#284
Advance into Europe (3)
Day broke.
As if asking what had happened during the night, a busy day like any other was beginning in Paris, the heart of France.
Citizens moving diligently for their studies, labor, and household chores.
But unlike such an ordinary outward appearance, the underbelly of the city that had stayed awake all night was anything but peaceful.
Those who could not sleep due to the anomalies of the previous night had no choice but to continue moving busily even at this very moment.
“What is the current situation?”
“No further information has come in since Nanterre, approximately three hours ago. This means that, including the initially reported Versailles, a total of five Thermidor branches have been confirmed destroyed.”
“Hah—five? You’re saying five branches fell in just one night?”
The Bureau of Supernatural Security, which oversaw all Awakened-related issues in France.
At his subordinate’s report, the chief in charge of the capital, Paris, and its vicinity let out a hollow laugh.
Just what kind of place was Thermidor?
Was it not a powerful organization that practically ruled the Milieu, which could be called the French underworld?
Directly or indirectly, it would be no exaggeration to say their reach extended to every criminal organization in the country.
A dangerous group whose overwhelming influence left even the authorities unable to act rashly, giving them nothing but headaches.
And the one who had elevated a mere criminal organization to such a position was precisely...
“The Tyrant won’t sit still.”
The master of Thermidor and the ruler of the Milieu, the Tyrant (tyran).
“If he decides to go on a rampage, it won’t end at merely being a headache. Surely he doesn’t think this is an operation we planned? We’re not ready yet...”
For an organization that was supposedly a national agency to worry rather than respond to a criminal organization might seem strange, but if one thought about it differently, it was not so odd at all.
‘Because that thing is no different from a form of asymmetric warfare.’
The absolute strong, an extreme minority possessing strength beyond imagination, to the point where one might doubt they were even the same species of Earthling.
It would have been manageable if he were the type one could at least confront head-on, but the real problem was a being like the vampire ‘Tyrant,’ who was difficult to face directly.
‘If a hidden foe sets his mind to it and only goes around assassinating the head of state and high officials, the entire country could be paralyzed.’
If he openly avoided battle and repeated surprise attacks, there were limits to how they could respond even by recruiting a Transcendent of comparable level.
If it came to that, even if they succeeded in killing him, unimaginably enormous damage would occur in the aftermath.
That was why the government could not touch Thermidor carelessly and only sanctioned them when they crossed an implicit line.
Wasn’t everyone reluctant to risk their own lives?
Most countries with large villain forces likely had similar circumstances.
“No unusual movements have been observed yet. They probably cannot act rashly until they have a clear grasp of the situation, either.”
“...That is a relief, at least. Have you identified the perpetrator? If he accomplished such a feat alone, he must be someone of no ordinary background.”
He felt self-loathing for feeling relief about such matters from the standpoint of an organization whose very reason for existence was protecting the nation from villains, but it could not be helped for now.
More important at the moment was the identity of the one who had done this.
After all, they had to know who he was before they could establish any kind of policy.
“Fluent French, tall stature over 180 centimeters, a noble and oppressive atmosphere, a handsome man with black hair and red eyes wearing a white opera half-mask...”
Thanks to having busily moved about through the night to secure testimony from survivors and eyewitnesses, they had already identified the subject’s features.
Of course, inferring an opponent’s identity from such fragmentary information was no easy task, but—
“We requested assistance from the Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) just in case, and thanks to that, we were able to identify the most likely candidate.”
Surprisingly, they had been able to name one almost certain target more easily than expected.
France’s intelligence agency, which had been devoting its efforts to tracking foreign movements, had responded almost immediately upon request for cooperation.
“Commonly known as the Phantom.”
“...The Phantom? That mask, too. So it really is the Phantom of the Opera?”
“Yes. Furthermore, it is conjectured that he is the leader of a vampire clan that has already swallowed the Korean underworld.”
“Hah! He’s a vampire too? Just what business does such a big shot have coming all the way here?”
Soon, several photographs appeared through the projector in the conference room.
