heart visibly beating along its length. The sword in Swordsmith's grip was alive.
One vampire lunged, piercing Swordsmith's stomach with a blade. Blood spurted out, but Swordsmith grit his teeth, driving his new sword into the vampire's heart. The vampire shriveled, flesh drying to bone. A tentacle sprouted from the sword's hilt, linking to Swordsmith's blood vessels, transferring fresh blood back to his wounds.
"A blood-sucking sword… fine weapon!" Swordsmith muttered, satisfied.
His gift allowed him to transform any living being he touched into a weapon, retaining its unique traits while keeping the soul within alive. If his own physical limitations weren't that of a normal human, he could wield this power with far greater potential.
Meanwhile, Juan raised his hand, sweeping several vampires into the Eight Gates space. Fan Ye struck with another shadowy hand, dragging every vampire it touched into a world of dreams.
Through it all, Naira Sorkin dragged the True Ancestor away, retreating at top speed. But soon the sheer number of vampires overwhelmed their defenses, breaking through with renewed force.
A vampire lunged at Juan, who struck with a powerful palm. Yet, this time, he couldn't drag the vampire into his space.
"Overwhelmed!" he gasped.
Swordsmith leaped to aid him but was struck down, pierced through his limbs by a Duke's blood thorns, pinning him to the ground.
"Don't touch the old man."
"Fan Ye!" Juan called out.
Fan Ye's forehead dripped with sweat. "No… if I pull anyone else into my dream, I'll reach my limit. The True Ancestor will awaken immediately!"
The situation was becoming dire. Three powerful allies against a host of unrelenting monsters, and they were barely holding on.
Even so, throwing in a lesser fighter would be useless—these vampires could fly and were far too swift.
All the while, Naira fled with the True Ancestor, three royals giving chase. Their Blood Energy surged, but Naira was too fast for them to close in.
Just as freedom seemed within reach, a blood-red glow suddenly enveloped the land. Naira raised his head to find the moon had turned a deep crimson, casting its light over half the Earth.
Under the blood-red glow, the vampires' powers surged, Blood Energy erupting as the three royals exchanged wicked smiles.
"Here we go!"
The True Ancestor's eyes snapped open. His body morphed, shifting from that of a young man into a full-grown adult, eyes blazing a dark, blood-red.
Reaching back, he caught Naira by the neck.
"You're fast," he sneered.
Naira's eyes widened. "How did you…"
Blood-red mist began to swirl around the True Ancestor's form. "He plans to kill you. You plan to kill me. And I plan to kill you all."
"One cycle after another," he murmured with a dark smile. "Isn't it very reasonable?"
Boom!
"What a coincidence; I was thinking the same thing."
From above, a white figure descended, blazing with flames so bright they seemed to rival the sun. As the light flared, every ordinary vampire within its reach turned to ash.
The True Ancestor spun to see who had arrived—and there stood an old foe.
"Angel?"
He released Naira Sorkin, his full attention now fixed on the being before him. Her hundred wings spread wide, faint golden flames flickering along each feather. But this was no crippled angel from their last encounter; she was transformed, not only uninjured but evolved.
The angel, Moon, had developed specifically to counter vampire abilities. The flames on her wings radiated ultraviolet light so intense, even the True Ancestor felt discomfort—a rare sensation. Yet Moon's transformation was twofold. She had also acquired a vision-disrupting ability to counter 011, the Celestial Beast, obscuring biological senses with her light.
With a slight movement, she multiplied, splintering into hundreds of identical angelic figures. The swarm of Moon's phantoms fanned out, wings flaring as they all attacked in unison, converging on the True Ancestor.
Slash, slash, slash.
Countless cuts opened across his body, a brutal deluge of wounds. Real and illusion blurred—only one among the hundreds dealt true damage, but discerning which was impossible as hundreds of wings struck him from every direction.
Shattered, his body knit back together, only to shatter again under the barrage. Flames ignited upon him were instantly snuffed, reborn as his form repaired, shredded, and repaired once more. Bathed in the light of the blood moon, he was inexhaustible, his blood energy surging to keep his body whole.
"This blood moon," he growled, "was made just for you, angel. It's no waste that you came to see it."
Blood energy swirled around him, forming thousands of writhing, crimson serpents, but Moon's wings swept through them with ease, shattering each one as it approached.
Watching the clash of titans above, Naira Sorkin seized the chance to flee. His confidence wavered as he stumbled away, muttering, "Did we really drink from the same source? If we did, how is there such a vast gap?"
A voice crackled over his walkie-talkie. "Naira Sorkin, how are you holding up?"
He glanced skyward at the two locked in fierce combat. "Honestly, I think these two could go on like this for a year."
"What two?"
"The angel's returned," he replied, still breathless. "Where are you, anyway? What are you doing?"
A pause. "We… well…"
Naira Sorkin's gaze fell on the three figures leading their groups in the distance. "We're… fighting with the True Ancestor's lesser vampires. It's a tough battle."