In the past, I attacked the ever-expanding kingdom of bloodsuckers.
The reason was the massacre-like territorial expansion of the bloodsucker king, the progenitor.
Lasty had the ability to turn humans into vampires, and anyone who confronted her inevitably became a part of her power.
During that process, there was no one who could stop her, either by killing those who resisted or forcibly transforming them into vampires through her domination.
At that time, Lasty possessed a power level equivalent to that of an ‘Intermediate Demon Race’.
She was an existence that could not even touch beings of a lower realm and the upper lesser spirits, let alone the lower realm creatures.
By the time I set out to subdue Lasty, she had already swallowed up more than half of the continent, and her size was even larger than the current main continent of Deoen.
Her scale was incomparable to that of the Pharaoh’s golden empire, Desertutem.
During that time, I battled for several days and nights, trying to subdue Lasty and her forces, but there were only about two factions that particularly annoyed me.
“Is it you? The one who dared invade this place.”
One was the seven legion leader of the bloodsucker legion, ‘Elder’.
And the other was…
“You cannot pass to the king. Angel.”
The knight protecting the progenitor, ‘Blood Knight’.
—
“Blood Knight. It brings back memories.”
At that time, the kingdom of Lasty was so vast that I couldn’t conquer everywhere.
The world was dying every moment due to the celestial beings, demon race, and various ancient beasts, and Lasty was just one of them.
Since I couldn’t spend all my time on Lasty, my chosen strategy was to strike at the places where the main powers gathered, weaken them, and ultimately tackle Lasty.
If she, the progenitor, died, the other vampires would no longer be able to act.
Therefore, after the battle, some of the Elders survived.
“Although Lasty later personally took their lives.”
But the Blood Knights were different.
They were the knights who protected only the king, the progenitor.
To meet Lasty, I had to defeat them, and they were all annihilated by my holy power.
“I thought I had removed them all.”
“Well, yes. You took care of them all.”
“More than took care of them… Um. But still, it couldn’t be helped.”
Vampires are reborn from humans.
Among them, many were corpses, but many living humans remained too.
One of Lasty’s powers, ‘Blood Domination’, transforms all humans in the conquered area into vampires.
The blood of Lasty, which has properties similar to magic, tainted the soul, and I could not revert them back with my abilities.
Using healing magic would only accelerate the annihilation of the vampires through the healing power of the holy.
“What I can do is only grant them rest…”
Upon saying that, Lasty’s expression became slightly sulky.
Originally, she had a pretty cold face, but I found it amusing and cute when she made expressions like this sometimes.
“I almost died in pain. Rest, my foot.”
“What is rest, anyway?”
“Well, at least everyone probably went peacefully.”
“Hmph.”
[? Hahaha]
[Lasty is so cute]
[???: Death is rest.]
[Lily is scary…]
[That’s Lily]
[As expected, rest is Lily, haha]
[But what are the two talking about?]
[Wow, wow, wow, wow]
[Are they talking about alien times?]
“Is it that similar? Anyway, is Riven Diamess a vampire who became a Blood Knight?”
“Yeah. We gathered only the useful ones from the Knights of the Humans to make them. Riven was one of them. It’s even her name from her human days.”
“What does she look like?”
“Just like a human. Anyway, they all have Blood Armor, so they all look similar.”
“Hmm.”
Blood Knights do all look somewhat similar.
Unlike the magical Lasty Elder and her vampires, they were a somewhat unique group that used “weapons.”
If the hunting team had aimed solely at the Progenitor with melee weapons, they would have been badly defeated, but lucky for me, the opponent was someone who handled melee weapons very well.
‘But one of them has lived and is now the Elder here…’
“On top of that, she’s even using the abilities of the Black Lily.”
“That’s strange. Forgetting about why she’s alive, Blood Knights aren’t good at magic. We picked only those kinds of people.”
“What kind of person is Riven Diamess?”
“…Someone with high survivability? It’s a talent unsuited for a Blood Knight, but she was appointed because she could use a sword well.”
“She can use a sword well.”
For a vampire to directly wield a weapon instead of summoning it with blood was quite surprising to me at the time.
I could only think of about three Blood Knights that excelled at swordsmanship, and the one at the back was exceptional.
‘I don’t know why she was only at the back with that skill, though.’
Of course, she was fairly and squarely pierced by my spear and died.
“What if she’s not dead?”
“Excuse me?”
“Back then, her sister wasn’t that strong. Are you sure she had the power to kill a soul?”
“……”
The Holy destroys all powers except for itself.
This power intensifies against opposing forces, especially Magic, leading many vampires to be unable to withstand my Holy and resulting in their incineration.
That influence also affected the soul, preventing it from being resurrected.
In other words, it means there was no intention to “kill” the soul directly.
“Blood Knights only linger in my domain. Perhaps they saw the ‘Blood Script’ that was only shown to the Elder. The Blood Script contains some magic that allows survival even if the soul is damaged.”
“…It’s not entirely impossible.”
One day, whether by coincidence or fate, a Blood Knight comes across the Blood Script.