From crude images that looked like CCTV captures to pictorial-like photos seemingly taken by a professional.
Among them, the one that appeared largest last was the so-called ‘Legendary Meme of the Phantom’ that had been a hot topic online.
“...He certainly has a striking appearance. Striking enough to be noticeable at a glance even behind a mask.”
“We have already cross-checked with the eyewitnesses. We have not confirmed it externally in preparation for various possibilities, but internally, we have already concluded they are the same person.”
“So he really is a Korean vampire? Goodness, having the name of a country on the opposite side of the globe pop up so suddenly is bewildering. It seems too far to be aiming for overseas expansion.”
The chief, who had been examining the photos, roughly stroked his chin.
Honestly, regarding that country called Korea, he had only encountered it a few times while handling exchange-related affairs, so he did not have much to say.
‘I thought that aside from the Brain Emperor and the Hahoe Mask, there were no figures worth noting...’
But judging by the situation, that seemed to be a thing of the past now.
He had been somewhat negligent of foreign news while dealing with incidents in his jurisdiction, but it seemed he would have to pay more attention to that side as well.
Thus, while the Bureau of Supernatural Security was establishing plans to respond quickly to variables with non-intervention as its basic policy.
At the same time.
“...A Korean vampire. So that bastard is the one?”
Elsewhere in Paris, there was someone looking at the Phantom’s photo and uttering peculiar sentiments.
Outside, it was a sunny morning bathed in bright sunlight, but inside a dark room where all windows were covered with thick blackout curtains and only monitor lights flickered—
“As I heard, he really came all the way here. What nerve does he have?”
A being submerged in shadows, appearing entirely pitch-black, languidly murmured.
But that was only a momentary question; the response that followed was completely different from the lukewarm state agency.
‘Whatever his purpose, I cannot sit still like this.’
He did not know exactly why the bastard had come here, but this was an unmistakable provocation sent openly by the other side.
And one carried out publicly, where anyone could see.
Already, several branches had been blown away and many executives had met their end; if they failed to thoroughly crush the opponent after suffering such a one-sided preemptive strike, the prestige Thermidor had built up would be shaken entirely.
There was a need to quickly eliminate the root cause and solidify his footing again before things grew more bothersome.
‘He seems quite useful, so capturing him and bringing him under my command might not be a bad idea. If I do that, I can easily offset the damage suffered this time. ...And it’s annoying to move as that Romanian bastard wishes, anyway.’
He recalled an unpleasant neighbor who had been subtly trying to interfere even in the territory he ruled, and lightly furrowed his brow.
That greedy bastard had not stopped at devouring most of the shadows of Eastern Europe and was eagerly plotting to expand his domain.
In such a situation, now that Thermidor had suffered damage that could not be ignored, it was obvious what the other side would do upon learning of it.
‘I will finish this as quickly as possible and reorganize my stance.’
The man buried in shadows slowly rose from his seat.
And in a languid voice, he whispered quietly as if murmuring to himself.
[“Find him.”]
A word containing a bizarre resonance echoed.
Squirm—
The shadows filling the room wriggled as if reacting to those words.
[“And tell me.”]
Where the bastard was.
Squirm, squirm— Paaah—!
At that low word, the darkness filling and rippling throughout the space scattered into pieces and began seeping into the shadows in all directions.
Passing through window gaps, entrance halls, corridors, and climbing the outer walls of the building to spread across the entire city.
Endlessly spreading, they traversed the shadows cast over Paris, finally extending to the satellite cities and completely covering the area like a spiderweb.
Despite being a delicate operation of thoroughly scanning the interior, its effective radius was a whopping 20-odd kilometers.
An ability akin to an authority, nigh impossible to even detect any signs because it utilized shadows, a natural phenomenon.
That was precisely the unique skill “Sovereign of Shadows” possessed by the Tyrant of Thermidor.
And the ability that had become his symbol, into which he had invested most of the karma he had earned to strengthen his unique skill,
“...Found him.”
Did not disappoint him.
***
A forest park near Versailles, southwestern Paris.
Heinz II, who had been standing quietly in the deep mountainous area, opened his mouth.
“He came.”
The words he uttered with no sign of anyone around seemed like mere soliloquy, but—
“Hoo, I thought something was strange. So you were waiting?”
“Well, I had a rough guess that you would come around now.”
“You have better instincts than I thought.”
In response, a jet-black shadow in human form rose from the ground without a sound and replied nonchalantly.
Heinz, who had barely detected that sign thanks to his senses kept sharply taut and the synergy with “Insight,” looked at him with renewed eyes.
‘So he’s the type who reached the pinnacle by honing only his unique skill. There is no doubt he is Level 9, but the amount of his vampiric factor is absurdly low. I see such cases are possible.’
When Heinz II had not long begun his activities in Seoul.
He had once heard from Gamma of the Blood Alliance hardliners, a vampire from another world he had met for the first time on Earth, about the level system used to categorize modern vampires.
An event that should have been impossible, but due to the singularity called Earth, vampires from various dimensions had gathered in one place.
Though they were grouped into the same category because of the decisive common point that they required ‘blood,’ strictly speaking, they had differences so vast they could hardly be called the same species.
Just as chimpanzees and orangutans were not the same despite both being great apes.
‘And the method that came from that was measuring the shared common characteristic they all possessed—the vampiric factor—to divide them into levels, I was told.’
In a state with no standards whatsoever, that had certainly been an efficient method.
Because it was true that the denser and greater the amount of vampiric factor, the greater the power one could exert as a vampire.
But that could only present a rough level; it could not become an absolute measure of strength.
‘Come to think of it, that’s only natural.’
Heinz was the type who had pushed his power as a vampire to the extreme by actively utilizing Kin Devouring, but from the start, was the martial might they could possess dependent solely on vampiric factor?
Every Awakened had their own unique skill, and even without that, they could reach the pinnacle through other means.
A mere Lesser Blood vampire could become an Archmage through arduous effort, and conversely, a Sword Master could end up becoming a low-ranking vampire for some reason.
Heinz realized this anew as he faced his opponent before him, the Tyrant.
Though the amount of vampiric factor the bastard possessed was barely at the level of True Blood, its quality exuded a dignity befitting the pinnacle, as if he had undergone a complete rebirth.
‘Indeed, unless one employs abnormal methods like me, reaching Transcendence purely as a vampire must be nearly impossible.’
The case in point was Alpha, who had gone insane after forcibly raising the concentration of his vampiric factor.
And it seemed the shadowy figure also felt the same sentiment that Heinz was currently feeling.
But in the exact opposite sense.
“What...? You? What is that ridiculous blood demonic power...”
Precisely the opposite meaning.
“How is that possible? Refining vampiric factor to that level should be impossible in just a few decades...!”
After exchanging a few words immediately following their first encounter and quietly probing each other, he finally continued in a sour voice.
As expected, “Negation of Existence” at this close range was not perfect against an opponent of such caliber.
“Is there any need for long words?”
And Heinz, who had likewise been probing and gauging the timing.
Seizing the moment of the bastard’s confusion, he immediately swung his hand and activated the barrier he had prepared here in advance.
Wooooong—!
The barrier of “Mysteries of Blood,” constructed in an instant by skipping the intermediate process through the causality of his “Sudden Acceleration.”
As if sensing the threat, shadows explosively burst from the Tyrant’s body at the same time.
Like a hedgehog raising its quills.
“I have a long way to go, so let’s finish this quickly.”
“Hah, so you’ve learned a few cheap tricks and now nothing meets your eye?”
“Well...”
Feeling the scorching thirst of “Thirst of the Bloodline” blazing within him, Heinz grasped a long blade of blood in one hand and a swirling crimson storm in the other.
“Are they truly cheap tricks?”
For your information, having grown by using the karma of the victims whose blood was stolen through Kin Devouring and “Hybrid Evolution” as a stepping stone—
He was not simply someone with a large maximum energy capacity.