After seeing the Blood Script, he finds himself on the brink of death in battle against me, and in order to survive, he uses the magic he saw in the Blood Script.
Blood Knights aren’t skilled in magic, but perhaps some miracle happens, and he survives due to his own talents.
He rushes to protect the King, but the fight is already over, and only his destined death remains.
‘Lasty’s Disappearance.’
Lasty’s disappearance, the progenitor of bloodsuckers and the one who shared the power to revive hearts, felt like a death sentence for all bloodsuckers.
The same held true for the strong blood knights.
A knight who failed to protect the king surely deserved to die, but he wanted to live.
As his spirit was almost drained away, he fled to another dimension through some unknown reason…
‘…That’s quite a rational and plausible story.’
[?]
[Huh?]
[But what is that?]
[Alien Lily ㄷㄷㄷ]
[Is this real?]
[It’s just story setting, right?]
“What is the power of the Black Lily?”
“It can’t be that the fake sister used her spell.”
How on earth did the Black Lily wield her power?
I can understand everything else, but the use of power is just incomprehensible.
‘Even I haven’t been able to use that spell yet.’
“…Kuoh.”
“…What on earth are these people… Huh, huh?!”
“That Elder. Where is he now?”
■
Clop. Clop.
“The Throne of Blood.”
The Glorious Seat.
“Long ago, in this barren land, the ‘Castle of Erbenus’ was established. From that castle, the ‘Great Blood’ spread, resulting in the birth of the Seven Elders, inheritors of the most profound blood.”
Clop. Clop.
“I thought. The name of Erbenus and the lofty power of that throne is greater and more beautiful than anything else.”
“……”
“I could grasp all bloodsuckers in my hands, and the depth of that blood and power was beyond words. I believed so…”
Gurk.
The red light pouring through the window illuminated the king’s audience room.
On the Throne of Blood sat a man ugly, bleeding profusely from his chest, while Quio appeared tense by the door.
Flick.
Right in front was Ardor, adorned with blood-red wings, raising a crimson hand into the air.
In that red hand was a heart.
The heart of the bloodsucker king, Blodia.
“Now I see, you are utterly pathetic. Is this truly all the great power can muster?”
“……”
“I find it laughable that I once thought so highly of you, Blodia.”
“……”
“You’re nothing without Riven. You wasted your life intoxicated by power. Did you really think I would recognize you as king? If so, I’d like to call you utterly foolish.”
“……”
“Especially after mentioning revelations…”
Thud.
Blodia’s head tilted entirely to the left.
He was dead.
Perfectly, with no chance of resurrection.
“…Pathetic fool.”
Ardor manipulated the blood and cleared the corpse away from the audience room floor.
The throne stained with blood.
Ardor glanced at it and casually sat down.
Soon, the power of the Throne of Blood resonated and seeped into Ardor.
“Is the name still not here? It seems it doesn’t get passed on immediately upon death.”
Ultimately, it’s just a matter of time.
“Is… is it over?”
“You did well too, Quio. Once we take care of that Riven guy, the second throne will be yours.”
“Y-Yeah…”
Quio nodded while looking at the blood-soaked throne and Ardor.
It felt a bit unsettling, but the ‘coup’ was perfectly successful.
The other elders who could have become enemies were taken care of long ago, and Blodia, sitting on the Throne of Blood, had extracted the ‘Heart’ through a surprise attack.
Of course, the name and power of Erbenus allowed him to move even after his heart was pulled out, but the opponent was Ardor.
For someone who had mastered the Book of Revelation to the extreme, overcoming him was an uphill battle, especially in a state without a heart.
In the end, Blodia met his death and turned into a cold corpse.
“I’m a bit worried that Riven, whom I feared, hasn’t shown up… but isn’t it fine since the throne came into our possession?”
“Right. No matter what tricks he pulls, the throne and the name are already ours. He probably didn’t expect us to move this quickly.”
No matter how risky the ritual he used, as long as there’s power and a name, Riven can do nothing.
He can only struggle pathetically and succumb to the greatness of power.
“It has become a joke. His most important card has died so easily.”
“Indeed. Hehe.”
“Pathetic beyond belief…”
The blood surged.
At the sudden surge of energy from the door, Ardor unleashed a spear of blood, drawn from the powers of the Throne of Blood and the Book of Revelation.
And the spear was effortlessly stopped.
‘So easy.’
“…!”
“Ah! To think you would kill my precious king. What do you think you’re doing?”
“…Blodia?”
Blodia and Riven.
The one who caught the spear was Riven, wearing armor, acting unusually for an elder, and he was smiling as usual.
And Blodia was…
“…a woman?”
She was not in the form of a man but appeared as a woman.
With hair color not entirely silver but a mix of black and silver, and red eyes.
The sharpness of her eyes, a blend of red and a peculiar purple, was enough to startle even Ardor, who had gained tremendous power.
“To think the ‘person’ I thought was dead would show up. How troublesome…”
“…It was a fake. That’s why the name didn’t come through.”
“Surely not! The king is all real. That corpse over there too, and the new king right here.”
And…
“My long-lost former king as well.”
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